CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
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     IT SEEMED TO HAVE GOTTEN FOGGIER and much darker. Physically around them, and also in atmosphere. Thousands of lights shone before them while the Grounders prepared for the execution.

     Taylor stood with Clarke and Raven, glancing over at the latter and knew it wasn't the time to deliver Finn's message and gift. Would there ever be a good time?

     Tears seemed to have permanently welled in her eyes whenever she looked at her and Clarke had acquired a hardened expression, horror slipping through the cracks every so often.

     "What is that?" Raven asked as the Grounders mounted a tall wooden post in the dirt, close enough for everyone to see.

     "It's for Finn," Clarke responded in a steady voice, much effort clearly going into that. "They want us to watch."

     "We're gonna get him," Bellamy assured, not taking his eyes off of the sight before them. "Get in close enough, him them hard."

     Taylor took a deep breath and shook her head, looking him in the eyes and saying all she needed to wordlessly. On the other side of Raven, beside him, Kane reasoned, "Son, there are thousands of them. Even if we could kill hundreds, they'd still wipe out this camp and your friend would still die."

     "We have to try," Bellamy responded earnestly, looking almost desperate at that point.

     "We can't," Taylor mumbled, while Raven turned to her side to address Abby.

     "Abby," she said, the tears audible in her voice. "Abby, we have to do something."

     Abby paused and took her time looking up at Raven, sympathy playing on her features.

     "No, Raven," she denied softly, shaking her head while she glanced at her.

     Taylor looked at the people in front of them numbly, this almost being a worse fate than Finn just being killed in simple combat. Long, drawn out, ceremonial. Their shouts taunted every one of them.

     Abruptly, Clarke, Bellamy, and Raven stepped away from the group and fell back further into camp. Taylor followed them in not much of a rush, listening to Clarke maintain to Bellamy that she was going to speak with the Commander.

     What she was going to say, she didn't know, but everyone was getting a little desperate. She stopped next to Raven as she called out for Clarke.

     "Give me your hand," she told her, holding out her own expectantly. Carefully, Raven slipped a small, sharp blade into Clarke's sleeve. "If she won't let him go, kill her."

     Her tearful eyes looked at Clarke with all the seriousness in the world. Clarke gave a tiny nod, her own expression not wavering in the slightest.

     "You can't be serious," Taylor let out, glancing between the two in horror.

     "I am. This is Finn, Taylor," Raven snapped, the tears in her eyes threatening to spill. She turned back to Clarke, explaining, "Things'll go crazy. Then we'll go grab Finn. Clarke. You have to help. I owe him my life."

     Clarke gave her another tiny nod while Bellamy glanced at the ground. "Clarke you can't," Taylor stressed, giving her a pointed look. She simply glanced back at her and turned around to leave through the gates. As she watched her form fade into the mass of lights and Grounders, she turned to Raven. "Maybe letting him do this is the debt repaid, Raven."

     And with that, she turned on her heel, hardly able to breathe at the thought of what might happen. Taylor pushed her way back through the large crowd that congregated near the fence and took her previous place next to Kane and Abby.

     "Clarke," Abby breathed in worry. "What is she doing?"

     She lunged forward to go stop her daughter but Kane grabbed her arm and prevented her from moving any further.

     "She's going to try to talk with the Commander one last time," Taylor explained, shaking her head and not removing her eyes from what was in front of her.

     "You have to let her try," Kane told Abby, and she ceased her movements, watching powerless.

     Raven and Bellamy rejoined then seconds later, watched with bated breath as Clarke pushed through crowd of Grounders with weapons at the ready.

      She was let through and exchanged a few words with the Commander before there was an uproarious outburst of yells and chants.
Finn was being escorted in, toward the large pole, staring at Clarke all the way. Taylor's stomach dropped. It was what he wanted.
The torch the Grounders that escorted him carried illuminated his fearful features. Tears began to gather in Taylor's eyes.

     "Be brave, Finn," she muttered, putting her hand in her pocket and grasping the pendant he had temporarily entrusted her with.
Shoving him against the pole, they forced his hands around to the back and tied them there. His face stared directly at their camp, trying to keep a straight one despite the clear panic in his eyes.

     Taylor remembered when his face was genuine and calm telling her, "Being brave isn't saying that you aren't afraid. It's knowing that you are and dealing with it."

     She couldn't help but repeat that moment in her head over and over again as she watched his face, screaming at him in her head that he was brave. Despite it all, he always had been.

     "Come on, Clarke," Raven egged on intently, her features hardening for a solid second. "Do it."

     Clarke and Lexa were still in discussion, as Clarke hadn't moved since she arrived. But then she watched Lexa nod as Clarke shifted slightly and began to walk over to the boy tied to the post.

     "What is she doing?" Raven asked in confusion, eyebrows furrowed as Clarke rushed over and pressed her lips to Finn's.

     She pulled away and they exchanged a few words before she wrapped him in a tight hug. Finn looked almost agonized, closing his eyes while he leaned his head on her shoulder.

     But when she pulled away to face them, Taylor gasped lightly. The Grounders were enraged at first, but Lexa put up a hand to stop them.

     "Oh my god," Taylor whispered, covering her mouth with her hands and shaking her head. When Clarke pulled away, Finn didn't lift his head. He didn't move. A dark crimson stain has blossomed on his shirt and the knife that Raven gave Clarke dripped with blood.

     It was all silence until Raven began to scream. "NO! NO! NO!" she shrieked over and over again, falling to the ground while Bellamy caught her and attempted to pull her into some sort of hug, hand on her head.

     Taylor stumbled back, tears running over her hands and she breathed in, lowing them from her mouth.

     "May we meet again," she whispered shakily, turning her back on the fence while Raven's screams rattled in her ears.

     The crowd was still watching, most of them in horror, which she found ironic considering they were the same people who had been so willing to offer him up to the Grounders.

     Nobody was around when she sat down at a table in the common area they had set up and she pulled the necklace out of her pocket and stared at it.

     How was she supposed to give this to Raven? Why had Finn even entrusted her with it? Her hands shook and she unraveled the chain and looked at the pendant closer. The raven that hung from it likely had an entire history she knew nothing about.

     Her head darted up when someone sat across from her, stomach churning at who she saw.

     "It's a shame, about your friend," he said, looking down and his palms as she leaned in over the table. His shoulder-length blonde hair fell forward, covering his forehead and his eyes slightly.

     "What do you want from me?" she hissed, the fact that she had been crying all too visible in her tone.

     "I want nothing at all," Myers responded nonchalantly.

     "That's great, because I want you to get as far away from me as you possibly can right now or so help me—"

     "Has little Taylor Flynn grown up?" he mocked, leaning back in his chair almost satisfied. Taylor put the necklace back in her pocket and clenched her fists on the table tightly.

     "More than you know," she spat venomously. The last person she had garnered this much hatred for was Murphy, and even that was some time ago.

     "Problem here?" another voice interjected. Taylor looked back and found Bellamy standing there, arms crossed. Behind him, she could see that Chandler was now helping a broken Raven into the ship as she continued to sob violently.

     Myers's eyes lit up at the sight of Bellamy and he shrugged casually. "None here at all," he responded. "What a joy to see you two together."

     Taylor wanted to push the table directly into him at that point. If he let her secret slip before she got the chance to tell Bellamy herself, she'd lose it.

     Myers stood up and waved at both of them as he walked away, telling them, "I'll leave you to it."

     Bellamy sat down across from her, taking Myers face and took a moment to read her face which was arguably a complete trainwreck of emotions.

     "What was that?" he inquired quietly, looking back to where the man had disappeared and facing her again.

     "I have something to tell you," she managed, wiping her eyes slightly and steeling herself for the conversation she knew she had to have.

     Taking a breath and another moment to pause she looked at Bellamy directly, who waited patiently and intently for her to begin speaking.

     "There's a reason we weren't floated. You, me, my mom. My mom became a recluse, wouldn't speak to me, you fell off the face of the planet and I was scared. I was scared that we were next. So I went to the council and I made a deal with Councilman Myers. He was all too willing to use my fear and helplessness to his advantage," she explained carefully, now looking down at her hands guiltily.

     "Taylor, what did you do?" Bellamy asked quickly, his laced with panic.

     "I did what he told me. Turns out Myers works with Nygel in the black market and he's the assurance she never gets caught. I made deliveries, I didn't ask any questions. All that in exchange for our jobs and our safety," Taylor answered, a collos weight lifted off of her chest once and for all.

      But then her real worry about that revelation began to creep in. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I was going to when the Grounders attacked, but I was worried about the consequences if I did. You were honest with me about Jaha and I would understand if you were angry with me about not being honest with you," she added, looking at him directly now as his eyes swam with something almost undetectable.

     "I'm not mad at you," he finally said. "I can't be. I don't know why you went so far to save me...especially with your mom at stake."

     Taylor looked at him incredulously. "Of course I did Bellamy, I..." she trailed off, his expression shifting at her words. "I had to because I care about you and you would do the same for me."

     The last part felt rushed and something in her stomach turned and her breath felt very light all of the sudden.

     "You're not even mad I waited so long?"

     "It doesn't matter," he dismissed. A light, half-hearted smile made its way onto his face as he teased, "Can't be mad at you for too long, anyway."

     She returned the same weak smile and grabbed is hand, squeezing it in gratitude. The Grounders were still below them, arguing and yelling, their lights still present.

     But now, all they could do was hold out for slightly better times ahead.