Disclaimer: I don't own The 100.
If nothing else, at least the wall is getting built.
Three days have passed since the trip to find Jasper. Camp is beginning to look less and less like a crash site and more like an actual settlement. They've set up tents, they've built mounds for guards so they can see into the woods from higher grounds. The seats from the drop ship are all scattered around the fire pits, distinct paths winding through whatever debris hasn't been cleared out. And maybe Billie detests Bellamy and everything he stands for, but for the moment, things are quiet, and for the most part, he isn't doing half bad.
In a sick way, Billie thinks its Jasper's screams that have been motivating them.
A mixture of sweat and water slides down her face as Billie wipes some of the grime away, dipping her hands into the basin again and splashing her face. She hunches over for a minute, her head lowered as she lets her eyes hang shut. Her body is drained completely. Nobody's eaten a substantial meal all day.
Shoulders dig her to the side before Billie can see them coming, and she stumbles back to a full stand, regaining her footing. She turns with a hard glare to the boy that shoved her, some idiot named Dax, but he just looks at her evenly, a triumphant sneer on his lips, "My bad, Kane. Maybe you shouldn't stand in the way next time."
"Shut up, Dax," Billie mutters, not interested in taking the asshole's bait. Wiping her hands on her pants, she shoves past him, stalking back to the portion of the wall she's been assigned to.
Her raw hands are stained with dirt, they have been for days. Billie packs the soil into the base of the wall, fitting it around scrap metal and logs alike as securely as she can.
"Billie, over here," Clarke's voice calls.
The brunette takes the distraction gratefully, turning away from the wall to meet her friend halfway. "Hey, do you need something?" she asks, trying not to feel too hopeful.
Clarke nods, eyeing Billie's progress on the wall. "Listen, I'm taking Wells and Finn back to that stream we found. You know how the grounders covered Jasper's wound with that material?" she asks, raising her eyebrows, "It's seaweed. If we want Jasper's conditions to improve, we're going to need some more."
"Yeah, definitely," Billie agrees, leaning back to swipe her jacket off the ground. She folds it across her arms, frowning, "What can I do?"
"Right now, it's just Octavia and Monty up there with Jasper. We shouldn't be gone for long, but we need to make sure nobody tries anything," she says, "Just… Would you stay up there and keep an eye on them?"
"Yeah, I got it," Billie nods, glancing back to her post. No one's going to care if she leaves. "Good luck out there, Clarke."
It only takes her a minute or two to reach the top floor of the drop ship, weaving through the sparse crowd on the bottom floors to get to the ladders. No one stops her, but she does get a few doubtful glares, which seem to follow her almost everywhere she goes. She's learning to ignore them.
When she finally swings the latch open, she finds Octavia sitting by Jasper's cot, dabbing his sweaty forehead with a rag. It doesn't look like Monty's making any progress.
"Hey," Billie says, tugging her jacket over her shoulders. She takes a few steps towards Jasper and murmurs, "How's he doing?"
"He'll be fine," Octavia says, and Billie doesn't need to look in her eyes to see how serious she is. Billie licks her lips and nods, glancing over to Monty.
"Yeah, I know," is all she says. "Clarke's gonna help him."
Monty sighs in response. Billie settles down on the floor, a decent distance between both the hatch and Jasper's cot. "So what are you here for?" Octavia asks after a second, hardly glancing in her direction.
"Just to stay with you guys," Billie answers after a second of deliberation. She doesn't think Octavia would respond well to Clarke's concerns. With a shrug, she adds, "Jasper's my friend, too."
The girl seems to accept this answer, sweeping a short glance in Billie's direction to nod.
"Any luck?" she turns to Monty.
"None at all," he remarks bitterly. He takes up the excuse for a break, leaning back to cross his arms, and shakes his head at the makeshift workspace in front of him. "Everything I try, it just doesn't amount to anything."
"Hey, stop," Billie says firmly, kicking out her legs, "If anyone's gonna make it work, it's you. You're our best shot at this."
"Yeah," Monty shakes his head, "It would just be nice if I knew the first thing about this."
"Ark's fault, not yours," she responds quickly. And, really, it is their fault. Maybe the drop ship mission was only a desperate step towards lessening population, but would it have hurt for them to give more preparation?
"Somehow I can't see your dad not telling you about this," Monty says cautiously, risking a glance over.
Billie just shakes her head. She's already thought about this plenty. Marcus was never timely about sharing details, and he'd practically spent the last year evading questions about work. Just because she hates the situation doesn't mean she blames him. "Yeah, well. He didn't," she responds, gazing down at her wristband.
"If you weren't in for treason like Clarke," Octavia finally speaks up, "Then what was it?"
Billie's already heard her story of arrest floating around. Criminal records were never secrets on the Ark, and somehow the news must have reached the Sky Box. She doesn't see a point in being ashamed of something she didn't do.
"I got mistaken for a murderer," she replies drily, remembering Nate's theory of a frame job. After a second, she thinks to ask, "Hey, what about you, Monty?"
Behind her, Octavia snorts, clearly already having been filled in. Billie just looks at him expectantly, while he tries to shrug it off. "Uh, we produced some illegal substances," he mutters.
"Monty Carlos Green!" she bursts, laughing in disbelief.
The boy grins bashfully down at the desk, attempting to shrug with his hands full of wires. "It was Jasper's idea first," he defends himself.
Billie rests her head against the wall behind her, letting her laughter die as she glances over to an unresponsive Jasper. Even Octavia, despite herself, has a fond smile on her face as she dabs at his forehead. Conversation is light afterwards. Billie convinces Monty to start working again, and they share stories from their year apart. Every time they near the topic of Jasper, they both scramble to shift the conversation away.
"Wait," Octavia says suddenly, and Billie and Monty stop talking slowly. The girl stands slowly, frowning at the floor. Below them, a muffled commotion is only growing louder.
"What do you think is going on?" Monty asks.
The hatch flies open quickly, and Billie straightens rigidly, her hand finding her hip where her knife is. Jumping to her feet, she demands, "Hey, what are you doing up here?"
The boy doesn't respond. Head after head pops up from the ladder, footsteps slamming against the floor as the drop ship is flooded. Billie just spins around in confusion while Octavia and Monty guard Jasper the best they can. No one even gives the boy a second glance.
A girl snaps one of the opened vents shut, her shirt pulled over her nose. Billie steps over, "What are you doing?"
"Air got toxic, everybody's skin started burning," someone else answers.
The entire drop ship rocks to the side, and Billie hears a giant click. They shut the doors. Eyes wide, she looks to Monty and Octavia, but they both look bewildered. "My brother's out there," Octavia says to them, her eyebrows creased.
So are Clarke and Finn. And Nate – she has no idea what he's working on today, where he is. How the hell does the air turn toxic on its own, and out of nowhere?
Blinking rapidly, she looks up, staring between Monty and Octavia. "He'll be fine," she says to the other girl, who just clamps her jaw and swallows thickly. They all glance down to Jasper, and Billie stows her knife back in the waistband of her jeans, finishing, "We'll all be fine."
Hours have passed, and by now, Jasper's awake. Along with everyone else who's trying to sleep through the fog.
"What are they gonna do?" Octavia mutters suddenly.
Billie looks over from her position on the floor. Jasper is writhing on his cot, his chest heaving. All Octavia can do is wipe the sweat away and grip his hand.
"Who are we talking about?" Billie asks carefully.
"My brother," the girl says, hardly looking over at her.
Billie doesn't think Octavia trusts easily. But at the moment, they're all the company available, and both of them are up here with Jasper for the same reason. They have common ground, and after hours of sitting in the dark, it seems like Octavia is ready to take the first step.
"I'm sure there's plenty of shelter in the woods," Billie sighs as soon as Jasper finishes this round of groaning. "When it's safe to come back, they will."
There's a long pause, and Octavia gets to her feet. She dumps her rag into the bucket of water and wrings it out, washing blood away from her hands before making her way back to Jasper's bedside. They make eye contact for a second, and Octavia comments, "Clarke better get here soon."
Monty is rushing up the ladder before Billie can voice her agreement. "Murphy's gonna kill Jasper!" he yells, stumbling onto the floor.
Billie's exhaustion edges away immediately, and she jolts into a stand, looking between where Monty is struggling to close the hatch and Murphy's arms, which are pulling him up. Octavia lurches forward, her boot and his face colliding with a crunch. Billie hears stumbling, and Murphy disappears, allowing Monty to slam the hatch shut. "The lock's on the other side," he breathes, and Billie's hair stands on end.
"Shit," she hisses, spinning in a circle. "Don't let him in!"
"Trying not to," Monty grits out. Billie doesn't turn around, but she can tell from Murphy's yelling and the sounds of a struggle that Octavia and Monty are physically holding the door shut. It might not last.
"Billie, there!" Octavia shouts, pointing with her boot.
She crosses the room in an instant. There's some sort of stick or lever in the wall, not that she has time to wonder what it's used for, and she digs her heels into the floor. With all of her strength, she tugs at it, but yanking a metal pipe out of a wall isn't as easy as it may seem.
"No rush," Monty calls desperately, "We're fine over here -"
The pipe comes free suddenly, and Billie straightens, heaving, "I got it!"
"Move it," Octavia says, scrambling away as Billie stumbles over to it. Monty rolls off just in time for her to shove the pipe across the hatch, locking it into place. She keeps her hands tight around it, but it only rattles as Murphy pushes against it.
"Open this goddamn hatch right now!" Murphy's screams are muddled.
Jasper moans again, his voice rising into a short shout this time. She looks over her shoulder and meets Octavia's eyes. They're all breathing heavily, and Billie winces, cursing under her breath. Monty dives over to Jasper's side, but there's nothing they can do.
They're stuck on this cramped floor with a mortally wounded friend, and the only thing keeping the murderous boy downstairs away is a makeshift lock on the door.
Billie falls away from the hatch slightly, but her hands don't leave the pipe. Below her, Murphy slams the hatch again, but it doesn't give. She hangs her head.
They're screwed.
Jasper makes it through the day without dying. That, alone, is a miracle.
After what happened with Murphy, Billie doesn't dare to leave the drop ship. She, Octavia, and Monty all take turns sleeping, and even Jasper dozes off here and there. He isn't getting any worse, but he certainly isn't improving.
And she hates that her hopes are dwindling, but she doesn't have a reason to look up. Night has fallen for a second time since Clarke left on her search for medicine, and the acid fog has been cleared up all day. So where the hell are they?
Billie isn't sure who shouts up to tell them that everyone's back. Without a word, Octavia shoots downstairs like a rocket. Monty and Billie exchange a glance, and she moves to stand over the now freely opened hatch.
Clarke's face is the next one she sees. "Oh, thank god," Billie breathes, stepping out of her way. "Are you guys okay?"
The blonde brushes her arm against Billie's as a way of greeting. Straight to business, she says, "The fog held us up. Is he having any new symptoms?"
"None," Monty supplies, anticipation in his eyes.
Clarke dumps her bag onto the ground, reaching in to draw out some sort of spindly red material. She explains that they need to make a tea, and Monty runs off to find water.
Billie helps sort through the seaweed with her friend, picking apart the plant and grabbing the loose pipe from yesterday so she can help mash it up. "What happened out there?" she asks eventually, stealing a glance over at Clarke. The blonde hasn't made more eye contact than necessary tonight.
She barely glances up from her work, "Well, the fog -"
"Clarke," Billie stops her. She doesn't doubt that she'll hear the full story from rumors flying around camp tomorrow, but she wants to talk about whatever's bothering her friend. And from the looks of it, it's serious. "Not what I meant."
Blue eyes look up pointedly, and Clarke turns back to the seaweed. "Everything's fine, Billie."
"Something's wrong," she corrects.
Clarke sighs, but doesn't stop working, "Atom got trapped in the fog. There was nothing I could have done to help him."
Billie licks her lips, unsure of how to feel. She thinks to the way the boy always followed Bellamy around, and then to Octavia. She doesn't want to ask how it happened, how long he was out there for. She never knew him, so it doesn't feel right to mourn. But she can sympathize. "That's horrible."
In response, Clarke says, "Hand me the pipe."
She does as asked, but she isn't done prying. "Is that all?"
Clarke doesn't answer for a while, but Billie doesn't concern herself with that. She works in silence, waiting patiently, and when Clarke finally speaks, it's to say, "I don't know that Wells actually got my father floated."
Billie stops. "What?"
Clarke looks up briefly, her eyes sad. By now, Billie has been all caught up with the chronicles of her friend's supposed 'treason,' Wells' betrayal, and her father's floating. Everything was firmly clicked in place, and now Clarke is scrambling the pieces again. Billie can tell her friend has been thinking about this for too long, has considered every possible option. And it's dragging her down.
The girl raises her eyebrows, shaking her head minutely and sighing, "Well, he was the only one I told. Just not the only one who knew."
Billie doesn't know what to say, but when Monty scrambles up the stairs with a fresh bucket of water, Finn and Octavia in his wake, the entire conversation is dropped. And really, she wouldn't know what to say in the first place.
Now that they have everything, Clarke can efficiently make the tea. There's no sign that she and Billie were just talking about the one thing that plagues the medic the most. She pours the liquid down Jasper's throat, tugging the blanket up around his shoulders.
What seems like hours later, Billie is leaning back and trying not to watch Octavia blink heatedly at Atom's mention. The girl says, "I guess we're gonna have to get used to people dying down here, aren't we?"
Billie sighs to herself. It's a truth they're all coming to terms with.
"But not you," Octavia says to Jasper. She leans forward and cups his face, "You hear me? You're not allowed to die."
Billie looks to Monty on her left, and all the way to Clarke on her right. As she watches Octavia's words sink in, she thinks that it should be the same for everyone in this room. She doesn't want any of them to die.
Finn tells the story of getting trapped in an automobile, pulling out a bottle that he claims is filled with whiskey. "I think we should drink to Jasper," he suggests, looking between everyone.
Billie is settled down on the floor a few paces from where Finn holds the alcohol. Clarke leaves not long after without much of an excuse, but Billie knows she's going to talk to Wells. She just hopes the truth is worth it. She smiles at Clarke as she goes, and in return, her friends tightly closed lips upturn a bit.
"Hand me that whiskey, huh?" she says to Finn, her eyebrows raised.
The boy grins, reaching forward, and she snatches the bottle from his grasp. It's only filled halfway now, but it'll do the trick. She screws the lid off and takes a swig, concealing her cringe as the sour liquid burns at her throat. "Strong stuff," she notes.
Monty is looking at her with his eyebrows raised, but he finally grins, "My turn."
Billie climbs to her feet, passing the flask to Monty as she passes him. "I need some fresh air. Be back later," she says. Octavia and Monty send her off with short good-byes. With a lingering glance towards Jasper's sleeping face, she lowers herself down the hatch.
They've moved Atom's body, and Billie is glad. She doesn't want to see the damage.
And as far as she's concerned, the fog hasn't cost them anyone else. Clarke would have told her, she thinks. But she needs to make sure.
Billie stalks around camp for a few minutes, keeping to the shadows. It doesn't seem like much has changed. She passes where Bellamy is briefing his men, and Mbege eyes her wristband. She scowls at him, and then at Murphy, who stays silent. His eyes speak louder than words, though, and his eyes say that he wants to kill her.
Nate isn't with them. She pulls away without a second glance, keeping her head up as she weaves between campfires.
Panic begins to force urgency into her walk, but before she can have a meltdown, she notices him sitting on a tree stump. He's alone, for once not hanging around Bellamy, focusing intently as he sharpens his knife. She stops walking and stands there, unsure of what to do.
Nate notices her pretty quickly, and looks up. His eyes don't betray anything as he bites out, "What do you want?"
Billie stares at him for a few seconds, but there's nothing to be said. So she shakes her head and turns away, ducking out of sight at the first opportunity.
Clarke falls into step next to her before she even comes up with a destination, and she looks over to the blonde, "Hey. You two talked?"
Her eyes are still a little puffy. She sighs, "Yeah. It was my mom all along." They walk behind the cover of some empty tents, most of the hundred relishing in the fresh air after a full day of being stuck in the drop ship. The girl morosely adds, "He let me hate him, Billie."
"Hey," Billie soothes, putting her hand on Clarke's arm, "It's over, Clarke. You're allowed to have your best friend back now."
"And what about my mom?" she asks. It must take a lot of effort to keep the bitterness out of her voice, Billie thinks.
"I don't know," Billie says truthfully. She isn't sure there could ever be a good enough reason for Abby to turn Clarke's dad in. She isn't sure that Clarke should forgive her. She just isn't sure about any of it. "I'm sorry."
Clarke nods, smiling sadly in thanks. Billie returns it hesitantly. The blonde clears up her throat, asking, "What about you?"
"What about me?" Billie raises her eyebrows.
"I just never got to ask how you're doing with everything," Clarke says carefully.
"Oh. Yeah, I don't know," she answers seriously, glancing to the dirt beneath her feet. "I'm worried, I guess."
"Aren't we all," the other girl sighs.
There isn't really a need to elaborate, but Billie hasn't had many chances to vent, so she continues, "I mean, my dad is up there dying slowly on the Ark, for all I know. And they probably don't even think the ground is survivable. If one more person takes off their goddamn wristband…"
Clarke sighs, "Trust me, I know. I saw that Miller took his off."
Billie's face falls, and she shakes her head, "We fought about it. Doesn't seem like we'll be talking anytime soon."
They stand in silence for a while. No one really bothers them. "What the hell are we gonna do," Billie eventually mutters.
Clarke's gaze slides over to hers, and she smiles gently, saying decisively, "The best we can do now is get back to Jasper. You coming?"
Billie isn't expecting Jasper to be awake when they arrive upstairs. Her gaze only sweeps over his pale, clammy face to make sure he's still there, and then she's looking to everyone else. His voice catches her completely off guard. "Was that a dream, or… did I get speared?"
Billie's chokes back a yelp, spinning to stare at the boy. Clarke takes the development in strides, laughing. "You'll have a very impressive scar to prove it."
Jasper looks over to them weakly, a smile lighting up his exhausted face. "Hey! My savior," he mumbles, and then his eyes shift to Billie. His eyebrows raise, and he squints, mumbling fondly, "And look who it is."
She just grins happily at him, shaking her head.
"Thank you," Clarke smiles warmly at him, "For not dying. I don't think I could've taken that today."
"Well. I'll try not to die tomorrow, too, if that's cool," Jasper says, and they all laugh. Billie drops onto the floor next to Monty, realizing that her eyes are wet.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think.
Also, Nessamir, if you see this: I definitely see your point! Billie could have never imagined any of the things they're dealing with on the ground, and so it's taking her a little while to adapt. She definitely will grow into her role with the hundred, though! I wouldn't consider her to be a real leader like Clarke or Bellamy (especially in the beginning), but she definitely has survival instincts that will start to kick in pretty soon. Anyway, thank you so much for reviewing! I'm glad you like it :)