They say your life flashes before your eyes when you're in the face of death. I've been facing death most of my life, yet I have never seen this. I was born a sickly child, and for most of my life I was confined to the medical bay for observation. I feel pain each and every day as I take a breath. I thought I would be alone suffering in this place filled with needles that poke and prod me. Then one day it all changed when I met a certain blue-eyed blonde girl with a smile that lit up the whole room.
"Mom, who's that?" The little girl asked my doctor Abigail Griffin as she pointed at me. This must be Abigail's daughter that she has talked about, what was her name again?
"Clarke, it's rude to point at other people." Abigail responded putting Clarke's arm down as the two began to walk over to me. Oh that's right Clarke was her daughter's name. "Alec, this is my daughter Clarke. She's one year younger than you."
"What?" Clarke said a little loud "He's eight years old, but he's so small."
"You're one to talk blondie" I had yelled back at her. That was how I first met Clarke; our first encounter was a fight.
"Blondie!" Clarke repeated and went to jump on the bed swinging her arms, but Abigail stopped her pulling her back. Abigail took her away to the side to talk to her.
"Clarke, listen to me. You can't go hitting people just because they call you names. I want you to apologize to Alec and be nice."
"But…" Abigail held her hand up to silence Clarke, Clarke was not pleased as she crossed her arms and looked over to me. "Fine, I'll go apologize." Clarke walked up to my bedside and sat in the chair next to me. "I'm sorry for trying to hit you."
"Thanks." I replied to her. I looked at her and it seemed as if she was expecting something. "What?"
"Well…" She started to say but didn't say more.
"Well what?" I sat up in my bed and looked at her. "If you have something to say, just say it."
"Aren't you going to apologize to me?"
"What? No. Why would I apologize to you?" I mean sure I called her blondie, but she tried to attack me.
"For calling me blondie." Clarke replied getting frustrated. I think she was about to try hitting me again until she caught a glimpse of the book on my dresser. Clarke grabbed it and started flipping through it. I tried reaching for it but she stood up and moved away from me. She turned the book to me showing me the picture that I had drawn. "Did you draw this?"
"Yeah what's it to you?" I never showed anyone my drawings.
"These are amazing." I wasn't expecting to hear that. I watched as she continued to flip through the pages and it made me smile that her face lit up.
"I'm sorry." The words had left my mouth before I even realized it.
Clarke looked up from my book and smiled at me, "I didn't quite catch that can you say it again?"
"I said I'm sorry that I called you blondie."
That was our first meeting, it began with an argument but it ended in a friendship. Clarke came to visit me every day and she would tell me everything that happened. I enjoyed our chats, but what I really wanted was to spend time with Clarke outside of this medical bay. I hated being stuck here, and I wished that I could leave. That wish was granted to me on my twelfth birthday.
I was sitting in my bed, drawing a picture Earth surrounded by stars when Clarke came rushing into my room and jumped on my bed and hugged me. "Ow… Clarke, why are you suffocating me?"
"You haven't heard yet?" Clarke said getting off of me and her face was filled with joy. "The Council approved your treatment. You're going to get better." I could see that Clarke was happy about this but this treatment was still experimental. Clarke punched me in the shoulder, "I know that face. That's your "I shouldn't get my hopes up face" so stop it."
"But Clarke…" I paused; I really shouldn't get my hopes up. I was going to start talking again when Clarke covered my mouth with her hands.
"I don't want to hear another word unless it's how excited you are about your upcoming treatment." I smiled underneath Clarke's hands. I took her hands off of my mouth and looked right at her.
"I'm extremely excited about my upcoming treatment."
"Good. Wells and I are going to throw you a big party when you get out." She leapt off the bed and started to pace with excitement. She left the room babbling about everything that she had to get ready for.
"My friends are insane."
"I heard that!" She yelled back to me from the hall.
"You were supposed to." I yelled back at her.
The treatment worked. All that I needed to do was get an injection every week and my pain would subside and I would be able to be normal for once. Clarke and Wells were excited to have me out of the hospital. Wells finally had a guy friend to hang with and Clarke got to drag me along everywhere she wanted to go.
"Leave me alone Clarke!" I yelled listening to the pounding on the door to my room. I stared at myself in the mirror wearing the suit for the dance. I held the tie in my hand unsure of how to actually tie it. "I'm not going to this stupid dance." I turned to see that she had actually gotten into my room somehow. She was wearing a dress, an actual dress and she looked beautiful.
"You promised that you would go with me." She stood there with her arms crossed. I just continued to stare at her in awe of her beauty. She began to shuffle when she noticed that I was staring. "Stop staring at me and finish getting ready."
"Fine, but I don't actually know how to tie this." I replied holding up the necktie.
She sighed and grabbed it from my hands, "You know I wonder what you would do without me?" She pulled me closer to her putting the tie around my neck and began to tie it. "I mean you'd probably just stay in your room all day." She was so close to me as I looked down at her. When we were kids I always used to be shorter than her, but when I turned 13 I just shot up and she became the short one. Here I am now, 16 years old and getting carted off to a dance with Clarke. It's not the worst thing in the world.
"I'd stay in my room all day because besides you and Wells there's no one worth talking to." She stopped what she was doing and just listened to me. "You are the only person I want to talk to." I cursed myself realizing that I just let that slip. "What I mean is…" I muttered as Clarke had pulled me down locking our lips together. As we pulled away I was smiling.
Clarke punched me in the shoulder, "Stop smiling and let's go already."
Alec Messer sat in the common area of the Sky Box picking at his food. He could hear the other inmates fighting with one another and frankly he was tired of it. He left the common area and headed towards his room. Inside he found the last person he was expecting to see there. "Abigail Griffin, why are you here?" He moved to his desk and sat against it. "It's been awhile since I've seen you. I thought after Clarke and I had that falling out you would want nothing to do with me." Alec felt a twinge of pain talking about Clarke.
"I'm not here about that. Listen to me Alec, the Council has decided to send 100 people to the ground to see if it's survivable."
"Hold on." Alec replied holding his hand up "You shouldn't be telling me this. Why are you telling me this?"
"Clarke is being sent to the ground, and I need someone there that I can trust to take care of her."
"Clarke wants nothing to do with me." Alec turned to look away from Abigail. "I can't say I blame her. I hurt her."
"I know why you hurt her though." Alec quickly turned to face Abigail "The Council decided to halt your treatment which means you only have a year or two left. You don't want Clarke being there when it gets worse."
"I got tossed in here trying to get the meds that you denied me!" Alec yelled "I broke Clarke's heart because I don't want her to love a dying man. I want her to remember the good times; I want to spare her the pain of watching me slip away." Alec slammed his fists on his desk "If you had never introduced the two of us this wouldn't be happening." Alec felt a hand on his shoulders and it felt comforting.
"You needed her Alec. I've been caring for you since you got sick. I watched you and I saw in your eyes that you had already given up on life. At the age of 8 you were alright with dying."
Alec knew that what Abigail was saying was true. He had given up hope, but Clarke came in everyday and with each day he felt happiness and joy. With each day he had begun to hope again. When the Council denied him further treatment he had retreated into a shell. He didn't want Clarke to see him die, so he thought it better to push her away. He would be in pain, but at least Clarke would be able to move on from him and live her life. He still cared for her deeply, and he would do anything to make her happy.
"I'll do it. I'll spend the rest of my life making sure Clarke is safe. I promise."
Alec wasn't expecting to immediately be stuck with a sedative as soon as he agreed to help Clarke, but Abby wasn't exactly known for her bedside manner. Alec awoke when the drop ship started to shake; he looked around to get a sense of his surroundings. He could hear some people freaking out and the rest were cursing Chancellor Jaha. He had to find Clarke; these people were criminals, while only a few were true monsters. Alec got up from his seat and started to walk around searching for Clarke.
"Alec" He turned hearing his name called out to see Wells Jaha, his other childhood friend sitting next to Clarke who didn't look too pleased to see either of them. Alec sat down in front of Clarke and was hoping that she would at least speak to him.
"Wells, it's been awhile. I'm glad to see you." He turned to look at Clarke and he reached out for her hands but she pulled away. "Clarke…"
She looked at him with anger in her eyes, "What do you want Alec? I never wanted to see you again." It hurt to hear that from her, but Alec was adamant about being there for her.
"Clarke, you can hate me all you want. Look around we are surrounded by criminals, these people are murders, thieves, and they've done unimaginable things."
"What's your point?" She asked as she crossed her arms
"I want to keep you safe Clarke, even if you hate me." He responded, Clarke uncrossed her arms and looked away from Alec. What he was saying was true, these people they were with were animals and if anyone would try to keep her safe it was Alec. The two may have had a falling out, but they still cared for each other deeply.
"Go, Finn! Check it out." Alec heard someone yell out, he turned to see Finn the spacewalker floating in the air towards them.
"Your dad floated me, after all." Finn joked to Wells.
"You should strap in before the parachutes deploy." Wells replied
Two kids decided to follow Finn's example and got up from their seats, "Hey, you two, stay put if you want to live." Clarke yelled at the two of them, but they wouldn't listen.
"Hey." Finn said to Alec "You're the guy that tried to steal medical supplies." He turned to Clarke "And you're the traitor who's been in solitary for a year."
"You're the idiot who wasted a month of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk." Clarke snapped at him.
"But it was fun." He said with a smile.
All of a sudden the ship started to shake violently, and Finn and the other two were tossed around. "Finn, are you ok?" Clarke yelled above the chaos that was happening. Alec could see the other two thrown around and it was clear that they would not survive, Finn however it seemed he would be okay.
"Clarke, there's something I have to tell you." Wells began to say worried that they might not make it to the ground "I'm sorry I got your father arrested." Alec knew that Wells wasn't the one who got Clarke's father arrested, but he promised Wells that he would keep that a secret.
"Don't you talk about my father." Clarke yelled clearly upset that Wells was bringing him up.
"Please, I can't die knowing that you hate me."
"They didn't arrest my father, Wells. They executed him. I do hate you."
As they waited to die in a fiery explosion it never happened. They were on the ground; they had survived the drop to Earth.
"The outer door's on the lower level! Let's go!" Someone yelled.
"We can't open the doors." Clarke yelled and raced down to the lower level to head people off, but the path was blocked by a guy in a guard's uniform stood in front of the door.
"Just back it up guys!" He said as he held his arms out blocking people from getting past him.
"Stop!" Clarke yelled. Everyone stopped and looked at her. Clarke began pushing her way through the group of kids. "The air could be toxic!"
"If the air is toxic, we'll be dead anyway." Bellamy replied.
"Bellamy?" A younger girl said as she was hanging off of a ladder. Bellamy looked at her with a smile as she reached him.
"My God, look at how big you are." He said with a smile as she threw her arms around him and hugged him.
"What the hell are you wearing? A guard's uniform?"
"I borrowed it to get onto the drop ship." Bellamy replied "Someone has got to keep an eye on you."
Clarke spoke up, "Where's your wrist band?
The girl turned around and said, "Do you mind? I haven't seen my brother in a year." Jackson looked on at the scene and it finally made sense, this girl was Octavia Blake.
"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor." A girl in the back of the crowd yelled. Octavia then launched herself at the girl, but Bellamy grabbed her before she could attack.
"Octavia, Octavia, no, let's give them something else to remember you by." He said.
"Yeah, like what?" She responded.
He smiled, "Like being the first person on the ground in 100 years." He then turned to open the door and he yanked down the lever and the door flew open.
A bright light filled the drop ship, everyone was blinded, but once they had adjusted beauty could be seen just outside the doorway. Trees filled their view; the warmth of the sun enveloped all of them. It felt freeing, no longer stuck in the Sky Box. They were on the ground, and everything here was theirs. Alec walked out onto the ramp looked up at the clear blue sky, and breathed in the crisp air. It was different from the Ark, here in this moment he felt alive.
"I know that face." Alec said as he stepped off the ramp and walked towards Clarke "That's your something went wrong face." He looked over Clarke's shoulder to see a map laid out. "They didn't drop us on Mt. Weather did they?"
Clarke replied, "They dropped us on the wrong mountain."
Wells approached Clarke, "We've got a problem. The communications system is dead. I went to the roof, a dozen panels are missing. The heat fried the wires."
Clarke frowned then replied, "Well, all that matters right now is getting to Mount Weather. See? Look this is us and this is where we need to get to if we want to survive."
"Ah, cool a map. They got a bar in this town? I'll buy you a beer." Wells got irritated and started to push the kid back. Alec grabbed Wells' arm and pulled him back.
"Wells this isn't helping." Alec caught sight of a group of guys walking towards them, and he recognized one of them. John Murphy was one of the guys walking towards them, and from what Alec had heard he wasn't exactly the biggest fan of Wells and Chancellor Jaha. "This can't go well."
"Hands off of him, he's with us." Murphy said to Wells.
"Relax; we're just trying to figure out where we are." Wells said as he stepped back holding his arms up. Alec instinctively stood in front of Clarke; it wasn't intentional more like instinct. He hadn't even realized that he did it.
"We're on the ground." Bellamy said as he entered the conversation. "Is that not good enough for you?" People were starting to gather around to hear the conversation.
"We need to find Mount Weather. You heard my father's message. That has to be our first priority." Wells yelled trying to rally the people to see that it was their only chance at survival.
"Screw your father!" Octavia yelled "What, you think you're in charge here you, her, and her charity case." Alec's eyes flickered up when hearing that. Charity case, was that really what he was? If there was one thing that he never wanted to be, it was Clarke's charity case. Then Alec felt Clarke move past him and he could tell that she was angry, he quickly grabbed her and turned her towards him.
"It's not worth it." Alec replied and he saw Clarke start to calm down.
"Do you think we care who's in charge?" Clarke began "We need to get to Mount Weather, not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll get, and the harder this'll be. How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a 20 mile trek, okay? So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave now."
Bellamy responded, "I've got a better idea. You three go, find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change."
"You're not listening." Wells started "We all need to go." Suddenly, Wells was pushed forward by John Murphy.
"Look at this everyone the Chancellor of Earth." Everyone laughed as Murphy kicked out Wells' leg out from under him. Clarke tried to help him up, but one of Murphy's men grabbed her stopping her. Alec grabbed the guy's arm and pulled him off Clarke. He then punched him in the face knocking him to the ground. He looked towards Clarke and gave her a look asking if she was ok.
"I'm fine. Go help Wells." She replied back to his look. Alec made his way towards Wells and Murphy, but was stopped when the guy he punched hit him in the back of the head. Alec fell forward to the ground and received a kick to the stomach. "Stop!" Clarke yelled and pushed the guy off of Alec. She went to help Alec up, but he shook her off. He wasn't mad at her, he was mad at the situation. Ever since he went off his meds he felt weak, and he needed to be strong for Clarke. He needed to be there for her, but in this state he was more of a hindrance. He felt like a charity case. Perhaps Octavia was right about him.
"I don't need your help." Alec snapped, it was the first time that he spoke to her in that tone and she was taken aback. He always spoke to her with such sincerity and generosity. Alec pulled himself up off the ground and continued to head towards Wells.
As the two continued to fight, Finn dropped from the ship between the two of them. "The kid has got one leg. How about you wait till it's a fair fight?" Finn said to Murphy. Alec felt both relief and sadness to see that Finn had stopped the fight, relief that Wells was no longer in any danger, but sadness since he wasn't the one to end it.
Octavia then stepped forward, "Hey Spacewalker, rescue me next." Finn smiled and a couple other people laughed though Bellamy didn't look too pleased with his sister's behavior.
Clarke then walked up to Alec and placed her hands on his head turning it checking for any serious injuries. Alec felt bad that Clarke had ended up taking care of him instead of the other way around. He gently grabbed Clarke's hands and removed them from his head, "Go take care of Wells. I'll be fine." Clarke nodded, but she couldn't help but see the look of sadness in Alec's eyes. Alec moved away from everybody so he could catch his breath, he was having difficulty standing but he wouldn't be stopped. He leaned against a tree and he watched as Clarke tended to Wells' leg. She was always so caring, ever since he met her. And as they grew up she became stubborn, head-strong, confident, but she never lost her caring side. He admired that about her, usually when people grow up they lose part of themselves.
"So Mount Weather when do we leave?" Finn said walking up to Clarke as she tended to Wells' injuries.
"Right now." Clarke stood up and looked towards Wells. "We'll be back tomorrow with food."
"How're the two of you going to carry enough food for 100?" Wells asked.
"Make it four." Finn replied as he grabbed Goggles and an Asian kid. "Can we go now?"
"Sounds like a party." Octavia said as she walked up. "Make it 5." Bellamy followed her and grabbed her arm.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"I'm going for a walk." She responded pulling away from Bellamy.
"Don't tell me you all forgot about me?" Alec said as he leant against the tree. "It'll be 6 people going." Alec's eyes went to Finn's wristband and saw scratches on them. "That's not a good idea."
Finn gave him a questioning look, "What's not a good idea?" Clarke's eyes widened as she finally noticed Finn's wristband, she grabbed his wrist.
"Were you trying to take this off?"
Finn shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah so?"
"So, this wristband transmits all your vital signs to the Ark. Take it off and they'll think you're dead."
"Should I care?" Finn responded showing he didn't really care.
"Well I don't know. Do you want the people you love to think you're dead?" Finn stared at Clarke as she lectured him "Do you want them to follow you down here in two months? Because they won't if they think we're dying." Everyone was silent unsure of what to say at that moment. "Okay, now let's go." Clarke said she stopped in front of Alec "We need to talk before we leave."
"About?" Alec asked he knew what Clarke was going to say. She wanted him to stay after getting the crap kicked out of him.
"Stay here. Five people are enough to get the food." Clarke began but Alec placed his hand up silencing her.
"I'm not staying Clarke. I'm going to help and make sure that you stay safe. What don't you get about that?"
"Why are you so stubborn?!" Clarke snapped "Do what I say. You're injured Alec, you should rest."
"I'm fine Clarke. I'm not some charity case for you to pick up when you feel like it." Alec snapped right back at her. Clarke looked hurt for a moment, which turned quickly into anger. Clarke slapped Alec across the face.
"Do what you want Alec! Don't expect me to put you back together again." Clarke stormed off. Alec's hand went up to his face where Clarke had slapped him. Why had he said that? He had just felt so angry; he couldn't protect Clarke or Wells. He felt weak and useless, he wanted to help. But in doing so he had hurt Clarke yet again.
Alec was walking behind Clarke along with the others, it was clear that Clarke didn't want to talk to him at the moment. Alec didn't mean to hurt Clarke, but he didn't want her to feel as if she needed to take care of him. She had done that since they were children up until his medication was approved.
"That my friend is game." Jasper whispered to Monty as Finn placed a flower in Octavia's hair.
"That my friend is poison sumac." Monty responded freaking Octavia out.
Octavia panicked and combed the flower out of her hair. "It is?"
"It's medicinal." Monty explained grabbing another off the bush and played with it in his hands.
"Monty's family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the Ark." Jasper said.
"Hey guys, would you try to keep up?" Clarke said to the four of them not even acknowledging Alec.
"Come on Clarke, how do you block all this out?" Finn asked motioning to the lush, green forest.
"Well it's simple. I wonder why we haven't seen any animals. Maybe it's because there are none. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty though." She then continued to head off. "Come on."
"Someone should slip her some poison sumac." Octavia whispered earning a little laugh from everyone but Alec.
"So what exactly did you do to get busted Alec?" Finn asked shaking Alec out of his head.
"He tried to steal drugs to sell on the black market." Octavia put in not giving Alec a chance to speak.
"That's what the official ruling is, there's always something more though isn't there? You were put in the Sky Box for being born Octavia, you of all people should know what it's like for the Council to be against you." Alec replied pushing past them so he was ahead of them, but far enough behind Clarke.
Alec continued to walk forward until he stopped seeing that Clarke was crouched in the bushes staring at something. She looked back to the rest of the group and motioned for them to be quiet and she pointed in the direction of what had caught her attention. She was pointing at a deer; he had never seen one before. There were no animals on the Ark, but they had books depicting what Earth's animals looked like.
"No animals, huh?" Finn smiled at Clarke and she returned it. It was a small smile, but still it stung Alec a little that Finn made Clarke smile instead of him. Finn quietly tried to get closer to the deer, but snapped a branch underneath his foot alerting the deer to their location. They all jumped back when the deer turned revealing that it didn't have just one head, but two. The radiation had changed the deer shifting it from its once majestic nature to that of something abnormal.
"Hey, you know what I'd like to know?" Finn said aloud and everyone glanced over at him to listen "Why send us down today after ninety seven years? What changed?"
Octavia scoffed, "Who cares? I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now I'm spinning in a forest." She twirled around with a smile on her face.
"Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know, like an old weather satellite or it wasn't a satellite."
Clarke finally spoke, "The Ark is dying. At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone." Alec just listened as Clarke explained the situation. Wells had visited him while he was imprisoned and told him what was going on with Clarke. Alec knew that Wells cared deeply for Clarke, and he knew that because of that he would protect Clarke just as much as he would. There are only two people that Alec trusts with everything, Wells and Clarke.
"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" Finn asked already knowing what the Council would do to protect their secrets.
"My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw. He thought the people had a right to know. The Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were gonna go public, anyway, when Wells…" Clarke paused not wanting to continue, she trusted Wells and she believed that he betrayed her. Alec wanted to tell her the truth, but what good would it do. Her mother had caused her father's death, it would break her.
"What, he turned in your dad?" Finn looked like he didn't believe that for a second. He had seen how Wells acted around Clarke and it was not of someone that would betray her.
"Anyway, the guard showed up before we could. That's why today. That's why it was worth the risk. Even if we all die, at least they bought themselves more time."
"They're gonna kill more people, aren't they?" Finn said even though the answer was obvious, people would die, innocent people.
"Good. After what they did to me, I say, float them all." Octavia chimed in showing her distaste for the others.
"You don't mean that. We have to warn them." Finn replied to Octavia knowing she was just angry, she didn't really want all those people to die.
"That's what my father said." Clarke replied in a soft tone.
Alec walked ahead not wanting to hear any more about the Ark, he had too much on his mind already. Back at the drop ship he was unable to protect Clarke or Wells, the two most important people in his life. The two people that accepted him, the two people that befriended him, they didn't see him as the kid in the med bay. They saw him as a person, most of the people looked at him like he was a waste of space, like they were waiting for him to kick the bucket so they could preserve resources. He needed to get stronger for his friend Wells, and for the girl he loves Clarke.
Alec felt Octavia push past him, and he was about to yell at her when she started to strip. "What the hell are you doing?" Alec asked as he turned his back to her not wanting to stare.
"What's it look like I'm doing Alec, I'm going for a dip." Octavia replied as she pulled her pants off. "Aw, that's cute you not trying to stare." She teased him and decided to push it a little farther and she threw her pants at his head.
"Octavia, what the hell are you doing?" Clarke yelled at her as she jumped into the river, she then turned to Alec who now had her pants on his head. "Seriously Alec, why didn't you stop her?"
Alec threw the pants off his head, "Look I tried to talk her out of it."
Clarke rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I'm sure maybe your mouth was too occupied with her pants." She pushed past Alec not wanting to discuss this anymore "Wait. There's not supposed to be a river here."
Finn smiled and started to take off his shoes, "Well, there is. So take off your damn clothes."
Alec shook his head and then he looked out into the river and saw something in the water.
"Octavia, get out of the water." Jasper said
"Get out of the water now!" Clarke yelled frantically
It was too late; the creature had already gotten Octavia. Octavia started to scream, "What the hell is that? We have to help her." Clarke started to say and she turned to Jasper who was taking off his shoes "What are you gonna do?"
"Try not to get eaten." He replied then his head turned when he heard a splash and he turned his head to see Alec heading towards Octavia in the water.
"Alec!" Clarke yelled out.
Alec didn't know what he was thinking, his body had just moved on its own. He didn't even know Octavia that well yet he was risking his life for her. He just jumped in the water, and he went towards Octavia grabbing ahold of her. He could feel the creature tugging at her, Alec stepped on whatever was wrapped around Octavia's leg causing the creature to loosen its' grip letting her go. Octavia wrapped her arms around Alec's neck and the two made their way to shore, but not before Alec felt a piercing feeling on his leg. Alec winced at the pain, but he didn't stop he pushed through it. The two had finally made it to shore, and he set Octavia down but she wouldn't let go off his neck.
"Thank you Alec." Octavia whispered into Alec's ear as she held onto him tightly.
Alec was a little out of breath but he managed to speak, "No problem, but Octavia can you let go kind of need to breathe." Octavia let go of his neck laughing a little.
"Note to self, next time, save the girl." Monty said and Alec laughed as he held his arm up in a fist. Alec sat up and felt the pain on his leg; the adrenaline had kept him from noticing it. He got up and limped himself to a tree to lie against.
"You're an idiot." Clarke had said to Alec as she continued her rant at his stupid yet heroic act. "You could have died why couldn't you just wait for us to figure out a plan?" She angrily bandaged his leg and her hands rubbed against the injury.
"Ow, jeez Clarke." Alec winced at the pain "Your bedside manners are just like your mother's." Alec winced again as the pain increased at the mention of her mother, if there was anything Clarke hated it was being compared to her mother.
"Stupid, idiotic, arrogant, jackass." Clarke muttered under her breath, but Alec could hear her clearly. Alec placed his hand on Clarke's and she looked up from his injury at him. "Why?"
Alec took his other hand and placed it on Clarke's face wiping the tears that were beginning to stream from her face, "I don't know why. My body just moved in the moment Clarke. If it had been you nothing would have stopped me, I would have dived right in."
Clarke had a small smile on her face, but the tears continued down her face. "I was so scared when I saw that you jumped in. I didn't want to lose you."
Alec smiled back at her, "It'll take more than a giant river snake to take me down Clarke." He looked into her eyes, her blue eyes and he missed her so much. "I'm sorry for what happened at the drop ship. I yelled at you and I've never done that."
"I'm sorry for slapping you. I've never thought of you as a charity case."
"I know I was just upset about not being able to protect you, I shouldn't have been so stupid."
Clarke sat down and laid her head on Alec's shoulder, "No you shouldn't have been so stupid. But I forgive your stupidity." It felt nice, it felt familiar, Alec had missed it, his eyes began to feel heavy and then sleep finally took him.
"Hey, wake up." Alec's eyes fluttered at the voice, as he awoke it was Octavia standing up in front of him. "Clarke says we have to get going." Octavia held her hand out for Alec to grab, Alec grabbed her hand and pulled himself off the ground and he winced when he put pressure on his leg. Octavia caught it and was worried, "Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine Octavia, it's just a scratch."
"Yeah, a scratch you got saving me." Octavia's head went down with slight sadness.
Alec pushed Octavia in the shoulder getting her attention, "Hey, none of that. You want to pay me back then stop that. If there's anything I hate it's seeing anyone sad." Octavia nodded and Alec smiled, "Now let's get going before Clarke gets mad again."
"So giant river snakes don't scare you, but a short blonde girl strikes fear in you."
"No, I have no issues with short blonde girls. It's that one that gets me." Alec replied pointing at Clarke.
Octavia laughed, "Good to know."
"You know if I hadn't jumped in Jasper would have. I think he might be into you." Alec teased Octavia
"Whatever Alec." Octavia replied moving ahead of him.
"Are you trying to stay in front of me so I can't see you blushing?" Alec laughed "Octavia Blake, fearless in the face of adversity but scared of skinny boys with goggles."
Clarke was getting tired of Finn's stalling, "You wanted to go first. Now quit stalling."
Finn pulled on the vines checking if they were sturdy enough to swing on, "Mount Weather awaits." He smiled at Clarke and she rolled her eyes.
"Just hang on till the apogee, and you'll be fine." Jasper added laughing a little.
"The apogee like the Indians, right?" Alec just shook his head at Finn.
"Finn, stop stalling and go." Alec said laughing
Jasper replied, "Apogee, not apache."
"He knows. Today, Finn." Clarke said glaring at Finn
Finn saluted her, "Aye, aye, captain. See you on the other side." As he was about to go, Jasper's eyes caught a glimpse at an amazed Octavia and he stopped Finn.
"Let me I can do it." Jasper said to Finn grabbing the vine.
"Knew there was a badass in there somewhere." Octavia said smiling, Alec nudged her with his elbow and she pushed him away.
"Hey, it's okay to be afraid, Jasper. The trick is not fighting it." Finn said trying to boost Jasper's confidence so he could impress Octavia.
Jasper grabbed on to the vine and swung towards the other side letting go and rolling onto the ground. As Jasper stood up he screamed with excitement and the others joined in.
"Let's go princess." Finn told Clarke and she grabbed onto the vine.
Jasper shouted from the other side, "You got this Clarke." Jasper then found a metal sign on the ground and held it up for all to see. "We did it Mount Weather whooo!" The others held their heads up in relief and in joy. All of a sudden out of nowhere a spear made its way towards Jasper pinning him to a tree.
"Jasper!" Clarke yelled and she tried to make her way to him, but Alec stopped her.
"Get down!" Alec yelled at everyone, and his eyes searched the tree lines but he couldn't see anyone.
"We're not alone."