Chapter 28: Ch. 28 – The Game Begins

Bellamy was waiting for me outside in the hallway, wearing a clean guard's uniform. It reminded me of when I first arrived in this crazy world, and I could not help but smile. We had made it through a lot to get this point, and I was happy that he would be there to help me through the rest.

"The guard uniform doesn't look half bad on you, big brother," I said as we started heading down the hallway.

"Thanks, but I wish you weren't playing Grounder," he replied.

"We're all Grounders these days, Bell. Don't be jealous that I look better in it than you," I chuckled.

He smirked, shaking his head. We kept walking and headed outside where the sky was just beginning to lighten. It seemed that Skaikru had already gotten the rovers out of Mount Weather because there were two large vehicles parked within the electric fenced-in area and being loaded up with supplies.

Surprisingly, Clarke and Finn were joining us. I knew that she had volunteered to go with my group, but I never expected that Abby would let her come. She was still a bit of an overprotective mom, and I had saved Clarke from having to make a lot of tough decisions that forced Abby to accept her daughter's growth.

Bellamy and I helped finish packing the rovers while the rest of the group trickled out of the Ark, Monty included. He was the ace in the hole because his mom was among the survivors of Farm Station in the show, at least. It would definitely be a blow to him if she had already been killed, but far less than her original death would have been. Everything was nearly ready when the inside gates opened and Indra, Anya, and three more warriors walked in. I left the group and met them half-way down the dirt road.

"Thank you for your help, Indra, Anya," I said.

Indra gave me a nod and explained, "Anya, Kolbi, and Drakson will go with you, so I expect that you will not slack off with your training. Heda has sent Ryder to watch over Raven."

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, she'll be a handful for you," I chuckled to the man that Indra pointed out. "Speaking of that... I should warn Kane and Abby before we leave."

"It appears that you have that chance," Indra remarked.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Kane and Abby walking straight for me with dark expressions. I sighed, "If you will excuse me, looks like that are normally reserved for me."

Anya smirked and there was the faintest twitch of Indra's lips while I walked off. As soon as I reached them, Abby shoved a note from Jaha into my hands.

Glancing over it, I sighed, "He still made the same choice after everything I've done."

"So, you knew about this?" Abby demanded.

"I did, and his fate is sealed now. Lexa won't allow Alie to be released, and if he does manage to make it to the City of Light and back, you all will have to take over whatever war is going on while I kill him myself. Alie isn't just the AI program that ended the world a hundred years ago, but she has the ability to control anyone connected to her system and Jaha is the one who will teach her how to overcome her one weakness: free will to accept the Key. People are forced to torture and kill their loved ones to make them agree to take this key. You tortured Clarke and were about to kill yourself in front of her when we managed to shut down Alie, so you can see why both Lexa and I agreed that nothing is more important than preventing Alie before Praimfaya."

Abby and Kane were stunned by what I revealed, but Kane recovered first and asked, "What about the others that went with them?"

"They'll be tested," I replied with a smile. "They'll be robbed in the desert and those that decide to turn around will be spared, but the rest will share Jaha's fate. Alie needs someone with more technical knowledge than the Grounders, so we don't need someone else replacing him. It was Jaha's choice, and he could not be warned beforehand, or we'd risk Alie being even more on guard from us."

"You still should have told us," Abby said.

"So, you could do what? Stop him? Put him in prison? Eventually, he would escape and be even more driven to seek out the City of Light while having suspicions of us. Lexa has a team already placed in the desert looking for a few people that are important later and has orders to watch for Jaha's group. If we're lucky, they handle this problem, if not, I will. Skaikru cannot be responsible for releasing her again, or the war that we are facing is going to get a lot bigger."

"You're right," Kane agreed with a sigh, but then asked, "Anything else that you are keeping from us?"

I shrugged, "If everything goes halfway decent, we should be able to avoid what we haven't told you. Let's just say things weren't as peaceful as we had hoped after we left the bunker."

Kane and Abby could only share a look of annoyance yet resolve. They had already accepted what I had been saying, so one more crazy obstacle that we could dodge was just an unfortunate sacrifice. No one made him do it and it was Jaha's decision to go, so now he would live with consequences.

"Oh, there is something else I haven't told, but I was planning on doing so when Indra saw you approaching. Raven has been assigned a personal guard by Lexa," I said with a wry smile.

"What? Why?" Abby asked.

I sighed, giving her a look, "Raven and I weren't exactly discreet with our relationship in Polis. That's put her in a lot more danger than she should have been in."

"And she's fine with this?"

"No, but I pulled the dirty sympathy card by reminding her of the last time I let someone die. Now, unless you have any more questions, I'd like to introduce Ryder to Raven."

Abby flinched at my statement and looked away.

"No... thank you for the clarification, Octavia," Kane said quietly.

"I'm sorry about Jaha, but he made his choice. I'm doing everything that I can to help us, but he couldn't or wouldn't see that," I replied before I walked away.

I headed back to Indra and her people before escorting Indra and Ryder towards the Ark. Raven, as well as a number of other people, had started gathering outside and were watching the cars get loaded. People unconsciously drifted away from us as we approached, but Raven stayed where she was.

"Hey... This is Raven; Raven, this is Ryder, your guard," I introduced.

"Is this really necessary?" Raven sighed.

"I hope not, but I don't want to risk it either."

"The Heda has command that I also assist you as needed. I may not understand your machines, but I can carry things and be another set of hands," Ryder said.

Raven looked him over once then turned to me, waiting for an explanation, and I shrugged.

"Lexa also understands your personality and how hard it would be for you to accept this. Just give the man a break and let him do his job while I'm gone," I replied.

"You know you owe me, right?" Raven retorted with a light smirk.

I smiled, "Then do some tests on your charm. I created that metal and can still sense some of my energy in it. There is bound to be something special about it."

Raven grabbed the raven on her necklace and looked down at it. "We'll see if it's worth it."

Although I wanted to give her a kiss goodbye, this was not the best of places to do it because I did not want to draw even more attention to Raven. Her guard could be played off since she was part group that went to Polis, and one of the main people that would be staying here in camp while the others split off to Mount Weather or the Second Dawn Bunker. It would just be her and Sinclair running the camp in a few days since Kane was following me today and Abby would be leading a group to Mount Weather tomorrow. In the end, I pulled her into a hug and held her for a moment, trying to memorize the feeling of her pressed against me.

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"I'll be back as soon as I can," I whispered as we parted.

"I'll be waiting," she replied.

I gave her one last smile before I turned and walked away. It was not easy leaving her because I all but knew things would not proceed smoothly. This was 'The 100' and things were never easy. I wanted to hope that nothing would happen to her while I was gone, but I could not help but see danger around every corner. I had already lost Lincoln, and I couldn't lose her as well.

I joined my motley band of misfits, both the Grounders and delinquents alike, and we sat in the back of the larger rover which was meant for moving troops. As usual, I pulled out my music player and turned on something as I sat between Monty and Bellamy. There were some strange looks between Anya's side and Clarke's side, but I just listened to my music with a light smile on my face and my hands behind my head. About ten minutes later, Kane joined the group, climbing into the smaller rover and the vehicles rolled out of camp.

The day was spent on the road, but it was far more uncomfortable than any of us would have expected. Our seats were not exactly padded, and the best roads that we could find were little more than a flattened dirt path. When we finally stopped for the evening, I was not sure who looked worse, me or the Grounders.

"I should have taken my horse," Anya complained as we climbed out of the truck.

"I'd still be as sore," I groaned, rubbing my shoulders.

We camped near the border of Ice Nation lands for the night. Kane arranged a couple of guard shifts throughout the night while Anya assigned Kolbi and Drakson to switch off during the night as well. While the guardsmen set up camp, Anya and I broke off from the main group to spar for the evening.

"Powers, or no?" I asked, forming my usual staff.

"You only put up a challenge when you use them," she retorted, drawing her swords.

I chuckled, breaking the staff into two parts, "Flames may not hurt, but I expect you to honor the damage."

"You imagine they will do too much," she dismissed.

"Because everyone expects fire coming at their face."

Anya and I moved into our usual position across from each other. Once we were in place, Anya charged at me, slashing her swords. I met her blade with my batons and, when she went to kick me, a thin pillar of dirt parried it.

At this point, sparring against Anya, every day for over a week, I had started to get the hang of her attacks. I shifted back, out of range of her swords, as she did the same. She had learned as well that I had a certain range that I could use my Earth spells, though I kept to only using in a five-foot-radius instead of the fifteen feet that I could actually control. One of Indra's lessons: never show everything that you are capable of until you need it. In a true fight, I might use it, but sparring was not worth it.

I swung my baton despite the distance and a slash of white fire shot out towards Anya. She shifted to the side to avoid most of the flames then pushed off the ground, thrusting her sword for my shoulder. I smashed my batons against her sword, but she had used this move before. She let her arm get bent then delivered a strong elbow to my chest, trying to knock me off balance. This time, though, I made another pillar of dirt that stopped me from falling to the ground. I let the baton in my right hand fall then delivered a strong uppercut to Anya's jaw which sent her stumbling back.

"I'm getting better, admit it," I chuckled as I used my power to pick up my baton on the ground.

"A child could get better with your tricks," Anya replied, but there was a faint smile on her lips.

"Grumpy, grumpy... is all Trikru the same?" I taunted.

We sparred for about an hour before I called it quits as I felt a headache developing, but neither of us had anything more than minor bruising. No one in Skaikru had seen me fight using my powers, so we had drawn everyone's attention. I gave a nervous chuckle as the crowd dispersed, but I could understand the cautious looks that I was getting.

"Your people question you," Anya remarked.

"And yours don't?" I chuckled. "People fear the unknown and distrust what they cannot control. Except to my friends and brother, I'm a wild card that could turn on them at any point. The Mountain helped, but they didn't have the same hatred as your people. Besides, I'm nothing but a criminal and secret from birth; would you trust me?"

Anya smirked and we headed up the hill to where everyone was camping. There were a couple of small campfires set up, and I headed to the one with my friends as Anya split off. I sat down next to Bellamy who handed me a bottle of water that I took happily.

"Seriously, when do we get superpowers?" Monty asked.

All of us laughed and ate our dinner. Afterwards, everyone started to settle down for the night, but without Raven next to me, I could not fall asleep. Clarke and Finn were cuddled together on the far side of the campfire with Bellamy and Monty stretched out, across from each other. I sat up after I got bored of counting the stars and settled into a meditative position. Practice was something that I could not get enough of.

In the morning, we started breaking camp, but a visitor showed up: the Ice Nation. Five riders approached our convoy, so Kane, Anya, and I walked ahead to meet them. The Ice Nation scouts ignored the other two while they kept their eyes on me alone.

"I am Ambassador Kane, and under the Heda's command to track down some of our rogue members that landed in your territory," Kane explained while he revealed a large seal of the Heda symbol.

"And Trikru?" the lead scout growled.

"Translator and guide," Anya replied with poorly hidden disgust directed at him.

"We will lead you to your 'rogue' people," he said.

"No, those were not Heda's orders. You can mark their location on our map, but your presence will provoke an attack by them," I said firmly.

"You expect us to let more of your people to enter our lands unescorted?" he asked, glaring at me.

"But we do have an escort: warriors of the Twelve Clans," I replied, motioning to Anya. "Follow us if you must, but Heda has allowed us to detain them peacefully and then I will be granted a month to come to an Accord with your queen."

The scout snorted with annoyance, but he could not argue as it was Lexa's orders. Kane pulled out a map and the lead scout ordered something in their language. Another rode up and pointed out a region while Kane marked it.

"How much did you enjoy that?" I asked quietly to Anya as the Ice Nation scouts rode away.

"More than I would have thought," she retorted.

"You two could pretend that we aren't expecting a war," Kane complained as he folded the map.

"Even with a gun, Kane, do you think you could take me in a one-on-one fight if I was serious? I should be acting arrogant. Anything else would be more suspicious to Queen Nia," I explained while we headed back to the trucks.

"Is all this deception really needed?"

"You have the gall to ask me that after everything that you have done?" I mocked. "Tell me a better way, Kane. Even if we do go to war, Lexa is willing to grant members of every Clan space in the bunkers. Can you ask for anything fairer?"

Kane sighed and stopped arguing. He had hidden plenty of things from his people before and after my joining of the world. It was not a great method, but our options were even more limited than the time that we had left.

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