From The Ashes | The 100 S5 [Bellarke]

|3| Bunkered Down

3 years after Praimfaya

Sweat dripped down Octavia's face as she ducked and rolled away from the sweep of Kane's sword. The once-Chancellor had learned much in their time locked away from the effects of Praimfaya, and she was pleased at the challenge he had become. Sparring with a worthy opponent was fun.

"Nice one," she said with a grin, and then lunged forward with an attack of her own.

Kane grunted with effort as he brought his blade up to meet hers, the metal meeting in a harsh, unmelodic sound. His defense was strong, but Octavia twisted her sword with a subtle gesture of her wrist, slipping her weapon past his to rest on the fragile skin of his throat.

"But I still win," she said, her grin triumphant.

Kane laughed as he stepped away, lowering his sword arm and wiping at his forehead with his free hand. The circle of trainees gathered around the sparring circle murmured in appreciation at what they'd just witnessed, but Octavia silenced them with a curt gesture.

"No matter how good you think you are," she said, her voice ringing over the room, "always assume the other person is better. Kane thought he had the advantage, which made him careless."

"I resent that," Kane complained in good humor as the two of them stepped aside a moment later as the trainees returned to their training groups under the oversight of Octavia's warriors.

"He's getting lazy," Indra said, moving towards them from her previous position in the shadows at the edges of the room.

"We train every day," Kane said, setting his sword down against the weapon bench and picking up a nearby towel. He brought the thin, graying material across his hair, slicking the damp strands back before looping the towel over his shoulders. "We've got two more years until the ground is safe, and there's not really much we can do except train and catch up on our reading lists."

"Speak for yourself," Octavia scoffed, sheathing her sword across her back. Indra fell in next to her, the master turned second. "You don't have the eyes of twelve hundred people watching your every move."

"We've had peace for two and a half years now," Kane reminded her. "For the first time since we landed, we are truly at peace."

"Sure," Octavia agreed wryly, the corner of her mouth twisting up in a dark smile. "All it took was the end of the world."

~ ~ ~

Abby wished she'd had the chance to speak to Clarke one last time.

Once the death wave had hit, communication was lost, and now she didn't know if her daughter was even alive. She hoped so – oh, how she hoped! – but the ground was not friendly to hope. It liked to tear it to shreds, as if offended by the idea that good could be found during such anguish and struggle.

She was walking out of medical after her daily shift had transferred over to Jackson, and saw Kane waiting for her at the entrance to the white-washed concrete walls of the bunker's medical level. His face was flushed and his eyes bright, his gray-streaked dark hair slicked away from his features.

He'd been training again.

Abby met him with a kiss, the gesture natural and familiar after three years. She tasted the faint residue of sweat on his lips, salty and metallic, and his shirt was damp under her fingers.

"All good?" Kane asked her as they walked back together to their shared room, his fingers warm in hers.

"All good," Abby responded. "Just the normal cases, nothing serious."

"Let's hope it stays that way," he said.

6 years after Praimfaya

They were trapped.

Octavia sat against the wall of the exit room of the bunker, staring at the immovable door with the weight of Polis keeping them underground. It was a year past the time when they should have emerged, pale and blinking, into the light of the world reborn through the flames of Praimfaya.

Their salvation had become their tomb.

She had asked the engineers responsible for running the hydroponics and life support of the bunker how long they could survive, and gotten the answer that if they were careful and another catastrophe didn't occur, the Second Dawn bunker could be the next Mount Weather.

The one fact Octavia clung to was that they were still alive. Where there was life, there was hope. Even if that hope was a thin, weak thing that struggled to stay afloat under the crushing waves of reality.

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Short chapter here, because Wonkru isn't really going to come into the storyline for a bit, but I still wanted to check in with them for a moment. What do you think of Octavia and Kabby?

Vote and comment, please!