Chapter Text
“Everybody get inside, now!” Clarke screamed as Lincoln brought Octavia through the side entrance to their camp.
Lincoln carried her to the dropship’s ramp where Miller stood guard with one arm hanging dejectedly by his side, his shoulder dripping blood. The other arm held a gun and he briefly aimed it at Lincoln before noticing Octavia cradled in his arms.
“Go!” Miller shouted as he continued herding others into the dropship, prepared to shoot at any Grounders who made it past the grenades or the Gunners protecting their retreat.
Lincoln brought her through the doorway, pushing past the parachute that served as a curtain. He stopped just inside when several kids screamed at seeing him, raising their weapons threateningly. Harper hurried over.
“Here.” Harper grabbed Lincoln’s elbow and escorted them through the terrified crowd to where Raven sat propped up and unconscious against the far wall. Lincoln carefully set her down next to Raven and began to move away.
“No!” Octavia clung to his shirt. “Don’t leave me!” She still didn’t see her brother, she had an arrow in her leg, and she was pretty certain she was going to pass out in a second. Lincoln could leave her after she was unconscious.
“I need to find my medicine pouch for your leg.” Lincoln cupped her face, brushing hair from her eyes as he held her gaze. “I will be right back.”
Her head lolled back on her shoulders, her muscles feeling like sludge. She forced her eyes open, using all her effort to straighten her head again. Lincoln was no longer in her line of vision.
“Hey.” Harper took Octavia’s left hand in hers as she wedged herself between Octavia and Raven.
Octavia licked her lips, trying to form words through the sleepiness of her thoughts. “Linc….”
“I’m right here.” His wonderful voice came from her right. She tried turning her head to see him but it was so much effort.
She heard the whooshing sound of the dropship door closing. “Where’s…where’s Bellamy?”
“Jasper, now!” Clarke shouted.
“Where’s Bellamy?” Octavia asked them again, more urgently. Lincoln tried to shove something into her mouth. “No!”
Lincoln pinched her chin firmly, pushing the rim of a cup against her lips. “Octavia, you need to drink this in case the arrowhead is poisoned.”
She begrudgingly went to take a sip, knowing her fever and drowsiness were most likely caused from poison coursing through her system. Instead, he poured all the contents down her throat. She gagged but he held her mouth closed with his palm under her chin, forcing her to swallow the vile concoction.
“I had to save her,” Lincoln said, but he wasn’t looking at her.
She followed his gaze, seeing Anya, Lincoln’s leader, standing before them, her hands tied in front of her and surrounded by her enemy. Octavia tilted her head back toward Lincoln, trying to reach her hand up to his face, wanting to let him know how much he mattered to her for giving up everything to be with her.
“Lincoln.” She sighed as he wavered before her eyes, glimmering like a reflection in a puddle.
She screamed herself awake when her world lurched violently up, jarring the arrow sticking out of her leg, and then fell back down into an eerie silence. She started retching from the pain.
“We gotta get it out of her.” She heard Lincoln talking to someone and then he was pulling her onto his lap. She cried out, her head spinning from the movement, her leg on fire and throbbing.
“Hey, Angel?” Lincoln’s voice was in her ear; his hand upon her thigh near where the arrow was sticking out of it. He poked along the entrance with something sharp, widening the hole, making her black out.
”It didn’t hit bone.” The rumble of Lincoln’s chest as he spoke brought her back to consciousness. He was talking to someone else again but Octavia couldn’t turn her head to see who.
“Lincoln.” She whimpered. She was trying to be strong but her head was foggy and she was so...so…so…warm…and…sleepy. She licked her dry lips, forcing her eyes back open. “Stop stalling and pull it out.”
A wave of pain crashed over her, leaving her gasping as Lincoln pulled the arrow from her leg, quickly covering it with a rag and applying pressure.
Clarke’s blonde head bobbed into her vision. “This is gonna hurt.”
She awoke again, still sitting on Lincoln’s lap, her face pressed into his chest, the steady sound of his heartbeat calming her as she slowly became aware. They were in the dropship, just the two of them and Raven who was still unconscious…or maybe dead. No, Octavia had to believe she was simply unconscious.
“What’s going on?” She asked as she tried to sit up. “Aah!” Her leg.
“I don’t know,” Lincoln replied. “They all left to check outside and no one has come back yet.”
The metallic clang of boots stomping up the ramp echoed into the dropship. Five men in green suits and masks carrying guns stormed in. Their guns swung around and trained on the three of them huddled in the corner.
“Mountain Men,” Lincoln whispered fearfully.
Octavia had never thought he’d be scared of anything. She clung to him tighter, whimpering as the Mountain Men charged at them. Hands grabbed her roughly, dragging her off Lincoln.
“No!” She wrestled her way free, wrapping her arms around Lincoln and clinging to him as they tried to pry her off. “Lincoln!”
“Octavia!” Lincoln cried out as he fought off two more Mountain Men when they attempted to yank him away from her.
“No!” She kicked out with her left leg, her right leg immobilized from the pain. She was losing her grip on him. She couldn’t lose him! Her hands grasped at his forearms as he held on tightly to hers. She felt something bite into her neck and a thickness entered her limbs. She fought it off just like she continued fighting them off.
Another Mountain Man joined in as they tried to tear them apart. “Octavia!” Lincoln’s arms were slipping from her fingers! “Octavia!” His fingers were sliding from hers! “OCTAVIA!” She couldn’t feel him anymore! She couldn’t feel anything anymore...her eyes were so heavy....
“Lincoln....” She exhaled his name, the barest whisper upon her lips as she sank into the deep waters of oblivion once again.