Dividing Lines

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this.

The virus had spread to ten children, each under the age of eight. Clarke had set up in the drop ship, making sure that every patient had a bed and she had space to move around them. There was coughing, high fevers and general sobs from not being able to see anything.

For the first two days, Clarke barely slept, barely ate; she was too concerned with the children. They reminded her so much of Chris but she held herself together. Bellamy was actually a great help, making sure she got everything she needed while keeping the camp calm. This sickness needed to pass and all they could do was contain it. After the two days, their fevers broke and slowly, their sight returned. Clarke wanted to keep a close eye on them but at least she found time to sleep. One by one, the kids were released from the medical bay until the beds were empty and it was just Clarke and Monty sitting by a table.

"Ok, so we used those leaves as a calming balm for their eyes but it really was just a waiting game," Clarke said, watching as Monty jotted all of this down. "The teas were really helpful for the fever though so I'd stock up on them before winter."

Monty nodded, a pencil being twirled between his fingers. "That grows really near camp so we can do it by tomorrow," he replied, just as the door opened and Bellamy strolled through it.

Clarke had been staying in his spare room for the past week and he had actually been a tolerable housemate. She still looked after Octavia, who was getting bored from sitting inside. Bellamy brought her dinner in the drop ship every night; if not him, then he sent Miller or Jasper. He didn't do it with a smile but she was grateful for it. Except she really didn't need the sarcastic comments, the infuriating smirking and the way he attempted to boss her around. Bellamy walked over to the table and leaned his hands on it, one right by her elbow.

"All the kids are back with their parents and reports are that they're all well. Nice work Princess."

She let out a sigh and rolled her neck back and forth. "Well, maybe now I can actually sleep for more than two hours at a time. Or do you want me to get back to my camp as soon as possible?"

Bellamy shrugged, his broad shoulders moving under the blue shirt. Clarke tried not to pay attention to that.

"Well as much as I would love to have the joy of your company for longer, you really do need to get back. Before that, the others would like to properly thank you for all you've done. So clean yourself up and get out here." With that he gave her a smirk and exited the room.

Clarke turned back to Monty, looking confused. "What was that all about?" she asked; Monty did a terrible job trying to keep a straight face.

"Monty!" she exclaimed but he just bolted from the room before she could get an answer out of him. Laughing slightly, Clarke washed up and shrugged on her jacket. She let out a low breath and shuffled out of the drop ship, half expecting Bellamy to dump water on her or something. But when she saw the camp, it was nothing that she would have guessed.

Torches were lit all along that trails, with tables set out and filled with bowls of berries and fruit. The main fire had the giant boar from the week before roasting over it and when people finally caught sight of her there was cheering. Clarke laughed out breathlessly and caught sight of Bellamy and Octavia sitting at one of the tables.

"It's your going away party Clarke!" Octavia said which was followed by a few more cheers.

"Monty's got the moonshine!" someone yelled and Jasper tugged Clarke off the drop ship into the crowd. It was still evening, dinner was actually earlier than usual but Clarke just thought it was for the party. She felt overwhelmed and incredibly thankful. She made her way to Bellamy and gestured towards the boar on the spit.

"I thought that was for the winter?" she asked and Bellamy sighed.

"So did I but everyone convinced me that you needed a proper send off. Plus we have enough stores. You're lucky people like you here."

She tried to tell him thank you, for showing her earth, for trusting her with the person he loved the most.

But suddenly people wanted to speak to her, to thank her themselves and she lost sight of both Blakes.

It was well into the night by the time Bellamy managed to get Clarke away from the party. All the parents wanted to thank her and she had actually made friends in his camp. Well, Octavia, Jasper and Monty really liked her and everyone else wanted to talk to her. But he didn't have the time for it so, when she met his gaze, Bellamy nodded his head towards the gates of the camp. He watched as Clarke looked deflated and she started to say goodbye. Bellamy shrugged on his jacket and made his way towards the gate, a gun stuck into his belt. It took a few minutes for Clarke to get to the gate and even then she was surrounded by children.

"No please stay Clarke!" one of the begged.

"Yah!" another one agreed, "You can live here with us."

Clarke smiled at them warmly and hugged them goodbye one by one. "I'm sorry but I have to go," she reasoned, "I need to get back to my mom and there's a little boy who needs me."

"He can live here too! So can your Mom."

Bellamy finally walked up to Clarke, giving the children a stern look. "That's enough. You've said goodbye so go back to your parents." They pouted but Bellamy hadn't raised a teenage girl just to give in. So the children were hurried back to the group and Bellamy and Clarke walked out of the gates.

"This way Princess," he said, leading her around the camp wall, "We're going another way to the river."

"Why? And why are we leaving at night?" she asked as she zipped her jacket up.

Bellamy tried to the find the words for "because I want to thank you for saving my sister but you irritate me with your stubbornness so I don't want to admit it." So he just shrugged and answered, "There's something you should see before you get locked up in your tower again."

He heard her grumble about the royalty motif he was keeping with but that only made him smirk. She was the Princess, not because of her name on the Ark but because of her very personality. She wanted to help others and went out of her way to do so. And others loved her for it. Plus her blonde hair was like something out of a story book, looking so soft and wavy. Bellamy shook his head and quickened his pace. This girl was starting to mess with his head.

They kept walking for another few minutes until Bellamy spotted a far off blue glow. He stopped and looked at Clarke, who had caught sight of the glow and was looking utterly confused.

"Come on," he prompted and they walked towards it, the glow getting brighter and brighter. Finally they got passed a clump of trees and Clarke let out a gasp. The whole clearing was glowing a bright blue colour; the leaves, the moss, even the roots breaking through the soil in the ground. There were different shades from almost purple to sky blue and Bellamy watched as Clarke took it all in with a fascination.

"What is this place?" she asked and Bellamy had to pause before answering her. "We're not sure. Everyone thinks it's because of the war; a mutation."

"It's amazing..."

Bellamy sat down at the base of a tree, letting her take her time exploring the clearing. He took out one of his knives and started to sharpen it to pass the time until she was ready to go. Butterflies, like the ones Octavia was always chasing, fluttered around the trees and Clarke stared at them breathlessly. Minutes ticked by but the woods stayed peaceful.

"Why are you doing this?"

Bellamy looked up at Clarke only to find that she was sitting against a tree across from him, her legs stretched out in front of her. She raised an eyebrow, clearly expecting answer.

"What? I can't thank you before I give you back to the wolves?"

Clarke snorted but there was a small grin on her face. "I just...didn't expect this from you; especially not from the stories."

Bellamy scowled, shoving the knife back into his boot with force. Clarke was surprised and the two of them stared at each other. She wanted answers and he just wanted her to stop looking at him like he was the annoying one. "Don't believe all the stories you hear Princess," he finally says, "I'm not the hero or the villain your camp thinks I am."

People had always tried to find a set idea for him, for his actions when in reality he had no idea what he was doing. He swallowed hard and propped his elbows up on his knees.

"All those stories from the beginning of the 100...they were told to make others feel better; to make them think that all the lives lost and the destruction were for something. In reality, the first few days down here were chaos and that was exactly the way I wanted it. We could do whatever we wanted because there was no Ark to keep us under the control. But then the Grounders came...and people started to die."

He met her gaze again, now filled with pain and what he could only call empathy. "I had no choice but to try and keep people safe but really, I led too many of them to their deaths. So the stories are crap Princess because they don't tell the whole truth about any of us."

He had said too much, opened himself us too much and he quickly cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Anyway, you can correct them when they get back to your camp. Someone must be missing you by now."

Clarke clearly saw through him but she replied, "My Mom is probably freaking out but Kane will have calmed her down by now. I really need to get back to Chris. He's this little eight year old orphan and he doesn't have anyone else...I suppose Finn might be looking for me as well."

"Finn Collins? You and Spacewalker?" The laughter in Bellamy's voice startled Clarke and she frowned at the clear amusement on his face.

"Why does that sound funny to you?" she asked defensively.

Bellamy was clearly trying to not burst out into laughter. "It's just...you and Collins don't seem like a good match to me."

"Oh really?" she said folding her arms.

"Really," Bellamy replied immediately. "From what I know about Spacewalker and from what I've seen from you, it's be a hilarious recipe for disaster. You may be the Princess but you clearly don't need rescuing so Collins just wouldn't know what to do with himself."

Bellamy watched her, her scowl fading to contemplation. There was no way a girl like her could really fall for the Spacewalker. Maybe the innocent teenager girl from the Ark would have, but not the woman who pulled shrapnel out of people and strolled into strange camps with a bossy attitude and a stubborn streak. It would almost seem...unjustified, anti-climatic.

Clearly she was just pissed that he was laughing at her.

"I'm just telling you how it is. That's how he was with Raven anyway."

"Who's Raven?"

Bellamy's eyebrows flew up at her honest question and he nearly wanted to laugh all over again. "Oh, so Collins left the story of the ex-girlfriend out, did he?"

From Clarke's blush, he guessed he was right.

"Raven's our best mechanic; she and Octavia are friends. She came down in a rusty rocket ship just to be with her boyfriend of a few years, only to find out he had already cheated on her with some girl. She dumped him and after a while, Collins fled to your camp. I guess he's pouring all the charm on you now."

"Shut up Bellamy," Clarke grumbled and silence fell in the clearing.

Bellamy thought that she had gone back to looking at the butterflies but then she spoke again. "Finn and I...I thought it could be something for the sake of having someone, it was never...anyway, he's still a good person. He helped you with the Grounders. Or is that wrong too?"

Bellamy shrugged, moving around to get more comfortable. "The Grounders is a tricky subject. Collins did help but really it was all dumb luck on all our parts."

Clarke looked at him expectantly, the blue colour of the clearing reflecting on her face. It matched her eyes. Bellamy shook his head and began. "It was a couple of weeks after the initial fight with the First Grounders. They were Anya's tribe; she was their leader along with a few others who were brought in to kill us. Then there were the Reapers, creepy sons of bitches that even Anya was afraid of. We were fighting a battle we weren't going to win."

He swallowed, remembering the blood and the destruction. But Clarke stayed still, waiting for him to continue. "One day, when I was on patrol, I came across another Grounder, pinned to the dirt by the giant panther. On a reflex I shot the panther and saved the guy's life. But when he stood up, he looked different from the others. Anya's tribe had a lot of tattoos but this guy didn't have any. Turns out, he belonged to another tribe, whose land spread out to surround Anya's. They were being forced to fight with Anya in the coming days because of a shaky peace treat but his leader had sent him out to spy and see if they could get out of it. A Sky Person saving his life was the loophole they needed."

"Sky Person?" Clarke asked and Bellamy nodded. "It's what they call us. The Grounder's name was Hunter and the leader of his tribe is his sister Caitlin. She and I came to an understanding, one older sibling to another. They sided with us and somehow, we won. The Reapers and the First Grounders were finally stopped, while before, Caitlin had hoped that they would get rid of each other. All that I cared about was that we were safe."

He still couldn't believe it, even after two years of peace. He was able to walk around the forest at night without having to worry about enemies falling from trees; he just had to be on the lookout for animals.

"What happened to Anya's tribe? Did you..."

"Kill them all?" Bellamy shook his head. "We left their fate to Caitlin and Hunter so I don't know. I do know that one of Anya's men tried to stab Hunter so Caitlin threw him into meat- eating eel infested lagoon."

Clarke's eyes bugged and Bellamy could only add, "She's protective."

"Really? And you wouldn't know anything about that?" she asked, teasing. But her face turned serious again. "Were the two tribes very different? Is that why they didn't like each other?"

Bellamy shrugged. "I'm not sure, we didn't exactly sit down and have a chat about Grounder politics in general. I do know that Anya's tribe just saw their own point of view and that was to have a war. Caitlin and Hunter's tribe is more learned; they speak a lot like us and are more willing to hear the whole story before fighting-which is a good thing."

He chewed his lip and looked at her again. "I saw how their tribe fought against Anya's. They were brutal and...accurate. Every shot was to kill, not injure because if they were going to start this war, then they were also going to be damn sure there wouldn't be another one."

"Have you seen them since?" Clarke asked.

"A handful of times over the past two years; we usually meet after winter for a general meeting."

"You and the Grounders have a picnic in the woods?" she teased him.

Bellamy ignored her, choosing to stand up instead when he saw the moon slipping closer to the horizon. "Enough of the stories; it's time to get you back home."

Clarke looked so reluctant, taking the time to have a long look around the clearing again. As Bellamy waited for her, he was tempted to let her come back to the 100 camp. They could use a real doctor and she could use the freedom. But he was already telling himself that they had stayed too long, that she needed to go back. Clarke was supposed to be at the Ark Camp, where Spacewalker was waiting to sweep her off her feet. She did not belong with the 100, no matter how much Octavia bugged him.

With a sigh, Clarke dragged herself to her feet and the two of them headed off towards the river again.

Abby was losing her mind. She tried to sit still on the worn bench but her knee was bouncing up and down and she was clasping her hands together. A hand came out of nowhere and stopped her knee from moving. Abby looked over to see Kane take a seat beside her, a bowl of...something in his hand.

"You need to eat Abby; you'll be no use to Clarke if you're starving."

"We're all starving here," she muttered but took the food with a thankful smile. They ate their meal staring out at the camp, everyone seemingly asleep. Everyone was busy with preparations for winter. They assumed it would come in the next few weeks so they were building up stores and reinforcing the thin walls of some sections. But Abby wasn't thinking about any of that.

"She's been gone for too long Kane," Abby muttered, "I don't think that she's just gone to help someone."

Kane quickly looked around in case anyone was listening. Then he said, "Finn talked to her; she said that she's fine. We don't know the situation-."

"She's been gone for over a week, Kane!" Abby hissed, "And the bad weather could hit at any moment. No matter what Finn said, there is no way that she is staying there of her own free will."

Kane rubbed his forehead and felt a light drizzle from the night sky above. He knew that Abby wasn't the only person thinking that exact same thing. Too much time had passed; it was getting too close to winter. Clarke would have come back by now, for her mother, for Chris, even for Finn. People kept giving the teenager worried looks, seeing that he was clearly missing her.

"They took her," Abby said in a shaky voice, "The 100 took my daughter and they aren't giving her back."

Kane could do nothing but wrap an arm around the woman and hold her. Winter was setting in and they did not have the man power to even properly step outside their walls, let alone fight Bellamy Blake and his experienced warriors. Everyone knew it and just didn't have the heart to say it out loud.

The sun was rising to their right, oranges, pinks and reds streaking across the sky like runny paints on a canvas. Clarke took in all the colours, the horizon that peeked through the trees. She was so busy that she didn't notice Bellamy stop until she collided with his back. He did not move; he just stared in front of him, his head turned slightly to the side.

"Damn it!" he growled and started to jog away.

Clarke ran after him and after a moment, could hear the rushing of the river. It got louder and louder until they reached the bank and Clarke saw what Bellamy was so angry about. The current, which he had warned her about those few days ago, was going by too quickly. The water was churning and surging passed them. The rocks that they had used to cross the river were no longer in sight.

"I thought we had a few more weeks," Bellamy said, "But winter seems to have arrived early this year."

Clarke ran a hand through her hair, feeling the spray from the waves on her face. "Are you sure there's no other way across?" she asked but Bellamy's face gave her the answer.

"Looks like I'm stuck with you," he said and Clarke closed her eyes in defeat. She hadn't missed the Ark Camp but she had missed her Mom. Who would look after Chris and the other kids? When Clarke opened her eyes, she saw Bellamy standing by her side, already turned around to head back to camp.

"You can stay for the winter," he muttered and with one last look at the river, Clarke felt no choice but to follow him back to the 100 camp.