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chapter twenty-five, The Primes

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"What's wrong? Why aren't they moving?" Jordan asks as him, Raven, Octavia, Abby and a women who boarded their ship rushes towards the 4 unconscious people on the ground, Clarke, Nova, Bellamy and Murphy. "Clarke-- they're alive. Honey, wake up" Abby says as she feels their pulse and looks down at her daughter.

"Nova, Nova" Octavia calls out as she puts her sword away and bent down to Nova who slowly started to wake up. "Octavia?" Nova mumbles as she looks up and sees Octavia looking down at her. Nova looks around and sees Clarke next to her mother, "Clarke" Nova calls out and grabs ahold of Clarke's hand and Clarke tightens the grip and looks at Nova with a relieved smile.

"Where are the others?" Jordan asks and Clarke breathes heavily and looks over at Jordan. "Locked up to protect us" Clarke answers and Raven steps forward and looks to Clarke. "What happened to Shaw?" Raven asks but Clarke doesn't tell her she just simply looks away from her. Nova sits up and holds her head which is aching but it fades away quickly. "Abby? What the hell is she doing here...and who is that?" Bellamy asks as he looks over to see his sister who is excited to see him but he doesn't feel the same way.

"John, wake up. Come on now. His pulse is too weak" Abby says as she walks over and checks on John. Nova notices something on Murphy's neck and slides over to him and pulls his shirt down. "Um- What the hell is this?" Nova asks looking to Abby who looks just as confused as Nova. Abby shakes her head and shrugs lol at the black veins forming on Murphy's chest. "I don't know" Abby answers honestly. In the distance children are heard shouting and the sound gets closer and closer. Nova furrows her eyebrows and looks around and sees a crowd of children rush up the stairs laughing and smiling.

They come across Nova's group and stop before they get any closer. "It's okay, Rose. Don't be afraid" The women says to the children as they look down at her handcuffs. Rose turns her head towards the invaders and takes a step closer to them. "Are you here to take us home?" The little girl asks and everyone looks around at each other confused. "Isn't this your home?" Clarke asks but doesn't get a response except the children begin to walk closer and Nova takes a step back not knowing what to do until a group of adults walks up the stairs. Some look like guards and some look like people of the community. The way they are dressed shocks Nova. They look elegant and expensive wearing amazing jewelry, scarves and clean clothes.

"What do we do?" Nova asks and Bellamy looks to his people. "Remember, we're in their home. Everyone keep calm and weapons down" Bellamy orders and Nova doesn't bother to lift her sword up off the guard while she looks at the crowd of people walking into their land. "Abby, stay with Murphy" Bellamy states and Abby continues to stay by Murphy side while Nova hears whispers come from the other crowd.

"Rose get away from them!" a women shouts as she walks up. A crowd of people walk up with spears ready to attack the invaders on there land. Clarke lifts her hands up in surrender which makes Nova and other people do it as well. "Hey, It's okay. We're from Earth. We come in peace" Clarke calls out and the guards stop in there place with there spears ready. The children rush in the crowd finding there parents so they're safe while a women walks up to the other women Nova's people had in handcuffs.

"Kaylee, where have you been? Where's your family?" The women asked concerned while walking up to Kaylee. "They killed them" Kaylee answers and Nova scoffs. "We're off to a great start" Nova says putting her hands down. Nova hears a loud gasp from behind her and sees Murphy beginning to seize. "No, not now, not now. He's seizing" Abby calls out and puts Murphy onto his side. "Help us, please. Our friend's dying" Clarke shouts and bends down towards Murphy checking his pulse. "He's not breathing" Clarke mumbles and Abby begins pumping his chest.

"Let me pass!" A male voice shouts and the crowd of people spilt into two indicating he's definitely there leader. "Move them back" the leader orders and his guards begin pushing Nova, Clarke and Abby away with there spears. "I'm going" Nova calls out pushing the spear away as she backs away. "What are you doing? He'll die" Abby states as she tries to stay by Murphy's side as he not breathing.

"You want my help or not?" the man says and Clarke and Abby back away so the man bends down and lifts Murphy's shirt seeing all of the veins. He looks up at Abby and sighs, "He's already dead. Fortunately for him, death is not the end. Cillian..." The man says and calls another one of his men over and begins whispering to the man Cillian. Cillian walks over with his medical bag and bends down towards Murphy looking down at him before pulling a snake out of a bowl and places it near Murphy.

"We call it Kepa-She, means hideous snake in Chinese" The man explains and Nova watches as the snake pierces it's tongue into Murphy's skin. "Woah" Nova mumbles and covers her mouth as she watches. "Trust me, I know, but the venom degrades too quickly to deliver it in any other form" Cillian explains and Nova watches as the snake thing begins to work and remove the venom from Murphy's body which makes the veins start to go away. "Amazing, Isn't it? Its curative properties were discovered during one of the earliest red suns. Poison made the demon Gabriel believe he could walk on water. The Kepa-She bit him, and the toxin from the seaweed had no effect" The leader explains to his people and Nova's and Nova furrows her eyebrows at his words but is soon interrupted by Murphy letting out a loud gasp of air.

"He's breathing" Clarke says as she touches Murphy's face and a smile creeps up on her face. "Well done, Cillian. Now lock them up" The man orders and his guards start walking near Clarke and her group. "What?" Nova questions looking around until a guard snatches her up by her arm. "Hey! Careful! Let me go!" Nova shouts trying to fight the hold but it's impossible. "Wait. Where are you taking us?" Clarke asks and Nova snatches her arm away from the man and begins walking herself. "We didn't do anything wrong. Get off me" Clarke begs but the group is still dragged into there own housing unit as a group on the man's orders.

"Why is he not waking up?" Bellamy asks and Abby sighs, "He will" Abby says and Nova walks away from the group and sits at her own table and puts her head down until she hears someone take a seat across from her. Nova puts her head up and sees Raven sitting in front of her.

"Since no one will answer me and I feel like you're the only person who can be honest with me right now, What happened to Shaw?" Raven asks slamming her hand on the table trying to scare Nova but it doesn't work and Nova looks at her unfazed. "He ran into a radiation fence like an idiot. Clarke got him out of it but not in time. He told us to tell you that you deserve happiness even if you don't think you do" Nova states and Raven looks to her as a tear slides down her cheek.

Nova gets distracted and hears a door open and sees 4 people walk in. 2 women and a man along with a guard. "Welcome, friends. If it's true you survived the red sun, then you need a drink" The man says walking up to Clarke with a tray of cups.

"Please" Nova says as she leaves Raven alone at the table and walks over and takes a cup. "Thank you" Nova says sending the man a smile before walking away and sitting next to Octavia. "That's amazing. What is it?" Jordan asks as he sips downs his drink in one go. "We call it--" The younger girl speaks but is interrupted by the older women. "Delilah..." the women warns and Delilah sighs, "Relax, Mother. I don't think they'll steal your recipe. We call it Jo Juice after Josephine Prime. Hallowed be her name" Delilah says and Nova sips her drink until Delilah lifts up another one. " Then we call this one Vi Juice. Lame name but nothing went with Violet but we named it after Violet Miller. Once of the strongest primes. Hallowed be her name" Delilah says like she's worshipping them every-time they say there names.

"What's a prime?" Nova asks as she sets her cup down and stands to her feet. "Sanctum was colonized by a team from Earth made up of four families -- the primes. Their blood rules us still" Delilah explains and Nova furrows her eyebrows. "What about Violet? Why is she the strongest prime?" Nova asks and Delilah smiles, "You see Violet didn't have a family. She didn't need one" Delilah says and Nova nods her head slowly thinking this place isn't half bad.

"Make way for the primes!" A guard shouts in the distance as the doors open revealing a man and a women. The man from before aka there leader and Nova guessed the women next to him was something like a queen. "Which one's the pilot?" There leader asks and Kaylee points to Raven which catches her attention as guards walk up and try to take her away. "Stop. Did I say to take her?" The man asks and the guards take a step away from Raven.

"Look. If this is about what happened on the mothership, your people stole our transport and then boarded us by force. My people were just defending themselves" Clarke says stepping to the man. "Lies. She wasn't there. We hurt no one" Kaylee argues but quiets down once the man begins talking again. "What's your name?" The man asks and Clarke looks him up and down. "Clarke Griffin. What's yours?" she asks and the women who came in with him answers for him.

"He is Russell Lightborne, seventh of his line, savior of Sanctum, and you will bow before using his name" The women demands and Nova scoffs. "Bow? What is this place?" Nova questions looking the women up and down. "My wife's a stickler for protocol, but she knows you can't observe customs that you're unaware of. You have questions, understandably, and we'll get to them all, but first, we need your transport ship to be flown into Sanctum. You can land in one of the lower fields" Russel speaks and Nova crosses her arms over her chest and walks up beside Clarke.

"Why? What's out there?" Abby asks. "There are worse things in this world than eclipse-induced psychosis. All of them are outside the shield, and the worst of them would love to get their hands on the weapons Kaylee says are on your ship" Russel wife explains. "Why are we asking for permission? My family is on that ship" Kaylee states. "Which is why you'll be on the team sent to retrieve them" Russel says and Kaylee looks absolutely scared to leave again. "What, now you're afraid to leave the shield?" Russel asks harshly and Kaylee shakes her head. "I told you, we were late for shelter when we saw that ship. Either we took it or we suffered the red sun" Kaylee argues as Clarke walks over to her mom.

"What? You woke her?" Clarke says aloud which grabs everyone's attention and makes Nova turn her head in Clarke's direction. "Never-mind. Raven will fly the ship. But we're going too" Clarke orders and Raven scoffs. "Didn't realize you were giving the orders again, Clarke" Raven argues and Nova rolls her eyes at Raven's comment.

"Fine. Choose your most disposable people. It's time to go" Russel says and Clarke steps forward. "You don't strike me as disposable" Russel points out raising his hand. Nova puts his hand down and looks to him. "No one here is disposable" Nova says as Russel's wife walks up and snatches Nova's hand away. "Listen, my child is out there, so I'm going to get her" Clarke argues and tries to step past Russel but Russel stops her once again.

"Please. We have things to discuss. Are you the leader of your people, or not?" Russel asks and silent falls upon the group. "She is the leader and has been for a long time. Some people might be too coward to admit but she can speak for us" Nova answers looking to Russel who looks amongst the group. "Good. You can escort your team to the steps. The rest of you will remain here, well-cared-for till we can decide what to do with you" Russel says before him, his wife, the primes and the guards leave the room.

"Raven, Echo" Bellamy calls out and Raven and Echo walk over to Bellamy ready to go. "Octavia, let's go" Echo says as her, Raven and Octavia leave the room first. "What about me?" Nova asks looking to Bellamy. "Echo chose Octavia. I would like it to be you but it's not" Bellamy says before him and Clarke go off to the side and have a talk.

"Great" Nova says as she slumps down in her seat. Delilah walks over and hands Nova another drink which she takes carefully. "Thanks" Nova says as she downs the drink in one go.