To speak things out... II

"So we kill him?" Bellamy asked her in disbelief, "I thought we were past punishing each other..."

"It is not a punishment. He's a threat as long as he's around. I don't think you can make him a changed man... It's the most rational choice," Clarke told him, "I wanted to kill him, but I failed…"

"You stopped him" Bellamy reminded her, "You didn't fail"

"I agree," Diyoza said curtly, "he must die.

"So do I," Shaw added his voice, "He almost dropped the bomb on you. He's crazy."

"Me too" Octavia joined the others.

"Kane?" Bellamy asked, knowing that this vote would go against his hopes. He still didn't want Madi or anyone else to publicly execute him. Imprisonment or exile still seemed the better option, as it would minimize tensions the most.

"I don't know. I killed so many people on the ark when I had no choice... I thought I had no choice. Now... I don't know what our choice is..."

"Echo?" Bellamy looked to his left, his eyes almost begging her to say something that would win this debate.

"If we don't kill him, what is your plan for him instead?" She asked him immediately, "Exile him? You can't be serious... He can't be integrated into our people".

"This is at least another option..."

"There's nothing to find outside the valley. Except for those sandworms... I think shooting him or slitting his throat sounds more humane to me... instead of this," Octavia said. Clarke realized that this time Octavia was the one who sounded much more rational. As inspiring and admirable as his efforts to start this new chapter without shedding more blood were, it had to be done. And it was her fault that it had come to this. 

"He's dying," Madi said when she couldn't keep quiet any longer, outraged that anyone would dare question her decision, "I've already sentenced him to die. Jus drain, jus daun... He's the reason Clarke was shot. Almost died. Why don't you want him to die? He almost killed your best friend... "

"We're better than that," Bellamy still refused to give up and tried to argue with her. But it was useless and he knew it. She had made her decision and she was the Commander. So it was her right to do what she felt was right. And he couldn't blame her. How could he?

He made her commander. Out of desperation. Only Clarke could change her mind. And if everything about the Flame was true, and there was a replica of Lexa's mind with her memories in her head, then there was no way Lexa would waste this opportunity to take revenge on him. No, she loved Clarke, and so did Madi. 

In any case, he knew Madi needed advice on how to avoid becoming a reckless ruler like Octavia. Or Pike and many others. She needed to be as wise as Lexa, and hopefully Lexa understood how badly Madi needed to be taught to act in her own way, even if he wasn't sure how much control Lexa actually had over her. Or if she had any at all.

"Better than that... Is that really your answer to everything? Octavia asked him from across the table. "You weren't with us in the bunker... YOU have no idea what suffering is... YOU went out to save Raven... Who made the decision to stay where she was... I needed you... I needed your advice so badly... So don't stay here and tell me that you know what's best... That you know what's right and what's wrong. Because you don't..." She shouted all those words at her brother. In a way, it was a relief for her to finally be able to tell her brother how she had been feeling all these years. How much she missed him and needed his and Clarke's advice. "Things have changed, Bell..." She added after catching herself.

"If it was Octavia... After everything Clarke told me, YOU would have done the same without a doubt or even a second thought..." Madi reminded him.

"If we hadn't gone after Raven... And I hadn't decided to fix the antenna so you could make it..." Clarke interrupted her, suddenly realizing how each of their decisions had brought them to this moment.

"You would never have found Madi..." Abby finished her daughter's sentence. Then she smiled at both of them, realizing for herself that it might have been a higher power that made them find each other. Be it Jake, Lexa or someone else. Madi was definitely an asset, and even though the last five years and the uncertainty of Clarke's fate had nearly killed her, in the end there was probably no better place for Clarke to be than at her side in the valley.

Niylah, who had been silent until now, felt her heart grow heavier. As much as she had dedicated the last six years to Octavia and her well-being, infinitely grateful for her last-minute rescue during the riot almost before the bunker doors closed, she realized that she had almost forgotten Clarke and her unique traits. She never thought that Clarke had actually survived the inferno. Working and protecting Octavia kept her busy and helped her get over her silent grief for Clarke.

For a moment, she looked directly at Clarke until her eyes were staring directly at her. It felt as if a lightning bolt had struck her. She couldn't hold her gaze for more than a brief moment before turning away. Madi... She was willing to reveal her secret to Octavia... Her loyalty to Octavia made her do that... Not her love for Clarke, which was still there. Not the love that Clarke wanted in her life, but still a love worth sharing.

"So... can we please focus on our planning for the future..." Shaw urged them to return to more important matters. At least from his perspective.

"Charmaine and I had a chance to make some rough plans." Kane revealed to everyone.

"Charmaine and I..." Octavia scoffed in her head. If it wasn't for the sake of peace and her sincere desire to reconcile with her brother and Clarke, she would have jumped at him in a second.

"Like housing, schools... A very basic form of society..." Diyoza took over.

"We are basically rebuilding society. And this time we shouldn't make any more mistakes. We don't have a second chance. To be true, right now... we probably won't survive another Eligius appearance..." Kane reminded them.

"At least a hostile one…" Octavia threw in.

"She's right about that..." Jackson decided to finally join the discussion, "I honestly would have nothing against another Eligius full of peaceful civilians willing to join our efforts..."

"Strange... What would Lexa have done if Eligius had arrived a few years earlier... instead of us..." Clarke's mind asked this question. She looked at Madi, knowing that the answer was literally in her head. Or rather her neck. But at the moment she could not and also didn't want not ask that question right now.

"Houses, buildings... We have to feed... How many people are we exactly?" Jackson finished his thought.

"Well, I guess this is our first task. Later I will radio the bunker to make a general count. We will do the same here and put the numbers together. But I would guess a few hundred..." Bellamy said, "This way we also get a second chance to solve the mystery of the missing person..."

"So we have to feed a few hundred hungry mouths every day. From now until-" Jackson said before Diyoza interrupted him.

"All eternity..." she finished.

"Is there even enough food in the valley?" Bellamy asked Clarke.

"Yeah... I mean, we have farmers, and I think there's more than enough space for farming. And with Monty and Raven also repairing the hydrofarm, we should be fine if we all work together and start right away. It's already the end of April..." She explained, "But the winter could be a real problem for us..."

"Not really..." Diyoza corrected her, "At worst we hibernate in the cryochambers like some animals do... or did..."

"We also have some animals there. Some cows... pigs... chickens... But not in large numbers..." Madi added.

"Pike... he would have known what to do..." Bellamy thought as he looked directly into Octavia's green eyes. But he knew, he had no right to blame her for killing him. He also contributed to this outcome. His death was also in him. As was Lincolns.

"That's good, I think..." Bellamy said.

"So let's say we can grow something in time and learn how to breed the animals... Then we might have everything we need... if everything works out for us... But what do we do in the meantime? It will be months before we can enjoy our first harvest," Shaw asked, still worried.

"Fish, berries, nuts, plants... If everyone follows a strict diet, we can survive..." Abby explained.

"We should think about punishing anyone who tries to sabotage our food supply," Shaw suggested, half interrupting Abby.

"That's a good idea…" Diyoza agreed.

"If someone tries to sabotage our food, they are trying to kill us," Madi said.

"Then let's make it a capital crime," Diyoza suggested.

"And the punishment is exile…" She added while looking at Bellamy.

"Alright. Who's supporting it?" Clarke asked into the round. 

"Wait. Are we the only ones making decisions?" Jackson threw in, "What about Raven, Monty and the others?"

"He has a point. In general, who should be involved, who should make decisions. Should it really be us again?" Kane agreed, "Madi is the commander. And if we go back to the age of commanders, we have to respect that she has the right to decide who will make decisions alongside her. Or if there is anyone at all.

"No, this again..." Abby interrupted excitedly, "Do you remember the last time someone else took over..."

"Abby!" Kane said with a raised voice, pointing his eyes at Madi.

"Yeah, we should decide... Madi..." Bellamy quickly searched for the most plausible solution, "You're the commander. Who should advise you?"

Madi just sat there for a moment, motionless. This was exactly what she had hoped wouldn't happen, but it was probably just naive thinking. She quickly looked at Clarke, almost begging her with her bright blue eyes to help her. But before Clarke or Lexa could come up with a smart idea, she suddenly let her heart speak.

Then her eyes focused on Bellamy again and she gave him a strong and firm nod. "I want all of you all to help me. So for now and until I decide otherwise or..." She paused and looked at Clarke, "...am no longer the commander, you and your friends on the ground are supposed to help and advise me. So anyone Clarke calls a friend..."

"We can talk to the others later and ask for opinions or additions, but we can't go back in a few days without a plan. We have to at least come up with something. Raven, Monty, Emori, and Murphy are running the bunker for us, they're doing there job and we do ours," Clarke said.

"She's right," Diyoza agreed, "as soon as we go down, it's day one. On that day we have to start rebuilding and settling in the valley..." She looked around and received a silent round of agreement.

"Okay. Back to the question. Who supports exile as punishment for someone trying to sabotage our food supply?" Shaw asked again.

"I..." Octavia was the first to raise her hand, followed by Clarke and Shaw himself. It took the rest of the round no time at all to agree to this rule as well.

"Allright" Kane said while he seemed to look around for something.

"Got you..." Shaw said, understanding his intention and grabbing an empty notebook and pen from a nearby desk, "I'll write it down."

"So our first rule stands in place" He said after he finished writing.

"Tell us more about how we live down there, Marcus?" Abby wanted to know.

"Buildings. But not too much. We try to keep things as natural as possible. There are plenty of caves, and we have the ability to build underground houses. With our manpower and the mining equipment from Eligius, that shouldn't be a problem. This way we can also have enough space to grow crops and leave nature untouched..."

"That sounds doable..." Bellamy agreed, impressed by their forward thinking.

"It's one hundred percent doable..." Diyoza confirmed, sounding almost offended.

"So I assume you are working on plans?" Bellamy asked them and received two short "Yes" as an answer. "So… What else?"

"We need babies..." Abby then explained, "At least in the long run. Without children, there's no hope for us to survive as the last remnants of the human race." 

She didn't mean to sound so drastic, but it was the truth. The next decades would be crucial for their overall survival.

"She's right," Kane agreed with a straight face. This caused Echo to quickly exchange an uncomfortable look with Bellamy.

"Maybe we should discuss this later…" Bellamy tried to shut down this conversation all of the sudden, "If we don't survive the next months there's no future for us anyway"

"But we should start being vocal about this problem..." Kane insisted, again receiving nods of agreement.

"Well, at least in this matter I am a positive example..." Diyoza suddenly made this unexpected humorous attempt to lighten the mood.

"Yes. At least we made it to this beginning. A new beginning..." Jackson agreed with a flat smile.

"Let's continue later," Kane decided to conclude the meeting, "if Madi agrees, of course."

"Oh yeah, sure. We are done for today," she agreed without hesitation. 

"Then it's settled," Bellamy agreed, "if none of you has a problem, we should meet again tomorrow morning. At nine o'clock. Then we will continue..."

With these words, everyone rose from the table at once to continue their other tasks or to seek some additional rest. 

"Hey..." Octavia said to Clarke when she noticed that she and Madi were about to leave the bridge.

"Hey," Clarke repeated curtly when she spotted Octavia.

"Thank you for coming at the right time..." Octavia thanked her with a gentle smile.

"If things were going the right way, there would be no need to show up at the right time..."

"I'm sorry, Clarke...I know I don't deserve it, but can...can we talk later?" She asked her.

"Later... Yeah...:" Clarke agreed before her head even had time to think about her words.

"Thanks…" Octavia said, sounding genuinely relieved. "Is… everything good between us..." She said to Clarke as she was about to turn away.

"Yeah, sure"

Then, without warning, Octavia hugged her. And even more to her surprise, she let her. Octavia was anything but gentle with her violent hug, but Clarke didn't care. Suddenly she felt the same warmth from the old Octavia that had once grown into her heart.

"I missed you. I'm sorry..." She cried into her ears. "Let me explain everything later..."

"It's okay, Octavia," Clarke tried to calm her, putting her arms around her back. For a brief moment, they remained that way as a relieved Madi and a surprised Bellamy watched this reunion.

"I think there's still hope for her..." Echo commented as she reached Bellamy. "Give her time..."

"If you need something, just tell me, okay?"Octavia told Clarke after they unhugged.

"We will" Madi assured her with a smile, "Thanks"