It's Been A Long Time

Chapter 2: A Heavy Loss

1 day since Praimfaya

On the Ark: 

Bellamy stared out of the window,  The once green planet was now covered in musty oranges, yellows, and greens. Radiation.  He sighed and rested his head on the cool glass, trying not to remember her. Clarke. Who saved them and he, in turn, left her down there to die alone. At least he could've stayed with her, died with her. "No," He thought to himself. "I had to leave her behind. I had no choice. She wanted us to live,  they had to live...we had to live." But no matter the number of times he repeated the justification, it could not quell the aching sadness in his stomach and the feeling of betrayal in his heart. No. He shook his head to rid it of the repeating thought. He could not let emotions rule him anymore, that's what she had told him. He must use his head and his heart, he owed her that much, at least.

 "Hey," A quiet voice said behind him. Monty. 

Bellamy turned around to face him. "Hey Monty, is everything alright?" 

Monty nodded. "Yes. Raven called a meeting in the mess hall. I think she wants to figure out a plan." 

He smiled and nodded. "Sounds like Raven. Let's go." 

"Wait," Monty pressed his hand on his chest, stopping him. "Are you alright?" 

He nodded, but found he could not speak. 

"I miss her too," Monty said, "We all do. It feels..." he paused, "Wrong. Terribly, suffocatingly, wrong. I'm so...so sorry." he choked. 

With a shock, Bellamy realized that Monty was crying. He put his hand on Monty's shoulder, an unexpected act of comfort. He felt tears well in his own eyes, but forced them back. There was no time for tears, they had work to do.

"Let's go. Raven won't like it if we're late."

Walking back into the mess hall, Bellamy was overcome with a wave of powerful nostalgia. It looked exactly the same, except for it only being filled with seven people and not 2,659. He shook away the flood of memories and gazed at the people who filled the room. There was Harper, looking tired, but better, with disappearing radiation burns, Monty stood beside her, hands clasped, he too looked tired but fine. Murphy was standing, a hint of his sarcastic swagger was back, but his eyes were those of a man who had seen many things. He stood beside Emori,  who looked fine, only a little out of place, holding his hand tightly. Raven, on the other hand, looked exhausted. Her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail and her usual look of calm was interrupted by a hurried expression and two dark bags under her eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept in a week, which was probably true. Echo, though, looked worse than all of them. She stuck out like a sore thumb with her Azgeda warrior paint and guarded expression. She could clearly tell how out of place she was because her hand rested on her hip, as if searching for a sword that was no longer there. 

"Okay," Raven called everyone to attention. "Guess what guys? We survived." 

Her voice, though hollow, still had some of her signature Raven Reyes cockiness. It was good to hear, and the mood in the room immediately brightened, if only a bit.

 "So now we have to make sure we keep surviving. I don't know about you, but I didn't haul all of your sorry butts up here to die in the first week. Especially..." Raven choked.

 Bellamy knew this was coming, and looked down. 

"Especially because...because..." Raven could not finish. 

With a start, he realized she was crying. Raven Reyes? Crying? It was almost unheard of. It struck him then, how much Clarke's death has affected them all.

 "Because we lost Clarke." he said, quietly, looking up.

 Everyone found somewhere to look other than his face. 

"We lost her, and it's hard. I still have trouble believing it, but she's...she's gone." 

The words were hard to form on his lips. 

"She sacrificed herself for us. We owe it to her to survive. Right?"

 After a moment of heavy silence, Raven composed herself and nodded.

 "Yes. Now, I plan on surviving, and that plan needs a plan. We aren't on the ground anymore, so you all know what you are good at up here. Except you two," 

She said nodding to Emori and Echo, 

"But that's okay, you'll learn fast enough. Now," She looked at everyone. "It's going to take a lot of work to get this junkyard back and running, so I'm going to need all the help I can get. Okay." 

There was a chorus of nodding heads.

 "Alright then, Monty, I need you and Harper to go try and start up the algae farm. Figure out the problems, try and fix them, if you can't find me. Murphy, Emori, and Echo, I need you to scout around the Ring. Go in every room, we need to see what we have to work with. Bellamy, you're with me. We have to get the electrical system running without fail, and fix the damn coms while we're at it." 

All heads nodded in agreement.

 "Okay then." Raven gave them an approving look, "Let's go!" 

Soooooo, whaddya think? A bit longer than chapter one, though hopefully not boring (*fingers crossed*). I figured Raven needed her signature cockiness back (and it's here to stay...hopefully). I'm curious to see how everything worked out up there?  Wonkru coming next, if you haven't guessed. Don't worry though, I'm going for limited flashbacks, so this part should be over in the next couple chapters.  The writing quality is probably not the best, as I am writing this far too late at night- sorry!

Comment and tell me what you think happened in the Ark/Ground/Bunker- I'm curious to know! (Also Echo, I'm not sure about her yet, so I'd love to know your thoughts!) 

-RavenReyes0G