Chapter 26

~~~~~~~~unedited~~~~~~~~

Thu-dub. "Ninety-three," she inaudibly whispers. Thu-dub. "Ninety-four...ninety-five...ninety-six..."

Thu-dub. "Ninety-seven."

Ten year old Liam chases after a nine year old Addison down one of the corridor's on Factory, "I'm gonna get you!" He exclaims, his hand reaching out to tap her. Addison screeches with a loud laugh when she glances over her shoulder, her eyes wide in excitement.

Thu-dub. "Ninety-eight."

"You should know better than to think you could beat me in a card game, Lee." Thirteen year old Addison says, a smirk evident in her voice as her slim finger points at the fourteen year old boy across the table. He bits the inside of his cheek with an unamused look and narrowed eyes.

Thu-dub. "Ninety-nine."

"Best friends forever, right?" Six year old Liam nods, taking hold of five year old Addison's pinky with his own.

"Best friends forever," he repeats in a whisper, too, their pinky's tightening until they turn white. Addison giggles, careful not to wake her sleeping parents. "We're gonna be the most epic bff's on the Ark," he laughs under his breath.

Thu-dub. "A hundred."

"Happy best friend-aversary!" Fifteen year old Liam exclaims, opening the door to the Anderson's quarters wider.

Fourteen year old Addison shakes her head at the boy, "Liam..." she groans, rocking her head back against the sofa. "I thought we agreed we weren't going to do friend-aversary anymore?"

He closes the door, a cocky smirk plastered on his lips. "Actually, you agreed to that. I didn't say I agreed or disagreed," he says matter-of-factly, plopping next to her on the sofa. "Besides, I kinda like it. What stories we'll tell our children," he dramatically states, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and squeezes her body into his. "Our children will be the next generation of epic bff's!" Addison chuckles at the boy hysterically.

She pats his chest, "Now you've truly lost it."

"Psh, lost it...I'm just getting started." Addison blankly rocks her head to the side, "You're just jealous I've got it, and you don't." She punches his stomach with a clenched fist, a chuckle escaping through her lips as he groans.

Addison's lips curl into a sad smile at the specific memory. Her breathing is now even, and her heart rate just as even and steady as Octavia's. "Better?" Octavia asks softly, continuing to slowly rake her fingers through the girl's hair.

Addison sniffles, "Yeah...thank you," she responds breathlessly.

She feels the Blake girl nod and pull back, "Good." Octavia glances at the hatch that leads up to the top level, her arms staying locked around Addison. "I'm gonna go check on them, but I'll be right back, and please..." she moves her hands to Addison's cheeks, "...don't go anywhere."

The brunette takes her bottom lip between her teeth, giving the girl a short nod. Octavia hesitantly leans slightly forward, and instead of continuing, she pulls her head back and scurries off. Addison closes her eyes in confusion, but brushes it away, focusing on how cold she feels once Octavia's touch left her. She slowly walks to a vacant chair in the mostly empty part of the dropship, and takes a seat.

Addison's elbows dig into the tops of her knees with clasped hands, her chin resting on top of them. A knee begins to bounce, her wondering eyes scanning every delinquent. She finds Harper on the far side, chatting with Monroe and another girl with small smiles on their faces when the girl says something. Octavia's heavy sigh and footsteps bring her gaze away from them and to her.

Addison removes her chin from on top of her hands, keeping her eyes on the girl's figure, "What is it?"

Octavia sits down next to her, "Someone locked the hatch," she irritatingly responds.

"Oh," is the only response Addison's able to come up for her own.

After a brief moment of silence, Octavia speaks, "Earlier, when..." she trails off, making hand motions as a continuation of the sentence, "...you were counting," she finishes, their eyes locking. "What were you counting?"

Addison averts her eyes with a shake of her head, "It's silly, really..." she trails off, rubbing the palms of her hands together and swallows the nervous lump in her throat, prepared to answer, but Clarke's head pops from the hatch.

The blonde finishes the climb and enters the middle level, striding to the other ladder to go up another with the Grounder's knife in hand. Octavia sighs heavily, glancing between Addison and Clarke before she stands up, "Clarke." She calls, coming to her side, "They locked the hatch," she informs.

Addison gets to her feet, joining Octavia on the fallen object she's stood on. Clarke pounds on the hatch door, "Hey!" She yells sharply, continuing to pound. "Open the door!"

Octavia follows after the blonde, Addison remaining off the ladder it see if the hatch door opens. Clarke continues pounding until it finally does open, "Get out of my way, Miller. Now!"

Once Clarke disappears into the upper level, Addison climbs the ladder and reaches the top quickly, catching the end of Bellamy's words. "—talking about?"

She grunts, smacking the hand away that tries to help. "Get away from me," she says sharply, pulling herself the rest of the way up without sparing him a glance.

"He poisoned the blade!" Clarke exclaims, holding up the knife in front of the Grounder's face. "All this time, you knew Finn was gonna die no matter what we did," she says lowly. "What is it? Is there an antidote?!"

Octavia takes a step forward, "Clarke, he doesn't understand you." She informs from Addison's side by the hatch.

Bellamy moves, stating in realization, "Vials." He picks up a handheld container from the surface the Grounder's things are on, "It's gotta be here."

Clarke tosses the knife on the floor near Octavia, "You'd have to be stupid to have a poison around this long without an antidote." Clarke says quietly, searching through the different vials along with Octavia. "Which one?"

The Grounder remains silent, his impregnable expression remaining the same. "Answer the question!" Bellamy shouts, getting the same silence Clarke had gotten.

"Show us," Octavia tries, "Please."

"Which one? Our friend is dying down there and you can stop that," Clarke tries again, this time pleading.

Silence, again. Bellamy wipes his nose, walking towards the much bigger man, "I'll get him to talk."

"Bellamy," the brunette calls quietly.

He stops in front of the Grounder, rocking his clenched fists back, but Octavia catches it, pulling him back. "Bellamy, no!"

"He wants Finn to die. Why can't you see that?!" He yells at her, averting his gaze to Clarke, "Do you want him to live or not?" He asks her, referring to Finn.

Clarke remains silent, and Addison knows deep down, she agrees with torturing the Grounders. She steps in front of Clarke, blocking her from Bellamy's sight. "This is wrong," she intervenes, "We'll find another way, Bellamy, but torturing him is not the way," she pleads, searching his eyes for any sign of him changing his mind.

"This is the only way," his voice raises, his eyes and expression softening. "Tell me how else we're supposed to save Finn," he practically pleads for her to give him another option, but she comes up empty.

She spins and faces the blonde, "Please...you know this isn't the way to save him. He—" Addison points at the Grounder, "—doesn't even understand English."

Clarke presses her lips together, finding the metal flooring beneath their feet more interesting. Octavia steps forward, getting in between the two girls, "Clarke, you even said it yourself. This is not who we are!" She moves her gaze to Octavia, her face still unreadable. "He was protecting me. He saved my life," she, too, raises her voice to get it through Clarke's head.

Bellamy reaches his arm in front of Addison and grabs Octavia's, "We're talking about Finn's life!" His voice booms against the metal walls and flooring of the level, startling Addison in a jump.

"Clarke, please..." Addison begs, but she doesn't budge.

"Do it."

"No..." Octavia almost inaudibly says, shaking her head. Addison closes her eyes and lowers her head in defeat as Bellamy walks to the other side. "Just tell us!"

Addison snaps her head up, hearing two separate footsteps go after Octavia. Miller and Dawson grab and pull her back, a fire burning inside Addison at their actions. She marches to them and pushes Dawson, "What is wrong with you?! Let her go!"

He looks down at her, holding one of Octavia's arm as she thrashes to get free. Dawson's jaw clenches with a heavy sigh, and releases her arm. Octavia takes the opportunity to break out of Miller's grip and shoves him away forcefully.

"What the hell man?" Miller lifts a confused brow at Dawson.

The boy shakes his head, his and Addison's eyes staying locked, "Sorry, Miller." Dawson says softly, his eyes softening at the betrayed look in Addison's eyes. "Addison—"

"I don't wanna hear it, Hale." She cuts him off in a hard and low voice.

She hears the sound of fabric being cut and torn, glancing over her shoulder. Bellamy cuts and tears the Grounder's shirt off of him, "You're gonna tell us the antidote or you're gonna wish you had," the Blake boy tells the Grounder.

The Grounder's shirt is completely torn off, the pieces of it laying all over the floor beside him. Tattoos cover both of his biceps, chest, and one sitting on his lower stomach, her eyes widening at the size of him; he's much larger and ripped than she initially thought he was under a shirt.

"Bellamy, no. Please," Octavia pleads to her brother as he removes a red strap from his shoulder.

Addison shakes her head, her lips parting at the realization of what's in his hand—a seatbelt. He twirls the red strap around his hand, the heavy buckle hanging down at his side. She closes her eyes when Bellamy swings the buckle into the Grounder's abdomen, jumping when it makes contact.

She turns so her back's facing them, opening her eyes to find Octavia covering her mouth in horror at what her brother's doing. The sound of the buckle making contact sounds again, Addison jumping once more, as does Octavia. She faces Bellamy and the Grounder again, watching Clarke kneel in front of the Grounder and spread the vials on the ground.

"Please," she looks up at him, "Which one's the antidote?

"Just tell them," Octavia says with glossy eyes to the Grounder. He merely looks at her and straightens his posture, moving his eyes and lifting his chin up as Bellamy walks up to Clarke.

Clarke rips her shoulder from his grasp and hurriedly moves out of his way, like he burned her. He wraps the red strap of the seatbelt around his hand, continuously beating the Grounder with the buckle. Addison jumps each time the buckle makes contact with the Grounder, her eyes glossing over with a hung head.

"Enough!" Octavia exclaims loudly, Addison lifting her head when the torturing stops.

"Clarke! He's getting worse!" Raven yells from the main level, causing Clarke to jolt forward towards the Grounder.

"We're running out of time," she quickly says, kneeling by the vials, "Which one? Which one is it?" She desperately asks him again, pointing around at the different ones as she looks up at him. The Grounder's head hangs low in exhaustion, continuing his silence. "If you tell us, they'll stop. Please, tell us which one is the antidote and they'll stop this." Clarke repeats in a more demanding voice.

The Grounder finally lifts his head, meeting Octavia's eyes briefly before he tilts his chin up and averts his eyes to Bellamy and Clarke. In frustration, Bellamy throws the seatbelt just past the Grounder, both Addison and the Grounder jumping. "If that doesn't work, maybe this will." He lifts up a spiked piece of metal in a T-shape, "Clarke, you don't have to be here for this."

"I'm not leaving until I get that antidote," Clarke's strongly replies.

"No, Bellamy," Addison tries getting his attention, stepping forward and a tear slipping down her cheek when he jabs it into the Grounder's hand. "Oh my god," she breathes out in a shaky voice.

She glances at Octavia, both girl's meeting each other's eyes. "What's taking so long?!" Raven yells at them, specifically Clarke, again. She climbs out of the hatch, rushing to Clarke, "He stopped breathing."

"What?"

Raven stops her from moving, resting a hand on her elbow, "He started again, but next time, he might not."

"He won't tell us anything," she informs Finn's worried girlfriend.

She merely glances between the Grounder and the dropship wall, moving forward. "Wanna bet?"

Raven kneels down on the floor, grabbing onto something. Addison's too stunned to ask what she's doing, but luckily, Bellamy does. "What are you doing?"

She rips two wires from a panel with a buzz of electricity, the Grounder jumping in pure fright as he snaps his head. "Showing him something new," she strikes the two wires together like she's starting a fire.

Addison clamps a hand over her mouth in horror, backing away as another tear slips down her cheek and onto her hand. The electricity buzzes, and that's when Raven jams the two wires into the Grounder. He groans and shouts in agony, the lights dimming to the point where they're almost left in the dark.

Raven finally removes the wires, the Grounder's yells of agony being more clear. "Which one is it?" He doesn't answer, infuriating Raven. "Come on!" She jams the wires into him a second time, the lights flickering once more. The Grounder yells more loudly, Raven's own yells becoming more broken, "He's all I have!"

Addison closes her eyes, not baring to witness his torture any longer. "No more!" Octavia shouts, Raven head snapping to the Blake.

"He's letting Finn die!" Raven exclaims back, tears running down her cheeks.

Addison opens her eyes to see Octavia in the light, holding the poisoned knife in her hand. Her brown eyes widen, her hand slowly unclamping from her mouth. "Oc-Octavia, no." At her voice, Octavia snaps her head to her with a tear rolling down her cheek. "Please, don't do this..." her voice cracks, taking a step closer to Octavia.

"I have too. It's the only way," she whispers, "I'm so sorry, Addie."

As soon as the words roll off her tongue, she brings the knife into her forearm, turning away from Addison. "Octavia, no!" Bellamy exclaims, but she continues sliding the knife down.

Addison's eyes widen, the tears from her eyes now falling freely down her cheeks as she watches the girl slide it down her arm. "He won't let me die," she states matter-o-factly with glossy eyes, staring at the Grounder.

He twitches and moves, not from being electrocuting, but because of Octavia slicing her arm with the poisoned blade. Addison notices, hoping she didn't poison herself for nothing. She numbly backs away towards the hatch; she can't stay here. She has to, needs to leave. Without saying another word, she brushes past Dawson and climbs down the ladder to the middle level.

Addison avoids the eyes staring at her and continues to the other ladder, climbing down it and comes to Finn's side. She grabs one of his hands and sniffles, attempting to wipe her tears away with the back of her free hand, but it's no use—they continue falling. With a heavy and frustrated sigh, she grasps his hand tighter, looking at his much paler and sweaty skin.

His hand is hot from the poison in his body, her lips tugging into a sad smile. "If Jasper can survive a spear to the chest, you can survive a little poison. I know you can," she whispers to him, averting her gaze to Clarke's handy work.

Two pairs of quick footsteps run down the ladder, catching Addison's attention. Clarke is down first, a vial in hand and comes to where Addison's at. A relived smile graces her lips; Octavia's plan worked, but at what cost? Raven's boots hitting the metal floor bring her to reality. She grabs a piece of fabric on her way to Finn's other side, then sits on the table beside him.

She gently lays it on his chest while Clarke pours the supposed antidote into Finn's mouth. "How do we know it works?" Raven asks Clarke quietly, glancing at her.

She puts the lid back on, "We'll know when he wakes up. He'll need water when he does," Clarke glances at Raven, "Do you mind?"

Raven nods, getting down from her spot on the table. "Sure," she answers softly, disappearing to the middle level.

Addison remains standing in her spot with pressed lips, "You, too, Addison." Clarke says just as soft.

"If I leave I'm going outside to find Liam," she answers in a slightly stern voice, "I'm not going back up there," she breathes out, referring to the middle and upper levels of the dropship

"Addison, please..." her voice cracks, on the verge of tears.

The brunette and Clarke make eye contact, and she caves upon seeing the girl's face. She sighs softly and reluctantly nods, releasing Finn's hand and climbs up the ladder to the middle level. Addison finishes the climb and finds the spot on the floor she was at earlier is still vacant. She walks there and slides down the wall, bringing her knees to her chest.

She leans the side of her body against the chair beside her, staring blankly at a random spot on the floor. The events of tonight replay in her head; Liam's disappearance she can't bare to think of again, too afraid she'll break and wonder into a storm that could kill her, but she's no use to him if she's dead. Then there's the Grounder Bellamy tortured in the level above her, but Dawson had a hand in his torture, too. Before the Grounder arrived to camp, he, Miller, and Bellamy had already beaten him enough to lose consciousness for a long time.

The one event that she can't wrap her head around is the fact Octavia poisoned herself. Even though her stunt got the antidote, Addison's incredibly upset at Octavia for selflessly doing what she did. There's still and chance it won't work, and she and Finn could end up dead.

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Addison awakes with a gasp, her skin sticking with sweat. She closes her eyes and leans her head against the dropship's wall, steadying her breathing, but she can't. They come out faster and faster with each passing second, and soon, she's hyperventilating. The feeling of air not reaching her lungs leaves her breathless as she tries to focus on something, anything that will steady her breaths.

She doesn't have the steady beating of Octavia's heart to calm her so easily, she only has memories, but the memories that flash her mind only worsen the need to breathe. All she can see is Bellamy torturing the Grounder, whipping him with a seatbelt and shoving the large spike into his hand. Octavia carelessly gliding the poisoned knife down her forearm as her blood softly dripped to the metal floor, and Raven jamming electrical wires into him and his agonizing attempts to shout fill her head.

"Addison, hey." She can't focus on their voice, she can barely even hear it, only the sound of her deep breaths desperately searching for air. "Addie, look at me!"

The voice registers and her eyes snap open, her breathing almost immediately settling. "Liam . . ." she says breathlessly with glossy eyes, her bottom lip trembling as her face turns sheet white, like she's seen a ghost.

He nods with a small smile, moving the strands of hair that stick to her sweat coated forehead, "I'm right here, Addie." She chokes on a sob and pulls him to her, burying her face in his neck. Her tears soak into his blue long sleeve, the boy's hold around the girl tightening. Liam kisses the side of her head, speaking into her hair, "I'm right here, and I'm never gonna leave you."

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