Unity Day

Elara and Nova stand beside each other as they listen to Jaha's speech. "My friends, this is a historic Unity Day. Every year, we mark the moment our ancestors of the twelve stations joined to form the Ark, but this is the last time we do so while aboard her. Next year, on the ground."

"Right. After we did all the work. Someone shut him up." Miller states, watching the Chancellor with an annoyed look on his face.

"You shut up, Miller. No one's forcing you to watch." Raven scolds.

"But Miller has a point." Nova speaks up, agreeing with her fellow delinquent. "They weren't even expecting us to live."

Elara elbows Nova in the ribs causing the girl to roll her eyes. "For ninety-seven years, we have eked out existence, hoping that someday our descendents would return to Earth." The Chancellor continues.

"Whoo! Yeah! Monty strikes again!" The two girls turn to Jasper's excited yells, "Hey! Call this batch Unity Juice! Who's thirsty?"

Jasper starts handing out the moonshine as Monty calls out, "Save me some!"

"Let's get a drink." Nova hooks her arm through Elara's.

"You go. Someone needs to stay sober." Elara replies.

"One drink, Lara. That's it. Trust me, I'm not planning to get anymore after that either. The Grounder's don't know it's Unity Day; I don't want to let my guard down. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't loosen up a little."

Elara sighs but let's Nova pull her to Jasper so they can both grab a cup. Chancellor Jaha's voice can still be heard from the screen, "To our sons and daughters on Earth listening to this message, we will see you soon. The first Exodus ship will launch in under sixty hours, carrying the reinforcements that you need, so stay strong. Help is on the way."

Nova scoffs, "Like those words are supposed to be comforting."

Hearing her Miller replies, "Seriously, he's a joke. Though I'm surprised you're so against the privileged."

"Being privileged just means I see how corrupt the Ark is from a different angle."

Miller raises his cup, "I'll drink to that."

Nova raises her glass back in a mock toast, "To the Chancellor and the council. For so kindly pardoning us of our crimes only after they sent us to our deaths."

Miller smiles, "Hear hear."

*_*_*_*_*_*

A few minutes after Miller and Nova's interaction the camp's communication system went dead. "Hey. The comms are still dead. They cut out during the pageant." Clarke says.

"Best Unity Day ever." Bellamy mutters, causing Nova to snort.

"Do you really think now is a good time to be having a party? I mean, the Grounder is out there."

"Grounders." Bellamy corrects. "By now he's made it home. He's probably putting together a lynch mob." Seeing the look on Clarke and Elara's faces he continues, "Relax. I got security covered. Why don't you go get a drink? You look like you could use one."

"I could use more than one." Clarke says.

"Then have more than one. It''s Unity Day, Clarke. Lighten up a little." Nova replies, bringing her own cup to her lips.

Bellamy nods, "The Exodus ship carrying both of your parents comes down in two days. After that, the party's over. Have some fun while you still can. You deserve it."

At the mention of her father Nova scrunched her face up in disgust, "God, I'm going to need more to drink after that reminder."

"I thought you said you would only have one." Elara states, looking at her friend in concern.

Nova shrugs then chugs the rest of her moonshine. The drink burned her throat on the way down. "You're only having one and Blake already said security is covered. I need something to stop me thinking about the fact that I'm going to be seeing my father in a few days."

*_*_*_*_*_*

On one of the tables the delinquents have begun a game of moonshine pong. Nova and Miller are on a team against Sterling and Monroe. "We are so beating you." Nova says, a rare smile lighting up her face.

"Bring it on, Kane." Sterling replies.

Nova throws first, easily making the manmade ball into one of the cups. Miller then throws his ball, sinking it into another cup. Nova and Miller both let out a cheer, high fiving as Monroe and Sterling drink.

The game continues back and forth until Nova throws the ball landing it in the last cup. Miller lets out a loud yell and picks Nova up in a celebratory hug. "That's what I'm talking about!"

"Called it from the beginning." Nova says smuggly. Just as the words leave her mouth, Clarke taps her on the shoulder. She turns to look at the blonde, "What is it?"

"Come here." Clarke leads her away from the group and towards Bellamy.

When he sees the two girls approaching, he addresses the blonde, "Having fun yet, princess."

Ignoring him she instead starts explaining why she dragged Nova towards the older boy, "Finn set up a meeting with the Grounders. Nova and I are supposed to talk with them."

"I'm too drunk for this shit." Nova says, running a hand through her hair.

"Listen, I think it might be worth a shot. I mean, we do have to live with these people."

"They'll probably gut you, string you up as a warning." Bellamy states.

"Well, that's why I'm here. I need you to follow us, be our backup."

"Does Finn know this?"

"Finn doesn't need to know, and, Bellamy, bring guns."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Walking through the woods, Clarke decides to break the silence. "I'd love it if you were right about this, but did you ever consider it might be a trap?"

"Yep, but since it's Unity Day, I decided to have hope instead." Finn replies.

"The Grounder's don't know it's Unity Day." Nova says, "And if this happens to be a trap and they kill me. I'll make sure to stay alive long enough just so I can kill you."

"Seriously, Finn, you're putting a lot of faith in a guy who stuck a knife in you." Clarke states.

"And you are sounding more and more like Nova and Bellamy." Finn shakes his head at the blonde.

"There is nothing wrong with sounding like me. I was born a leader and a warrior. I'm keeping us alive." Nova glares at Finn.

"You want to start a war." He tries to continue but Nova cuts him off.

"Bullshit. The Grounder's have been picking us off one by one since we got here. If it wasn't for me, Bellamy, and Clarke reacting in the ways that we have a lot more of us would be dead. I don't want a war, Finn. But if they think they can get away with killing one of our own, they are in for a rude awakening."

*_*_*_*_*_*

As the trio arrives at the meeting place Clarke and Nova's eyes fall on Octavia. "So that's how you set this up. You helped him escape, didn't you?" Clarke asks the younger Blake.

"I trust him." Octavia says.

Nova rolls her eyes as Clarke mutters, "There's a lot of that going around."

The group turns their heads to the sound of someone arriving. The Grounder that escaped, Lincoln, runs up to Octavia. They hug and pull away when Clarke exclaims, "Look, horses!"

Nova raises an eyebrow, impressed at the sight of the beautiful creatures. "Hey. We said no weapons." Finn says, looking at Lincoln.

"I was told there wouldn't be." The Grounder replies.

"It's too late now." Clarke says, shaking her head.

Nova casually places her hands in her pockets, making sure her knife is still there. As the three delinquents move forward, Lincoln holds out a hand, "They go alone."

"We'll be fine." Clarke says, reassuring the teen.

Nova and Clarke reach the middle of the bridge at the same time the Grounder leader does. "Your name is Clarke?" The leader asks, looking at the blonde.

"Yes."

"And you are Nova?"

"Yeah." Nova states, the glare never leaving her face.

"I'm Anya."

"I think we got off to a rough start, but we want to find a way to live together in peace." Clarke starts.

"I understand. You started a war that you don't know how to end."

Nova scoffs, "Trust us. We know how to end it. We would just prefer to do this peacefully rather than having more bloodshed."

Clarke holds up a hand telling Nova to stop, "We didn't start anything. You attacked us for no reason."

"No reason? The missiles you launched burned a village to the ground." Anya argues.

"The flares? No. That was a signal meant for our families. We had no idea-"

"You're invaders. Your ship landed in our territory." Anya cuts Clarke off.

"We didn't know anyone was here when we got sent down. Add to the fact that all of us here didn't have a choice to come down but were forced to by our people." Nova states.

"You knew we were here when you sent an armed raiding party to capture one of us and torture him."

"Only after he captured one of our own." Nova says, taking a step closer to the Grounder.

The Grounder takes a step forward, now chest to chest with the petite brunette, "You were the one who killed one of my warriors when you came into our territory."

"In retaliation for your warriors leading my people into traps to kill them. You were plucking us off one by one and I wasn't going to just sit by and let it happen."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Somewhere behind them, hiding in the woods, Jasper, Bellamy, Raven, and Elara sit watching the interaction. "Grounder Princess looks pissed." Raven states.

"Yeah well, our Angel has that effect." Bellamy replies.

"I really hope she backs off. This isn't going to end well." Elara whispers, clearly nervous for her friend.

"I always thought Nova was lying when she said she wasn't afraid of anything. I think this proves that she was telling the truth." Jasper says.

*_*_*_*_*_*

"Nova." Clarke scolds. The blonde tugs on her friend's arm, willing her to step back but Nova refuses to be the first to back away. So instead Clarke starts speaking, "Even though Nova wants to continue to argue, I see your point." Anya steps back to get a better look at Clarke as she speaks, "That's why we need to put an end to all of this."

"Lincoln said there are more of you coming down, warriors."

"The guard, yes, but also farmers, doctors, engineers. We can help each other but not if we're at war."

"Can you promise that these new arrivals won't attack us, that they'll respect the terms we agree on?"

Clarke hesitates, "I promise I will do everything I can to convince them to honor the terms that we set."

"Why would I agree to an alliance that your people can break the moment they get here?"

"How about we set terms for a temporary agreement and then when the rest of our people come down we can set up another meeting and our leaders and you can set up a more permanent agreement?"

Before Anya has the chance to reply a voice from behind the two delinquents yells out, "Clarke, Nova, run! They're gonna shoot!" Nova recognizes the voice as Jasper.

Nova and Clarke react immediately. They turn around and start running away from the Grounders and towards Finn who is rushing towards them.

"Finn, go back! Go, go!" Clarke yells at the boy.

Nova watches as Lincoln jumps in front of Octavia, saving her from an arrow.

Once the group of delinquents are back together in the woods, Bellamy starts arguing with Finn. "You got anything to say?"

"Yeah. I told you no guns!" Finn argues.

"I told you we couldn't trust the Grounders. I was right." Clarke defends her actions.

"Why didn't you tell me what you were up to?" Raven asks Finn, hurt that he didn't talk to her.

"I tried but you were too busy making bullets for your gun." Finn replies.

"You're lucky she brought that! They came there to kill you, Finn!" Bellamy says.

"You don't know that! Japer fired the first shot!" Finn yells.

"You ruined everything!" Octavia agrees with Finn.

She storms off in the direction of camp as Jasper yells after her, "I saved you! You're welcome!"

"Will all of you shut up. We can't change anything that happened so stop arguing about it." Nova says.

There is a brief moment of silence that Finn breaks, "Well, if we weren't at war already, we sure as hell are now." He then turns to Clarke, "You didn't have to trust the Grounders. You just had to trust me."

Finn runs off after Octavia just as Bellamy mutters, "Like I said, best Unity Day ever."

"Nov, you should have told me what was happening." Elara says, looking at the petite girl, who just shrugs in response. "You could have been killed. I swear you are way too impulsive and hot headed."

"I don't need you to lecture me, Lara." Nova snaps. "I'm not going to be afraid of some Grounders, I've been trained since I could walk. Out of all of us in our camp I have the best chance at survival when it comes to going up against them."

Right after the words leave her mouth an explosion in the sky causes the remaining delinquents to stop and look up. "The Exodus ship? Your parents are early." Bellamy says.

"Wait. It's going too fast. Something's wrong." Clarke replies as she watches the ship fall to Earth.

Not even a minute later it crashes, creating a mushroom cloud. Clarke sinks to her knees as Nova's eyes widen and her mouth drops open in shock.