In celebration of Aftermath getting 100 favs (and a shoutout to Cribellate, who was the 100th person to favorite the fic) I wrote this thing up in a hurry. I was going to anyway, but now you get it faster! Enjoy.
"Okay. I get this whole "need to make a statement and show your prowess" deal so that you can win the undying love of the Commander, who is pretty scary actually but to each her own."
"What, Bellamy?"
"Now I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the idea. Really. But seriously. I really think we need to reconsider our plan."
Octavia and Clarke looked at each other in annoyed exasperation, then at Bellamy.
"We had a plan, Bel." Octavia started.
"But since our hunter can't hunt." Clarke continued.
"You have to deal with it." They both finished.
Bellamy glared. "That boar was unnaturally smart, okay! That doesn't mean that I have to be the damn bait!"
Octavia rolled her eyes and, tired of waiting for her brother to man up, pushed him off the ledge and into the lake several feet below them.
"Nice." Clarke muttered approvingly. "Does he even know how to swim?"
"Nope."
"...Oh. Well. Good. All that flailing around will attract it faster."
"Aaaaaand there it is. I'm going to enjoy this."
"Bellamy, get closer to the shore! It's coming!"
Octavia and Clarke readied their arrows, waiting for the creature to come close enough to the surface that they could get perfect shots. Octavia in particular was itching to kill the creature. She was more than ready to get revenge for the time she was bitten by one, way back when they had first landed.
"Did Indra give you any more information about this thing?"
"Just that it's a bitch to kill."
Clarke gave her a sideways look and huffed. "Helpful."
"She's not one for long explanations."
Finally it came close enough to the surface that she could see the blue of its scales. Bellamy was now chest deep in the water, with his sword out in case things went south.
"Now!"
Two perfect shots landed.
Red blooded dirtied the water.
The creature screamed and lifted itself out of the water.
It was big. It was blue. It was pissed.
And it had two heads.
"Uh. Octavia. What the hell is that?"
The dark haired girl squeaked and instantly sent another arrow in the creature. Below them, Bellamy ran out of the water cussing in a mix of Trigedakru and English. Clarke had just enough time to think that maybe this was a bad idea before it turned on them.
The two girls threw themselves away from the head that struck at them, but completely forgot to account for the second head. Before they even realized that they had been hit, and that they were still in midair, they hit the water in two painful splashes.
Underwater was a bad, bad place to be. That much Clarke knew. Her eyes struggled to see through the blue void she had found herself in, desperate for air and all too aware of the fact that this creature could grab her at any second.
Breaking to the surface, she managed to get one deep breath of air when something struck her in the stomach. Her gasp was ill timed, and she got a mouthful of water instead of the precious air she needed. She choked, frantically trying to keep herself afloat.
This was a really bad idea.
Next thing she knew, her leg was caught by the sharp teeth of one of the heads, and then she was being lifted midair. Upside down, dizzy, and still coughing, she desperately grabbed her small hunting knife and pulled it out. The creature threw her up, ready to catch her in its mouth. Without taking the time to plan, and hoping to god that she could reach, she slammed the knife into the eye of the creature just as she got within range. The creature reared back in pain, teeth catching on flesh and cloth. Still holding on to the knife, the blonde sky girl was pulled back with the head, until her grip failed and she was flung further into the lake.
Clarke ignored the burn of the wounds, bracing herself for impact. She hit the water, skipping along the surface for several feet before sinking under again. Within her muted underwater world, she faintly made out a garbled scream. When she made it to the surface again, the creature was nowhere to be seen.
Octavia was further away in the water, and Bellamy was on the shore, bow in hand. The water calmed, and the two girls slowly made their way back to land, mourning the loss of their bows.
They all collapsed at the edge of the water, too overwhelmed to do more than try and catch their breaths. All three refused to look at each other as they silently took stock of their reduced weapon cache. Octavia still had her knives and sword, but Clarke was down to her smallest hunting knife, and Bellamy still had all of his weapons.
"Octavia." Clarke began, staring out over the water. "I don't think that was the kind of creature we saw last time."
"...No. I don't think so either."
The water in the middle of the lake bubbled, and the creature rose again, screaming in anger. All of them jumped and scrambled back into the safety of the rocky area just before the forest, eyes wide in alarm. It swam towards them, then ducked back underwater.
"The next time your chief gives you information, can you get a little more than "it swims and is hard to kill" please? That'd be great." Bellamy gasped out.
The three former delinquents shared a tired, defeated look.
"Maybe we should rethink our plan and come back later."
"I agree."
"Totally."
As one, they turned away from the shore, carefully maneuvering around the slick rocks.
Behind them the water rippled.
There was a splash.
The creature rushed from the water.
It rushed out of the water.
They screamed.
Their desperate attempt to get away was ruined as Clarke mistimed her jump and fell, Octavia tripped on the rocks, and Bellamy, who had gotten as far as the tree line, stumbled and smacked his head on a branch when he turned back around to help the fallen two.
The creature, apparently, had a good memory, because it went straight to the one that had taken out its eye. Clarke pulled her last knife and hoped that she could pull the same trick twice. When it struck at her with both heads, she rolled to the side at the last second, feeling the rocks add even more cuts to her collection, striking out with the knife.
The thing screamed again and slithered back. She watched as blood poured out of the wound in a disturbingly thick stream. It shook its head, painting the entire area red. Soon enough, the thing grew weak, and it lay on the rocks, bleeding out.
None of the humans dared move for several minutes, content to wait until they were sure it was dead. After it had stopped moving for a time, Bellamy shot it with an arrow, just to be sure.
It didn't so much as twitch.
"So um. That was something."
"Clarke, next time you want to impress your future wife, give her presents. Normal. Presents. Like flowers. She leads armies of super strong warriors. I bet she'd like flowers."
"Funny, Bellamy."
They stared at the sea creature again, now fully able to appreciate the twenty foot scaled monster with two heads.
"...How the hell are we going to carry that back?" Octavia asked in the silence.
"I didn't think that far."
Hours later, sea creature cut and wrapped in Bellamy's sacrificed tent, they swore to never speak of the details of this hunt to anyone for as long as they lived.