Chapter 18
Author's note: thanks to all those who favorite, followed, and reviewed. Diamond girl yours made me laugh thanks for that!
Ari was lying in her tent flat on her back, fingers rubbing lightly over her lips. She had what must have been the stupidest grin on her face. She had kissed Bellamy. She had kissed him. Even better he had kissed her back. Her eyes shut as she replayed the events of earlier.
"This," she whispered as she pressed her lips to his. It was just the lightest brush, a whisper of lips that barely counted. For a moment neither moved just savoring the feel of the other's lips against their own. Then almost hesitantly Bellamy's hand carded into her pale brown hair and held her against him. As if she were going anywhere.
Then both his hands were on her, one holding her hip firmly as if she might run away. His lips were gentle but firm against her own as he moved them in ways she hadn't thought possible. He pulled back planting a chaste kiss on her swollen lips once more before moving back to look at her.
When her eyes opened his were soft, looking at her as if he had never seen her before. "Wow..," his whisper made her laugh quietly. "Yeah. Wow." That was more than she had ever imagined her first kiss to be like.
"Octavia!" Bellamy's cries made her reopen her eyes and glance curiously at the opening of her tent. When he reached hers and saw she was awake he paused. "You're still up?" She nodded and clambered from the tent, "Why're you looking for Octavia?" "She's missing."
Ari nearly halted at the sudden fear she felt for the girl who was practically her sister. What if grounders had gotten her? She could be being tortured or strung up for bait at this very moment. She was nearly sick at the thoughts in her head, the images of Tavi, as she had come to call her, hurt or worse.
She caught up with Bellamy nearly groaning when she saw that Clarke was also awake. She hadn't heard Bellamy's question but she did hear Clarke's response. "Yeah, knowing that hundreds of people on the Ark could die makes it kinda hard to sleep." She had been avoiding Clarke since her confession for the very reason she had feared. The pity in Clarke's eyes as she looked over at her.
"Raven's flares will work," Bellamy reassured her, not noting the silent exchange between the girls. "A radio would have worked better." Bellamy paused, shame flashing across his features. One wouldn't know it if you didn't know Bellamy. "Have you seen Octavia?" Clarke shook her head, obviously confused. "No, it's Octavia. She's probably chasing butterflies." Anger spiked the girl at Clarke's response, Tavi wasn't some stupid little girl who chased butterflies all day. "Clarke, I checked the camp she's not here." "What are we waiting for? Let's go," Ari interjected and went to gather her gear.
[page break][bellamy]
"Everyone! Grab a weapon!" As the now awake camp gathered around he didn't have to yell, only project his voice. "Octavia's missing. We're not coming back without her." People began to nod and grab weapons. He approached Jasper and Clarke who was assuring him he didn't have to come. He was relieved that Jasper was coming, they needed very available person and he told them as much.
He turned to see Ari grabbing a smaller spear, more easy to wield with her short height and slender frame. He had mixed feelings about her coming. While he was glad she was helping to find Octavia he didn't want her to get hurt. He had an odd urge to protect her, as strong as he felt to protect Octavia. The kiss earlier had been unexpected, while he had begun to develop feelings for the tiny brunette he didn't quite realize it until she kissed him. That would all have to be put aside until they found Octavia though.
He turned to Clarke, "We need a tracker. Finn! Get out here!" When the boy didn't emerge from the tent he now shared with Raven he grew annoyed. Rolling his eyes he yelled for the boy once more, he must have picked up some of Ari's habits. He never used to roll his eyes. "Finn, we're leaving!"
They had begun to leave when everyone stopped. He wasn't sure who the first to notice the meteor shower was but soon everyone was saying how beautiful it was, oohing and aahing in awe. "It didn't work," Ari breathed out from beside him. He turned to look at her, brows drawn in with confusion. "They didn't see the flares," Raven added. "A meteor shower tells you that?" Ari shook her head sadly, turning to look at him with tears in her eyes. "It isn't a meteor shower, it's a funeral."
"Its hundreds of bodies being returned to the earth from the Ark. That's what it looks like from the other side," Clarke added on to her horrified sentence. "We did this," Ari whispered. Without blinking he gripped her hand in his, engulfing it with his much larger one. He gave her a small comforting squeeze which she returned. "They didn't get our message," Clarke said.
He let go of Ari's hand as Raven rushed forward, hitting his chest hard. He pushed Ari behind him as Raven shouted at him. "This is all because of you two!" "I helped you find the radio," he spat at her angrily. "Yeah after you jacked it from my pod and trashed it," Raven yelled back now being physically restrained by Finn and Clarke. "Yeah they know," Clarke reassured her, glancing up at the two, "and now they have to live with it."
With one last glance at the rain of bodies in the sky he turned away. "All I know is my sister's out there. I'm gonna go find her. You coming or what?" Clarke nodded. He used Ari's words from earlier. "Then what're we waiting for? Move out!"
[page break][ari]
"Look! Over here!" The cry came from Mbege who had been one of Murphy's followers but turned into one of Bellamy's henchmen after Charlotte's murder. She brushed past him rudely, looking down at the ravine to see what he saw. She caught sight of what looked like a belt snagged on a bush. "Is it Octavia's?" She turned to Bellamy when he approached nearby. He didn't answer, instead calling for rope. He began to tie it around a bush and Ari grasped what he was trying to do. "What's the rope for?" Bellamy turned to Finn answering his question, "I'll need the rope to get back up."
He tossed the rope down the slope and grabbed it in his hand. Ari lined up behind him, grabbing the slack left behind in her hands. Bellamy turned to look at her over his shoulder questioningly. "What? She's my sister too." Without another word he began his ascent. They stopped at the bush and studied the belt.
Ari nodded, "It's hers." Bellamy called her sentence back up to the group, "We're going all the way down." Once at the bottom Ari noticed a few dark wet spots on a nearby rock. Taking the flashlight she knelt down and touched her fingers to it. When she held them up to the light her stomach sank. "Bell..," she whispered. He came over and knelt by her. She could see anger and fear on his face as he looked at the blood. "We'll find her," she promised him.
They were surprisingly followed by Jasper and then Finn. "Someone was here," Bellamy told them as he indicated to the footprints. "They're deeper going that way," Finn pointed out, "he was carrying her." "If they took her, she's alive. Like when they took me," Jasper chimed in. "Not really helping, Jazz." Ari stood and began to follow the prints, careful not to step in them.
Horror filled the faces of the teens as they stopped outside the edge of the forest. Skeletons in various stages of decay and age were strung all around, a clear warning not to enter. "I don't speak grounder, but I'm pretty sure this means keep out," Finn muttered ominously. Several teens abandoned ship at that moment, saying how crazy it was and how they would rather face the lake monster. "Go back of you want. My sister, my responsibility." Ari followed after him as he entered the forsaken forest. There was never any question of whether she would follow or not.
"I'd walk into hell to find her," Jasper told them as he caught up. "I think we just did," Ari smirked.
[page break]
"I got nothing. We lost it," Finn said as They traipsed through the mossy woods. "Keep looking," Bellamy ordered. Thinking she heard a crack Ari whirled around, spear ready. Seeing nothing she turned back slowly, eyes searching the forest. "Wandering aimlessly around the forest isn't the way to find your sister," Finn remarked rather hopelessly. "I'm not going back," Bellamy said angrily. "Hey, where's John?"
They all turned to look for him, argument forgotten as they realized he was missing. "I just saw him a second ago," Jasper whispered. "Spread out, he couldn't have gotten far." They all complied, searching silently for the missing boy. Suddenly something large and heavy fell to the ground. Startling Ari jerked before turning to it, a hand covering her mouth as she realized not what but rather who it was. John Mbege.
"They're using the trees," Ari whispered in horrified realization making the others look up at the canopy. "We shouldn't have crossed the border." "Now can we go back?" "There," Ari gestured to the figure far in the distance. "Another one," they all turned to look and find more surrounding them. "We should run," Finn urged. Bellamy nodded and they took off.
It was while they were running and they kept getting cut off by a grounder running across their path laterally that Ari realized what they were doing. "They're not chasing us. They're herding us," Ari said loud enough for Bellamy to hear. "Just keep running," He told her breathlessly. "I can't keep running much longer," Jasper yelled from the back of the group. "I'm not stopping for him!" Bellamy halted the small group, "I'm sick of running anyways."
"What're you doing?" "They know where she is," he told Finn. Upon seeing a grounder running straight for their group one girl panicked and ran in the opposite direction yelling for her friend Diggs. They took off after her, seeing the trap that Diggs had been killed with causing them to halt as Roma kept running. "They're leading us here, it's the only direction we could run," Jasper reiterated what Ari had just said. "So where did they go?" It was Ari who replied and spurred them into action. "After Roma."
It took them awhile to find her but it was Monroe who finally spotted her leaning up against a tree. "There she is. Roma?" Ari had a bad feeling about this, it didn't look like the girl was even breathing. It was Bellamy who approached her still form, followed slowly by the others who realized that she was not on fact leaning on a tree. She had been speared clean through her chest cavity, sticking her to the tree.
"They're playing with us," Finn whispered. Bellamy appeared not to have heard, closing Roma's eyes slowly. "She only came because of me," he whispered remorsefully. Ari didn't say anything, grabbing his hand and squeezing the way he had comforted her earlier. "They can kill us whenever they want," Finn continued, causing Jasper to look at him in panic.
"THEN THEY SHOULD GET IT OVER WITH! COME ON!" Ari had never wanted to hurt Jasper but she rushed over to him along with Finn, pushing the floppy haired boy aside and landing a good solid punch to Jasper's throat. Call it tough love but the boy needed to shut the fuck up and pronto. He wheezed and Ari leaned forward, pulling him down so he was eye level with her. "Shut the fuck up before you get us killed you idiot," she growled out at him.
It turned out to be in vain for grounders practically bled from the woods. "I hope you're happy now," she spat acidly as she let go of him. "They're coming," Monroe yelled obviously. They all crowded together in a circle and Ari grabbed Bellamy's hand one last time before they died. But instead of throwing a sharp deadly weapon at them the grounders stopped upon hearing a loud horn.
As they fled Bellamy muttered, "They're leaving?" Jasper who had apparently calmed down from his little mental break commented. "That horn, what does it mean?" Finn answered, "Acid fog." He began to pull a tarp from his bag hurriedly. "We have to run." Finn shook his head as he shook out the tarp, "There's no time."
[page break]
"How long are we supposed to wait?" It was Jasper who broke the tense silence beneath the crowded tarp. Ari was as far as possible from the others, tucked between Bellamy's legs which were raised in either side of her. He knew she disliked being touched, although he was an exception, and the tarp was too small without them being crammed together. She had wrapped one slender arm around his leg and the other held the hand wrapped around her midsection. At least if she died she would die happy, right?
"Will this even work?" "We'll find out," Finn answered Monroe. "No we won't," Bellamy said as he pushed back the tarp. "There's no fog," Ari said confused as she disentangled from Bellamy. "Maybe it was a false alarm," Finn commented. Ari glanced up and caught sight of a grounder running by rather obviously. She nudged Bell, "Look." "They're coming back."
"I think he's alone," whispered Jasper. "Now can we run?" It was obvious Monroe wanted to leave most desperately while the other four were still intent on finding Tavi. "I haven't found her. I'm going after him." "Yeah, then what?" "Catch him. Make him tell me where Octavia is. Then kill him." Ari got up as he did, following after him.
They followed him silently until he dropped through a hole in the ground. He lived underground, she hadn't expected that. Maybe a crazy tree house but not a cave in the ground. They entered the cave which was silent only to find the grounder unconscious and Octavia chained to the wall. "Bell?" "Octavia!" Bellamy rushed to his sister. Ari was close behind, stopping to study the grounder with Finn. "Get the key!" Bellamy did as his sister ordered and grabbed it to unshackle her.
As he was unchaining the younger Blake he called for Monroe to guard the entrance. As soon as she was free of her chains she launched herself at her brother. "You're okay, you're okay," he told her as he held her close. As soon as she pulled back she rushed for Ari who held the taller girl tightly. Tavi moved on to Jasper asking, "How did you find me?" "Followed him," he replied as he hugged her cheerfully.
"We should go. Now, before he wakes up," Tavi insisted. "He's not gonna wake up," Bell threatened ominously as he made his way towards the grounder. "Bellamy, stop. He didn't hurt me, let's just go." "They started this, Finn, move," he ordered the boy who was kneeling by the grounder, fingering his horn. "Fog horn," he muttered and Ari understood why there had been no fog. He had saved their lives.
While Finn was distracted with the horn she was still staring at the grounder, which was why she saw the knife coming. Shoved Finn hard out of the way she felt a harsh stabbing pain as the knife plunged into her side. Gasping she fell onto her back. There was a scuffle which she was vaguely aware of and then only darkness.
[page break][bellamy]
"Clarke! Somebody get Clarke!" His shouts didn't fall on deaf ears for as soon as people saw him carrying Ari they ran to get Clarke. Everyone held the girl in high esteem as she had been kind to them all at one point or another. Clarke came rushing out a frantic look on her face. "What's going on?" Panic flushed over her face as she caught sight of an unconscious Ari laying in his arms, knife sticking out of her bloodied chest. "Oh my god," she rushed to check her pulse. "She's alive!"
"Bellamy wouldn't let me take the knife out," Jasper warned, obviously questioning of it was a good idea. "No, that was a good call," she said as she glanced up at him. "Get her in the dropship, now!" Some tried to take her from him, assuming her was tired from carrying her. In truth she was very light and had barely winded him. She needs to eat more. He hoisted her up higher, out of reach and began to take her to the dropship.
The other members of the group, her friends began to fall into step with him. Suddenly he realized they were becoming his friends too. Finn spoke up. "She saved my life..I've been so horrible to her and she still saved my life." Bellamy grunted, "That's Ari for you." "Can you fix her?" "No, not me. I need my mother. I need to talk to her." Raven ran her hands through her hair in discouragement, "There's still no radio." "Raven, fix it. Go," he commanded.
Gently he lay her down on the makeshift cot for the sick that Clarke had set up. Seeing Octavia, Clarke turned to her. "Hey are you okay?" Octavia brushed her off. " Just worry about Ari." As she made to leave Bellamy grabbed her arm, "Hey. Hey. Why were you defending him?" "He saved my life. The spear that was meant for Roma-" "I saved your life. For all you know he kept you alive to use as bait for one of their traps!"
"No, I don't think so." Why couldn't she see how stupid it was to trust that damned grounder?" "You don't think O! That's the problem. They killed three of our people today! If you had let me kill him while I had the chance Ari wouldn't be dying-" "Stop it! Stop blaming me for your mistakes! What happened to Ari was your fault. I wanted to leave so if Ari dies that's on you!" He swallowed thickly, anger boiling in his veins. "Everything that's gone wrong is because of you! You got me locked up on the Ark, you wanted me to go to that stupid dance, you got Mom killed!"
She must have seen how low a blow that was because there was guilt in her eyes as she reached for him. He brushed her off with a bitter laugh and uttered the words she had always feared, the ones that he knew would tear her apart. That was what Bellamy did. He tore things apart. "Me? Mom was killed for having you. She's dead because you're alive. She made her choice but I never got to make mine. My life ended the day you were born."
He felt shame afterwards, seeing the broken look on her face. Shaking her head she made to leave the dropship but he stopped her. "Where do you think you're going?" She scoffed, "You can't keep me locked up in here forever." Tearing her arm from his viselike grip she stormed off.
He turned and made his way over to where Ari lay, ignoring the shocked looks of his friends. Sitting on a stool beside her cot he leaned forward and rested his head on the edge of, gripping her hand for dear life. Then he cried silently without anyone knowing as his head was down. Because Bellamy Blake, the strong and fearless leader, did not cry.
Author's note: the scene with Jasper and Ari had me laughing the whole time I wrote it. Some #Bari in there, so cute they're becoming a couple. Also some feels between Bellamy and Octavia. And a twist on the sixth episode because I'm evil ;)