Chapter Eleven: Bonding
Soft wind and tall grasses against the painted night of stars. Bellamy is lying in that field again beneath the night, with grass in his hair. Clarke isn't there this time though. Her silhouette isn't near him. This time he's alone. He sits up, hugging his arms as a chill envelopes his shoulders. He'd wait for her in this place without time. This forever and this in-between.
He's convinced himself that he's actually speaking to Clarke here, that this wasn't something he's conjured from grief or loneliness. The way she looks at him here and speaks to him here, it's her. The undiluted real Clarke.
"Where'd you go?" He asks the stars and they blink back at him. He stands from his sitting position to get a better vantage point and that's when he spots the figure. Her figure walking towards him from the woods. She takes off running towards him, her blonde hair shadowed in the dark.
'Where'd you go?'
The wrong voice bursts into his subconscious, "Hey, wake up!"
The night is stolen from him as he's taken back up into those cold dying stars. The void greets him again as he opens his eyes to the bright light. He turns over to see Emori lying on her bed facing away from him.
"You were talking in your sleep." Emori unhelpfully adds.
Bellamy closes his eyes tight, "You woke me up to tell me that?"
Emori rasps, "How the hell am I supposed to get any sleep?"
Bellamy sits up, his head still feeling like a dead weight on his shoulders.
"That guilt really is eating you alive still, isn't it?" Emori asks, still not turning around to face him. He's glad of it because her cold expression would leave much to be desired.
"What guilt?"
She bluntly states, "Leaving her behind."
Those words hit him like a kick to the chest and he doesn't know if it's cause he's utterly exhausted but a lump grows in his throat threating to break free. He swallows painfully against it and hates that his voice wavers, "We all did what had to be done."
"Yeah, we did, so what's the problem?" Emori questions.
"Enough." Bellamy snaps.
"Well, I struck a nerve." Emori ponders, as if she's proud of herself.
Bellamy moves to sit in one of the many uncomfortable metal chairs, "I thought you needed sleep?"
She turns to face him briefly, "And miss out on bonding time?"
Bellamy huffs, shaking his head in indignation. He had to get out of this room.
The raucous energy has faded from the room and with it a bland sense of nervousness. The thrumming kind, just under the skin, and Raven is done with it.
"None of you are leaving this room until we figure out who it was." She recites for the fifth time in three hours. The mess hall is beginning to look smaller by the minute and her patience is nonexistent.
Murphy clears his throat and there's a bitter smirk on his lips, "All of you think it's me. All of you think I should float for it too?"
"No one is floating anyone." Raven sighs and grabs Murphy's shoulder, shoving him back down onto the cafeteria bench. The rest sat there obediently still. "We're all stuck in this hell hole together. Now I'm going to be speak with you all individually and I'll start with Monty."
"I wonder who he'll blame?" Murphy mocks and Monty glares at him as they move to a more private table away from prying ears.
The lights are a piercing reminder that this isn't nearly over and her headache is just forming. "You saw nothing at all?"
"Murphy was hanging around out in the hall with Emori at one point."
Raven leans forward pressing her palms on the cold metal table. "You really think it was Murphy?"
"Murphy and Emori. I think they've been planning this and I think they were trying to make it look like someone desperate about the disappearing O2."
"Are you serious, Monty? Have you been sleeping?" Raven asks, knitting her brows together in disbelief.
Monty sighs, irritated, "You asked for my opinion, Raven."
"I understand you and Murphy don't get along but you really think this?" This really wasn't doing much for her headache.
"Who the hell actually gets along with Murphy?" Monty questions and Raven presses her lips together, conceding to his point.
Murphy sits in front of Raven with his usual irritable bravado. "Contrary to popular belief I don't hate Bellamy. Surprised?"
Raven crosses her arms, suppressing a yawn. "Is that so?"
"He has…he's…" There's a pause and Raven watches him struggle and hopes he doesn't come up with some bullshit list of Bellamy's good qualities for her benefit. She has a curse on the tip of her tongue to throw at him if the need arose.
He settles on, "I don't like him but if I wanted him dead, I wouldn't poison Emori to do it." Murphy tilts his head, seemingly satisfied with his own response.
"But you would suffocate them, hang them or….shoot them?" Raven replies curtly.
Murphy laughs then, amused. "Are we really back to that again?"
Raven eyes him with permeant annoyance. "What about Emori?"
Murphy's smirk is wiped from his face as if a switch has been flipped. "You think she would poison herself? Are you fucking kidding me?" He moves then; back rigid.
"Well, it wasn't enough to kill anyone." Raven says and gets satisfaction when anger flashes in Murphy's eyes.
"We're done." He grits and stands from the table, heading back to the spot he left. She can feel the tension building, however, and knew another fight is bound to break out. She found she missed having Bellamy's reassurances in this moment. Half the time she was never one for canned speeches but Bellamy's good at them and at least it would calm some of the tension down. She couldn't put this on him now though, not while he's recovering.
Harper gives Raven a small smile and rests her hands quietly in her lap. She's always been kind to Raven even if they never really talked much.
"How are you doing, Harper?" Raven asks, sincerely.
She fidgets and rests her hands on the table. "Wish this would all blow over."
Raven nods, "I hear you. I'm guessing you didn't see anything?"
She doesn't look at Raven, she keeps her eyes on her clasped hands and slowly replies, "I think it was Echo."
Raven snapped out of her boredom and leaned forward, "What? How do you know?"
Harper closes her eyes and swallows, "I saw her in the kitchen when Monty went to get supplies but since they've been working on the algae farm together I didn't think anything of it. I'm sorry…that I didn't say anything sooner."
Raven scanned the room, observing Echo from a distance. She sat a space away from the group, always by herself. She's hardly spoken to any of them since they've been stuck here. She doesn't seem to like most of them, except Bellamy, which would be strange if she was the one to poison him.
"Thanks, Harper."
Echo sits down in front of Raven silently, looking just as bored as Raven felt. She did look out of place though and played her part well. A grounder in space.
Raven begins, "So, anything to say?"
"I've got nothing to say. I didn't see anything." Echo supplies coolly. Her eyes betray nothing and Raven understands that gaze.
"Were you in the kitchen at all?" Raven asks and Echo shakes her head. "I was with the algae farm."
If only the algae farm was an appropriate witness. "Suspect anyone?"
Her eyes flicker downwards and for a moment Raven thinks she's going to reveal something vital but she just says, "I don't have anything for you."
Raven cringes, setting her hand to her forehead as she watches Echo get up and find a faraway place to sit. The silence is ridiculously deafening.
And that was that.
She stood at the front of the large table, all tired eyes on her and she announces, "Two names have been given for consideration."
"And fuck you all." Murphy exclaims, ready to fight all of them if necessary and Raven adds, louder, "One of them isn't Emori."
Murphy's anger seems to dissipate at that. "Then who is the other one?"
"The two names in question are Murphy-"
Murphy interrupts by standing, "Should I bow?"
"Shut up and sit down please." Raven says pointing to the bench like she would to a child who can't sit still, "The other name is Echo."
The silence is immediate as all eyes are on Echo and to her credit, she looks completely caught off guard. The reaction, however is not at all what Raven was expecting. The tension rises to an insurmountable peak. Echo suddenly jumps up from the bench, enraged and lunges at Harper, knocking them both to the floor.
Bellamy glared at the keypad as it beeped red at him when he failed at the password again. He'd been trying for an hour and now is pointlessly tapping numbers.
"Have you tried 1-2-3-4?" Emori sarcastically supplies.
"You and Murphy really are perfect for each other."
Not only did he have to find out what's happening with Raven but he also needed to check the comms. It's around the time he'd attempt to contact Clarke and he couldn't be late. What if today was the day? The day she was finally able to communicate back to him. Even if it was one word, he'd take it. Just one word. Anything.
He kicks the door uselessly with an exasperated sigh. He even attempts to look for any vents in the vicinity but there are none big enough to even fit his head let alone anything else.
"So, I heard Clarke isn't dead?" Emori asks and Bellamy glances in her direction to see she's sitting in one of the squeaky lab chairs with her feet propped up on the table beside her.
"She communicated with us."
"That's nice." Emori adds, flatly and continues after a moment, "I heard you were the only one to hear her."
Bellamy squints at her and leans against the edge of the desk across the room. There's a small porthole window looking out to the void of space he absently eyes every so often.
"Yes and?"
"Weren't you going a bit…off the deep end around then?" Emori asks and leans back staring at the ceiling.
Bellamy shakes his head, "Clarke communicated with us. She's alive and she will again."
"I'm not the only one that thinks you were hearing things." Emori replies with amusement.
"You and Murphy can think what you like, I really don't care."
Emori sits up then, making eye contact with him, "Wasn't talking about Murphy."
Bellamy clenches his jaw and says, "So, is this where you try to get a rise out of me?"
"I may be bored but I'm telling the truth. I heard Raven talking with Monty, she doesn't think you actually heard her after the communications were interrupted. She thinks…" Emori made a circling gesture with her finger towards her head.
Bellamy blinks and looks to the porthole window for distraction. He doesn't say a word. He's done feeding this fire.
"Your buttons are easy to press, they all say 'Clarke'." Emori replies to the silence. Bellamy says nothing, keeping his eyes on that tiny window. He didn't need to burden himself with what people thought of him. What was the point? All he needed to do was get back to Earth in a few years' time. That's it. He'd be lying to himself though if Emori's words didn't stick to him.
The satisfying click of the door opening claims their attention. Raven appears exhausted on the other side of it.
"Who was it?" Bellamy asks and his eyes slide to Emori.
"For now, Echo. We locked her in one of the empty labs. She attacked Harper." Raven supplies and looks between the two of them.
Bellamy lifts a brow, "She attacked Harper? What the hell happened?"
"Harper was the one who accused her, I don't really understand how she knew that though. I need to speak with her again." Raven sighs and leans against the doorway for support.
"You look like you need rest yourself. I can speak with her."
Raven laughs at that, "You were the one she poisoned, I don't think that's a good idea."
Emori interrupts, "Can I go now or do I have to stand here while you two argue?"
Raven motions for her to leave, stepping out of the way and Emori practically runs out of the door.
"If she poisoned me, I'd like to know why and if the O2 was the deciding factor." Bellamy continues.
"Well if you—" Raven halts. He watches her tired expression suddenly fade into bewilderment as she pushes away from the doorway. "What?" Bellamy questions.
"…is that…?" She asks, looking wide-eyed behind him and he turns following her eye line.
Out of the porthole window into space, Bellamy sees what she sees and his shoulders go rigid. A burgeoning fear in his chest, "What the hell is that?"
Raven pushes by him and he follows her to the round window as they both peer out of it with equal awe-struck faces. Raven quietly says, "That looks like a shuttle."