Adapting to the Ground (a The 100 fanfiction)

Progress

    Natalie forced herself to relax her hands, letting go of Noah and pushing her behind her. She stepped around the girl and faced the metal monstrosity, gritting her teeth as a special kind of rage boiled in her blood. Bellamy may have been her best friend once upon a time, but no one touched her kids and got away with it.

    “BELLAMY!” She bellowed, pulling her sword out and walking closer to the dropship. “GET YOUR SORRY ASS OUT HERE!” She didn’t react to how some of the kids flinched, and she didn’t notice how her brothers came to stand behind her on either side, wielding their own swords with scowls. The rest of the warriors with them all tensed up, hands on their weapons in preparation for a battle.

    The man exited the metal building with his hands held up, palms forward. “Natalie, I can explain-”

    “Oh, you can explain why my child just told me you tied her up when she was sent to tell you that your sister was okay?” Natalie moved forward, backing Bellamy against the outside wall of the dropship. Around her, her warriors all surrounded the two to make sure no one interfered.

    “Whoa whoa whoa, Nat, calm dow-”

    “Do not tell me to calm down, Bellamy Blake, you have no right!” Natalie pressed the edge of her blade to his throat, sneering in his face. “You knew who Talia was, you knew she was with me, and you tied her and my child up in your damn metal box! Where’s Talia!?”

    “I do-” He looked properly frightened, his face void of colour and his eyes wide.

    “Where!” Natalie demanded, pressing her blade just a bit more, just enough for a thin line of blood to leak from his throat.

    “Natali, I am here.” Natalie turned her head to look at the entrance to the dropship, where Talia stood next to Clarke with her chin raised. She was hurt, her face swollen in places and her hand clutched to her side. “It was just a misunderstanding, Noa was not harmed.” The unspoken ‘let him go’ was there in her gaze, or what Natalie could see of it.

    Natalie looked back to Bellamy, glaring at him before backing off and sheathing her blade. Then she unhooked her sword and handed it to Drane silently, reaching for Noah to check her over again. She didn’t trust herself not to hurt someone. She pulled Noah to her side and turned to face Talia and Clarke. “Where is Finn?” Her heart sank when she caught site of Clarke’s face crumbling, and she rushed forward. “What happened?”

    “He was stabbed with a poisoned knife.” Clarke’s voice shook and her lip wobbled, and Natalie was impressed at how the girl kept her chin up. “He d-” She took a deep breath, looking up at the sky and blinking back tears. “He died this morning.”

     Natalie tilted her head, licking her lips. She forced out a smile, then a half-assed laugh. This was a joke, right? Finn set this up to mess with her for leaving. “I’m sorry, I thought you said-”

    “I did.” Clarke looked at her, like she knew what she was feeling. She probably did, what would Natalie know of Clarke’s life? “He um, he-”

    Natalie shook her head, blinking rapidly. Then she nodded, letting out a sad chuckle. “Of course.” She’d had a relatively good year, and it had just gotten better when her friends showed up. It was too good to be true, and now it was starting to fall apart. She squeezed the bridge of her nose, and turned to face Clarke once more. “Okay. Um, is there, is there a way you uh…” She really didn’t want to say it out loud, that would make this all real. “Do you want to handle his funeral?” She choked it out, her chest squeezing in protest.

The Ark; Sometime in the summer, 2139

    “You’re gonna get caught, Nat!” a seven-year-old Finn Collins not-quite-whisper-yelled, glancing behind him into the corridor.