"What do you mean poisoned?"

"What the hell do you think I mean!?" Clarke hadn't meant to snap at Jasper the way she did, but she couldn't stop the panic rising inside her. Raven was poisoned, they have no idea what poisoned her, where it came from, or how to cure it.

This was bad.

It was then that Clarke heard muffled shouting from the highest level of the dropship, before Octavia came angrily stomping down the ladder.

"They're going to torture him, Clarke! They're tying him up and when I tried to tell them to stop Bellamy just pushed me down here! They can't do this, you need to stop them!" Octavia's voice had risen, either in anger or worry or panic, maybe all three, Clarke couldn't tell.

"He saved me in the forest! He only chained me up because I ran away, and I know that's still messed up but he wasn't trying to hurt me! You can't let Bellamy do this!" Octavia took a breath before continuing, her voice lowering slightly.

"Listen, Clarke, I know Bellamy seems like a selfish asshole, and yeah he acts like one too, but this isn't who he is. He doesn't want to hurt anyone! I know it might be hard to believe but I know him! He's my brother and I could tell just by looking at him that he doesn't want this, please, Clarke you have to believe me." Octavia's voice is pleading and there are tears welling up in her eyes.

Clarke doesn't need Octavia to tell her all that. She already knows. Not only does she know Bellamy a lot better than anyone probably thinks, but she can feel his discomfort and worry and anxiety building up in her own gut right now.

Then, she is hit by a sudden thought.

She spins back around, grateful to see that Raven has stopped seizing and appears to be breathing just fine. Monty nods in affirmation at her after checking her pulse, and then he eyes her suspiciously.

"You just thought of something, didn't you?" He asks, and Clarke ignores the way her gut twists in discomfort at her own idea, reminding herself that Raven's life is on the line here. She swallows.

"Yeah."

...

"Bellamy!" There's a banging on the trapdoor and Bellamy's mouth goes dry at the voice.

"Bellamy, let me up! I know how to save Raven!" At that, Bellamy nods at Miller who pulls out the piece of metal that had been holding the door shut. He pulls open the door and Clarke's head sticks up through it, the rest of her quickly following as she climbs all the way up.

"Raven's been poisoned," She explains, her eyes flickering between Bellamy and the grounder that has been restrained by his arms and legs.

Bellamy doesn't respond, he just nods at Clarke to continue.

"I can't be sure what she was poisoned by or how to cure it, but I'm guessing that if anyone here knows either of those answers, it's him." She nods at the grounder, and Bellamy's stomach is in knots at what she's implying.

"You want us to find out." He says simply. It's not a question, but still, Clarke nods shakily, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

Bellamy breathes in heavily and stands up, walking toward the grounder, who's just starting to stir. Once his eyes open, he's suddenly fully awake, looking around at them in a sort of fear. His eyes are wide and his breath comes out in heavy pants through his nose.

Bellamy hates how human he looks.

He tries to focus on the fact that this is the guy who took his sister, chained her up in a cave, and stabbed him. He tries to focus on the most inhumane parts of the grounder.

It doesn't help.

With a shaky hand, he picks up an old seat belt, wrapping it around his hand a couple time and adjusting his grip. He was suddenly hyper aware of Clarke's eyes on him. Of how she felt about all of this. He turned to face her.

"You don't have to watch this, Clarke." He says, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice. He reminded himself that he had to do this. For Raven.

"I'm staying," Clarke says surely, after only a moments pause. He looks at her for another second, but it's clear in her face that she's not changing her mind. He finally nods and turns his attention back to their hostage.

...

"Please, which one?" Clarke is on her knees in front of the grounder, the various antidotes they found in his bag scattered around her. She looks at the grounder desperately, just wanting him to answer. If he just answered, this would be over for all of them.

"Our friend is dying, please," Her voice is small, and the grounder only meets her eye for a moment, before looking away. Clarke ignores the feeling of tears on her face as she looks at the ground in defeat.

Two floors down Raven was dying, she could be dead already. And they were torturing someone. Bellamy was torturing someone. Clarke swallowed against the lump in her throat. The roaring emotions she felt swirling around inside had long since become indistinguishable from her soulmate's.

Then there was a hand on her shoulder, and she subconsciously leaned into the touch, letting it ground her.

"Clarke," Bellamy didn't have to say anything else, she understood. So she nodded, biting back a sob as she stepped back and away from the grounder, letting Bellamy continue. She couldn't help but feel hopeless. Obviously this grounder had no interest in telling them anything, not to mention he might not even have the antidote. Hell, he might not even speak English.

"Bellamy, stop!" Octavia's voice sounded behind Clarke, and she spun around in surprise. Somehow, the younger girl had gotten herself up there and now all the attention was on her.

Her eyes found Clarke's and the look of betrayal in them physically hurt. Then she looked at Bellamy.

"How could you do this, Bel?" Bellamy looked vulnerable momentarily before steeling his gaze.

"We need to find the antidote to save Raven-"

"You don't need to do this, Bellamy! He saved my life-"

"This is about Raven's life!" Bellamy snapped, clearly growing more and more agitated at his sister, or maybe just at himself. With everything she was feeling, Clarke couldn't tell.

Octavia was shocked into silence for only a few seconds, before glaring at her brother, disgust written clear on her face. And if Clarke could feel anything, she definitely felt the pain that shot through Bellamy at that.

"I won't let you do this. There has to be another way," She said, looking around as if she was going to be able to pull an antidote out of thin air.

"There isn't. Now go, O. You shouldn't be here." At Bellamy's words, Miller began walking toward Octavia, ready to usher her back downstairs when she suddenly cried out.

"Wait! I have an idea!" Miller paused, and Clarke stood up quickly, facing Octavia.

"What?" Please, anything would be better than this.

"Just, let me try something," She pushed past Miller and started walking toward the grounder.

"Octavia," Bellamy started to say when his sister approached the grounder, but Clarke put a hand on his arm, as if to tell him to let Octavia do this. Clarke trusted her. And she knew Bellamy did too.

"Which one?" She asked, pointing at the vials on the ground. The grounder made no move to answer. It was then that Clarke noticed something in Octavia's hand.

"This is what poisoned her, right?" Octavia motioned to the bottle, and Clarke realized, a moment too late, what Octavia was about to do.

"Octavia, no!" Clarke tried to reach the girl, but before she could even take a step Octavia had taken a sip from the canteen.

Bellamy realized what had happened only a second after Clarke, and he ran to Octavia, quickly knocking the drink out of her hand. But it was too late.

"Octavia, why the hell did you do that?" His voice was panicked and Clarke had never heard him sound so distraught.

"Which one?" Octavia ignored her brother, her tone pleading, and the grounder looked up at her, his eyes wide. He didn't answer, but he seemed at least somewhat affected.

Octavia scrambled to the floor, picking up one of the vials and holding it up to the grounder.

"This one?" She asked, and for a long moment, he didn't respond. Clarke tried to ignore the dread weighing down her stomach, but finally, the grounder shook his head. No.

Bellamy and Clarke exchanged glances, before looking back at Octavia and the grounder. She continues to hold up different vials until finally, he nodded his head to one of them. Clarke felt relief pour through her and Bellamy quickly pulled his sister up from the ground and made her drink the antidote.

"How the hell did you know that would work?" He asked, his voice angry, but also very relieved. Clarke felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders as Octavia swallowed, handing the rest of the antidote to Clarke. She almost felt like crying.

"I didn't," Octavia said, and it was the last part of the conversation that the blonde heard before she was rushing down the ladder to bring the antidote to Raven.

Once the antidote was given to her friend, Clarke finally allowed herself to fully relax. She sent Monty and Jasper away while Raven rested, and Clarke looked over her a couple more times before deciding to head to bed as well.

Suddenly, she was hit with the memory of the way Octavia looked at her when she had come upstairs. And the way that the girl had very obviously avoided her after she had made her way back out to the camp. Clarke doubted that she was very welcome in Octavia's tent anymore.

She heaved a sigh as she prepared herself for a blanketless sleep on the floor of the dropship, but she figured it was far from the punishment she deserved after what they did today. She tried not the think about it.

Clarke leaned back against the wall of the dropship, letting herself slide down until she was sitting on the cold metal floor. She shivered. She knows it's not smart to sleep here, especially not in this position, but asking if she could sleep in anyone's tent or even asking for blankets seemed like too much for her right now.

"Clarke?" His voice drew her attention to the ladder that Bellamy was in the process of climbing down.

"What are you doing?" His voice was soft and Clarke couldn't help but appreciate that, especially right now.

"Just resting, I wanted to keep an eye on Raven overnight," She lied, and apparently Bellamy saw right through it. He walked over to her.

"I know you think Octavia hates you, but she doesn't. If she hates anyone, it's me. I was the one who..." His voice trails off and Clarke's gut twists with his regret. She offers him what she hopes to be a comforting smile.

"I'm sure she'd rather you sleep in her tent with her then here on the cold ground." He says eventually, and Clarke wishes she could believe him. He seems to sense that she doesn't think that's true, and he offers her a small sigh before sitting down on the ground next to her.

"Even if you're right, even if Octavia feels that way, it..." Clarke tries to come up with the right words.

"It's too much right now, you know?" Those weren't exactly the words she was looking for, but she doesn't have the energy to find them. She feels Bellamy's eyes on her and notices his head nodding slightly in her peripheral vision.

"Yeah, I know."

They sit in silence for a long time, and at some point, they must have shifted closer to each other because Clarke can feel his arm brushing against hers and the heat coming off his body is so inviting and suddenly she's so exhausted.

"Hey," Bellamy speaks up eventually, his voice somewhat hoarse. Clarke tries to blink away her tiredness, and looks over at Bellamy.

"For real, you're not sleeping here." He says, and before Clarke can even think of a protest, he stands up, offering her his hand.

She looks at it for a moment before taking it, ignoring the sparks that shoot up her arm at the feeling of his palm against hers. He pulls her up gently and their hands stay together for a moment after she stands.

Once they release each others hands, the feeling of his touch still lingers, and Clarke does her best to ignore it. He nods at her to walk and they both exit the dropship together.

"So where exactly am I sleeping?" Clarke asks after a moment of walking, her brain to foggy with sleep to think about much else. She stifles a yawn.

Bellamy seems amused by that, before nodding at a small tent next to Octavia's that Clarke hadn't noticed before.

"Huh?" She frowns at the tent, Bellamy leading her over to it.

"I made it a couple days ago, I thought you might want your own space eventually? My sister can get pretty annoying when she's cooped up, believe me, I know." Clarke snorts at his words, but when the reach the tent there's no amusement left in her.

"You really made this? For me?" She suddenly feels overly flustered at the act.

"Anything for the Princess," He offers jokingly, but Clarke can tell that's he's at least somewhat sheepish.

She pulls back the flap and looks inside, noting the small pile of blankets gratefully. She turns back to look at Bellamy, who glances around awkwardly.

"Thank you," She murmurs, and Bellamy finally looks at her. Clarke can't help but notice the change of atmosphere when their eyes meet, it's almost like an invisible force is dragging her closer and closer to him.

Suddenly, Bellamy clears his throat and shakes his head slightly, as if clearing his thoughts, and the moment is over.

"Um, yeah... Yeah, you're welcome." He offers her a small smile, one which she returns, before she climbs into the tent. He watches her go, closing the tent flap behind her as she buries herself in the blankets.

"Goodnight, Bel." Clarke calls, and she just barely hears a quiet 'goodnight' in return before she hears him walk to his own tent, and she smiles to herself as sleep washes over her.

...

okay so im feeling suuuper inspired to write right now so here's another chapter! im hoping to write another one tonight too :)

dont be a silent reader