havoc | bellamy blake (book two)

9 | not the way

"What happened to Lincoln?" Jovie asked Octavia after pulling her aside. When Murphy had asked, she had simply replied that he was gone. Jovie needed more of an answer than that. Lincoln had saved her. He was important to Octavia, so he was important to Jovie too.

"I don't know," Octavia replied. "He was taken, but I don't know what happened to him."

"Taken? Taken by who?" Jovie asked. Maybe whoever took Lincoln took their friends too.

"Reapers," Octavia said. Jovie frowned as she stared at the ground. If Reapers took him, then it was highly likely that he could be dead. She didn't want to think that way though so she shook it out of her head and looked back up to Octavia.

"You okay, O?" She asked. Octavia tried to look unaffected but Jovie could see how much she was hurting. Before Octavia could reply, Bellamy walked over again.

"Are you guys ready?" He asked.

"I'm not coming back with you," Jovie told him.

"What do you mean?" He asked in confusion.

"I'm going with Finn," she clarified. "I can't let him do this alone." He would do it whether he had someone with him or not, and she would rather him not do it by himself. He could get attacked by Grounders at any moment. But she was also worried about what he would do, especially if he couldn't find Clarke. He was already close to losing his mind, so she had to be there for him. She had promised him that she would be there for him. She couldn't go back on that.

"Okay," Bellamy said, which surprised Jovie a bit. He must have noticed the look of surprise on her face because he let out a small laugh. "Come on, Jo, we all know you were gonna go whether I said yes or not," he pointed out. He had learned that he could try to hold her back, but she would never be controlled. She had a mind of her own and would not let anyone make a decision for her. It just made it easier for him to support her in those decisions, whether he liked it or not.

"You're right," she replied with a laugh. She leaned in to give him a hug goodbye, slightly nervous that something would happen and she wouldn't see him again. That had become a fear of hers since realizing that she was in love with him. This world was unpredictable. She used to love mysteries and embracing the unknown, and now she was afraid of it because it meant not knowing what would happen to him.

"Be careful, okay?" He said as he held her to his chest.

"You too," she said. She debated whether or not to say her next words, mostly because Octavia was still standing next to them, but then she figured if she didn't then she would probably regret it. "I love you."

"I love you too," he replied.

"Wow, okay, you guys are just adorable," Octavia commented with a smirk.

"Oh my God, I'm leaving now," Jovie said as her cheeks burned up in embarrassment. The two Blake's just laughed at her as she moved past them, running to catch up with Finn. Finn gave her a confused look when she strolled up next to him. "What? You think I was gonna let you do this alone, Spacewalker?"

"Probably should have expected it from you, Blondie," he replied. She smiled when he called her by her nickname. He hadn't used it in a while and hearing it gave her some hope that the Finn that she knew was still in there. An arm randomly flung over her shoulder and she was about to instinctively shake off whoever it was when she realized it was just her brother.

"What the hell?" She asked. "What're you doing?"

"You didn't think I'd miss out on the fun, did you?" He said. She shrugged his arm over her shoulder, not in a malicious way but rather in a way that she just found it difficult to walk with him holding onto her like that.

"This isn't fun, John," she reminded him. "This is saving our friends."

"That's pretty fun in my eyes," he replied. She rolled her eyes, giving him a light shove before walking ahead to catch up with Finn again.

♛

As they started to get closer, Jovie realized that she recognized the area. They were going to the village that she had been watching. Tondc.

"Wait, this doesn't seem right," she spoke up at the realization. The two boys looked over at her, confused at what she was talking about. "These are the people I had been spying on. They're not the warriors, mostly not anyway. There's children and old people here. Don't you think it'd be a strange place to keep prisoners?"

"This is where the Grounder told us they were," Finn said. Jovie wanted to remind him that he could have been lying, but she didn't think Finn would listen to her. He had to see for himself that they weren't here.

"Alright," she said. Finn wasn't going to give this up, so she just had to make sure they did this the right way. "But we have to be smart about this." The two boys nodded their heads, though Jovie noticed the hesitation in Finn. She would have to make sure to keep an eye on him.

Jovie took the lead as she snuck through the woods to get a closer look at the village. She had already gathered some information about Tondc, so she would use that to figure out if their friends were here and how they could get them out if they were. Once they were close enough, they all knelt down. Finn pulled out the gun that Bellamy had given him and looked through the scope as Murphy did the same with his. Part of Jovie wished she had taken one just to be able to use it to see better.

"I count 26," Finn said.

"I got 28," Murphy said. "Jo's right. These people don't look like warriors, Finn. And there's kids. Old people. There's nothing big enough here to hold our friends."

"They could be underground. We wait till dark. Then we go in," Finn decided.

"We go in? Finn, we don't even know if our people are here yet," Murphy argued.

"They're here. Or they were when that Grounder took Clarke's watch," Finn urged. He was so hellbent on finding Clarke that he didn't even want to listen to logic. He was just going all-in with his emotions. Jovie had a feeling it wouldn't end well.

"What if we're too late, huh? They're probably already dead. We need to... take it easy," Murphy said.

"How much ammo do we have?" Finn asked.

"Violence is not the way, not here. We get in, we get out. No blood shed unless it is absolutely necessary. Understand?" Jovie snapped. These people were of no threat to them. They could do this without killing anyone, as long as they went about it the right way.

"You know, I think I liked you better as a peacemaker," Murphy mumbled to Finn before they settled down to wait until it got dark.