Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Twilight, The 100, or Vampire Diaries. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer, L.J. Smith and Jason Rothenberg. I do own the original characters made up for this storyline. Thank you.
Writer's Notes: Thank you Guest 1, Guest 2, Roxhall, and Delia for your reviews! Bella does need a strong man by her side. She has a few to choose from. Unfortunately, Damon is off the table because he's Bella's biological brother. Jaha is definitely a piece of work. I remember watching the 100 and being like, the fuck is with this guy? So, I don't particularly care for Jaha, but I do love Isaiah Washington, and he is an outstanding actor. Clarke is also something else. I wonder what will happen next. I suppose we should just keep reading. As always, I appreciate all of you! Don't forget to follow, favorite, and leave reviews, letting me know how you like it so far! Cheers!
[The Ground: 2 Days Later: somewhere outside the wall]
Bella ran through the trees, Clarke beside her as they tried to stay ahead of the grounders that were chasing them.
"I'm really sorry."
"Shut the fuck up." Bella said to Clarke as they ran. "We need to make it to that spring. When we get to the cliff, jump, no hesitation, and then swim."
"What?! I don't know how to swim."
Bella wanted to leave her for dead at this point. "Learn fast!" She said and then when they got to cliff, Bella turned taking her weapon from her hip and fired at three grounders that were close. Clarke leapt off the cliff, yelling as she did. Bella heard the splash, and she knew that Clarke had hit the water safely. She fired again, tagging a grounder in the chest, but then got an arrow hit in her shoulder.
"Shit." Bella cursed, and then fired one last time, taking another one down, before leaping off into the water below. Clarke was thrashing kicking her feet out, trying to propel herself towards the shore. "Swim faster!" She called to Clarke, as she kicked her feet out behind her and reached out in front of her. She recalled Damon telling her one time that in some books he read, that swimming was easy because all you were doing was trying to stay above water, using your hands and feet. Bella felt the ground beneath, her and she used all her strength to get herself out of the water, right behind Clarke, who was coughing because she sucked in a lot of water. Bella got to her feet, breathing hard. The arrow stuck in her shoulder was going to be a problem so she broke it, leaving the tip in, knowing that pulling it all the way out would be worse. She reached down and hauled Clarke to her feet.
"We have to keep moving." Bella said and pushed her along, running again through the woods, heading back towards the camp.
[The Camp]
"It's been 2 days," Damon said, pacing back and forward.
Bellamy watched Damon pace in front of him. He was worried about Bella being gone so long with Tyler and Fox looking for Clarke and the others that went with her. He admitted he was worried too, but Damon was more so because Bella was his little sister. "She's a fighter, she knows what she's doing."
"You said that these grounders are savage?"
"They can be. We've been here a month, and we've managed to pick a few off here and there, but we have lost two guys to them. If they bring a big force to the wall, I'm not sure how we'd handle that honestly." Bellamy said.
Damon ran a hand through his hair. "We need a defense in place. A contingency in case there is a large attack."
"Rocket fuel." Raven said from the doorway. "We use the rockets to incinerate everything outside the door. Fail safe just in case they do come knocking."
"That could work." Damon said. "Smart." He said and high fived Raven.
Bellamy picked up his bottle of water, and took a drink. "For now, we just wait for Bella to get back."
Damon nodded. "Let's hope it's soon."
[The Woods: 12 miles outside camp]
The sun was going down, and Bella hated hiking at night where the grounders had the advantage. She winced as her shoulder throbbed, but she kept moving.
"Bella, I'm sorry." Clarke said as she stopped walking.
Bella stopped and turned, looking at her. "Clarke, sorry doesn't bring back Ty, or Fox. It doesn't bring back the eleven others that you sent to their deaths."
"I was trying to find peace with the grounders so we don't have to suffer any war or hunger or anything." Clarke said, running a hand through her hair.
"Do you honestly think that these hostile creatures, want to make peace? We fell from the sky onto their land. We are invaders." Bella said. "I told you, you were naïve to think that anything outside what I said to do, was okay. There's a reason why I'm doing the things I'm doing."
"But your way can't always be the right way."
Bella raised a brow. "It's not? Okay Clarke. Your way was so much better. 13 people are dead, and I have an arrow in my fucking shoulder."
There was a snapping of twigs, and Bella grabbed her weapon immediately and swung it towards the sound.
"Wait!" The voice said in a hushed whisper. "I don't want to hurt you."
Bella narrowed her eyes. The man was a grounder. "Right, and it's not like your people has been trying to kill us all since we got here."
"I am a medicine man. Please. Let me look at your shoulder. I promise I will not harm you." The man said again. He was taller, muscular, and tan. He had no hair on his head, and his eyes were a dark brown, nearly black. He had black ink that circled his bicep on his left arm and more ink on the other.
Bella didn't take her eyes off him. "Okay. Say you're a medicine man. You make a funny move, I'll gut you."
"I don't doubt it." He said as he walked forward slowly.
Clarke pulled her gun from her hip and aimed it at him while Bella lowered her weapon.
"What's your name?" Bella asked, as she watched him touch her shoulder, inspecting the arrow tip.
"Lincoln. Yours?"
"Bella, this is Clarke." She said. "Why are you helping?"
Lincoln was silent a moment. "Because I don't want there to be violence. Also, our arrows are dipped in poison. You need the antidote." He said and pulled something from his satchel and gave it to her. "Take this." He said and Bella took it from him, hesitating. She sniffed it and then took it. It didn't have a bad taste, but it wasn't a great one either. "Hold still." He said and the pulled the tip out, and then immediately placed a bandage over the wound to keep it from bleeding out. He then put some sort of salve on it and then wrapped the bandage. "You might need to stitch this."
Bella felt the throbbing in her arm subside a little. "Yeah, I gathered that much."
Lincoln tightened the bandage. "Come." He said. "I have a hidden camp. You two can stay for the night and be back at camp tomorrow."
"Oh no, that's not happening." Bella said, taking a step back.
"You are outnumbered. My people will catch up, and if you draw them back to your camp, it can be bad."
"Bella, he's right." Clarke said.
Bella studied Lincoln. "We sleep in shifts, he makes a strange move, shoot him." She said and then Lincoln nodded, and led them back to his camp.
[The Camp: The Next Day]
Bellamy looked towards their gate. There was still no sign of Bella and it had been 3 days since she went with Tyler and Fox to find Clarke and the others.
"If she's not back today, I'll go looking for her." Jazz said.
Bellamy looked over at him. He had his hair pulled back out of his face, and he was wearing hunting gear. Jazz was a tracker, and he had a good sense of direction as did Bella. "No. She said not to send anyone after them. She doesn't want a bunch of people outside camp needlessly."
"It's not needless if we bring her back."
Bellamy shook his head. "Give her time. She might- "
"Open the gate!" Bella's voice was heard on the other side of the wall. It sent Jazz and Bellamy rushing towards the gate, helping the others get it open.
Bella was supporting Clarke with her arm around her waist, and the other holding her hand as it wrapped around her shoulder and Clarke was limping. On the other side of Clarke was a grounder, helping carry Clarke.
"What in the actual fuck." Bellamy cursed.
"Get her lying down. She broke her foot." Bella said as she let Jazz swing Clarke up into her arms, and carry her towards the drop ship, where Finn was coming out of because he heard the commotion.
Bellamy trained his weapon on the grounder. "Bella?"
"Lower your weapon Bellamy. If he was a threat do you think I would walk him into camp?" Bella said and then felt a little dizzy and Lincoln reached out and grabbed her arm, steadying her.
"You should rest. The antidote takes time, to fight off the poison." Lincoln said calmly.
Bellamy holstered his weapon and then moved to Bella, his hands moving her away from Lincoln. "Damon!"
Damon had been sleeping, and woke up when Jazz walked in carrying Clarke in a semi conscious state. He rushed outside, seeing Bella, and went to her immediately, pulling her into a crushing hug.
"I'm okay. I need to sit." She said as she hugged Damon back. "Everyone stand down," She said as she realized that there were others training weapons on Lincoln. "This is Lincoln. We have a lot to talk about." She said and she moved away from Damon, and walked up the ramp into the drop ship. Lincoln followed her, and then Damon and Bellamy after. Murphy helped get the gates shut after checking to see if there were others.
"What happened to everyone?" Bellamy asked as Bella sat down.
"Well, princess over there, tried to negotiate peace with the grounders. Got the others killed, and then Ty and Fox were snatched, and are now dead." Bella explained harshly.
Lincoln swallowed. "I am sorry for your friends."
"Yeah, you've told me."
"What happened to your shoulder?" Damon asked.
Bella sighed. "I got shot with an arrow saving her ass. Unfortunately, they lace their arrows with poison, so if it wasn't for Lincoln, I would be dead. He gave me the antidote. I probably need stitches." She realized, and Lincoln moved to look at the bandage, but Bellamy interfered.
"We'll take a look at it." Bellamy said, eying him.
"Lincoln, tell them what you told me." Bella said.
Lincoln nodded. "We say your ship drop out of the sky. My leader, Ana, things that it has to do with the mountain men."
"Mountain men?" Damon asked.
"They inhabit what Bella said is Mount Weather. They steal our children and kill us. That is why Ana attacked without question." Lincoln said. "I tried reasoning with her to talk peace, but she does not believe you are here for peace. She thinks you are here for war."
Bellamy wasn't sure what to think of that. They already knew that Mount Weather was still being operated, but they didn't know that there were actual people inside. "You speak good English."
"Yes, it's a language universally spoken down here. We do have our own language that only our tribe knows."
"Tribe?"
Lincoln nodded. "There are several tribes that are throughout this region. We are only one tribe."
"How do we convince Ana that we're not Mountain Men?" Bella asked.
Finn walked over. "Hey." He said and looked over at Bella. "Let me look at your shoulder."
"Go for it." Bella said and felt Finn's cool fingers brush against her hot skin as he peeled back the bandage.
Lincoln glanced at Finn and then back at Bella. "I can try and reason with her more. Tell her you are not Mountain men, but people of the sky."
"We are people from the sky." Bellamy said. "We lived on a space station called the Ark for 97 years. There are 3 generations up there. They sent us down here to see if Earth was livable because the life support system is failing."
Lincoln blinked a few times. "You escaped before the wars?"
"Our ancestors did." Damon said. "We honestly had no clue that there was life down here. We assumed everyone perished in the nuclear fallout."
"We have stories. Stories of how our people survived. If you continue West, the land is mostly desolate. This area was a safe zone for the war. The radiation has not killed everything here."
"You know about radiation?" Finn asked.
Lincoln nodded. "I know it looks like we are not intelligent, but we are advanced."
'You hunt with bows and arrows." Bella pointed out.
Lincoln smiled a little. "That is because we don't like guns. Guns are what Mountain Men use."
"Having guns would help you defend against the Mountain Men." Bellamy said.
"We have a common enemy. It won't be long before the Mountain Men come for you too." Lincoln said. "If I can convince Ana that we can fight back together…then there can be peace?"
Bella looked at Lincoln, wincing a little as Finn cleaned her shoulder. "If you can convince your leader of a truce, there is no need for more bloodshed. We can call a truce, and find out ways to destroy the Mountain Men, together."
Lincoln nodded. "I- "
"Look it's Tyler!" Someone said at the gate.
Bella frowned. "I saw them take him."
The gates opened and people rushed forward, grabbing ahold of Tyler, and bringing him into the camp and shutting the gates. He was a little worse for wear.
Finn finished wrapping the bandage around her arm before she stood up and went to the opening of the ship.
"Ty!"
Lincoln frowned. "No wait! Don't touch him." He said, and everyone stopped. "They wouldn't have released him without setting a trap."
Bella looked at Lincoln. "What do you mean?"
"I mean. My tribe is known for their biological weaponry. He's infected with something." Lincoln said, looking at Bella. "I just don't know what, yet."
"Okay, so what do you want me to do with him?" Bella asked.
"Isolate him, and the ones that touched him." Lincoln said.
Bella nodded. "Murphy, Derek, Caroline, get him in a quarantine since you all touched him. Everyone else, stay back, don't touch them." She turned and looked at Lincoln. "Do you have cures for whatever it is?"
"I have to wait for symptoms to arise, there are several things it could be."
Bellamy ran a hand through his hair. "You're talking about a plague, aren't you?"
Lincoln looked at Bellamy. "Yes. I'm assuming you don't have plagues in the sky?"
"No, everything is sterile." Bella said. "Which means we don't have immunities to anything on the ground." She said and looked at Damon. "They're trying to take out our numbers."
Lincoln nodded. "Yes. Which means, it's too late to negotiate." He said with a sigh. "Ana is brutal. I didn't think she would resort to this so quickly."
Bella was quiet, deep in thought. "How long until you know what sort of disease it is?"
"Maybe 24 hours. Most of the stuff we deal with takes about that long." Lincoln relayed.
"How many cures are there?"
"Not many." Lincoln said. "There is no guarantee that I can cure it. Most of the strains that we use are developed to where it can't be combatted with cures and antidotes. Either the host is strong enough to withstand it, or they're not. But I won't know for- "
Bella took her gun from its holster. "The infection rate is highly contagious right?"
"I mean, yes."
"Bella?" Bellamy said. "What are you doing?"
Bella looked at Bellamy. "If it spreads fast, we need to stop it from spreading."
"What if there's an off chance that there is a cure?" Finn asked.
"That's not a chance I'm willing to take. I have to think about the ones not infected."
Bellamy looked at Lincoln. "Any way this is just a scare?"
"I'm afraid not. Ana is ruthless. She will not pull any punches and since I was not there when she infected your man, I can't tell you what she used until tomorrow evening." Lincoln said.
"By then, even with quarantine, we run the risk of others being infected." Bella said.
"You can't kill all four of them." Finn insisted. "Let's wait- "
Bella looked at Finn. "Ty was in bad shape, he- "
"Wait," Lincoln said. "Let me take a look at him." He said, obviously thinking about something. "If it's something I do have a remedy for we can try it. If it doesn't work, then…we can proceed."
Bella looked back at Lincoln. "Go." She said and Lincoln nodded and jogged down the ramp, heading to the quarantine. "Is Clarke still out cold?"
Finn nodded. "Yeah, her foot is broke. I wrapped I the best I could for now, gave her pain medicine."
Bella nodded. "Good." She said and then swayed a little and Bellamy put a hand on her lower back, steadying her. "Can I get a moment alone with Bellamy please." She said, and the other's walked out to give Bella and Bellamy some privacy. "If something happens to me."
"What are you saying. Bella, you're fine." Bellamy said.
"But if for some reason…I have to do something to keep everyone here safe, can you make sure that everyone remains safe?" Bella looked up at Bellamy, her blue eyes serious.
"Nothing is going to happen to you, and you're not going to sacrifice either for anything. Don't talk like this."
Bella nodded. "We've been here a little over a month…yes?"
"We have." Bellamy said. "Which means the Ark will be sending more drop ships soon."
Bella swallowed. "If Damon did kill Jaha, or even if his attempt is seen as treason, they will immediately come for him."
"I'm not going to let them do anything to Damon." Bellamy said. "Remember what we said? We have our own rules, our own society here. We aren't going to deal with the Ark or Thelonious anymore."
Bella nodded. "Yeah." She swayed again and Bellamy caught her, and she just leaned against him. "Just…. hold me for a few moments. I don't want the others to see me like this…" She murmured.
Bellamy nodded silently, wrapping his arms around her, and holding her weight. He stroked one hand over her back gently, and then kissed the top of her head. It was an intimate gesture, one that he had never done before, but for some reason he did it.
After a few moments, Bella moved away from Bellamy, hearing footsteps on the ramp. She turned and looked at Damon, walking in with Lincoln. "What's the situation?"
"Looks like it is like a pox. Ty already shows signs of it. There is a cure for it. It will make you incredibly sick, but it won't kill you. It's meant to weaken." Lincoln said, blowing out a breath. "I can get the cure you need, administer to the four that encountered Ty and then administer a vaccine to the rest. It will keep you immune or weaken the affects of the pox."
Bella nodded. "You have these medicines with you?"
"No, back in my hut." Lincoln said.
"Alright, I'll go back with you." Bella said and then saw the protest on Damon's lips, but she shot him a look that made him shut up. "Come on. We should hurry." She said.
Lincoln nodded. "Yes."
"You're not going by yourself." Bellamy said. "We still don't know you fully Lincoln, I'm sorry but- "
"I understand." Lincoln said.
"I'll go with," Finn said. "I know medicine."
Bella nodded. "We'll be back." She told Bellamy, and when he looked worried, she sighed and went and stood in front of him. "Look at me."
Bellamy looked down at her. "Bella- "
"Listen to me. Don't worry about me. I will be back; with the medicine we need. Don't start getting soft on me." Bella said, her eyes clear, and fierce still.
Bellamy swallowed, nodding. "Okay. Be careful."
"I'll try." Bella said and started to turn, but Bellamy grabbed he wrist, pulling her towards him, and he embraced her.
Bella stood still, stunned a little by the sudden movement, but she hugged him back, tilting her face up to look at him, and then he kissed her, a crushing kiss, one that stole her breath a little. She kissed him back, and then patted his cheek. "Yeah, you're getting soft on me. I'll be back." She said with a small smile and then left Bellamy standing their watching her walk out of the gate.
"She's a warrior. She knows what she's doing." Damon said, resting a hand on Bellamy's shoulder. "Also, you are rather cozy with my little sister. The way you kissed her just now, leads me to believe that there is more going on between you two."
"We had sex once Damon, doesn't mean there is anything. I care about what happens to her, that's all."
Damon raised a brow. "I see. Well, as the older brother, I am going to tell you that if you hurt her, I will hurt you." He slapped his back, and then walked back towards the drop ship, leaving Bellamy there to collect his thoughts.
