Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or its characters, but I went to a party last weekend and convinced about 8 other people to start watching them!


Chapter 3

There had been times in his life where Bellamy had been angry. Seeing the guards take advantage of his mother when she was trying to get him consideration to be a cadet had been one of those times. Watching Octavia cry after she'd missed the Unity Day dance when she was 15 had been one of those times. Being treated like the trash he was picking up when he was a janitor had been one of those times.

But this? Bellamy was furious. Maybe it was the fact that he was in some trippy reality, or wherever the hell he was, and his emotions were heightened or some shit like that, but whatever the case, he was really fucking mad. He remembered how this trip had ended. The Grounders had made themselves known, Jasper had been speared and dragged off to be used as bait for some mutated panthers, and Octavia had been bitten by some kind of apparently enormous sea snake.

And then Clarke had come back and challenged his authority. That was one thing he kind of liked about her now, in hindsight, but as he ran through the woods, tracking the group's movements, he remembered why he'd struggled with her so much at the beginning. She didn't think to consult him yet. She didn't listen to him yet. Hell, she didn't even know him yet.

And now her first impression of him was even worse than the first time around, since he'd promptly bitten off her head when she'd been dressing the cut on his hand. He knelt in the brush when he spotted broken foliage, signaling they'd been here. Ironic that he'd learned this tracking from Finn, and he was now using it to find said boy and the rest of them.

They couldn't be too far ahead, from the looks of their tracks, but he needed to protect Octavia and stop her from getting in the water. You wanted to fix it, a voice chimed in his head. You wanted to do it over again.

He shook his head. That had been some ridiculous folly that had popped into his mind, which had been filled with sadness and moonshine. But now that he was here…

Whether this was some strange dream or reality or whatever the fuck it was, Bellamy couldn't help but want to fix it. Maybe it was the older brother in him, or the protective leader that had emerged in him during his time on Earth, but the 100 were his people, and he could help them.

Bellamy had disregarded the old guard uniform, instead finding a tight white t-shirt and some better boots for this terrain. He had packed cautiously, bringing whatever he could scavenge from the dropship, and using his knowledge from the first time around to help him. He knew these woods, and he would find his sister.

Up ahead, Bellamy heard a whoop that sounded like Jasper, and he pushed his legs into a run, muscles straining and breathing heavy as he crashed through the forest. He saw a clearing up ahead, where Finn, Jasper, Monty, and Clarke watched as Octavia gracefully lifted her arms above her head…

And dove into a stream. When she came up, she glossed her hair back, looking unabashedly happy as she reveled in the wonders of Earth for the first time. "Octavia!" he shouted, and the group turned towards him.

"Bel?" Octavia asked, and he could see the water rippling from behind her as he approached.

Bellamy pulled the gun out from his waistline, ready to aim, as Jasper noticed the same thing and shouted, "Octavia! Get outta the water!"

She screamed as the thing grabbed at her, and Bellamy skidded up to the group. He tried to aim, but she'd been pulled underwater, and the last thing he wanted to do was accidentally hit Octavia. Clarke pushed a boulder into the water, causing the water to ripple more as the snake moved forward to investigate.

Through his peripheral vision, Bellamy could see Jasper readying to jump into the water, but the older Blake wasn't taking any chances, and he held tight to the gun as he dove in after his sister. He began to take strong strokes towards her, having learned how to swim on his previous time on Earth, and he reached a spluttering Octavia almost immediately.

"I've got you," he whispered towards her, beginning to tread towards the shallower water again.

A call of "Bellamy!" caused him to look around, and he saw the water rippling up as the snake headed towards him.

A splash behind it, though, had it veering once again, and Bellamy noticed that Jasper had jumped into the water. While it was distracted, Bellamy used his legs to keep him afloat as one of his hands wound around Octavia's waist and the other gripped the gun. He aimed it carefully but quickly, knowing he had a very brief time frame before the snake would be upon Jasper, and he pulled the trigger once, twice, three times.

Red began to float up through the water as the snake thrashed, and Bellamy shot it one more time. The snake's struggles died, and the corpse floated to the surface as the current began to drag it further out. Bellamy motioned to Jasper, who was already struggling out of the water, and together they pulled a shivering Octavia out of the water.

"Bellamy," Octavia whispered, clinging to him as she shook. He hugged her back, taking note of the angry red bite marks on her leg, mad at himself for not preventing this.

As Bellamy caught his breath, he heard Clarke ordering Monty, "Help get her up here."

He passed Octavia up before turning to Jasper, who was still breathing hard from the ordeal. Bellamy clapped the younger boy on the shoulder, and Jasper looked up at him with wide eyes. Part of Bellamy wanted to hug him, because the Jasper he'd last seen in his own time had lost all of his innocence; he'd been hardened by the terrors of war and the loss of Maya. This Jasper, though, was young, and untroubled. What he'd just done was surely something he'd never even dreamed he could do.

Bellamy clapped him on the shoulder. "Thank you, Jasper."

Jasper seemed to almost glow under the older boy's praise. "You know who I am."

Bellamy nearly smiled, but instead he stood up and hauled Jasper to his feet as well. "You're the guy who saved my sister and I, and we won't forget it."

As they climbed up, Clarke was already dealing with Octavia's leg, and Monty seemed in awe of his friend. "Note to self," he began. "Next time, save the girl."

Minutes later, when they had camped a way's away from the stream, Finn had gone to get some water, Monty and Jasper were hovering around Octavia, and Bellamy stood surveilling the scene when he felt a familiar presence by his side.

"How'd you find us?" she began.

He shrugged. "Not like you guys were hiding your trail."

"You can track? Impressive."

He snorted. "Don't act so surprised, Princess. One of us knows what he's doing down here, and that's why you should have listened to me before putting everyone here in danger."

He could feel her bristle beside him. "I don't know where you get off thinking you're the leader here. And I don't know what I did to make you hate me so much, but I don't care as long as it doesn't get in the way of our survival."

He wanted to yell at her, scream that going to Mount Weather now, before they'd defeated the Mountain Men or even knew how to survive in this new world, was possibly the stupidest thing she could be doing, but he realized she had no idea. She didn't know anything, at least yet. He took a deep breath and looked down at her.

"I'm sorry."

She looked up at him, blue eyes wide with surprise. "What?"

"I'm sorry for lashing out at you. I'm just worried about Octavia, and I really don't think we should pursue Mount Weather supplies right now. We don't know what we'll find out here."

"What do you mean? We won't find anything. Everyone was killed off during the Cataclysm."

This was extremely frustrating, and Bellamy decided to table the discussion for the moment. They clearly weren't going anywhere while Octavia was recovering, and it seemed like the group would be settled in for the night. Bellamy took off his shirt. The temperature was dropping, and it was wet. He wrung it out, and then glanced sideways to where Clarke was unusually silent.

She was staring at his chest, and a pretty flush adorned her cheeks.

Well now, this was surprising. Clarke had always seemed pretty virginal to him in the beginning, when he'd found her to be little more than a pain in his ass, and later on there had been no time for play or pleasure, because every day meant a life or death struggle. Bellamy knew something must have happened between her and Finn, because they clearly cared deeply for each other, but he didn't know the details, and he'd never pried.

But now? Well, the Princess was extremely attractive, and Bellamy admired her intellect and determination. She was a savvy decision-maker who put others before herself, and her compassion had become her best asset during her tenure as leader. Suddenly Bellamy felt a pang of sadness for the Clarke in his time – the girl who had been thrust into a role that asked too much of her, and put the weight of the world on her shoulders.

He pushed it down as Clarke quickly looked away, and he couldn't help the smirk that tilted the corners of his mouth up. "Like what you see?"

She turned back to him, flustered. "What?"

"Because it's all right if you do. I won't tell."

"Don't flatter yourself, Blake. Maybe I just think you're insane for taking your clothes off when the temperature is clearly dropping."

Bellamy shrugged, and he was pleased when her eyes followed his movements, staying trained on his broad shoulders and back as he walked forward. "That's why I took them off. Don't want to get hypothermia." He turned and shot her a smoldering look, and when she met his eyes, he found himself unable to look away. "Although if that did happen, I'm sure you'd agree that body heat is the only cure."

Clarke huffed, stomping past him. "It would serve you right."

As she went to check on Octavia, Bellamy looked up at the darkening sky, wondering if he would see a shooting star pass over tonight. And if he did, what would he wish for? Maybe this new reality wasn't so bad after all.


The group had settled in for the night, Bellamy laying near Octavia, with Jasper and Monty on her other side. Clarke and Finn had camped a short way's away, everyone lying in the brush of the night.

Bellamy stared up at the sky, thinking about everything that had happened so far. Everything was the same, down to what people were saying and how they were acting. Which meant that he'd still tried to kill Chancellor Jaha, and he was a wanted criminal, and the Grounders and Mount Weather were still out there.

Nearby, a twig snapped, and he turned his head. Clarke was up, moving among the trees, looking at the splendor of the luminescent forest. Bellamy sat up, watching her form move about in the distance, and he noticed Finn was gone as well. With one last look at Octavia's sleeping form, he stood up, moving quietly through the brush until he reached her.

She was kneeling near an iridescent flower, a smile playing on her lips as she inspected the bloom. Instead of startling her, he made his presence known by stepping on a twig, and she turned halfway before looking back at the splendor of the woods around them. He came closer, settling in beside her.

She didn't say anything for a minute, and he was content to sit beside her. Despite the peace of the night, she was clearly confused as to why he had joined her. "What are you doing?" she asked quietly.

"Enjoying the night."

"I mean, why are you sitting here, with me, who you clearly don't like?"

"I don't dislike you," he said, and he felt somewhat guilty that this Clarke was getting the residual backlash of anger from her future self's actions. He also knew that her leaving had been justified, that she'd needed time. But so did I, he thought, and he hadn't left.

But he wouldn't have left, not with Octavia still in the camp, and certainly not after Clarke had tasked him with keeping their people safe. He'd spent his whole life feeling the protector, and maybe that was something that you just couldn't shake.

"Could've fooled me," her voice broke through his thoughts.

"I already said I was sorry for earlier," he said, and she nodded almost imperceptibly.

"I know. It's not that. It's more…" she trailed off. "Never mind."

"What?"

"I don't know. Something in your eyes when you look at me."

Curious. "What do you see?"

"Pain. Loneliness." She gave a little laugh. "Sorry. That's pretty depressing, right? Maybe it was just that you had missed your sister."

He knew why those things would be in his gaze when he looked at her, but he just agreed. "Right. That's probably it."

"But how did you get here? You don't have a wristband."

This again. "Maybe I just knew I had to come down here, Princess."

She looked him straight in the eye. "With or without the Council's permission."

He gave her a half-grin. "Do I seem like the type to ask permission?"

"No," she acquiesced. "But then why?"

He shrugged. "Maybe it's like the Chancellor said. This is our second chance."

"For humanity."

"For all of us."

Bellamy realized that he had settled down extremely close to each other, and their thighs were touching as they looked at one another. It didn't bother him, but he could see the recognition dawn on Clarke, and she jumped away.

"Hey," they both heard, and they turned to see Finn walking up, holding a leaf with water in his hands. He gave Bellamy a strange look as he approached, as if appraising him.

"You went to the river?" Clarke asked.

Finn smiled at her, holding out the leaf. "Figured it was worth losing a finger or two. Here." He held out the leaf, and she smiled at him as she took a small drink. "You call that a sip?"

She grinned and took a larger gulp. Bellamy watched Finn as he watched Clarke, and he decided to excuse himself. "I'm off to sleep. I'll see you two in the morning," he said, standing up.

"You don't have to go," Clarke began as Finn said, "Good night."

"I'm going to get some rest, and you two should as well." It had been a long day, and Bellamy had no idea if he was going to wake up in Camp Jaha with a huge bandage on his head from the cave collapse; whatever the case, he wanted to spend the rest of his time in this reality near Octavia.

A part of him felt reluctant to leave Clarke with Finn, though he wasn't sure why, but he tamped it down as he headed back towards his sister. As he settled down in the ferns, he took one last look at the glowing forest and closed his eyes.


A/N: So this chapter is un-betaed, so please excuse any typos - I was too impatient and wanted to put out a chapter to wish you all a happy Independence Day! Anyway, thanks for checking this out, and please please leave me a review if you feel so inclined (because reviews = inspiration for fanfic authors). Happy July 4, friends! xoxo, TATF