.*•.☼.•*.☼.•*.
THE NERVOUSNESS WAS eating Asteria up. She was biting her nails, leaving them way too short, and pacing outside the tent with the screen that connected them to the Ark.
Bellamy and Clarke were inside, talking to the Chancellor to see if both he and the sky girl could be pardoned for their crimes as the rest of the delinquents.
The oldest Blake came out of the tent along with Clarke, both with huge grins on their faces.
"Are we out of the woods?" Asteria practically yelled at them.
"We're in the woods actually but," Bellamy paused his sentence to create suspense, as Asteria grew more and more nervous. "Yeah, we are clean."
She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, relieved to hear some good news finally. She wasn't completely sure of staying, but now she knew she could without being floated.
Her chest felt weightless compared to what it was before talking to Bellamy. Asteria had been holding everything back since she landed on the ground. Her mask didn't exist anymore, and even if that was not necessarily good, it wasn't bad either.
"Your dad is waiting in there," Clarke told her smiling. "You should talk to him."
Asteria's mind was divided. A part of her yearned to talk to him, to ask how he's been and talk about a solar storm, she just wanted to hear her father's voice. The other half was afraid that he'll never forgive her.
As she walked into the camera's vision, the old man's face lit up with joy and his eyes were shining like the purest diamond.
"Hello dad," She said, sitting down and fixing her hair like she was still five years old. "Uh, how are you?"
Her hands were shaking along with her voice, feeling as nervous as a kid does before acting on their school's play. She was looking at the screen while playing with her hands and her hair, incapable of being quiet at the moment.
"You haven't changed a bit," He told her smiling, remembering the times where she would be nervous to even ask for something. Maybe what she was asking for, in a way, was forgiveness. "I'm okay, same old job and same old stories. How are you? You—you must have many things to tell your old man. I can't wait to go down there and hear them in the flesh."
"I'm okay, I mean, I can't remember what being up there was like anymore basically," She joked, making both of them laugh. But it was all an act, she couldn't break in front of the man she broke herself. She thought that was too selfish. "But, yeah I do have a lot of stories you know. You are going to love Earth."
"I'm going to love any place I get to see my little Asteria." The man confessed, with a few tears glimmering in his eyes and a smile as pure as the sky.
Little sobs escaped from Asteria's lips as she covered her face with her two hands, hiding the truth of her broken soul of the person she could never hide anything from.
"I'm sorry, I—" Her voice was just a little bit louder than a whisper, filled with all the emotions she couldn't escape from anymore. "I'm so sorry, dad. I hope one day you can forgive me."
"My little star, you'll always have me. I forgave you a long time ago."
Asteria limited herself to just look at him. She thought she didn't deserve the father she had, but she was still extremely grateful for the way he was.
There was a spark of hope she thought was long gone that started shining again inside of her. She was a burning fire that could never be fully drowned out, her hope being stronger than anything she ever faced. She was the light that filtered through her broken parts, the warmth of the sun in the winter and the hands that caressed the faces of the people she loved.
Asteria didn't want to ever leave that room. She wanted the eternal time to freeze for hours and just catch up with her father, but she couldn't. She had to keep helping the people in the camp, she had to make the ground better for when he comes down.
"Look, I—I wish we had more time but, I have to go," She said. "I'll be waiting down here, you know."
"I know. Go, I'll have the big stars here to keep me company."
.*•.☼.•*.☼.•*.
The delinquents were scattered around the camp. Some were doing their tasks, helping rebuild the camp broken my the storm while others were listening to Jaha's speech.
Asteria was doing neither. She thought she had too much Unity Day's speech to last her a lifetime considering the ones her father used to tell her every year. She felt too tired to help, so she was inside of the dropship, resting against the wall half asleep.
"Hey you," Monty came in, calling her. "You asked for alcohol the other day, so guess what I have in my hand."
Asteria opened her eyes slowly, taking the new information in.
"Monty, you are literally the best friend anyone could have," She told him, grabbing the metal glass from his hands. "I would die for your moonshine honestly."
They both chuckled at her joke while she conducted the explosive drink to her mouth. It burned down her throat and it kicked her mind like hell, but god if she enjoyed it.
Bellamy suddenly came inside, with a worried look shining all over his face.
"Asteria, you talked to your dad, right?" He asked the girl, standing next to her.
"Yeah, I did," She answered confused, and Monty looking at them with a strange expression. "Why, did something happen?"
"Comms are dead. They just cut off out of nowhere," Bellamy explained to both of them. "You think you can look it up, Monty?"
The kid nodded and left them alone. Asteria's mind was trying to find a logical explanation for what happened, but she couldn't really come up with one. There was no storm that could interrupt the comms, and nothing had happened down there.
"You think it's possible something happened up there?" Asteria questioned him, worried.
"I think you shouldn't worry about it too much," He smiled at her, sitting next to her on the cold floor. "I'm sure everything is alright. Besides, it's Unity Day and you have been fighting this war for longer than us. Go and have some fun."
"I think I forgot what fun feels like." She joked and laugh at her own joke, making him laugh along.
Maybe that was fun. Sitting down and laughing at your own jokes with someone you trust next to you. She could feel the atmosphere around them lighting up like the fire's camp at night, giving both of them the light they needed to keep going. It was one of those wonderful moments you know you can count on to make you smile.
For seconds, the laughter stopped and they just stared at each other, smiling like it was the last time they could.
"It's kind of weird but," She spoke, breaking the silence. "I think this is what fun felt like. So, thank you."
"You don't have to thank me," He shook his head, looking up. "Besides, is nice not thinking like a leader for some minutes."
"Yeah, it's nice not to think about surviving constantly too."
She noticed the glass of moonshine that was still next to her and rose it, like making and imaginary toast with the boy next to her.
"To us, not thinking too much." She joked before drinking it.
.*•.☼.•*.☼.•*.
Everyone seemed happy that night. They were having the first party since they were locked up in the Skybox. Monty's moonshine was everyone's favorite drink, and they were swinging around the imaginary music that connected them.
Asteria was singing with Jasper to an old Earth song they used to play in the Ark. They weren't really drunk yet, but they weren't sober either. It was the middle state between feeling everything and feeling nothing, and they enjoyed it.
"Both of you, shut up already!" Monty yelled at them, tired of hearing them sing like two wounded cats.
"Monty, Monty, Monty," Jasper called him out. "Always the serious one."
"Yeah, are you not enjoying our beautiful voices?" Asteria questioned, raising an eyebrow and immediately laughing alone.
"I didn't get to hear you sing," Bellamy came up from behind them. "Sing a little more." He was playing around, to mess with Monty and the two almost drunk kids started singing again.
The four of them were laughing, living after so long of just surviving. There was an unknown melody that resonated against the trees they dreamed about for so long. The stars suddenly were far away from their reach and it felt like they shined brighter than ever.
"Hey! Look at that!" Jasper shouted, pointing at the table in which a couple of delinquents were playing. "I want to play!"
"Then go, Jasper," She encouraged him, pushing him forward. "I'm definitely staying here if I drink more I might get messy."
Jasper and Monty left, joking about how Asteria was already too messy.
"You look too sober."
"Maybe that's what happens when you don't drink," Bellamy answered Asteria's statement, rolling his eyes.
"You are a really wise man," She admired in irony. "But actually, you are, because now I'm too tired to keep dancing or whatever I'm supposed to do."
"You should go rest, I mean," He suggested. "You do deserve it."
"I'm not really sleepy, just tired. Besides, can you think of one place where I'm not going to be surrounded by people?"
"Actually, I can," He confessed, making her open her eyes wide. "No one even dares to go in my tent. You could."
"I feel pretty much honored," She faked surprise with a hand on her heart.
.*•.☼.•*.☼.•*.
Bellamy and Asteria were sitting in front of each other in the tent. He was helping her get comfortable enough, despite her complaints about how much she didn't want to sleep, just rest.
"You better be here when I get back," He warned her.
"I can't promise you anything," She said, looking away. "But I can try."
"Good then."
As he was getting out, Asteria started closing her eyes. But Clarke's voice woke her up, hearing by mistake the meeting Finn had arranged with the grounders and how she needed Bellamy to be her backup.
Just as she heard Clarke walk out, she stuck out her head out of the tent to tell Bellamy she was going with them too.
"There goes my night of rest, right?" She asked him, sighing lightly.
She just hoped it would be worth it.
.*•.☼.•*.☼.•*.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
hello there!
sorry for taking so long to update and for the kinda messy ending here, hopefully now that i'm on winter break for two weeks i'll be able to update sooner? i hope
anyway, this story has 2K reads and I'm literally so grateful to everyone that reads it, comments, votes, everything! ily 💖