Long time no see! I'm SO SORRY about how long this has taken me, but life got in the way and I had some writer's block issues, but VOILA i bring you a gift to celebrate the season 3 trailer release. WHICH SOMEONE SHOULD TAKE MY CHILDREN AWAY FROM THE WRITERS THEY DON'T DESERVE THIS but anyway

Here's chapter 9, and a bit of action in this chapter (hahhehe) and I hope you like!

Also! ANNOUNCEMENT: my tumblr is an-upset-librarian and I post goodies and excerpts on there occasionally, plus it's just a cool blog (I hope) so go follow or check out my "The Pirate's Princess" tag!

Reviews feed my soul

CHAPTER 9

It had been two days since the pirate crew had found their meadow. Two days of gathering supplies and wood to make small teepees or tent like structures for shelter, and using their swords to hunt down some of the rabbits and even a few deer that roamed the island. Clarke had inspected the river water and deemed it mostly safe enough to drink. There weren't any visible signs of pollution, but just to be extra safe the healer tried to get the crew to boil their water before drinking it. Most of them didn't listen, and she can't say she blamed them. When she saw the running water she had to fight the urge to throw her face in it and drink.

Clarke and Monty worked on making a large, tall structure to act as a roof for a makeshift infirmary. She had even collected large palm leaves to use as makeshift blankets and beds. The climbing involved in making the campsite and gathering supplies irritated her wound, which was still acting up at times, and Clarke could see Monty watching her carefully.

Octavia stopped by a lot to help make the infirmary, and was the official supply gatherer for Clarke and Monty. When they weren't building their tent, they were treating the injured. A few of the crew had been injured while hunting, or while making teepees, but nothing major. Bellamy was the lead on the hunting parties, and Clarke had barely seen him since the beach.

"Clarke! I found some more of those palms!" Octavia called as she ran into the campsite, her arms full of the large leaves.

"Thank god! More people are asking for them for their own private beds." Clarke exclaimed. She jogged to meet her friend and took some of the large leaves from her. They carried the palms back to the infirmary together, chatting about the success of the campsite.

"Hey Monty, Jasper. We've got some more palms." Clarke said to the two young men who were working on laying down the leaves for the roof of her medical teepee. They didn't have enough supplies for walls, so it was just a large roof-like structure above the ground. It kind of reminded Clarke of one of the huge tables she used to hide under in the palace as a girl.

"Awesome! I've been wanting some for my own tent!" Jasper smiled. Clarke grinned up at the workers, and ducked under the roof to lay the leaves down and wrap them together in string-like shavings of bark. Octavia did the same to her palm leaves.

"They're back!" a voice yelled across the camp. Clarke looked up from her task and saw the hunting party returning with some more small game. Bellamy was laughing with Miller, and the princess smiled at his cheerful expression. Despite the crew's depressing situation, everyone seemed to be in high spirits. They had food, water, and were building their shelter. For now, it was good enough. The infirmary was located the furthest away from any other tents, since Clarke though her patients would like the privacy and she too liked having quiet to work in.

"Hey Clarke, when was the last time you talked to my brother?" Octavia asked.

"Um, I think it was when we first found the meadow. Why?" She asked in response.

"I can tell you miss talking to him. And I know he feels the same. Go on. We can manage out here." The girl giggled. Clarke rolled her eyes, but gave in to Octavia's demands. She rose from her crouch, and pressed her hand to her stitches with a groan. She could see Octavia watching her carefully out of the corner of her eye, but Clarke pretended that everything was fine.

"Hey Captain!" The princess called out. She strolled over to meet Bellamy and the rest of the hunting party by the fire-where they would be cooking the meat.

"Princess. Long time no see." Bellamy said with a smirk, nodding his head at her in greeting.

"We've been busy. How's the haul?" She asked. Bellamy shrugged, and gestured to the rabbits and other small birds and game animals littering the floor.

"Decent. I'd like to get another deer soon though." He replied.

"Yea that'd be nice. We still have plenty of venison from the first one." She commented.

"How's the construction going? I've been out of camp for a while these past couple of days."

"It's going. With Jasper and Monty's help the roof should be done soon. We've collected plenty of those palm leaves for bedding if you want to snag some for your tent." Clarke offered.

"I will, thanks." Bellamy said with a smile. Clarke couldn't help but smile back. Her smile soon slipped away as her thoughts turned to the crew's long-term situation.

"Bellamy, I know nobody wants to think about it just yet, but what are we going to do?" Clarke asked quietly. Secretly she had been worrying over what was going to happen to the crew since the ship had started to sink in the reef.

"I've been thinking about it too, but for right now the best we can do is just keep surviving." He replied with a shrug. Clarke nodded and sighed in resignation. The pirate crew would have to make the best of their current situation.

Clarke left the captain and his hunters to cleaning the captured game and returned to her makeshift infirmary. Jasper and Monty were laughing about something while finishing up the roof, and Octavia was nowhere to be seen. The blonde wasn't worried about the younger girl. Octavia wandered off by herself from time to time and was more than capable of protecting herself. Clarke finished up organizing and grouping the palm leaves and decided to wander around the woods near the meadow to look for medicinal herbs or any kind of plant life that the crew could eat. Humming, Clarke sat and weaved a small basket out of reeds and the tall grasses by the river to hold whatever she found. Turns out being a slave in a prison camp had some perks, like learning basic survival skills and how to make something from almost nothing.

Clarke continued her humming and wandered about the island, grabbing some flowers she thought were pretty and collecting some nuts she found. She mentally mapped where the nuts were for later, and continued her search. Birds chirped in the trees above, and insects buzzed around below to create a unique symphony one could only hear in the depths of the forest. The rushing of the river grew softer as Clarke continued her hike. Before she knew it, the sky was painted with the colors of the sunset and her basket was full of random herbs and nuts.

"Guess I better head back now." The princess muttered to herself. She returned to the camp at a slightly faster pace, since she did not want to get stuck out in the forest when it was dark out. Dusk had fallen by the time Clarke pushed her way through the trees and into the campsite, and Clarke had to resist the urge to eat all the nuts and berries she had collected. Humming softly, she made her way to her "tent" and placed the basket inside. She didn't see Monty or Jasper by the infirmary, so she assumed they were eating already or causing some sort of mischief.

"What's for dinner tonight?" Clarke asked one of the crew, Fox, who had taken it upon herself to organize rations and meals with a few other girls.

"Rabbit stew." The girl said as she poured Clarke a bowl. One ladle full was the current ration for meals. Hopefully harvesting more nuts and berries would mean more snack foods for the crew. A morning and evening meal wasn't much for these pirates to last on for long. Clarke sipped the warm water and drank down a few mouthfuls of the stew. She wandered around the camp to look for the Captain and tell him about the nuts and berries she had found on her mini adventure, and found him sitting by the campfire in the middle of the clearing eating his rations.

"Hey Bellamy." She said in greeting as she plopped down on the ground next to the captain. He grunted in response and continued slurping down his stew.

"I found a patch of berries and nuts today. We can harvest those and keep eyes out for more like it. There's bound to be more of those patches around the island." Clarke announced.

"That's good. We could use the food." Bellamy replied.

"Oh, and when you were gone Smith cut his hand when he was cleaning a rabbit, but Monty took care of it. Seems like you've trained him pretty well so far." Bellamy grunted. Clarke smiled at the news of her apprentice's success.

"He's a fast learner." She said.

"You're a good teacher." He countered. The healer rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"I was a terrible student. No way I can be a good teacher." She admitted with a laugh.

"Monty says otherwise." Bellamy said, knocking his shoulder into Clarke's. She ducked her head to hide her grin and finished drinking her soup. The campsite was filled with sounds of laughter and crewmates were scattered around the meadow in small groups laughing about their adventures or the day's troubles.

Clarke stood up and bit back a groan. All the bending over and work she had done that day was starting to make her wound throb painfully.

"You doing okay, princess?" Bellamy asked knowingly. Clarke just muttered out a response and escaped to her tent. She removed her shirt and unwrapped her gauze to inspect the wound. The sutures were holding and the torn flesh only looked a little irritated, but there was no sign of infection. The healer told herself that she just needed rest and time for the wound to heal. She rewrapped her torso and donned her clothing with a tired sigh. Tomorrow she would take a group out to gather nuts and berries and to scout down the river, but for now she would try to get some sleep on the itchy leaves and cold ground.

Clarke woke up when the bright light of the sun shone directly on her eyelids. She groaned and rolled out of the suns piercing rays, but the damage had already been done. She was awake. With a huff, she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Yawning and stretching her arms out, Clarke groggily exited her tent and observed the quiet morning. Most of the camp was still asleep, or wishing they were still asleep and clinging to the comfort of unconsciousness. Clarke was one of the latter. She slowly made her way to the food hut and snatched some of the nuts and berries she had gathered yesterday, popping them into her mouth. Her stomach desired a more meaty meal, but with rations low and population high, meat was kept for the evening meal until they hunted down some more. Only a few pirates wandered the campsite, since the sun was barely above the horizon. How it managed to wake Clarke was a mystery. Clarke was content to sit by the central fire and stoke the flames into a more suitable blaze for the day. The embers from last nights fire were as sleepy as the blonde. Clarke continued to eat her meager amount of berries and add wood to the fire to warm from the early morning chill.

After a while, the princess felt herself start to doze off. Her chin was propped up against her palm, and she felt her eyes start to drift close. She so desperately wanted to return to the arms of sleep, since she hadn't gotten much after the shipwreck. Those palm leaves were better than the cold hard ground, but not by much. She wished she could have a good nights rest, just like the rest of the crew did. Maybe they could go fishing for the beds lost with the ship. Clarke was deep in her own thoughts and didn't notice the new presence at her side until he wacked her arm out from under her head, causing the sleepy blonde to jerk up suddenly.

"Wake up." A deep voice chuckled. Clarke glared at the pirate captain sitting next to her, and smacked his bicep.

"What the hell, Bellamy?" She growled. Bellamy just gave her a cheeky grin and bit into a berry.

"These are actually pretty good. I'm up for your little gathering party today if I get some more." He said through the berries stuffed in his mouth. Clarke rolled her eyes.

"You're more than welcome to join me. I haven't even asked anyone yet. It's too early." She groaned, resting her head on her hands again.

"That it is. I can see that you aren't a morning person." The captain joked. Clarke just glared at him again through the dirty strands of her hair. Dirt. Ugh. She was covered in grime. None of the 100 had bathed since the wreck, and swimming in the ocean did not count.

"We should set up a rotation for baths in the river." Clarke said with a disgusted grimace as she tossed her greasy hair out of her face.

"Are you trying to tell me that I smell?" Bellamy asked with an incredulous smile.

"Well, now that I think about it, yes. You smell." Clarke replied. Bellamy placed a hand on his chest in mock offense.

"How dare you insult my pirate hygiene." He exclaimed melodramatically. Clarke snorted.

"Oh please forgive me, my Captain, I wasn't aware that taking a dip in the ocean counted as a bath." Clarke replied equally melodramatically.

"I shall try to overlook this insult." He said with a wide smile. The two started to giggle and Clarke gazed into the fire with a content smile.

"Now I'm almost awake." She said.

"Good." Bellamy replied. He finished eating his handful of berries and wiped his hands off on his pants.

"When everyone wakes up, we can go gathering." Clarke says to the Captain.

"Sounds like a plan." He responds.

"We should be quick about it though, it looks like it might rain later today." Clarke commented, looking up at the clouds gathering in the sky. Bellamy grunted in agreement, chewing a handful of food.

"And I'll make a schedule for bathes. It hasn't been getting too cold yet, so the water shouldn't be too bad." She says. Bellamy grunts in response and stokes the fire. Clarke sighs and gets up with a tired groan. She can feel Bellamy's amused stare but ignores her captain. She makes her way to where the supply tent is and grabs out some more of the long grass she used to make her basket and carries it all back to her seat next to the fire. Bellamy is still sitting where she left him, content to listen to the sounds of the forest and the fire.

"Here, you can help me make baskets." Clarke says, throwing a pile of leaves at him. He looks at her like she's grown a second head, and Clarke plops down onto the ground next to him. They're facing each other, with the leaves in between them and Clarke has already started on her first basket, with Bellamy still staring at her.

Clark looked up at him expectantly, and he sighed, "Clarke I have no fucking clue how to weave a basket."

She smirks and shows him how to weave a basket slowly. He fails a few times, and his first basket stands for about two seconds before falling apart-to which he cursed the grass and gravity- but after a while he got the hang of it and both of them were constructing grass woven baskets until the crew decided to wake up.

"Alright. So I found these over by the south end of the river, so we'll head over there now." Clarke said, leading her ragtag group of volunteers into the woods. The group consisted of herself, Bellamy, Jasper, and Fox. Monty wanted to stay behind and work on the huts, and most of the campers were already busy with construction or hunting. Bellamy had instructed Miller to take the hunting team out to try and catch some more game for the hungry pirates. Hopefully when the group returned there would be a large buck roasting on the fire and they would feast of venison and berries. Clarke sighed. Her highest dreams had become eating burnt, tough meat and random berries found in a mysterious forest.

The group walked for about an hour, commenting on the river or the trees. Most of the time was spent in silence, since none of them seemed to have anything to say. Until Jasper officially woke up. About an hour into their trek he started relaying stories about their adventures and the silly mishaps that occurred on the ship.

"So Monty and I are high as balls, right? And we're trying to smuggle out all this contraband and drugs to the ship. Only problem is that requires walking and carrying heavy boxes full of stolen drugs. So we have the Drug Lord on our tails, and Bellamy is waiting in the harbor with the ship when we reach the docks. Somehow, the drug lord's guys arrived before us and were trying to attack the ship. Of course meanwhile, Monty and I are struggling. The guns look like flowers and there's a giant purple cloud following us chanting about finding the unicorn princess-" Jasper retells enthusiastically.

"Yea, and you finally make it to the ship, after you accidentally blow up the armory of the guard post and cause a distraction." Bellamy interrupts with a sly smile.

"Hey, who was telling the story?" Jasper whines.

"Yea well story time is over. Time to start picking." Bellamy said with a smile, nodding his head at the berry bushes they'd found. Jasper rolled his eyes, but complied with the captain's orders. Clarke wandered away from the group to search for nuts and other herbs, and could hear Jasper's laugh as he retold another adventure. Clarke couldn't help but smile to herself at the silly stories he told. Even from her distance she could hear snippets of the ridiculous tales.

"Hey Clarke! Come see this!" Fox called. Clarke turned back to the group, and quickly dumped her handful of supplies into her basket and made her way back to the group.

"You should stop running off on your own." Bellamy muttered to her as she walked past. She ignored the captain, and walked over to the shore of the river where Fox and Jasper were standing, Bellamy hot on her heels.

"What is it?" She asked. The two were looking out over to the other side of the river, where Clarke could see a meadow full of berry bushes and nuts as well as some medicinal herbs she recognized. It was almost too good to be true.

"Holy shit, that's like, the holy grail." She said in awe.

"I know right?" Fox replied excitedly. Clarke shared her crewmate's enthusiasm, but slowly a frown dominated her expression.

"Too bad it's on the other side of the river." She said solemnly. Fox groaned, and even Bellamy looked disappointed.

"No matter, for I, the great Jasper, am here!" Jasper declared. He quickly looked up and down the river, before running a few yards downstream. The group stayed where they were, confused, as Jasper took a running leap into the river, landing on a rock a few feet into the rushing water.

"Jasper! Be careful!" Clarke called out. Her heart had plummeted when she saw him jump, but now she could see the path he was taking. Jasper was jumping from exposed rock to rock and slowly making his way across the great river. He stumbled, and almost toppled into the rushing water, but quickly regained his balance.

"You can do it Jasper! You're almost there!" Fox yelled in encouragement. Clarke and Fox cheered as Jasper made the final jump to the other side of the river. He turned to face them, and took a dramatic bow, before standing and waving at them. Everyone was smiling and feeling hopeful when the spear hit.

Jasper had turned to face the meadow when there was a dark blur that went right through him. Fox screamed, and Clarke's hands went up to her mouth in shock. Jasper stumbled for a second, his hands wrapping around the spear sticking out of his chest, before a spurt of blood burst from his lips and he collapsed, his body unnaturally still.

"Jasper!" Clarke screamed, rushing forward to try and swim across to him only to be stopped by Bellamy. The captain wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her away from the river.

"Clarke we have to go! They could attack again!" He shouted as he yanked the blonde back under the cover of the trees.

"But he's still alive!" She protested.

"I doubt it, Princess. We can't help him from here." He said. Clarke knew he was right, but her heart didn't want to think about not having Jasper around anymore. His presence always managed to liven the mood, and he had plenty of jokes and stories to share. At that moment, while the trio took a minute under the cover of the trees to mourn their friend, the skies opened up and doused the island in a cold downpour. Clarke thought it was fitting that the storm started as Jasper lie dying. Even the skies were mourning his loss.

They ran back towards the camp, but the rain was battering their skin. They could barely see five feet in front of them due to the rain, and the clouds were blocking out the sunlight.

"We need to find cover!" Bellamy yelled. Clarke nodded, dragging a crying Fox along by her hand. She reached out to grab onto Bellamy's arm, but he grasped her hand in his instead. Together they formed a line, and tried to find some sort of shelter from the storm. Luckily Bellamy spotted a cave in the mountainside, and they quickly headed toward the shelter. They stopped in the mouth of the cave, grateful to be out from under the cold rain. Clarke wrung out her hair and clothes the best she could, and collapsed against the cave wall. Fox was sitting against the opposite wall, her head in her hands and her knees drawn up to her chest. She was shaking, but Clarke suspected it wasn't because of the cold.

"Everyone okay?" Bellamy asked. Clarke nodded, and Bellamy took his pack out from under his shirt, where he had been trying to protect it from the rain.

"I'm going to see if I can find some dry wood, or at least damp." He said before heading back out into the storm. The girls waited in silence until he returned with some twigs under his shirt.

"These'll have to do." He muttered, pulling a piece of flint out of his pack. He drew a dagger from his belt and stroked the flint against the steel to get a spark to light a small fire. Clarke slowly got up, and explored the cave. It only went about ten feet into the hillside before ending, and there was scattered bones and branches indicating that some sort of animal had lived here. She grabbed some of the branches and brought them back to Bellamy, who had succeeded in lighting the small twigs. He grunted in thanks and added some of the wood to the fire.

"We need to get out of these wet clothes." Clarke said. She pulled off her shirt and pulled her pants off, leaving her in her chest wrappings and an undershirt and a pair of shorts. She laid the soaked clothes out around the small fire, and helped Fox do the same. Bellamy was left in his shorts, and Clarke tried not to admire his muscular torso too much. Bellamy stared at the numerous scars marring Clarke's body in awe. She had countless scars, and was still standing and smiling as if nothing was wrong, and those were just the physical scars. Her bandage over the most recent wound was falling off, so she had ripped off the gauze and tossed it into the fire, saying something about it could finally be of use. The wound was still fresh and looked like it hurt like hell. Clarke could tell that Bellamy was looking at her scars, and she forced her arms to stay at her sides instead of covering up the worst of her scars. There were bullet wounds, and a few surgical scars along her back where the scientists had tortured her in Walden, as well as other marks scattered across her skin.

The atmosphere in the cave was dark, and the trio sat in various places around the cave in silence, waiting for the storm to let up. It had been about an hour and a half already, and the rain showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Fox had moved away from the fire and was curled up at the back of the cave, asleep. Clarke and Bellamy were sitting next to the fire, a few inches of space between them. Clarke sighed, and leaned back.

"Looks like we aren't alone on this island." She said softly.

"Looks like." Bellamy replied.

Pls don't hate me, but I promise (maybe) that Jasper might not be dead completely. Who knows. ANyway, there'll be some cutesy bellarke in the next chap and I hope y'all liked it!