"I think we can stop here." The blonde tells Raven. They have been driving for the past day, and it was beginning to get dark.
It took Raven a few seconds to understand what Clarke had even said. None of them has said a word for the past three hours and she was in some sort of a driving/not killing the people in the car trance. When the black haired girl brought the car to a halt, Bellamy and Monty were beginning to wake up.
The first thought that came to Bellamy's head was that someone was attacking them. It was a rough and sudden stop, and his first instinct was to stand up in front of Clarke in a protecting pose, drawing his weapon and looking to see what the immediate threat was.
"Man." Raven said, a big smirk plastered to her face. "Nothing's wrong, you can stand down now." Clarke and Monty joined her with a few giggles.
Clarke wasn't flattered by the boy's action. If there was actually a threat, she believed that she could take care of herself, and moreover, she began to fear that he wasn't in the same mindset as she was, that in an awakening state, his first thought shouldn't be to protect her. She made a mental note to talk to him later, and for now acted like it wasn't a big deal, which was true, she reminded herself, it was nothing, he was half asleep anyway.
Bellamy just lowered the gun and opened the door, wanting to get some fresh air after the long drive.
"Come on." He said when he noticed they were all still sitting in the car. "We need to settle before the night falls." He sounded business as usual.
The group grabbed the few blankets, the food and the weapons they brought along and followed the older boy to the trees nearby, where he was already looking for branches.
Monty joined him.
"Hey Bellamy."
"Monty." He acknowledged him, without turning his back to the younger guy.
"You okay?" He asked lightly, not wanting to be pushed against a tree, and being yelled at, but still, caring about the tough guy, that was one of Monty's closest friends.
The former guardsman took a deep breath, and turned around. "Yes, I am always okay. Just a rough waking up, nothing new."
"You can talk to me."
Bellamy threw a pretty heavy branch to Monty's hand and added. "Start building a fire kid." With that he turned his back to him, going further into the woods.
While the boys were scouting the woods, the two girls spread the blankets on the floor. "Here, grab that corner." The blonde said, throwing the blanket towards Raven.
"Yes, I know how to spread a blanket." The mechanic said, a second before missing the blanket, and letting it fall to the ground.
"Sure you do."
"You okay?" Raven tried to change the subject, her interest picking in.
"Of course I am." Clarke simply said, grabbing another blanket.
"I remember him being good, he's good right?"
"W-what?"
"Come on Clarke, don't fuck with me." Raven said playfully. "I'm just flattered, you seem to like my choice in men."
Clarke was pretty pissed, for starters, she wasn't okay with what happened with Finn, not at all, and that would be something she would have to bear for the rest of her life, so, she wasn't in that point where you laugh about it, and second, "you can't possibly tell that I am sleeping with someone based on what had happen in the car, so, what you're doing right now is fishing, and I am not going to entertain you with facts about my private life."
"You look like you want to kill me, I guess that mean I don't need to fish anymore."
"Raven, I swear to god.."
They heard footsteps coming their way, it was Monty, caring a few branches. Before he was close enough Raven quickly added, "Clarke, seriously, I'm just fucking with you. It's not my place, I get it." They shared one last look of understanding, before Monty joined them, dropping the woods to the ground.
Later that night, All four were lying in their blankets. The fire was slowly dying, and there was almost no light. Clarke felt restless, her mind was clattered with too much thoughts, about the mountain men, about the grounders, about Bellamy, and about Lexa, after Abby and hers conversation, she couldn't get Lexa out of her mind. All that, combining with Monty's loud snores, gave the girl a zero to none chance to sleep that night. In a sweep move, she got up and walked over to the car, climbing on top of it. She laid and looked at the stars. It was one of the few things that really excited her on the ground. From down here she felt so small, she felt like she can be her small self, and do what she believes in without major consequences. A few moments later she heard Bellamy walking towards her.
"Hey Bell." She said just when the car came to his view.
"Did you smell me?"
"More of heard you. You really need to work on your stomps."
The car shook for a second when Bellamy tried to bring his large body to the top, he laid beside her. The atmosphere was light, their bodies not touching. The only sound was their breaths and the wind hitting the tree tops.
A few minutes has passed. "We've been through a lot." Bellamy said. Clarke sighed, already missing the silence. "That's why I did it. We've been through so much, and it would have been a stupid thing to lose you over."
"Okay."
"Okay."
"It's too much sometimes Bell. There's too much for me to worry about." She sighed again, knowing the next part wasn't going to be fair to him. "Don't make me worry about you too, about us too."
"Okay."
They stayed liked that, not talking, not touching. It was a weird bond in the midst of uncertainty times. For the both of them it was one of the only things they seemed to trust to the fully. For Clarke, it was a partner. For Bellamy, it was a problem.
The next morning, the crew was at location, trying real hard to follow Raven's instructions. It was a hot day, and the three of them found themselves quickly sweating. It was not helping that Raven sat on the roof on the car and looked awfully comfortable.
After a few hours of hard labor Monty, Clarke and Bellamy were laying almost passed out in the grass, while Raven sat next to them playing with the radio, trying to contact camp Arcadia.
"Camp Arcadia, can you hear me?" Raven said. "We've connected the antenna." She continued. "Waiting for further instructions."
After a few minutes, a static noise had sounded, excited, they all gathered around the radio, while Raven tried to improve the signal. "The grounders are in camp." Kane voice had sounded. "I repeat, they are here in order to make peace."
Clarke snatched the radio from the other girl's hand. "W-what?" She asked, almost shouting.
"Clarke." Kane sounded clam. "Return immediately."
It was a few hours after they set off to their missions. Kane was sitting in his office, going on his plan to ride to Polis, when a guardsman barged into his office. "Sir, you need to come. The grounder's commander is by the gate."
Kane raced outside, running in Abby on the way, they exchanged a knowing look, and walked faster towards the gate. When they got there they saw Lexa, five other warriors and Octavia, sitting behind on of the grounders.
"Commander." Kane simply said.
Lexa jumped off her horse, walking closer to him. "Chancellor." She then added, "Congratulations."
"Thank you."
The grounder looked good, even after a journey of a few days. She radiated confident. "I am here to try and rebuild trust between us." She signaled her men, and gently, he lowered Octavia from the horse. She was feeling better, but she still looked like hell. Abby rushed to her side, placing a hand around her waist, walking her into camp.
"Where was she?"
"I don't know, she wasn't talkative. My warriors found her, and I think bringing her back is a first step in the way to peace."
"I want it to be better than before." Kane said quietly, still shaken aback by the look of Octavia, wondering to himself where Lincoln might be, he respected the commander, but when it came to trust..
"Chancellor." Lexa wasn't planning on playing games. "You have no reason to trust me, and I the same. Now, there is no common goal to unite us, beside our mutual desire in stopping the bloodshed."
Kane nodded, understanding that they were not going to work it through here, by the gate, and he also knew he needed Clarke. She understood Lexa, she even trusted Lexa at one point, and he was sure Lexa felt the same. "Come inside, we'll talk about it more later."
Lexa waited for him to add something about Clarke. It was not about her feelings for the girl, but rather about her importance in the peace process. But when he excused himself and went to talk to one of his guards, her faith in the matter lessened.
The chancellor ordered a guardsman to assign them some rooms and food, he then turned to them and added. "I will go to see what's going on with Octavia, you all probably need some rest, let's congregate again in the evening."
Kane looked at Lexa, waiting to get the okay from her, or to hear her doubts. The commander needed to know about Clarke, she thought about her two options, if she will ask about her, it can send the wrong message to Kane, he can think that she doesn't respect him as a leader, or show weakness in relying on one person. On the other hand, maybe it was all worth it, because she knew the blonde will be a curtail part of the discussion. At the end she just nodded her head towards him, then, she let the guardsman to lead them.
Instead of feeling enthusiastic and celebrating their success, the group spend the drive home in quite, each man to himself.
Raven was feeling really pissed, she pressed the gas pedal stronger than before, wanting to get to camp. She wasn't going to let a peace agreement to happen between them and the people who simply left them to die, and she was anxious to get there and yell a bit.
Monty was scared. Not of the big warriors and their huge weapons. No. He was scared of the person they made him. Each time he made a decision that was against his nature, the grounders were to blame. They made him leave his best friend to die in the woods, they made him help Jasper to blow up a bridge, and they made him radiate 300 people, he wasn't thrilled of the thought of them returning to their lives.
Bellamy was calculated. He thought of all the possibilities. He wondered why now, after so long, he wondered who was sent to them, if it was the commander herself, or maybe Indra, and he wondered if maybe anyone knew anything about his sister.
Clarke knew that Lexa was at her camp. She just knew it. She didn't think about the peace agreement, she didn't wonder about Lincoln or Octavia, and she didn't think about her friends. The only thing that crossed her mind was Lexa. She will talk to Lexa, in no time, after so long. She was so deep in thoughts, that she didn't even notice Bellamy's hand on hers.
Hey, so I think I am really starting to find a direction to this story.
I didn't get much feedback from you guys, but this story, unlike my others, I am writing for myself.
I want to share this with you, I was working on a novel this past year, and for the past month I can't write anymore.
Writing this helps me. The words and plot comes efortlessly to me, I don't have an editor who reviews everything I write, and I think I will be able to return to writing my book soon.
To whomever reading this,
I hope you enjoyed.
Have a great day,
Spencer.