[C H A P T E R E I G H T E E N]
Same Old Mantra
☆☆☆
"WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?" RAVEN CALLED as she came up the ladder. "He stopped breathing."
Clarke seemed to have a mini heart attack. "What?"
"He started again, but next time he might not."
"He's not telling us anything," Clarke sighed, running a hand through her tangled blonde hair.
Raven looked at the sweaty Grounder and then glanced around the room, spotting an open panel on the wall near Roseline.
"Wanna bet?" she asked, making her way to the exposed wires.
"What are you doing...?" Roseline trailed off as she watched Raven rip cables from the walls.
Raven touched the ends together, creating sparks that sent chills down Roseline's back. "Showing him something new."
"Raven wait--" Roseline immediately went to grab Raven before she would do something she would soon regret.
"Hey!" Raven said, ripping her arm away from the scientist. The two stared at each other for a moment, and Roseline saw how broken she was. "I can't lose him" Raven murmured.
"This isn't the way to go about it," Roseline begged. "We can find another way."
Raven gave her a solemn look and Roseline knew there was no changing her mind. Before she could stop the mechanic, Bellamy had stepped in and wrapped his arms around Roseline's waist, preventing her from moving.
"No, Bellamy, please--" She struggled in his grip. "This could kill him!"
No one else said a word as Raven clicked the wires together once more, sending sparks flying toward the Grounder. His eyes pooled with fear as he watched Raven come closer with the sparks. Roseline squirmed in Bellamy's arms, whimpering ever so slightly at the sight before her. With one final look to Clarke, Raven stuck the wires into the Grounder's abdomen, causing him to cry out in pain.
"Which one is it?" Raven demanded, stopping for just a second. When the warrior said nothing, Raven huffed and hit him with another round of electricity. Roseline, not being able to stomach it, turned away into Bellamy's shoulder. His arms adjusted themselves so rub small circles into her back while still maintaining his grip on her.
"He's all I have!" the girl screamed, stopping again. The Grounder panted from the pain, trying to catch his breath. His body twitched from the electricity and Roseline buried her head deeper into Bellamy's shoulder, causing him to squeeze tighter.
Raven went at it again when Octavia stood in the middle of the group, the poisoned knife in hand. "No more!"
Stopping, Raven whipped her head around. "He's letting Finn die!"
Everyone, including Roseline, stared at Octavia, wondering what she was going to do next. Then, before anyone could stop her, the blade went and sliced a line down her forearm.
"Octavia, no!" Both Roseline and Bellamy cried out, letting go of one another.
"He won't let me die," was all she said before walking up to the Grounder, who had stopped whithering and instead looked at Octavia with concern.
"Octavia, what the hell did you--" Bellamy started, going for her wounded arm. Octavia pulled her arm away from him, kneeling down on the ground in front of the Grounder and the vials. She began to point at each one, waiting for his response, and much to everyone's surprise, he began to shake his head at each of them until Octavia got down to the very last one. His head nodded in agreement and Octavia handed it to Clarke who raced down the ladder, Raven hot on her heels.
Reaching down, Bellamy went to help Octavia up who moved away from him at the speed of light. "Don't touch me."
Roseline set a hand on his arm, silently telling him to back up and let her try. He took a couple steps back and Roseline bent down, gently taking the bandaging from Octavia. She let her and Roseline wrapped up her cut snuggly then helped her off of the floor.
"C'mon, let's get you to Clarke and get some of that antidote and moonshine." At the mention of moonshine, Octavia gave a hint of a smile, which in turn brought a smile onto Roseline's face. Letting Octavia go down first, Roseline glanced at Bellamy who wanted to say something.
"Just," Roseline sighed, leaning against the ladder handles. "stay up here, and try not to hurt anyone else today, alright?" His face fell at her words and it almost made her want to say sorry. "I'll be back later to clean him up."
"Rosie..." he tried, taking a step toward her but stopped when her face fell cold.
"My name is Rose. We're not friends, so don't act like it," she snapped before heading down the ladder after Octavia.
☆☆☆
After Octavia got her much-needed moonshine and medicine, Roseline urged her to go find something to eat, saying she needed to regain her energy from her long day. Octavia almost resisted, but with one look from Roseline's stern brown eyes, she huffed and disappeared somewhere in the drop-ship. She then saw Clarke with a bucket of water and a rag, and Roseline took it upon herself to intervene.
"Hey, Clarke," She gave a small smile. "Let me take care of him."
She saw Clarke hesitate, looking back at Finn who still hadn't woken up. "Are you sure? I don't want to bother you--"
Roseline laughed and shook her head. "No, you stay down here and watch Finn. I'll go deal with the Grounder and Bellamy." There was still a bit of hesitance in her eyes and her brows were creased. Roseline took the bucket from her and set a hand on her arm. "You don't have to be responsible for everything, Clarke. When you need a break, I'll be here; ready to step in at any time."
A grateful smile spread across Clarke's face and Roseline giggled, taking the rag from her. She made her way up the ladder when Clarke called out to her.
"Hey, Rose," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Thank you, really. You're a good friend."
Roseline smiled, bowing her head in return. She then continued up to the third level where Nathan was once again trying to deny her access to the level.
"Nathan, I'm coming up whether you like it or not, alright?"
He sighed and moved aside, letting her through. She climbed up and saw that Bellamy was sat on a chest, flipping through the Grounder's book of drawings. Her hand instinctively went to her pocket to make sure the paper was still there. Walking over, she sat the bucket and rag on a chair next to the Grounder while eyeing his wounds.
Upon hearing the bucket hit the chair, Bellamy looked up at Roseline. Roseline thought he was going to make a snarky comment, but instead, he watched her movements as she wet the rag and squeezed out some water before slowly walking over to the Grounder. Roseline would've been lying if she said that the Grounder didn't scare her. He took the torturing like a champ and seeing his bloodied and bruised face still holding the same void expression made her hands shake as she folded the cloth into a little square.
"You don't have to do that if you don't want to, Rose," Bellamy murmured, making an effort to say Rose instead of Rosie.
The girl scrunched her nose and stood taller, ignoring the man and going straight to the Grounder's wound on his hand. "You don't know what I want," she responded, gently tapping the wound and absorbing some of the blood.
"I know you're scared of being so close to him, and I don't blame you."
"I'm not scared," she insisted, focused on the Grounder's hand. She pressed more into his hand and suddenly he sucked in a breath of air, causing Roseline to jump and drop the rag.
Bellamy shook his head as she took a deep breath and bent down to pick it up. "Not scared, huh?"
"Stop acting like you know me," she huffed, wetting down the towel again. As she reached out to make contact with the Grounder again, she thought of the words her father had told her growing up: let the fear challenge you, not control you.
"Rose, I do know you, like it or not." He got up and stood next to her, crossing his arms.
She bit her lip while trying to focus on the injured Grounder, eyebrows furrowed. "No, you don't. We're not friends, therefore, you don't know me."
"Um," Nathan got up from the other side of the room. "I'm gonna go grab a snack..."
The pair ignored the criminal as he scurried down the ladder and away from the tension that was growing on the third level.
"Okay fine. We may not be friends but I know exactly what you're thinking right now."
She pressed the cloth in between his fingers, trying to scrub away the dirt. Let the fear challenge you, not control you. "No, you don't."
"Yes, I do," he sighed, running a hand through his messy curls. "You're thinking about that little mantra. You do it when you're scared, and I know you're scared because you've been so focused on that hole in his hand so you don't freeze up."
Her hand squeezed the rag, unable to keep it cleaning the wound. Why does he know her so well? Why is it so hard to admit that she's scared? Why is her heart screaming at Bellamy? She turned around with a sudden burst of anger. "What are you still doing up here? You don't like the Grounder and you certainly don't like me, so what the hell is the point of staying here and annoying me?"
Bellamy scoffed. "So I'm just gonna leave you up here with the Grounder alone?"
"Yeah? Is there a problem with that?"
"Yeah, not gonna happen." His arms crossed again.
Roseline threw the rag into the bucket and waved her hands in the air. "Oh my God, Bell, I'm not an idiot! What you think I'm gonna try and jailbreak him? Spill our camp secrets? You're unbelievable! You really don't trust me?"
"That's not why, Rose, I trust you!"
She gave a fake laugh. "Oh, yeah, then go ahead! Leave me alone!"
"It's not you I don't trust, Rosie, it's him!" He pointed to the tied-up Grounder.
The anger in her body slowly seeped away and her hands fell from her chest and intertwined themselves down by her stomach. "What do you mean?"
For a second Roseline had thought she saw the ghost of a smile on his face as he watched her mood shift so quickly. Though, if it was there, it disappeared as fast as it came.
He pinched his nose and ruffled his hair once more. "He is a killer and I'll be damned if I let you stay in a room with him without someone to watch your back."
For some reason, his words seem to have set off that distant alarm in her head. She wanted to focus on the alarm in her head. Why was it going off? What was going on? Why was Bellamy saying such nice things to her when he said they weren't friends? She felt her heart sink at that thought.
"I'll be okay, Bell," she said before going to pick back up the rag she had dropped.
Bellamy shook his head. "No, I'm not--"
He was interrupted by the latch on the floor opening up to reveal Nathan coming back with a handful of berries and a pouch of water.
"It's fine, Bell, just go. Nathan's here now, and I need to get this done so Clarke has one less thing to worry about."
Bellamy took a second to process the situation. He then nodded in agreement and headed for the latch Nathan was just at.
"If anything happens, call for me. Got it?" Roseline heard him say to Nathan who bowed his head. Bellamy then disappeared down the ladder, leaving Roseline alone with Nathan, the Grounder, and a mess of emotions she had no idea how to organize.
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