"Do you have any idea what you did? Do you even care?" Clarke exclaimed, right behind Cleo.
"You asked me to help – I helped." He continued to be as defensive as ever, causing Cleo to shake her head.
"Yeah, barely," Cleo scoffed. "Three hundred people are going to die tonight – including my mom."
Bellamy's eyes softened, running over her face with what she thought might've been regret or empathy – she wasn't sure which or if she was just imagining things. It didn't matter in the end, just looking at him was adding fuel to the raging fire in her veins.
"Hold up. We don't have to talk to the Ark. We just have to let them know we're down here, right?" Raven's voice brought the couple out of their stare, her tone almost excited.
"We don't have a radio," she responded.
"But we have flares – the ship I came in has flares. If we launch them high enough, they might be able to see it and they'll stop the culling." Raven's words sped up as she began to engineer an idea in her head. "Yeah, that should work. I'm going to need everyone's help."
They all paused and looked at Bellamy. He wasn't the most trustworthy person on the ground right now and none of them wanted to him to help, not when he'd just sulked around for the past hour when he should've been looking in the river.
Cleo made eye contact with the rest of the group, spotting the looks they were giving her. She was a mediator, she was someone that everyone got along with – or used to, anyway, before the ground. She rolled her eyes up to the sky, upset she wouldn't be able to help them and that she'd have to escort Bellamy back to camp like a babysitter.
"Fine, I'll walk with him back to camp."
"Thank you, Cleo," Clarke said, giving her a grateful wisp of a smile. "Really."
They all turned to leave and she was left with Bellamy by her side. Before they began their walk, Cleo turned to him, biting back tears and a few choice words floating around her head.
"If my mom dies tonight because of you, I'll never forgive you."
She spun on her heels and began trekking through the river. She could hear his wider-spaced footsteps behind her, but he remained silent. Halfway back to camp, he broke the silence by speaking.
"I," he paused, inhaling deeply like he didn't know what he was going to say. "I really am sorry. I was scared and I know that I'm not going to be forgiven for what I did, no matter what happens."
"You were scared?" She stopped in her place, whirling around to face Bellamy. "Bellamy – we're all scared, so that's a really dumb excuse. Chancellor Jaha is reasonable, he's a good man, just like Wells was. If you only stopped and thought about it for a second instead of rushing in like you always do, maybe you would've realized that he'd understand."
"He'd understand what? That I shot him to get on the dropship for my illegally born sister? Yeah, right – he's going to pardon me for love."
"Yes! Wait–" The wheels in Cleo's head began turning. "Why did you have to shoot him to get on the ship? He was nowhere near the ship."
"Commander Shumway ordered me to, said that he'd give me a way onto the ship if I shot Jaha."
Her rosy lips broke out into a dry smile and all the anger she'd had for Bellamy dissipated. "Don't you see? That's why he'd pardon you." She shook her head at the boy in front of her. "You're so stupid, Bellamy – if you just explain why you shot him, he'll pardon you. I think he'd rather float a traitor than float you."
He scoffed in disbelief, a hopeful smile dancing on his lips. It almost seemed like he didn't want to show that hope had made a home in his heart, but she knew she'd had an effect on him.
"See? A little thinking goes a long way," she teased lightly.
He laughed in response, and gave her a steady look, studying her face. For a moment, they stared at each other and Cleo realized how close they were standing. She could feel her heart beating embarassingly fast as she inhaled deeply, taking in his scent. She didn't know why she was getting knots in her stomach or why she was feeling – well, feelings being so close to him.
"Sorry," he apologized quickly, spotting her confused face. "I just– thanks."
"Yeah, it's no problem," she mumbled. "Let's just get back to camp and help out."
They arrived back to camp at the same time Raven did with a group of delinquents. The seasoned mechanic immediately put everyone to work, placing them where she needed them to be and before Cleo even knew it, the sky had grown dark.
A fire had been built alongside the launcher, all they had to do was push a button and the flares would fly. Anxiety bubbled around in Cleo's stomach as they prepared the flares, she didn't even know if anyone would see them.
Would they be too late?
"You okay?" Harper appeared next to Cleo, intertwining her fingers with her own.
"Yeah." She nodded in response. "I have to be."
The flares were launched into the sky, leaving a quickly-disappearing trail of red as they flew freely into the air. Cleo brought her eyebrows together in a frown, squeezing Harper's hand tightly as the group of delinquents watched the stars long after the flares disappeared. The only thing they had left was hope, but even Cleo didn't know if that'd be enough.
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– I AM SO sorry that this took literally forever to post ( over a month ). but thank you sm for 4k reads and 600 votes – that is UNREAL to me and i cannot believe it. I PROMISE this will start being updated regularly again, i have everything planned out so i hope this will continue!
ALSO this hasn't been edited yet, so if you find mistakes, lmk.
