Armstice

26th April, around midday at the same time

Tension was in the air. Electricity was building in the atmosphere like before a thunderstorm, the likes of which most of those present hadn't seen in years. Bellamy, Madi, Echo and the others looked into the terrified eyes of the Eligius prisoners who had just surrendered to them. They had been surrounded by Wonkru forces, and now they had no choice but to retreat or continue their fight, unless they had a death wish. Their terrified gazes were directed at the young girl, who only reached up to the bearded man's chest, and who turned out to be the leader of this huge army. Some of them remembered that she had walked through this village less than 24 hours ago. They couldn't believe their eyes. All those present had just witnessed the discussion between the girl and the man, which left them in fear and disbelief.

He wanted to spare her life, intervened on her behalf even though they were enemies, and ordered the troops to stop firing, ignoring the girl's orders. Even though the girl had screamed in an unknown language, she must have demanded or ordered her immediate death. And now she stood there, pondering his words. Their lives depended on the decision of the girl, the man called 'Heda'.

Madi reluctantly ignored the voices in her head. Even though Lexa's voice was the loudest. Lexa was screaming at her to listen to Bellamy, to show mercy and to dictate the conditions under which the prisoners would become members of her people. A revolting idea. She needed time to think. She remembered the conversation she and Bellamy had just had. In addition to the voices of the commanders, she now heard Bellamy's words. And her own.

"Kill them all," Madi heard her own voice shouting in a chorus with the voices of several other commanders in her head. In contrast, the voices of Bellamy, Becca, and Lexa rose up against her, their chorus telling her to spare their lives. She heard Bellamy's "Whoa, stop. Hold your fire" as he confronted her in front of everyone. Her own troops. Willing to disobey Madi's order. But she let him because Clarke trusted him. Because he was her friend. At least she hoped so, after everything that had happened.

Madi found herself looking at him in disbelief. Angry and upset. She still couldn't understand why he was so eager to spare their lives. He had disobeyed her orders and even openly defied her in front of the others. "Kill him too," she heard a voice shout. Whenever Madi had an inner conflict, the commanders would come up and raise their voices, trying to guide her. But her strong will sometimes proved to be an impenetrable barrier. Most of the time, she didn't even hear their voices. In fact, they were annoying. But they seemed to get quieter every time she refused to take the other one. Only Lexa's voice was constant, always at the same volume.

"They surrendered. It's over," she heard Bellamy explain in her head.

"They killed hundreds of our people in that canyon," she told him, indignant.

"'This can't be what the flame is telling you to do,'" Bellamy's voice continued in her head. "Not all of them. But that didn't matter. Because they are not the ones to decide," Madi thought.

"I don't need the flame to tell me what to do with a bunch of criminals who invaded my home," Madi angrily told him. Hearing those words made her feel reduced to some kind of mouthpiece. She was her own person, making her own decisions. She did not need to be guided by anyone. Excerpt for Clarke. She desperately wished that Clarke's voice was the only one she could hear in her head, telling her what to do. She felt incomplete without it. Even if Bellamy's intention was not to undermine her position, she felt he didn't understand the full dimension of the situation.

"We've been here before Madi," Bellamy tried to explain, "We were the criminals. The 100. We landed in someone else's home. And we went to war. We can execute them because they are the enemy, or you can break the cycle. You can be better than them. You can be better than us." He paused and looked at everyone. His appeal was not only to Madi, but to everyone. Even the Eligius prisoners - though they had no choice - listened to his words. She remembered Clarke once telling her that Bellamy always followed his heart. A trait she deeply admired in him. Even if it sometimes led him into unsolvable and even dangerous situations.

It was too complicated. And it didn't matter. Clarke and Bellamy and the others did not come here to aggressively take anyone's land. It was a misunderstanding that led to their war with the Grounders. But McCreary and Dyoza, they came, attacked, and took Clarke and Madis' home. They took Clarke hostage and hurt her. 

"The choice is yours, Heda" His words spun through her mind. "The choice is yours, Heda," "The choice is yours, Heda," "The choice is yours, Heda."

But before Madi could delve deeper into her thoughts, a loud voice came to life over the loudspeakers scattered throughout the village.

"This is Miles Shaw. We are on the transport ship. McCreary is down. We need a medic ASAP. We need medical assistance now. We have a serious gunshot wound. Bring everyone to the clearing next to the village. We will be landing nearby.

"Clarke stopped him," Madi exclaimed euphorically. She turned her head to Bellamy and Echo. Especially Echo, who had witnessed Clarke's change of heart and their bond, couldn't help but smile. She looked at Madi, who repeated it with an even bigger smile. But at the same time, a strange feeling began to grow in her. For some reason, it sounded too good to be true. Like a fairy tale. Was it really true that Clarke had stopped McCreary without any further casualties? 

The first response to Shaw's message was a familiar voice: "This is Monty, coming to your position. We actually have some wounded here.

And as she listened to Monty's response, it suddenly hit her. It was probably Clarke who had been shot. Why else would they ask for a doctor? Clarke knew how to administer first aid. But not if she was the one who was shot.

"Give me the radio," Bellamy said, already reaching for the device strapped to her hip. His face said what Echo was thinking. Something was wrong. Without another word she untied her radio and watched him as he contacted Shaw.

"This is Bellamy, what happened? Who got shot?" He had a bad feeling that was now tearing at his guts. But he was not the only one. Echo's heart sank immediately. She already knew who the victim was.  It was Clarke. It could only be her. She looked at Madi nervously and with a heavy heart, secretly hoping it was someone else. That they were just calling a doctor for McCreary. Someone she didn't know or like. The answer came after a little hesitation, but confirmed both her fears.

"One of your friends..." He replied quickly, "We have landed nearby. We need a doctor immediately. She'll bleed out otherwise."

"What? Who? Who is it? What happened?" Bellamy yelled into the microphone. He began to feel sick. He couldn't lose a friend right now. But he didn't have time to process this shock fast enough, because this time the answer came much faster.

"The one with the blonde hair. Clarke. She got shot in the stomach when she stopped McCreary. Situation is under control, McCreary is down, but she needs help. Quickly."

"Clarke! What had she done?" His heart was beating fast. He was angry with her. Heartbroken and disappointed since she left him to die in Polis. He hadn't thought about what he would say or how he would act when he saw her. Because he didn't know what to do. He wanted to hear her explanation, even though he already had an idea of her motives. But now those thoughts or feelings seemed almost obsolete.

At the same time, Echo was stunned as well, although she had been expecting this exact message from the moment Shaw had reported that one of their friends was wounded. She was right. She instinctively reached for Madi, whose reaction came almost immediately. A high-pitched scream of pain shook the village and reached everyone present.

"NOOOOO!!!" 

Bellamy turned around, only now realizing that Madi was within earshot, listening to Shaw's radio call. She heard every word...

Echo instinctively grabbed the young girl before she fell to her knees. She held her as tightly as she could as Madi began to cry bitterly.

Echo looked at Bellamy, who stood frozen, his face pale. "Clarke!" A wave of emotions washed over him. Good memories, bad memories. It was as if his own life was passing before his eyes. Or rather, it was Clarke's life. Both of their lives. 

Madi's cries of grief and pain shook him to his bones. He looked around. No one moved as the dramatic scene unfolded. It felt like an eternity before he could think clearly again.

"What? How bad is it? Is she...?" Bellamy bombarded the channel with all the questions his mind could think of.

"Bad. Raven and Dyoza are treating her. They are trying to stop her bleeding. Please come as soon as possible," was the urgent reply from the other end. Bellamy looked desperate. She had sacrificed herself. Again. And now she had decided to play the hero while having a change of heart and trying to find redemption. Or whatever. To right her wrongs.

Suddenly he felt a huge blow to his stomach. It hit him completely unexpectedly. A sharp pain cleared his mind.

"It's your fault," Madi jumped at Bellamy and punched him in anger. She hit him hard with a lot of force. She put all her emotions into her blows. Once again, Bellamy stood in shock. Madi. She was blaming him. Suddenly he remembered how Octavia had beaten him the same way right after Lincoln had died.

Echo and Octavia immediately tried to grab her and pull her back. At first without success. While Octavia managed to grab Madi's shoulder, Madi turned and hit her in the face with a hard punch. Octavia stumbled backwards, but Madi's sole attention to her allowed Echo to take her in a tight bear hug while she still tried to fight her.

But even though she was smaller than them and alone, she was a strong child, not to be underestimated. Certainly able to defend herself. Even Echo had some problems to fixate on Madi in the beginning. She struggled to achieve both: to pacify Madi without hurting her. But this intention was one-sided, as Madi had just made an example of Octavia, who held her nose while a strong stream of blood ran down from it.

Madi even tried to use her - luckily short - nails to break Echo's grip. She clawed at Echo's arms anyway, but only caused her a little pain. Nothing that bothered Echo at all. She had been through much worse.

"Kill them, kill them all," Madi cried as she struggled to free herself from Echo's grip. She fought like a wild animal, refusing to be trapped. In her efforts to free herself, she managed to stomp on Echo's feet, causing her real pain. Echo's efforts to avoid hurting her limited her ability to keep Madi under control. It was a painful task. But so was her pain. It was heartbreaking.

"Madi..." Bellamy tried to speak to her when he regained his voice, but Octavia kept him from doing so. Seeing Madi's anger at Bellamy seemed to have triggered some long-forgotten memories in her. She remembered the similarity of the situation, as did her brother, apparently. He had the same face when she had attacked him in anger. She touched his shoulder and looked into his face. He met her gaze with a sad expression.

"Bell, it's not your fault. It's mine. Let me try to fix this and look for Abby. You try to keep things going." She hesitated. She almost hugged him, but she knew that there was still a long way to go between them. Their reconciliation would have to wait. Although her nose hurt terribly, she wasn't even angry with Madi. In fact, for the first time in a long time, she felt something. Pain. It helped her to concentrate, to function.

With a sad look, he gave her a quick, almost unnoticeable nod. Then he handed her his radio, "We're going to the drop ship." 

"I'll catch you up there. Don't let her die," she replied quickly, and immediately set out to find Abigail. On the way, she used her influence to tell Brell and Indra to stay in their positions and wait for further orders, which they promptly confirmed.

Bellamy nodded again, this time more confident because he couldn't say anything else. Now his throat felt cut. He saw Madi. Her face was crimson. Tears everywhere and she screaming into Echo's arms.

He had to function. But the truth was, Bellamy had no idea how to handle the situation. He wanted to be angry with her. But now he was also terribly afraid for her. He had to hear her story. Her reasons for leaving him in Polis. It was important. His anger had faded in his emotions, but mostly due to his shock and fear.

But first she had to survive. And now there were wounded to evacuate as well. Madi was no help in her current state. Bellamy realized it was all on his shoulders now. 

Bellamy stood there, motionless, almost paralyzed. He simply had to function. If he failed, so would the others. Especially now that Madi was no help. And Clarke, who should have been at his side, was the reason why everything was about to get out of control. "Clarke, you idiot. Why are you not here? Why did you do all this? Why you?"

He turned around. "Get me Jackson. A healer, a doctor. Someone who knows medicine," he demanded desperately. As someone was about to approach him, he suddenly heard a scream. It was Echo.

"Madi!"

"Bellamy, she ran away!" Echo shouted, "She's going to Clarke!"

"Go with her. I follow you" Bellamy shouted as Echo wasted no time and chased after Madi.

Bellamy looked around in despair. The situation couldn't get any worse, even though the fight was over. Fortunately, the prisoners didn't seem to be taking advantage of the situation, as they still remained surrendered with their hands over their heads.  Indra looked at him. It wasn't often that she looked worried, but now her face had exactly that expression.

What a mess. Bellamy's head began to hurt. He hadn't realized how much his pulse had increased. His heart was beating fast, almost out of his neck. "What is happening right now?" 

He took a deep breath. He remembered the day he lost his mother. The worst day of his life. Maybe until now. Although he had had many worse days in the last two weeks. Back then, his sister had been imprisoned, his mother was floated, and he himself had lost everything. His job as an ark guard, his home, his life. Everything. Until he had the chance to escape this hell by committing the ultimate crime: Shooting Jaha. And now Clarke was shot. Jaha survived. And Clarke will survive, too. Nothing else mattered.

"Brell, Indra. Take care of the prisoners. We will decide what to do with them later. But we will not kill them. Is that clear?" Bellamy raised his voice to avoid any misunderstandings. He received more than one nod of agreement from the Wonkru fighters present.

"Here," Indra handed him another radio, "We need to stay in contact," she told him. "Go check on our commander. She needs you. She needs her people. We'll take care of the rest."

"Thank you, Indra," Bellamy said. She offered him her hand, which he promptly took. They shook hands with a firm grip.

"Ste yuj" (Stay strong) Indra said after him as he turned and started running after Echo and Madi. Just a few moments into his sprint, as fast as his battle-worn body would allow, his radio made a noise.

"Bellamy, this is Monty again" 

"Yes, Monty?" He copied while still running after Echo and Madi.

"We are on our way. I just had to take Murphy, while Niylah, Miller and Jackson are on their way to Clarke now. They should be there any minute.

"Good news. How's Murphy?" asked Bellamy. He could feel the tension drain off him a little, knowing that help was on the way.

"He'll make it. How's Clarke?" That lifted his spirits even more. Maybe there was hope and not all was lost.

"I don't know. I'm on my way to see her," Bellamy replied.

"Go save her," Monty cheered.

He strapped his radio to his belt and started running as fast as he could.