Both Isaac and Clarke stared in complete and utter shock at the two teens locked in embrace. Raven's hands were running through Finn's hair, her thin fingers pulling back every one in a while to grip his cheeks roughly. Finn's palm resting on her torso, one of them curled around her hip while the other was behind her, pressed against her lower back. Their lips moved together ferociously, and Isaac couldn't help the jealous flash behind his eyes as he imagined Finn doing the same thing with Clarke just last night.
Clarke. The name was the only clarity in his hazy mind, snapping him out of his confused thoughts. Isaac blinked at the couple before his head swiveled to the side and he looked to Clarke. Her face was stricken with shock, the bag she had been holding in her hands dropped to the ground and resting by her feet. He could tell that she was a few wrong moves away from crying. Hesitantly, Isaac took a step closer to her, leaning to the side a bit as his arm wrapped around her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. He hardly payed attention the fact the he was touching her -instead he only took notice in the way that Clarke herself shuddered at the contact. At first he thought it was because she was bothered by it and made to pull away, but then her arm went around his waist and her head leaned against the side of his chest and his chin was resting on top of her head and Isaac stared down at her with as many emotions in his eyes that she held in hers.
The pair waited for a few moments as the couple in front of them finally broke apart, resting their foreheads together. The pain of it all came back and hit Clarke straight in the chest, sending her leaning further into Isaac. Neither of them missed the glare sent towards the taller boy by Finn, which both fair-haired teens thought was unfair. He was a cheater and was with another girl -he didn't have the right to be jealous. Well, that's what Isaac was thinking. Clarke was still shocked, barely thinking about the relationship (except there really wasn't one, and at this point Finn really didn't have anything to be jealous of).
Clarke's quivering hand came up and in he desperate search for comfort, he fingers found Isaac's hand and wrapped them together. The curly haired boy glanced down at their tangled fingers in shock, his eyes ever so slightly wider than normal before he tried to steel himself and look back to Finn and this Raven girl. He could vaguely remember seeing her around a few time at the Exchange, but he barely remembered her -which meant zero chances at being recognized.
"I thought I would never see you again," Finn admitted, gazing at the girl in front of him. It seemed genuine enough. But Isaac could sense the urgent undertones within the sentence. Finn wasn't speaking to Raven. On the outside he was, but really his words were directed towards the blonde girl huddled into Isaac's side. He was making excuses now. "How did you get here?"
Raven was still running her hands along Finn's arms, the two gripping each other tightly. Isaac noticed the look in Finn's eyes as he asked the question. It wasn't surprised, at least, not the good kind. He certainly wasn't allowing himself to be happy about the reunion. More so, he looked fearful. A bit panicked, maybe. Definitely secretive as he looked over towards the other two teens again. "You know that big scrap hold, the one on K deck?" Raven asked him, regaining his attention.
His nervousness was suddenly replaced with admiration and (just now) pleasant surprise. "You built that from scratch?" he asked, impressed. Isaac refused to acknowledge the same feeling forming in the back of his mind. Both of the teens were responsible for the horrible feelings coursing through Clarke at the moment. Therefore, he was ignoring all positive emotions towards them.
"More like rebuilt it," Raven chuckled. At the look of awe on Finn's face, she scoffed. "Aw, come on. Like that's hard. It just needed a couple of parts and some love."
"You're insane."
"I'd do more for you," Rave admitted, leaning onto the balls of her feet so she appeared taller, grinning at Finn confidently. "And worse." He grin was almost a smirk now. "Just like you would for me." Finn's body twitched as he almost turned to look at Clarke; Isaac's grip on her hand tightened just a bit and suddenly he realized (the full force of what was happening hadn't really hit him yet through all the shock) that he was really holding her hand. Fingers locked together, arms twisted around each other like ribbons, side knocking against side. A light pink dusted his cheeks as he felt the back of his neck heat up, and suddenly his hands seemed a lot more slippery than they had been before. Clarke noticed the clamminess of his hands but said nothing, instead simply pulling away discreetly, mistaking his nervous excitement for discomfort.
Suddenly Raven's head tilted back in a wide circle and she stumbled forwards into Finn's arms with a girly, tired moan. He caught her swiftly, before backing her up and helping her sit on a large rock. "Come, you need to sit down," he said. "Let me get something for that," he said. As the boy jogged over to Clarke who was already digging in her recently recovered bag, he sent a look towards Isaac. It was pleading, and the curly haired boy understood what he was being asked to do. He gingerly patted Clarke on the shoulder as he walked past Finn, sending the boy a slightly disapproving look. But other than that, he didn't say or do anything.
He forced himself not to listen in on Clarke's conversation with Finn as he approached Raven, his eyes traveling to the crusted blood on her forehead. The girl grimaced at his face. His stoic expression unnerved her a bit, and, like most people, she mistook it for an expression of worry or disapproval. "That bad, huh?" she grimaced, unsteadily reaching a hand up. Her fingertips barely brushed over her hairline when Isaac shook his head at her.
"I -It's not a good idea to touch it," he told her, blinking at the blood. His softer voice surprised Raven; for some reason she had expected his voice to be louder, more confident. To hold more authority, maybe. But the gentleness had surprised her. "It could get infected, or start bleeding again, or something...."
Raven nodded, taking her hand away. She frowned up at the tall boy. She didn't remember ever seeing him, which was odd since it was hard not to eventually meet everyone on the Ark. There were only seven thousand people or so. Then again, he could've been on a different station than she. The separate stations hardly ever integrated; even on holidays, each station held their own party that the others weren't invited too. "I don't think I've ever seen you around," she told him, holding out her hand. "I'm Raven, Raven Reyes."
"Isaac," the taller boy supplied, not bothering to introduce himself further than that. "And I didn't get out much," he explained briefly. He ripped a strip of cloth off of the bottom of his shirt, pouring a bit of the water from the small pouch at his side over it. He crept a bit closer to the mechanic, gingerly rubbing the blood off of her face. He was concentrating hard, his eyebrows drawn together as he poked at the skin around the wound, steering clear of anything behind her hairline.
"She needs to put pressure on the wound." Isaac turned to see Clarke, who was walking a few feet away from Finn towards the pair of teens. Her face was pulled into a stoic expression, one that Isaac could see right through. He chose not to say anything anything for Clarke's sake as she began to open a small packet of anti-septic wipes and bandages. "Thanks for helping," she added, looking towards Isaac. The boy nodded towards her, a serious expression on his face as he stepped back and pushed his hands into his pockets, glancing towards Finn.
"This is Isaac," Finn said, pointing towards the boy, "and that's Clarke. They were on the drop ship too."
Recognition rested on the newcomers face, coming in like a wave. "Clarke?" Raven repeated, standing up. "This was all because of your mom."
"My mom?" the blonde forced the words out, the title heavy on her tongue.
"This was all her plan," Raven nodded, her gaze shifting from Clarke to Finn to Isaac and then back to Clarke. "We were trying to come down here together. If we waited -oh my god." She gasped, her stare going to the ground in horror. "We couldn't wait because the council was voting on whether or not to kill three hundred people to save air."
Panic closed in on Isaac like a swarm of bees. "When?" he managed to choke out the word, his blue eyes wide.
"Today," Raven gulped. She was already starting towards her pod. "We have to tell them you're alive." Clarke, Finn and finally Isaac rushed after her, but stopped when she glanced inside. "The radio's gone!" she snapped. "It must have come loose during the reentry-"
"No," Isaac sighed. The group of three turned to look at him. There was a hand over his face and he was staring at the ground, and Clarke knew it was to hide something, probably an expression he didn't want them to see. "Bellamy."
Clarke's eyes widened, nodding. "One of our own got here first," she groaned, sounding pissed. "We have to find him, come on." The four took off.
* * * * *
"Hey!" Isaac herd from up ahead. It was Clarke, he recognized her voice easily. She sounded angry, which meant that she was either yelling at Finn, or she had found Bellamy. He quickly jogged towards the sound of her voice. "Where is it?"
"Hey, princess," Bellamy said, trying to sound nonchalant. "You taking a walk in the woods?"
Clarke stopped the older man with a hand on his arm. "They're getting ready to kill three hundred people up there to save oxygen," she snapped at him. And I guarantee you it won't be council members. It'll be working people. Your people."
Isaac stepped out from between a cluster of trees, his arms crossed firmly over his chest as he glared at Bellamy. "Where's the radio?" he asked, getting to the point. He leaned back against a tree, distrust swimming in his eyes.
"What makes you think I have it?" Bellamy asked. Suddenly, Finn Collins came out of nowhere and pushed him back, his hands colliding with Bellamy's chest.
"Bellamy! Where's the radio?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he growled, shoving the boy back.
Raven perked up. "Bellamy Blake? They're looking for you everywhere," she mused, glaring at him.
"Shut up." Bellamy was trying to make himself look disinterested in her, acting like she was just another distraction, someone in his way. But Isaac sensed the slight panic in his wild eyes, getting the sense that he was trying to cover something up. Stepping closer to the group, he eyed Bellamy curiously.
"Why?" he asked, the question directed towards Raven. Bellamy stepped away from the group, storming towards Isaac.
"I swear if you don't shut up-"
"He shot Chancellor Jaha," Raven blurted, and Bellamy froze in his tracks. Isaac's back was pressed against the tree behind him in anticipation, but the older boy didn't come towards him any further.
A piece of bark dug into Isaac's shoulder blade as he stiffened up, his gaze hardening as it landed on Bellamy. "That's why you took the wristbands," Clarke scoffed, betrayal written across her face. It surprised Isaac a bit; he didn't think Clarke had cared enough about the egotistical man to even feel betrayed by the information. However, he'd been wrong. "Needed everyone to think we're dead. And all that 'whatever the hell we want'? That was just you trying to save your own skin."
Isaac let himself sag against the tree, not wanting to seem uptight as he called over to the group. "Clarke," he said. The blonde turned to him, a look of anger on her face. It softened ever so slightly when she looked at Isaac, but he was too busy being concerned about the radio to notice -any other time his heart would have done a rain dance in his throat. "We need to focus on getting the radio."
Clarke's small hands were balled into fists, and she felt her jaw twitch when Isaac mentioned the radio. She nodded solemnly, turning to Bellamy. "You heard him," her chest heaved up and down as she breathed, "Where's the radio?"
Bellamy shrugged. "I wouldn't know." He began to walk away. Isaac used a foot to push himself away from the tree, stalking after him quickly, Raven right on his tail. The girl jogged ahead of him, stopping in front of Bellamy. "Get out of my way," the older one said viciously.
"Tell me what you did with my radio," she snapped, a fire in her eyes that, despite the awkward circumstances, made Isaac respect her ever so slightly.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance," Bellamy growled, and Raven raised her eyebrows at him, bravely taking a step forwards. Isaac inched closer to the pair out of concern.
"Really?" the girl taunted. "Well, I'm right here." I a spit of rage, Bellamy lunged at her and grabbed her by the collar of her jacket, spinning and crushing her back against a tree. Isaac knew that he wouldn't do anything after that, but it was amusing to watch him act tough. Bellamy Blake wasn't a killer.
Raven pulled out a knife and held it at Bellamy, the sharp tip pointed at his nose. "Where's. My. Radio." Her voice was deadly quiet, and suddenly Clarke pulled at the arm of Bellamy, tugging him away from Raven even if it was only by a couple of inches.
"Okay, stop it," she ordered. Bellamy glared at Raven for a moment longer before ripping away from Clarke, her fingers twitching from the sudden absence of something to hold onto.
The older man had his back turned to them. "Jaha deserved to die. You all know that."
"Yeah, he's not my favorite person either," Raven spat, and Isaac heard that she was trying to catch her breath. "But he isn't dead."
"What?"
"You're a lousy shot." It was said almost teasingly.
"Bellamy, don't you see what this means?" Clarke said, walking up to him determinedly. "You're not a murderer. You always did what you had to to protect your sister. That's who you are. And you can do it again by protecting three hundred of your people. Where's the radio?"
Bellamy eyes were apprehensive, as if he were dreading a reaction or unsure of why he was really doing what he was doing. "I- It's too late," he said.
* * * * *
Water seeped into Isaac's shoes, the river sloshing against his legs and soaking his pants as they water would swell up an extra inch or two in a pathetic wave as it was carried downstream. Most of the One Hundred were shuffling in the water near the banks of the river, hardly daring to get their feet wet as they searched for the radio. Isaac, Finn, and a few other were calf-deep in the shallow stream, their arms sinking below the wet surface, fingertips skimming the muddy bottom in search of the radio Bellamy Blake had so foolishly thrown in.
Isaac paused to wipe his forehead with his soggy sleeve, looking up across the bank. He saw Clarke and Finn talking, serious expressions on their faces. Finn was with Raven and Clarke had been an unwilling mistress, yet Isaac still felt a surge of jealousy beat against the inside of his stomach as he watched the two. He knew what they'd done and what they felt; two hours and a girl weren't going to change that right away.
Something hard brushed against his knuckles, followed by something thin an slimy. Isaac immediately recoiled, thinking it was some kind of creature like the one they had encountered on their first day on Earth. But then he squinted at the water and noticed blue, a vibrant, electric blue, like that used for wiring. Tentatively, he reach down into the water again and wrapped his fingers around the (sopping wet, but otherwise the same) radio. Wires were cut and frayed and the entire thing felt like dead weight in his hands with no glowing switches and water oozing out of every crevice. "I found it!" he called to Clarke, pulling the radio out of the water. He held it high, waving it at her.
Clarke, Finn, Raven and Bellamy all started towards him as the rest of the group began to climb out of the water gratefully. Raven got to him first and Isaac held out the device to her, an almost hopeful expression on his face as she grabbed it. The look, however, faded as he watched a frown grow on hers while she examined the radio. "Can you fix it?" Clarke asked, watching curiously as Raven turned the radio over in her hands, water dripping from one of the ripped wires.
"Maybe," Raven sighed, her head shaking. "But it'll take at least half a day just to dry out the components, and to see what's broken."
Isaac pursed his lips, sharing knowing look with Clarke. "We don't have time for that," he frowned.
"Like I said, it's too late," Bellamy put in his two cents at the wrong moment, because moments later Clarke was storming up to him.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" she snapped at him. "Do you even care?"
"You asked me to help. I helped."
"Three hundred people are going to die today because of you!" the blonde continued, venom laced in with her words for everyone -especially the boy she was sneering at- to hear.
"Hold up." Everyone turned to look at Raven, who seemed like was forming an idea. "We don't have to talk to the Ark, we just have to let them know we're down here, right?"
"Yeah, but how do we do that with no radio?" Finn sighed. Isaac recognized that tone; he was starting to give up.
He needed encouragement, and it looked like Raven was cooking some up. "Raven, what are you thinking?" he asked.
Raven turned to look at Isaac. There was something about him that, from the second she'd met him, seemed odd. Not odd in a bad way, just... he was different than everyone else down here. He was calmer, more collected, he only did certain things at certain times and seemed to be on the lookout for everyone -especially Clarke. The girl smirked at the boy with curly hair, and confusion replaced the serious look on his face when he caught sight of her devious expression. "I may or may not know how to make rocket flares."
A/N: *cries because Isaac is such a bean and he and Clarke and my otp*
*also cries because I finished the Mortal Instruments and malec is literally my biggest otp ever like my number one ship and they are so beautiful also brother zacariah is such a smol bean like he was holding a cat and i cried bc he is such a beautiful little soul what a great teeny nugget oml*