BELLAMY
After finding Raven, no one had left camp since. It was constantly busy with people milling around and doing small chores here and there. The Head Engineer from The Ark: Sinclair had set up an electrical fence along with Wick's help meaning nothing could get in. Nor could anyone get out.
Which made life for me in Camp Jaha difficult. I was so used to being able to do whatever the hell I wanted, whenever the hell I wanted, now that freedom had been taken and I didn't know what to do with myself.
I had tried to plead with Kane over and over to let me out to find them, but each time he refused.
Sat on a crate that acted as a chair with a small table made from metal scraps, I toyed with an empty, metal can that had long been empty. I knew almost no-one there, and I'm sure none of them were keen to make friends with the Chancellors assassin.
It was driving me mad. Being stuck with nothing to do all day.
I placed the can down on the table and rubbed my eyes, feeling them drooping heavily from yet another night with little sleep. I made my way towards the medical tent to see Abby, Wick and Raven. She had been slipping in and out of both sleep and consciousness since the operation meaning I hadn't had a chance to ask her about the others. Wick was constantly by her side, waiting for her to wake up properly; the only time he ever left was when Sinclair needed him, and he had to practically drag him out the tent. As for Abby, I don't know how she held it all together. She hadn't shed a tear in front of anyone about Clarke's death. Although I know all too well that a leader should never be weak in front of their people.
"Can you feel that?" Abby asked as I walked in. They all glanced over to me when I entered, Abby giving me a small nod and then turning back to face Raven who's face had gained some colour and eyes no longer filled with fear.
She nodded in response to Abby running a small pin down her right foot and then up her leg. I went and stood on the side opposite Wick, giving a small smile to try to comfort Raven. We'd all been through things and we needed each other.
Abby moved onto the other side, running the pin over Raven's foot and leg. "Are you doing it?" Raven asked as Abby reached her knee, stopped when Raven asked the question. She sent a worried glance in my direction for a brief moment, only so I could notice before she continued to run the pin up her leg. Ravens face lifted slightly then dropped when she announced she could feel it at the top of her thigh.
Wick soon rushed off to make her some sort of brace to aid her walking and Abby had other matters to attend to, leaving Raven and I in the medical tent.
I opened my mouth to speak but she beat me to it.
"Look, I know what you're gonna say..." She looked from the roof of the tent to me, a look of sympathy in her brown eyes. "But I don't know where they went. One minute Jasper and Monty were closing the doors, the next they had all vanished into thin air." She sighed and then reached over to a canteen of water, taking a few sips as I spoke.
"I need to find them... who am I to let sixty kids-"
"Around forty actually..." Raven said, her attention to detail being both annoying and helpful.
"Well I can't let them disappear... but no one will let me out this god damn camp!" My voice rose as I spoke, almost to a shout.
"Woah calm down Blake. Just tell Wick to shut the electricity on the fence down for a few minutes, tell him I sent you." A smirk crossed her face, one that you could instantly associate with Raven. "I love having someone that does anything you ask, it's great!" She said enthusiastically, her expression dropping slightly just as my heart did.
"Bellamy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that-"
"No it's fine, don't worry. Got a fence to be shutting down..." I walked out the tent, trying to not show my feelings towards the way Raven had Wick, the way that I had once had Octavia and Clarke.
CLARKE:
We had been sat on the horse for what seemed like forever, riding through the forest in silence. I had tried a few times to ask where we were going but I never got a response from the Commander, only another Grounder telling me to 'be quiet' in their native tongue.
"Please, just tell me what's going on..." I pleaded to the woman in front of me, who ignored me once again as if I weren't even there. I thought back to the time I was kidnapped by the Grounders, endless days of shouting and commanding in only Trigedasleng. From that time, I had learnt a rough outline of a language; meaning when the guard told me: 'Shof op honon' (Quiet, prisoner), I was able to retaliate back, relaying phrases and words that I knew.
"Yu nag on shof op. Yo baga..."(You be silent, you're the enemy) I felt myself spit the words out to him, the anger and force embedded in my voice.
He snarled a response that was inaudible, his small eyes glaring at me from under the mask that covered his face.
The Commander called for the small fleet to stop as we came to was seemed to be a village, bustling with life. These weren't the Grounders that I had come to know... Children running around and playing, women sharing gentle words as they scrubbed at material, men placing bets with pieces of metal and cups in their hands.
"Heda... Mounin (Commander, welcome)" A woman came from inside the village, bowing in Lexa's presence. Her eyes quickly flitted behind The Commander and onto me, her expression hardening.
She started to speak in English as she scowled at me. "Heda, you bring Sky People to my village. The same people that killed 300 of Commander Anya's men who now all lay dead..." My heart fluttered in my chest slightly as I listened intently, it was all news to me. I was finally able to piece together the information. That it was in fact my people who had won, and my people who had set the fire, untimely leading to the destruction of the camp but their own survival.
"She cannot step foot in the confines of the village Heda-"
"Indra, silence. As your Commander, I ask you to take her in as you would me... Any word upon the deserter...?" Even though I couldn't see the Commander's face, I knew from Indra's that this 'deserter' was a traitor, and one that couldn't be trusted.
"I have sent people to go to the sea to retrieve him." The Commander waved her group forward as she urged the horse to walk into the village, the woman Indra by our side. "We believe Luna has him and the girl, using them to prepare for war." The Commander gave a small noise in reply as she jumped off the horse, pulling my jacket along with her so I landed on the floor with a thud.
"Sis em steltrona... " (Take the horse) She said to the same Grounder who had been telling me to be quiet. "Indra, thank you for your hospitality." Giving a small nod to Indra, she beckoned me forwards and led me through the village, dozens of eyes following me as I went, whispers each time I took a step.
We entered a small building and Lexa shut the door, the only light coming from a mossy window over the far side. She took a seat on a metal slab and began to take off her armour as if she were alone. "Welcome to TonDC Clarke." She said after a while, her eyes focusing on my face as she took a swig from her canteen and setting it back down on the table.
"What is this... first you force me to come with you, now what?" I asked, taking a step towards. When we had a solid camp, this movement would intimidate even the strongest of people, but not The Commander, she sat as still as stone, not even blinking at my movement.
"You're the only remaining SkyPerson left Clarke, the rest all burned along with Anya's people. With my people. Both your medical and common knowledge is vast, and would be of great use to me and the twelve clans."
"Look Commander-"
"Please, call me Lexa."
"Whatever," I scoffed, having no respect for these people what so ever. "I would rather be out there, surviving on my own than stuck in here with you. Your people killed my friends, the ones I loved... So don't you dare sit here and lecture me on what I should and should not be doing."
"Clarke, there one thing you must learn to be a great leader. An old, TreeKru proverb passed down through the generations. Love is weakness. And that's why as a leader you were so weak. And that's why all your people are dead, because you ran onto that bridge after that boy, and from then on, it was all out of your control." She snarled, her lips forming some sort of pout as she furrowed her brow slightly, her powerful anger radiating from her.
The temptation to hit her round the face was strong, but I held both my fist and the tears back. "I don't think a strong leader would've let her people have their blood drained inside a mountain though..." I replied, watching her expression turn dark as she got up and walked towards the door. She stopped before the door, facing it for a moment before turning round and looking at me.
"Just think Clarke, who's side are you on. Mine or yours? Which side will you survive with the most? You can run from here, you can stay, but just think." She swivelled around again, her long red cape swishing as she left the door.
Who's side am I on? Do I chose to become one of these people? Or do I go my own way, only just surviving.
BELLAMY:
I sat in the meadow that Clarke had been so fond of, the one that contained the herb that had mercifully saved her life all that time ago.
I breathed in the fresh air, the freedom that once was filled my lungs, making me feel higher than anything ever could. I was only half an hour away from camp, but I couldn't bring myself to go any further than the flowery clearing.
I twiddled a small red plant in my fingers, tracing around the delicate petals that bent at the touch. Not only had I let 40-ish people go missing, I had also let my sister leave. My whole life had been dedicated to Octavia Blake, and now there was a hole that I couldn't fill, because she wasn't there. The flower reminded me of her. So soft and precious yet ruthless and daring. I had promised that she would always be my responsibility. Even when my mother was floated, the last thing she said to me was 'Your sister, your responsibility.' Echoing the words of when she was first born.
I arrived back at camp to a commotion, the gate left ajar without any guards, as people hurried around and noise, panicked chatter filled the air. I walked around trying to find out what was going on from people's conversations, but they all went quiet if I approached.
I caught Wick's arm as he scurried towards the medical tent. "What's going on?" I watched as he took a gulp and glanced around him.
"Grounder's arrived around ten minutes ago. There was this young woman on a horse followed by around twenty people... they went with Kane and Abby into the ship. I was about to get Raven, will you help me?" I nodded before keeping up my pace so I was next to Wick as we walked. This was news to me, I believed that all the Grounder's had died in Raven's explosion. But apparently not.
"Why do they need Raven?"
"They asked for you too. You know these people, how to deal with them. Sooner we get Raven the sooner we can know what is going on."
We entered the tent to find Raven carving a deep grove into the side of the cot with a needle, clearly from boredom.
"Well if it isn't my two favourite boys on this earth." She smiled, but soon regained her seriousness when we picked her up and rushed out the tent explaining everything.
❂❂❂
I gave a quick knock on the closed door, supposedly where the Grounders were having their meeting. The door slid open smoothly, Kane appearing in the gap. "Ah Bellamy there you are, and Raven, good to see you out the medical tent." He gave a small smile that was quickly shot down by Raven.
"Cut the crap Kane, let us in." Her voice sounded just as bored and annoyed as we all felt.
He moved aside, letting us enter to a room full of Grounders, Abby and a few other SkyPeople looking slightly out of place amongst the sea of earthy tones. Kane made Wick wait outside because he wasn't an official Council Member, but neither were Raven and I. And I'm sure she was as disgusted as I was to be called a Council Member, considering The Council were the reason we were all down on Earth in the first place.
A young woman with dark face paint stood in the centre, shooting us both a look as we entered. She drummed her fingers on the table as Abby introduced Raven and I to her, announcing her name was Lexa, the new commander of the Grounders. Lexa explained she was here for a peace talk, no fighting involved. Her people were still angry about what we had done, how their people died a fiery death.
"Well you shouldn't have attacked us in the beginning then..." Raven hissed, causing a few Grounders to draw their weapons, the metallic scraping of swords as they were taken out of their scabbards before they were placed back in due to Lexa's request made us stand straighter for a moment.
"I wish to offer a truce. I believe Anya was wrong to launch an attack on you..." She started to use a small dagger from her pocket to carve onto the large metal table in the centre of the room, mapping out locations.
"Mt Weather, here-" She tapped the blade on a triangle labelled Maun-de (which turned out to mean Mount Weather) "is a place that was once safe. But no more, they have my people trapped in there..."
"They?" I asked, wondering who she could be talking about. Mt Weather was a military base inside a mountain, nothing more.
"The Mountain Men... The people who cannot touch or breath our air. My... source has told me that my people are captured there, and we will get them out."
"Hold on, nobody said 'we'..." Kane trailed off, his arms folded across his chest tightly as if a Grounder could plunge into his chest at any moment.
"The Mountain Men have something you want too..."
Is this it... is this what I've been waiting for...
Raven placed her hand on my shoulder, giving it a small squeeze as we both knew what information could potentially be coming next. Abby's eyes widened as she urged Lexa to continue.
"One of the lookouts named Ruban was at the battle, he saw it all... The Mountain Men took your people, in a red fog before they disappeared back into the mountain. I stand here before you to propose a deal. My army helps get your people out if your technology helps set free my own."
Kane took Abby's arm and was about to pull her away to speak about the decision they had to make. But they didn't have to, because I had already made it for them.
"You've got yourself an alliance."
Anything for the people I love. Anything for my own.
N O T E
Hey everyone! I have been so busy recently with exams a few weeks ago, and these past few weeks I have been applying for the position of HeadGirl in my school so I've been really busy with that. And I'm sorry for the long chapter, but that might be how it has to be for a while.
BUT WHO GOT SUPER SAD ABOUT THE 100 BEING PUSHED BACK TO MID SEASON LIKE THAT IS 10 MONTHS AWAY GUYS! I CAN'T WAIT THAT LONG TO SEE MONTY AND BELLARKE AND MURPHY(CAUSE I LOVE MURPHY NOW FOR SOME REASON...) follow my tumblr if you want to just cry with me about it ;) but I've been busy so yeah, I'm sorry about that but I hope this chapter is good... idek, I don't read them through until I've uploaded them then I notice loads of mistakes and I'm going to end this note now because it's really long sorry, bye :)
But before I go, The Fight got 6K and this book is so close to 1K!
Okay I'm going now, bye :)