Chapter 27 - Third time's the charm

Waking in an unfamiliar bed wasn't exactly the strangest thing I saw when I opened my eyes, instead what made me remember the whole night was the softness that I felt sleeping on my left arm. When I turned my head to look at who was sleeping on my arm, I was met by a pair of eyes looking at me as was still trying to remember how we ended up in the same bed.

"Good morning, handsome."

"Morning, love."

"That moonshine did break our defenses as if they were nothing. Just so you know, I don't really want a relationship."

"I can understand why you would like to be unshackled by a relationship, though that means that we are friends right?"

"It would be awkward if we didn't become after what happened last night. Though, I have to say that whoever gets to spend their lives with you, will definitely be satisfied."

"Thanks for the compliment."

"So what are you planning to do now?"

"Go back and see if Anya is ready to meet me."

"I'm surprised you choose to make peace with her. Especially after the last few attacks on your camp."

"Nine people died since we landed and most of the deaths were caused by Trikru and while I can understand why they did it, I'm not going to forgive them anytime soon."

"I hope you know what you are doing."

"Don't worry your pretty head about me. I won't die that soon, even more so when I know that there are people down here that actually care about me."

"That's sweet of you. Let's eat something before you leave."

Meanwhile in a cave near the dropship, after a few hours of waiting and tracking down Octavia, he had finally found her inside a cave with the grounder that Bellamy had tortured. When the grounder saw Finn, he got ready to fight as Finn had a knife in his hand and looked ready to fight, but slowly, he offered the knife that had been stabbed into his chest to the grounder that was ready to defend Octavia.

"I think you lost this."

Lincoln looked at the knife suspiciously for a moment before he carefully took it out of Finn's hand. He glanced around to make sure that no one was waiting outside for Finn to lead them into a trap and only then did he move towards the hole to his cave. Finn nodded and headed down first with Octavia and then Lincoln following behind.

"So, what the hell are you doing here, Finn? Have you followed me here?"

Octavia quickly became defensive seeing the familiar face she believed that maybe her brother sent Finn after her to either take her away or even kill Lincoln.

"I could ask you the same thing. I could also ask how long you've known that he speaks English... but I won't. I guess Leon already knows about this or at least he's aware that you are sneaking out to meet him. "

Finn retorted as he looked around Lincoln's cave. He picked up the foghorn and looked at Lincoln before he speaks again.

"You blew this when your people were hunting us, right? That saved most of us from that death zone. You even saved our lives and for that I'm grateful."

"I stabbed you."

"And we tortured you. My point is that If the two of us can get along after everything that happened between us, then maybe there's hope for peace. Learn from history instead of repeating it, right?"

"There's already a meeting between Leon and the current local leader of my people."

"Since when!?"

"I presume, he didn't tell anyone in case there were going to be a few people that would disagree with this decision. As for when this meeting had become a thing, well, since I was a prisoner."

"Now I understand why Clarke said that she had seen Leon going up alone. The two of you were most likely talking with you about a truce between our people."

"Something like that, though I didn't expect you, people, to interact with other Trikru."

"That was Leon doing his own thing. You may not believe it, but that guy can achieve almost anything he puts his dedication into."

"Octavia... take Leon to the bridge that we pass when we go hunting. That's where we'll meet. I should be there by midday and no weapons."

"There would be no weapons."

"I hope so."

Back at the camp, I just walked past the gate, and as soon as I dropped my backpack, I heard someone shouting my name from inside the dropship. Looking over at the dropship, I saw Raven standing at the entrance while on her left side was Clarke waiting for someone.

No matter how many times I see the two of them together, I can't understand how the princess managed to befriend Tinkerbelle, especially with Finn being one of the most dangerous topics between them.

"What's going on?"

"The grounders are ready for a meeting. Collins told us, apparently, he went to return the knife to that grounder that you let to leave."

"Finally, they took their sweet time. Knowing Anya, I guess she has some conditions, am I right?"

"From what Lincoln told Finn if we want to meet them, then we are kind of forced to go without weapons or else they'll see this as a provocation."

"Quite an imposing condition, I may say, but nothing we can't refuse. Sadly we will have to meet them unarmed since I'm not in any mood of fighting in the open against god knows how many grounders."

"So after all you are going to meet that grounder woman?"

"That's the plan. Why? Are you jealous?"

"Screw you, muscle head. Who's jealous?!"

After our little bickering, I followed Finn, Clarke, and Octavia and walked for almost an hour before we approached the bridge since Octavia told us about the traps that were all around the bridge. Unfortunately, there was no sign of grounders camping anywhere close to the bridge which forced us to wait for them.

We spent almost the whole day waiting by the river's edge, talking and even joking around about what we did in the past few days. I for one was surprised to learn that Octavia got herself into a relationship with Lincoln, but then again they kind of had chemistry going between them even before I talked to him more than a few sentences.

Unfortunately, neither Anya nor Lincoln had arrived even after half a day, which did not help with my decision to just leave this place if they aren't here before night's fall. No matter how you look at it, this whole meeting seemed too good to be true, and maybe that's why I felt that something bad was going to happen and it was quite obvious that this meeting may not end the way we want.

At the same time, another group made themselves comfortable in the woods behind us. The one who was leading this group was none other than Bellamy, who I asked to be our backup in case the grounders go back on their words and bring weapons to our meeting. While in the beginning, I didn't plan to bring anyone other than Finn, Clarke, and Octavia with me, an ominous thought made me change my mind. After all, it would be better to have some backup and not use it than to not have it and need it.

I simply let Bellamy make a team with no more than five people and bring them near the bridge. Their mission was to hide amongst the dense branches and bushes and wait. In case the grounders attack us first then they would retaliate.

Meanwhile, I watched the impatient Octavia as she was pacing back and forth on the bridge when I heard footsteps approaching from our left side. When I turned around, I saw Finn, followed by Clarke, jogging through the trees. Hopefully, this won't be their last time doing it, and even though Finn was lucky enough to survive a grounder knife to the chest, Clarke shouldn't be that lucky in case we are attacked. They both slowed down and stopped next to me, but Clarke did not look happy for some reason.

"Finn told me that you are the one who helped that grounder leave! He almost killed Finn, why did you let him leave, Leon? What if he betrayed us?"

"I may not trust Lincoln, but I know that honor is something very important to them, especially to their leaders. And if Lincoln had killed Finn, I would have been the first one to cut his throat."

Before either Finn or Clarke could say anything else to me, even more footsteps were being heard through the air from the other side of the bridge. I was the first one to look at who was coming, followed shortly by Finn and Octavia, while Clarke still tried to complain to me for letting Lincoln free.

"They are here, prepare yourselves and under no circumstances, antagonize them, or else I don't think I would be able to save you three."

It took almost a minute for the first grounder to appear, and thankfully it was Lincoln who looked unhurt, rather than an armed warrior ready to slaughter us. I simply nodded at him, stopping Octavia from running towards him, before I walk forward to meet him in the middle of the bridge. He stopped with an arm extended forward and I shake his hand, as a sign of friendship between our two camps. Lincoln looked over at Clarke and I turned around as she took a step back in fear, but Finn grabbed her hand, pulling her to his side, trying to offer the courage needed for what was going to happen.

Soon after that, the sounds of hoofs echoed indicating that the Grounders appeared on horseback. When I saw them, the only thing that I could think of was that they were trying to show off as there were two large men on black horses wearing the familiar warrior armor that they wear when they are going to war, as well as masks and the war paint on their faces. Coming up behind them, was Anya, who rode on a brown horse. The three of them stopped right at the begging of the stone bridge before Anya dismounted from her horse and walked forward toward me and Lincoln.

"That's not what we agreed on! You told me that there won't be any weapons!"

"I was told there wouldn't be, and even if I would have known, I couldn't do anything, Finn."

"It's too late anyways, and even if she's armed, that doesn't make Anya a threat."

"Be careful, Leon, who knows what they are planning."

"Don't worry Clarke, I know exactly what she's planning."

Clarke and Finn looked at each other for a moment before nodding at my words. Both of them took a step towards trying to follow me to the Grounders, but Lincoln stopped them.

"Leon has to go alone or else they will see this as a crime against our culture."

Lincoln explained, shaking his head. Again, the budding young couple shared a tense look with each other, but thankfully Octavia stopped them before this whole meeting would turn into a staring contest.

"He can handle himself, we have to believe in him."

Meanwhile, I was already in front of Anya and I've got to say that she was quite the beauty, then again she's like the second grounder woman that I have seen since I was sent down here.

Standing face to face, neither I nor Anya said or did anything other than observe each other. After a few seconds, I decided to start this whole thing.

"Third time's the charm, right?"

"It depends on what we are going to agree on by the end of this meeting."

"I guess so, so, what's up with the weapons on you? Lincoln said that we aren't allowed to bring weapons."

"And you people aren't allowed, but he didn't say anything about us. Nor does he have the authority to force us to come here unarmed."

"Forget about it, no point crying over spilled milk. Let's talk about peace."

"What are your demands?"

"We want our friend back and for your people to let us alone. The whole forest is big enough for all of us, or do you prefer to continue fighting while the mountain men are enjoying the end results after we kill each other?"

"Leon, oh Leon, how naïve of you to think that we will use all of our resources on you ski people. Trikru has far too many warriors to send them all to wipe out a bunch of children."

"From my point of view, you guys didn't manage to achieve anything in the last attacks."

"That wasn't an attack that was just a simple harassing tactic. No point throwing away our warriors when the beasts can do our job."

"You know that threats don't work anymore, so tell me directly what you actually want Anya."

"For your people to surrender themselves to us and for you to become my prisoner."

"That does not gonna happen. My friends won't accept becoming slaves for your people and neither do I."

"Then you can only die knowing that your choice killed them."

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