Disclaimer
Bellamy, you idiot. Grace didn't deserve this.
Murphy, you ass. Nobody deserved this.
✧
✧
A sigh slips past Grace's mouth as she starts towards Bellamy and Clarke, who both stood in front of the now burned down smokehouse. After last night when it caught fire and Grace had to quite literally keep Murphy and Del from killing each other because of it, Grace couldn't even get herself to look at the ruins of the building.
"Any idea what happened?" Grace asks the two, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets and out of sight. The last thing she needed was either of the two taking notice of her bloody and busted open knuckles from the night before when she found herself assaulting the back of the dropship when no one was around. Her anger was getting harder and harder to control the more anxious she got from the grounders not having retaliated yet. Seriously, what was taking them so long?
"Murphy says that Del kept feeding the fire, mostly because Octavia told him it was a bad idea," Bellamy informs the two girls from his crouched position in the middle of the wreckage.
"And we believe Murphy?" Clarke asks.
"I do. Yeah," Bellamy nods his head at the girls, much to their surprise.
"We have some wild onions and nuts in the dropship. It's only enough to last us maybe one or two weeks," Clarke sighs. "What's left here?"
"Nothing," Bellamy stands to send the girls uneasy looks. "It all burned."
Grace nods her head as her mind reeled for solutions to their problem, but only coming up with one solution; they hunt.
"Then we have to hunt," the redhead runs a hand through her hair and squeezes her eyes shut for a couple of seconds, a sigh escaping her mouth for the umpteenth time since she's woken up. "Anyone we can spare goes out."
"With the whole grounder army out there?" Bellamy asks in disbelief.
"I agree with Grace," Clarke buts in. "We can't defend ourselves if we're starving."
Bellamy nods his head as he watches the two girls walk away.
✧
"Each group takes someone with a gun," Bellamy calls. "And they're for killing grounders, not food. We don't have the ammo."
"Use the spears for hunting," Grace calls out. "Get what you can and be back by nightfall. No one stays out after dark."
The redhead steps toward Bellamy and places a hand on his shoulder blade to get his attention. He turns, brows furrowing in confusion when he notices she doesn't have a weapon in hand. "You're not coming?"
Grace shakes her head. "Monty asked me to stay with him and keep company. I don't mind, I never really liked hunting anyways. I can't stay quiet long enough to catch anything."
Bellamy smirks at the girl. "Right."
Grace rolled her eyes and nudged him softly. "Whatever, jackass." It's playful of course, but she finds her mood dulling and becoming more serious.
Bellamy notices this almost immediately, his brows dipping down in concern. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she said quickly. Bellamy sends her the look that says 'you're fucking kidding me just tell me already I'm not an idiot'. He gives her that look a lot. "It's just. . ." Grace purses her lips and dips her head down, eyeing the gun in his hand. "Just come back, alright? I don't know if I can do this without you."
Bellamy's expression softens at her words. "Hey, don't worry about me, alright? I'll be fine. It's only a hunting trip."
"A hunting trip while we're at war," Grace retorts.
"Grace," Bellamy says firmly, grabbing her small hands in his much larger ones. They practically swallowed hers whole. "I will be back. I promise."
Grace nods her head. "If you die, I will kill you, Bellamy Blake."
Bellamy smiles. "I guess we won't have a problem then, because I don't plan on dying today."
Grace smiles. "Good."
✧
Static fills the second dropship level. Monty sits in the corner of the room, fiddling with something while Grace sat beside him with her head in the clouds.
Monty glances at the girl beside him. "I asked you to keep me company, not daydream all damn day while you wait for your boyfriend to get back."
Grace snaps out of her thoughts. "I'm sorry, what?"
Monty rolled his eyes as he continued poking at something with a metal rod. Grace had no idea what the hell he was doing, and couldn't say she was interested at all, but the hunting party had left almost two hours ago and there was no backing out now.
"Sorry," Grace apologizes. She leans forward in her seat and runs a hand down her face tiredly. She hasn't slept properly in days. "I just have a lot on my mind."
"Like your feelings for Bellamy?"
Grace's head snaps towards her friend in shock. A smirk is planted on his face as he keeps his attention on his work. "What do you mean?"
A scoff leaves Monty's mouth. "I'm not stupid, Grace. Or blind. You guys just need confess already. Seriously, it's getting kind of hard to watch."
Grace squints at the boy. "Alright, smartass. Considering you seem to know all about my feelings. . . Could you explain it to me because I have no idea what is happening or why I'm feeling this way."
Monty lets out a bark of laughter at the girls innocence. Of course she's never felt that way about anyone, she's been in solitary since she was eleven years old. She's never had the chance to be a normal girl with a crush, she's ever even had the opportunity to kiss a boy. She was at a total loss.
Before Monty can say another word, Raven is barging into the room. She pauses upon realizing they seemed to be in a serious conversation. "Am I interrupting something?"
"No, it's fine. Did you need something?" Grace asks the girl curiously, trying to ignore the burning of her cheeks at the thought of Raven hearing anything from her and Monty's previous conversation.
Raven sends her a confused look before she places some wires on the table in front of her. "I found some good antenna wire for the radios. This guy was using it to fix his bed," Raven rolls her eyes. "You find anything else from the exodus ship wreckage?"
Monty nods. "Yeah, data log. Wanna hear something weird?"
Raven leans closer to the two, listening intently for what Monty believed was so weird. It started off like static, then turned into muffled voices before turning back into a strange static sound. Raven frowned. "Sounds like interference."
"Wait," Monty holds up a hand. "It gets weirder. When the signal hit, the nav. System went nuts. They never got it back and then. . . Boom."
"So it's like somethings jamming the signal?" Grace asked, quirking a brow at the two. It was a complete guess on her part, but she felt sort of proud when they both nodded in confirmation.
"That is weird," Raven nods her head. "It also makes no sense whatsoever. No. Pull the drive-in speakers."
Monty looks up at the girl in confusion. "You want to strip it? We'll never find out where they crashed."
"We need every component we can get out hands on if we're gonna make walkies. . ." Raven trails off, her head snapping to look at Monty's radio. "And I need that radio."
Grace stands to protest, along with Monty.
"No way," Monty says firmly. "How are we supposed to contact The Ark?"
Raven doesn't say anything, instead she leans forward and flicks a switch on the radio. Static fills the air. "The Ark is not there. You're listening to a hole in the sky."
Raven reaches forward to take the radio when Monty stops her. "Hey, my family is up there."
"And my sister," Grace buts in, her heart wrenching slightly.
Raven stares at the two in pity. "I'm sorry," and then she's ripping the radio from its spot.
The static stops and Monty heaves a sigh. Grace turns away from the two, a hand running through her hair. She tugs the irritating hair into a pony tail, doing her best to ignore the fly always that just couldn't be contained. Yelling is heard from outside which could only mean that the hunting party was back. Sighing, Grace turned to look at Raven who would undoubtedly be leaving soon to check on Finn despite the breakup. "Could you check on Bellamy for me? Tell him I'll come see him myself after I finish here with Monty."
Raven merely nodded and left the dropship.
✧
Grace found herself making her way towards Bellamy's tent. Monty had ushered her off after she started getting antsy not knowing whether or not he was okay, so there she was. She tried to slow her walking but found herself quickening her pace in anticipation. Something told her something was wrong.
Grace didn't waste any time calling out, instead she just pulled the tent flap away with a smile and looked into the tent. The smile instantly wiped off her face when she saw the sight in front of her.
Raven was buttoning up her pants while Bellamy laid shirtless in his bed. Grace quickly adverted her eyes from the two of them, ignoring as they each said her name in horribly saddened tones. "Just came to check up on Bellamy, but it looks like you have that covered," Grace's voice trails off as she feels the betrayal and sudden distrust leak into her voice. "I'll be in the dropship if either of you need something."
Grace leaves the tent and races towards the dropship before anyone can protest.
She's never felt this way before. Her chest physically hurt. It was like she was suffocating whilst still breathing. She felt terrible. The tears had already formed in her eyes when she reached the back of the dropship where no one ever went. She's spent far more time back there than she'd like to admit.
She slams her fists against the metal again and again and again until her knuckles bust open and blood seeped through her fingers. She wipes her hands on her pants quickly. She felt weak and disgusted with herself. How could she have been so stupid? Why did she let herself fall for him when she knew he was only going to break her heart eventually?
The angry tears that streamed down her face were wiped away with one swipe of her hand, her slightly puffy cheeks the only sign that she had cried at all. She took deep, laboured breaths to return it back to her normal breathing pattern. When she felt back to normal, or at least as normal as she could get now, she ambled towards Monty and Jasper who sat around the fire with frowns on their faces.
Jasper noticed her first, and then the tear stains she couldn't have been able to hide from her new close friends, but he didn't dare say anything about it with so many people around them. Monty turned around and frowned when he saw what had caught Jasper so of guard, but he too decided against saying anything.
"Are all hunting parties accounted for?" Grace was surprised at the lack of emotion in her own voice and the two boys in front of her seemed to be as well. Grace quirks a brow at the two when they don't answer for a moment. Jasper nudges Monty who sputters over his own words.
"Oh, right, um, almost. Finn, Clarke, and Myles haven't returned yet," Monty informs the girl. "It's weird. They should be back by now."
"You're right," Grace nods her head as concern for her friends and that boy Myles powered through her. "We'll send out search parties. We don't come back without them."
Both Monty and Jasper nod, still seemingly awestruck by her sudden change in attitude.
✧
"You finished the walkies," Monty states as both he and Grace entered the dropship to see Raven sitting there. The brunette sat up in her seat upon seeing Grace. Grace walked across the room with an emotionless face, despite the whirlwind of emotions that currently flowed through every inch of her body.
"Hey," Raven starts, her eyes drifting from Grace to Monty. Grace had no doubt told Monty what Raven had done, and by the betrayal that was clearly written in Grace's eyes, Raven figured that only one friendship would be mended for now. "I'm sorry about before, really, and about your family."
"Thanks," Monty says. "So, all the hunters are back except Clarke and Finn."
"Okay," Raven sits back down with hurt in her eyes. Grace squeezed her hands into tight fists, not to refrain from hurting the girl, but to refrain herself from hugging her. Raven was her friend and she felt left out and not good enough because of what Finn and Clarke had done, and that was why she had had sex with Bellamy. Grace wasn't mad at Raven. Grace was mad at Bellamy for saying yes when he knew it wouldn't help.
But she was even more mad at herself for allowing herself to fall for the curly haired, brown eyed, freckle covered boy.
"Raven, they were with another kid— Myles," Grace explains, watching as Raven's head snapped up to her. Grace's throat felt like it had closed up when they made eye contact and so she looked away. She wasn't sure she'd be able to keep eye contact with her for very long without breaking down or picturing Bellamy's hands all over her. "They all left camp together."
"All three of them are still out there?" Raven asks in confusion.
"Yeah, we're going to look for them," Monty informs her. "Bring the walkies."
✧
Grace shivers as a cold breeze drifts through the forest. She sighs, tugging the jacket closer to herself.
"I thought you said you were heading west," Monty mutters into the walkie, sharing an uneasy look with the redhead about a foot from her. She holds her knife closer to her chest, her eyes scanning the area around her. "Where are you?
"Just keep the moon on your left, and you'll find us," Bellamy grumbles in return.
Grace sighs, moving deeper into the trees and away from Monty. She pauses and turns around when the hears the radio signal quivering. She quirks a brow at Monty who sighs and shrugs back. "Is anyone else hearing this signal?"
"Just keep your eyes open," Raven demands. Grace strolls towards Monty with her brows furrowed.
"It sounds like the same thing we heard in the black box," Grace utters into the radio. Monty nods in agreement.
"Dammit, guys, pay attention," Bellamy says firmly. Grace rolls her eyes in annoyance, starting forward and away from Monty without a second word. "Do you see anything?"
Grace waits for Monty's voice, turning around to look at the boy when he doesn't answer. Her brows furrow in confusion when she sees him kneeling there with his mouth wide open in shock. She makes a move towards him, but freezes when he taps his foot against the ground; code from Monty and Jasper to stop where you were. It was a little thing they told her about when she slept in their tent once when she felt Octavia had to be alone.
"Report."
"Oh my god," Monty mumbles in astonishment.
Grace takes this as her chance to turn around and race through the trees, dodging them left and right. She didn't realize that Monty wasn't following, her heart stopping almost completely when she realized he wasn't behind her. She falters in her step. "Monty?" She whisper calls.
She doesn't have time. She has to go. Her feet slap against the hard ground as her rapid breathing leaving her lips as she tried to get back to Bellamy and the others. What was it he had said? Keep the moon to their right? Or was it left? Grace's heart leapt into her throat. She'd have to hope to god it was left.
She turned in that direction, gracefully dodging things with little to no sound. She's gotten very good at it.
She was losing hope quickly. She's been running for fifteen minutes and hasn't seen a damn thing. Maybe it was right? She didn't want to chance it. If she was right the first time, she'd be advancing on the camp soon. She needed to hold out.
She heard the yelling before she saw the camp. She recognized it as Bellamy almost immediately and a cry of relief passed her lips. Oh, thank God. She was home now.
"It's me! Don't shoot!" Grace shouts, heading straight towards the area she knew a foxhole would be. She ducked into it, feeling arms wrap around before she even made it through.
"I thought you were dead," Octavia says as she pulls away.
"You can't get rid of me that easily," Grace quipped, nudging the girl. She glances around and frowns when she doesn't see anyone else. "Did anyone else make it back or was it just you and I?"
Octavia shakes her head. "Raven is planting land mines and Bellamy is in the dropship," her hand curls around Grace's before she even has a chance to head in Raven's direction. "I know my brother is an ass, but we found Myles. He's hurt badly and resting in the dropship and right now you're the closest thing to Clarke we have so you really should go and try and help him."
Grace nods despite how her heart squeezes at the thought of even being near Bellamy. "Right. Okay. How bad is it?"
"Two arrows. One to the stomach, other to the leg," Octavia sighed. "Just try, okay?"
Grace nods her head at her before squeezing her hand and heading towards the dropship. "Tell Raven I'm back," she throws over her shoulder.
A quick okay was all she heard before she ascended the ramp and stalked inside the ship. She almost immediately found Bellamy leaning over the table with their battle plans, staring intently at something. His head snaps up and turns around, the relief clear on his face and in his voice as he realizes it's her. "Hey, sweetheart."
"Don't call me that," Grace says quietly, feeling her chest tighten at his nickname. He couldn't. Not after what he had done.
"Grace—" Bellamy starts, stopping when Jasper walked in. The lanky boy immediately tensed up upon seeing the two, especially Bellamy because he wouldn't allow anyone to leave and get their friends. Grace didn't have to be told that, she just figured that was what was happening. Jasper didn't say anything to him, watching as Grace moved towards Myles body. She sighed as she took him in.
She wouldn't be able to remove the arrows, not if she wanted him to live. She didn't know if it punctured anything or whether or not she would hurt anything if she even touched him.
"Don't you think I want to go after them, too?" Bellamys snaps at Jasper. Grace flinches at this, trying to keep her gaze on Myles' body, trying to figure out what to do. She had seen Lincoln when he had gotten hit with the arrow, but that was in the shoulder, not the direct chest or leg. Was there even a difference?
"If it was you out there, you think Monty, Clarke, or Finn would hide behind these walls?"
Grace wrapped a hand around the arrow in Myles chest, snapping it in half quite easily. Her mouth dropped open in shock at the sharp sound. "Oh my God."
Bellamy and Jasper seemed to ignore her. "No. They'd go after me, then they'd be dead, too. I am doing what I think is right for the group."
Jasper shook his head and scoffed, stalking forward and placing his gun on the table a few feet away. "It's funny, you didn't think that way when Octavia went missing," Jasper said, beginning to climb the ladder leading to the second level.
"Where are you going?"
"More gunpowder for your minefield. . . Sir," Jasper quipped, holding out his arm in a mock salute. Grace smirked as Bellamy sighed. What? He deserved it.
Grace's head snapped back to Myles when he began mumbling about water in a raspy voice. Grace sighed, turning back to face Bellamy. "Can you go get him some? I have to go and get some bandages upstairs."
Bellamy nods his head, trying to ignore the hurt look on her face. "I'll get it."
Grace doesn't say anything else to him. Instead, she pulls herself up the ladder and to the second floor. She could hear Bellamy mumble something incoherent as he left the dropship but said nothing of it. She obviously didn't concern him anymore. Maybe he'd go tell Raven instead.
Grace let out a sigh as the hurt jabbed at her heart, especially when she looked up and caught sight of the little work area Monty always used to be. He was always there for her when she needed it, especially about stuff like this. And she had left him in the forest against an unseen force, all alone. Guilt pooled in her stomach. How could she have been so selfish?
"I'm so sorry," the redhead had whispered before she could stop herself. "I left him there. I should have stayed with him. He— he told me to go with that little code thing and I— I'm so sorry."
Jasper turns around, his facial features surprisingly soft. "Grace, it's not your fault. If Monty told you to go, then you go. End of story."
Grace nods her head. She's not convinced in the slightest. She watches as Jasper grabs a hold of his land mine, starting to go across the room with it. He pauses, steps towards her, places a comforting kiss against her temple, and then begins climbing down the ladder. She sighed. Of course, it was only a friendly kiss and she didn't mind it. They both had become close down their, that was clear. He was like a brother to her.
Grace grabbed a handful of bandages before she too, climbs down the ladder. "Thanks for that, Jasper. I really— Oh my God."
Grace's face pales when she sees Murphy standing there with a hand wrapped around a bag. He stands directly in front of Myles, who didn't appear to be breathing. Oh, God.
He killed him.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So. That happened.
SOS. Have fun next chapter! Trust me, it's hurting me, too!
Vote, comment, whatever the hell you want! ;)
Gif | Grace walking in on Bellamy and Raven