When Andromeda came too she looked around frantically looking for William. Instead of the ruined city, she saw the cellar where she and Bellamy were practicing. It took her a second before she realized what had happened. William was dead so that meant it was all a hallucination. A sense of relief washed over Andromeda. She got to her feet but felt a massive pounding in her head. Someone had to have knocked her out. A hallucination couldn't have done that. Her mind immediately raced to Bellamy. She grabbed the rifle off the floor and sprinted out of the cellar.
She made it to the top and looked around for any sign of her dark-haired companion but found none. That was either a good sign or a bad one. She looked down at the ground and found some footprints she knew to be Bellamy's. Strangely though, trodden over them was a pair of footprints that belonged to a heavyset human. She followed the tracks and raced through the forest after Bellamy.
She found him a few minutes later lying on his back with one of the hundred known as Dax pointing a rifle at his face. Before she could reach them, Dax pulled the trigger. Andromeda's heart stopped for a moment but the bullet was a dud. Bellamy rolled over to pick up an invisible something from the ground and pointed it up at Dax. This gave Andromeda enough time to come up behind them. She loaded the gun and pointed it at the back of his head.
"Put the gun down Dax or I'll put this one straight through your skull," she threatened.
The boys just noticed her as she stepped into the clearing. Bellamy looked at her afraid and partially with relief. Dax turned and trained his gun on her.
"You should've stayed down there, Andromeda. I tried not to kill you but here you are and Shumway said no witnesses," Dax explained calmly as if he had the upper hand.
Shumway?
"I know Shumway is a dick but what the hell are you talking about?" she questioned the boy.
Bellamy answered from below, "Shumway set it all up. He gave me the gun to shoot the chancellor."
Bellamy's whole story finally made sense to her. Shumway wanted the chancellor dead but it couldn't have been his idea. Andromeda figured he wasn't that smart or cunning.
"Walk away now and I won't kill you," Dax offered.
Andromeda replied with, "Put the gun down and I'll kill you quickly."
"Your choice."
Andromeda squeezed the trigger but like Dax's bullet earlier, nothing happened. Dax smirked at her and pulled his trigger. Andromeda spun behind a nearby tree just in time for the bullet to go whizzing past where her head was a second ago. Another gunshot rang through the air. She heard Bellamy growl and she peered out from behind the tree to see him tackle Dax. They wrestled around on the ground and Andromeda rushed forward to help Bellamy who had come off worse. She took the butt of the gun and smacked Dax in the head with it opening up a huge gash on his forehead. Dax howled in pain but bucked the back of his gun right into her still healing side.
The pain from William's strike was imaginary but this one was real. She shrieked in pain and collapsed backward. This was enough distraction so Bellamy grabbed a bullet from the dirt and jabbed the tip of it deep into Dax's carotid artery. Andromeda looked up to see Dax choking on his own blood before he rolled off of Bellamy and fell back into the dirt.
Andromeda crawled back to lean up against a tree and Bellamy quickly joined her. When he sat down next to her she took his hand.
"You're okay," she said trying to comfort him through gasping breaths.
"No, I'm not," he gasped.
Bellamy's stare was far off even though he was looking at the ground. Andromeda could see he was in pain and once more couldn't think of anything to fix it.
"My mother...if she knew what I had done...who I am...She raised me to be better, to be good, and all I do is hurt people. I'm a monster." he trailed off.
Andromeda shifted her body so that she was in front of Bellamy but he still would not look at her. She raised her hands to his bloodied face and gently turned it to face her. He looked into her eyes. She slowly rubbed her thumbs back and forth along his jaw to comfort him.
"You saved my life today. Today, and every day. You may be a total ass half the time, but I can't do this without you. I need you. Not just me. Everyone else: Clarke, Octavia, Jasper, Finn, Monty, Raven. We all need you. None of us would have survived this place if it wasn't for you."
Bellamy took his eyes off of hers and moved his head away. Andromeda wouldn't let him get away that easily. She shifted a little bit more forward so that she was practically on top of him.
"Dammit, Bellamy. If you want forgiveness, fine I'll give it to you. You're forgiven. Okay? But you can't run, Bellamy. You have to come back with me."
Bellamy sniffed, "Jaha will kill me when he comes down."
"He'll have to kill me first. We'll figure something out. We'll do it together."
Bellamy relaxed against the tree, "Well can we figure it out later?"
Andromeda nodded and leaned against the tree once more, "Whenever you're ready."
There was a comfortable silence between the two of them before Bellamy broke it.
"Bellamy," he said.
Andromeda turned her head to look at him, "What?"
He smiled softly, "You called me Bellamy."
Andromeda closed her eyes as she rested, "That's your name isn't it?"
She felt Bellamy chuckle next to her before he took a deep breath and asked, "What did you see?"
Andromeda took a second before answering, "Exactly what you saw. Hell."
Bellamy turned to look at her.
"I saw William."
Bellamy didn't say anything but he understood.
She elaborated, "He said everything I've been thinking since I've killed him, all my fears. I'm losing my humanity, Bellamy. He said everyone I cared about would leave me."
Bellamy placed a gentle hand on her knee and she opened her eyes to look at him.
"I'm not going to leave," he whispered.
They both heard the unsaid part in that simple sentence. "I'm not going to leave you." That simple statement meant a lot to Andromeda.
They once more sat in silence as an hour passed by. Eventually they got to their feet and made their way back to the depot. Quickly, they tied all of the guns they could carry and filled sacks with ammunition. They didn't speak on the way back to the camp each of them consumed in their own thoughts of the nights events.
The fires of the camp illuminated their faces as they entered the door. No one paid them any attention for they were too busy paying attention to Miller's shouting.
"He's gone!"
There was much muttering and speculation about what was about to happen.
"Let the Grounders come!" Bellamy called out letting their presence known. "We've been afraid of them for far too long. And why? Because of their knives and spears? Well I don't know about you, but I'm tired of being afraid."
Bellamy and Andromeda exchanged confident glances and strode right into the center of camp. They slung the sacks and guns off of their shoulders and let them fall onto the ground. The light from the campfire illuminated them making them look dangerous. There were exited noises erupting from the crowd. Andromeda quickly put a stop to them.
"Now listen up! These are weapons. Not toys. When the drop ships come they'll take them away from us but right now they'll keep us alive."
Bellamy agreed with her, "And there are plenty more where these came from. Tomorrow we start training. And if the Grounders come, we're going to be ready to fight."
The crowd erupted into cheers and applause. Bellamy and Andromeda pushed their way to the Command Tent to store the weapons. Before Bellamy could leave, Andromeda grabbed his sleeve.
"Bellamy?" she asked.
He turned and looked at her expectantly.
She shuffled her feet, "I've been thinking. I know a ridiculously stupid way for us to get Jaha to agree to let you off. How brave are you feeling?"
"How stupid?"
"Probably just as stupid as running into Grounder territory to save two girls," she challenged.
Bellamy cracked a half smile, "Let's do it."
She smiled back and he exited the tent. Andromeda turned and faced the video camera. She slowly sat down in the chair and flipped a switch to signal the Ark. She knew had to do this quick or Bellamy would back out. The monitor whirred to life and a man came onto the screen. Andromeda lifted the headset and spoke into the microphone.
"Get me chancellor Jaha. Tell him Andromeda Pierce wants to speak to him."
The man on the screen nodded and left. Andromeda sat there probably fifteen minutes before Jaha came onto the screen.
"Pierce."
"Jaha."
Jaha sighed, "What did you want to talk to me about?"
Andromeda took on a stern tone, "You pardoned me of my crimes even though I killed a man. Is that correct?"
Jaha nodded on the screen.
"Then would I be correct in assuming that you would do that same for another man?"
Jaha paused for a moment. "What are you getting at, Pierce?"
"Bellamy Blake, sir."
Rage filled Jaha's face, "Bellamy Blake will receive punishment fitting his crime once the Ark is on the ground."
"Sir..."
Jaha interrupted, "No."
Andromeda had enough of the niceties, "Jaha, you may be chancellor on the Ark but down here, there is no chancellor. There are no rules on the ground. Only survival. You won't last a week down here without our help."
"What are you implying?" he snapped.
"That the moment you step foot on Earth you will be subject to its secrets. Secrets only we know."
"What do you want?" he asked tiredly.
"Listen to him."
Jaha slowly considered the harm in listening to his attempted killer before slowly nodding his head. Andromeda smiled and started to make her way out of the tent but Jaha stopped her.
"But Pierce, your insolence is intolerable," he warned.
Andromeda turned back to the microphone, "Neither is you sending us down here to die."
With that, she exited the tent to find Bellamy. She spotted him at the gate of the camp talking to Octavia.
"Bellamy," she called.
He turned around to look at her expectantly.
"It's time," she said simply.
Bellamy turned to look at Octavia once more, said something to her, and followed Andromeda into the Command Tent. When they sat down, Jaha was staring at the two of them with a look of contempt.
"Mr. Blake," he began, "I've wanted to talk to you for some time now."
Andromeda spoke before Bellamy could so it didn't get out of hand, "Before you do, I want to say something. You sent us down here to die, lets be honest. But by some miracle, most of us are still alive and large part of that is because of him."
She paused to look at him, "Because of Bellamy. He's one of us and he deserves to be pardoned of his crimes just like the rest of us."
Jaha argued, "While I appreciate your point of view, Pierce, it's not that simple."
Bellamy spoke then, "It is, if you want to know who in the Ark wants you dead."
Jaha froze. His face contorted into something of a mix of rage and interest. With a great difficulty he forced his face to return to a neutral one. Andromeda grabbed Bellamy's hand and squeezed it tightly. His squeezed back. Jaha looked back at the both of them and let out a long breath.
"Bellamy Blake, you are pardoned for you crimes."
Andromeda grinned and Bellamy smiled next to her. She could feel the tension coming off of him as if a great weight was lifted. They looked at each other and Bellamy mouthed a thank you to her. She mouthed "you owe me" back to him and his smile grew even bigger.
"Now," Jaha brought them back to reality, "Who gave you the gun?"