The pattering of rain on Avery's tent roof didn't make it easy for her to sleep. She turned over in bed once again, curling her legs up to her chest and hugging her blanket tighter to herself.
When she believed she was finally in a position to fall asleep, the tent entrance began rustling and Harper appeared, wide eyed and bemused. She tilted her head upon seeing Avery, suppressing a laugh.
"Are you crazy? Why aren't you in the Dropship?"
Avery sat up, letting her blanket fall from her body and her arms gain goose bumps. She was confused. And now that she thought of it, she did find it strange Harper had been missing from their tent until now.
"I didn't want to get in the way of Clarke trying to help Finn." She shrugged, yawning. "Besides, I'm tired."
Harper only stared at her in disbelief, clearly not caring for her excuse; despite the fact it was true. Harper had gone to the tent because something big had happened, and although Avery didn't like a fair few of the people involved, she knew the girl wouldn't want to miss it.
"There's a storm going on. How are you even trying to sleep right now?"
Avery just shrugged. Harper let out a sigh, rolling her eyes and leaning forward so she could grab her arm and yank her from the bed. Avery grumbled as the blonde girl dragged her out of the tent and into the pouring rain.
The sound of the rain on the roof didn't do justice to how much it was really raining.
Within seconds, Avery found herself drenched in rain water. Harper was just laughing, letting go of the girl to stretch out her arms and take it all in.
Because although the situation on Earth was a nightmare, the planet really was a dream.
Avery was beginning to shiver, but she realised she hadn't really appreciated the rain since she arrived. She copied Harper's actions; spreading out her arms and tilting her head up to the sky to let the rain pour down on her face.
A hand found her shoulder then, firmer than Harper's but still warm. Avery looked to find Monroe staring between both herself and Harper in wild amusement. She shook her head, stopping the smile on her lips.
"You two are crazy. You're gonna get sick, come on."
They all broke out into a run for the Dropship, laughing manically at the way they were soaked to the bone with no way to dry off in the current circumstances. They slipped inside the Dropship, hoping to go unnoticed and naively thinking the atmosphere inside would be similar to theirs outside.
It definitely wasn't.
Clarke was in the midst of the crowded room, rinsing her hands with Monty's moonshine as she prepped to start on removing the knife from Finn's body. Raven was beside her, talking to the blonde with a hidden sense of fear that Avery could only detect as she knew how much Finn meant to the girl.
Everyone else in the room was chatting amongst themselves, but they all had half their attention on the scene unfolding in front of them; in which Clarke was approaching Finn's wound with caution. If Avery had entered the Dropship only moments earlier, she would've witnessed Bellamy, Miller and a few others arriving with the Grounder who stabbed Finn.
The Grounder who also happened to be the man she bumped into in the forest.
"Clarke?"
The crackle of a voice through a radio made Avery's heart clench. She wasn't prepared to hear the voice of the woman who didn't let her see her father before he died. But two hands found her shoulders again and she was being urged up to the second floor of the Dropship before she could say anything.
Not that she would've said anything. Saving Finn was far more important than anything she'd have to say to Abby.
And damn, Raven was good. She'd only been there a few days, and already she had made contact with the Ark. Although there was virtually no benefit for Avery by making contact with the Ark, she was happy that her friends would be able to speak to their loved ones.
Raven cleared the room so Clarke would have space to help Finn, and so the Delinquents found themselves shoved up on the second floor of the Dropship to ride out the storm. Avery settled down with Harper and Monroe, listening as the latter explained the rough story of what happened to Finn.
"When they went into Grounder territory, they found Octavia being kidnapped by some Grounder. Apparently Finn tried to fight him off to save her, but he got stabbed."
Monroe explained before a wide eyed Harper questioned why Finn would attack someone holding a knife. They began to debate whether it was pure stupidity or not - Harper thinking it was, and Monroe thinking it brave - and it took Avery three tries of calling both their names to finally interrupt their bickering.
"Is Monty here?" She questioned, much preferring to try for a light hearted topic of conversation.
Monroe and Harper exchanged a glance, unnoticed by the other girl, and then turned to her with a smile. Avery was so oblivious to how obvious her feelings were to them, but they wouldn't let her know that.
"He and Jasper weren't in the Dropship when we closed the doors. They must be riding out the storm somewhere else."
Avery hummed in reply, feeling a small weight of nervousness on her chest for the both of them. Harper laid a hand on her shoulder, silently telling her she understood and that they'd both be alright, as she steered the conversation onto a game of truth or dare.
The game gathered a few more people, and for the most part, Avery just sat back and watched as the others were asked a series of wild questions about how they got arrested or dared to try and see how many berries they could chuck into Connor's unsuspecting hood before he noticed. It was when Fox threw out a certain dare at Monroe that Avery became more involved.
"What?"
Avery leaned forwards in wild confusion, staring back at the young girl who was watching her innocently. Fox sighed, gesturing to Monroe.
"I said, I dare Monroe to look at the Grounder upstairs."
Harper gave the younger girl a disapproving look, to which Fox only shrugged with a hidden smile. Avery's head whipped towards the ladder that led upstairs, her heart beating wildly, knowing that Bellamy wouldn't be peaceful with any Grounders.
"What Grounder?"
"Didn't you see? Bellamy and Miller caught the Grounder who stabbed Finn."
"No," Avery muttered back, slightly distracted by forming a plan to go up and see what Bellamy was up to. "I didn't see."
"Avery." Harper said warningly, causing the girl's head to turn back from where it was craning to look at the ladder. "No."
Avery stuttered over a response, taken aback by the girl's tone. "Uh, Harper! I wasn't even thinking anything!"
"I know exactly what you were thinking." She responded knowingly, and the problem was; she did.
There was barely any point in Avery trying to deny it, she was beginning to realise, and Harper shot her another knowing look that led her to cave.
"I only want to have a look!"
"You shouldn't." Monroe chimed in, and Avery pouted.
She knew her friends were right, but it didn't stop her curiosity. Falling silent, she decided to sit through another few rounds of the game, still not partaking, and eyeing the ladder upstairs every so often.
It was when she saw Octavia climbing the ladder that she accidentally whacked Harper upon stretching out her arm to gesture to the scene.
"See? Octavia's doing it!"
Harper rolled her eyes, and Avery huffed, playfully impatient. It felt like Harper was her strict parent - something she wasn't used to.
"Come on Avs, no one's asked you yet." Harper nudged her arm encouragingly, and she eyed the circle of people with caution.
"Truth or dare?" Fox called out, and she noticed something hidden in the girl's expression.
"Dare."
Fox was struggling to hide the grin threatening to take over her face. "I dare you to look at the Grounder upstairs."
Harper and Monroe erupted in disapproving groans and sighs, and Fox took up all of their attention as they berated her for turning the subject back onto the Grounder. Avery was then given the opportunity to slip away, mouthing a thank you to the younger girl who smiled back at her knowingly.
Climbing the ladder, Avery poked out her head to see that only Bellamy, Miller and Octavia were present. She stepped out onto the floor, using the boys' distraction with Octavia to take a good look at the poor Grounder they had taken hostage.
The man was tied by his wrists; his arms forcibly outstretched, painfully vulnerable. He was mostly shadowed, only a small sliver of light falling over his head as he looked down at his feet.
Avery's footsteps must have startled him, as when she crept a little closer, his head jerked up towards her. And she found herself face to face with the Grounder she had met in the forest.
He looked just as intimidating - although Avery had firmly decided he wasn't a threat considering he left her alone - but his face was streaked with blood and scratches. He didn't look scared, his eyes were boring into hers intensely, but he did look exhausted.
"Avery!" Bellamy's voice barked out, and then a hand had collided with her shoulder, yanking her away from the Grounder. "He's dangerous." He warned, and she couldn't help but scoff.
"He's as dangerous as me or you."
"He stabbed Finn."
And Avery had to admit, that was awful, but what were the circumstances? She could only hope that Finn would forgive her for what she was about to suggest.
"And were you all threatening him? In his home? Ready to kill him if you had to?" Bellamy couldn't find the words to respond fast enough. "Cause let's be real, Bellamy, the only reason they would hurt us is if we were in their territory or if they felt threatened."
Avery knew her hopeful theory was not shared by most people. Hell, she was sceptical about it herself, but she wouldn't allow herself to get lost to a war she was sure could be avoided.
"He kidnapped Octavia!"
"He was protecting me!" The girl roared in return, and all Bellamy had to do was wave an arm for Miller to try and shun Octavia back downstairs.
"What are you even gonna try to do?" Avery asked tiredly, and watched as Bellamy's cold eyes returned to the Grounder.
"We need to know what we're up against: how many there are, and why they're killing us. And he's gonna tell us right now."
"Bellamy, please-"
Octavia desperately tried to grasp her brother's arm, but he flinched away, gesturing to the hatch that led downstairs.
"Miller, get her out of here."
Octavia had given up. She shot Avery a helpless glance, and Avery instantly knew that she wasn't alone in wanting the Grounder to be freed.
"I don't even think he speaks English." Octavia threw out as she shrugged Miller off, approaching the hatch herself. "He won't understand you."
"Oh, I think he will."
When Octavia disappeared, Avery knew that she'd be the next to get shunned from the level. Which wasn't really fair, seeing as Bellamy had just demanded himself in charge, when in reality, he had no real means of authority over them. He wasn't even a Guard member.
Even so, the girl knew she'd have to leave soon enough. But that didn't stop her from trying to get him to hear her out.
"Bellamy just listen to me," He sighed in exasperation, but Avery wasn't going to relent. "I saw him, in the forest."
Now she had his attention. Bellamy faltered, searching her face for a sign that she was lying, but finding nothing.
And if she was lying, Avery was sure he wouldn't be able to tell. She considered herself a pretty good liar.
"The night Charlotte-" Avery found her throat constricting her speech upon recalling the awful series of events that unfolded that evening. "You know. When I followed Murphy through the woods, I came across him."
Avery extended her arm, gesturing to the Grounder who she could see was eyeing her as she spoke. She knew that Bellamy and the others weren't certain on if he could speak English, but Avery was sure he could understand every word she was saying.
"He didn't try to attack me or anything. He's peaceful, Bellamy! I let him pass without trouble, and he did the same."
Bellamy was listening thoughtfully, and Avery couldn't tell if he was actually considering letting the man go. It was highly unlikely.
"That's why I don't have a knife in my side." She added bluntly.
And within that snappy sentence, she had ruined it all.
It wasn't as though she had a hope of Bellamy agreeing to free the Grounder, but she at least had the possibility of not being yelled at by the boy. But not anymore.
"Get out!" Bellamy's voice ripped harshly through the tense silence that followed her words. "Now!"
Surprisingly, she actually listened. She had decided there was no point in letting Bellamy yell at her when she could be relaying the details back to Harper, Monroe, Fox and the others. So Avery simply waved a dismissive hand in his direction before climbing back down the ladder towards her friends.
As soon as she hit the floor of the second level, she was bombarded with questions from all directions. Keeping her mouth firmly shut until she settled back into place, Avery felt a strange sense of belonging. In the most unexpected of times, the girl found herself actually finding herself after a long life of simply scraping by.
"So? What's going on up there?" Fox asked eagerly, leaning forwards to poke Avery's knee.
"I, uh," She paused a moment, unsure on how upset Bellamy would be if she told everyone how they were keeping the Grounder. "They have the Grounder tied up by his hands."
She figured it couldn't be any more angry than he already was.
"His face was all bloodied up, like they'd been torturing him."
"He deserves torture!" An unfamiliar voice heckled from somewhere in the midst of people listening.
The random shout made Avery realise the whole level had fallen silent to listen to what she had to say. Everyone was just as curious about the Grounder as she had been, and now she had some strange sort of power in the prospect of telling them about it. Avery didn't know why people didn't just go upstairs themselves.
"No one deserves torture." She replied firmly.
The same voice scoffed, and as they continued speaking, Avery recognised him to be Connor. "He stabbed Finn."
The girl could hear the muffled sound of Clarke and Raven communicating with the Ark under their very feet. Avery wondered if Finn was going to survive, and an ache developed in her stomach as she remembered what she said carelessly about 'not having a knife in her side' to Bellamy earlier.
"And that's awful." She said in a small voice.
She could feel the judging eyes on her, feel that sense of belonging slip away just due to the ingenuine tone in her voice. It was awful that Finn was stabbed, but she was sure it couldn't have been due to the Grounder being malicious; because she was certain he wasn't.
Avery didn't want that sense of belonging to disappear, but she wasn't going to compromise her morals and lie just to feel it again. She knew the Grounder didn't deserve to be tortured.
"Look, the Grounder upstairs, I've seen him before." This earnt a few whispers from people listening and Avery only felt spurred on to explain. "The night Murphy got banished, I saw him in the woods. He didn't do anything to me. Just let me go."
She scanned her eyes across everyone watching her. No one was speaking. They all just looked confused.
"If we don't give them a reason to attack us, they won't attack us."
No one knew how to respond. Whether they wanted to argue or agree, Avery had no idea. But then,
"You know him too?"
Octavia's voice came from nowhere, and it was then that Avery realised she had been sat and listening at the other side of the level since she got back down. She nodded to confirm, and Octavia opened her mouth to speak again.
But she was cut off by the Dropship suddenly shaking and creaking and throwing them all to the ground. A few scared screams escaped the lips of those most caught off guard by it, and everyone was instantly distracted by the sudden moment.
Chatter returned to smaller groups, and Avery returned to staying silent as she eyed Octavia from the other side of the room. The girl was clearly stressed, a million thoughts racing through her mind, and Avery knew there was something about the Grounder that Bellamy and Finn and all the others didn't understand.
It was when Clarke appeared from the lower level that Avery moved for the first time since they were all thrown from their comfort. She completely forgot about their argument, all the past bad blood, and approached with genuine sincerity.
"How's Finn?"
Clarke struggled in hiding her expression of surprise and confusion. "He's alive." She grimaced. "Barely."
"I knew you could do it." Avery responded, punching the girl lightly - and very awkwardly - in the arm.
The whole interaction was bizarre, but Avery had turned and returned to her spot before Clarke could begin to process it. The blonde shook off the weird but oddly friendly moment and continued up to the top level of the Dropship to see the Grounder.
The rest of the storm was ridden out with not much excitement for Avery.
She worriedly heard Raven's shout of Finn suffering from a seizure, and saw Clarke racing back down to aid him, and she watched as Octavia and Clarke - and later Raven - went back up to the top level to retrieve some sort of poison antidote from the Grounder. But she only sat and observed. She listened as Harper, Monroe, Fox and a few others chatted amongst themselves, and she kept herself firmly out of trouble.
As much as it pained her to do so, she knew that keeping a low profile meant that she flew under Bellamy's radar. So, if she was to attempt some sort of rescue mission for the Grounder later on - since she was sure it was already on Octavia's mind - he would be much less suspicious of her.
When the storm finally passed, the Delinquents all flooded out of the Dropship and out into the camp to help clean up. The storm had hit their camp with ferocity; unrooting their tents and smashing down their walls.
As everyone assembled to clean up the mess that was their home, Avery found the moment to slip away and follow Octavia in weaving through the Delinquents.
"Octavia!"
She was hoping to ask her about what happened with the Grounder, knowing that she was the most reliable source for that. The Blake sensed this, tilting her head to one side to indicate the other to follow. They shifted around a spot to the side of Avery's tent, which had surprisingly fared quite well through the storm.
"The Grounder, how is he?" She asked Octavia anxiously.
Octavia shook her head, her anger clear in the way she was trembling slightly, clenching her fists tightly. Avery could tell she was holding back tears of frustration, but knew the girl wouldn't want her to point it out.
"They tortured him, Avs. But he didn't give us the antidote until I cut my arm with that dagger."
"You did what?"
Octavia waved a dismissive hand, and Avery's gaze drew to where a bandage now covered a part of her forearm.
"I have to get him out of here."
Avery nodded determinedly, recognising the same feeling in Octavia's eyes. Surely smuggling him out of the camp would be impossible, right? But it didn't meant that the girls wouldn't try.
"We need to get Bellamy out of the way of the Dropship. If he's there, there's no chance of us even getting close."
Avery said, glancing away to where the boy in question was talking to Clarke across camp. Taking a look at the pair, her gaze then swept onto a certain dark haired boy emerging from his tent who had been missing from the Dropship throughout the storm.
The girl could vaguely hear Octavia talking in the back of her mind, but she was entirely distracted by the sight of Monty glancing about the camp as though he was looking for something; or someone. His lips were curved into a sight frown, showing the concern embedded in his expression as he looked around.
Octavia had trailed off, catching sight of what Avery had been staring at and grinning knowingly. She seemed to find the whole situation between them amusing, but particularly the moments in which she found Avery trying - and failing - to hide the furtive glances she threw over at Monty.
"Dude." She hit her on the arm, jolting Avery back towards her. "Go talk to him, we can figure this out later."
Avery shot her a grateful smile, heading over towards Monty as he began collecting . He noticed her as she neared, a smile immediately appearing on his face that made her feel nervous and content and euphoric all at the same time.
"Monty!" She threw her arms up in a display of relief. "Where have you been?"
"We had to ride out the storm in our tent. I'm surprised it withstood all that rain." He explained and Avery looked over at his tent, seeing that it very barely withstood all that rain. "What'd I miss?"
Avery breezily explained the events that happened in the Dropship during the storm: Bellamy capturing the Grounder - who Avery had seen that night when Murphy was banished - finding out the blade in Finn's side was poisonous and needing the antidote, and finally the fact Raven got contact with the Ark so Clarke had help from her mom to save Finn.
"We made contact with the Ark?" Monty asked, his eyes shining and searching hers carefully to ensure he wouldn't get his hopes up.
Avery nodded to confirm, and relief flooded through the boy's system. "I can't believe she got the radio to work." She admitted in disbelief.
Not because she didn't think Raven was good but because she never imagined them being able to talk to people back home down on Earth. They were literally worlds apart, and so it felt impossible.
"Yeah." Monty agreed quietly. His eyes flickered with something unknown then, before a soft smile settled on his lips as he joked, "We've got a mechanic now, no need for little old me."
But Avery wasn't entirely sure he was joking.
There was something slightly off about the way Monty was fidgeting with his hands, not able to keep them firmly in his pockets like usual. The girl reached out and nudged one of his hands with her own, tilting her head unknowingly as she studied him.
"Monty, you know you've been useful, right?"
The boy's face scrunched up in rejection of the compliment, as if he was uncertain of how to take it. He wasn't the sort of person to really be praised for his achievements, and in a way he was glad, because he wouldn't know how to handle it.
"Yeah, I mean I guess so." He shrugged nonchalantly, glancing away from her but finding himself forced to meet her gaze once again upon realising her stare was relentless.
"You guess?" She teased as he forced away a smile.
"Monty, you're one of the only people here that can tell us what food is gonna kill us, you know more tech stuff than the rest of us combined, and you make moonshine. You are literally the most useful of the 100 - and I'd also put Clarke up there considering Finn's not dead - so I'm not gonna settle for you just saying you guess you're useful, okay?"
There was a pause, and Monty looked as though he wanted to just nod and agree; but he couldn't.
"It's just the wristbands." He admitted softly. "Everyone was counting on me for that and I messed it up. I could've screwed it up for the Ark too! If they thought we were all dead, that Earth was radioactive, they'd never bother coming down."
"The hypotheticals don't matter. They didn't happen, so there's no point stressing over it." He looked as though he wanted to protest but she didn't give him the chance. "And anyways you did that in a week, and I know you would've figured it out with more time."
A small smile had settled onto his lips, and as Avery continued to ramble on about how amazing she thought he was, Monty swore that he was completely and utterly whipped for her.
"So you're useful." She decided simply, and finally with a sigh, Monty agreed.
"Yeah."
She couldn't help but sweep him into a hug, pushing away the bubbling thoughts of how she was entirely different to the girl she was once up on the Ark.
Her dad would never believe she'd be making friends like she was. He'd also never believe she would call them her family.
Monty stumbled back a little, caught off guard, but didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around her. Avery hugged in the kind of way that was impossibly not to love; the type of hug that felt like it was the last day on Earth and she needed to savour every second of it. And with every passing moment that her head was pressed against his chest, she swore she was learning the rhythm of his heartbeat.
When she pulled away, Monty's eyes flickered ever so slightly downwards from her eyes, towards her lips, and Avery wondered if he was thinking about kissing her. She hoped he was.
"Ah look! It's my favourite people!"
Jasper had emerged from his tent, his arms outstretched to pull them both into a weird half hug that led them all to be awkwardly squished against one another. When he pulled away, he kept a hand around both of them, steering them off towards other Delinquents and destroying any hopes Avery had of stealing a kiss from Monty Green.
"Let's all have a cup of moonshine, why don't we?"
Jasper's cheery suggestion made Monty exaggeratedly roll his eyes, slightly annoyed with what he interrupted, but the two of them were perfectly happy to join the boy in having a drink. God knows that with what was to come, they might need it.