HE’D FROZEN, UNCOMFORTABLE, WHEN THE GIRL HUGGED ON TO HIM but he tried to keep up with the rest of the conversation, forcing his shoulders back down and trying very hard to swallow the immediate anxiousness that had balled up in his chest. it wasn’t her fault, she’s not the one who broke into his house and grabbed him and his family. he’d feel guilty about it later, but her tears distracted him enough from the discomfort in his shoulderblades that he could … talk.
❛ hey, don’t cry. i mean ー i am finn. finn collins. ❜ just maybe not the right one. except there was the finn from star wars and the guy who played the one guy on game of thrones, but he wasn’t either of them … either. weird, how she knew his name before he’d told it. maybe one of harper’s friends though. she seemed to be friends with half of campus.
he cleared his throat. yeah, she definitely needed an urgent care or something. the ‘why’ wasn’t his business, but finn was becoming more sure of that thought the more time passed. ❛ fairfax, virginia technically, but dc is like, half an hour away. we’re near the university. ❜ he pointed helpfully over his shoulder. ❛ are you ー sure you don’t need a ride somewhere? like… a hospital? i’ve got my bike… map of the train or the bus or the roads or ー ? i can pull up google maps… ❜
he took his phone from his pocket and tapped on the screen a few times, turning the device sideways to show her the display. the phone vibrated slightly with a ding! ding! and finn bent in a little to see what it was: a text from monty that the apartment management had finally gotten another recycling bin. ❛ that’s just one of my roommates, it’s not important.
she had the wrong guy -- he wasn’t finn, he wasn’t her finn and it broke her heart in that moment to know that she was standing there in the presence of someone she once knew. was this world meant to be cruel? taunting her? nagging her? or was this a new hell? she didn’t know where bellamy had gone off too, or echo or even the rest, but her thought was to head back. yet she remained rooted there, listening to him trying to calm her.
she must have given away her teary eyes and she hated herself for it. if anything, she could always shrug this off as a misunderstanding -- because it was a misunderstanding. he wasn’t her finn. not the boy she killed; thanks, princess and suddenly her mind seared into that moment, that one memory when she pushed the blade into his heart. he had accepted his fate and she was the one to give it to him. how could she not cry when the ghost of her past was standing there right in front of her?
“university -- right. “ schools didn’t exist from her time, no, they were wiped out, so to know that an actual university existed had caught her interest. then again, many things had caught her interest, even as he pulled out his phone. clarke had only read about these gadgets and technology and she found it ironic that the world would go back to using the items they once used so long ago.
------but this wasn’t the world she knew of.
at the mention of hospital, clarke looked at him, brows furrowed at first. of course he’d ask if he could take her to the hospital, she looked like a wreck. “no, no i’m fine. i think i just had something strong last night. i just needed a map to make sure i don’t lose my way around here.”
she wasn’t making much sense and she knew it, but she had to try and play this off. when her eyes went back to the male’s screen again, she recognized the name right away and her heart ached. “monty greene?” she asked as she looked back at finn. “i- i know him, do you think you can take me to him?’
she wanted to know if this world was real. monty may not know her, but she wanted to look at him, one last time. “d-do you by any chance know..” clarke hesitated. if he said yes, would it be the right thing to pursue it? “--um, lexa?” she asked. how was she supposed to ask of lexa kon trikru when this world had nothing to do with the world she had come from?
“i’d give you a last name, but i’m not sure i know it.”