Who knew one tiny piece of paper could change so much about someone's life. I surely didn't, but I do now. I stared down at the piece of paper in my hand, reading it a thousand times over. By this point, I had memorized every word. I knew it probably wasn't healthy to reread my brother's goodbye, but I still did. I made the decision to torture myself every time I picked up this note.
I read the last bit of the note again. I love you so much. You're the best twin sister I could ever ask for. May we meet again.
-J.M
P.S. Bellamy loves you. He really does, so just let him, okay?
I'd been trying to divert my thoughts away from the note as much as possible. But when Abby talked to me about it, it brought the urge to read it again, and that's what I'd been doing.
I sat all alone in the tech room. Raven had left to get some well-needed and well-deserved rest. I was here to operate the radio in case Bellamy needed anything. It has been approximately two hours and thirty... six minutes since he called last — but who's counting. I was just sitting here waiting for three hours to come and Bellamy to check in.
Lucky for me, I didn't have to wait for three hours.
"Raven."
It was the sound of Bellamy's voice that had me moving so fast to the radio that when I picked it up, I almost dropped it. I pressed the button down and spoke into it. "Bellamy, it's me. What do you need?" My voice was frantic, mostly because Bellamy's was.
"The guards are storming the dorm again. I need to get to their armory and get their gear to go in with them and give Jasper a weapon."
Bellamy huffed.
My eyes were on the drawn map in front of me. "How are you going to do that?
"You have to get me to the armory." Said Bellamy.
"M — me?" I stuttered before speaking in a sheepish voice. "How am I supposed to do that?"
"Use Raven's map. Direct me through the vents. You can do this." Bellamy assured.
"Let me go get Raven—"
Bellamy cut me off, his tone louder than I think he meant. "There's no time. I need to get with the guards before they storm the dorm."
"Okay, I can do this." I breathed out as I stood up with the radio in hand and walked in front of the map. "Tell me exactly where you are."
And so, Bellamy did. I got to work on figuring out how to get Bellamy to the armory as quickly as possible. I held a pen in my hand, following where Bellamy was heading. I thought we were doing a pretty damn good job. I told Bellamy which turns to take and which turns to not, told him to avoid specific pathways that would lead him to his death. It was good. And before either of us knew it, I successfully got Bellamy to the Mount Weather armory.
I lifted the radio to my mouth. "Are you there?"
"Yeah." Bellamy replied. "No one's in here."
"Good." I nodded, even knowing that Bellamy couldn't see it. "Get in and out. Don't be there longer than you have to. You should probably get something small and easy for Jasper to conceal. Like a handgun. Make sure it's loaded too, or it won't do any good."
My face scrunched when I could tell Bellamy was smiling when he replied. "Copy that."
"Oh!" The thought about Octavia being in Tondc crossed my mind. I wanted to tell Bellamy so badly. He deserves to know that Clarke lied to him about Octavia's whereabouts. I knew if it were John, even if it might distract me, I'd want to know if my sibling was in danger.
I must've paused longer than I thought because Bellamy's voice came through the radio again. He must not have heard my 'Oh!' "Okay. I got everything. I have to go meet up with the guards."
"Okay." A small sigh followed my words, knowing that this would be the last time I'd talked to Bellamy for a while. "Please be safe."
"I will." Bellamy responded, and after that, it was radio silence from his end.
❣︎
Turns out, hearing from Bellamy again didn't take long as I thought it would. Before I knew it, his voice came through again. "Jo?"
It was a repeat all over again. I rushed as quickly as I could from where I stood leaning against the table to the radio, pressed the button, and spoke into it. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Bellamy replied.
I let out a small breath in relief. "Did you give Jasper the gun?"
"Yeah." Bellamy answered. I could faintly hear his heavy footsteps through the radio. "I don't think anyone saw it."
"That's good." A small smile twitched my lips up at the fact that the remaining kids wouldn't be completely defenseless. "Where are you heading now?"
"The Mess Hall." My face scrunched in confusion. "Jasper said to talk to Dante. That he's on our side, and he'll help us."
"Wait. Are we talking about President Dante Wallace? The one who locked them up there in the first place."
Bellamy hummed from the other side. "Ex-President. His son Cage took over, and he's the one locking our friends in the dorm."
"Back up. What do you mean Dante's son took over?" I'd never met Dante Wallace before, but no one would willingly give up their power... right? — Unless there was a good reason too.
"I don't know the details. All I know is Cage is President now and is running the Mountain and the marrow treatments. He also locked up his Father in quarantine. I'm heading to the Mess Hall to get Dante's meal and sneak in and talk to him."
Bellamy's plan sounded totally reasonable. All he had to do was go through one of the most populated places in the Mountain, get Dante's meal, sneak into quarantine which is probably crawling with guards, and not be seen by anyone or be caught on any cameras. Simple enough.
A small frustrated sigh left my lips. "Be safe. And I mean it."
I knew exactly what he was going to say. "I will."
There were only about fifteen minutes between the time I last heard Bellamy's voice and now. I sat on the stool, bouncing my leg, waiting for Bellamy to radio back and tell me what Dante said. With how hard I was staring at the radio, you would think that just looking at it would make Bellamy answer faster, but unfortunately, that wasn't true.
"Jo, you there?"
Maybe it was.
This time I managed to pick up the radio without almost dropping it. "I'm here. What did he say?"
There was a pause on Bellamy's side. "He said that he's a prisoner just like them, and he can't help them escape." I sighed in defeat at Bellamy's words. "But he did say he could buy them some time."
I perked up at Bellamy's latter statement. "How?"
"By irradiating level five."
My breath caught in my throat a bit. "And how are we going to do that?"
"Dante gave me coordinates on how to get there and turn off their air filtration system."
"Okay. This time I can't do this by myself. I have to go get—" When I spun around in the stool, I was met with Raven. "Raven."
She started walking closer to where I was. "Has Bellamy radioed in?"
I tilted my head to the side. "Something like that." Raven sat down on the stool next to me as I brought the radio up to my mouth. "Bellamy, Raven's here."
Bellamy's voice came through the radio, bringing a small amount of relief to Raven's face. "Good. Catch her up to speed. I'm going to make my way towards the vents."
"Copy that." I replied before setting the radio on the table.
Raven turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "What did I miss?"
I hummed. "Well..." I quickly explained to Raven all that had happened while she was resting. I told her everything from Bellamy storming the dorm with the guards to him talking to Dante and getting coordinates on how to irradiate level five. It was a butt load of information I dumped on Raven, but she seemed to process it pretty well, and she and I got to work. We took our unassigned, assigned places with her in front of the map and me operating the radio.
I lifted the radio to my mouth and pressed the button. "Hey, Bellamy, talk to us. What do you see?"
"Close your eyes, imagine a bottomless pit."
A small breath left my mouth. "You got this."
I looked up to Raven to see her staring at the map. "According to Dante's coordinates, he's almost there.
Picking up the radio, I relayed what Raven had said. "Raven says that according to Dante's coordinates, you're almost there. Hang in there."
I could hear Bellamy's panted breathe from the other side. "What's happening on your end? Did they evacuate Tondc?"
Before I could even register what Bellamy had said, Raven snatched the radio out of my hand. My best guess is she was worried that I would tell Bellamy where Octavia really was.
"Don't know yet." Raven answered. "But it's Clarke. She'll get it done. Just concentrate on squeezing your ass through the vents. Stop worrying about your sister."
My eyes darted to Raven. The look on her face said that it dawned on her what she had just said. She let it slip. And she was worried about me telling Bellamy.
When Bellamy's voice came through the radio, it was full of fear. "Octavia's in Tondc. She's there?" When Raven didn't answer right away, Bellamy pegged, "Raven."
Raven looked to me, and it took almost everything I had not to give her a look that said, 'And you were worrying about me spilling the beans?'
She finally brought the radio up to her mouth. "She's gonna be okay. Clarke fired out of here. She's gonna get there on time."
Bellamy's voice was shell-shocked. "How could you keep this from me? Does Jo know?"
Raven ignored the latter part of his statement. "Clarke was trying to protect you. Listen, you still have a job to do. I know you're worried about Octavia but you have to focus."
I reached across Raven and took the radio back. Taking one last breath, I brought it up to my mouth. "Bell, I know what you're feeling and how worried you are about Octavia, trust me." I swallowed a lump in my throat before continuing with small tears in my eyes. "John left a couple days ago. I don't know where he is, and I'm so scared that he's dead. I'm worried about him all the time. I know what you're going through, and I wish I knew what to tell you, but I don't because I don't even know what to tell myself. I didn't want to lie to you about Octavia, and I'm sorry that I did."
Without another word, I put the radio in Raven's hand. I ignored the worried and sorrowful expressions she was giving me. Wiping the tears that had formed my eyes, I walked out of the tech room.
❣︎
A/N
i love bellamy and jo working together, and i love their ability to connect through their sibling relationships
well that's all for now
-annie