CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:

"LEAVE ME?"

The trash chute in Mount Weather was dark and dirty as the occasional grunts of the group of four could be heard, their voices echoing throughout the trash chute but no one in Mount Weather walked by to notice that three sky people and one of their own people were crawling through the trash chute and back into the hallways of the mountain they lived in.

Fortunately, as Jasper opened up the door of the trash chute, climbing out before helping Maya out, the hallways were clear since everyone was on level five in the main room area Jasper and the others always hung out at before they knew what Mount Weather actually wanted from them and took it without their consent.

Octavia was quick to climb out with Y/n being the last person and just as she jumped out, Jasper turned back to the trash chute and closed it, letting Maya take off her headpiece of her hazmat suit she had been wearing, loud gasps escaping past her mouth as she leaned against the wall, gladly accepting the air back into her lungs. As Jasper was right by her side, the other two girls walked on each side of the hall to make sure there was no one around.

"She's safe. Could we go now?" Y/n asks, glancing between her friend and the girl he cares for.

Maya rests her hand on Jasper's shoulder when she noticed his hesitant face. "I'll be okay."

"I'm not leaving you." Jasper protests, causing Y/n and Octavia to look over at him. "She's alive, but she's not safe."

"Cage knows I helped you guys. He's on level five." Maya tells them.

Octavia sighs. "So what do we do?"

"We kill Cage." Jasper replies.

Y/n nods, a determined expression coming onto her face. "I'm in."

"Me, too." Octavia agrees.

After agreeing with them about killing Cage Wallace, the president of Mount Weather, and the one who was deciding if the sky people died for them to live or not, Maya had gotten out of her hazmat suit and left the three in the hallway, searching for a guard of the mountain, Sergeant Lee, who was on their side and didn't agree with Cage Wallace's actions.

As the minutes went by, Jasper found himself panicking when he thought that Maya was taking too long, pacing back and forth as he worried about the girl. Meanwhile, Octavia was crouched with her back against the wall while Y/n stood across from her, her hands playing with her metal figurine of a two-headed deer, that she always kept in her pocket, in her glove covered hands, not bothering to say a word.

Jasper shakes his head. "This is taking too long. I mean, what if she got caught?"

"We'd have heard something." Octavia assures.

"Then what if she couldn't find Sergeant Lee or-- I don't know-- the protocol changed? What if he got caught?" Jasper continues, his eyes widening as his thoughts ran wild.

"Jasper, warrior doesn't worry about what he can't control." Octavia informs, remembering those words being told to her and Y/n.

Just then, the sound of Maya's voice and the door in front of them opening made the Jordan boy spin around to see Maya step inside with Sergeant Lee behind her. Without a thought, the brunette rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Maya, glad she was okay and alive and hadn't been caught.

When the sound of a gun cocking filled their ears, they pulled away to see Sergeant Lee's gun aimed at Y/n and Octavia, the girls holding their swords as they glared right back into his eyes. Quickly, Maya pushed his hand down, demanding him to put it down and away but he still held it in his hand.

"You didn't say there were outsiders with you." Lee recalls.

Jasper raises his hand, stepping in front of his friends. "They're not outsiders."

"Yes, they are." Y/n murmurs.

"They're with us." Maya tells the guard before turning to the three. "Cage is in the dorms. They brought another group in from the Ark, more marrow. They're not even trying to fix the dam."

"How many soldiers with Cage?" Jasper questions.

"Uh, six. Why?" Lee asks back.

Jasper hands his gun to Maya. "Just get me close. They'll be happy you found another eight doses. I need a--"

However, the boy stopped himself when Y/n twisted a knife in her hand, holding it out towards him, knowing exactly what he wanted. Listening to hers and Octavia's instructions about aiming for the throat, the boy slowly takes it from the Griffin girl's hand before putting it into his pocket, making sure it was hidden well so they wouldn't see it. Lee stepped forward, placing handcuffs around his wrists before walking to the door as Maya stepped towards the brunette.

In the corner of her eye as she kept an eye out around the hallways, Y/n took notice of Maya leaning towards Jasper and pressing a peck to his lips, more to the corner of his mouth and after that, the Jordan boy walked away after telling her one last thing and joined Lee at the doors, leaving the three girls to themselves. For minutes, the three were in the same hallway together as they waited for Lee to get back. Y/n found herself near the doors, staring through the window while Octavia stood beside her. Like Jasper had been doing before, Maya was pacing back and forth, playing with her hands.

Maya lets out a shaky breath. "Long way from the Ark, huh?"

"Not my Ark. I didn't have a view, either." Octavia recalls.

"Still, I wish I could see it." Maya admits.

"Maybe you can." Y/n suggests after a moment. "There's an airlock. We used it to hold Emerson. All we have to do is get you there, and--"

"So I could live in a cell?" Maya questions, but a small smile laid on her face, showing that she appreciated the girl's suggestion.

Y/n shrugs. "At least you could live."

Just then, the sound of a door slamming open ruined the silent moment between the three as their heads snap to the sound to see a girl and a boy stepping inside, their lips latched onto one another's as the girl's back was soon pressed against the wall. Neither of them noticed the three standing there until they pulled away for a brief moment and the boy opened his eyes, his gaze landing right on Octavia and Y/n. The girl followed his gaze when she noticed the panic in his gaze and the young couple were stumbling back, shouts escaping them in order to catch the guards attention.

Maya found herself trying to hold back Octavia, then Y/n when the brunette rushed by her, both girls determined to try and get the couple to be quiet by at least knocking them out before any guards came and spotted them. However, Maya wasn't able to hold them back as they both ran right by her, turning the corner just in time to see the young couple speeding towards two guards. Being the first one, Octavia throws her sword towards one of the guards, the blade lodging into his chest.

Right behind her, Y/n slid along the floor, her feet kicking the other guards knee, causing him to fall to his knees. Just as he went to reach for his gun, ready to shoot the girls in front of him, Y/n grabbed her sword and swung it at him, slashing his neck, making his blood splatter on the wall. As both girls grabbed their swords, they found themselves looking back over at Maya just when deep voices shouting caught their attention and a group of guards turned the corner, aiming their guns at the three, but more Y/n and Octavia.

Quickly, the three were running off and soon in the main room area of level five where the civilians of the mountain were at. They all stepped back at the sight of the two girls dressed as grounders. Eventually, the girls were surrounded by the guards as they slowly raised their hands when the guns were all pointed at them. It wasn't long before their hands were grabbing them, pushing them to the ground. However, after a minute or so, alarms blared throughout the place just when the grips were released from them. The guards and everyone else were letting out coughs as their skin started to blister, making the two sky girls share a glance.

They did it.

Looking over to Maya, Y/n caught sight of the girl being like everyone else and quickly, she held her up and in her arms as she reassured her she'd be okay. But both of them knew she wouldn't be, but Maya felt nice even just hearing the words. When the door to the room opened and Jasper was rushing inside, the brunette was quick to fall to his knees and take Maya from Y/n's arms, both her and Octavia watching as tears began to fall from his brown eyes as he stared down at the girl he had grown to care for, to love, since he had been brought her.

They knew that the people who were willing to kill their own for them to live on the ground, just for them to most likely die when they go outside by the grounders and the nature that they've never seen, deserved this but Maya had been on their side the entire time, even if she didn't know half of them and only knew Jasper and Monty and maybe a few others in the mountain. Maya didn't deserve this.

"I'm here." Jasper assures, a small sob escaping him. "She was innocent."

"None of us is innocent." Maya breathes out in a shaky breath.

The girl let out a few more shaky breathes before she was laying limp in Jasper Jordan's arms. Adding to the sound of the alarms blaring through the mountain, the boy's sobs filled Y/n and Octavia's ears as they knelt beside the now lifeless Maya Vie. Y/n hadn't even noticed her hand stayed on Maya's shoulder when Jasper held her, the pad of her thumb subconsciously rubbing her clothed covered shoulder. She didn't even realize she continued to do it, even when Maya couldn't feel it anymore.

So many people died for this. Remembering their people down in the dorm, Octavia placed her hand on her friend's shoulder, knowing they needed to go free them. Nodding, Y/n stood up, leaving Jasper to himself to hold the girl he loved in his arms as they ran off and down in the direction of the dorm. Soon enough, they were pulling the doors open, revealing their people and the lifeless guards inside. Marcus Kane was the first to call them over, ushering them to grab the keys from the guards. Just as she went to do that, Y/n's gaze stopped at the sight of her mother in the chair.

Without a thought, she was right by her mother's side with Kane eventually right beside her as Octavia was freeing the others. Slowly, Abby's eyes opened at the sound of Kane's voice, her gaze immediately going to her daughter. At the sight of one of her daughters, a tired smile came onto her face as Y/n and Kane quickly unstrapped her from the chair, helping her up in a sitting position.

When she was sitting up, Y/n wrapped her arms around her mother as they held one another. At the sound of footsteps and Kane stepping back a bit, Abby looks over to see her other daughter standing there and she grabbed her hand. Kane held a little smile as he watched the mother and two daughters hug each other tightly and at the moment, even if she had been mad and angry at her before, Y/n was glad her sister was okay and Clarke felt the same.

"I tried." Clarke breathes out when they pulled away. "I tried to be the good guy."

Abby shakes her head. "Maybe there are no good guys."

All three of them felt tears fill their eyes as they wrapped their arms around each other like they had done before. Even if it was muffled, Abby heard and felt Y/n let out a sob against her shoulder as a few tears left past her eyes. She almost lost her mother. She lost the love of her life and have lost half of her people. She couldn't lose anyone else.

The sun was up, the civilians of the Ark all venturing around Camp Jaha as they spoke to one another and did their jobs. The guards could be seen with their guns in their hands as they kept an eye out for any threats that could be seen. However, the gate was open as they let their group of civilians inside the camp. People inside the camp were rushing around, searching for their kids that had been trapped in Mount Weather and when they saw them, they rushed forward and held their children tight in their arms.

Abby could be seen on a makeshift stretcher as some guards carried it, Kane being one of them. Trailing behind Lincoln and Octavia, Y/n glanced around the camp she hadn't been at in so long. As she looked around, she met Bellamy's eyes while passing through the gate, seeing him give her a small smile. In response, she gave a tired one back before joining everyone else in the camp, eventually making herself beside her mother as she knelt down on her knees to check if she were okay.

Cage Wallace was dead. After abandoning his people and the mountain he grew up on, he had gone outside, determined to live outside like he always wanted. However, he didn't last long when he had ran into Lincoln and was killed by the grounders. He hadn't known about the threats outside and what the sky people had gone through since they landed on the ground, but when his life was slowly fading and his hand had been cut off, it was a short moment he knew what they had gone through before he died.

Looking up and towards the gate, Y/n stood up when she caught sight of her sister and Bellamy hugging one another before the blonde was turning around and beginning to walk off, away from Camp Jaha. Without hesitation, the youngest Griffin twin rushed over to the gate, her sister's name leaving her lips through a slight yell as she passed Bellamy, who looked at her with a frown. Slowly, Clarke stopped in her tracks as she turned around to face her sister, a frown evident on her face.

"Where are you going?" Y/n asks through a pant when she stopped in front of her sister.

Clarke frowns, shaking her head. "I can't go in there, Y/n."

"So you're just gonna leave?" Y/n breathes out, feeling her eyes water. "Leave our friends? Our mom? Leave me?"

"I'm sorry." Clarke whispers, trying so hard to not let her bottom lip quiver.

"Please come inside." Y/n pleas.

Shaking her head in response, the blonde steps forward and wraps her arms around her sister and holds her close. A sniffle escaping her, Y/n does the same after a couple seconds, knowing that Clarke wasn't gonna come inside. The words 'I'm sorry' leaves past the blonde's lips again as they held each other.

And it wasn't just a sorry for leaving, it was a sorry for everything that has happened. Sorry for not seeing her as the same person she was after the incident in Tondc, sorry for not telling her the truth, sorry for not being able to save the love of her life, sorry for just standing there and being forced to watch her be tortured.

"Be safe. Please." Y/n whispers through a shaky breath.

Clarke sadly smiles. "You, too. May we meet again."

And for a couple more seconds, they were holding each other before the Griffin sisters pulled away and with that, Clarke slowly turned around and walked off, leaving her sister to watch her leave. Wiping her nose with her glove covered hand, Y/n turned around in the direction of the Camp Jaha and began making her way over, seeing Bellamy had stayed at the gate, waiting for her. The Blake boy held out his arm towards her, ready to go in together. As he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she wrapped her arm around his torso, they ventured inside the camp together.

Even through it all, she knew she had her friends and her mother.

But she wished she had him.