Authors note: This is short I know. I had given Monty's mom a different name, but as I hadn't already published it seemed foolish not to change it to Hannah in this story. Just a reminder this is the story I imagined before season 3 aired. Please review if you like it. I hope my writing is improving I am listening to all your suggestions so thank you.
Octavia's hair whipped into Bellamy's face as they stood staring at the small mound of earth that covered Wick's body. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his chest for comfort. She didn't object. The shock of losing Wick so randomly after all that they had survived rattled him to his very core. He'd never felt safe anywhere on this planet, but he'd begun to lower his guard here. It was a mistake, the planet didn't want them.
The radiation might not be killing them but the plants had mutated in ways that not all their bodies were able to cope with. Abby's best guess was an allergic reaction. On the Ark she'd only read about them in books but since landing they'd become the most common ailment in her office. Wick was the first to die though. She'd asked Bellamy a lot of questions about Wick that he hasn't been able to answer, about any other symptoms. Bill had filled her in and Bellamy was shocked at how many signs he'd missed. Maybe if he'd realized sooner they could have returned to camp Jaha and Wick would still be alive.
Bill had ripped into him when he'd said it was his fault. The mild little man had used such colorful language that Bellamy had picked up a couple of new cuss phrases. He accused Bellamy of trying to shoulder too much and having an over inflated opinion of himself and his ability to save people. Then he'd made a weird reference about Bellamy wearing his underpants under his trousers just like everyone else. It had been so absurd, and the look on Bellamy's face so incredulous, that for a moment the tension had broken and they'd even laughed.
But he could still hear Raven's raspy sobs over the radio when he'd broken the news to her. He'd held her quivering body in his arms when Finn died. It tore at a piece of his heart that she was too far away for him to physically comfort her now. Raven was his family and he needed to be there for her. His arms physically ached to hold her. For now Octavia would do.
Tomorrow they would be heading back. The grounders had advised against it. They said that a storm was coming in. But Monty's dad was desperate to be reunited with his son and Lincoln thought they would be okay. Even if a storm hit they didn't last long this time of year and they could ride it out in their tents, which were far superior to anything the grounders knew about. He too had seemed very eager to move on. Something in the village had made him uneasy, but he hadn't spoken about it yet and Bellamy didn't feel like pushing it. He was sure Octavia would tell him anything he needed to know.
They stood still for a little while holding each other. They were alone, which suited them, they were used to being alone, together. Octavia squeezed him tighter and buried her face in his chest. He thought she was crying, but he couldn't be sure. All he could do was hold her until she pulled away from him, face blotchy, eyes rimmed red. So unlike her, he hadn't realized Wick meant this much to his little sister. A sudden thought flashed across his mind, was that why her and Lincoln seemed to be at odds recently?
But at that moment Lincoln appeared silently behind them and Octavia turned and buried herself in his arms instead. It was hard to know how long Lincoln had been standing there really, in this wind he could move like a ghost unheard. But he looked guilty and he couldn't meet Bellamy's questioning eyes. No whatever was up between them, Octavia and Wick had not been the cause. Lincoln gathered Octavia closer and the two of them headed away. Bellamy stayed a while longer watching the sun go down. Tomorrow they would head home, whatever that meant.
They rose at first light the next morning, frost covered the ground but the wind had died down and the rays of sunlight that reached towards them as they left camp promised a warmer day ahead. Lincoln and Octavia took the lead on a horse he had managed to trade for in the village. They carried the majority of the group's supplies so their packs were light and easy to carry. Bellamy followed with Mr Monty at his side, and the Bobs pulling up the rear, debating which of them had best earth skills.
Bellamy could not get used to calling Monty senior by his son's name, and Mr Green seemed way too formal. So they'd settled on Mr Monty, for now. Although Mr Monty still laughed when he said it. Bellamy had no idea where Monty had got his serious side from, his mother perhaps. Mr Monty was a hoot. Big smiles, bright eyes and always a ready quip or inspiring story to share. Monty's mom had been one of the 300 who sacrificed themselves on the Ark, but Mr Monty wasn't bitter.
When Bellamy had tentatively asked him about that, he'd clasped Bellamy by the arm and said very seriously. "Life is for the living Bellamy. Don't worry about the dead until you are one of them. Hannah had her reasons, I respect that. To pout about it now would be to dishonor her memory. Besides life is short, I'll see her soon enough and we can spend eternity arguing about it then. Or not!" Mr Monty had smiled and chuckled at the end as if he amused himself, or perhaps he was thinking of his wife.
That Mr Monty had loved his wife very much was clear. Bellamy wondered if he would ever find that in another person. Then shook himself for even thinking it. He planned on being a perpetual bachelor. His eyes travelled to Octavia's back as it swayed behind Lincoln's, he'd raised his family already. Octavia's head was resting against Lincoln's shoulder completely at ease. He'd bedded a few women, more since he'd landed if he was honest, but he'd never been in love. He didn't think he knew how to trust that much, to be that vulnerable. He thought involuntarily of Clarke's back as she walked away from the gate. Trust was for fools.
The journey back would be a shorter more direct route up the mountain, but not quite as high as the Mountain Men's bunker and then down into the forest the contained camp Jaha. There was no need to retrace their path. The whole journey should only take two days.
They stopped for lunch next to a small stream and Mr Monty had made everyone tea to have with their food. A hog stew from last night's dinner reheated and even tastier than Bellamy remembered. Lincoln left them to hunt while Ben set up the radio to check the reception with all the camps, and to double check that the repeater stations Wick had set up were working. Bellamy suspected that he just wanted to keep busy. Bill and Mr Monty talked plants and herbal medicine. The older instructing the younger in the proper method of steeping teas for maximum strength.
Octavia came and sat next to Bellamy as he washed up their dishes in the stream. She grabbed a mug, but continued scrubbing at it long after it was clean. The bright sunlight glinted off the burbling water causing Bellamy to squint as he turned to confront his sister.
"What's up O? And don't just shrug your shoulders at me!" He said in response to her shrug.
Octavia glanced over her shoulder, perhaps to where she thought Lincoln might be, then furrowed her eyebrows as she stared into the mug before throwing it onto the pile of clean equipment. She turned and sat on a nearby log, and bowed her head, looking at something intently by her feet, which she scuffled a few times. Finally she took a deep breath and raised her face to meet Bellamy's worried gaze. The look on her face had him reaching for her before she even spoke, but she cut him off with a raised hand and shake of her head.
"We're leaving!" She said, forcing the words out of her, as if by willpower alone.
Immediately her head fell into her hands, elbows resting on her knees. She shuddered once more and then looking up and sweeping her hair away from her blotchy face she continued before Bellamy could interrupt.
"We have to go, it's not safe for us here anymore! Lincoln says that The Commander will be sending riders out to eliminate us as soon as she finds out, if she hasn't already." A tiny sob escaped Octavia's quivering lip.
Bellamy sat still for a moment trying to comprehend what his sister was saying. She was leaving. She was in danger. And when she said We, she didn't mean him. He sat back hard on his haunches the air knocked out of him. His whole world crumbling.
The world continued to spin around them, oblivious to the tightening in his chest. Octavia laid bare everything that had be worrying her, everything that she'd been arguing about with Lincoln about. Everything that would tear his heart in two.
After the mountain Lincoln had been worried about what Lexa's next move would be. Even on the slopes of the mountain as her army was retreating he had heard mutterings about her decision to retreat. It was not the Grounder way. Blood for Blood was their way and her people wanted justice for Tondc. Many had muttered within his hearing about slinking away with their tails between their legs.
None of them had really understood what was happening to their people under the Mountain, it wasn't something Lexa had shared with her soldiers. What they'd seen was them blow up the door and breach the enemy's home. They'd been ready to fight. They'd watched in horror as people they thought were dead emerged from the mountain in a terrible condition, they'd cried for blood. And then the retreat had been sounded. They had obeyed, though it tasted bitter in their mouths.
They didn't owe the Skykru anything, but leaving an ally to fight what should be their fight, it made them angry. Even when they thought the Skykru were going to be slaughtered. But the Skykru had not been slaughtered. They'd beaten the mountain alone. The Skykru's strength made Lexa look weak.
Lincoln was convinced that the more the story of what had happened in the Mountain reached the clan leaders ears, the greater the anger against Lexa would grow. There were already mutterings amongst some that Lexa had let the bombs drop on Tondc and saved only herself. At the time those who suspected had been content to chalk it up to necessary strategy, and to take their revenge on the Mountain Men. But that revenge had been denied them, and now their anger festered unabated.
Indra had warned Lincoln in a clandestine meeting in the woods after she freed him. Lexa had faced this kind of threat to her leadership before and Indra felt sure her response would be as brutal this time. Despite disavowing Octavia, Indra cared too much for the Skygirl not to warn Lincoln. The Commander would have no choice but to wipe out anyone who could convincingly claim to know the truth of what happened in Tondc. Apparently she's already tried to have Octavia killed once to cover it up. Clarke had convinced Lexa not to try that again, but now Clarke and any leverage she had wielded was gone.
Bellamy's dark expression had become thunderous when he heard his sister's life was in danger. He had not thought his loathing for the Commander needed any fuel, but he was wrong. He burned with a fury that threatened to consume him. When Lincoln nonchalantly placed his hand on Bellamy's shoulder from behind to sit down next to him, he was startled by the menace with which Bellamy had uncoiled and turned to face him.
Lincoln backed away a step hands up. "I guess you didn't get to the part where Bellamy is the hero yet?" He asked raising an eyebrow at Octavia, trying to diffuse the situation.
But he had badly misjudged the Blake siblings mood. He would probably never understand what passed for humor between them. But the way Bellamy barrelled into him and began pounding him with his fists, was a sure indicator that now was not the time for funny. He didn't wish to hurt Bellamy so he quickly rolled to make space then planted a boot on Bellamy's chest allowing Lincoln to launch the distraught man through the air and watch has he splashed into the icy water of the stream.
Octavia had already run to position herself between them arms outstretched as Bellamy rose dripping from the water. His wet hair clinging to his brow.
"You stay away from my sister!" He yelled with a menace, pointing at Lincoln.
Octavia searched his face desperately then turned her back briefly, shaking her head. Lincoln backed away and then left stalking off into the forest, fists clenched, kicking a loose stone spinning towards Bellamy without even looking as he did so.
An hour later they were walking through a field of tall grass. Ben sat uneasily on the horse as Lincoln led them by a rope, attempting to teach the Arker to ride. His back was stiff and tense and Bellamy watched him bounce up and down with a rhythm that even to his untrained eye did not follow the gait of the horse. In front of him Bill and Mr Monty were still in deep discussion about plants, stopping occasionally to examine something, but never leaving the path the horse's passing trampled for them.
Octavia had been walking beside him silently since lunch, waiting for him to be ready to talk. Patience was a virtue Octavia had in abundance. Finally Bellamy stopped walking and turned to her. He pulled her into a big hug and whispered "I'm sorry." into her hair. She squeezed him back and then mock punched him in the ribs and turned to continue walking.
An arrow whistled through the air where Octavia's back had just been. Thudding into the ground between them with a loud Thwang. "Attack" Bellamy bellowed even as he dropped into the scant cover the high grass offered and raked his eyes over his surroundings. His knuckles turned white as they gripped the barrel of his gun, trying to control his breathing. He could see nothing but the distant trees and a sea of gently swaying grass. Octavia disappeared into that sea, body low, hugging the ground.
Then the sound of gunfire and a horse whinnying in fright filled the air. Followed by a yelp of pain and someone hitting the ground hard behind him. Bellamy turned to watch Lincoln dart into the grass following something only he could see.
A noise to the left made Bellamy's heads swing round and try to peer through the stalks. His heart was pounding in his throat his eyes darting in every direction and finding nothing and seeing nothing but grass all around. He suddenly felt like a trapped animal in a cage. A scuffling of feet, some thuds and grunts and then the softest sigh as air left lungs for the last time. Octavia had gone that way. Bellamy threw himself into the grass all thought of caution replaced by the terror that he had just heard his little sister leave the world.
A stone smacking into the back of his shoulder made him swing around gun raised. Octavia was crouched behind him in the path his panic had just created. Fingers to her lips she beckoned him to drop again and follow her. He let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding in a rasp and silently followed her back to the others, past the body of a large grounder with a red slash in his throat.
Lincoln's voice called out in the sky "Hold your fire.!" And then he appeared from behind them along the path they had made. He trotted up to them, blood on his arms and face but appearing unarmed.
"There were three of them. They had pictures of Bellamy and Octavia on them." He said pulling out the heavy paper.
"How do we know that there aren't more?" Bill asked. He was standing over the prone form of Ben, scanning the horizon nervously, while Mr Monty examined Ben's head.
"We don't! Not for sure." Lincoln answered, "But I couldn't find them and if we did miss one I doubt they'll risk attacking on their own."
Bill's jaw tightened and he rose scanning the horizon before starting to shoot into the grass around them in a sweeping pattern.
"Stop!" Lincoln yelled, "You'll hit the horse!" and before Bill could object Lincoln was running in the direction the horse had crashed through the grass leaving a clear trail to follow. Bill cursed colorfully, raising his gun into the air, and then roared spinning slowly with arms outstretched.
Octavia moved to in front of him with her arms across her chest and one eyebrow raised. When he turned to face her once more she quipped at him "Feeling better?", but she didn't wait for a reply, "Come on then, we've got a crazy grounder and a horse to follow." She glanced once over her shoulder at Ben, who Mr Monty had got to his feet, then strode off into the grass after Lincoln. As Bellamy who had moved to help support Ben watched her lead, head held high, shoulders back, he was reminded once again that she was not a little girl anymore.