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“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Monty muttered as he hacked the electronic lock of the Chancellor’s office, quickly leading both Jasper and Aura into the room before closing the door behind them.

“Come on,” Jasper spoke with raised hands as he strode into the room. “You saw Clarke. She needs to chill out.”

“Yeah,” Aurelia added as she eyed the room, her eyes falling on the various papers spread out across the desk. “I know we’re meant to be taking this situation seriously but we need a laugh every now and then.”

“Fire-suppression foam is almost gone,” Monty revealed as he climbed onto a small box, his hands reaching towards the overhead pipelines. “But, there should be enough left in the pipes for one shot.”

“It’s gonna be epic,” Jasper said with a small smile as he lowered himself into the chancellor’s leather chair, and then proceeded to throw his feet up onto the desk.

“Um, I need something to pry the keypad open.” 

Aurelia grabbed a discarded pen from the table and tossed it towards Monty, who caught it with a satisfied hum. 
“Remember that time we welded your dad’s furniture to the ceiling?” Aurelia choked slightly in shock. “Now, that was a prank.”

“What?” Aurelia said with a laugh, turning towards Jasper with an amused expression. “Did you really do that?” The amused smile dropped slightly as she noticed the piece of paper in Jasper’s hand, paired with a confused expression on the boy’s face.

“Uh, why does Clarke have a list of one hundred names?”

Both Aurelia and Monty turned towards each other, unable to form a quick response. The girl knew that Raven had been pushing Clarke to make the list, but Aura had no idea that Clarke had actually made it.

“Let’s go,” Monty quickly said, lunging towards Jasper to grab the list from him. “She’s gonna be back any second.”

“Yeah, Jas, let’s-”

“What is this?” Jasper cut off as he stood up, holding the list away from both Monty and Aurelia’s reach. He began to back away and the two advanced towards him, his arm waving in the air in an attempt to keep it away from their grip. “Guys, talk to me.”

“Jas-”

“What’s going on?”

Aurelia sighed and ran a hand down her face, unable to look at the boy. 

“The ship will only save one hundred people,” Monty finally revealed. “I guess Clarke made a list.”

Jasper’s gaze moved between both Aurelia and Monty, a hint of betrayal swirling in his eyes. “And you didn’t tell me?”

“I’m sorry, Jas,” Aurelia breathed out. “You’re right, I should have.”

“Clarke has a plan though,” Monty cut off.

“Clarke lied to our faces. She didn’t- She didn’t tell you she was making a list and now you’re defending her?”

“What do you care?” the other boy suddenly exclaimed, startling the girl standing beside him. “You’ve made it clear that you’re planning to die, planning to leave us.”

“Yeah, and that’s my choice,” Jasper defended. “Not Clarke’s. She put herself on this list, by the way. You still think it’s all good?”

“It makes sense, Jasper,” Aurelia defended. “She’s the one leading all of us.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she has a reason.” Monty continued.

Jasper let out a humourless chuckle, his eyes falling back down towards the sheet in his hand. “Clarke’s deciding who’s worth saving. That is just great. Well guess what, Monty? You’re not.”

Aurelia furrowed her brows at the statement, watching as Jasper finally handed over the list. Clarke hadn’t put down Monty? 

“See for yourself. Clarke thinks you’re expendable. At least Aurelia is on there.”

“That can’t be right,” Aurelia mumbled as she grabbed the list from Monty, her eyes frantically scanning the list of one hundred names. She finally found her name, placed 99th between Bellamy in 98 and Clarke at 100.

“That’s Bellamy’s handwriting,” she revealed as she handed the list back to Monty. “He must have convinced her to add my name.”

Their heads simultaneously turned towards the doorway as the metal door swung open, revealing Clarke on the other side.

“Clarke, wait-”

The sound of foam splattering against Clarke and the wall behind her cut them off, their mouths opening in shock as they stared at the blonde girl. 

“Really?” the girl exclaimed, trying to use her hands to wipe off the foam that covered her face and entire upper torso. 

“I found your list,” Jasper stated as he grabbed the list from Monty and walked over to the blonde. “I guess we know who really matters to you.”

The annoyed expression on Clarke’s face was replaced by one of guilt, the girl spluttering as she tried to come up with some sort of response. “Jasper-”

“You’re not god, Clarke,” he cut off. “You don’t get to decide who lives or dies.”

“That list is a back up-”

“Well, I guess you won’t mind if I tell everyone then, right?”

“Jasper, no!” Both Aura and Monty exclaimed, rushing to block the boy from the intercom. 

“People have a right to know that they’re working for nothing.”

“Is there a fire?” 

Aurelia turned to find several guards walking into the room, confused expressions on their faces.

“Is everything alright?”

“Not for you,” Jasper revealed as he held up the sheet. “You’re not on the list.”

Mr Miller furrowed his brows as he stared at Jasper. “What list?”

Faster than anyone could blink, Jasper aggressively shoved Monty out of the way and lunged for the intercom.
“Attention, Arkadia- I have an announcement that could-”

Clarke rushed at the boy and jabbed the shock baton into his side, causing him to convulse and fall to the ground in pain.

“Clarke, what the hell!” Aurelia exclaimed as she fell to her knees, her hands moving to either side of Jasper’s face to check whether he was okay. “You’re a psycho!” she yelled as she angrily whipped her head up towards the blonde and locked eyes with her, before turning back towards Jasper.

“Are you okay?” she frantically questioned as she stared down at him, one hand grasping onto the side of his face. “Jasper?” 

He groaned slightly, one hand moving to clutch his side. 

“He broke into the chancellor’s office,” Clarke spoke from behind.  “Lock him up.”

Aura looked up to find the guards hesitating slightly. 

“I’m acting on the authority of Chancellor Kane,” the blonde spoke again, her voice slightly raised this time. “Take him into custody.”

Nate’s father nodded at the other guards. “Get him out of here.”

“Don’t you dare put your hands on him,” Aurelia threatened in a low voice as the man approached Jasper. “I swear to God, I will break your nose so badly you’ll never breathe right again.”

He continued to reach for the boy with wary eyes anyway, but before she could throw a punch at him she felt a grip on her elbow. She looked towards Jasper who simply shook his head at her, defeat swirling in his eyes.

“It’s not worth it,” he muttered as he allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, and Aurelia watched in anger as the guard dragged him away from her and out of the room. For a moment she stayed kneeling on the floor, barely noticing that Monty had also gotten up from beside her to leave.

Finally, Aura pulled herself to her feet, her eyes firmly planted on Clarke, the anger beginning to simmer again under her skin.

“Aurelia-”

“Don’t you dare, Clarke Griffin,” Aura cut off. “I understand that you have a huge responsibility, but that was out of line. Think long and hard about the type of leader you want to be, because if you insist on physically assaulting and locking up friends to assert dominance, then I’d rather perish in the radiation than be on that list.”

The girl turned on her feet and walked out of the room, not wanting to hear the excuses that would fall out of the blonde’s mouth. 

☽︎☽︎☽︎

Aurelia sat on the floor of the prison cell, her back pressed against the bench on which Jasper was sprawled across. She hadn’t been arrested herself, but she was too pissed off to do anything productive that Clarke would want her to do. Hence why she decided to keep Jasper company instead. The guard posted outside the cell hadn’t wanted to let her in, but it only took a couple threats for him to decide it wasn’t worth arguing with Aurelia McKinley. 

The sound of feedback pierced through Aurelia’s ears, causing her to crane her neck up in interest towards the speakerphones mounted in the corner of the room. 

“I have an announcement to make,” a familiar voice drifted into the room, causing the girl to straighten her back in confusion, her brows threaded together. She could feel Jasper move from behind her, most likely also confused as to why Monty was addressing the Arkadians.

“Clarke Griffin has been lying to you.” Jasper let out a snort as he slid onto the floor beside Aurelia. “Arkadia will only save one hundred people. Who thinks they made the list? Abby Griffin. Eric Jackson. Thelonious Jaha.”

Aura turned her head towards Jasper as she tuned out the list of names flowing through the speakers. “I really didn’t expect Monty out of all people to expose the list.”

Jasper shrugged as he turned towards her. “I can’t say I’m surprised. He put in so much effort to get this place fixed up and didn’t even make it onto the list.”

Aurelia hummed in response as she nodded slightly. “It isn’t fair. Monty was the one who came up with the idea in the first place to use the Ark. Without him the only plan we’d have is to somehow turn everyone into a nightblood.”

The two lapsed into a silence for a few moments before Jasper spoke again. “Are you gonna see what’s going on outside?” 

Aurelia shook her head at him. “Clarke can handle it herself.”

“That’s probably not wise. She’s gonna shock baton and arrest anyone who argues with her.” 

“Yeah, probably. I’m gonna stay with you until I’m not pissed off anymore.” The girl sighed softly as she played with the rings laying across her chest. “I miss Bellamy.”

Jasper raised a brow at her. “He’s still not back?”

“The unit still isn’t responding,” she responded as she hugged her knees close to her chest. “ I’m really worried.”

“It’s Bellamy. He probably has it handled.”

“Yeah. I hope so.”

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Can you tell I gave up with this chapter
🤠🤠

How's everyone doing? I hope you're drinking enough water!!!

Word Count: 1757