Oh my gosh, I am finally back! I actually got back a few days ago, and I was totally planning on updating as soon as I got back, but I was so tired, and I hadn't actually done any writing over vacation. I also had a bunch of stuff to take care of after being gone for two weeks. So I know that all sounds like excuses, but It's not, really. It's my apology. I'm sorry I didn't update sooner. You guys are all so wonderful and I hate that I disappointed you.
With that said, can I say how lovely it is to have people cracking down on me, impatient for the next chapter! No, really. It makes my heart feel good that you like my story well enough to come after me for a new chapter, lol!
So this update is a bit shorter than some of the previous ones. But I wanted to go ahead and give you something. I still left it with a cliffhanger, but not as bad. Let me know what you think of the new character. I know there's not much to them yet, but I am curious what you think.
I am also the very proud recipient of 100 reviews! That is SO awesome! You guys make me feel so loved and I totally love you back!
So please, read, enjoy, and review so I can get feedback and know how I am doing! I really do take what you say to heart and am willing to change things to be better.
Oh. And please read the end notes afterwards for a vote!
It was more than just rustling that woke Monty up this time. No, this time it sounded like the grounders were bringing people to join him. He distinctly heard a body being dragged over the ground of the tent, followed by the thud of another as it hit the ground. Monty kept his eyes squeezed shut through out.
When he heard the rustle of the grounder leaving the tent, his eyes snapped open. Monty was unsurprised by what he saw. Who else could it have been? Clarke and Bellamy had failed. Monty sighed. Then his eyes alit on the splotch of red forming on Clarke's shoulder. She'd been stabbed!
He tried to lunge towards her but the bindings around his wrists and ankles only made him roll on his side. He was gagged, so he couldn't yell for help, not that there was anyone who would come. He managed to squirm his way over to Clarke's side, but he couldn't sit up. He was still helpless even if he could. He head butted Bellamy's leg in an attempt to try and wake him, but he only moaned.
Monty lifted his butt in the air, his face supporting the weight of his upper body. Maybe he could work backwards into a sitting position.
It was in this position that he was found.
He was laughed at.
He couldn't really blame her.
And if it wasn't for the seriousness of Clarke's situation, he probably would've felt very awkward.
As it was, the Grounder saw the look on his face and her smile disappeared. She followed his gaze over to Clarke and she immediately ran back out the tent.
Monty had finally worked himself up into a sitting position next to Clarke by the time the Grounder had returned.
She shoved him over a little bit and sat right next to him. She ripped open Clarke's shirt, leaving her in just a bra. He was amazed as he saw her quickly and urgently set to work cleaning Clarke's wound. The girl felt Clarke's forehead, seemed pleased that there was no fever, or something, and administered the same paste they'd found on Jasper. Monty looked away as she stripped off the bra to replace it with bandages. By the time she was done, Clarke looked much better and Monty knew she would make it.
Monty looked at her, a question in his eyes. She could probably tell what he was trying to ask, just with that look. But he still asked the question. "Why?" It was a question with a duel answer: why had the grounders started attacking them? And why was she helping them?
The Grounder girl looked back and forth between him and Clarke. Her eyebrows scrunched up in concern.
She moved her mouth, as though trying to make out which words he would understand. Finally, she just went for it. "They have a...reason. I...do...not agree. But,...they are...trying to...save...my...people."
This made Monty mad. There was absolutely no good reason to pick off a relatively defenseless race of people.
The Grounder girl grabbed his wrist when she saw his anger. "No!...Let me...show...you..."
There was a throbbing in his head. He tried to open his eyes, but the weight of them was too much. His head hurt laying on the ground like it was, so he rolled over onto his side. He reached out blindly, to lift himself up. His hand landed on something rounded and human.
Bellamy heard Clarke moan.
His eyes snapped open.
He'd put his weight on her leg, fortunately, and not her shoulder. Suddenly every memory of what had happened the previous night came rushing back. Bellamy grabbed his head against the pounding. But he reached out for Clarke, wanted to ensure himself that she as still alive. She had moaned, but he could've imagined that, he supposed.
He saw her bare shoulder, the other covered in bandages, gooey Grounder paste oozing out the sides. Good. It gave her a fighting chance. But just to make sure...
Bellamy nudged her shoulder. The one undamaged. He wasn't a complete bastard. "Clarke! Come on" Clarke, wake up! Are you alright?"
He nudged her again and she moaned. Bellamy sat back holding his pounding head. He let out a sigh, realizing he had been holding his breath. She may not have be conscious yet, but at least she was still alive.
He leaned forward and touched her face. No sign of fever. The poultice must've warded off infection. Damn the Grounders, but bless their bloody medicine!
Clarke moaned again, her lips parting. Suddenly, remembering their kiss last night, Bellamy's eyes lingered on her mouth. His own lips lifted at the edges. That had been one hell of a kiss! If only it hadn't been so one-sided...If she had just kissed him back, he was pretty sure he would've died and gone to hell. He was also pretty sure he would't have been able to stop at just a kiss. There was something about Clarke, like he wasn't in control of his faculties when she was around...she was.
And last night, when she'd been speared through her shoulder, when she had been pinned against the wall, dying...Well, it changed something for him. Something he wasn't yet willing to admit, but knew was there.
However able he was to hide that something itself, he wasn't able to hide the effects of it anymore. He wasn't sure he wanted to even fight it, either. And so he didn't.
"My brave Princess...", Bellamy whispered, barely able to hear it himself. With a youthfulness in his eyes, as though just this one act could strip away years of hardship and wrongdoings, he leaned over Clarke.
And kissed her.
It was the chastest kiss he had given anyone aside from maybe his Mom and sister. But in some respects it was also the most daunting. Because in that kiss he had admitted to himself that this woman lying wounded before him was important to him. That he wanted her to live, not just for the sake of living, but for himself.
He couldn't bare it if she had died.
And that was when Monty walked into the tent.
Monty eyed him suspiciously. Bellamy had managed to fly across the tent in enough of a blur to prevent Monty from actually seeing the stolen kiss. However, Monty was no idiot. And Bellamy knew this.
So, actually, Bellamy was glad for the distraction that the female Grounder presented. It gave him a reason to deflect. Which he did.
"Monty! What the hell is going on? You're free...and...why are you...cavorting with a Grounder" He motioned to the way the Grounder was standing awfully close and unthreateningly to Monty.
Monty snorted. "I'm hardly cavorting, dude. Just collecting intel. And speaking of intel, how is Clarke doing?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Bellamy went back to Clarke's side...and stroked her hair. Bellamy instantly regretted this gesture, but he couldn't take it back now. "She seems to be ok...but no thanks to your Grounder friends!"
Crossing his arm, Monty narrowed his eyes. "Ok, Bellamy, lets get one thing straight, just because I am walking around with a Grounder doesn't mean they are my friends. Secondly, this Grounder is the reason Clarke is still alive. If it hadn't been for her, Clarke would probably be dead by now."
Bellamy looked suitably chastised and so Monty didn't feel the need to continue. "Now, lets let Ide (pronounced eeda) check on Clarke".
Bellamy practically growled. "I am not going to leave Clarke alone with a Grounder!"
Rolling his eyes, Monty crossed his arms and said, "Fine, Bellamy. But I'm waiting outside. Ide is this village's healer. She has helped before and will help, now. But if it makes you feel better, you can watch and make sure that she doesn't poison the patient she spent all night trying to save!"
Ide got straight to work. She lifted Clarke's chest up to a sitting position. She motioned for Bellamy to hold her in place. She must've figured that if he was going to be there, he might as well be put to use. It actually didn't bother him. It was Clarke. He would've wanted to help anyway.
And then it became pretty clear why Monty was determined to leave. Her shirt had been ripped away to care for her wound. Not only that, but her bra was gone. It must've been taken off as well. And Ide was undoing the bandages, the only thing keeping Clarke from being fully exposed. Yeah. Monty would've felt really awkward. Hell. He felt really awkward.
As the bandages slipped off entirely, Bellamy looked away. He knew Clarke wouldn't like being this vulnerable...this prone, before him. And he respected that, despite the fact that she wasn't even aware of what was going on.
Ide seemed to be thorough and quick. She had Clarke's wound cleaned, poulticed and re-bandaged in no time.
Bellamy inspected Ide a little bit closer now. When he had first laid eyes on her, all he'd seen was her fur covered extremities, the paint on her face (which could've been tattoos), and her scraggly reddish hair. He'd seen a barbarian. Now, he wasn't so sure. How could anyone who seemed to work such miracles, who tried so hard to save lives, of either race, be barbaric? His opinion of Grounders as a whole may not've changed, but this Grounder was slowly gaining his approval. She was most assuredly a better human being than he.
"Healing...well". Ide nodded approval at Bellamy. He began to lay Clarke back down when Ide grabbed his arm, halting him. "Not yet." Bellamy continued to hold Clarke in his arms and Ide mixed another concoction. It looked to be a bunch of herbs which she stirred in warm water. Some kind of tea, maybe?
His theory proved correct when Ide tilted Clarke's head back slightly, and opened her mouth to pour the noxious smelling stuff down her throat.
Clarke choked and sputtered, and still Ide continued to press the tea on her. Bellamy nearly grabbed Ide's wrist to make her stop, but Clarke herself did it for him.
Ide smiled when Clarke opened her eyes. Like any doctor, she was proud her patient was doing well.
As soon as Clarke saw who was force feeding her, her eyes went wide and her whole body stiffened. It was only then that she seemed to realize she was being held. Clarke's head twisted around to see who was holding her. She seemed to relax slightly upon seeing Bellamy, but her eyes darted back and forth between them, obviously frightened.
The healer pressed the teacup towards Clarke insistently. Clarke looked to Bellamy. "What's going on?" She whispered.
Bellamy tried to smile reassuringly. He was pretty sure it didn't work. "It's ok, Clarke. She's trying to help. I think it's like the tea you make."
Clarke finally did relax against him, and drank from the cup willingly. It made his chest warm to know that she really did trust her life in his hands, for that's what she was doing.
Monty peeked his head in, a hand over his eyes. "How's it going?"
Bellamy smiled. "It's alright Monty, you can come in now." Clarke moved slightly to try and see Monty, but she gasped because of the pain. Bellamy instantly ran a soothing hand over her head. "Shhhh, luv." He whispered. "Hold still." Bellamy might've even kissed her forehead if it weren't for the silent warning written in her eyes. She was mad. Guess he'd have to go back to calling her Princess.
"Ohhh Clarke, you look good! Ide did a good job on you!" Monty was quite proud, almost as though he had done the work himself. For some reason, Monty had grown rather close to the Grounder.
Clarke looked intently at the Grounder woman who had remained silent the entire time she had been awake. They seemed to be assessing each other for a moment or two. Then finally, "I'm Clarke. Thanks for saving my life". Clarke put her hand out, the one on the uninjured arm, to shake.
The Grounder looked at her hand, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do with it, she was sure. But then the Grounder surprised Clarke by firmly grasping her hand and giving it a slight shake. "Ide. And...you're welcome." Clarke hadn't been expecting her to speak english, but she tried not to let it show on her face.
Upon the release of her hand, Clarke realized how awkward she felt. Not only was she in Bellamy's arms...and not so long after he had kissed her, but everyone was watching. And he was acting funny, saying weird things. She needed to extricate herself. "Hey Bellamy, can you lay me back down? I think I should get some more rest." Truth be told, she was entirely too aware of his arms wrapped around her waist. She was pretty sure that if it had been anyone else, it wouldn't have bothered her so much...with the exception of Finn, of course.
He whispered in her ear, "Of course, Princess." Bellamy slowly pulled his arms from her waist, his fingers brushing the bare skin of her stomach. She told herself that the chill she felt was simply from her skin being exposed to a cool gust. Never mind the fact that it was a pretty warm day, and there was no breeze in the tent.
Laying her down on the padding of her makeshift bed, Bellamy addressed Monty, "So, I think you should tell us more about what's going on and why these Grounders have their 'reasons' for wanting us dead..." Bellamy totally air quoted the word. It made Clarke smile, despite the topic.
Monty took a breath. "They don't exactly want us dead, Bellamy. They are more or less just using us to keep their own people alive." Bellamy narrowed his eyes at him. The warning was pretty clear. If he didn't make it good, it might be the last yarn he'd ever tell. "Look, Ide and I have already said we don't agree with what they're doing. She's even been trying to help whenever she can. She helped Jasper when they would've just let him die...but she hoped we might get to him first, so she treated him anyways, and..."
"Just spill it, Monty!" Bellamy cut him off. Clarke was rather thankful, actually. Monty was adorable, but also unnecessarily tedious at times.
Monty pouted slightly. "Fine! Remember the skeleton in woods? And the footprints? Well, they're called Mountain Men..."
So what did ya'll think? I hope it didn't disappoint. I found it hard to jump back in after being away from it for 2 and a half weeks. I am sure you guys are starting to figure out where I am going with it. I would love to hear your theories. You can probably already tell that I am going a very different direction with the grounders than the show. But I am also going to incorporate a little bit from the show, like the name "Mountain Men". I probably would've called them something else if they hadn't talked about them already.
Anyway, so what did you think of Ide?
Also, I have a vote for everyone. I will also try to put it up on my page, but reviews are fine too.
I know everyone was all Octavia/Jasper, including myself. But Lincoln/Octavia has gained quite a bit of footing in recent weeks. I am still not fully on board the Linctavia ship, but I think it has promise.
So my question is: Should I introduce the character of Lincoln into my story?
I know a way that would make perfect sense and he could be a useful character. I would probably write him a bit differently, him never having kidnapped Octavia and all. But it would definitely mess things up a little with Jasper...or at least bring about some contention...
Anyway, let me know and the greatest number of votes will have it!
See you in a few days! (fingers crossed)