Kane
Clarke just about saved him from having to knock Bellamy out.
Kane winced as he rubbed his shoulder, sore from where Bellamy had kept throwing his weight forward, trying to fight off everyone holding him back form the med bay doors while Abby, Jackson and Clarke worked on Octavia. He could see Harper massaging her wrist, and Monty wincing as he rubbed his stomach on the tail end of a particularly vicious jab of the elbow.
The moment Clarke had stepped out, and said that Octavia was stable, Bellamy had been through the doors, shaking off any lingering hands grabbing at him.
'How is she?' Kane asked, straightening as he turned to face Clarke.
'Mom thinks she's drained most of the fluid from Octavia's lungs, and she's identified the sickness too, so we can start trying to treat it more effectively.'
'What is it?' Harper asked, and Kane watched as Clarke bit her lower lip uncomfortably. 'How likely is it to be spread now?'
He shushed her, peering through the open doors to where Bellamy was sat on the edge of Octavia's bed, clasping one of her hands tightly. 'We should be okay,' Clarke finally answered, and Kane breathed out a soft sigh of relief. 'It's tuberculosis. We received the immunisations as kids as part of the Ark birth registration and monitoring.'
'Octavia wasn't registered,' Kane murmured, realising why she'd fallen sick and few else had. Clarke nodded her confirmation. 'How long til we know if she's on the mend?'
'I was about to go find Gaia. She should be able to help us – since she's not as advanced as Octavia, we should see results from the antibiotics quicker if she takes a dose.' She cocked her head. 'Any idea where she is?'
'I'll find her,' Harper volunteered, and Kane nodded his approval as he watched Clarke sway on her feet from exhaustion and –
'What happened to your legs?'
They hadn't heard Raven come up to join them, but her whispered horror announced her presence just as loudly as a siren would have.
Kane's eyes flittered down, seeing the tears down both legs, and the bandage already crusting over with Nightblood. But beyond that, he could see the pale crisscross of raised scars.
He heard the three others choke over their words, and his mind raced to catch up – if she'd been left behind …
'The radiation.' He was the only one able to voice what they were all realising.
'It's over, done, they are what they are.' Clarke shook her head. 'Right now, saving Octavia and Gaia is our main focus, and treating Emori and Madi.' She pointed at Harper. 'Are you going for Gaia?'
The girl – woman, Kane corrected himself – took off with one last, long look at Clarke's legs. Monty followed, careful to keep the pity hidden.
Kane excused himself from Raven's continued observation of Clarke, stepping inside med bay and heading straight over to Bellamy and Octavia.
He took in her sweat-coated face (though Bellamy was doing his best with a small rag someone had left beside her) and the three marks from where he guessed a stun baton had shocked her. Her shirt lay open, baring the majority of her chest – but someone had thought to lay towels over her breasts to preserve her modesty, at the very least.
He sat down on her other side, grasping at one limp hand. 'You know she talked about you nearly every day,' he said conversationally, and Bellamy's hand stilled. 'Always "I wonder how Bellamy's coping up there" or "my brother taught me how to do this". She never forgot you, not for a moment.'
'I never forgot her, either.' Bellamy turned his head so their eyes met. 'How was she, really?'
He scanned the younger man's expression, seeing an openness he'd only seen the once – the last time they'd "lost" Octavia. A need for answers, and a fear of what those answers might be.
He looked back down at the girl between them. 'She led, and with a relatively fair hand,' he replied, and his fingers stroked down the veins on her wrist. 'She'd always seek to find answers – once those doors closed, and we knew we were locked in until everything passed, she stopped adhering as much to the "blood must have blood". We couldn't afford it – not when humanity itself was so scarce.'
'Bet the Grounders loved that.' Bellamy's voice was gruff, but filled with a tone of pride.
Kane smirked at the memory. 'They took some … convincing. Octavia would lock them in the smallest possible room she could find. She couldn't quite find the space in the floor, but a former oxygen supply cabinet that was empty … she'd put two or three in at a time. Without food. For two or three days.' Even Indra had been threatened with that punishment. She'd learnt to keep her mouth shut about punishments on the second day of the threats – with a deadline of three days before Octavia's lenience stopped, she'd obviously decided to fall in line.
'She also had to do things she didn't want to do.' Kane pursed his lips at the memories he didn't want to remember. 'Those who still defied her after three months, she had to make an example of. She tortured them in front of everyone else, and she made sure to deal each and every cut personally.'
Bellamy inhaled sharply. 'She didn't kill them?'
Kane shook his head. 'She always stopped before she took it that far. Only one person ever died for it – one of the elders from Sankru. Octavia stopped in time, but one of his cuts didn't heal well. He died of infection a week later. She stopped torturing by cuts after that. Didn't want to risk anyone else.'
'So what did she do then?' Bellamy set aside the rag, grasping now at Octavia's other hand.
'She still tied them up in public – a way to humiliate them, and to teach them not to defy – and then only gave them the scraps of food for a week. They didn't get their full portion allocated.' He snorted. 'Withhold food and the Grounders fall in line. Something to learn.'
Bellamy smiled. 'Glad to see she was still looking out for us.' He lifted her hand to his lips, pressed a kiss to her palm. 'I was worried about her every single day.'
Kane's heart ached for him. 'She loves you, you know.'
He watched as another tear followed the now well-worn path on Bellamy's cheek. 'I know.'
So I realised I messed up a little this week. I have had 3 weeks of incomplete work weeks (I worked 1 day in week 1, 3 days in week 3 and 4 days in week 3) so my mind got very confused with the days ... so you ended up with one chapter around 1am Thursday morning, and one around 10pm Thursday evening.
My bad! Hope this little bonding scene between Kane/Bellamy makes up for it somewhat! Especially considering Tuesday's chapter 53 ... *whistles*.
