AN: Many thanks to GangstaKB33, Guest, Athenyx, Miss Meowing, Elcee and StarKiss666. I loved hearing your feedback, so thanks for the reviews! :D


Clarke awoke to the painful sensation of pins and needles in her left arm. After shifting to remove the limb she'd pinned underneath her body, she realised she'd been sleeping horizontally, but that the cave floor wasn't as uncomfortable as she'd've assumed.

When her soft pillow began to move, that's when she realised she'd been sleeping on someone. Opening her eyes revealed Raven's jean clad legs. She eased herself off Raven and sat upright, stretching out her stiff back as she attempted to ignore the painful tingling of circulation renewing itself in her left arm.

A yawn fought its way up her throat, but before it could clamber out of her mouth, a coughing fit got there first. Ducking her head to wince at the pain in her chest, Clarke waved off questions of concern and got to her feet. Bellamy, who was sitting at the mouth of the cave, had clearly been on Watch.

"You okay, Princess?" he asked in his usual husky voice.

"How come no one woke me? I should have had a shift on Watch."

"You were exhausted, Clarke."

"Yeah, so is everyone." She grabbed her backpack from the floor and headed out into the early morning light. "I'll find us breakfast."

The sounds of Bellamy getting to his feet reached her ears, but before she could shoot down his idea of escorting her, Raven's objection got there first.

"I'll go with her," she said. Clarke stopped and turned, watching as the brunette jumped to her feet and rolled her neck and shoulders. Grabbing her own backpack from the floor, she joined Clarke outside. "Let's go," she said when Clarke didn't move, and started walking. Before they knew it, they were at the edges of the forest, standing between the last of the trees before the lake.

The sun was just climbing the horizon now, and lit up the water in beautiful hues of orange and gold. Clarke felt elation swell in her chest at the sight and stopped to take it all in. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"God yeah," Raven said from her side, putting her hands on her hips and surveying the view. "They're so many colours down here. Makes the Ark seem like a monochrome prison." She paused and glanced sideways at her companion. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Clarke said with a sigh. "I wouldn't be here now if I hadn't been in the Skybox."

"Still," Raven said as she started walking again. "Solitary couldn't've been easy. At least I got to see Finn on Visiting Day."

Clarke said nothing and focused on digging up roots with a stick. She'd hoped Raven would get the message but they only worked in silence for a few moments before Raven spoke again.

"Your mom thinks that you're dead, you know."

"I know. I took the wristband off, remember?"

"Yeah, but once we can establish communications with the Ark, you'll be able to talk to her and she'll know you're alive. She'll be so relieved."

"No she won't." Clarke's voice was hard. She tugged forcefully at some more roots, but they remained stubbornly imbedded in the ground. "She cares more for the council than she does for the lives of her family."

"Clarke," Raven said, surprised, as she righted herself and stood staring at the blonde. "You know that's not true, right?"

"Tell that to my father, who she had floated for trying to save everyone."

Raven was at a loss for words, something she rarely felt. "I'm sorry to hear that. It was rough growing up with hardly a family, but I can't imagine losing one that I loved."

"Yeah, well, at least you don't go throwing it in people's faces to make yourself feel better." The bitterness from Clarke's words tinged the air around them. Clarke stood and coughed into her arm until she was red in the face before letting out a frustrated growl, attacking the roots anew.

"Bellamy didn't mean it," Raven said. "Surely you know that?"

"No Raven, I don't know that. I can't believe he played that card and threw my most painful memory and biggest regret in my face. It just goes to show that he's not the guy I thought he was. No," she suddenly corrected herself. "He is who I thought he was. He's exactly who I thought he was when we first came down. He'll only look out for himself and Octavia. That's it." Her voice lowered. "I can't believe I thought he'd changed."

"Look, I don't pretend to know what Bellamy was like when you guys first came down, my radio aside -"

"Then don't," Clarke said.

Raven watched as the angry blonde tossed another root into her backpack and marched away from their conversation. "I'll look for some berries," she said over her shoulder. It was clear she was not extending the invitation.

Raven didn't react when moments later, Bellamy appeared by her side.

"She's pretty pissed," Raven remarked. She crossed her arms and gave Bellamy an unimpressed look. "Although I can't say I blame her."

Bellamy said nothing, locking his jaw and staring ahead to where he could hear Clarke coughing. He wasn't proud of his eavesdropping, but something about hearing Clarke's feelings of him left him unsettled. Of course her opinion would've been changed after their spat last night. He couldn't fault her for that. He didn't like it, all the same. They'd finally come to respect one another. Until this damn trip.

"Fire's out," Finn announced as he jogged up to the pair. "Hey, where's Clarke?"

"There," Raven pointed before suddenly stilling. "What the heck?" When she started jogging, the boys had no choice but to follow her.

"I don't know," they heard Clarke saying as she and Raven bent over something on her arm. After a cursory glance around for Grounders, Bellamy looked over Clarke's shoulder to stare at…. her arm.

"What the hell?" he said gruffly, staring down at Clarke's exposed forearm. When she noticed him standing behind her, she scowled and turned her back further to him.

"Never mind, Bellamy," she said pointedly, tugging down the jacket sleeve she'd pushed up not a minute earlier, upon which her discolouring had caught her and Raven's eyes.

"No," he said roughly, grabbing her upper arm and spinning her so that he could get another look. "What is that? Some kind of poison?"

Clarke gave an exaggerated weary sigh. "No. It's probably from the lightning. I'm sure you'll have a mark too."

Bellamy pushed the sleeve of the jacket back up but it bunched at her elbow and wouldn't reveal further. "Take your jacket off," he ordered, softening his demeanour at her glower. "Please."

Clarke dropped her backpack and began shrugging off her outer layers until she was down to her tank top. Stuffing her jacket and long sleeved shirt under her right arm, she presented her left to the group. The topside showed no damage. Bellamy flipped her arm over by her wrist to examine the underside. Various gasps and an "eek" followed. The pale white limb was now tattooed with pale red spidery veins that branched across the skin like a healthy vine.

"It's kind of pretty," Raven offered, glancing at Clarke's impassive face.

"It's kind of dangerous," Bellamy corrected her. "Does it hurt?" he asked Clarke.

She shook her head. "No. Otherwise I'd've noticed it before."

"Yeah, but weren't you shaking it earlier?" Finn asked with concern. He looked like he was ready to run for anything she might ask for. "Back in the cave?"

"You mean when I woke up after sleeping on it all night?" Clarke asked as she flexed her fingers, testing them. "No. That was just pins and needles, I'm sure of it. Now," she said firmly and held out her open backpack. "Breakfast. My chest hurts and I want to get back to camp before anything else goes wrong." As everyone reached in to grab some roots that Monty had deemed safe and edible, but not necessarily palatable, Clarke straightened. "Where's the med kit?" she suddenly asked.

"It's still on the beach," Bellamy said.

"Well what are we standing around here for? We can't go home without it or this trip'll have been for nothing." She pushed past him and headed for the lake.

"Your definition of nothing," Bellamy told her as he followed, gun aloft and searching the area for possible attack. "Don't forget we got other - non medical - supplies."

"Oh thank God," he heard Clarke mutter as she ran down the sand and dove for the metal box he was learning to loathe the sight of. "I swear, if the Grounders had gotten it," she began.

"Then we'd know about it and maybe be dead," Bellamy finished for her. He took another root for breakfast from Raven's bag and tugged at it with his teeth.

"Oh my God." Clarke's voice was equal wonder and surprise as she looked down upon something in the sand.

"What is it?" Finn asked as he walked past Bellamy and squatted in the sand beside Clarke.

But Clarke ignored him. Reaching for something he couldn't quite understand, she pulled it out and dusted off the excess sand. It caught the morning light and winked at him. Clarke's smile was contagious and as she met Bellamy's eye, he felt an adjoining grin spread across his face. It was as they stared at each other, he knew their fight was over. He'd apologise later anyway, for the principle of it, but he had the feeling he was forgiven somehow anyway.

"Glass!" Clarke breathed happily. "We made glass! Do you know what this means for camp?"

"Cabins with windows?" Raven guessed.

"Anything," Bellamy answered. "Whatever the hell we want."

With a swooping in his chest, Bellamy realised he couldn't look away from Clarke. Nor want to.

Clarke gave him a smirk. "Whatever the hell we want."


The stride of the group as they trekked back to camp had been bolstered by their discovery. Bellamy in particular was pleased that they now knew they had the ability to create glass, something that had yet to occur to them on the ground, but had unappreciatively taken for granted on the ark.

Already, he was running through a mental list of things they could use to ground the lightning during the next storm. Finn and Raven ahead were discussing its mechanical strength and contact resistance.

"Admit it," Clarke said with a smug tilt of her chin. "You wouldn't have your new toy if it weren't for mine." She held up the med kit.

"Alright, Princess," Bellamy said with a lopsided grin. "I may feel a little indebted to your stupid box. But," he added before she could get too cocky. "That came at a price." His small frown was directed at her arm, which still hugged the med kit to her chest. Clarke would probably deny it if he asked, but he had the feeling her shins had been bruised solid by the repetitive bashing they'd received when she'd initially carried the kit by her side.

"Just taking one for the team," Clarke said soberly, clearing her throat and dropping the kit back to her side so she could rub her chest. "I think I'm coming down with something," she told him before he could ask if she was alright. The coughing fits alone could have told him that. They were noticeably increasing in frequency and duration. With a small twinge of guilt, Bellamy wondered if that could have been his fault. Perhaps if he hadn't had a round with her last night, she'd've stayed by the fire for longer and stayed warm. Instead, she'd stormed out into a storm.

"Clarke," he said. His blonde companion fell silent at the change in his tone. "About last night -"

Clarke suddenly looked pained. "Can we not talk about it? I'll take an apology but let's leave it there, alright?" Though she tried to hide it, he noticed her suck in a deep, shuddering breath.

"I am sorry," he told her sincerely. He focussed on Raven's ponytail, partially because it was easier than looking at Clarke, and partially because he wanted to give her some privacy. The emotions that he'd just seen battle for dominance on her face had said it all: she would always be strong, but because she had to be. If she couldn't ever let her emotions be free, they'd weigh her down until she broke, like sand exploding into glass.

"It was none of my business bringing up your father. And it wasn't right, either. My mother raised me to be good and all I can do easily is hurt people."

"Bellamy -" he felt her hand on his arm.

"You were right," he told her simply. "And that sucks, and I'm sorry you were. I'm not the same guy that came down on the dropship, Clarke. Earth's changed me and it's not always for the better, like I would like to believe."

"Hey, who we are and who we need to be to survive are two very different things. You told me that."

"Was who I was last night about surviving?" he asked her pointedly.

Clarke frowned at that and rubbed her chest.

"Hey, aren't these the springs we plan to use for winter?" asked Finn up ahead. Bellamy glanced to where Finn was pointing and recognised the small bodies of water that gave off slight hazes of steam.

"We're not far from camp," Bellamy agreed with a nod. "We should be there in about twenty minutes."

When he glanced to his side, Clarke was no longer there. Glancing around, he found her lagging behind. She was still frowning, her eyes were unfocused and she was absently running a hand back and forth across her lower sternum. Bellamy opened his mouth to ask whether she was alright when she stumbled.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, his volume and question bringing a stop to the quartet. Finn and Raven turned to look.

Clarke's steps had slowed to almost a crawl, and when she stumbled again, she reached out to regain her balance against a tree.

Bellamy was back by her side in three quick strides.

"Clarke? Clarke?" he repeated after receiving no acknowledgement.

Clarke closed her eyes and was focusing on her breathing as she leaned heavily on the arm supporting herself against the tree. She swayed slightly and removed the arm as a middleman entirely, slumping against the rough bark.

"She doesn't look so hot," Raven observed as she approached the pair. Finn was circling on the spot, keeping an eye on the trees for any Grounders, though he glanced back often at Clarke.

"What's wrong with her?" he wanted to know.

Bellamy was alarmed when he noticed how pale she was becoming, making the sheen of sweat on her forehead all the more noticeable.

"That's not good," Clarke whispered, more to herself than anyone.

"Clarke?" Bellamy asked, taking a slow step into her personal space. With a quick glance at an equally concerned Raven, he tucked his fingers under her chin and lifted it up. He missed being able to catch her, but at least he slowed her fall as she slumped down the tree and hit the ground. He slowly fell to his knees as she went down, his efforts hindered by the gun strapped across his chest. He fumbled to push his weapon back until it slid into position at his back. "Clarke!"

"Secondary drowning," she wheezed, her eyes falling closed.


AHHH! Poor Clarke. Things have been so rough for her this trip :P This fic is just so dang dramatic! We're almost to the end though. Two, perhaps three more chapters to go :)

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