Chapter Text
Today would be the day that Finn caught himself a Grounder. Today would be the day that he avenged Clarke's death. He wasn't one for guns, wasn't one to torture, and wasn't one for war, but it had been four months since the 100 landed on the ground and one since Clarke was killed. If the people from The Ark weren't on the ground yet, they would never be. Finn was getting antsy.
He walked into Bellamy's tent not knowing how to approach the subject but finally decided on being blunt. "Let me run the hunt today."
"That's a bad idea," Bellamy responded without hesitation. "You and I both know you don't want to hunt animals."
"Why is that so bad? We need the information, and I need to let some anger out."
Bellamy grabbed his gun and walked out of the tent, Finn close behind. "Who are you and what have you done with Finn? Listen, you've been in bad shape pretty much every day since Clarke died, and I get it, but you should think this through."
Finn stopped him. "I've thought this through every single day since she died. They need to pay, and you know it. I know you still aren't over what they did to Octavia."
Bellamy thought quickly and realized they hadn't gotten anywhere with the Grounders since Clarke died, and Finn was right, he was still pissed about what they did. "Fine, but I'm still going with you, and we have to make sure they end up dead. I don't want another war on our hands."
Finn gave a quick nod and ran into the drop ship to get his gun. He almost ran into Octavia on his way in.
"Woah, sorry," she said. "You're up early today. No wait, you're normally never up. What's going on?"
He picked up his gun and smiled. "Hopefully something having to do with a new Grounder captive." He walked out of the drop ship and called back, "I'm feeling good, Octavia!"
It was a smaller hunting group that day; Bellamy decided to cut it in half considering the change in plans. Soon after they left camp, Octavia came running up with her sword in hand. Bellamy stopped in his tracks with the rest of the group and turned to face her. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" She fired back.
"O, no, it's too dangerous."
"Bell, I thought by now you would've learned that you can't tell me what I can and can't do."
"I thought you were against us capturing Grounders," he countered back.
"Yeah, well this is more fun than doing nothing back at camp."
Bellamy sighed. "Okay, fine, fine. Everyone, listen up. Keep your eyes peeled. Finn's in charge, what he says goes, got it?"
There were a murmur of yes's among the group, and they headed out again with Finn, Bellamy, and Octavia in front.
"Where exactly are you leading us?" Bellamy asked with his gun aimed at the trees, ready to fire at any moment.
"Grounder camp."
Bellamy looked over at Finn and swallowed. "I knew I shouldn't have left you in charge."
They walked quietly for six or seven miles without seeing anything or anyone. Quickly, they came up on the Grounder prison camp that once held a good amount of their people. Finn shook the memory from his head before he got to thinking about Clarke again.
"Finn, take a look at this," Bellamy said, not taking his eyes off the scope of his gun.
Finn quickly trotted over to the tree that Bellamy's gun was peaking around. Bellamy handed it to him. "Look beyond the bushes. It's the girl with the brown hair carrying the sword."
Even before he saw her, Finn knew who it was. Still, he held the gun up to his face, and his suspicions were confirmed. "I don't know," he said hesitantly.
"Why not? Are you crazy? Finn, she's alone, and all she has to defend herself is a sword. We have guns. She looks to be our age which is in our advantage. She's not wearing the usual Grounder uniform, meaning she doesn't fight. She has to be someone from the inside which is exactly who we need answers from. We know how they fight, but we don't know how they operate. What more of a reason do you need?"
Finn knew there was no way out of this. She was the best chance they had at getting answers. He knew Bellamy would know who she was. Finn just hoped Bellamy didn't remember that he was the one to save her life. "Alright, move in. You got her, Bellamy?" He gave a swift nod and moved ahead. Finn turned his direction to the rest of the group. "Murphy and Octavia come with me. Everyone else, watch the trees for Grounders."
Finn, Octavia, and Murphy all had equally good shots on the girl just in case something went wrong. They stalked behind Bellamy, watching his back. Finn knew this wouldn't end well for her, and it left a bad taste in his mouth. He continued on anyway.
The second the girl turned around, she knew she was screwed. Finn saw it in her saucer-wide eyes, and the bitter taste became unbearable. She tried running, but Bellamy was quicker and dropped his gun to the ground before wrapping one arm around the girl's waist and put a hand on her mouth. She struggled for a little bit, muffled shouts disappearing into Bellamy's hand as he carried her away.
Once they were a safe distance away, Bellamy shoved the girl hard into a tree. She grunted and Octavia gasped, hating when her brother turned savage. Now getting a better look at her, Bellamy knew exactly who she was.
"I remember you, and I remember a situation just like this one a few weeks ago. Trust me, it won't end the same way. You aren't getting saved this time. So, are you going to give us the information we want now, or should I tie you up and take you back with us?" Bellamy asked.
Finn prayed that she would respond, but knowing how strong willed Grounders were, he wasn't surprised when she didn't. It seemed like Finn and Bellamy switched moods since going on the hunt. The more Finn saw Bellamy clench his jaw in anger, the guiltier he felt.
"Oh, it's going to be like that, is it?" Bellamy continued.
He got close up in her face and whispered something that Finn couldn't hear which made him grateful. He visibly saw her squeeze her eyes shut and shake her head, and the antsy feeling he had earlier to kill a Grounder completely vanished.
Bellamy turned to him. "What's the call, Finn?"
Her head shot up at the mention of his name. She didn't realize that he was there as she was more focused on being killed by Bellamy. By the looks of it, he would've done it right there if he had his way.
Finn tried to weigh his decisions. He thought of what Clarke would've wanted him to do, but Clarke wasn't here now and he needed to think in favor of the remaining 64 people they had left. As if Octavia could tell what he was about to do, she spoke up.
"Finn, think about this," she warned.
But Finn had already made up his mind. He forced himself to look the captive dead in her pleading eyes when he said, "Tie her up."
As soon as he spoke, someone yelled in the distance. "Grounders!"
Bellamy cursed. "They know she's gone. Finn and Murphy, take the girl. Octavia, stick with me. You guys, make sure she gets to camp and bring her in the drop ship. We'll be there as soon as we can."
Finn caught her when Bellamy pushed her into him before he and Octavia ran off. Finn held onto her tightly and quickly whispered in her ear so Murphy didn't hear. "I didn't mean for this to happen to you. You have to know that."
She jerked her head away from him, and her eyes lit up in anger. Before Finn could get another word out, Murphy yelled at them to hurry up. "I'd rather not get taken by Grounders again, if that's okay with you!" He added.
Surprisingly, she went willingly with Finn back to camp and didn't put up much of a fight. Even more surprisingly, they didn't run into any other Grounders on the way back. The girl was given angry looks upon entering camp, and Murphy had to fight his way through the gathering crowd to pave a pathway for them.
Finn handed the seething mad girl off to Murphy so he could tie her up. He said he was going to go out and wait for Bellamy and Octavia, but really, it was so that he didn't have to tie her up himself.
When he sat out by the fire, his being flooded with guilt. His thoughts wandered to Clarke and the brutal way she died and how he couldn't do anything to save her.
Flashback
The woods were on fire. They were in the middle of a warzone. Nobody was safe, not even behind the walls. Clarke tripped on a tree branch, and Finn reached out his hand to pull her up. Still keeping hold of her, they ran together through a minefield of bullets, bombs, and grenades. It was terrifying not knowing where the next Grounder would pop up with their pinpoint accuracy and kill them both.
They had lost Bellamy and Jasper a few miles back, but they couldn't go back now. The only thing they could do was hope that they were okay. However, they all had hope that The Ark would follow them to the Ground and look how that turned out.
The sky was gray, and Clarke wasn't sure if it was the smoke or the clouds. It seemed as though the sun hadn't come up for the last two days. The way the smoke danced between the branches reminded Clarke of a drawing she once created.
She stopped in her tracks partly to catch her breath and partly because she and Finn needed a better plan.
Finn tried to get her to start running again. "Hey, I get it, the trees are cool, but there could be Grounders up there with arrows aiming at our faces. Let's go."
Still, Clarke didn't go. "The art supply shop."
"What about it?"
"It survived one nuclear war, what about another one?"
Finn took a moment to catch his breath. "It's a good idea, but I have no idea where we are right now."
This time, Clarke took the lead. "Follow me."
Finn hesitated. "Clarke-"
She stopped him and locked both her hands in his. She looked into his eyes and with as much conviction that she could muster up in a moment like this said, "Trust me."
He nodded once, and they took off again.
It was a blitz attack. Two Grounders jumped from the trees and landed solidly on the ground, one in front of Finn and Clarke, blocking their way.
It happened so quickly, Finn didn't see them at first. He figured that they were watching them plotting about the supply shop, maybe even stalking them earlier.
"Finn," Clarke started, staggering backwards into him.
They turned quickly only to find the other Grounder looming over them. Clarke let out a few short breaths, but then felt her airways tighten up with pure panic. Finn and her had lost their weapons a few miles back and had nothing else to defend themselves with.
They stood back to back, the Grounders growling like animals. Finn reached over and squeezed Clarke's hand. "I need you to run in the opposite direction that I do," he whispered.
"Finn, no. I'm not leaving you out here with them."
"Too bad. I'm not leaving you here, either."
"Well, then, I guess both of us are screwed."
Finn let out a nervous chuckle as the Grounders continued to move in on them. Luckily, Finn was quick to think on his feet. "On the count of three, we run. Don't let go of my hand, got it? You don't need to play the hero this time."
"Finn, I-"
He cut her off. "One, two- three!"
With the amount of force that he used to pull on her arm, there was no way Clarke could've run the other direction. He pulled her in front of him, but somehow, the Grounders got ahead of them. Much to Finn's terror, one of them picked Clarke up and threw her over his shoulder. She cried out from the initial shock.
Oddly, the other Grounder didn't seem to want anything to do with Finn. Finn realized then that they only wanted Clarke. They were going to do the same thing to her as Bellamy did to Lincoln. Once Finn started to chase after the Grounders, the one who wasn't holding Clarke charged at him. With all the anger he was feeling, Finn easily knocked the Grounder to the ground unconscious.
He chased after Clarke for a while until the Grounder stopped. He set Clarke down but then shoved her to the ground. He grabbed rope and started to tie her up. His back was to Finn, and Finn decided to peak out around the tree he was behind. Immediately, Clarke saw him. Her eyes opened wide, and she vigorously shook her head. Obviously, the Grounder noticed and turned around.
"Looks like we have company, eh, sweetheart?" He said loud enough for Finn to hear. "Not for long."
Before the Grounder could run at Finn, Finn made the first move. With Clarke tied up on the ground, all she could do was watch. This time, though, Finn was no match for the Grounder. He was thrown on his back and slashed across his chest with a knife all in a matter of seconds.
He heard Clarke scream his name. He heard the Grounder pick her up. He heard him walk away with the love of his life. And he swore he heard Clarke yell, "I love you, Finn!" But then again, that could've been the delusional, bloody state he was in.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Finn woke up in the drop ship two days later. Luckily, Monty had been running away from some Grounders and found Finn lying on the ground in a puddle of his own blood. He had dragged Finn's body all the way back to camp. It turned out Finn and Clarke weren’t far from it after all. Monty, with the help of Octavia, did as best as they could to stop the bleeding.
According to Monty, it had been the most difficult thing he'd ever done. Clarke was training him to be a medic before she died, so he didn't know how to handle everything, especially a seven inch long cut. Somehow, they managed to keep Finn alive.
He woke up delusional, forgetting everything that happened. "Where's Clarke?"
Monty and Octavia shared a glance. "You wanna take this one?" Monty offered.
Octavia gritted her teeth together. "Not really, but since you asked so nicely…," she sarcastically trailed off.
"Guys?" Finn questioned. "Where is she?"
Octavia put a wet towel over his forehead. "We were hoping you knew," she started. "Bellamy and Murphy are out looking for her right now."
Finn tried to sit up. "We need to get out there. Now."
He grimaced in pain, and Octavia gently pushed him back down. "Finn, you were stabbed. You aren't going anywhere."
At the mention of being stabbed, memories rushed back into his head. "Oh my God," he whispered to himself.
"You remember?" Monty asked.
Once again, Finn tried to sit up but was too weak. "Grounders," he managed to get out through the pain.
Their faces fell, and Finn realized that wasn't the answer they were hoping for. Octavia quickly recovered and put on a brave smile. "I'm sure she's okay. It's Clarke. She's fine."
Finn knew she was just trying to convince herself that instead of him because Finn had zero hope left. If he got stabbed two days ago and they still couldn't find her, he could only imagine the condition she was in. "When will I be able to go out again?"
Monty shook his head. "I don't know, we didn't think that far ahead. Consider it a miracle that you're alive without Clarke's help."
Finn just nodded. "You said that Bellamy and Murphy were out looking for her. What about Jasper? Wh-"
Octavia cut him off. "Finn," she said, shaking her head.
Finn swallowed his words and looked up at Monty who had a solemn look on his face. "Oh, God, Monty, I-"
"Don't, it's done. Let me know if you need anything," he said walking out of the drop ship.
"Don't beat yourself up for not knowing," Octavia said, reading Finn's mind. "He's been taking it really hard."
"I can't even imagine. When did they start looking for Clarke?"
"Almost as soon as Monty dragged you in here. We knew you'd never willingly leave Clarke, so we figured she was with you."
Finn took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling. "I couldn't stop them, I wasn't strong enough."
"Hey, look at me," Octavia said. Finn turned his head towards her. "Don’t start doing this self-pity thing. She's not dead until we see that she is, got it? None of us are giving up until we get her back. This isn't your fault. It isn't anyone's but the Grounders. The only way we're going to find her is with you, so instead of focusing your attention on what you couldn't do, focus on what you can do. Get the hell better, okay? Screw what Monty says, you'll be up and running in two days. We're going to find her, Finn. Come hell or high water, we're finding her."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Just like Octavia had said, two days later, Finn was at least walking again. He wasn’t sure if he was actually getting better or if he was just willing himself to push through the pain for Clarke. Still, nobody saw any sign of her. They had watchmen set up outside the Grounder prison camp, and even they hadn't seen her.
Five days after Finn got stabbed, Bellamy was trying to talk him out of leaving camp. "We can't have you getting hurt worse, Finn."
"So what if I do? They still have Clarke and you know that if she isn't dead yet, she doesn't have much time left."
"We don't-,"
Bellamy was cut off by someone screaming outside. Actually, that's an under exaggeration. He was cut off by a female screaming so loudly that her face probably turned red, her veins probably stuck out of her neck, and her throat probably hurt for the next week.
Finn pushed past Bellamy and ran out of the tent. Actually, now, that's a bit of an over exaggeration. Due to the pain he was still in, it was more like a jog/hobble. Most of the other people who weren't injured or tending to the injured were already outside wondering where the scream came from. The source emerged from a tent a few down from where Finn and Bellamy were standing.
It was from a girl named Tess who was one of the many girls Bellamy had hooked up with when they first arrived on the ground. Since then, she'd pretty much stayed behind scenes, so it was a surprise that she was the one who screamed. Bellamy ran ahead of Finn and saw that Tess was paler than pale and her hands wouldn't stop shaking.
While Bellamy was more focused on Tess' well-being, Finn was more focused on what was inside that tent. He went in while Bellamy was still trying to calm the completely hysterical girl down.
There she was. Except, Finn barely recognized her. Her blonde hair was tainted red. Really everything was tainted red: her arms, legs, stomach, and face. Her eyes were wide open, and Finn closed his. He swayed on his feet and fell to his knees at her side. Clarke, the love of his life, was dead. Finn reached his hand out to brush a bloody strand of hair from her face.
Finally, Bellamy came into the tent and was horrified at what he saw. One of his best friends, co-leader of this camp, and the strongest person he knew, was dead. He took a second to compose himself before kneeling down next to Finn and shutting Clarke's eyes with his fingers. He gave Finn's shoulder a squeeze and left the tent to find someplace where he could cry over Clarke peacefully and privately. He told the growing crowd to give Finn the privacy that he deserved before leaving the camp feeling more lost than ever.
Finn, however, felt differently. He didn't feel alone or lost at all. He knew that Clarke did everything she could to stay alive, and he also knew that she died because she didn't give the Grounders the answers they wanted. She died to protect everyone else in the camp. Finn felt Clarke's love inside him and knew he'd never need anything more. He let a tear fall as he squeezed her hand for the final time. "I found you, and I promise I'll find you again."
End of Flashback