Into The Woods- Bellamy Blake

Chapter 21

Ember would never have imagined that she would have killed one of her friends. Finn had been there for her since the day they had met, and continued to be there until the day he died. In return, she had killed him.

"Tell me I did the right thing." She whispered, looking up at Clarke, instead of at her shaking hands. "They- they would have tortured him." She continued, her voice trembling, breaking her facade. The reality of the situation had come to her then, how many Grounders she must have pissed off, breaking tradition by killing Finn.

Clarke sat down beside her, her face puffy from recently crying. "You saved him a lot of pain." She told her, reaching out and hugging Ember when the girl let out a sob, looking down at her hand again. "You did what you needed to do."

Ember sniffled, not wanting to cry, knowing that a Grounder would being coming to get the two at any moment. "Would you have done the same?"

Slowly nodding, Clarke ran her hand through Ember's hair. "If Raven had given the blade to me instead, I would have done it." Clarke told her, both sniffling. Ember sat up and ran her fingers underneath her eyes, getting rid of any evidence of crying.

One of Lexa's men made their way into the tent, and Clarke grabbed Ember's hand in support. "The Commander is ready to talk." Ember stood up, nodding slowly. Abby and Kane walked in, along with a few of Lexa's consultants. Abby pulled Clarke into a hug, who didn't let go of Ember's hand, both needing the support.

Lexa sat down in her throne, and Ember and the others turned to look at her. "Blood has answered blood." She said. "Some on my side say that's not enough. They wanted the murderer to suffer as our tradition demands." Lexa looked over to Ember. "But they do not know that your suffering will be worse. What you did tonight will haunt you until the end of your days." Ember didn't back down, continuing to look at Lexa with as much strength as she could. "Still, there will be restitution. The body will be given to the people of Tondc. Murderer and murdered joined by fire. Only then can we have peace."

"No, no. We've done enough." Kane said. "The boy should be buried by his people."

"Enough?" Indra asked, looking at them with anger. "We were owed the pain of 18 deaths. We were owed our righteous kill. My village deserves justice."

"You don't want justice." Abby said, Ember looking over at her slowly. "You want vengeance."

"You have not seen my vengeance." Indra said, taking a step forward.

"We'll do it." Ember said, ending the argument, as both of them turned to look at her, and Clarke set out a sigh. "But when it's over, we talk about how to get our people out of Mount Weather. All of our people."

"We want the same things, Ember." Lexa said.

"Good." Ember replied. "When do we leave?"

"Now." She stood up. "Choose your attendants." Lexa and the Grounders let, and Ember lost her good posture immediately.

"Ember, you don't have to do this." Abby told her.

"Yes, we do." Clarke said softly for the both of them. "If this truce doesn't hold, Finn died for nothing." Clarke turned to Ember. "Ready?" She asked slowly.

Ember nodded, letting Clarke lead her out of the tent.

Ember stopped suddenly when they saw Raven kneeling by Finn's body. She didn't want to move any closer, knowing that if she was in Raven's place, she wouldn't want to be anywhere near her. Ember already felt like she agreed with Raven, wishing she was anyone else, and hating herself.