Disclaimer: Refer to the Pilot.
Fallen
How did I get here?
The words kept repeating in Bellamy Blake's mind as he sat on the cold, dark floor of the cave, alone and afraid. He kept replaying every memory he had in his head, from the day he stepped foot on the ground to when his sister drugged him and chained him to the cave floor. How did he get here, alone and afraid, not sure if the people he loved were still alive?
At a time unknown to him, the question began to fade from his mind and instead was replaced by the sounds of footsteps drawing closer and closer to him. At first, he was confused - possibly delirious considering his dehydration at the time. Then, he turned his head when he was sure the sounds were footsteps, and sure enough he saw Harper and Miller round the corner of the entrance to the cave, a solemn look on his face.
Bellamy's heart skipped a beat as he rose from the ground, desperately searching each people's faces as they walked into the cave. Bryan. Sinclair. Marcus Kane. Alessia Kane. Octavia Blake.
He felt his heart give a sigh of relief when he saw them all, alive and well. That's when he remembered, however, that there were no more people walking through the cave.
"Where's Lincoln?" Bellamy asked aloud, his voice slightly hoarse partially from the dehydration and partially from his fear of the question he asked. He directed the question to his sister, who stood at the opposite end of the cave with her back to him.
"Pike put a bullet in his brain," Octavia replied shortly, but then sucked in a deep breath to fight back the tears she had expelled all while they walked from Arkadia to the cave.
Bellamy's stomach sank to the ground, and he could feel the tears threaten at the corners of his eyes as he realized what he'd done. He stepped forward to her, begging.
"O...O, I am so sorry..."
He moved closer to her, as far as his tether would let him, but before he could say anything more the younger Blake whipped around as fast as lightning and threw a solid punch to his jaw. Bellamy blew back. When he returned his head to look at his sister, all he could see was the rage in her eyes.
She threw another punch, harder this time. Alessia watched from a spot of light in the cave, her arms crossed over her chest, silently contemplating what to do. Her father, however, thought it best to intervene.
"Octavia, that's enough," Kane commanded sternly. To Alessia's surprise, Bellamy snapped his head up to meet her father's eyes with blood dripping from the cuts on his cheeks thanks to Octavia's handiwork.
"Kane," he snarled, "stay out of this."
Alessia stepped forward just as Octavia resumed punching Bellamy, more forceful this time. She could see her father begin to strike, but instead she laid a hand on his forearm and gripped it tightly. Kane turned sharply to look at his daughter, who shook her head.
"No. Let her do this," Alessia murmured, throwing back a look to the fighting siblings in the middle of the cave. Kane tsked and shook his arm off of Alessia's grasp, frustratedly turning away because he could bear no more of the ugly scene.
Octavia managed to get more punches in, throwing Bellamy around almost like a rag doll. The altercation became too much for Miller, who exhaled shakily and moved to step between them.
"Stop, that's enough," he tried, reaching to grab Octavia's elbow to gently pull her away. Instead, Octavia shoved him back with a loud protest, which resembled somewhat of a sob. Bryan caught Miller as he fumbled, but as Miller moved to interfere again, Bellamy shouted.
"Miller, back off!" The chained prisoner was soaked in his own blood, the substance dripping from every curve of his face and the inside of his mouth. It was truly horrifying, but Octavia hadn't finished yet. Her cries became more prominent as she screamed, punching him two more times; each strikes hard enough that the older Blake sibling fell to the floor, defeated.
Alessia could see the contemplation of more in Octavia's eyes, and that's when she decided that she could face no more. Octavia raised her fist again, but it was shaking this time. Instead of her hand swinging down to connect with Bellamy's face, Alessia caught it mid-air, pulling the wrist down to her chest. Octavia did not fight her. The tears streamed steadily down her flushed cheeks.
"He's not worth it," Alessia whispered indifferently, feeling Octavia's body tremble violently beside her. Octavia stared into Alessia's eyes for a moment, with a look that could only begin to describe how much pain she was truly in. Through her sobs, she turned back to Bellamy. He rolled over on the floor and looked up at his sister, hoping for forgiveness. Instead, the brunette teenager snarled at him.
"You're dead to me."
She fought out of Alessia's grasp and turned away, letting her words steep in Bellamy's mind. He watched through blurred vision as his sister stormed away from him and his ex-girlfriend stood above him with a cold indifference in her eyes. He fought back the tears that stung the corners of his swollen lids.
How did I get here?
"I say we run two-man patrols, round the clock, starting now."
"We'll do that, but we should be safe here. The Grounder blockade's too close for Pike to risk looking for us," Kane explained to the group of fugitives huddled in a circle underneath the natural skylight at one end of the cave. A few feet away from them all, Bellamy listened in. Alessia stood in the opposite corner, watching not only her group of allies beside her, but the traitor chained in the corner. He was acutely aware of her gaze, which felt like a thousand daggers to his skull.
"Yeah, but are we safe from the blockade?" Bryan countered.
Marcus Kane nodded. "As long as we stay this side of the line, we should be."
"They're Grounders," Bryan replied, with a hint of irritation in his voice. "You really think they're gonna play by the rules?"
"Hey," Miller began, throwing a cautious look to his boyfriend, "Pike will want you dead now, too. We take him out, we can go home."
"We take him out, then the Grounders lift the blockade," Harper finished the train of thought. Kane nodded again beside her.
"That's right. We become the thirteenth clan again. Those were the terms."
Sinclair titled his head to the side with a slight disbelief. "Lexa's terms. If what Bellamy says is true and she's dead, how do we know the next Commander will honor them?"
"One problem at a time," Kane replied.
"What about Clarke?" Miller asked from his corner, leaning forward on his knees. "With Lexa gone, she's not safe at Polis."
Marcus opened his mouth to say something, but instead Octavia looked up suddenly with an agitation in her voice.
"Clarke made her choice." Octavia slammed her weapon into the ground, where it clanged. "The only thing that matters now is killing Pike."
From behind the thin moss curtain, Bellamy felt his shoulders drop as he heard the anger and betrayal in his sister's voice. Her tone was rougher and dirtier than it had ever been, definitely out for blood. Did he blame her? No.
"Octavia's right. Once we resume our place in the Commander's coalition, Clarke will be safe."
Alessia snapped out of her own head long enough to sigh and move herself from the corner of the cave to stand next to her father and engage herself in the conversation.
"So, what's the plan, then? How do we take the son of a bitch out and hand him over?"
Before anyone could answer her, there was a static sound on the radio beside Sinclair. A voice emerged from the crackling noise.
"Bellamy, come in. It's Monty, I'm in trouble. Please say you still have your radio."
Marcus reached out for the radio, but Sinclair held a cautious hand up.
"If we respond and Pike's listening..."
"Go to channel seven." Everyone, with the exception of his sister, turned and looked at him when Bellamy interjected. "'Please say you still have your radio.' That's seven words after the word 'trouble'."
Alessia scoffed, but it sounded more like a disbelieving laugh. "And we're just supposed to take your word for it?"
Despite his best intentions, it was clear to Bellamy that everyone was skeptical of his intentions; Alessia most prominently. Rightly so. He sighed heavily and reassured, "It's code, go to seven."
In a desperate attempt to make himself trustworthy, he locked eyes with Marcus to ensure that he was not lying. Marcus, who for some reason believed in the kid, gave Sinclair a nod of approval. Sinclair reluctantly switched the radio and handed it off to Marcus, but not before Alessia's mouth turned down into a disapproving grimace and she turned around, shaking her head in dismay.
"Monty, it's Kane. What's wrong?"
"Pike knows that I helped you get out."
And just like that, it felt as if all the air in the cave had been sucked out of the room. Bellamy lowered his head, his chest aching. What a mess.
Alessia turned around quickly and snatched the radio out of Kane's hand before he had time to process what was happening. She wasted no time in responding, still the only person in the room on her feet.
"Monty, it's Alessia. Can you get to the drop ship?"
"I think so."
"Good. Go there. I'll come and get you. Stay off the radio. Over and out."
Alessia tossed the radio back to Sinclair as Harper exclaimed, "Hold on! What if it's a trap and Pike's waiting."
"Exactly why I'm going alone and you're all staying here," Alessia replied nonchalantly, bracing herself to leave the cave. Before she could, her father stood up and held out a hand in front of her, stopping her in her tracks.
"Wait, hold on! You're not going alone."
"Yes. I am."
"Like hell you are," Octavia concurred, her deep voice reflecting not that of a concerned friend but that of an angry, vengeful girl.
"I'm with Octavia. Monty saved our lives, I'm going too." Miller stood up, adjusting his weaponry to reflect his declaration. Marcus turned around and shook his head.
"No you're not. If it is a trap, I'm not marching our entire insurgency into it."
Alessia cocked an eyebrow. "You're not marching anyone into anything. What part of 'alone' was not clear?"
"Alessia Kane, there is no way in hell I'm going to let my daughter walk into a potential trap by herself. Either I'm coming with you or you're not going at all," Marcus snapped. Sighing, Alessia backed off.
"Fine."
"Well to stop me, you're gonna have to kill me," Octavia warned to them both, causing the two Kanes to turn around and look at the seriousness of her declaration in their eyes. Although the two of them did not think it would be hard to subdue her, it was no use.
"She hopes it's a trap." The comment came from Bellamy, who seemed to want to get in on the conversation. Instead of replying to him, Alessia let out a long-winded sigh and shrugged quickly.
"Whatever. We don't have time to argue." Alessia brushed past her father's shoulders and stopped in front of Octavia, gesturing backwards to the prisoner in the corner. "We're bringing him, too. We'll need a hostage to trade for Monty if it's a trap. He stays chained. And let's gag him."
Bellamy locked eyes with Alessia and felt the coldness of her gaze again. He shivered; it was not a sight he wanted to get used to seeing.
From beside her, Miller objected. "Um...Alessia...with all due respect..."
"He's the enemy," Marcus interrupted, stepping in for his daughter with a stern look towards Miller and Bellamy simultaneously. "Do what she said."
With Bellamy leading the three insurgents, acting in the place of a shield, Marcus, Alessia, and Octavia hesitantly walked into the perimeter of the drop ship. With senses and eyes alert, they watched their surroundings to find any sign of a trap. Unusually, everything was quiet. For a split moment, Alessia let herself think about the last time she was at the drop ship: the night Finn turned himself in. The ground was still burned from the explosion that landed her and Clarke in Mount Weather, separated from Bellamy and Finn.
"Monty?" Kane shouted, the barrel of his gun pointed at the back of Bellamy's head. Octavia was standing behind his left shoulder, braced in her stance for any threat. Alessia's gun was firmly suited to her hand, cocked at their surroundings to protect them from any unwanted guests. Kane received no answer to his call.
"We got here first," he stated aloud, but something didn't feel right. Suddenly, as they were inching forward, Octavia reached over and grabbed Bellamy firmly by his jacket collar.
"No we didn't!"
"What are you doing?" Kane hissed.
"Get outside! Now!" Octavia shouted, a sword placed firmly at Bellamy's throat with one hand on his shoulder, leading him forward with her. Kane and Alessia both pointed their guns forward towards the drop ship entrance, still covered by a door made of a makeshift blanket.
A few seconds later, Monty emerged from inside the drop ship slowly. And then, as Octavia expected, a gun followed, wielded by none other than Chancellor Pike.
"They followed me," Monty squeaked as Pike held a gun up to his forehead, similarly to what Kane was doing to Bellamy. "I'm sorry."
"Let him go, Pike!" Alessia demanded.
"Can't do that." Pike held a radio up to his mouth, and all of a sudden a shot fired at their feet. The three rebels jumped significantly, but retained their poise to the situation at hand.
"It's over! Put down your weapons."
"Shoot him," Octavia snarled. Kane shook his head.
"Monty's in the shot."
"I think I can get him," Alessia murmured as she looked through the target in her gun and positioned herself. She took a deep breath. You can do this.
"Come on, Marcus..." Another shot, and the next thing Alessia knew, a bullet grazed the side of her arm, causing her to drop her gun out of surprise and involuntarily reach across her body to clutch her limp arm. Bellamy's head snapped to the side and eyes widened as he watched the girl fall to the ground, the shock of the pain causing her to give way. "I promised Monty's mother that I'd bring him home alive. Don't make me a liar."
Alessia glanced up at her father, teeth gritted, her eyes telling him not to back down. However, upon seeing the sight of his injured daughter in front of him, Kane realized he had nothing else left to do. The man lowered his weapon, putting it on the ground beside him and raising his hands above his shoulders in defeat. Pike smiled, satisfied.
"Now you," he instructed Octavia. But what he didn't realize was that, despite Octavia Blake's feelings for her friends, there was one feeling that was stronger: her hatred for the man who killed Lincoln. And Alessia didn't blame her for it. In a quick, cat-like move, Octavia repositioned herself so that the sword was pressed up to Bellamy's throat, protecting her body. Pike again spoke into the radio. In the next moment, Bellamy swept his hands up and managed to get the sword out from under his throat, flipping Octavia over him and losing the sword in the process. He bent her hand backwards so she had nowhere to run, and no ability to fight him.
Pike whistled, and his soldiers appeared from various hiding points throughout the woods. Each of them rushed towards an assailant, cuffed them, and held them at gunpoint. Alessia was still on the ground, kneeling.
Pike moved forward and removed the gag from Bellamy's mouth. "Now, you don't look so good.
"I'm fine," Bellamy replied.
"You got about five seconds to make me believe you're still with me."
Bellamy looked at Marcus, Alessia, and Octavia beside him. Although he could see hope in Marcus and Octavia's eyes, there was nothing in Alessia's. Despite her pain, she still managed that cold stare. His chest ached, and he sighed.
"All the others are in a cave not far from here."
"You son of a bitch!" The second the words escaped his mouth, Octavia went into a frenzy. She moved forward, managing to slip past the soldiers briefly to lunge at Bellamy for his umpteenth betrayal. Before she was able to get even remotely close to him, the guards shocked her with their electric wands used by soldiers on the Ark, and she fell to the ground, unable to move. Bellamy said nothing, and the conversation resumed.
"Give me the coordinates."
"I don't have the coordinates, but I can take you there."
Herded by guards at gunpoint as if she were some kind of delinquent sheep, Alessia marched her way through the rough terrain of the forrest with her injured arm as Bellamy led Pike to their hide out. She wished she could say she was surprised, but at this point, she expected the betrayal from him. It was starting to get to the point where she looked at the man in front of her and realized that she either never knew him at all, or he had changed so significantly that the person she once thought she knew was gone.
He had once told her he was not Marcus Kane. He was right. He was worse.
The pain had become a lot for her, but for the most part she kept back her groans to prevent Pike's soldiers from berating her more. At one point, where it was not possible for her to keep back the cry of pain, she saw Bellamy look behind his shoulder to her. He averted his eyes and cleared his throat, but said nothing to Pike. Coward, she thought.
"Hold on." Pike held a fist up to signal the party's stop. Alessia let out a sigh of relief and shifted straight to relieve some of the pressure on her shoulders from the injury. Pike looked around the forest, cautious.
"The cave's just on the other side," Bellamy assured him. Hesitantly, Pike turned back to his shoulders.
"Keep a sharp eye out."
Bellamy continued down the trail, leading the way for the Chancellor and the rest of them. All of a sudden, a siren blared in the vicinity, causing panic.
"The blockade! Anybody got eyes?"
"I got nothing!"
"Back to higher ground!"
And then, in a quick and stealthy movement, Bellamy reached forward and grabbed Chancellor Pike's handgun, aiming it at the leader firmly.
"Drop your weapon!"
Pike turned back at him, wide-eyed. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Drop your weapon!" Bellamy repeated. In the haste and confusion of it all, Pike's soldiers were unaware of what was going on and did not know how to react. This gave Octavia, Kane, Alessia, and Monty opportunity to take out the soldiers one by one, grabbing their weapons simultaneously.
"We bring you Chancellor Pike of the Sky People! O, translate," Bellamy shouted into the forest. Octavia, who slipped out of her restraints and gag, obliged. Pike turned back at Bellamy.
"You killed us all."
"Take him. Lift this blockade." Bellamy ignored the Chancellor's words. Octavia translated once again, and out of nowhere each of Pike's soldiers still standing had arrows in their chests. In a matter of mere seconds, they were surrounded by Grounders.
Equally as fast, Alessia watched as Octavia reached behind her and grabbed the knife of a fallen soldier. With a battle cry, she lunged forward at Chancellor Pike, but Alessia stepped in between them. Despite her injury, she fought Octavia off (albeit, with great strength on her part) before she was able to wound the evil man.
"Hey! You can't, okay? You can't. The Grounders need him alive more than you need him dead. We can't repeat what happened to Finn, we won't get away with that again. Not for what he's done." Octavia's breathing was ragged, but she did not press on. That was partially out of the fear of hurting Alessia with her injury, but also because she knew that she was right. Alessia added, "Besides, I promise you it won't bring him back."
Once Octavia calmed down, Pike took that as his opportunity to escape. "In that case..."
He lunged forward to attack Bellamy, thinking that he would not shoot him. Nevertheless, an arrow landed in Chancellor Pike's shoulder, subduing him and causing him to fall to the ground in a violent twist. A Grounder approached the Chancellor, knocking him out swiftly with his strength.
Chancellor Pike laid flat out on the ground, finally defeated.
A group of Grounders gathered the man limb by limb and began to walk away. Before they could, Marcus stepped forward.
"Where are you taking them?"
The Grounder who subdued Pike turned around swiftly. "To the new Commander."
"May I join you?" Kane rolled up his sleeve to reveal his burn. "We're the thirteenth clan."
"Don't slow us down."
The Grounder turned, and Alessia stepped forward and placed a hand on her dad's shoulder. Her injured arm was cradled in her chest. She looked at him with a shocked expression.
"You're leaving?"
"I have to make sure we can resolve this with the new Commander. It's the only way we'll have peace with the Grounders again."
"Are you sure?" Monty pressed, catching Marcus's attention. "We know nothing about the new Commander."
"I'm sure," Marcus determined with a nod to Monty. He turned back to his daughter. "Go home. Tell our people what happened here. Tell Abby...I'll look out for Clarke."
Alessia cocked an eyebrow at the last sentiment her dad wanted her to relay, but nevertheless she obeyed. She reached forward and hugged her father for a moment before turning away, heading with Monty to join Octavia. As they left, Marcus stepped forward closer to Bellamy, who was standing in the background witnessing it all. In a low voice, he started.
"Did you do this for your sister, my daughter, or because it was the right thing to do?"
To be honest, Bellamy wasn't sure. All he knew was that he didn't want to answer the question.
"You're welcome."
Like a defiant child, Bellamy turned away, finished with the conversation. But Marcus was not. He grabbed Bellamy by the elbow and pulled him back sternly.
"It matters. Until you see that, you'll still be lost."
As Kane walked away, Bellamy found himself questioning the true motives of what Kane had asked him. Did he do it for Alessia? Did he do it for Octavia? Did he do it for himself?
Monty stood above a fallen soldier, his head hung solemnly. As Bellamy approached, Monty whispered, "My mom turned me in."
A long silence ensued before Bellamy finally responded.
"You're family," he assured. "You'll work it out."
Octavia looked back at Bellamy, hearing those words spoken. She wasn't quite sure she believed in them. In the next moment, almost like a sad twist of fate, one of the fallen soldiers started to groan awake, not fatally wounded by the arrow injury as they had suspected. As soon as Octavia realized there was a live one, she lunged.
This time, Alessia was not there to stop her. Bellamy watched as Octavia plunged her knife into the soldier's chest. In the same movement, Octavia locked eyes with Bellamy.
"Jus drein jus daun." Blood must have blood.
Appreciate all of you readers/reviewers for getting this story to reach 600 reviews! What a crazy ride it's been for the last couple years, but I appreciate everyone sticking through everything with me. Hope this update was worth the wait! It's late so I'm not writing review responses this chapter (might come back and do them later if I have time), but will try and update again soon.
Thanks for reading :) Please review!