Rupture | Bellamy Blake ² [Discontinued]

❉| chapter seven

❝he looks at her and sees everything he's ever wanted. he looks at himself and sees nothing she deserves.❞

-unknown

♛

ABBY'S HAND IS STEADY as she finishes up the last threads of Lincoln's stitches. What was once a gaping wound is now a jagged line of crisscrossed black framed by dark, maroon blotches of dried blood. Just looking at it causes me to wince. However, Lincoln seems completely unfazed and leans against the table with his arms folded over his chest indifferently.

"No," he answers in response to Kane's question. "No charges."

"Lincoln, we need to set an example," the older man attempts to reason.

"Yeah, we do," Pike agrees pointedly. "The man just lost his son, Marcus."

"That is no excuse for throwing a goddamn rock at someone's head," I fire back without hesitation. "You said it yourself- we don't attack our own people, and Lincoln's one of us."

At that moment, Octavia strides in, appearing concerned and somewhat panicked. Her voice clearly cuts through the current conversation. "What happened?"

Ignoring the question, Lincoln mutters, "I said no charges."

"Thank you," Pike says. He gives Kane an accomplished look before starting to walk out of Medical, almost running into Nyko on his way out. The two share a tense gaze before Pike steps aside and exits.

Abby leaves to assist some of the other patients. Sensing the need for a private conversation between Lincoln and Octavia, I give the former a nod of encouragement before turning away as well.

Nyko raises his hand in acknowledgment. I lift my lips into a tired grin in response. "How are you?"

"Exhausted," he replies, and he looks like it, too. Dark rims of purple beneath his bottom eyelids make them appear to bug out. His pale skin is papery thin. It doesn't surprise me that he looks like this; he has been working extremely hard to help the Grounders in our care who cannot speak English. Because I'm rusty and Abby is nowhere near fluent, his work has aided us tremendously.

"Thank you for all you've been doing to help," I tell him sincerely.

He nods. "Of course. Skaikru has medicine we never would have dreamed of using, and it continues to interest me."

"Maybe if you stick around for a bit longer, I can show you some of the ropes," I propose with a sly smile. He shrugs in response.

That's the end of our conversation. When I look back at Octavia, she appears troubled, but spins on her heel and storms out soundlessly before I can question her attitude.