Author's note: Thanks to everyone who is reading. Remember this was all imagined before season 3 aired. I'm just a little slow getting it finished. Nearly there. After watching last nights episode going back and double checking this one broke my heart. If only I had been right...

chp11 Bellamy under the Mountain

Lincoln's trail through the swaying grass led them to the base of a stone outcropping and what appeared to be the entrance to an abandoned mine. The sky was still clear and bright but he had begun to unload the packs from the horse. Bellamy watched Octavia walk up to him and they exchanged a brief moment of connection, holding each other's faces tenderly before she began to help him.

"We should stop here tonight." He said simply as he worked.

Bellamy wasn't in the mood to argue. He was still on edge after the attack. Carrying Ben through the grass after had left him feeling vulnerable. A defended camp right now sounded good. He was in no rush to get home if Octavia wasn't coming with him.

Mr Monty eyed the sky and looked across the landscape to where his son waited for him. Then he headed off in the direction of a copse to gather firewood. Lincoln exchanged another look with Octavia then followed him, crossbow in hand.

By the time Mr Monty returned with the wood all the tents had been popped up inside the mouth of the mine and an abandoned stone hearth repaired enough to be put to use. The Blakes had worked together, but silently. They only had one thing to talk about and neither wanted to start.

"I can still bounce the signal off the Agro Station if you want to use the radio." Ben announced. The side of his head was one large bruise. His left eye swollen and only partially open.

In the shadow of the mountain their signal couldn't travel directly to Camp Jaha as there was no direct line of sight. But now with repeater stations on the Argo and the Boat their range of communication had increased vastly. A signal to Agro could bounce to the boat and then to Mountain and finally down to camp Jaha. The world had suddenly become much smaller, thanks to Wick. His knowledge and expertise was a grave loss to the people. Bellamy only hoped that Raven would be able to hold it together long enough to pass on her knowledge to the next generation.

Mr Monty jumped for the radio and moved a short distance away so that he could talk with his son privately. Bellamy glanced at him occasionally as he constructed the fire. His face was worn and worried looking. His tone soothing. He appeared to be trying to calm whoever was on the other end down. His face grew tense and pale as he walked back to the camp.

"Kane needs to speak with you." He said holding the radio out to Bellamy.

Grounders had come to the camp looking for Lincoln. They hadn't believed he wasn't there. The Commander demanded that he be handed over to face punishment as a traitor. A small army of about fifty warriors had been left behind outside their walls. Indra was leading them. Indra had proclaimed that they would not move. Kane was audibly at a loss to be back in the same situation once again.

To Bellamy's surprise Lincoln had looked pleased when he heard this.

"She's giving us some time to leave. The main force of her command will be parked outside the base while we escape." Lincoln had explained. "Don't worry she won't attack, she'd have done it already."

Kane was relieved to hear Lincoln's assessment but his actual words passed through Bellamy without comprehension. Bellamy handed the radio to Bill who was motioning to take it and felt a lump rise in his throat as he tried to form coherent thoughts.

Finally he turned to Lincoln and asked. "Where are you going to go?"

Lincoln looked to Octavia before answering. "To the coast. Lexa will not follow us there. The boat people are not part of the 12 clans. I thought we would spend as much time as possible fishing. At least until there is a new commander."

Bellamy was surprised. "What do you mean a new Commander?"

Lincoln pursed his lips before going on as if it still made him uncomfortable to share information about the Grounders with the Sky People. But eventually he continued.

"I think the Commander has overstretched herself. She used the threat of the Mountain Men to force the tribes into this alliance. But now that they have been eliminated I don't know how she can hold them together. She will face enemies from within now. Perhaps the alliance will fail entirely and there will be no more Commanders."

Mr Monty who had stayed to listen and get the fire going sat back on part of an old tree trunk raising his hands to the fire. It crackled and hissed as it gained strength. "But aren't we the big bad now?" He asked. "Aren't we the Mountain Men?"

Lincoln looked suddenly shocked and wary. He shuffled on his spot and turned to glare at the older man. "And what exactly is it you intend to do to my people that would make you their enemy?"

Mr Monty raised a placating hand. "We don't have to do anything. All your commander has to do is plant fear of the idea that we might do something. From what I understand your people were ready to wipe out Camp Jaha just because it existed. They don't seem to need a lot of reasons to pick a fight."

The energy went out of Lincoln's body and he slumped down into himself in a way that Bellamy had never seen before. He looked defeated. Octavia approached with a pot of food to reheat and placed it above the fire. Seeing Lincoln she knelt in front of him and placed both hands on the back of his neck. Then rested her brow on his down turned head. She glared at Bellamy as if he had done something wrong. In time Lincoln uncoiled and wrapped his arms around her. Burying his head in the nape of her neck. Then he got up and walked into the mouth of the abandoned mine.

Mr Monty got up and busied himself making tea and storing plants he had collected on their trek. The two Blake's sat alone staring into the fire. As they sat watching the food Bellamy jabbed his sister's knee with his finger.

"How come you didn't ask me to come with you?" He asked picking up a dead branch and adding it to the flames.

Octavia looked at him sideways. Suddenly hopeful. "Would you come?" She asked, eyebrow cocked.

But Bellamy's expression told her everything she had already known. Bellamy wouldn't leave, couldn't leave. He felt a huge responsibility for the delinquents who had crashed to earth with him. More surprisingly she knew he felt the weight of the rest of the Skykru on his shoulders too.

Not for the first time Octavia wondered what their life might have been like if they had broken away from the rest at the very start like he had planned to. Or even later if they had both snuck away with Lincoln to the sea when he had first asked her to escape with him. Maybe if she had been able to convince Bellamy to come with them.

But even then she had known he wouldn't. Just as he wouldn't now. The irony was that it was Clarke Griffin who had started him down this path and she had left when things got too tough. For a moment she wondered if Clarke had asked Bellamy to go with her, if he would have gone if she had.

"I didn't think so." She said finally. Stoically.

He moved or she moved, but they were in each other's arms, heads buried in each other's necks, both crying. Neither trying to be brave. The pain in their chests crushing the ability to breathe into heart wrenching sobs. But for all that they were human they were also Blakes. Too soon they had regained control and sat once again stoically by the fire. Shoulders and thighs pressed together in unity, but betraying no other signs of weakness. Together.

Eventually Bellamy rose and set up some wood targets and demonstrated how to shoot. Bill looked on appreciatively for a bit and then joined in with the lesson. Showing Octavia how to stand. Bellamy went over the care of a handgun with her and dug out extra rounds of ammunition.

Bellamy had no idea how long Lincoln had been observing them from the mouth of the mine. As he stalked towards their makeshift range Bellamy was prepared for him to start objecting to Octavia holding a gun. But he lithely swung his hand low to the ground and scooped up a handgun from Bob's pack before joining them. His face grim but determined.

"I thought Grounders didn't like guns?" Bellamy asked calmly.

Lincoln snorted and spat on the Ground. "That was only a Mountain Man rule designed to keep us down and afraid. The Mountain Men are gone and I will not stay down any longer. I belong to no one but her," he said indicating Octavia. A fire lit his eyes as he continued, "and I will keep her safe."

Bellamy simply nodded and began to teach. Lincoln was infuriatingly good in very little time. But Bellamy was too glad to be very jealous. He was happy for Lincoln to be the biggest baddest dog. He was the one watching Octavia's back.

Octavia was a diligent student, but it would take many more hours of practice before she'd be deadlier with her gun than she was with her knives.

As they sat eating their last meal together as a family Bellamy and Octavia made strained jibes at each other. Lincoln and she would be heading into the mines tonight. There was no point waiting for dawn. Indra was buying them some time and they needed to make the most of it. Besides Lincoln figured it would make it easier for the horse to enter the tunnel if it was dark outside. Thanks to Lincoln's time as a reaper he knew a route through that would help them avoid most of Lexa's scouts.

When Bellamy's group reached the Ark they would tell Indra's army that Lincoln and Octavia had continued North after they reached the Last station. Indra could then tell this to the commander in good faith. Everyone promised not to speak of their true destination.

As they were parting Bellamy tried to convince them to take a radio. But Lincoln refused. They'd never be able to conceal something so large, it would give them away. Eventually there was nothing more to say or do.

Bellamy wrapped his arms around his little sister and crushed her to him. Memorizing everything about her. How tall she had grown. How strongly she was hugging him back. How her hair smelled inexplicably floral, though it looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks. When he pulled away he held her face in his hands, remembering the day he had first seen those big beautiful eyes looking up at him. His heart was broken. His thumb idly wiped away a silent tear that rolled down her cheek.

"I love you. I always will. Always. It doesn't matter what happens. It doesn't matter what you do. I will always love you. You can always come home." His voice cracked on the last word and he placed a sloppy kiss on her forehead.

"I love you too Bellamy. Always." She said, softly, placing her hands over his.

Then together, as if they had rehearsed this parting a hundred times they whispered to each other.

"May we meet again."

His hands dropped. Octavia kissed him once on the cheek then turned to follow Lincoln and the horse into the mine shaft past their tents. The darkness swallowing her disappearing silhouette too soon. But still Bellamy stood staring in the direction his heart had gone until eventually Mr Monty decided it was time to drag him away with some pretext of a problem.

That night sleep was elusive for Bellamy as he pictured Octavia walking the underworld with Lincoln. In the tent beside him Mr Monty snored loudly. He grasped an old picture of himself, his wife Hannah and a baby Monty to his chest. They looked happy. Outside the wind had picked up and Bellamy felt a chill through to his soul as he listened to it howling through the mouth of the mine chasing Octavia.