Thank you for encouraging reviews and support. I have decided to continue with the story. I apologise for the delay (I had to rewrite chapter 5). #clexa
Disclaimer: All characters belong to CW. I own nothing.
"Keep your eyes on the trees or you might as well be dead." Bellamy reminded them again. They had been walking for almost half an hour but there was still no sign of Clarke. He was getting frustrated. Clarke should have told someone where she was going. He was worried she just disappeared. It wasn't like her at all so he knew something was wrong. He wasn't ready to find Clarke's lifeless body laying around there somewhere.
"Someone's coming." Atom whispered when he saw movements on the far side of the woods. They went to hide behind large trees with their fingers on the trigger. They pressed their backs against the trees waiting for the right time to jump out and shoot.
Finn squinted his eyes to help him see more clearly. When he was sure he yelled, "Hold your fire!" He got to his feet and stepped out. He slung the rifle over his shoulder by its strap attached to it then raised his left hand up in the air. The others loosened their fingers on the triggers. "It's Murphy and the others!"
"What's going on?" Murphy asked when he got closer. "You guys out here hunting?" Their food supplies were good for another few days. "We've got a bunch of seaweed right here." He lifted up the bag in his hand. "It should be enough for a few weeks."
"Clarke's missing." Finn replied. "We're here to look for her."
"What? When?" Monroe asked looking at Bellamy then to Finn. Murphy lowered the bag in his hand and frowned. Jasper and Miles exchanged glances. "She was at the camp when I last saw her."
"After you left apparently but we don't exactly know when." Finn answered and glanced at Bellamy who acting kind of weird. He looked like he was looking for something. "Bellamy what's wrong?" Everybody shifted their focus on him.
"Hey where's Octavia?" Bellamy asked angrily. He turned to Murphy when he didn't see her. "Where the hell is my sister?" He took a few steps forward and stood in front of him. He had told him to keep an eye on her.
Murphy shrugged his shoulders while looking absolutely clueless. "She was here with us. I didn't-" Before he managed to speak Bellamy grabbed the rear collar of his jacket with his left hand and pushed him against a tree. He took Murphy by surprise.
"You lost her! If anything happens to her-" Bellamy couldn't contain his anger and almost punched him in the face if it wasn't for Finn grabbing his hand the moment before the strike was made. Finn had placed himself between the two of them. He pushed Bellamy a few steps backwards to separate them.
"I'm not your sister's keeper Bellamy." Murphy said bitterly to Bellamy leaning a little bit to the left because Finn was blocking his sight. "Someone else is already responsible for that." He said glancing at Atom who shot him a look when his name was dragged into the problem. He might care little about other people but he didn't want anything bad happen to any of them either. If he knew Octavia would go missing he would have done something. He honestly thought she was with them. He just couldn't stand Bellamy blaming him for something that wasn't his fault.
"Calm down! What the hell?" Finn said to Bellamy who responded by crossing his arms. "Where did you think you last saw her?" Finn asked Murphy while his eyes keeping tab on Bellamy.
"She was with us maybe until fifteen to twenty minutes ago. I remember she walked right behind me." Monroe answered instead. It wasn't Murphy's fault. Octavia wasn't a child that she needed to be watched every few seconds. "We didn't talk much afraid of attracting the grounders. So I didn't realise when exactly she wasn't behind me."
"She's right." Jasper chipped in. He didn't agree with Bellamy blaming Murphy for it. They looked out for each other. So if one of them went missing all of them were at fault.
"Damn it!" Bellamy shouted angrily. "We already lost Clarke and now Octavia's missing!" He looked at the ground and kicked dirt in frustration. "We don't have enough men to go looking for them both!" When he looked up everybody could see his face was red with anger. He raised his arm and then put his arm back down seemed trying to compose himself.
"We'll find them." Finn tried to calm him down. He understood his anger. He would act the same or probably worse if people he cared about went missing but there was no point in getting worked up. "We should start looking before it gets dark." He didn't want to be out here when it was dark. "Monroe, take the seaweed back to camp. We're not that far. You know the way back right? You should be okay."
"What? No! I'm staying. Two of our people are missing. You guys need help and I want to help." Monroe refused. She was more useful out here than at the camp. Besides the more people they had the better they could defend themselves in case they bumped into some nasty grounders.
"Someone needs to tell them what's going on. If you guys didn't come back they'd think something happened. We can't have any more people out here." Finn explained. Raven would be worry that she might send another search party after them which would be a total waste of time.
"Okay." She said after a moment. She knew Finn got a point. "Yeah I know the way back. I'll be fine." She said while taking the bag full of seaweed from Murphy and gave him a little nod. "You guys be careful," she said before leaving.
"Where should we start looking?" Miles asked a difficult question after being quiet for some time. They couldn't just randomly look for them. They could be anywhere.
"We'll find where they live." Bellamy suggested. "That's the only way." He had thought about it back at the camp but didn't tell anyone until he was certain they couldn't say no. With two people missing they wouldn't have a choice.
"Wait. Go to the grounder's village? Is that what you mean? That's too dangerous." Murphy shook his head, disagreed. He looked at Finn looking for some support but Finn didn't give him any. It seemed that Finn was on board with that crazy idea.
"Well I didn't hear any better ideas." He shot a look at Murphy. He still felt like punching him in the face.
Jasper cleared his throat. "But Murphy's right. It's too dangerous. We don't know if they had Clarke or even Octavia. Maybe they're just lost. If that's the case there's no reason for us to go looking for their village. It sounds like we're looking for trouble." He spoke his mind.
Bellamy stepped forward confronting Jasper face to face. "Well it was too dangerous to go out here looking for you when you got speared right there but we did go out to save you didn't we?" He pointed to Jasper's chest that made him retreated far enough from him. He looked downwards to avoid his stares.
"That's enough." Finn had had enough of this. It wasn't the time for argument. "How many rounds do you have?" He asked while checking the rifle in his hand. "If we want to go there we need to be prepared." Bellamy wouldn't accept no for an answer and it was pointless to argue.
"Two rounds." Murphy answered. The others had just enough.
"Okay let's move." Bellamy ordered and looked at all of them once again before turning to leave. Atom followed him.
Murphy grabbed Finn by the arm when Bellamy wasn't looking. "Are we really going to do this?" He didn't think it was a good idea. He didn't sign up for this. He thought they were going to search the woods, not pick up a fight with the Grounders.
"Seriously guys?" Jasper spoke. He gulped at the idea of going after the Grounders. His free hand automatically went to his chest where he knew his scar was. He lowered his hand when he noticed they were staring at him.
"Are you guys done?" Bellamy yelled from distance when he saw they weren't moving. "We don't have all day!"
Finn raised his hand and gave Bellamy a thumbs up signal. "We don't have a choice." Finn said and touched Jasper's shoulder. Maybe he should have sent Jasper back to camp instead of Monroe. He wasn't sure if Jasper was ready to fight. "Okay?" Jasper nodded a few times even though he wasn't feeling okay.
"How do we know where to look?" Miles asked.
"I don't know." Finn answered.
"So-" Octavia said as they walked back to their camp. Clarke walked as fast as she could to avoid having a question and answer sessions with Octavia but they were still far from camp.
"I think we should take another way." Clarke suggested. She didn't want to bump into the others from the camp although she was sure Octavia's group probably were way ahead of them but she didn't want to take unnecessary risk. She pointed to a longer path to get to their camp.
"You worry too much. We're not going to see the others. They're probably at the camp already." She said. "But I don't mind. It's not everyday I get to get out here anyway." Octavia had no objection. She watched as Clarke led the way. "But if you think you can avoid my questions-"
Clarke rolled her eyes. "You're not going to stop are you?" She turned to face Octavia who looked like she was having too much fun. "Okay what is it?" She sighed and gave up. Octavia wouldn't stop until she got her answers. It was better they talked about it here than at the camp.
"I wonder have you two kissed yet or maybe sl-?" She asked bluntly. She doubted they had but who knew. It had only been like a week or two since she brought Lexa home and she didn't know how many times Clarke had sneaked out to meet Lexa in secret, something she thought was romantic.
Clarke held up her hand. "No no. I'm not answering that kind of questions." She said, ignoring the blush that stained her cheeks. "End of conversation."
"Aw are you blushing? That's adorable." Octavia giggled. "What kind of questions you think I'm going to ask you?" She jogged a little to walk next to Clarke who had walked a little faster obviously to get away from her.
"No I'm not blushing. I'm not having this conversation with you." Clarke said ignoring her. "Let's get moving before the others realise that we're missing. Bellamy would freak out if you didn't come back with your group." She hadn't told anybody she was going out. She just hoped they wouldn't notice she was gone. She thought it wouldn't take this long but one could only plan.
"So?" Octavia was still waiting for her answer. "Come on. Let's have a girl talk. We're too busy saving our asses we can hardly find time to relax." She tried to persuade Clarke to open up.
Clarke kept quiet. Did kissing her in your dream count? If they weren't interrupted she had probably kissed Lexa already. She sighed. All her plans went down the toilet. Next time I see her I'm going to kiss her. No more plans. Period! And hopefully no more interruptions, Clarke thought. She glanced at Octavia who was studying her.
"Oh you haven't!" Octavia laughed, too loud for Clarke's liking.
"Ha ha. You having fun yet?" Clarke said and let out a sigh.
"She is pretty." Octavia complimented Lexa while trying to catch up with Clarke. "Slow down Clarke. The camp isn't going anywhere." She said. "I'll keep your secret and I'll cover for you the next time you want to sneak out to see her." She grinned. This was kind of exciting sneaking out to see your lover.
"Well thank you for your offer but no thanks. We're doing just fine." Clarke sighed. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea having someone to watch her back when she went to meet Lexa. Do we even have a chance to meet after this? Lexa just got busted. I wonder if she's alright, Clarke thought.
"How far are you guys in this relationship anyway?" She asked.
She would never hear the end of it so being honest was the only way to go. "Not as far as you think I'm afraid." Clarke let out a sigh and stared downwards for a moment. They had only met a few times and those times weren't perfect. There was always something that got in the way. She abruptly stopped walking and turned to Octavia. "You can't tell anyone."
"I will not tell anyone. I promise." Octavia held up two fingers and pretended to make an oath. "Though I think it'd make things easier if they knew. I mean just tell them Lexa is not like the other grounders." She suggested.
"Yeah like your brother will take that at face value." Clarke remembered how furious Bellamy was when she took Lexa home. He even threatened to kill her if he didn't get his intel. Luckily Lexa got away.
Octavia hummed. "About my brother."
"Yeah. What about him?"
"He is my brother but I don't know which team I should root for." It was clear something was on her mind. "I mean I love my brother and all but like I said Lexa is beautiful. I've only seen you guys together once but do you know you two look great together?"
Clarke frowned. "Octavia I don't know what you're getting at." She knew they were great together.
"I'm torn between Team Bellamy and Team Lexa." Octavia told her what was bugging her. She looked to be giving it a serious thought.
"Do you know how strange that sounds?" Clarke asked wondering how Octavia came up with such a thing. For her to be seriously thinking about it was kind of funny.
"Nothing is strange about shipping couples you like." Octavia replied. "I love love stories. Before I got caught I spent my time reading books mostly love stories Bellamy smuggled in for me. Well it wasn't like I could go out to a dance party or anything." She smiled. She hated to be under the floor hiding while other girls her age got to live their lives the way they wanted to. Even though this mission to earth was literally a suicide mission at least it turned out she got a second chance at life. She determined to make the most of it.
"Now you lost me completely. Can we get back to talk about something else?" Clarke had stopped walking. She turned to look at Octavia to give her a piece of her mind but what she saw stopped her. She could see a glimmer of sadness in her eyes. She heard about the Blake siblings, the only siblings on the Ark. It must be tough to hide your own existence and get punished for just being born. "Okay you can ship whoever you want. Whatever ship means." She had soften her tone.
"Great! So I'm on Team Lexa." Octavia nodded a few times. She had made up her mind.
Clarke laughed. "Just a second ago you were torn between two teams and now you're on her team. What's there on your mind? May I ask why?" She crossed her arms trying to take Octavia seriously.
Octavia shrugged her shoulders. "I love Bell but I guess it's something about Lexa. She's just-" She didn't finish her sentence. She squinted her eyes and crunched her face up like she was really thinking hard of it.
"She's just what? What about her?" Clarke asked, curious when she saw Octavia's face. It wasn't like she expected Octavia to say something that she didn't already know.
Octavia open her eyes wide and grinned. "Is that jealousy I'm sensing?" She teased. "God Clarke. She's all yours. It's just- I don't know how to put it but sometimes you just know that it works." She explained. "It's like you can feel it. You know."
Octavia seems to have so much faith in us, Clarke thought. "Well if it's up to me of course I want it to work. I want a chance to make it happen." She said honestly. "But our situation is complicated. She's a Grounder and I'm an Arker. We're not exactly in a good term right now unless we could find a way to work together. That's why I don't want our friends to know about us just yet."
Octavia nodded. She understood Clarke's concern. "It would help if you can speak her language and vice versa. Hell one thing that puzzles me is that how do you guys communicate!" She raised her hands in the air. "I mean do you just talk whatever and she just listens or she just talk whatever and you listen? How does it work with you guys?" She crossed her arms.
"Well mostly I'm the one who do the talking and she just listens. She spoke of a few words." Clarke tried to remember some words Lexa had said. "Something like 'Hodnes laik kwelnes'. She said that one time. I bet she thought I didn't pay attention." Clarke tried her very best to remember how to pronounce it. "I don't know what it means though."
"Could it be something romantic? It could be 'I love you'." Octavia guessed. Clarke shrugged her shoulders. There was no way for her to find out. Judging by Lexa's face at that time she didn't think that was what it meant.
"As much as I enjoy our girl talk we really need to walk faster." Clarke said looking up the sky then glanced at her watch. They only had about an hour before it was dark. "It's getting dark soon." She slowed her pace as she looked around. "Damn it!" She cursed.
"What's wrong?"
"I think we took a wrong turn." Clarke looked around with hands on her hips.
"What?!" Octavia walked closer to Clarke and looked at her. "How did that happen?"
"I was distracted." Clarke rolled her eyes. "By our conversation obviously."
"Are we lost?" She hoped Clarke knew the woods as she had no idea where they were. "I need to get out more often."
"No we're not. It'll just take a lot longer to reach camp." Clarke sighed. "I think. That way." She pointed and started walking. She had only taken three steps when she saw some movement. She grabbed Octavia by her arm and gestured for her to be quiet. Octavia raised her eyebrows but quickly realised what happened when her eyes followed the direction Clarke was pointing at. There were six armed grounders men appeared on the far side of the woods oblivious to Clarke and Octavia's presence.
"Let's go." Clarke's eyes never left the grounders. "We'll follow them."
"Did talking about Lexa make you lost your mind?" Octavia couldn't believe what she heard. Why would she want to follow those grounders? There was no where in hell she would do that.
"Don't you want to know where they live?" Clarke glanced over her shoulder to see Octavia disapproval face and her shaking head.
"Does this have anything to do with your girlfriend?" Octavia asked with a flat voice and a pointed look.
"No! This has nothing to do with Lexa." Clarke rolled her eyes. "And she's not my girlfriend. Not yet." Maybe sometime in the future, Clarke thought. Of course she wanted to see where Lexa lived but it wasn't the reason.
"Do you think they were watching us? They could be coming back from the dropship." They watched from behind thick bushes as those grounders talked and laughed out loud.
Clarke had thought about the possibility of that. She wasn't exactly sure how far they were from the dropship but she wouldn't dismiss that thought so easily.
"Bellamy has a crush on you. Did you know?" Octavia said all of a sudden. She watched Clarke didn't react. "You knew!"
"Are we really doing this right now?" Clarke whispered glancing over to Octavia then shifted her attention back to the grounders that were almost out of sight. She guessed they wouldn't go after them. It would be stupid and dangerous. What was she thinking?
They both watched until the grounders were gone then Clarke sat down on the ground. She rested her back against a tree. Octavia did the same.
"I do care about Bellamy, just like I care about every single one of you." Clarke's answer spoke volume. She didn't have to say it out loud. She had never looked at Bellamy as someone more than a friend. She did notice Bellamy had changed a little bit from the first time they touched the ground. He was a jerk at first but now he was someone you knew who would get things done but that didn't change how she felt for him.
"He's a great brother." Octavia said, remembering what Bellamy had done for her ever since she was born.
"I know. You're lucky to have him." Clarke smiled sincerely thought Octavia was lucky to have one. Nobody on the ark had siblings due to the ark's straight rules to control their population.
"Are you mad at him?"
Clarke glanced at Octavia and frowned. "Why for?"
"He thinks you're mad at him for what happened with the radio." Octavia explained.
"No I don't mad at him or hate him Octavia. We all should stick together, not hating each other for something like that." Clarke sighed. "Now can we go? We have wasted so much time already." She looked around to make sure it was safe to continue.
Octavia got up to her feet. "Yup. Let's go."
"I still don't think this is a good idea." Murphy leaned in to whisper to Jasper next to him. "Clarke could be back at the camp already. Having a drink and wondering why we're out here looking for her." He said while looking at both Finn and Bellamy walking in the front while Atom and Miles were behind them. He turned to Jasper when he didn't get a response. Jasper wore a worried expression on his face. He sighed. He thought this was a suicide mission. How could it not? There were only six of them with barely enough ammo. What would they do next after they got to the village? Just shoot everybody on sight? Or engaged on a peace talk? He didn't think Bellamy was a great negotiator with him being emotional. Finn on the other hand was the level-headed one but he still wasn't convinced.
"We don't know that Murphy." Jasper said all of the sudden that brought him back to reality. "She could be tied up to a tree right now waiting to be tortured." His said with a glimmer of fear in his eyes when his own experience crossed his mind. He thought he was going to die. He really did. He turned to Murphy and scratched the bridge of his nose. "Or worse they're waiting for us!" Jasper told his worst fear.
Murphy rolled his eyes when he saw Jasper like that. He was talking to the wrong person. He didn't need Jasper to get more traumatize so he tried to get his mind off of negative thoughts. Cheering people up were not one of his best qualities. "Well you did get speared to your chest but you know what—you're still alive to fight another day. You're a survivor. Just try not to get speared again. Miracle doesn't work twice." He laughed.
Atom and Miles who were walking in front of them turned around. "Good to see you in such a happy mood." Atom said with a raised eyebrow. Murphy smiled and shrugged his shoulders. There was no need to get stressed out. They were just on their way to get buddy-buddy with the Grounders and get Clarke and Octavia back right? Nothing bad would happen.
"I had no idea how I survived. I mean Clarke did save my life but before that—" He said ignoring Atom but stopped and swallowed hard. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. Atom shook his head and turned around not wanting to take part in any of it.
"What are you trying to say?" Murphy took his attention back to Jasper. He frowned at his words. Jasper never spoke of what happened between the times after they took him and before he was rescued. He just thought Jasper had no recollection of it since he probably was unconscious or semi-conscious the whole time.
"I don't remember much but I think he treated my wound." He said after a while. "I think I remember he put that stuff on my chest." The pain was so severe he remembered he cried.
Murphy nodded. "Yeah we know that. They treated you so they could use you as a bait to lure us in. To kill us one by one until we're wiped out." He said. "That big ass tiger or whatever that thing was probably their doing." He was there when they rescued Jasper and that thing appeared out of nowhere. Good thing they had guns.
"Not they." Jasper shook his head then glanced over to Murphy and said, "Just a guy." He took a deep breath and let it out. He held his rifle in his hand tight. "I don't know why but he saved my life. I would've bled out if he didn't stop the bleeding. Clarke took care of the rest." He added but suddenly realised something. "You were there too. Thanks." He hadn't thanked them yet for coming back to save him.
Murphy gave a sideways smile. "Don't mention it. You'd do the same for me." He gently pushed Jasper's right shoulder that broke a small laugh out of the nervous guy.
"What makes you so sure?" Jasper snickered then pushed Murphy's shoulder a little harder and laughed a little loud this time. "Easy. It's just a joke." He said when Murphy frowned at him. "I'm not a hero but I'd definitely do the same for you but if that thing strikes I'm out." He said referring to the black tiger.
"Good to know." Murphy grinned and shook his head.
Atom cleared his throat at the noise they made. He turned around for the second time and said, "Do you mind? We're close." He gestured with his head to Finn who was looking at some tracks on the ground. "Since when you two become friends anyway?" He murmured and glanced over to them before walking to stand behind Bellamy who was bending over to look at the tracks Finn was pointed at.
Murphy raised his free hand up. "Sorry. I'm just trying to be nice."
"Guys I think we're close. There are plenty of tracks around here." Finn looked up while pointing to the ground. "These tracks look new and I think we're heading the right way."
"So we find their village and then what?" Murphy asked as he walked closer to them. "Do we even have a plan?" He looked at Finn and then Bellamy but neither offered an answer. "Sweet." He said while rubbing the back of his neck.
"We'll think of one. We should get going." Bellamy said and took the lead. Everybody walked to follow Bellamy. Finn took a last look at the tracks before standing up when an arrow struck on the ground. He looked up and saw a few grounders were running towards them. "Grounders! Run!" Finn yelled.
They turned around and Bellamy pulled the trigger first. Upon hearing the shots the Grounders immediately hid behind the trees for cover. "Go!" He yelled for them to move while the Grounders were still hiding. He walked backwards while shooting at them when they tried to follow.
"Go where?!" Jasper shouted.
"Just run!" Finn shouted from the front. Everybody followed his lead. The grounders were still shooting arrows at them. "Bellamy!" Finn shouted when he realised Bellamy wasn't moving. He ran back to get him while the others opened fire to give them cover. "Come on!" He grabbed Bellamy by his arm.
"One down! Five more to go!" Bellamy yelled when one of the Grounders fell to the ground. The others quickly took cover behind trees and bushes to avoid his bullets.
"Don't get too excited! Come on!" Finn said while looking ahead figuring out if he should just went with his instinct. "God let me be right. This way!" He prayed and started sprinting while the others followed. The Grounders were still hiding so Bellamy took the chance and ran.
They had been running for a while when Finn stopped abruptly. The Grounders were no longer pursuing them. "Look." He said as he pointed with his rifle. "I think we found what we're looking for." He smiled while turning his head to look at Bellamy who stood next to him. The others just got there and were looking in the same direction.
"How did you know where to go?" Atom asked curious. They watched from behind trees at a bunch of people going about their business.
Finn shrugged. "I followed my instinct." His answer made them shook their heads. "And I was right. So relax." He added when he saw their dissatisfaction.
"But they're just regular people." Jasper said. "Women. Children." It wasn't like what he had expected. They were doing their everyday business and everything looked normal. "They're nothing like the Grounders we've met before."
"Don't be too quick to judge Jasper. We don't know them." Finn said. His eyes were scouting the place but there was no indication to tell that their friends were being kept here. "No sight of them. Maybe they're not here." From the corner of his eyes he could see Bellamy made a move. "Whoa! Where do you think you're going?" He stopped him.
"I'm going in there to see if they have Clarke and my sister. Just because we can't see them doesn't mean they're not here. They could keep them in one of those houses." He knew it was risky but he wouldn't turn his back now that they made it here. "I'm going in whether you're coming or not." He said while looking at the others who hesitated. He didn't wait for their answer and took off.
"We can't let him go in there alone. Let's go." Finn said then followed him. The others had no choice but to agree.
It was dark and it made their job easier. The villagers didn't notice of their presence. They managed to sneak in into one of the houses closest to the woods.
"Well?" Murphy asked standing guard outside while Bellamy and Finn went in to check it out. "Make it fast. We don't have much time." Jasper stood next to him swallowed the lump in his throat. Murphy looked at him but offered no words for comfort.
"Someone is heading this way!" Miles whispered while his eyes never left the Grounder. "Wait. False alarm. He went inside the other house." He sighed. He should have stayed at the camp instead of volunteered or volunteered to bring the seaweed back to camp.
"They're not here." Bellamy said. "Let's check out that one." He pointed to the next house and already made his way there.
"Are we going to check the house one by one?" Jasper asked in disbelief. The farther inside the village they went the higher chances they were going to get caught.
"Finn this is crazy." Atom said when Finn walked passed him. Finn shot him a look and then went to follow Bellamy. They didn't have time to do this right now. Atom shook his head. "We're going to get busted."
"I thought you had it in you." Murphy smirked when he saw Atom chickened out and intentionally bumped his shoulder with Atom's as he passed him when he deliberately not stepping aside. Jasper and Miles followed him without saying a word clearly didn't want to get involved.
"Anything?" Bellamy asked looking back at Finn while he opened one of the doors. He didn't realise the room was occupied. When he turned he was shocked to see a boy was staring at him with a knife in his hand. He watched as the boy charged at him. Within a second he pulled his gun out and pointed it at the boy.
"Bellamy! Don't!" Finn said from behind him but it was too late to stop Bellamy from pulling the trigger. The sound of gunshot filled the air. He watched in horror when the boy fell backwards to the ground.
"I—" Bellamy stuttered. He didn't mean to shoot the boy but it was instinct that made him did it. He stared at the boy who hadn't moved. "Is he dead?" He asked and was about to get to the boy when Finn grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the house. This wasn't the time to feel guilty.
The gunshot surprised the others. "What the hell was that?" Murphy asked quickly raised his rifle preparing to shoot. "Shit is about to get real serious." He murmured.
Finn and Bellamy appeared at the front door with Bellamy looked as white as a ghost. His face told them he was the one who took the shot. "Someone was shot. Let's go." Finn said. They didn't waste any more time but the shot had awakened the villagers. Doors slowly opened as curious inhabitants poked their heads out, wondering where the gunshot came from.
"Run!" Finn said as some of them had started to gather when they realised their presence. They tried to run but were quickly surrounded. They backtracked until they had nowhere to turn.
"It's too late for that." Miles who had been quiet the whole time finally spoke. "They know we're here. Now what do we do?" He asked with a shaky voice.
"Veida!" One of them shouted calling the others to come out. "Sky People are here!"
"This is not good." Murphy said as he pointed his rifle towards nobody in particular. "This is so not good. Tell me we have a plan." He said nervously glancing over his shoulder to the others.
"We don't have a plan." Jasper replied. "But we can't just shoot them to get away. They're just normal people. Innocents. Look at them." They all silently agreed with Jasper but this wasn't the time to be in doubt. They had to make decisions if they wanted to get out of there in one piece.
"Give us our friends back and let us go or we shoot!" Bellamy yelled surprising the others. He raised his gun high in the air and fired to the sky to frighten them but the crowd responded with a loud chanting. More people had gathered around them. They didn't look like they were afraid of their guns or planning to back off. It seemed to have encouraged them more.
"We are not shooting them!" Finn said. He didn't believe Bellamy meant to shoot the boy. It was an accident. "Don't make this any worse!" He gritted his teeth while his mind racing to think of some way out of this.
"Then how are we going to get out of this mess?" Atom asked. He agreed with Bellamy. It was killed or be killed. He chose the former.
They heard someone shouted and the crowd immediately stopped chanting. They looked at each other then turned around while making way for someone to walk through. In a few seconds a woman walked through the path towards them with the Grounder's warriors behind her. She shouted something and the villagers stepped back and the warriors took charge surrounded them.
"We're screwed." Jasper said as he watched the woman in full battle gear probably their leader stepped forward with a devilish grin on her face.
"Welcome back Heda." Gustus said while bowing his head down. He paused then added, "Something happened while you were gone. We caught some of Sky People invaded our village. They were armed with guns, weapons. We managed to subdue them."
Lexa listened while taking off a piece of cloth around her neck. She went to a table and poured water into a cup and drank up. There were so many things that happened today, good and bad things. That was why she took her time before coming back to her camp so she could think things through. Why would they want to attack them now? To her knowledge her people had been following her orders not to harm Sky People and she hadn't heard of any incident between her people and Clarke's people that could trigger their action. Clarke couldn't have known about this attack. "Did anybody get hurt?"
Gustus nodded his head. "Yes. Sky People were in Artigas's house when his parents weren't home. He was shot. He's losing a lot of blood. Nyko and Lincoln are trying their best to save him but he doesn't look like he will make it."
"What about them?"
"No death. There are six of them. One of them stopped the shooter from shooting more of our people." He explained. "But the damage has been done." He said as a gentle reminder to his Commander. He thought she was being lenient to them, outsiders. Her initial orders were to kill them all but she had changed it to reason only known to her. He suspected it had something to do with the Sky Girl he and Indra saw with her earlier but he kept it to himself unless the Commander brought it up herself.
Lexa shot him a look. "I have not forgotten my duty to protect our people Gustus." She knew where he was getting at. "We will have justice. If Artigas dies then the shooter will die too." Gustus nodded.
After a while she said, "I'm thinking to form an alliance with them."
Gustus looked up with a questioning look on his face. "An alliance?" He didn't think the Commander would go this far with Sky People. Their people would not accept this alliance.
Lexa nodded. "I trust they are useful for us in our fight against Mountain Men." The Mountain Men had been killing her people for generations. They hadn't found a way to defeat them but with Sky People's knowledge she believed they could figure something out.
"My apology Heda." He said sincerely but added, "but this alliance is too risky."
"Stop worrying, Gustus. Like you've always told me, all alliances are risky." Lexa walked to sit on her throne while Gustus followed to stand in front of her. Gustus didn't like the idea of alliances between the 12 Clans and he had been vocal to her about it which she was grateful. Gustus and Indra had been very loyal to her even though she knew they didn't agree with some of her decisions.
"This is not the same as uniting the twelve clans." Gustus said. "These Sky People are different. They're more like the Mountain Men than us. It could kill our coalition." Gustus spoke his mind. The Commander's life was in constant danger since she had brought together the Twelve Clans. Most of them agreed because they didn't want to be seen as traitor and rebellious. They just kept in silence waiting for her to make mistakes.
"Our coalition, or me?"
"You are the coalition, Heda." Gustus looked downwards as he said it.
"Then do your job and protect me." Lexa said but their conversation was interrupted when Indra walked in.
"Heda. We're waiting for your orders regarding the intruders." She said as she glanced over to Gustus who had taken his position next to the Commander. She had been informed of the Commander's return. She believed Gustus had told her about what happened. "Our people demand that they pay to what happened to Artigas."
"As I said to Gustus the shooter dies if Artigas dies." Lexa said. "Until then we keep them alive."
"Alive?" Indra asked surprised. "They shot one of our people! They attacked us!" She didn't believe what she just heard. "We can't let them live!" Her words were succinct, her voice hoarse with controlled anger.
"Do we know why they were here?" Lexa asked ignoring Indra. Indra was a great leader and warrior but sometimes she wouldn't listen to reasons. She didn't believe in bending rules to achieve goals. She knew what Indra wanted, death to all of Sky People.
"No. You specifically told us not to speak English around them. So we didn't ask." Indra said taking a deep breath.
"Don't you think it is wise to know the reason why before we take their life?" Lexa asked again. "They aren't many of them outside. With that small number of them it is foolish on their side to think they could defeat us."
Indra was quiet. The Commander was right but she didn't care about their reasons. She didn't care about them at all. Their presence on their land was good enough for her to think that they deserved to die. They didn't belong here.
"I understand your frustration Indra. Like I told Gustus I have decided to form an alliance with them."
Indra looked up, eyes wide. "An alliance?" She asked in disbelief. "With Sky People?" She glanced over at Gustus who nodded telling her he already knew about the plan.
Lexa nodded. She wasn't surprised with Indra's reaction. "We already have alliances with the Twelve Clans. It will only bring us strength to have them on our side. As my most trusted warriors I told you this beforehand." She would announce their alliance with the rest of the clans after she sorted out this particular problem.
"Does this have anything to do with the girl we saw you with?" Indra asked bravely. She had been wondering about it ever since but only now she had a chance to bring it up. She didn't want to come out sounding suspicious.
"No." Lexa replied immediately. It wasn't about Clarke entirely but she did play a part in her decision to be lenient to Sky People. She knew Clarke was the leader of the Sky People by the way they were talking to her. "but Clarke played a small part of my decision, yes." She added. It wasn't her feelings for Clarke that changed her mind but her character.
"Can we trust them?" Indra asked again. Her loyalty was with the Commander. If she had decided an alliance was for their best interest then she would follow her orders.
Lexa didn't trust Sky People but she trusted Clarke. "We will be very careful with this alliance. We will co-operate as long as it benefits us." Indra seemed to satisfy with her answer that she didn't ask any more questions but looked deep in her thought. "They are now part of the alliance until they are not." She was hoping that day wouldn't come.
"What are we going to do with them?"
"We'll wait for their leader to come." Lexa said as a small smile beginning to form on her lips in anticipation of their next meeting.
Note: Thank you for reading. Should we kill off bellamy? lol