In the end, I could not sleep despite my exhaustion. After trying for ten or so minutes, I gave up and sat down on the ground in my tent. I took the time and made about thirty stone throwing blades that were similar to throwing stars but were solid triangles with sharp sides and points. Keeping the design simple saved me mana, but I kept working until I felt a headache threatening to form then I just tried to meditate until it was dark.
Bellamy was in camp directing people to make some last-minute defenses inside the camp. I could only wonder how many would survive this fight as I looked around. They were kids and teenagers in my mind, and my past sensibility told me that they should be protected, but there was no one to protect them, but themselves. This was a fight to the death; they could only defend themselves and pray that Clarke's plan would work.
I tucked into one of the tunnels and made my way out to the north side of the walls. Miller turned around and raised his gun but lowered it when he realized who I was. I gave him a nod as I drew Lincoln's sword and put my hand in my bag where I had packed away my throwing stars. Although he was looking at me like I was crazy, I slipped into the forest instead of joining them in the foxhole.
Skirting the edge of the minefield, I headed further out than anyone else as I activated my Earth Domain. It would not save me from an arrow, but it would prevent anyone from sneaking up on me. I searched for a while, but eventually, I found an overturned tree that could hide me, so I sat down and waited with one of my stone weapons resting in my hand.
An hour passed, but the sound of war drums reached my ears. My eyes opened and I took a deep breath in but did not move. My position and tactics were not something that the Grounders would be expecting, so it was better that I hide here for them to come to me. It took a little longer, but then I sensed two people enter my domain and were approaching slowly.
Gripping my sword, I tried to prepare myself for what I was about to do. I had never killed anyone before, or even been in a real fight, but that did not matter now. Many of those kids were in the same boat as me, so there was no shying away from this. If I was going to do that, I would have left with Lincoln when I had my chance, but I would not abandon my friends and my family. This was just the first step of my journey, so faltering here was not an option.
The two Grounders spoke softly in their language, but Lincoln had only taught me a few phrases before we separated, so I had no idea what they were saying. One broke off to the right while the second rounded the tree that I was hiding behind. It was time to make my move and I did. The stone triangle floated above my hand and started to spin as the Grounder walked past me without noticing my presence. I thrusted my hand forward and the blade launched, piercing the back of his head.
Although I felt queasy about my first kill, the other Grounder did not give me time to recover. He heard his friend hit the ground, so he searched around and saw me. I took out another stone blade, but I hid it behind my back as I stood up slowly holding Lincoln's sword in front of me. He gave an angry snarl as he raised his axe and charged me. Instead of meeting his charge head on as I looked to be doing, I manipulated the stone blade to whip around from behind me and curve along the ground before shooting up and impaling him under his jaw.
"Two down... only two hundred and ninety-eight to go," I said.
Despite my false bravado, I dropped to my knees and emptied the contents of my stomach. Killing them might have been easy thanks to my magic, but I could smell the blood and understood the weight of my actions. Although it was kill or be killed, what I had just done could never be undone. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the Grounders were not going to give me the time to dwell on my actions. The sound of gunshots rang out through the forest, so I knew that the battle had officially begun.
I pushed myself back onto my feet and used my power to retrieve my blades because I knew that I would run out eventually. I had a general idea of where the foxholes were, so I did my best to navigate between their views. The last thing that I needed was to get shot in the back by one of our own people.
I quickly realized that there was something off about the attack. Even after searching for a few minutes, I had seen no one else, but gunshots kept going off all over camp. It was as if the two I killed were the only ones that came this way, then I heard running footsteps. I pressed myself against the nearest tree then watched and waited.
There was only one, and he was between me and the foxhole. He was not looking my way, of course, but he also showed no intention of charging the foxhole. Although I knew little of Grounder tactics, I doubted that they would use one of their own people to do a suicide run of the barricades, so what could their plan be?
No sooner had I thought about the question than I heard a loud explosion that was no doubt one of the landmines. Things were escalating quickly, and I did not have the time to worry about it. I raced forward, not bothering to approach quietly, which made the Grounder turn around and look at me. He only managed to raise his weapon before I threw my empty hand forward and the two stone blades shot forward. One impacted his chest while the second one sliced his neck before flying off in some direction, but the results remained the same, another dead Grounder.
Suddenly, the drums stopped and the hair on the back of my neck rose. Something had changed, and I did not know what, but I knew that staying here on my own was a bad idea. I ducked back into the trees and wove a path back to camp. My hunch turned out to be right as the Grounders finally made their real charge. By the time that I reached the walls, the true attack had started, and I could hear people yelling and fighting nearby.
"Here they come!" Miller shouted.
"Monroe, get back here!" another yelled.
"Bellamy! Ahh!"
Hearing Bellamy's name get called out, I picked up my pace and saw the foxhole overrun a moment later. Miller was stabbed in the shoulder while he fought off one Grounder and a second one was wrestling with someone on the ground that I could not see. I did not hesitate and launched one of my stone blades at the Grounder fighting with Miller as I kept running towards the pair on the ground. I swung the sword in my hands at the back of the Grounder's head, killing him and revealing pale face.
"Admit it. You want one too," I said, holding out a hand to help Bellamy up.
He nearly cracked a smile, but then something pierced the back of my thigh and I let out a groan of pain. Bellamy caught me before I could fall to the ground. Unfortunately, the arrow in my thigh was not something I could shrug off like most of the wounds that I had gotten so far.
"No, you're hit! Miller, fall back, now! Can you walk?" he asked.
I nodded my head, but when I tried to move my leg, it gave out under me, and I was rewarded with an explosion of pain.
Bellamy threw my arm over his shoulders without any hesitation and picked me up as he said, "O, hey, hold on to me. Let me get you behind that wall."
Every step that Bellamy took sent a jolt of pain through my body but gritted my teeth and tried not to show it. The defenses were falling apart, and the Grounders were charging up the hill, yet Bellamy stubbornly carried me along despite the fact that I was all but sealing his fate by slowing him down so much. A faint explosion overhead caused a strange silence on the battlefield as everyone turned their heads skyward.
Something massive was falling out of the sky and started to break apart, but there were a few sections that used rockets to slow their descent. I may never have seen it in person, but it did not take a rocket scientist to realize what it was. The Ark was crashing to the ground, and under their own order if those sections were anything to go off of.
"They're coming... just too late," I sighed.
If the Ark coming down had not been enough, a strange war cry broke the hushed silence. Bellamy carefully set me down against a tree, breathing heavily, but as close as we were, I knew it was too late for both of us to make it. Thankfully, someone, or something, drew the attention of the Grounder army which could give Bellamy a chance, but only if he left me behind.
"What the hell was that?" I asked, looking at the dark figures fighting against the Grounders.
"I don't know, but they're distracted. Let's move," Bellamy said as he started picking me up again.
I pushed his hands off me and replied, "We'll never make it. Leave me. I'll find another way."
"I'm not going anywhere without you," Bellamy argued.
"Octavia!" a familiar voice shouted.
I turned my head and saw him. "Lincoln? You were supposed to leave!"
Lincoln ignored my words as he ran up and knelt by my side. I did not resist his hug and wrapped my arms around him with as much strength as I still had in me. He looked me over with a concerned expression while he rubbed my cheek with his thumb.
"You did this?" Bellamy asked.
"With Finn," he replied as he found the arrow in my thigh. "It's deep... I can help you, but you have to come with me now."
To my surprise, Bellamy nodded his head and said, "Go. Let him help you."
"No way. I'm not abandoning everyone!" I argued.
"You can't walk, and I can't get you back to the dropship."
"He's right. This fight is over for you," Lincoln said.
"O, O, listen to me. I told you my life ended the day you were born... the truth is, it didn't start until then. Go with him. I need you to live. Besides... I got this," Bellamy said.
Whether he was my real brother or not, it did not matter anymore. I understood those feelings in his heart and how much it must have hurt him to send me away. He knew that there was a good chance that he would die before he reached the dropship, so he wanted to know that I was safe even if he was not.
I pulled him into a hug as tears formed in my eyes and I whispered, "I love you, big brother."
He hugged me back for a moment, but then he lifted me up. He helped get me into Lincoln's arms so that the arrow would cause me too many more problems. After rubbing my head, just as Tori used to do when I was growing up, he said, "May we meet again."
"May we meet again," I replied, letting go of his hand.
"Keep her safe," Bellamy said to Lincoln.
Lincoln nodded his head then started carrying me away from the camp. Bellamy and I locked eyes for a few moments as the distance between us grew. Unfortunately, the Grounders finished off those dark figures, so he had no choice but to run for the camp. I kept watching behind us even though Bellamy was out of sight because I had to know whether or not the rockets would fire.
Minutes felt like hours, but then I saw and heard it. A bright and continuous light roared to life in the darkness, so I knew that they had done it. They were safe, at least for now. I could only hope that when that I could save them from outside the Mountain, instead of inside as I had planned.
"Raven did it," I mumbled.
"Raven, the girl that Finn wanted to save? She did that?" Lincoln asked, stopping to look back momentarily.
"She used the rockets on the dropship... I'm sorry if you lost anyone close to you."
"I have you, that's what matters," he said before walking again.
I rested my head against his shoulder as I prayed for everyone's safety. Bellamy, Clarke, Finn, Jasper, Monty, and Raven... they were not just vital parts of the plotline anymore. They were my family, and I could only hope that I would see them again.
A/N: This is the official end of the events of Season One! From now on, the MC will start making major changes to the canon from this point on! Thank you for bearing with me, but I promise that there will be meaning to the decisions that she's made so far later on in the story.