CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:

"IT'S TIME TO DO BETTER."

The night sky was still up in the sky, the crickets being heard throughout the entire forest as the moon was up and out in the sun's original spot. The music from the camp had died down when the three teenagers made their way further into the forest. The only sound that was heard could be the loud crickets chirping in the grass, and the occasional snap of twigs by the three sky people venturing through the dark forest.

The Griffin twins had their bags over their shoulders as they trailed behind Finn who was leading the way to where they'd meet the grounder that they learned his name was Lincoln. Both were a bit tense as they hoped nothing would go down when meeting the grounders and their, most likely, rather intimidating leader.

"I'd love it if you were right about this, but did you ever consider it might be a trap?" Clarke speaks up, breaking the silence between the three of them.

Finn nods, sighing. "Yep, but since it's Unity Day, I decided to have hope instead."

Just as they continued forward, Finn suddenly lets out a groan in pain, making the sisters exchange a glance of concern, wondering if he was okay as he clutched his side, close to the wound that the grounder had stabbed. When Y/n insisted on checking the wound, Finn found himself unzipping his jacket and lifting his shirt up, revealing the wound that had been slowly healing.

Shakily and gently, Y/n's hand was brushing against his skin as she stared at the sewed up wound before glancing up at the boy, seeing he was already staring at her. Clarke couldn't help but raise a brow as she saw the two staring at one another intensely, wondering what exactly was going on between them. She wasn't the only one to notice the tension between the two of them.

Y/n gulps, looking away as she remembered her sister was here. "Seriously, Finn, you're putting a lot of faith in a guy who stuck a knife in you."

"And you're sounding more and more like Bellamy." Finn fires back, pulling his shirt back down.

"She's just trying to keep us alive, Finn." Clarke argues, backing her sister up.

"So am I." Finn replies as he zips his jacket back up.

With that, he walks off as the twins glance at one another. Silently and secretly, Clarke reaches into her pocket and drops some nuts on the ground so Bellamy would be able to know where they were going as they'd leave a trail.

A few hours had gone by as the night sky was now gone, the birds now awake as they chirped happily, not noticing what was going on down below. The sound of water could be heard as Octavia paced back and forth on a bridge, waiting for anyone to show up, either Lincoln, or Finn, Y/n and Clarke. The small lake below continued whooshing as the fish swam inside, passing by the bridge the girl stood on.

Hearing footsteps heading her way, Octavia turns to the sound just in time to see Finn, Clarke and Y/n all jogging out of the forest. Finn stopped right in front of the Blake girl while the twins' gazes landed on her, eyes widening in realization upon seeing Octavia standing there as they had met her in the place they were to meet the leader of the grounders.

"So that's how you set this up." Y/n states, looking to Finn.

"You helped him escape, didn't you?" Clarke realizes as she stares at Octavia.

"I trust him, guys." Octavia tells them.

"There's a lot of that going around." Clarke murmurs, glancing to Finn who was beside her sister.

"Someone's coming." Finn points out as he was looking over Octavia's shoulder.

The three girls of the four all looked over, Octavia having to turn around in order to do so, seeing the grounder known as Lincoln jogging out of the woods from the other side of the bridge. Octavia had began to jog towards him as the Griffin twins silently glanced to their left, seeing Bellamy sneaking through the bushes, gun in his hand as Raven and Jasper was trailing behind him.

Eventually, Octavia and Lincoln met halfway on the bridge, hugging each other tightly before they soon pulled away, the grounder smiling sweetly at the girl he held before his eyes went hard when they landed on Clarke and Y/n, lingering more on Y/n as he remembered the few nights before when everyone had gone crazy. At the sight of his hardened eyes, Y/n had slowly began to back up but Finn took notice and grabbed her hand, holding it tightly in his to stop her from leaving.

Just then, the loud sound of hooves filled their eardrums as they all looked over at the source of the sound, Octavia and Lincoln pulling apart as the four watched as two grounders rode up on the same side Lincoln had came from, the leader of the grounder's riding up in the middle of them, all three of them having weapons. At the sight of that, Finn jogged to Lincoln, pulling Y/n with him while Clarke trailed behind them.

"Hey. We said no weapons." Finn reminds.

"I was told there wouldn't be." Lincoln tells him.

Clarke sighs. "It's too late now."

Finn glances to the girl he had his hand conjoined together with, seeing her glance at him as well as they seem to share silent look. After that, Y/n looks to her twin, the two sharing a nod before all three of them walk forward. However, Lincoln placed his hand on Finn's chest, stopping him from doing so.

"They go alone." Lincoln informs.

Finn glances to Y/n who gives him a nod. "I'll be fine."

"Y/n--" Finn begins.

"Hey. It's time to do better." Y/n interrupts.

And with that, Finn slowly releases her hand from his before the Griffin twins were walking forward, the leader of the grounders mounting off her horse and doing the same thing. Eventually, the leaders found themselves right in front of each other as Y/n had grabbed her sister's hand, both feeling intimidated by being so up close to the leader of the grounders.

"Your names are Clarke and Y/n?" The leader asks, receiving nods. "I'm Anya."

The twins glance to one another before releasing their conjoined hands, both holding them out for Anya to shake, hoping maybe it'd help make the truce better. However, when the older woman only stares down at their hands, they awkwardly retract them back.

Clarke sighs. "I think we got off to a rough start, but we wanna find a way to live together in peace."

"I understand. You started a war that you don't know how to end." Anya states.

Y/n shakes her head, confused. "What? No. We didn't start anything. You attacked us for no reason."

"No reason?" Anya repeats in question. "The missiles you launched burned a village to the ground."

"The flares? No. That was a signal meant for our families. We had no idea--" Clarke informs.

"You're invaders." Anya cuts her off. "Your ship landed in our territory."

"We didn't know anyone was here. We thought the ground was uninhabited." Y/n replies.

"You knew we were here when you sent an armed raiding party to capture one of us and torture him." Anya reminds, making them sigh. "These are all acts of war."

Y/n nods. "I see your point."

"We both do." Clarke agrees, grabbing her sister's hand. "That's why we need to put an end to all of this."

"Lincoln said there are more of you coming down, warriors." Anya recalls.

"The guard, yes, but also farmers, doctors, engineers. We can help each other but not if we're at war." Clarke tells her.

"Can you promise that these new arrivals won't attack us, that they'll respect the terms you two and I agree on?" Anya questions.

"We promise that we will do everything we can to convince them to honor the terms that we set." Y/n reassures.

"Why would I agree to an alliance that your people can break the moment they get here?" Anya asks.

"If you fire the first shot, those people coming down won't bother negotiating. Our technology-- They will wipe you out." Y/n informs.

Anya smirks. "They wouldn't be the first to try."

The sisters held each others hands again as Finn, Octavia and Lincoln all watched from the other side of the bridge, sharing glances, Finn being tense the entire time upon seeing how Anya practically glared down at the Griffin sisters, the Collins boy only wanting to walk forward and grab the girl he deeply cared about.

"Clarke, Y/n, run!" Jasper's voice suddenly shouts.

The two girls turned to face the sound of the familiar voice just in time to see Jasper running out from the bushes and shooting at the trees behind Anya and the two grounders. Next thing they knew, arrows and spears were being shot in their direction and their friends direction. Lincoln immediately pushed Octavia behind him, standing in front of her protectively while Finn began to run to the two girls in front of Anya.

The said leader of the grounders brought out a knife and went to go stab Y/n who was closest to her, however, a bullet had hit her right in the arm which Y/n had taken notice it had been Bellamy the one who shot it to which she gives him a grateful nod. Still holding her twin's hand, Clarke pulled Y/n down with her, both dodging two arrows that had been shot from the trees in their direction.

Once making it to the Griffin twins, Finn grabbed ahold of both their arms and pulled them up with him, the three running back to Lincoln and Octavia. As Anya had hopped back onto her horse and turned back around, the two grounders followed her but one of them held a bow and arrow as he shot it in Octavia and Lincoln's direction, the grounder jumping in front of the girl, causing the arrow to land in his shoulder.

Octavia gasps in panic. "Oh, my God! Lincoln! You've been hit."

"It's just a scratch." Lincoln reassures, pulling the arrow out just as Y/n, Clarke and Finn run over to them. "Okay. Run. Don't stop till you get behind your walls. Go! Take her!"

"Lincoln, no!" Octavia yells while the others pull her with them.

"Go!" Lincoln shouts.

With that, the four teenagers all run off, soon meeting up with Bellamy, Jasper and Raven before they all continue forward and away from the bridge and the grounders.

A few hours go by as the group still found themselves running, soon stopping outside of camp and stopping, knowing they were finally safe as no grounders would come to them after what happened on the bridge. While all of them were panting heavily from running so long, Finn was glancing between Y/n, Bellamy and Clarke.

"You got something to say?" Bellamy questions.

"Yeah. I told you guys no guns!" Finn reminds while looking at the Griffin sisters.

"We told you we couldn't trust trust the grounders." Clarke fires back.

"We were right." Y/n adds.

"Why didn't you tell me what you were up to?" Raven asks her best friend.

"I tried, but you were too busy making bullets for your gun." Finn snaps.

"You're lucky she brought that!" Bellamy intervenes. "They came there to kill you, Finn."

"You don't know that. Jasper fired the first shot!" Finn argues, gesturing to the said boy.

"You ruined everything." Octavia states as she looks to Jasper.

"I saved you!" Jasper calls as the girl started walking back to camp. "You're welcome."

The others watch as Octavia made her way back into the camp, Jasper pushing past them and going back inside as well, leaving them outside.

"Well, if we weren't at war already, we sure as hell are now. You didn't have to trust the grounders. You just had to trust me." Finn states, mainly staring right at Y/n.

Sighing, the boy pushes past them and stomps back into camp like Octavia and Jasper with Raven trailing behind him, leaving Bellamy, Y/n and Clarke all outside.

"Like I said, best Unity Day ever." Bellamy repeats sarcastically.

Hearing an explosion type sound fill his eardrums, Bellamy looks over and up at the sky, the twins noticing his gaze and following, seeing a bright light up in the night sky. Immediately, the three of them recognized it as the Exodus ship.

"Your mom's early." Bellamy tells them.

The Griffin twins smile as they held each others hands, watching as the ship continued going down. However, their smiles were soon replaced with frowns when they took notice of how fast it was going and how there was no parachute. Next thing they knew, the Exodus ship crash landed on the ground miles away, a large explosion happening, no doubt killing the people inside.

Including, Abby Griffin.

Tears pricking their eyes, Y/n fell down to her knees with Clarke following right behind her as Bellamy stepped towards them, Clarke's grip tightening a bit on her sister's hand as they thought of their mother on the ship.