Ethan scrambles off the dirt.
The pod, whatever it is, is a distraction. More so, it's something to focus his energy and time on, instead of clutching at remaining threads of thought that only have him feeling like he's watching everything in third person. Disorientated and overwhelmed.
Instead, he directs that effort into finding the thing that fell from the sky.
Ethan ducks back into camp, slipping easily around the people following the glare of fiery light. He glances up again and sees it fly past the trees out of sight.
He doesn't even remember Bellamy's threat when he jumps into the dropship and swings his bag onto his shoulders, red-rimmed eyes landing momentarily on the hairband at his wrist. He pulls the longest strands of his hair together and ties it up loosely, no time to pretty up.
When he steps outside and notices that no one else is getting ready, he pauses, hiding his bag behind his legs. He pulls a younger kid to the side and asks him why.
"Bellamy says we leave at first light."
Ethan nods, smiles at him and waits for the boy to settle back beside the warmth of the fire before he takes off.
What Bellamy says doesn't mean a shit in his books.
There were no rules.
Whatever the hell they wanted, right?
He runs, the only thing in his head is a chance at contacting the Ark. They were losing hope. He was losing hope. Then this thing comes crashing down? It's a sign.
The trek through the woods is - dare he say it - peaceful. The sun's already rising, making it easier to enjoy the stroll. In the Ark there was never a dark area, not like here. Here you can barely see 10 feet in front of you in the dead of night. He can't help but flinch at every noise he hears, his mind immediately heading towards danger. Or, grounders.
But it's light out now and he sees something in the distance, ducking in seconds behind the shrubbery, repeating vulgar curses in his head.
It's not what he thinks. It's brown hair, a short figure and an angry aura.
Octavia?
Calmly, he stands, "Hey."
She, understandably, flinches. Stumbling over herself, Octavia falls flat on her ass.
"Shit, sorry." Ethan winces and jogs over, helping her back onto her feet, wary of the tightness in her face. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." She spits out the word like it's venom.
Ethan nods slowly, then purses his lips. "If that's fine then I must be hunky-dory."
Octavia huffs, wiping off her pants with jerky movements. "Bellamy's an ass. That's all."
"That's not new," Ethan says, patting her on the shoulder. He pauses with a blink, "Wait, Bellamy's out here? That liar."
She looks around the woods and sighs, "Yeah. He -" She hesitates and shakes her head, "Nevermind. He made me go back, so I doubt you'll be welcome either."
Ethan unzips his bag to pass her some water and rolls his eyes, "He has no choice in the matter. If he's gonna lie to everyone just so he can do this shit himself, he can deal with the consequences. You wanna come? We can tag team him."
He sees the quirk of her lips against the bottle and feels a little satisfied. Octavia screws the lid back on while she shakes her head, "No, this is his problem. If he doesn't want me there then fine, I have plenty of other things to do."
Shoving the bottle back into his bag, Ethan shoots her a smile. "That's the spirit. We all know you're the better sibling anyway." He shucks his bag onto his back and starts walking backwards. "I'll go make sure he doesn't steal all the cargo, we can really do with some food."
Starting to split ways, Octavia turns back around for a moment. "Just. . . Be careful around him."
It's enough to make him slow, thinking back to both times the older sibling had screwed him up. He bites his tongue, swallows and sends her a knowing glance. "Yeah, I'll try."
And then they're back to back, heading in different directions.
He spots the pod a while later, but he also sees Bellamy, with something in his hand, slamming the metal door shut and taking off without a second glance back.
Ethan looks between him and the pod in frustration, biting at his tongue until it starts to hurt. Shifting from foot to foot in thought, "Shit." He takes off after a suspicious Bellamy.
Why come all the way out here, take a single thing from the pod and run? It's just supplies, right?
The only thing he can think of is. . . a radio.
Bellamy has been, and will continue to do whatever he can to stop the Ark from coming down. If he found a working radio, the one thing Ethan was hoping for, who knows what he'd do with it.
He pushes himself faster, the green moving around him in a blur. He feels free, despite the reasoning.
Ethan stumbles upon a lake, pulling himself instinctively behind the cover of a tree to pry upon Bellamy's actions. Narrowing his eyes, he does see wire peeking out from the protection of strong arms and holds his breath, taking a steady step forward.
He needs that radio.
But Bellamy doesn't wait.
He launches it right into the water, ignoring Ethan's silent wishes.
"No-!" Ethan slaps a hand over his mouth and slams himself back against the bark of the tree. He hides, like a child. He'll go for a dip in the lake when Bellamy leaves, he decides, and retrieve the radio for Monty to check out.
It's awfully silent.
Ethan counts to three and pulls himself painstakingly slow to the side, leaning his head past the tree to survey the area and -
He meets Bellamy's eyes.
Bellamy, staring right at him. He has that look on his face again, the wide, unblinking eyes. The steady clench of his jaw.
Ethan is dead.
He steps back, his own eyes as wide as saucers.
Like a predator, Bellamy tracks his movement.
"Just. . . Be careful around him."
Ethan lets out a shuddering breath and runs for his life.
Leaves swipe at his face and trees threaten to make him stumble, things so beautiful before now a hindrance to his life. His feet are slamming down against the earth, Bellamy's thundering steps behind him almost in time with his.
"Beckett!"
Ethan glances back for a split second to judge the distance between them and when he sees the force that is Bellamy twisting around trees just as easily as he is, he feels his heart stutter and knees go weak.
He trips, rolling across roots and other thick objects that crash into his bones. The air leaves his lungs in a whoosh and he gasps desperately for it.
Bellamy stops above him, blocking the sun and reaching over to grab his arms.
He's gonna kill me, he's gonna kill me, he's gonna kill me.
Ethan scrambles back, using his feet to wildly aim for a set of knees.
"Stop fighting!" He hears, but it sounds muffled to his ringing ears.
"No!" He yells back automatically, pushing onto an elbow to swing for Bellamy's face. He yells in excitement when it hits, burning with fury against his knuckles as Bellamy stumbles back, gritting something out between his teeth.
Panting into the air, Ethan quickly twists onto his front, crawling onto his knees.
A heavy hand grabs his foot and he almost cries when he slams back into the dirt, under Bellamy's mercy.
He fights against him, fingers digging into the soil, reaching for something to pull himself away from the threat, who was getting back up, keeping him down with a single hand.
"Becke- Ethan! Just stop- stop fighting." Bellamy's panting by now, his voice gravelly with the exertion.
Ethan kicks him with his other foot for good measure and successfully catches a tree root in his hand, and he pulls but it doesn't matter because he feels Bellamy's hand release his foot - yes - and shoot up to his head - fuck - slamming it into the ground until he sees stars.
"Okay- Ah!" He feels his shoulder tug painfully when his arm is twisted up against his back.
He's dead.
Bellamy's fingers move from his hair to his nape. A warning. "Calm down." He hisses.
Ethan resists the urge to slump - the pressure against his neck like a trigger, a familiar feeling that brings back too much at once when he lets it -
He can't let it.
Ethan pants into the leaves by his face, blinks to reassure himself that he's outside. He reigns his mind in, cheek pressed against dirt and something sharp.
"Go float yourself." He says breathlessly and groans, squeezing his eyes shut when Bellamy digs his blunt nails in. He tenses, but there's nowhere to move when he attempts to pull away.
Bellamy takes a second to catch his breath, watching Ethan's fingers wriggle uselessly against his back, trapped. "You're the one fighting against me."
"Because I don't wanna die." Ethan winces, pulling accidentally at his arm. "You said you'd banish me if I ever left camp."
Bellamy rolls his eyes, "I'm not going to kill you."
Ethan stares at a tree in the distance, ". . . I don't believe you."
"You don't have to. Just listen to me."
His shoulder aches the longer they sit there, his neck tingling with the press of a trained hand. His face feels irritated against the grass and he feels foolishly vulnerable under Bellamy's psychotic tendencies for the third damn time.
He can't keep losing like this.
"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Ethan breathes out.
He hears Bellamy sigh from above, leaning back a little on the knees locked on either side of Ethan, releasing a bit of pressure from the boy's back. "The Ark won't hesitate to kill me if they make it down here. I can't have that happening. If you keep your mouth shut we can pretend this never happened."
"I don't want the privileged locking me back up either." Ethan slumps against the ground, swallowing around the bubble in his throat. "But if they don't come down you'd be killing my mother."
He doesn't hear anything from Bellamy in a beat. In the end, they're both postponing the conversation to the sound of rushing footsteps.
"Hey!"
It's Clarke, rushing down the small hill, past the tree stumps over to glare at Bellamy, pausing for a second to shoot a worried glance towards Ethan.
"Clarke!" Ethan croaks, struggling again against Bellamy's hand. He winces, pathetically, "Help."
Clarke tightens her grip on her bag, "Let him go."
Ethan hears an annoyed sigh and then he's being released, both hands moving and knees shifting. He groans, takes a second to pull his arm back to his side and grimaces when he stands, stumbling towards Clarke.
"Where is it." She demands, her face set in stone.
Bellamy smirks nonchalantly, walking away, "Hey, Princess. You taking a walk in the woods?"
Clarke moves from beside Ethan, rushing to block Bellamy off of his path. "They're getting ready to kill 300 people up there. To save oxygen."
What?
"What?" Ethan repeats, his voice echoing in the trees.
"I can guarantee you it won't be council members. It'll be working people. Your people." Clarke jabs a finger into his chest.
Heading towards them, Ethan shoots a glare at Bellamy, his jaw clenching. This is exactly what he was talking about.
Finn - who Ethan didn't even realize was along for the ride - breezes past him to shove at Bellamy, knocking him back a few steps. It satisfies everyone in the area. "Where's the radio?" He shouts.
Bellamy shoves back, getting in Finn's face to straight-up lie. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Ethan laughs, "Sure." He narrows his eyes. "Bellamy took it from the pod, threw it in the lake. I can take you th-"
"Bellamy Blake?"
Twisting around, Ethan locks onto the new voice. Someone came down in the pod. It wasn't cargo.
He hasn't ever seen this girl before, but he assumes she's similar in age to Clarke, with long brown hair and a vibrant orange jumper over her shoulders. There's a cut above her brow and he regrets going after Bellamy before checking the pod for people.
"They're looking everywhere for you." She smiles in satisfaction.
Bellamy turns his head, "Shut up."
Ethan pulls his brows together and looks at the new girl, curious.
"Why are they looking for him?" Clarke asks the question they're all wondering.
The brunette shares a glance with each of them, "He shot Chancellor Jaha."
Ethan drops his head into his hands, groaning. "Oh," he laughs tiredly, "that makes so much sense. Jesus, no wonder your sister was pissed at you."
"That's why you took the wristbands. Everyone would think we're dead."
Bellamy pulls his eyes away from Clarke, and he has the nerve to look ashamed.
"All that whatever the hell we want? You just care about saving your own skin." Finn shakes his head, lips parted.
Bellamy turns his back to them and starts walking.
Offended, Ethan scoffs.
But the new girl is quick, already on his heels. "Hey, shooter. Where's my radio?" She steps in front, stopping him with a hand to the chest.
"Get out of my way."
"Where is it?"
"I should have killed you when I had the chance."
Raven stops. "Really?" She looks him up and down. "Well, I'm right here."
Ethan's smiles because knows he's gonna like this girl. Strong, reliable, brave.
Or stupid, who knows. It's only been a few minutes.
Bellamy accepts the challenge, grabbing tightly onto her jacket and slamming her up against the closest tree, a hand around her throat. It seems like Ethan isn't the only one getting special treatment.
Raven retaliates and flips open her knife, settling it against his cheek.
"Where's my radio?"
Bellamy glances at the blade, but he doesn't let go, locking his eyes onto hers. Clarke steps in between them. "Okay, stop it." She hisses.
Raven shoves Bellamy's hand away, pocketing her weapon.
"Jaha deserves to die, we all know that," Bellamy tells them, pacing slowly across the dirt.
"Yeah, he's not my favourite person either, but he's not dead."
A silence chokes at the air.
Bellamy looks at her, his eyes wide. "What?"