*Shout out to my UK readers! Obviously my favourite country, I hope that wherever on our little island you're from you're enjoying the start of spring! I'm writing from Kent and it's blue skies and crisp mornings and I'm loving it! Thanks for reading and please favourite/follow/review for a fellow brit!*
The next day passed uneventfully, Clarke and Bellamy waited impatiently for the council to tell them they could return to search for Lincoln, and finally Abby agreed to a mission. To go and search for any survivors of the Ark.
Clarke found Bellamy standing with Murphy by the mess hall the day before they were due to leave with a group of armed guards and Abby herself. As she walked over to him she allowed her eyes to wander over Bellamy's broad shoulders and strong arms folded across his chest.
'Hello Princess.' Bellamy smiled down at her when she reached him, and she flushed slightly with pleasure.
'We should talk about tomorrow.'
Bellamy raised his eyebrows. 'Bye Murphy.'
John moped off grumbling and when he was far enough away Clarke said, with a small grin 'I have a plan. Bring Octavia along tomorrow, when we get far enough into the forest, you two split from the group and go find Lincoln. Raven and I will cover for you, hopefully buy you enough time to get far away before my mom and the guards notice you're missing and go after you.'
Bellamy was impressed, not only could the plan work, but she was willing to sacrifice her mother's trust, placing it in him instead, Evidently Clarke could tell what he was thinking because she carried on 'I don't agree with my mom's decision and we both want Lincoln home and Octavia happy so we can focus on getting everyone else out of Mouth Weather. I know you can do this.'
He nodded determinedly and Clarke was struck, as she always was by how fierce he looked. A jolt of attraction shot through and she had to force herself to concentrate less on Bellamy's strong jaw and piercing eyes, and more on the words coming out of his mouth.
'Ok, I'll find Octavia and let her know.' He stepped closer to her first though, and cupped a hand under her head, threading his fingers through her hair. She tilted her head up and her lips met his halfway. They broke apart after a few long seconds when they heard the sound of someone clearing their throat loudly.
'Do you mind?' Murphy's voice was deliberately loud and disgusted, but his eyes were shining with mirth. 'Some of us still have to eat.'
'Shut up Murphy,' Bellamy and Clarke grinned, realising they had spoken together and Murphy rolled his eyes.
'Yeah well it's about time you moved on from Finn, and Bellamy's been pining after you forever, maybe this will actually be less painful than it was waiting for you guys to realise you were perfect for each other – equally stubborn and annoyingly heroic.'
Clarke and Bellamy shifted uncomfortably, both feeling a blush rising on their cheeks, but neither denied what Murphy said.
The next day, after they had been trekking through the forest for hours, Clarke felt Bellamy take her hand and squeeze it. Together with Octavia they slowed down slightly, gradually falling to the back of the group without arousing suspicion.
'We're about a mile west of Lincoln's village,' Bellamy murmured quietly, 'we'll head east from here and track back to the reaper tunnels leading to Mount Weather.'
'Be careful.' She whispered, eyes tight with worry, and Bellamy leant down swiftly to press his lips to hers, not noticing Octavia's mouth drop open in surprise before curving into a grin. Clarke couldn't help but wonder at how quickly the action had become normal. She supposed they had always been open in the way they had touched each other beforehand, brushing hands and arms, crouching together on hunts, pulling each other back from danger, or alerting the other to it. Maybe it was only natural for touches and glances to become embraces and kisses. It certainly felt natural.
It was almost fifteen minutes before one of the guards noticed that two of their company were missing.
'Where are they Clarke?' Abby was furious but Clarke wasn't scared, and, together with Raven, denied any knowledge of their whereabouts. Abby sent three guards to find them and bring them back, only time would tell if they managed to get far enough way, Clarke just had to concentrate on not going out of her mind with worry.
Octavia and Bellamy had been on the move for almost an hour when they heard the shout.
'Blake. Stop right there.'
'Shit.' Breathed Octavia. They turned to see three guards, guns trained on them, approaching fast through the forest.
Thinking quickly for a way out, Bellamy almost missed the hundreds of small animals running past them on the forest floor until her heard O's whisper, 'Bell.' His eyes scanned the tree line, already knowing what he would see. The clouds of acid fog were rolling towards them at an alarming speed.
'We have to run.' He barked at the guards, 'now.' Turning and trusting them not to shoot, he ran, pulling Octavia after him. The footsteps behind them told him that they were following as they ran for shelter. After a few minutes they reached it - jutting out of the wall, covered in foliage and almost invisible unless you knew what you were looking for, was a door handle. Together he and O wrenched it open and together with two of the guards they piled into the doorway, slamming it shut against the fog that was licking at their backs. Bellamy wasn't sure which guard had been left outside, but there had been no sign of him as they had reached the door, so he had to assume the fog had got him whilst they had been running.
Catching their breath the small group turned to face what they had run into, torches sweeping the large room. As their eyes adjusted they realised they were in a large space, supported by dozens of thick, concrete columns. The vast space had been separated into small sections by faded white lines drawn on the floor to make rows and rows of rectangles, and parked in some of these rectangles were old automobiles, covered in thick layers of dust. They were in an underground parking garage, Bellamy remembered seeing a picture of one once, years ago in school on the Ark.
They decided to split up and search the large space, Bellamy and O taking one side, the remaining two guards took the other.
What seemed like hours passed before Bellamy and Octavia started hearing the strange sounds coming from far behind them. They headed back to return to the point where they had split up, growing more and more uneasy as they got closer to the sounds filling the garage. It was a warbled children's song, becoming distorted as it echoed around. They located the small wind-up toy producing the song and Bellamy stomped on it once. The silence was suddenly deafening in the garage, and was broken only by eerie muffled noises and shuffles coming from one corner. Bellamy spun around, his torch illuminating two reapers bent over the body of one of the guards, blood pooled on the ground underneath him.
Blinded by the sudden light the reaper's lurched towards him, but two shots reverberated through the garage, followed by the heavy thuds of two bodies hitting the floor. Footsteps behind him had Bellamy spinning on his heel, finger still on the trigger, locating any other reapers, but Octavia's voice stopped him.
'Bell wait,' her voice was heavy, 'it's Lincoln.'
The reaper ran towards them and Bellamy saw that his sister was right, it did used to be Lincoln, but there was none of the love usually evident in his eyes as he ran for Octavia, instead there was an animalistic bloodlust. Before Lincoln could reach Octavia she shot him in the leg and Bellamy knocked him out with the butt of his rifle.
They had found Lincoln, now they had to get him somewhere safe, without risking their own lives in the process.
It had been hours without any sign of Bellamy or Octavia and Clarke couldn't help but worry, she had known they would be gone potentially all day, but every minute that passed, the sick feeling gnawing away at her got worse.
Abby decided to return the group to Camp Jaha, and after picking at her dinner, Clarke spent a sleepless night in her quarters, and was less than impressed to be woken up by the wild rumours circulating the camp about the reappearance of Jaha himself. He said he carried a message from the grouders – leave, or die. Panic was spreading at the thought of a grounder attack – the little contact they had had with the grounders, and the stories that had been recounted by the few members of the 100 at the camp, were enough to induce a restlessness that was growing into something dangerous.
At noon, Abby and Jaha appeared in front of the restless crowd that he been growing steadily all day, and announced that no decision had been made on whether to stay or to leave, but Jaha made it perfectly clear that he was intend on running before the sun rose again. Clarke felt irritation bubble up as her mind raced over the fact that she may have risked Bellamy's life in order for them to run the very next day.
Her voice rang out across the crowd, silencing the hundreds of hushed conversations. 'If we leave here, what happens to our people in Mount Weather?' Her eyes burned into Jaha's and he had the decency to look away before he met her eyes again.
'As your mother said, that is a very difficult decision to make.'
Abby stepped forward, looking at her daughter resolutely, 'No decision's been made.' Clarke felt a small amount of relief flood her veins. Abby was fighting for her.
Bellamy and Octavia had reached the gate to the camp as Clarke's voice rang out. 'Stay here' he muttered to Octavia before making his way slowly through the crowd to where Clarke stood, feeling a rush of affection for the stubborn girl, blonde hair falling down her back as she stood determinedly, staring Jaha down.
As Abby turned to leave, the crowd began to disperse and Clarke felt a strong hand grip her arm. She turned and found Bellamy standing behind her. Her heart dropped to the floor in relief and she threw her arms around his neck, griping his familiar leather jacket and pulling them together in a tight embrace.
'Where have you been?' She asked, her breath hot against his shoulder. He squeezed her waist tightly before they stepped apart slightly, his hand resting warmly on her waist, leaning close towards her.
'In the drop ship,' his voice was low and his eyes were tight with stress, 'you need to come back with me right now.'
'Why what's happened?' Clarke scanned his face for clues, realising the severity of whatever was going on with a sinking feeling.
'I'll explain on the way, bring a med kit, meet me at Raven's gate.' She nodded immediately, giving him one last look before turning and heading to the medical bay, immediately noticing the cold where he his hand had been. She didn't see Finn standing slightly off to the side, watching the exchange with a pained expression, but Bellamy did when he turned to head to Raven's gate.
'This is my fault.' Finn's expression was so conflicted it was hard to tell what he was feeling the most strongly, regret, loss, jealousy. 'The grounders are attacking because of me.'
Bellamy steeled himself, unsure why he was comforting the boy, maybe he felt guilty for the scene Finn had just witnessed. 'The grounders are attacking because that's what they do, stay here and let us know what the council decide.'
She was at the gate in two minutes, where Bellamy was waiting for her. As they hurried to the drop ship Bellamy recounted Octavia and his experience in the garage, and that they had found Lincoln. Found and restrained him.
Pushing the medical kit up first, Clarke climbed the ladder to the second level of the drop ship, ironically, the same level where they had held Lincoln the first time he had been restrained.
As she climbed out onto the floor she took in Octavia's pale, drawn face. The girl was sat, holding her knees, in the corner of the drop ship, visibly shaken, and the reason why was all too apparent. Chained by his wrists and ankles on one side, thrashing as best he could, yanking at his restraints. His face was contorted in fury and bloodthirst and he was gnashing his teeth like a caged animal. The figure in front of her was so frighteningly not Lincoln that she gasped and took a step back automatically, bumping into Bellamy who's hands automatically came up to rest on the tops of her arms, chest pressed against her back.
'It's ok, it's ok,' he said into her hair, chest vibrating against her back comfortingly 'he's been restrained.'
'I can't believe we're back here again.' Bellamy brushed his hand down her right arm, reassuring her automatically.
'Can you help him?' Octavia's voice was exhausted and sounded as drained as she felt.
'I don't know.' Said Clarke honestly, stepping closer to the reaper in front of her, feeling Bellamy move with her and feeling braver for it.
Lincoln's struggling grew fiercer and he lunged for Clarke repeatedly. Octavia squeezed her eyes shut desperately, face tight 'I knew Mount Weather controlled the reapers,' mused Clarke, 'I had no idea they were creating them.' Lincoln roared at her, muscles straining in his effort to escape his bonds.
Bellamy's voice was taut as he voiced what they were all afraid of. 'If they can do that to Lincoln, what are they doing to our friends?'