Title: Signal Fire
Author: CharmingPromise
Rating: T (language and non-explicit sex)
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, I am borrowing them for my (and hopefully your) enjoyment. The title is from a Snow Patrol song that always makes me think of Bellarke.
Timeline: Set in an AU post-Mt. Weather universe. It makes sense in canon up until this most recent episode 2x15 (OMG right?) but as it is set in the future I had to make up how that whole conflict was resolved.
AN: I found The 100 on Netflix and I am in love. The world and these characters are an inspiration and I hope I do them justice! Also Bellamy Blake is the sexiest goddamn thing on television ;)
AN2: This is my first fic in this fandom so any and all reviews are sincerely appreciated. Thanks in advance!
AN3: This prologue is going to be short and sadly Bellarke-less but I promise the 1st chapter will fulfill all those needs. This is a set-up for the larger plot.
There you are standing right in front of me
There you are standing right in front of me
All this fear falls away to leave me naked
Hold me close cause I need you to guide me to safety
In the confusion and the aftermath
You are my signal fire
The only resolution and the only joy
Is the faint spark of forgiveness in your eyes
Signal Fire- Snow Patrol
"I like you," Fallon muttered bitterly as she pushed through the deep forest undergrowth she was currently scouting for something for dinner.
It was stupid to go off on her own like this, even though they hadn't been faced with any sincerely life threatening disasters lately, it still wasn't safe to wander the forest solo. While Grounders and Mountain Men weren't lurking behind every tree there were still boars big enough to skewer her and panthers with an insatiable bloodlust and no sense of self preservation. She had a gun but she wasn't exactly a crack shot even when she wasn't half heartbroken.
She needed to get away from them though. She hadn't meant to fall for her best friend's boyfriend. It was literally the last thing she wanted but here she was, head over heels for Sully and out on a hunting trip with both him and Fox. She was pretty sure Miller had done this on purpose. Sending the three of them out together. He told her repeatedly that she needed to have it out with the both of them. That they were driving him nuts and if they didn't get over their petty high school bullshit soon he was going to lock them all up somewhere until it handled itself.
Sully was being deeply unfair to both of them if she was being honest. She should just go hug her friend, cry it out, and insist that they deserved better.
That is what she should do. She and Fox had been friends since they were kids. They had gotten busted together on the Ark, sneaking booze and make-up from the commissary. It had been stupid and childish but they were as good as guaranteed a pardon at 18 if it hadn't been for the drop-ship, for the Ark dying out there in space.
Down on the ground it had been just like before, FoxandFallon, FallonandFox, like they were a single entity referred to in the same breath more often than not. No part of her wanted to be that girl that let a guy get in between her and the closest thing she would ever have to a sister. But there he was all laughing green eyes and adorable red hair and she was weak.
It would have been tenable if not for the conversation a couple nights earlier. If it was an unrequited crush on her part she could soldier on and deal with her feelings as long as her friends were happy. But he had to go and make it all so much more complicated.
"I like you," he had said, a scared sort of urgency on his boyish face. It was everything she had wanted really. She had been in love with Daniel Sullivan since they first stepped on the ground and she had spent nights tossing and turning in her tent, and then later at Mt. Weather, and now again back in her tent envisioning what it would be like to have those feelings returned.
Fox had been quicker about making a move on the charming young thief, she had always been the outgoing one so it wasn't a surprise. Fallon hadn't even had time to tell her friend about her feelings for Sully before the peppy brunette had staked her claim and made her move. They had been together ever since while Fallon was left pining away as the third wheel. Until the other day.
"I LIKE like you Fallon," Sully repeated, looking almost miserable. This was less what she envisioned. She wanted them to happily fall into each other's arms, not this tormented declaration that looked closer to tears than joy. "I know you like me too."
Fallon had just stared at him. Equal parts of her wanted to slap and kiss him.
"What are we going to do?" he asked wretchedly. Before she could even begin to consider a response to this Fox was there, long hair draping between them as she kissed her boyfriend in greeting and smiled widely at her best friend.
"What are you guys talking about?"
So here she was stomping around the forest, alone and miserable, muttering to herself about terrible timing and stupid green eyes.
Fallon could feel tears prickling the back of his eyes and her vision began to swim. Fuck Sully. And fuck Fox. And fuck her. Seriously this was all so stupidly irrevocably fucked.
Fallon felt her toe catch on a root, her watery gaze not seeing her path as clearly as it should, and her legs tangled under her. She felt her shin clip a stump and she landed awkwardly, but not as hard, as she would've imagined.
Fallon let out a miserable sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob and pushed herself to a sitting position. She brought her hands up and wiped angrily at her eyes. It was then she felt the wet heat as whatever was on her hands was smeared across her face. Fallon felt the despair quickly seeping away, replaced by a slow rolling revulsion. She looked down and gagged violently as she saw what had cushioned her fall. She was still sitting half in the decomposing carcass of a dead deer, its dark blood slicked up her entire side, viscera coating her arms nearly to the elbows.
Fallon looked down in horror at the animal, beginning to wipe her hands frantically on her shirt even while she still sat in the bloody remains. It didn't just look like a panther's leftovers, this animal had been sick before it died, she could see the blood tracks down its face and from its ears, the blackly viscous nature of the blood.
"Fallon!" she heard his familiar (and loved) voice ring out and heard several pairs of shoes crashing towards her. She must have screamed she thought vacantly, still trying to wipe off her hands but now kicking away from the corpse as well.
"Oh gross!" she heard Fox groan as she and Sully broke through the thick growth and came around the tree to see her still sprawled on the ground.
Fallon felt lanky arms loop under her and pull her to her feet and then she was being crushed to his narrow chest. She could see the red smudge her face left on his shirt and knew that her hands were streaking similar garment ruining stains on his back but all she could think about was his arms around her and the steady beat of his heart under her ear.
Fallon shifted slightly as Sully whispered soothing words into her hair and dropped a chaste kiss to the top of her head. She could now see Fox just past Sully's thin frame and she saw her eyes narrow suspiciously.
Great, Fallon thought miserably. She thought face planting in a diseased deer carcass was bad. The anger flashing in her best friend's eyes promised to be so much worse.
Sorry for the lack of Bellarke! Next chapter is long and OTP-heavy. Please take a second and review…. Thank you!