013.
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Real shocker, Maggie found herself chasing after Bellamy like a lost puppy a few minutes following his little temper tantrum. She could completely understand why he was frustrated— it was a nerve-racking countdown, awaiting the moment where Jaha came down like he owned the place and locked the boy up for his crime. Who could tell what he'd do out there; for all she knew, he could attempt to run off right then and there.
She made her way through trees as the sky darkened, the vivid and saturated colors not being present because of the day's cloudiness. Magnolia wouldn't admit it to just anyone, but she had come to love the hues of yellow, orange, and pink that would hit in the middle of the day. It was utterly beautiful on the days she was lucky enough to witness it, not having the tops of trees blocking her view.
A tree root protruded largely out of the ground, and the brunette girl clumsily tripped over it, landing in the dirt and fallen, crunchy leaves. It wasn't like her to do so, but her mind was starting to whirr unknowingly to the point where she was completely unaware of what was going on around her.
As Maggie knelt on the ground, she brushed her hands against one another, getting anything that she could off of them. Her vision was blurry; the trees around her were swirling around and not sticking straight up. She hadn't hit her head though— what happened? But when she looked up, two familiar figures stood about seven feet away.
"Wha-no," Maggie muttered to herself before rubbing her eyes in panic. It wasn't real— was it? It couldn't be.
"What's wrong baby?" the deep voice of Mr. Gray cooed as they inched closer, to the point where the two were standing just in front of Maggie. "You're okay now, you got that? We're here, and we want you safe."
"You've been through hell and back being down here on your own, haven't you?" Ella added, in the tone of what Maggie assumed was what a loving mother's voice sounded like. It wasn't her mother, though. At least how she had remembered her anyway— had she really changed that much in the past three or so years?
"You guys aren't here," Magnolia shut down whatever that was with a shake of her head. Instead of them going away, or whipping her with an electrical cord, their glances remained full of empathy. "Why aren't you acting like assholes— like you're supposed to?"
"Sweetheart, of course we're here," her father, Aaron, answered. "We love you, and we haven't seen you in forever."
"Y-you guys are wrong. You hate me," Maggie denied, backing away from the two now that she was on her feet; however, they only followed as she moved. "You both fucked with me, and you took my childhood away! I never got to be a normal kid because of you!"
She had braced herself for the worst at that point; she was basically digging up her own grave and allowing her parents to have at it. When she was met with only sympathetic glances, it made Magnolia bewildered. Was she remembering the same people; or were her parents different?
All she wanted for her entire life was to live in a home where her parents loved her; hell, even liked her. Just a little bit. Every time she witnessed something along those lines between two people, her heart would tighten and twist into uncomfortable knots. Maggie was a jealous girl— she longed for someone to care about her like that. And now, her parents were being that way. Gray wasn't taking advantage of it— she was being stubborn, automatically assuming the worst.
Maybe they weren't the same people from up on the Ark.
"I-I'm sorry," Maggie let out a small smile, her mood changing. They were being nice to her! Maybe their time apart made Ella and Aaron come to their senses and change their ways! "I guess it has just been a while."
"Come here Magnolia," her dad extended his arms, and Maggie realized that they wanted to hug her.
With an ounce of hesitation, Maggie lightly wrapped her arms around her father's back, her head pressed against his chest. Her mouth pressed into a thin smile— she felt content in her father's arms. It was safe and inviting— everything she expected it to be.
As she pulled away, Magnolia then made her way to Ella Gray, the similar feeling washing over her yet again. This time however, Maggie rested her chin on the shoulder of her mother, due to them being roughly the same height.
The eighteen-year-old's eyes closed gently, relief taking over her body. For just a moment, Maggie wasn't worried about surviving, or Jaha killing Bellamy once he got to Earth, or any of it.
"So naive," the motherly voice whispered derisively in the teenager's ear, taking a step back from her daughter. When Maggie's eyelids opened once again, a small knife with crimson-colored liquid laid at her feet. Her parents were nowhere to be found— she hadn't even heard their footsteps walk away.
And then it hit her. She had been stabbed.
In a matter of seconds, Maggie's throat tightened, causing her to begin to hyperventilate. Her heart thumping was the only sound that played in her ears, and her hands were shaking terribly.
Slowly, her trembling hand makes its way to her chest. Maggie's eyes widen upon the sight; blood dripped down her fingers and ran around her wrist.
"Fuck. No!" Maggie shuddered. Without even realizing it at first, she was running. Quickly. Even that was an understatement. As her hands desperately clutched the left side of her chest to prevent the outpour of blood, her dark brown eyes scanned the woods and searched for any sign of Bellamy, or even Clarke.
Naive. The word kept repeating itself in her mind, much like a broken record. It was true; Magnolia was constantly being betrayed, but every time, she was blind to it beforehand. She needed to stop putting so much trust into people— she needed to stop referring back to the what ifs.
Breaths came out unevenly as Magnolia ran in what seemed to be circles. Come on, come on, come on. Either of her fellow leaders had to be around there somewhere. Hopefully they could help her before she bled out.
After a few minutes or so, the teenager made it to a small clearing where a body laid on the ground limply. The boy was one of the delinquents; even if Maggie hadn't recognized him, the familiar choice of clothing easily gave it away. She saw him around every so often. He was dead.
Maggie's eyes traveled along the ground, and she let out a sigh when Bellamy was staring at the deceased body, and Clarke sat up against the thick trunk of a tree.
No words could escape her mouth— Magnolia Gray was dying, and the other two didn't seem fazed. Not until she collapsed onto the ground did Bellamy run up to her in concern.
"Mags, talk to me," he simply stated, and Maggie wanted to slap him. Blood was running down her palms and soaking her cotton shirt— what was he thinking?
"I-I-I. I was stabbed," her chest rose with each panicked breath, feeling as if she was going to be sick. "Bellamy, I'm g-gonna d-die. I'm gonna die for christ's sake!"
"What are you talking about?" he grew worried.
There was no blood on her— not that he could see anyway. Maggie wasn't stabbed.
"T-The blood," tears went down her scarred cheeks as she held out her blood-coated hands up to him, as if he hadn't seen it yet. "Bellamy— the blood! Oh my fuck, I'm gonna die!"
The Blake boy grabbed her wrists tightly as Magnolia whimpered in fear of dying. Going out like that was not what she wanted. "You're hallucinating. Whatever happened wasn't out there wasn't real, you got it? There's no blood Mags— you weren't stabbed."
Small sobs made the girl's lip quiver as she examined her hands that were definitely drenched in her own blood. Freeing herself from Bellamy's hold, she harshly rubbed her hands against her black pants, seemingly until they felt raw. "I-I-It's not coming off, damnit!" Maggie raised her voice, only attempting to get it off more. Whatever she did, the claret colored substance would not leave her fingertips.
"Hey," Bellamy held onto her wrists again— this time not giving her any room to get out of his grip. "Slow breaths," he cautioned upon noticing she was having a panic attack, beginning to wipe the inner lining of his jacket against Magnolia's hands. Maybe he couldn't see it there, but perhaps it would leave her vision too if he tried to 'get it off.'
It wasn't like Maggie to freak out like that, which made him more concerned than it probably should've. "In— and out," Bellamy persisted, being extra careful with her hands; he couldn't help but notice how tiny they were when resting in his own.
Maggie's eyes shut as Bellamy's calloused hands touched hers. She followed his voice, breathing in and out when instructed to. The obnoxious thumping in her ears had subsided to a dull beat.
"Good?" Bellamy inquired, hoping that the idea he came up with off the top of his head had worked and been successful.
The blood was gone. Maggie eyed her chest— so was the stab wound. "H-How did you—?"
"I'm thinking it was something we ate," Clarke suddenly butted in, holding her abdomen as if she had received a blow to it. "Makes us see things that aren't there."
The girl wiped the remaining tears in complete embarrassment. She had overreacted because of a hallucination? That had to be some kind of Magnolia Gray record.
All of the camp-runners's gazes traveled to the body laying just a foot or two away from them, and Maggie decided that it would just be better if she hadn't asked about it. Not right now at the very least.
The boy that was knelt down next to her was seemingly growing upset— what actually had happened minutes ago? Her and Bellamy made their way towards Clarke, sitting by the tree.
"You're okay," Clarke assured him, but he only shook his head.
"No— I'm not," the boy denied, leaving Maggie puzzled. "My mother— if she knew what I've done, who I am— she raised me to be better, to be good."
"Bellamy—" the Griffin girl shook her head as he sniffled. Magnolia never thought she'd live to the day where she saw Bellamy Blake shed a tear. It wasn't a bad thing— it just seemed impossible. He had feelings? Maybe they were alike in that sense; everyone would often overlook that aspect of the two and believe that they didn't face hardships of their own.
"And all I do is hurt people. I'm a monster," tears fell from his eyes to the ground, and Maggie couldn't help but feel useless. There were so many things she could think to say, but she had no idea on how to word them. The last thing that he was was a monster. Maybe he went about things a slightly different route than Magnolia would, but that was besides the point. They both would do anything to protect their people (the girl would just try to avoid violence to the best of her ability).
"Hey— you saved my life today. You may be a total ass half of the time, but— I need you," Clarke replied.
Maggie reached for Bellamy's hand to comfort him, holding it in her own and tracing small circles on his knuckles. She didn't know any better than to decide if it was alright timing for something like that, but it seemed to help when his eyes met hers for a split second before interlacing his fingers with hers. "Me too. We can't lead without you, Bellamy. We all need you."
"You want forgiveness— fine, we'll give it to you. You're forgiven, okay? But you can't run, Bellamy. You have to come back with us. You have to face it."
"Like you faced your mom?" Bellamy's eyebrow raised, the words making Clarke look away guiltily.
She scoffed, fiddling with her fingers. "You're right. I don't want to face my mom. I don't want to face any of it. All I think about every day is how we're gonna keep everyone alive, but we don't have a choice."
"Jaha will kill me when he comes down," Bellamy switched the subject, shrugging nonchalantly. There had to be another way though.
"We'll figure something out," Clarke reassured him as Maggie nodded in agreement.
"You're not crashing and burning that easily, Bellamy Blake," the girl let go of his hand and sat in on her lap. "Not on my watch."
"Well can we figure it out later?" the boy questioned, leaning his head back to relax and look up at the dark sky.
"Whenever you're ready," Clarke responded, the three sitting for a bit in silence before making their way back to the others.
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Maggie sat around the fire with Raven in silence. The two were still not on the best of terms, being as she was still pissed at everything her best friend had done and said. Her frustration wasn't surrounding her treatment of the Grounder anymore (as terrible as it made the girl feel, it was what needed to happen to get the information). It was how Raven only seemed to care about Finn that upset her.
All Magnolia would think about when she was on Earth was how much Raven would love to see it. How the set of non-biological sisters would reunite (this time without Maggie behind bars). It didn't live up to her expectations in the slightest. She had high hopes, and it felt as though they were crumbled into a million pieces and spat on.
Her, Clarke, and Bellamy had brought the guns back to camp. The idea of having better defense against the Grounders was refreshing to say the least. There were naturally some doubts; Maggie didn't even know if it would go smoothly. If weapons were within the walls of their home, they would need to be guarded. Not just anyone could get their hands on one, and the three leaders had no intentions of that happening.
"You've been acting off around me, you know that?" the girl made eye contact with Magnolia, her partner-in-crime. "If it's about that Grounder— I'm not going to apologize. I did what I had to, for—"
"For Finn," Magnolia finished with a fake smile. Raven didn't need to clarify— she had made that known on numerous occasions. "I'm aware."
"You're jealous," Raven noted with a mocking smirk. So that's what had been eating at Maggie. Finally— the pieces all came together after a ton of thinking, and it made perfect sense.
"Why should I be? He's all you have— you made that clear when torturing the Grounder," Gray bit her lip, looking back at the blazing flame inches from her face. Raven's forehead creased in confusion, unable to recall on what Maggie was referring to. "I wasn't the one who cheated on you, but that's fine. He was stabbed— that automatically just gives him a clean slate," Maggie broke some twigs and threw them into the fire forcefully.
"I guess I have been paying more attention to him recently," Raven swallowed thickly— Maggie did have a tendency to word things a certain way that was enough to make you feel shitty and realize you were in the wrong. "Nols, I would've shocked the Grounder just as hard if that were you— and you know that. Bellamy would've lashed him just as hard."
"I wouldn't want you guys to!" Maggie shook her head; nobody should have to endure what the guy they held captive did. If anyone knew that, it was Magnolia. But why did she throw Bellamy into the mix; what did he have to do with it?
Raven's expression softened upon finally understanding why the Grounder's torment rubbed her that way. "Nols," the girl rested her hands on her friend's knees empathetically.
"No, it's fine—"
"—You're my sister. It's okay to not be okay. I'd be more concerned if you were alright all the time," Raven drawled, realizing that her poor treatment up on the Ark still had still affected her to that day. "You need to stop and take a breath every once in a while. I need you, Bellamy needs you, everyone needs you."
"Bellamy, of all people, does not need me. What makes you say that?" Magnolia inquired cluelessly. "I was hallucinating earlier to think I was stabbed and dying, Raven. He had to pretend to wipe the blood off. Embarrassing."
"Sometimes I forget that you've never been in a relationship before," Raven moved with a laugh so she was sitting on the same log as her sister. "Completely oblivious."
"Oblivious to what?" Maggie asked, only proving the point more. She couldn't pick up on obvious signs of interest— she never thought that anyone could possibly think of her in a romantic way. And if someone did, that someone was not Bellamy Blake.
Raven let out a small chuckle. "Nothing, Nols. Absolutely nothing. I'm gonna let you figure that one out on your own."
"Okay, whatever," Maggie rolled her eyes with a grin. There was no way in hell that Bellamy Blake liked her. It was, quite honestly, impossible. Nobody liked Magnolia Gray— it just didn't make any sort of sense. Not to her anyway.
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