Chapter 9

Everyone eventually returned to their separate tents to wait until the designated departure time arrived.

Octavia and Lincoln met Clarke at her tent early, and together they walked back to meet up with the rest of their party.

All three were shocked to see one more addition to the group. Raven.

When Raven saw them approach, she left Bellamy whom she had been standing by. He glanced over, but when he caught Clarke's eye, he quickly looked away.

Clarke was just as confused as ever about Bellamy's behavior. Although she had originally assumed that he was angry with her for killing Finn, now that she had more time to process things, she just couldn't believe it. Bellamy and Finn had never been close friends. In fact, most of Clarke's memories of the two together were arguments.

There had to be more to it and Clarke made a promise to herself to find out.

Then a thread of doubt crept into her mind. But what if there wasn't more to it? What if her original assumption had been right? She couldn't go back and change time. Finn would still be dead. Bellamy could potentially hold it against her forever.

The thought set her on edge. More than ever she wanted to get the meeting with the Grounders over with so that she could return to her tent. Although she had despised being sent there earlier, it was now a place of refuge. No prying eyes. No judgement. She could just be alone with her thoughts and she didn't have to put on a front for anyone.

"Are you ready?" Raven's question brought Clarke out of her haze, and she nodded quickly.

"You?" Clarke asked in return, to which Raven responded by sliding a knife from her left boot with a smirk.

"How did you convince them to let you come?" Octavia asked, looking over to Lincoln to see if he had anything to do with it. When he shook his head, she arched an eyebrow at Raven.

Raven grinned. "It seems that doing a favor for Abby comes with some nice perks now that she's Chancellor." Her expression quickly darkened though as she said, "But it doesn't matter, because I deserve to be there. The sooner we make peace with these people, the better."

Clarke nodded in agreement, just as the Council members began motioning them to come over. "We will," she promised. "No one else is going to get hurt."

Various members of the camp began to filter in then, some empty handed, but others with the gathered contributions for the meal.

One of the contributions was alcohol, a homemade concoction resembling fermented moonshine.

"Is it really a good idea for us to be drinking during this?" Clarke questioned. The alcohol would weaken their natural defenses and slow them down, something that did not seem wise in a room filled with born warriors.

To Clarke's surprise, it was Bellamy that spoke up. "Don't worry, no one's going to force you to drink a bottle by yourself. You can save that for after we've returned."

Clarke snorted. His response was so similar to the old Bellamy that she didn't want to jeopardize it by firing anything back.

Abby barely cracked a smile at Bellamy's joke. "The wine is for purposes of tradition. We bring something from our culture, and the Grounders will bring something from theirs."

She offered no further explanation or guidelines, which seemed irresponsible to Clarke. Still, she kept her mouth quiet and glanced over at Bellamy to see his reaction.

Almost as if he knew what she was thinking, Bellamy shrugged his shoulders.

When Clarke smiled, his posture stiffened just like before though, and he directed his attention back to Abby.

Bellamy made it a point not to look at Clarke again as they waited in the middle of camp to leave. It appeared that his joke earlier had been just a natural response and nothing had really changed. He was still angry with Clarke and she still couldn't fathom why.

So, now that the show has started back up again, I'm not going to be copying directly copying the plot in my story. That would just be repetitive, and what I like so much about fan fiction is that it allows us to imagine events unfolding in a different way. That's not to say that I won't use anything from future episodes, but after the failed truce meal, this story will not be canon with the tv show.

That should also answer some of your questions about why Bellamy and Raven are acting differently from the previews (and now new episode). I am just going off of what their characters are like so far, and the brief glimpses of what we saw of them in the preview for the January premiere.

This chapter was short, but there was a little more Bellamy and Clarke action in there. I think next chapter will be their trip to the meal, and then the chapter after that will be the meal itself. Approximately. School is just warming up and my courses are only going to get tougher from here on out. Out of curiosity, what do all of you do during your days? College? High School? Jobs?

I personally am in college. I'm not sure I should share my major for fear of judging though...

Anyways, please continue to review and let me know what you think. Feel free to share your thoughts on the new episode as well. As always, thanks for following and favoriting. I appreciate the feedback.