Bittersweet ━━ Bellamy Blake

𝟮𝟱. the supreme art of war

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
nobody's son, nobody's daughter

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     𝐎nce upon a time, there was a girl named Elliot, or Ellie as her family used to call her. She had a caring mother, a loving father, and the best little brother anybody could ask for. Elliot was ten when she watched her mother die in front of her, a sword to the heart. Fifteen when she watched her father burn on a stake. Twenty when her younger brother died from the effects of the Reaper injections. 

     Now at twenty-one, Elliot never would've thought she would come to this point where she saves her enemies instead of killing them. Because one thing she learned about growing up was not everything her elders had told her was true.

     The only enemy they had was within themselves. 

     The Grounder and the lanky sky boy were shoved inside the room, and they were greeted by the sight of familiar faces, attached to the wall with chains around their wrist. She stared at the camera in the corner of the room, knowing that Bellamy and the others were watching them from the control center. 

     A grunt escaped her lips as she was pushed into the wall and chained between two other kids she didn't know. The guard made sure to pull on her restraints to hurt her for good measure. He glared at her because he knew she was tied up and couldn't reach him with her hands.

     Elliot remained calm, standing on her two feet with her hands above her head because of the cuffs that held it together. She tilted her towards the other side and watched as Jasper started to secretly take off his cuffs. Once he did, he turned around and faced the Mountain men. Cage noticed him and ordered his men to restrain him again.

     Jasper had a knife in his hands. The guards cornering him did not stop him from thinking about killing Cage right there. However, before both sides could act, the sound of the alarm started blaring out throughout the whole mountain and red lights flickered around them. A warning.

     Before she even realized it━all the Mountain men started to choke on their own blood. Their skin burned as the decontaminated air was sucked inside the room. All of them fell on their feet except those who got the bone marrow treatment. Cage immediately ran out of the room, knowing he was in great danger if they got loose.

     Jasper bolted out after him, some of them shouting at him to stop, but the boy was persistent and angry. He didn't listen. Elliot roughly tugged on the restraints around her wrists, pulling them as she tried to get free. It was no use. The others began yelling for help but she watched the Mountain men crawl on the ground and boil alive from the radiation.

     It felt like hours when somebody had finally found them. Octavia Blake crashed inside the room. The sky people looked relieved out of their minds and started to call out her name in small voices. All of them were still chained to the walls so she took that as a sign to start removing the cuffs and ropes around their wrists. (Elliot was the only one who had her legs tied together).

     "Hey, get the keys from the guard," Kane told her, and the freshly-turned warrior rushed towards one of the dead Mountain men and picked up the keys, successfully taking off the cuffs around his wrists.

     Elliot remained silent because she knew it was over. All she had to do was wait for her to undo the cuffs around her wrists and legs and she would be fine. She wasn't the one who suffered anyway. Finally, it was her turn to get free from the restraints, Octavia hurriedly took off the cuffs and then rushed towards the others to do the same.

     The Grounder cracked her knuckles before trudging towards her weapons that were scattered on the floor. The smell of corpses and rotting skin entered her nostrils when she stepped over the dead bodies. She didn't hear someone go near her, and when she looked up, she found a pair of dark eyes staring down at her.

     "Are you━are you okay?" Bellamy Blake asked, sounding both unsure and worried as he glossed over the gruesome blood covering her skin.

     "It's not my blood," Elliot said bluntly as she placed her weapons back to where it was supposed to be.

     He seemed relieved with that answer. He nodded ever so slightly, pursing his lips like he wanted to say something else. Then he held out what looked like a piece of clean fabric. "Here. To wipe them off."

     "Thanks," Elliot mumbled as she took it from him.

     "Where's Cage?" Octavia demanded. The looks on their faces said it all. He had escaped, but he wasn't going to live. Not for long. Because he wasn't built for the ground. He was going to die no matter what he did.

     Lincoln reunited with them right after. He was the one who killed Cage. The man had run away from the mountain after his plan went downhill but the Grounder found him. Elliot was glad to see him alive. She walked far behind the group of those who were trapped in Mount Weather. Most of them were exhausted and some were wounded from the awful drilling.

     The sky people's camp was just right ahead of them. She stopped in her tracks, Lincoln beside her. This was an unfamiliar ground, and currently, the only thing familiar around her was her brother. He looked at her. It was obvious the two Grounders didn't belong there and they knew it. 

     Before Elliot could decide to leave, a certain blond approached her bearing words that she hoped she wouldn't have said to her. Lincoln decided to give them some space as he stumbled toward the love of his life. Octavia smiled when he neared her.

     "Hey." Clarke gave her a tight-lipped smile that she didn't return. Elliot stared at her. "Can you do me a favor?"

     Her expression didn't change. "I don't do favors. Not for you."

     "Then just listen to what I have to say." Clarke sighed, knowing there was no way she was going to change her mind. She shook her head, a beseeching look in her stormy eyes. "Stay with them. I-I know a part of you wants to, because if you didn't, then you wouldn't be here right now. You have to protect them. That's what you're best at, isn't it?"

     Elliot looked at her with slight disbelief. How could she say that she knows her when she doesn't even know herself? But she was right. As much as she hated to admit it. Clarke was right about a few things about her. She wanted to stay with Lincoln but Lincoln wanted to stay with Octavia and that meant being here at Camp Jaha.

     "Not my best," Elliot muttered, following Clarke's gaze behind the gates of the camp where the rest of her friends had survived and her dear mother was getting treated for their wounds. "But I do try."

     "Then try," Clarke said desperately. "If not for me, then do it for them."

     Elliot did not say anything else after. She merely clenched her jaw and walked away to regroup with Lincoln and Octavia. She couldn't help but glance back when Bellamy walked past her and sent her a small nod. Clarke talked to him. It was obvious there was something they did not agree with.

     But Bellamy stood his ground. And for the last time, Clarke looked at her from afar before the girl turned her back on them and began walking towards the woods. I suppose there were some things they couldn't take back, and Clarke blamed herself for it. Once again, death had taken a toll on people.

     Bellamy found himself beside the Grounder. The two of them stood in silence as they watched Clarke Griffin disappear into the woods. This time, there was no bad blood between the sky man and the Grounder. 

     Then he turned to leave, going back inside the camp. He stopped halfway when he noticed she wasn't following him. "You coming?"

    There was clear hesitation on her face. This was a big decision that will change everything. Then her eye flickered towards Lincoln and Octavia who had never looked so comfortable with each other. She wasn't going to ruin this one. Elliot gulped down the rest of her worries and doubts down her throat and looked back at Bellamy.

     "Let's go." At her words, Bellamy felt some sort of heaviness in his shoulders lifted as her arms brushed against his. Together they walked toward the camp where they will face a new beginning as one people.

      But the fight wasn't over and they will all meet each other again.