"He's alive."

Octavia let out a sob of relief at Clarke's words and dropped to her knees to take her brothers face in her hands. He was slick with sweat and his panting, shallow breaths were strained as they blew air across Octavia's cheek. She pressed her forehead to his to whisper to him.

"I'm here Bell, I'm right here. I won't leave you."

Clarke began working on the restraints around his wrists, tears blurring her eyes as she saw the damage done to his skin at his desperate attempts to be free. Monty, Harper and Miller appeared at her side and though Clarke could hear the scuffle from the guards taking out the grounders, she focused solely on her friends.

"Someone needs to hold him up so that I can get these off and we need a stretcher to take him to medical."

Miller nodded, quickly standing in front of Bellamy. Octavia moved for him and he crouched to take his arms around Bellamy's damaged chest, hugging the older boy and lifting him so that his arms weren't bearing his weight.

Clarke and Octavia quickly undid his binds while Monty and Harper ran off to fetch a stretcher.

Once untied, Miller lowered the Blake to the ground, holding him as his knees folded. Bellamy's head rested forwards on Millers shoulder and Clarke pressed careful fingers to his ribs, checking the breaks made by the guards hit. It was a small relief to find no evidence of a pierced lung and she sighed as her mother and Kane appeared beside her.

"How's he doing?" Clarke looked at her in worry.

"Breathing's shallow and uneven, he's having real trouble pulling in any air at all. His pulse is weak and erratic. At least two of his ribs have been re-broken and I think his left wrist is dislocated and that's on top of the lacerations around both."

Abby nodded at her daughter's grim expression, watching as Octavia held her big brothers hand.

"We'll get him cleaned up and take care of him. After what just happened I think it's safe to say Bellamy won't have to stay in a cell anymore."

Clarke nodded gratefully. The crowds were dispersed now, Kane having ordered them back to work, and so the path to the stage was clear for Harper and Monty as they returned with the stretcher.

Bellamy was nothing but dead weight as they lifted him onto the stretcher and he was out of it enough not to wake up or move as they did so. Clarke could practically feel his ribs spreading and shifting, knowing how painful it would be if he was awake to feel it. He couldn't be placed on his back because of the damage the shock lashes had done but laying him on his front wasn't the best option either.

They carried their cargo to the med bay, Abby clearing a space for him on one of the beds. Once transferred, everyone but Clarke, Abby and Octavia stayed. Kane put a hand on Octavia's shoulder where she sat beside her brother, his hand still in hers.

"I'm sorry this happened. I would have stopped it if I could have."

She shook his hand off and he sighed, whole frame sagging in shame. Clarke gave him a small smile of thanks as he left.

Her mother was running around grabbing things but Clarke could hardly think straight. If Bellamy was having nightmares and panic attacks before this she couldn't imagine how bad he would be once awoke.

She reminded herself that it would be easier on him to simply be away from that cold cell and the company of Pike and his men. He would have actual medical help, his other friends, a bed. It wasn't just her and Octavia with him anymore, they had their friends to help.

Octavia was whispering things to her brother, cheek pressed to his open palm as she held his hand to her face. She was smoothing back his hair, brushing gentle fingers across his cheeks, pecking kisses to his fingers.

"I'm here Bell, I'm not leaving, just like I promised. You'll be okay, you're safe now."

Clarke watched as his fingers moved across his sister's cheek, head rolling across the pillow from where he lay on his side on the bed.

Octavia gasped and Clarke darted forward.

"Bellamy?"

He grunted in pain, his eyebrows scrunching over his closed eyes, his ragged breathing coming quicker as he whimpered.

"It's okay Bellamy, I know it hurts. We'll get you all fixed up okay?" Octavia said the words before Clarke could force them from her tear choked throat.

Clarke's eyes filled with tears again as he sobbed his sisters name. He was in pain and confused, and so scared. His good hand shook against Octavia's tear stained cheek and the other was trembling where it was curled against his ribs, still dislocated.

His whole body was tensing as he writhed and shifted, trying to escape the pain that covered every bone, every muscle, and every inch of skin he had.

"O, it hurts. Please.."

Octavia took a breath and spoke, her voice shaking.

"It's okay. I'm here Bell. Clarke's here too. We won't leave okay?"

Clarke nodded, though his eyes were still closed, and forced her words through.

"We'll take care of you, Bellamy. It'll all be okay. We'll get you some pain meds soon, just try to breathe."

She crept closer, placing a hand on his damp head of curls and kissed his pain wrinkled forehead.

She whispered, her voice full of tears and soaked in grief.

"I'm so sorry Bellamy."

She had promised to protect him and he had been hurt, again.

Abby came to them then, hands full of things they needed, and she dropped them all on a side table before picking up an IV bag and a syringe. She took one of Bellamy's arms and quietly placed the needle, taping it in place. Her hands were efficient and calm, skilled enough to spare Bellamy any more pain. She hung the IV bag and injected a pain killer, nodding to Clarke once it was in.

The drugs swam through the Blake's veins, un-clenching every muscle and easing him into a slump on the bed. He relaxed into the sheets and sighed a little as the pain slipped away. His eyelids flickered as he opened his eyes, bright irises muddied with the fog of drugs.

He looked at the two of them, eyes sweeping over them with a glazed and relaxed daze, lips lifting in the whisper of a smile before he sighed again, eyes slipping shut.

Octavia closed her eyes and rested her forehead against her brothers, completely exhausted. She lent back after a moment, looking at Clarke as Abby began treating the boys back.

"He's not in any pain now? He'll sleep through it all?"

Clarke nodded and stood to help her mother.

"Yeah, he should sleep through everything. We might need to keep him out for a while to get everything set and patched up so you can take one of the beds and sleep if you want."

The grounder shook her head, holding tightly onto her brother's hand.

"No, thanks. I'll stay with him. I promised." She took a breath and ducked her head in guilt.

"I also promised I wouldn't let anything bad happen to him. I guess I lied."

Clarke shook her head as she took one of Bellamy's hands to clean the lacerations around his wrists.

"You did everything you could to stop them. We all did. All we can do now is keep our promise to take care of him. He knows you tried, Octavia. And he's your big brother, he loves you no matter what."

The girl nodded and wiped her eyes.

Clarke held her soldiers dislocated wrist in her hands, cleaning the wounds as carefully as she could before she set the joint back into place. Bellamy had been hurt again and again. He was soft and kind and gentle and he would do anything to protect the ones he loved. And here he was again, bearing the scars he didn't deserve, and living the nightmares that haunted him enough in his dreams.

Clarke and her mother patched him up; setting breaks and binding ribs, cleaning wounds and covering burns, but not once throughout the whole night did Clarke's eyes run dry.