VII

They ask me about my weak spot

I say I have none

I have skills and a soul of a fighter

But my weak spot is my trust

And for that, I will burn

- inscription on The Great Grounders Wall by anonymous author

It's late morning when I leave my house. I'm not on my own.

'We're going to the woods', Bellamy says as he watches me hiding the key in my pocket. I look up to face him, but I already know that he won't answer my question, so I decide to ask about something else.

'How did you meet Raven?', I focus my eyes on the road. I'm curious about the answer, but more importantly, I want to distract him.

'I needed some gunpowder and I found her a couple of days ago. Then it turned out that she can make bullets too, so we made a deal and now I'm paying her for this', he says. I can feel warm sunshine on my face, but the sky is clouded and the wind's blowing, so I decided to take my jacket anyway. There might be a storm today. We're quiet for the next couple of minutes, I can see the forest from afar.

'You distribute weaponry to the Sky people, so that they can defend themselves from the other gangs, am I right? I saved one of yours a couple of weeks ago, the guy named Jasper. You might have not known it, but I'm telling you this now. You and your people need me', I claim confidently. That's what you have to be like around him. Otherwise he'll just not listen. At least that's what I concluded.

Bellamy stares at me for a couple of seconds, but I don't look at him, my eyes stay focused on the horizon in front of us.

Finally he turns his head away from me and sighs.

'What do you want, princess?', he asks, but it sounds more like a statement.

'You know what I want', I stop. The wind's tangling my hair as I try to embrace it. Bellamy stops too and stands just in front of me, covering the view and the sun.

'You have your stolen gun, isn't that enough?', he mocks me, but his gaze is stern and his eyes are serious.

'For saving the lives of your people and taking the bullet in return? No', I reply bluntly.

'Spit it out', he narrows his eyes.

'Teach me. Teach me how to shoot. I want to be as good as you are. No... actually, I want to be better', I say audibly pronouncing every word. He glances at me and then focuses his eyes on something above my head.

'Your wish is my command, princess, but I'm not on your orders today. I don't have enough bullets to waste on you and we don't have time for it', he turns around. I grab his arm to make him face me once again.

'You will do it or I'll leave your people to die', I spit out as he narrows his eyes.

'Not today, princess. Let's go', he growls and starts walking.

'What if I don't? You're gonna shoot me?', I mock him. Slowly, he turns around. It was a reckless question to ask as I notice an automatic gun by his belt.

'It's you I'm doing this for, so it's your choice, to follow or to die', he says quietly, gazing at me.

'I don't believe in the goodness of your heart, Bellamy. You've done something and your help or whatever you call it, is a result of your bloody actions that will get me killed', I grit my teeth.

'If only you trusted me, princess, if only...', he says, a spark of amusement in his voice, but I don't buy it. I boost my pace and catch up on him.

'I did trust you once. And that one time you shot me, so sorry if after that I have some trust issues with you', I snort. He stops abruptly and I notice we're already next to the river that separates the woods from the rest of the world. Bellamy turns around and I almost bump into him. He's so close it's intimidating, but I don't back off.

'I'm sorry. I'm sorry for shooting you back then, but you and me, we have to live with it now. I won't tell you why, because you're too smart not to figure it out, but I'm truly sorry', he says almost sadly. It makes me wonder though, this pained spark in his tone.

'All this... It makes me feel quite otherwise. I can't figure anything out. Why are we here, Bellamy?', I ask quietly, trying not to sound desperate.

'Do you know how to fight?', he replies with a surprising question.

'Yes', I raise my chin as I notice his swift movement. He tackles my right leg, he knows it's the weaker one and grips my right arm to turn it around. Within seconds I'm lying on the ground, my right arm caught in a steel grasp, my chest pressed to the ground. I feel someone's warm hand on my back, but it's not a gentle touch.

'Do I have to ask you this question again?', I hear Bellamy's voice full of irony and amusement and a red spark of anger flares within me. I turn around on the right side of my body and hit his head with the outer side of my left hand. He releases his grip as I press my arm against his neck. I'm kneeling, my legs spread on the both sides of his hips. I catch his right arm with mine just as he uses the other to grip my throat. Surprisingly, I find it gentle, he doesn't even clench his fingers, just puts them on the upper part of my neck.

'Do I have to answer it again?', I ask and stare at him, the triumph written all over my face. He gazes at me for a while not saying anything. I can feel the atmosphere getting tense and intimidating, so slowly, I pull my arm away from his neck. I can feel his fingers sliding down my throat then leaving my skin. It's a strange sensation, something about the way he does it makes my skin flaming.

'Your weak spot is your concentration. You focus on striking the enemy, but you don't control their moves. I could've strangled you, princess', he says as I get up on my feet.

'Yeah, wanna hear about your weak spots? Pride. Overconfidence. You beat me down and wanted to call it a victory, but you didn't even realize that it might have been to early', I retort as he stands up.

'Look, princess. I want to teach you how to fight. You're good, but you can be better. Your comments are valuable to me and I trust your judgement, so how about a deal? I teach you what I know and you tell me what you know?', he reaches his hand out, but I just gaze at him for a couple of seconds trying to see him through.

I shake his hand and notice some sort of a smile appearing on his face. It's such a rare view that for a second I expect a gun pointed at me. But he only grins and jumps on the rock next to us.

'Catch me if you can', he says teasingly and grabs a liane. I watch him as he crosses the river, the current's getting more rapid every day, but he doesn't seem to notice or care.

'Your turn, princess!', he exclaims as he finds himself on the other side of the river. He's about five metres from me, but I can't help, but feel distant. I heard many stories of people who tried to cross it and died. Normally, you don't even need a liane, but with this fierce current it's easy to get swept away.

I climb on the rock and take a quiet calming breath. He doesn't have to know that I'm scared. I grab the liane and grip it tightly.

I don't close my eyes as I jump, it's just a couple of metres, but I gaze at the sky hoping that my father protects me.

I land and almost fall pushed by a forceful momentum, but Bellamy approaches me just in time to catch me.

'We made it. Now let's try not to get ourselves killed on these territory', he remarks releasing me from his hug.

'I'm sorry, but why did we even come here in the first place...?', I ask looking around. The Grounders aren't exactly a friendly gang. We're at peace with them, but this peace is shaky and marked with unnecessary bloodsheds every month.

'I don't want the patrols to catch us. In some ways, it's the safest place in this town', he replies unimpressed. The patrols. The police. They're violent and brutal and they arrest everyone that has the tiniest suspicion thrown at themselves. Except when you provoke a bloodshed. Then you're free to kill anyone, it's their way of controlling the number of people living in this town and country.

I'm silent until we reach some sort of clearing. It's deep in the woods, I've never been here before, so I look around trying to measure the distances between the objects, the spacial arrangement, nearest trees.

Bellamy drops his weapon near him and approaches me as I count the distance between me and the tallest tree around. I can climb, but I'm not the best at it.

'I will attack you and you've got to defend yourself. No hits or dangerous blows, it's not about harming me, but learning something', he says as I tense my muscles.

He does it more than a dozen of times, always stating some comments. It's not as annoying as I thought it would be, now when we set some sort of a truce, the way he speaks almost doesn't bother me anymore. Sometimes we switch the roles and it's me commenting on his skills whenever I'm the one who wins the fight. He's calm and quiet, but he's demanding and, at times, simply irritating.

'You can't keep doing this, Clarke! If you want to fight me, you have to control both of my hands', he yells at me as I lie on my back, my arms caught in his steel grip, his knees pressing my thighs, his face close to mine.

'We've done this for like a hundredth time, how about I teach you something now?', I say annoyed as he releases my arms. I get up to face him. We stand in front of each other within a meter of distance. His hair's sweaty, his breath heavy and shaky. He measures me with his unapologetic eyes as I try to focus on breathing normally. We've been here for a couple of hours now and I can see the sun slowly making its way down the horizon.

'Strike me. Do it and make sure I'm on the ground', I command him as we stand opposite each other. I suddenly become aware of a very strange matter as he stares at me for a while, something flickering in his eyes.

He doesn't want to do this. He hesitates.

I'm stunned, but I keep my feelings to myself, not letting my voice hint at anything.

I reach out my hand to punch him, but he sees right through me and catches my wrist before it touches his face. I tackle him and drag him forcefully to the ground. I don't defend myself on purpose as he immobilizes my limps. I can hear his heavy breath as I smirk. He wants so say something, but I raise my head to close the distance between us. It doesn't take strength to defeat him, but brains and emotional manipulation. I feel uncertain though, when I notice the change of his expression.

'Clarke...', he says quietly, clearly unsteady, his voice trembling, perhaps from the effort. I almost touch my lips with his, as I feel his hands loosen the grip. I stay like this for a second observing Bellamy's reaction, but my intentions aren't pure at all. I push him to the ground and block all of his moves by controlling his hands and legs with my own body. He lies on his back, stunned, not quite comprehending what just happened.

'Who's the one losing focus here? Don't get pleased with your win, be alert not to lose', I say shakily, but just this time it's not from the effort. My breath's rapid, fast as if I just ran a marathon, but I wasn't this tired just minutes ago.

'That was good, I'll give you that', he replies regaining his composure, a smug smile on his face hiding a shadow of gentleness. I get off him and stand up.

'You can't attack me and let me lie on my back, because it gives me multiple ways to get out of the difficult situation. I gave you a head start this time, but let's do this again', I order, my hands on my hips. He approaches me swiftly, his hands twisting my arms as if he was arresting me. I can feel his breath on my ear shortly before he hits my right calf. I can't control the squeal getting out of my throat as it's my soft spot.

'I'm so sor...', I cut him off and kick him in his shin then turn around to strike him to the ground.

'Don't apologize. Will you be sorry for hurting your enemy in a fight too?', I ask teasingly sitting down next to him.

He's silent and I become aware of one thing that I just unconsciously stated.

He hurt me and he's sorry for doing so.

We're not enemies.

At least for now.

He sits next to me as I watch my calf. No blood, the stiches are holding.

'It's okay, nothing happened', I say and bite my tongue a bit too late. Why did I say this...? It's not like he cares.

'Sorry, princess', he replies and then leans his head on the ground, lying down.

'Thank you for this, Bellamy', I say and gaze at the sky. I don't want to look at him, but I can feel his stare on my back.

'Don't thank me yet', he replies playfully, but there's a sadness in his voice, something I cannot quite comprehend. Behind every joke hides a sorrowful note as if he carried a burden so heavy it breakes his heart and leaves his soul hollow.

I gaze at him trying to figure it out. I should figure it out. He looks at me too, unspoken words and unanswered questions hanging heavily in the air.

'Did you hear it?', I get up to my feet. Someone's in the woods around us and it makes me highly uncomfortable. Bellamy stands next to me, but I don't sense his tension.

He's not nervous at all.

I stare at him as he stands opposite me, something strange about his expression. I open my mouth to say something, but I notice his pained eyes looking above my head and it makes my stomach squirm. I want to turn around, but it's too late.

Before I have a chance to do anything, someone hits me in my head and I lose consciousness.

If I die now, the last thing I'll remember is the picture of Bellamy gazing at me, his eyes regretful, but stern, his mouth open as if he was just about to say something. Isn't life ironic? I always see him when I think I'm about to die. I wonder if he's my saviour or my killer.

My sweet innocent killer...

['Sweet innocent killer' is the title of the tale about the girl who jumped from the cliff. It's mentioned in the chapter one.]

So, here it is. What do you think, is he her saviour or a killer? It'll be all cards on the table in the next chapter, so I'd love to know what you think about his motives. Thank you for your reviews, it's the biggest source of motivation for me and the best part of writing this story, really. I'd love to know your thoughts on this chapter, so let me know what you think and have a lovely weekend!