we are grounders; ❛ RULES ❜
↷ the hundred
❝ we did good ❞
War has always been something that Gabriella Kane thought humanity would not encounter for another four hundred years. To her dislike, war has started since the second the hundred had landed on Earth.
It started with the dropship landing on grounder territory instead of Mount Weather and the only way it would end would cause more than half of them to die. Gabriella had to do everything in her power to keep her people alive and that started with keeping Raven alive by helping Clarke stop the bleeding on her and Wells' gunshot wounds.
Raven screamed in pain and gripped Gabriella's hand tighter as Clarke pressed the hot knife against her wound.
"That should stop the external bleeding." Clarke said, looking up at Finn before moving to do the same thing to Wells before his wound got infected.
As Clarke pressed the knife to Wells' shoulder, he gripped the edge of the makeshift table tightly and clenched his jaw to prevent himself from letting out anything other than pained grunts.
"I don't understand. How did Murphy get a gun?" Finn asked as he watched Clarke put a bandage around Wells' shoulder.
Gabriella shifted uncomfortably and stared at her feet, feeling a sudden rush of guilt. She was a hundred percent sure that it was her fault that Murphy got a gun to shoot Raven and Wells with and tried to kill Bellamy.
"Long story." Bellamy immediately dismissed the subject, seeing how Gabriella's expression became stoic at the bare mention of Murphy's name.
"We got lucky." Raven croaked out, sighing and shutting her eyes. "If Murphy hit the fuel tank instead of us, we'd all be dead."
"Wait, there's rocket fuel down there?" Clarke asked and Gabriella instantly wondered how she did not think of it sooner. It was a dropship and it needed rocket fuel to function.
They should have thought about checking beneath the dropship for it weeks ago.
"Is there enough to build a bomb?" The engineer wondered out loud, directing her question at Raven who's eyes flickered knowingly.
"Enough to build a hundred bombs. If we had any gunpowder left."
Gabriella sighed in frustration and rested her forehead in the palm of the hand that was not holding Raven's. She let the harsh reality settle in; not only did Murphy try to kill Bellamy and shoot two of their people, but he also ruined all of their gunpowder by creating a whole in the dropship so he could escape and save his own ass.
"Let's get back to the reapers." Bellamy said, gripping Lincoln's notebook in his hand and putting it in front of Gabriella so she could get a better look at the reaper drawn.
"Maybe they'll help us. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?" He added, making Gabriella scoff.
"Does that look like someone willing to help a hundred teenagers who invaded their home?"
"She's right." Clarke agreed. "We saw them. Trust me, it's not an option."
"There's no time for this." Finn exclaimed impatiently and turned to Clarke. "Can she walk or not?"
"No." The Griffin shook her head. "We have to carry her."
"The hell you will. I'm good to go." Raven snapped, trying to get up but groaned in pain, only to have Gabriella push her to lay back down.
"Like hell you are." She glared down at her. "You have a hole in your leg, Rae. You aren't going anywhere."
Clarke leaned down, looking at the mechanic sternly. "Listen to me. That bullet is still inside you. If by some miracle, there's no internal bleeding, it might hold until we get somewhere safe. But you are not walking there. Is that clear?"
Raven swallowed thickly, trying to keep the tears from forming in her arms, and nodded weakly. Finn nodded to himself. "I'll get a stretcher."
Bellamy glared at the back of Finn's head when he turned around and called after him with a taunting tone. "Can't run away fast enough, huh? Real brave."
Finn swiftly turned around to come chest-to-chest with Bellamy, his glare stone cold. "Dying in a fight you can't win isn't brave, Bellamy, it's stupid."
The male leader scoffed, "Spoken like every coward who's ever run from a fight."
There was a challenging look in Bellamy's eyes and Gabriella could see he was just waiting for another one of Finn's retorts so he could start a fight where he could get his anger out. And as much as Gabriella wanted to see Bellamy beat Finn half to death, they did not have time for that.
"Enough." She scolded, stepping between the two glaring men. "The amount of toxic masculinity in this dropship is making it really hard for me to breathe so I would really appreciate it if you boys would take your cat fight somewhere else and give Clarke and me room to help make sure Raven and Wells don't bleed out until we get somewhere safe." She set her glare on Finn "That was the plan you and your princess set your sights on since you walked back into camp. So I would suggest you shut up and help us deal with this." Bellamy looked down at his co-leader and opened his mouth to retort only to have her turn her glare back on him. "If I were you I would keep my mouth shut too. You might have almost been hanged less than an hour ago but you aren't helping anyone by trying to pick a fight."
"She's right." Wells chimed in, "If you don't stop fighting without any reason we'll never get this over with. We have to get going, now."
"But what happens if they do follow us?" Gabriella asked. "It's a hundred and twenty mile walk to the ocean and there's eighty of us which means we won't go past unnoticed for long--"
"Look, we're wasting time." Finn cut her off, "If you and Bellamy want to stay, you can stay."
With his final words, Finn walked out of the dropship to get a stretcher, ignoring Clarke who called after him, "No, they can't."
Wells was quick to notice the tension between the three leaders and looked down at Raven's half-conscious body before muttering awkwardly, "I'll uh- see if Finn needs any help..."
Once the Jaha left the dropship, Clarke looked between her two co-leaders pleadingly. "I can't do this without the two of you. None of us can."
"What do you want us to say, Clarke?" Bellamy sighed, furrowing his eyebrows in frustration.
"I want you to say that you're with us." Clarke said, looking at her best friend who still had not uttered a word and had her gaze locked on her dirty boots.
"Those kids out there, they listen to you." Clarke added, making Gabriella finally connect her gaze with her. "They listen to both of you."
Gabriella scoffed bitterly, "They're getting ready to go. They listen to you more."
"I gave them an easy choice. But five minutes ago, they were willing to fight and die for you." Clarke pointed out, keeping her gaze on both Gabriella and Bellamy before she added, "You inspire them. I'm afraid we're gonna need that again before this day is through."
And with those final words, Clarke exited the dropship and left the two remaining leaders standing in silence. After a few moments, Bellamy let out a sigh and nudged Gabriella's elbow with his own. "You doing okay, Bambi?"
"No. What happened is my fault and I can't get it out of my head." She admitted, feeling a strange feeling of relief after finally letting her actual feelings off her chest.
Bellamy's face flashed with realization and sympathy at her words and he turned around to face her "Hey, what Murphy did wasn't your fault."
"Yes, it is. If I hadn't begged you to let him stay he would not have killed all those people, Raven would be able to actually walk, we would have gunpowder so we could actually fight back and you wouldn't have almost died." Her voice slightly raised at the end of her rant and she was painfully aware of the tears that were slowly filling her eyes.
"You aren't responsible for the mistakes he makes." Bellamy told her firmly, resisting the sudden urge to comfort the girl in front of him by whipping her tears away and pulling her into his embrace. So instead of that, he opted to comfort her with his words. "If it's anyone's fault it's mine. I should have listened to you. I should have kept the camp in order better and not let them run around like rabid dogs."
Gabriella stared at him with tears in her eyes and with no warning, wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him into a hug. Bellamy stumbled backwards slightly from shock but wrapped one of his arms around her waist and used the other one to caress her hair while he listened to her soft sobs. He felt her hot tears hit the bare skin of his neck which only made him hold her tighter. In the middle of a war, these two broken leaders found comfort in each other's arms, trying to forget that everything around them was imploding and only focused on the few moments of peace they had for now. And that was all they needed.
-
Gabriella and Bellamy stood by the lit campfire in the middle of the camp, watching as the delinquents made their way outside, with Clarke and Wells walking right behind them.
Leaving the delinquents' camp made Gabriella feel bittersweet. It was a place filled with terrible loss in so many different ways but also a place where she was finally able to feel like her old self again...a place where she had almost full control of everything that was happening. A safe haven.
She knew Bellamy had the same thoughts once she saw him gazing into the fire thoughtfully. Hesitantly, she reached up to squeeze his shoulder. "We did good here, Freckles."
Bellamy's shoulders slumped and his face flashed with something similar to defeat. "Eighteen dead."
"Eighty-two alive." Gabriella corrected with a ghost of a smile on her face. "We did good."
The oldest Blake connected his eyes with hers and stared at her face before nodding, speaking the words he knew both of them needed to hear right now "Yeah . . . we did."
He bent down and picked up a bucket of water, spilling it on the fire, and making it dissolve into a small cloud of smoke.
Gabriella and Bellamy made their way to the gates of the camp, where Clarke was waiting for them without Wells this time. The Griffin looked between her two co-leaders and asked, "You two ready to go?"
"It's not like we have a choice, do we?" Gabriella's words were more bitter than intended but she was being honest. A part of her knew that staying in the camp would only end in slaughter. But the other part knew that if they were going to go down, it would not be without a fight.
-
"You know the first thing I'm gonna do when we get to the beach?" Miller spoke up after a few minutes of the delinquents walking in silence.
"No. What?" Jasper deadpanned with fake curiosity, fixing the gun in his grip from behind the three leaders.
Miller smiled that boyish grin of his. "I want to go surfing."
"Quite." Jasper hissed, "Keep your eyes open."
"No more damn trees, just pale, blue water." Miller continued, ignoring Jasper's words completely.
"Shut up, Miller." Gabriella snapped, giving him a warning glare over her shoulder. She was not going to deny that he had a point but his constant talking was giving her a headache.
Out of the blue, Octavia halted in her steps and held her hand up in front of Gabriella so she'd stop too. Once everyone saw the two girls stop, they did too.
"What is it?" Gabriella asked, eying the younger Blake curiously.
Jasper shrugged, holding his gun up high. "I don't see any-"
His words were cut off by a sharp object being thrown at a kid's head, making him drop dead on the forest floor. Panicked gasps could be heard from all around the group and Gabriella did not waste a second before lifting up her gun, getting ready for whatever was coming.
"Grounders!"
Gabriella, Bellamy, and Clarke started yelling at everyone to get back to camp, to the safety of the walls they built when they landed.
All gunners were on the wall, looking through their riffles and waiting for any sight of grounders. Gabriella swapped her small gun with Philip's rifle and rushed over to stand by Bellamy's side so she could get a better look at what was outside. She liked the rifle in her hands to her eye and looked through it, but saw nothing outside of the camp.
Clarke swiftly made her way by their side, looking around the woods with a scared expression on her face.
"Where are they? Why aren't they attacking?" Bellamy asked, obviously not seeing anything either.
"Because we're doing exactly what they wanted us to do." Clarke realized.
Bellamy narrowed his eyes, slight annoyance in them. "What are you talking about?"
Clarke ignored him and turned around to look at Wells, who was already looking up at her, equally confused by her words as the rest of them.
"Lincoln said the scouts would be the first to arrive." She said.
"If it's just scouts, we can fight our way out. That's what Lincoln would do." Octavia's words made Bellamy's body stiffen and he was quick to retort.
"We're done doing what that grounder would do." He hopped down from his place on the wall. "We tried it and now Drew is dead. You want to be next?"
"That grounder saved our lives. I agree with Octavia. For all we know, there's one scout out there." Finn exclaimed, making Gabriella roll her eyes and walk over to them.
"You really want to take that risk, Spacewalker?" Gabriella glared. "You're free to walk out and get yourself killed but it's your funeral."
"That scout has insanely good aim." Jasper called over his shoulder.
"Clarke, we can still do this." Octavia pleaded, looking up at the Griffin girl.
"Looking at you, girls." Bellamy sighed, looking between his fellow leaders, his pleading look matching his sister's almost perfectly. "What's it gonna be? Run and get picked off out in the open, or stand and fight back?"
Gabriella allowed a faint smirk to trace her lips as she shrugged, "Well you both know what I think. That means it's two against one either way." She looked at Clarke. "But you still get your vote, Princess."
After a moment of debating, Clarke got down from the wall only to have Finn grab her forearm. "Clarke. If we're still here when Tristan gets here--"
"Lincoln said 'scouts'. More than one." Clarke cut him off. "He said 'get home before the scouts arrive'. Finn, they're already here." She turned back around to give Gabriella and Bellamy a defeated look and sighed. "Looks like you've got your fight."
Bellamy smirked slightly and turned towards the delinquents who were awaiting their orders. "Okay, then. This is what we've been preparing for. Kill them before they kill us. Gunners, to your posts. Use the tunnels to get in and out."
"From now on, the gates stay closed!" Gabriella added, "And don't waste any unnecessary bullets!"
The delinquents scattered around to do what they needed to do and both Bellamy and Gabriella noticed Octavia was following them.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Bellamy exclaimed, blocking her path. "You're not gunner."
"No, I'm not. It's like you said...I'm a grounder." Octavia said confidently, brushing past them, barely giving Gabriella a chance to register the fact that she had a sword in her hand.
"When did you get a sword?!" The blonde called after her, but Octavia was already inside the foxhole. Gabriella's shoulders slumped down and confusion was written all over her face, while she asked, "Why is she carrying a sword?"
Bellamy let out a frustrated sigh and answered, "You don't wanna know."
-
"We got twenty-five rifles with twenty rounds each, give or take. Roughly five hundred rounds of ammo. While you two were gone we made some improvements. Thanks to Raven, the gully is mined."
Raven scoffed at Bellamy's words from her place on the dropship seat. "Partially mined. Thanks to Murphy."
"Still, it's the main route in." Bellamy said, ignoring the mechanic's pessimism. "If the grounders use it, we'll know. She and Wells also built grenades."
Clarke frowned at the sight of only two of them. "It's not many."
"Again, thank you, Murphy." Gabriella muttered bitterly, her sadness and disappointment for the boy being replaced by anger in the few hours she had to process what he did.
"We'll make them count." Bellamy reassured her. "If the grounders make it through the front gate, guns and grenades should force them back."
"And then?" Wells could not help but ask, raising his eyebrows.
His question was followed by a pregnant silence before Raven was the one to speak up, "Then we close the door and pray."
"And pray what?" Clarke asked, "That the ship keeps them out? Because it won't."
"Then let's not let them through the gate." Bellamy said with determination.
"Or we can just all go inside, close the doors, and beg for them to think we're not home. That sounds a hell of a lot easier." Gabriella spoke, a mix of sarcasm and venom dripping from her voice.
Bellamy huffed in amusement, still not understanding how the girl next to him could find the ability to joke around in the middle of war. He lifted the walkie in his hand and commanded "All foxholes, listen up. Keep your eyes and ears open. Inflict casualties, as many as possible. You can hold them off long enough to make them turn back. That's the plan."
"That's always your plan, just like the bomb at the bridge."
Gabriella turned to glare at Finn. "Do you ever stop talking? Unless you've got a better idea, keep your mouth shut and let the adults handle the situation."
"It can't be that simple." Clarke whispered, drawing attention to herself. She ignored the questioning looks and looked at Gabriella and Raven. "You said there's fuel in those rockets, right? Enough to build a hundred bombs."
"I also said we've got no gunpowder left." Raven reminded her, not understanding what she meant.
"I don't want to build a bomb." Clarke shook her head. "I want to blast off."
Gabriella and Raven grinned in understanding, the latter being the one to speak up, "Draw them in close. Fire the rockets. A ring of fire."
"Barbecued grounders." Bellamy nodded. "I like it."
"I'm in as long as it keeps us alive." Wells shrugged. "Besides, if anyone can do that it's Raven and Ella."
"Will it work?" Finn asked, looking down at his ex-girlfriend.
"The wiring is a mess down there, but yeah. You give me enough time, we'll cook them real good." Raven confirmed but Bellamy quickly chimed in.
"Yeah, Gabi isn't staying in. Clarke and Finn will help you here and Gabi and Wells will come with me. We need as many gunners as we can get."
"You think you will be fine with me leaving for a bit?" Gabriella asked, side-eying the ponytail-wearing mechanic.
"I'll be fine."
-
Gabriella stood in between Wells and Bellamy, her rifle tight in her grasp and her vision locked on the gates while Bellamy was desperately trying to catch sight of his little sister in the crowd of delinquents.
"Where's Octavia?" He finally asked Miller after not being able to find her.
"She left five minutes ago. Didn't say where to. She thinks she's a damn samurai."
Gabriella gaped at Miller. "And you let her leave?"
"She had a sword." Miller deadpanned. "What was I supposed to do? Threaten I'd call her brother and his girlfriend and tell on her?"
"You see anything?" Bellamy asked Wells, ignoring Gabriella and Miller's silent argument.
"No." Wells huffed impatiently. "What are they even waiting for?"
"The longer they wait, the better. This is about buying time with Raven."
"I see them. They're moving! I count two, three-- no, wait, there more. I don't know man. There's too many of them."
There was a loud gunshot echoing through the forest and Gabriella felt herself panicking. "Who fired the shot?"
"Probably Sterling." Philip told her.
Miller quickly added. "South foxhole."
Gabriella snatched the walkie from Bellamy's hands. "South foxhole, report now."
There were two more gunshots before Starling spoke."Yeah, yeah. We're okay. They didn't attack, it's like shooting at ghosts."
"There." Philip exclaimed just as Starling stopped talking. "I see them!"
Both Philip and Miller started shooting at the barely visible shadows of grounders in the trees, while Gabriella, Bellamy, and Wells yelled for them to stop.
"Hold your fire!" Bellamy finally snapped loudly. Once the two gunners did what he said, he said again, "Reload. Now."
"Those were our last clips." Miller said, almost sheepishly.
"We should-- we should fall back."
Gabriella instantly shook her head. "No way. If this position falls, they'd have straight access to the gates. Use the mines if they get closer, Bellamy, Wells, and I will cover for you."
"What if they don't work?" Philip asked, looking straight at Gabriella.
"They will."
"Ella, Jasper, we need you in the dropship right now."
Bellamy rolled his eyes at the sound of Clarke's voice and took the walkie from Gabriella's hands. "Negative. We can't give up the west woods and we barely have any ammo here so Gabi has to stay."
"The west woods are mined, Bellamy. The grounders just figured that out. Jasper, get in here."
"I swear to god, if we die it's because she can't get his priorities straight I'm gonna kill her." Gabriella scoffed and Bellamy made a small noise of agreement while Wells just rolled his eyes.
"All gunners listen up. The grounders are not attacking. They're making us waste bullets. Don't shoot when they're running laterally."
"That's my boy." Gabriella muttered proudly, realizing how true Jasper's words were.
"Jasper's right." Bellamy spoke into the walkie again, "Don't fire until you're sure it's an attack. Repeat, do not fire until you are sure."
"Let me use this for a second." Gabriella said, pulling the walkie out of Bellamy's hands and putting it to her mouth. "Are the mines working?"
"Yeah." Jasper spoke through the walkie-talkie. "Why? Is everything okay?"
Gabriella's mind flashed to the east foxhole, remembering they were out of ammo and one of the weakly guarded foxholes. She took a deep breath before turning to Bellamy. "I'm going to take the walkie and head to the east foxhole with Wells. If anyone needs backup it's them."
"I'll go with you."
The youngest Kane shook her head at his words. "No, you stay here and make sure everything here is going well. We will be fine. Wells will cover for me."
"I will?" Wells' eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Seeing Gabriella's almost threatening raised eyebrow, Wells pursed his lips and nodded. "Right...it's not like I have a choice."
"Just..." Bellamy sighed, looking down at Gabriella with a glint of worry in his brown eyes "be safe."
"Safe is my middle name." Gabriella grinned confidently, giving her male co-leader a two-finger salute before grabbing Wells' forearm and dragging him away.
-
"Stand your ground, if they take the gate, we're all dead."
Gabriella and Wells share a worried look before they quicken their pace back towards the now-empty west foxhole.
"They've broken through! There are hundreds of them! They're heading for the gate! Game over, man!"
"Yeah, no kidding." Gabriella muttered when a bunch of grounders with swords came barging toward her and Wells. Both of them raised their riffles and started shooting at them, trying to kill as many as they could.
Gabriella was surprised when one of the two last grounders pushed her onto the floor and raised his sword above his head. He was barely able to slice her shoulder when two loud shots rang through the air and the grounder dropped on the floor, along with the swords in his hand.
Wells stood above him, panting and staring down at Gabriella in concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." Gabriella nodded, accepting his extended hand and getting to her feet before putting his chest lightly. "Thanks, Princey."
"See, I can be a badass." Wells said, a ghost of a smirk appearing on his face that made Gabriella snort and shake her head.
"You just ruined it."
Wells rolled his eyes and checked his gun. "I'm out of ammo."
Gabriella frowned. "Get to the dropship." She ordered, getting ready to head out and find Bellamy.
Wells shook his head stubbornly. "No, I'm not leaving you."
Gabriella eyed him momentarily before sighing. "You really are a pain in the ass, huh?"
"Well, you called me worse." Wells chuckled slightly, mirroring the blonde's small smile.
Gabriella was cut off by saying something when even more grounders started attacking and Miler yelled. "There are too many! Everybody to the dropship, now!"
"No!" Clarke yelled desperately from her place at the dropship door. "We need more time. Gunners, stay at your posts. The rest of you get inside. You too, Wells."
Clarke did not expect Wells to shake his head and say, "No, I'm going to help Ella look for Bellamy."
"Where is he?" Clarke asked, making Gabriella run her hand through her head in frustration. "Obviously not here. He has to be somewhere outside with Octavia, we'll go look for him."
Clarke did not even get a chance to try and keep them there because there was a loud bang heard in the sky, followed by a big blinding light, falling down.
"Is that from The Ark?" A girl named Fox asked and Clarke stared at the sky in disbelief.
"That is The Ark."
"We don't have time to talk about this now." Gabriella said, grabbing a hold of Wells' forearm. "We have to go now."
-
"Bellamy, where the hell are you?" Gabriella asked into the walkie-talkie as she and Wells got deeper and deeper into the forest and away from the dropship. The pain in her shoulder was getting worse but there was no turning back now, they needed to find Bellamy and he wasn't answering on the walkie.
"I don't know where I am." Frustration was clear in Bellamy's voice when he finally spoke up and Gabriella saw Wells pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration out of the corner of her eye.
"What do you mean you don't know where you are?" Gabriella hissed. "Wells and I are looking for you outside of the gate and you need to get to camp now."
"Why did you get out to look for me? Are you out of your damn mind?" Bellamy half-yelled on the other side of the walkie.
"Can you two stop flirting and get back to the dropship?" Clarke's voice cut off their argument.
Gabriella rolled her eyes and said, "We'll be there in a minute."
When Gabriella turned around to say something to Wells, she did not expect to see him unconscious on the floor. Suddenly, there was a sharp pain similar to the one on her shoulder and Gabriella felt her vision go black.
A/N: so there's a wrap for the final chapter of act one! bella had their first semi-romantic moment which hopefully makes up for the lack of soft moments they'll have in the future
also, bellamy and gabi 🤝 co-parenting octavia
finn: *breathes*
gabi:
now, wells and gabi are separated from the rest and I'll finally have a chance to write more scenes of them together which I'm excited about before they're my favorite friendship to write for besides gabi and jonty and gabi and raven
just realized wells and gabi basically have matching shoulder scars
song of the chapter is history of men