In the camp, all the chaos had settled into a mild eruption. A few delinquents still wore the armbands, but most had abandoned them for their new system of doing whatever the hell they want.
Wells had gathered the two bodies from the dropship, wanting to give them a proper burial. He noticed that they were just about his age if not younger than him. The thought made him angry. They were children and yet The Ark just dismissed them. His father had dismissed them.
A small girl with dark hair and striking green eyes walks behind him. "We should take their clothes" she calls to him.
He turns to her and nods. "We share based on need".
Clarke walks up behind him and smirks. She claps a hand on his shoulder then says "You're starting to sound like The Ark Chancellor".
Before Wells can reply, they hear a bloodcurdling scream.
All three run to the sound only to discover a boy holding the boy who grabbed the piece of metal for Wells over a fire.
The youngling whose name Clarke learned was John, was squirming away from the fire while the other boy laughed.
"Why not just take off the damn bracelet little man?" the older boy cooed to John.
"Get him away from the fire! NOW!" Clarke barked at him.
The boy smiled, his eyes lit with excitement "You were the one who said we should get these things off, I'm just helping" he said then pulled John away from the flame.
Once Clarke saw he was safe, she went to launch herself at him, but Wells had beaten her to it. By the time she had made it to the boy, Wells had him in a headlock.
"You think it's funny to mess with little kids?" he tightened his grip on the boy then pushes him down to the ground. "You're nothing!" he spits at the boy then starts to walk away.
Unknown to him, the boy has a knife drawn. He brought it up to stab Wells, but Clarke noticed the motion and caught his hand. "That's not a fair fight" she said then punched him, knocking the breath out of the kid. Everyone watched the boy has he fell to the ground and laid unconscious.
Clarke turned her attention to the crowd "I said this will not be like The Ark. We let people make choices! If this kid doesn't want to take his band off, then he can keep it! The next time this happens, I won't be so forgiving. Are we understood?" she spat at them.
The group all muttered in agreement, clearly not wanting to feel the wrath of their new leader.
Clarke smiled to herself "Good, now go back to doing whatever the hell you want" she said then turned her attention to John. Her eyes went soft as she looked at the cowering kid "You alright?"
He nodded and offered her a small smile. His eyes were still fearful, but his voice was determined as he said "I want to take this thing off".
Clarke smiled at the bravery of this kid. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to. It's like I said kid, we do whatever the hell we want". She was smiling, but her words were spoken with concern, something she had once only felt for Lincoln.
He took a moment, then said again "I want to take it off"
Clarke bit down on her lip and nodded. She motioned to a group of other teens and said "Ask one of them to take it off for you." She stood up and pulled him off the ground. Ruffling his hair, she said "Stay out of trouble kid" then walked over to Wells who had watched the entire exchange with a smile.
Once she noticed his smile, the rebel queen scowled. "What the hell is with the smile Jaha? You almost died"
Wells bit down on his cheek to get rid of the smile as he replied "Yeah, thanks for the save".
Clarke shrugged "You saved the kid and that wasn't a fair fight".
Wells chuckled "Well thanks anyway".
Clarke snorted "Whatever" Then she saw her brother being carried inside the gate and all hell broke loose.
"What the hell happened?" she exclaimed and rushed to her brother's side.
Jasper and Bellamy were holding Lincoln up as he limped towards his sister. Lincoln went to go explain what had happened, but not before Clarke had beaten him.
She glared up at Bellamy who had paled over the course of the trip. Getting up in his face, she spits "Where's the food and what happened to my brother?"
Bellamy just shakes his head. It's then that she notices one of them is missing. Her eyes widened as she said "Where is the one with the goggles?"
This snaps Bellamy out of his trance. He meets her glare with a sickening expression. "Someone shot him. We aren't alone here".
"What the hell do you mean not alone?" Clarke exclaims.
Bellamy straightens up, now glaring at her. "I mean that the last guy on Earth wasn't the last guy on Earth" he explains through gritted teeth.
Wells walks up behind Clarke "That can't be possible. All the records on The Ark say no one could have survived the radiation".
Raven steps up behind Bellamy "Well someone did and he, she, THEY shot Monty!"
At that moment, everything is quiet. The silence gives Bellamy enough time to notice something different about the young Jaha.
Bellamy grabs for Wells wrist and spits at him "Where the hell is your wristband!"
Wells snatches his arm away and Clarke steps in front of him "We got rid of them. No one needs them".
Bellamy feels his face get hot at the girls words. "Are you all stupid? Those things are the only things that could save The Ark. Those are people's lives at stake!"
"What do you mean save The Ark?" someone asks from the crowd
Bellamy sighs, trying to keep his anger in check as he answers "The Ark's oxygen is failing! That's why they sent us down here. They needs to see if Earth was survivable enough for people to come down. By taking your wristbands off, you tell them it's not okay to follow us. You are killing innocent people!"
The crowd murmurs, suddenly questioning whatever the hell we want.
Clarke looks around, but remains calm as she soothes them. "Don't listen to him! If those people come down, it will be just like before. We won't live the way we want! We'll be stuck cleaning up after Princes like him!" she exclaims as she motions to Bellamy then continues "They sent us down here to die, but we survived! I say screw them because WE ARE THE SURVIVORS!" she shouts and people shout back to her in agreement.
Bellamy can't contain his anger as he watches Clarke smirk at him, reveling in her victory. Marching past her, he makes his way to the dropship to gather supplies.
Wells runs after him and cautiously asks "Where are you going?"
Bellamy tenses immediately at the voice, but quickly goes back to stuffing things in a bag he found on the ship. He barks "How long did it take for them to get the wristband off you?"
Wells shrinks back at the boys tone "I took it off willing"
This stops Bellamy. He turns and glares at Wells with so much hatred, the boy takes a step back. "It wasn't enough for you to take my dad, but now my mom!" Bellamy shouts.
Wells stands up straighter, but is unable to speak. If he were to open up his mouth, he could possibly tell Bellamy his greatest secret and that would destroy the boy completely.
Bellamy turns back to the bag and finishes putting the supplies away. He turns back to Wells, glaring at him as he hisses "Do me a favor and go drown yourself while I'm gone". The he leaves Wells alone feeling more broken and sad than the boy has ever felt before.
Bellamy doesn't stop until he finds Clarke. She is beside her brother, exchanging silent concerns when he walks up to her.
"What the hell do you want?" she barks at him just as Lincoln says "I'm ready to go"
Lincoln starts to get up, but Clarke pushes on his chest causing him to sit back down "The hell you are. There is no way you are going anywhere with that leg!" she scolds him, then glares at Bellamy for even suggesting her brother go anywhere in his condition.
Bellamy looks at Lincoln and tells him "She's right. You'll only slow us down". Then he shifts his attention to Clarke, his tinted glare meeting her electric one "I came for you. I heard you have a gun".
Clarke looks to her brother who looks down at his hands then lifts up her shirt to show Bellamy the gun clinging to her hip.
"Good, then you're coming with me" Bellamy says and begins to walk past her.
She grabs his arm, sending a matching tingling up both theirs arms.
Clarke chuckles darkly, there is no humor in her eyes "Why would I do that Prince?"
Bellamy smirks and moves toward her. His hot breath fills her ear as he says "Because you want them to follow you and right now, they only think one of us is scared" he says then walks past her.
Clarke clenches her jaw and sighs before shouting for Charlotte. "Watch my brother" she tells the girl.
Lincoln growls "I don't need a babysitter!"
Clarke glares at him and flicks his wound, letting him howl in pain before she says "If anyone touches him, they answer to me!"
Charlotte nod then Clarke sprints off behind Bellamy much to the amazement of the camp.
Raven stops in front of Bellamy and whispers "You think you'll be needing backup Charming?" She looks behind at Clarke, watching the blonde with suspicion.
Bellamy looks at Clarke too. For someone so small, she seems to be a major pain in his ass. He turns back to Raven and meets her gaze. "I'm fine, I need you here" he leans into her and whispers "Make sure no one else takes off their wristbands"
Clarke rolls her eyes and marches over to them, then slaps her hand on Bellamy's arm. Smirking, she says "I'll have your lover boy back to you soon" Then she glares at him "Are we going or not?" she barks.
He gives Raven one last nod and shakes Clarkes hand off of him. "Let's go" he says then starts toward the forest along with Clarke who hides her smirk at she looks onto him.
By the end of the first hour, Clarke and Bellamy hold a comforting silence between them. It wasn't until Clarke decided to break that silence that things went south.
"So Prince, why are you keeping that band on? It's not like you were well liked on The Ark" she taunts him.
Bellamy shudders at the thought of his life before Earth. Most people didn't talk to him in fear that they could be floated. So he had grown up alone with only Wells as a friend. Yes, Bellamy had food and clothes which was more than many on The Ark could say. However, he was never invited to other kids' houses for play dates or asked to come hang out. They told him he was privileged, but he never felt that way.
Bellamy turns to glare at the girl. "Let's get one thing straight!" he hisses, closing the distance between them.
He was close enough that he could smell her faint scent. She smelled like the flowers around them and The Ark's soap.
She could count the freckles as they danced along the bridge of his nose and could see the flecks of gold hidden carefully behind his brown eyes.
Bellamy ignored the familiar tingling that came with being close to Clarke Griffin as he said "The only way The Ark is going to think I'm dead is if I'm dead, got it?"
Clarke was taken back, but covered up with a smirk. "What a brave little Prince"
Bellamy rolled his eyes and turned away from her. "Don't call me that!" he growled.
She chuckled at his irritation which only grew when he heard her chuckle.
Clarke wasn't someone that gave up on a challenge and Bellamy Blake was most definitely a challenge.
So she smirked and quickened her pace to match his.
"So how exactly did googles boy get himself shot?" she asked.
Bellamy stared straight ahead as he said "His name is Monty and it's not his fault he was shot. He was trying to help save us which is more than I can say for you and the rest of your followers" he said with a growl.
Bellamy could feel Clarke glaring at him and something inside him relished in her anger.
She stepped in front of him, stopping him abruptly with her hardened glare. "You think you're so much better than us Prince? Well news flash dickhead, this isn't The Ark anymore. You can't get your way just by snapping your fingers!" she spat at him.
Bellamy glared back at her and bellowed back "Don't act like you're doing this for them. You're clearly benefiting from all of this chaos!"
There was a pause, but Clarke quickly recovered with her signature smirk and replied in a taunting tone "What's wrong with a little chaos Prince?"
There was a sparkle in her eyes that Bellamy knew if he got too close to, he be lit aflame. In that moment though, he felt like he wanted a little chaos from the rebel Queen.
Bellamy shook his head, trying to wake himself up from her spell. "Too fucking close" he thought to himself as he took a breath.
Before he could lose his nerve, he walked past her and said with conviction "We need to get going. Monty screamed when they moved him, so while he may be alive, he's still needs medical attention".
Clarke cleared her throat and followed behind Bellamy. Neither bothered to address the warm feeling that settled in their stomachs.