' No I didn't lose my mind. It got scared and ran away. '
By the time Corey woke up again she was thoroughly done with the whole passing out thing. Her head was pounding and she wasn't one hundred percent sure where she was.
The sound of water dripping and the chatter near her was enough to make the dehydrated girl open her eyes as she turned, her body screaming in agony as she found herself now on the top level of the dropship, Octavia entering as Clarke tried to clean the now bloodied and bruised grounder.
"Hey, look I need to clean this." Clarke tried to persuade as the Grounder continued to deny her help, pulling away mutely whenever she tried to clean his wounds.
"Here, let me try." Octavia suggested as she approached the two, no one seeing Corey was awake as the grounder calmed down, letting Octavia treat his wounds as he stared at her.
"I never wanted him to get hurt Octavia," Clarke tried to reason as Corey ground her teeth, pushing herself up as the grounders gaze turned to her, Corey not taking any notice as she stared at her cousins back, hopping she hadn't had anything to do with the mans troubling physical state "You have to know that. I just wanted to save Finn."
Corey looked away from her cousin in mild disgust, unhappy that she'd had any part in brutally beating someone. She met the gaze of the grounder once again as she gave him a questioning look, hoping to portray her want to know if he was alright. To her own shock and delight she received a slight nod in reply, neither of the other girls noticing the small exchange.
"For the record, you didn't save Finn that was me." Octavia stonily replied "But," She sighed "Whatever you wanna tell yourself to feel better."
"Tell me you didn't do that to him." Corey suddenly spoke up causing both girls to jump as they turned to her, Clarke's features brightening before she saw the angered look on her cousins face.
"Corey I had to --" Clarke began but quickly stopped herself, knowing that even though the younger blonde could get easily angered and lash out with physical violence, she despised people trying to justify their acts of abuse and murder. Something she'd inherited from both her parents.
"You had to?" Corey seethed as she glared at Clarke furiously "You had to beat someone who saved my life? So that what? You could save the boy who you fucked and then found out he was already screwing someone else?" She ground out causing Clarke flinched at her tone.
"That's not fare Corey." Clarke weakly defended.
"Just go." The younger Griffin replied evenly stopping Clarke as she went to protest "Get out of here, I don't want you around if your going to try and justify what you did, or what you helped someone else do." She scoffed "What happened to 'This is not who we are' Cousin." She spat.
"There's fresh water over there," Clarke sighed as she began to make her way over to the ladder, knowing there was nothing she could say until Corey calmed down "I'll get someone to bring you food up in a while." She trailed off before leaving hastily.
There was silence for a minute before Corey began to stand, groaning as she realised how much pain the simple act caused. Both Octavia and the grounder protested, the latter with a grunt of indignation as the brunette tried to stop her friend verbally.
"I'm fine stop fussing." She muttered with a roll of her eyes "A few broken ribs didn't stop me before and it sure as hell won't now." Corey sassed as she grabbed the cup and filled it with water. Taking a sip before she looked up at the grounder -- who was staring at Octavia -- in consideration.
"I'm so sorry," Octavia sighed as she looked up at the grounder "You saved our lives and look at the thanks you get." She trailed off, her eyes glancing over the mans exposed torso as Corey hummed in agreement to Octavia's statement "I never wanted any of this to happen to you." She informed as Corey began refilling the cup again.
When she looked up she found the two staring at one another and smiled softly, wishing for something like that. Her gaze went from their faces to where the grounder now held Octavia's hand to the best of his abilities.
He swallowed roughly before opening his mouth slightly "Thank you." He managed to rasp as both girls stared at him in shock before they smiled, the grounder letting his eyes trail over to Corey as he gave her a slight nod again, indicating it was for them both.
"Hey," Miller called as he stood up from where he'd been sleeping in the corner causing Corey to jump slightly in surprise and jolt her ribs, doubling over slightly as she cursed the beanie clad boy out "He just say something?"
"No." Octavia denied.
"That was me dumbass," Corey scoffed hoarsely as she straightened, holding her side in pain "Ever heard of illness affecting your voice? Because a lack of food and water will do that to you." She pointed out sarcastically.
"You know your brother doesn't want you up here Octavia," Miller pointed out in a softer tone "And your meant to be resting." He informed Corey "Let's go Octavia."
Octavia finished rinsing the rag she'd been using before she slowly walked towards the hatch. The grounder watching her longingly as she went down the ladder with Miller close behind, saying he'd be back with food for Corey.
The blonde bent down with a grunt once Miller was gone, picking up the tin cup as she filled it with water again. She walked in front of the grounder and raised an eyebrow in question, receiving a small but hesitant nod in reply.
"Don't worry, it's not poisoned," She informed as she carefully brought it up to his lips, tipping it up slightly as he began gulping the cool liquid down "One, no one around here is smart enough to think about poison." She shrugged as she filled the cup again as she saw the grounder swallow thickly still "And two," She brought it back up to his lips as he drank again "Half the people here are naive enough to accidentally drink the contaminated water."
The grounder huffed what Corey assumed was a laugh as he finished his drink. She smirked in victory before looking back at the hatch and then to the grounder again "I'll help get you out, I promise." She said before making her way over to one of the crates nearby, telling him to make a noise if he needed more at any point.
..........
Corey had been up on the third level for days as her body finally began to stop rejecting nutrition. Clarke explained, once Corey had forgiven her, that as her body tried to accommodate to the broken ribs that it affected her eating due to the pressure it caused on her system.
So far, today was the only day she'd kept her food down, that being said all she'd eaten was some berries and meat. The grounder had grunted in warning when she tried to eat the nuts so she had decided not to touch them.
Corey had also managed to slip him some food sometimes when no one was around and she continued to keep him hydrated throughout the week as no one else could get him to drink other than Octavia and Bellamy had kept her out.
The only time she left was when Bellamy had carried her down to the first level to talk to her aunt. Both the Blake boy and the Griffin girl were shunning one another for different reasons.
Corey disagreed with his medieval ways of punishment and he couldn't believe she'd kept the fact her father and her were illegal children a secret after what he and Octavia had been through on the ground with her.
So there she sat, leaning against the wall sat on her usual crate beside the water basin as Bellamy sat opposite the grounder and Miller entered.
"Did you talk to the Ark?" Bellamy questioned as the delinquent came to stand in front of the grounder.
"I told Diggs Mom the news," He informed regretfully "Charles Dad, I'm supposed to talk to Roma's parents later."
"Thanks for doing that," Bellamy nodded "I owe you." He finished as his gaze slid over to Corey who quickly averted her gaze from the older Blake causing him to sigh.
"Telling all these parents that their kids were murdered by grounders," Miller looked distastefully at the one they had tied up "I just wish we could say we were getting some justice." He spat.
"Don't even think about it." Corey hissed defensively as she stood up in front of the grounder, glaring at Miller as he took a step back from the suddenly angered girl.
"We are not killing him." Bellamy told Miller sternly "Corey sit down, you'll hurt yourself." He sighed.
"You were a lot scarier when you had that face paint on." Miller whispered menacingly to the grounder as he picked up some of Corey's uneaten food, smearing it on the grounders face harshly before he lunged forward, headbutting Miller and sending him sprawling to the ground as Corey laughed loudly at the boys misfortune.
Bellamy didn't even flinch as one of his closest friends fell to the floor, knowing really that he deserved it. Corey composed herself as she drank some water to soothe the pain in her ribs from laughing so hard.
She stood once she'd drank it all, grabbing the washcloth as she limped to the grounder and began washing off his face, receiving no complaints from him as she removed the crushed berry residue to the best of her ability.
"Corey stop," Bellamy stood quickly "He's dangerous." He tried to pull the girl away but stopping when she hissed in pain.
"Not as dangerous as you." She muttered. Corey had forgiven Clarke after a few days but still found it hard to forgive Bellamy, she didn't know why it hurt her so much that he would do something like this. Like she somehow expected more from him even without knowing him as well as she'd like to.
"Corey you have no right to be mad at me." He shot back causing the girl to turn to him sharply, groaning as she moved her side to quickly. Bellamy quickly lowered her onto the crate as he crouched in front of her "You didn't even tell me who you were, I've never tried to hide who I was from you." He protested.
"Really? Who shot the Chancellor Bellamy." She rhetorically questioned causing his face to drop.
"That was one thing, you hid who you are from me!" He shouted as he stood up in frustration, running a hand through his hair before looking back at her, both of them having forgot there was a third party in the room as he watched on.
"It's not like we were close Bellamy," Corey scoffed "You've been closer to a lot more girls than you ever have been to me." She hissed in reply as he looked down at her for a moment "What?" She shifted uncomfortably.
"Your Jealous?" He smirked causing her mouth to drop open as a pink tint appeared on her cheeks.
"No I'm not!" She protested as Bellamy approached her, carefully standing her up so that the two were face to face. Or face to chest in Corey's short ass case "Man whore."
Corey gasped as she tried to avoid eye-contact before giving in and looking up at the beautiful specimen of man in front of her.
"It was all because I couldn't get the one I wanted." He whispered in his usual deep voice, a sudden calm taking over him as he held her carefully to his chest.
"Maybe all you had to do was tell her." Corey answered as her face flushed, not being used to being in such close proximity in such an intimate way. Well not when she was coherent anyway.
"Maybe I just did." He breathed in reply. They stared at one another for a long moment before Corey pulled back , hobbling backwards and away from the embrace as Bellamy stared after her mutely.
"I just - I still haven't forgiven you Bellamy, and I don't know if i can." She looked over at the Grounder "You can't just do that to someone and expect everyone to forgive you, that's not how this works." She stressed as the eldest Blake watched her sorrowfully, knowing this may be the last time he would ever see her as he planned to leave.
The last thing he'd wanted was to leave without knowing if she'd ever forgive him, because Bellamy Blake was falling for Corey Griffin, and she was the only thing making him want to stay.
They stared at each other for a moment longer before Bellamy turned and left, not seeing the lonely tear that rolled down Corey's cheek as he left.