No Going Back [Bellarke]

Chapter 1: Hurt

Note: Somewhat AU (obviously) :D

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Clarke:

"Let's not talk about this." My words echoed in my mind as I fished around in my bag for something to put on Raven's head. She was bleeding and that's what I needed to focus on. Not Finn's neglecting to tell me he had a girlfriend before he slept with me. Not the fact that she came to earth the very next day. Not the fact that the second she got here, I was kicked to the curb, left in the dust. And definitely not the fact that here I was, helping this girl, whom I barely knew and whom had taken over Finn's attention since her arrival.

I pressed a folded cloth to Raven's forehead and she winced slightly. "So how long have you been on the ground?" She looked at me with a look of excitement and confusion blended together. "I really don't know. I hit my head and passed out." I nodded, not really wanting to talk to her any more than I had to.

"We should get back." I turned on my heels, heading for camp and avoiding looking back for fear of getting angrier, knowing if I turned I would see Raven in Finn's arms, both of them following me home.

When we got back, I signaled for Murphy to open the gate so we could get inside. Finn brought Raven inside the drop ship behind me and helped her onto the metal table in the center of the room, where she sat while I cleaned and bandaged her head. "All done. So you know my mom?" She nodded.

"We were rebuilding a launch pod to come down here together but. . . "

"But what, Raven."

"But she got arrested just before I left. She told me to come down here alone and find you. My radio was gone by the time I woke up, so if you have the right parts I might be able to build one we could use to communicate with the ark."

"Can you do that?"

"Yeah. It's obviously not gonna be easy. We don't really have radio parts here but I'm sure we could find something that would work."

I nodded. "Let me know when you want to start."

"Why not now? The sooner the better in case your mom. . . "

She trailed off again but I didn't need to ask her to finish the sentence. I knew they would float my mom unless special circumstances arose, which rarely ever happened. She would probably be dead by morning. Instead I nodded, forcing a smile.

"Then let's get started."

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[4 hours later. . . ]

Clarke:

Four hours and we had found all the parts except one. "What's missing?"

"We need a conductor. Like some sort of metal."

I looked down at the iron key hanging from my neck. My mother had given it to me when I was eight years old and it was one of my favorite possessions. I clasped my hand around it and yanked it off my neck, breaking the chain. "How about this? It's iron." Raven's eyes lit up. "That'll work! But I remember your mom telling me about it. . . she gave that to you."

"Getting to speak to her at least one more time is more important. If this key gets me the chance to talk to her, we need to use it. Raven nodded and took the key from my hand. About twenty minutes later she had constructed a rugged-looking box of metal. "Will this work, Raven?" She turned around and looked at me hopefully.

"Now's as good a time as ever to find out, right?" I nodded and she turned around, connecting one more wire and pressing a button, causing the radio to spit out static. Raven got up close to the box to speak. "Hello? Hello? This is the ground." A few more minutes of static and a faint voice came through, so softly I couldn't make out a word they were saying. Raven twisted a few dials and the voice was suddenly loud and clear, causing Raven to jump back a little.

"This is the Ark. Chancellor Jaha speaking. How many of you are alive?"

"We've only lost two so far. One on the way down and one when we first got here."

"How about Wells. Is Wells there with you?"

Raven looked back at me and I nodded. Wells was here but I couldn't stand speaking to him after he had gotten my father floated. He just couldn't keep his mouth shut after I told him about my father's plans to tell the citizens of the Ark what was happening with the air they were breathing. That it was running out. That they eventually wouldn't be able to survive on the Ark anymore. They needed to come down to the ground with us and soon.

"Yes. Wells is here and he's fine."

I could hear Jaha's relieved sigh on the other end of the call. "Thank God. How's Earth? Livable?" I laughed then stepped closer to the radio to speak.

"It's Clarke. Obviously Earth is livable. We've been here awhile haven't we?" Jaha's deep, rough chuckle on the other end lightened my spirits a little. It made me feel like everything was okay up there too, when I knew it wasn't. That's when I remembered my mother.

"Chancellor, where's my mother."

Silence on the other end followed. My heart sank and my stomach was in my throat. I spoke more forcefully this time. "Where's my mother!?"

Jaha sighed on the other end. "Abby isn't. . . with us. . . anymore. I'm sorry, Clarke."

I turned and fought back tears. Jaha floated my mother, even after she risked her life to save his ass by using extra medicine to keep him from dying of a gunshot wound. I took a deep breath and spun around, lashing out and kicking over the table, sending it crashing to the floor.

"How could you float her, Jaha?!?! She saved your life!!!" I lashed out a second time, shoving glass jars full of medical supplies off the shelves and dropping to the ground in the shards of glass, ignoring the sticking pains all over as the pieces of glass dug into the skin of my knees and hands. Tears burned my eyes and my face was hot with anger at Jaha. "Turn the radio off, Raven. I'm done hearing his voice." I felt arms slide around me and lift me off the floor and I craned my neck to see Bellamy carrying me to a tent. He set me down and started picking glass out of my right leg.

"They floated my mother too." He looked up from my leg. "They killed her for having my sister, Octavia." I looked down, silent. I stayed silent until he finished plucking glass from my skin. I looked at the pile of shards that had accumulated next to him as he worked. There were probably fifty pieces on the pile. I looked up at his dark hair and his freckled, tan face.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because I understand what you're feeling. You're hurt in more ways than one. And besides, if we're gonna live down here together, we all gotta get along, right?"

It was at that moment that I began to form a friendship with Bellamy Blake.