A/N- Alright, guys. In preparation for the season one finale, I give you chapter 4! Get really for fluff and plot- that's it. That's the whole chapter- but just wait. Stuff's about to get intense. Props to my beta Jackie (badassbellamyblake) and thank you to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU! This story's had such a lovely reception! Last I checked, I had 72 followers- holy crap! Love you! Disclaimer- not mine.
Bellamy stretches his shoulders- it's been a long day, and he's definitely ready to head back to his pod. In his past two weeks here in the Skybox (he'd also picked up on some of the slang), he'd learned a lot. Passing out food, doing physicals, making routine checks- he'd gotten faster and more sure of himself in his job. Now, he didn't ask what to do- already knows- and somehow this small victory is enough to keep him going.
Besides, of course, the fact of rations. They've given him more- unfair, yes, but it's a blessing when you have three to feed on the rations of two. The job in and of itself isn't so bad. There are perks that he didn't anticipate- the prisoners who aren't bad company, becoming friends with Atom, and maybe the most strange of all, Clarke.
She was... something, he didn't know what yet. Bellamy couldn't deny that she made him feel things he had never felt before, but honestly, he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. Clarke brought out a side in him he didn't know was possible, made him think of things he never would have thought about before. He remembers his fourth day at work- he had decided to check up on Clarke-
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"Do you ever dream of Earth?"
Clarke had been staring out the window when Bellamy walked into her cell. She knew it was him as soon as the door opened- no other guards ever visited her. They thought she was self-centered, stuck up, but not Bellamy. When she spoke, her voice was breathy, curious. Bellamy shrugged his shoulders.
"I've thought about it- I think everyone has. I just don't see any point when I'm never going there." He answered. She was still looking out the window when she responds.
"I dream of it. I wonder- what would it feel like? I was born in space- well, we all were. I've never felt the sun on my face, or breathed real air, or floated in water. I don't know, I- I want to feel it."
Bellamy was listening, he swears, but there was something about the way she was talking that made his expression go slack- his heart beat faster. He cleared his throat, and she looked at him, smiling.
"What?" She teased. "Got something against dreams?"
Bellamy let the corners of his mouth go up and shook his head. "No, just the unrealistic ones."
"Killjoy." She muttered and goes back to the stars. This time, he lets himself smile, full on- but only when she's not looking.
.
Bellamy grins again at the memory. Lately, his memories of this entire place had gotten better. Somehow, these inmates, prisoners, had become something like his friends.
.
Bellamy opened the door to the twins's room- and by 'twins' , he meant Jasper and Monty, but he'd called them the twins in his head since the second time he saw them. They were so in tune with one another, all of the time- just like twins.
"Time for recreation. Are we doing in cell or out of cell today?" Bellamy asked the boys.
"In cell-" Jasper started.
"Out of cell-" Monty called at the same time.
Bellamy looked on in surprise. This was the first time they hadn't agreed to something. "I need an answer."
Monty looked at Jasper and gave him big eyes. "Jasper, we had in cell last week. Besides, there's no girls in here. There are girls out there!"
Jasper groaned back. "Yes! That you can't touch! That's torture! Besides, in cell, nobody can mess with us."
Monty rolled his eyes. "It's not like we can't ignore them! Come on, Jasper." Jasper looked up at Bellamy.
"What do you think, Bellamy?" Jasper asked, trying to get him vote.
"It's cadet." Bellamy grinned. "And I'd say looking is a whole lot better than nothing." At that, Jasper groaned loudly.
"Yes!" Monty yelled. "Come on, let's get our mandatory physical activity on."
The boys followed Bellamy out of their cell, bickering the whole way.
.
Bellamy remembers how smug Monty had been that day. Somehow, the two always seemed to bounce back from every argument. Though, he figures, anyone would if they had to share a cell all of the time.
Sharing a cell- the words pull up another memory, fresh in his mind.
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"Why are you in solitary?"
Bellamy was sitting on the floor outside of Clarke's cell. As he was the only guard on duty, there was no danger of getting caught lazing around.
"Like I said, a secret." Her voice permeated the metal and made him feel warm. He shifted, unknowingly placing himself directly parallel to where Clarke was sitting in her cell.
"That doesn't seem like grounds for solitary." Bellamy commented, head tilted towards the door.
"They can't trust me not to tell anyone." Clarke sounded a bit desperate. Bellamy wanted nothing more than to let her out, but he knew their grim reality is just as dark as her four walls.
"You haven't told me. And we've been friends for a while now." She laughed at that- good.
"I don't really have friends anymore. I had one- key word being had." Her voice filled with bitterness. Bellamy grasped to change the subject, not knowing what to do.
"What did you like to do, before prison?" Ouch. Probably a touchy subject. But the words had already spilled out of his mouth, so he went with it.
"Lot's of things. Art, mostly. Medical work. Chess." With the last word, she peaked his interest.
"Chess? I've always wanted to learn how to play chess." He'd said it so flippantly, a backhanded comment, but Clarke hadn't taken it that way.
"I could teach you."
"Really?"
"It's not like I have anything better to do." He smiled at that. Alright, Clarke was going to teach him how to play chess. What could go wrong?
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Now, Bellamy can't imagine a time before sitting on Clarke's floor, studying the board she'd drawn with her precious charcoal. It had only been a week, but she had taught him all of the basics, at least- how the queen was the most important piece, the king is a sitting duck, and pawns could only move once. He practiced at home, now, and Octavia often made fun of him for his misshapen pieces made from anything he could find.
His time at the Skybox hadn't all been fun and games, though- something weird was definitely going on. Bellamy couldn't put his finger on it, but he's been hearing things... things that worried him.
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Shumway walked into the station with a deep face on- a mask, covering any real emotions. Bellamy looked up and nodded, but Shumway was too preoccupied to respond. Bellamy continued his job until Shumway interrupted him.
"Cadet?"
Bellamy looked up. "Yes, Commander Shumway?"
"Have you ever thought of Earth?" Shumway said, looking at him. Bellamy immediately flashed back to his conversation with Clarke about Earth, and felt a blush coming up. He shoved it back down though, to answer Shumway.
"I suppose, sir." He gave a noncommittal answer, not knowing what the right one was.
"Yes." Shumway said, looking out the door to the prisoner's rooms. "God bless our souls."
"What, Commander?" Bellamy asked, concerned.
Shumway looked shocked when he turned back to Bellamy. "Nothing, cadet. Back to work."
Bellamy knocked on the door to Commander Fey's office and waited outside, at attention. He waited for a good minute before knocking again. When he got no response, he decided to open the door a hair to see if anyone was inside.
"The… dangerous? How… no, of course… no men, yes sir." Commander Fey was speaking on a comms unit, talking to some unnamed source. "We have everything prepared on our end for launch in one week. Yes, it could be earlier, but that is the prime launch date… Yes sir… The last briefing went well, and all Commanders are now fully aware of the situation."
At this, Bellamy closed the door. As much as he wanted to know what the hell was going on, he also didn't want to lose his job. He waited until the Commander had stopped mumbling and knocked again- this time, fully prepared for the opening door.
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Bellamy shakes his head, almost to his hall. He'd rather think of happier things, things to take his mind off of all of this. His mind returns to Clarke, again- damn, he's got it bad.
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"And then I burned my hand on the chemical in the beaker and got sent to indefinite detention." Bellamy was smiling hard, because Clarke was losing it.
"All of this for a girl? Some girl!" She said between breaths.
"Wanna know a secret?" He asked her.
"My specialty." She responded, dry as ever.
"I don't even remember her name." Bellamy almost wanted to laugh, too, though the experience was anything but funny at the time.
"Goodness, Bellamy, you're not winning any awards for grace." She mentioned, eyes drawn to her hand-drawn chess board on the floor. "Hey, how about a move?"
Bellamy groaned. "Not this, Clarke! I've learned more about chess in a week than most people should learn in a lifetime!"
Clarke rolled her eyes. "Humor the dead girl, alright?" Bellamy immediately sobered up.
"What?" He said, tone hushed. She looked startled.
"Sorry, it's just.. my birthday's in just over a month."
Bellamy wouldn't look up.
"I'll do everything I can-" He started.
"There's nothing you can do. She said, eyes on his. "Alright? Don't you dare feel like any of this is your fault."
He looked up, finally. She looked so fierce, sitting on the floor of her prison cell,all blonde and blue and had never wanted to kiss her more. Before he could, she cleared her throat.
"Okay, the move. This one's quick. It's called a Swindle." She pointed to the board. "Essentially, this is a last-ditch effort. Let's assume I'm your opponent. I've only got one chance to win- take an important piece of yours to force you into losing and me into checkmate. For example, your queen. Zukertort–Steinitz successfully pulled it off way back in the 1800's- he won the queen. And as I've already told you, often, whoever has the queen has the game."
Bellamy looked up from their game. "Yes, but I still have the queen." He pointed to the smudged 'Q' on the floor.
Clarke smiled. "Not for long." She reached over and rubbed out the Q, replacing it with a K for knight. She laughed at Bellamy's shocked face, and handed him the piece of charcoal.
"Your turn!"
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Bellamy reaches his pod and unlocks the door. The first thing he's hit with is how quiet it is. He's not used to so little noise. Inside, the lights are off. That's strange, he thinks. Octavia hates the dark.
"Octavia?" He calls, wondering if she's asleep. She's not in either bunk. She must be under the floorboards- nothing new. He moves the table and pulls up the loose piece of flooring. He steps back in shock when there's no one there- It's completely empty.
No. No, no, no, no, no. Where the- where is she? Bellamy stands up, mind racing, in a panic. He pulls at his hair, looking frantically around the tiny room. She couldn't hide anywhere in there, but he flips the table anyway, checks behind the door, the closet, under clothes. There's no denying it- she's gone. She's gone. His sister, who he swore to protect, is gone.
Where the HELL is Octavia?
