*Shout out to my readers from Sweden and Switzerland! I've never visited but some of the nicest people I have ever met were from your countries so I can't wait to go! Thanks so much for reading – two updates in one day?! And it's only 11:30pm here in England so I think I'll even do one more before bed! As always, please favourite/follow/review, thank you!*
When he came two, Bellamy was held upside down by his ankles. Three different needles were imbedded in his body, connecting to tubes that were pumping his blood away, draining him. The glaring green lights coming from a range of beeping machines alerted him to the fact that he had taken the place of one of the grounders he had seen previously being drained. He was aware of another sting in his thigh, different to the dull ache of the needles stuck in him, and as he gasped for breath he notice a pair of legs standing in front of him. From where he hung he could tell they belonged to a youngish girl with dark brown hair who was watching him, a mixture of fear and shock written on her face.
'Who are you?' She asked, but Bellamy didn't answer. He had figured out that she lived in the mountain, but could he trust her? 'You're from the Ark, aren't you?' She asked, crouching in front of him.
'Yeah.' He breathed, nodding and was relieved when the girl smiled genuinely.
'Do you know Jasper?' She asked softly, and Bellamy knew.
'Maya.' He said, and the girl nodded. 'How 'bout getting me down Maya?' He asked gently, and she nodded, abashed, before standing up and pulling the tubes from his body quickly, causing the machine next to him that had been beeping in time with his pulse to emit a long, steady noise, but before she could undo the straps holding his ankles, the door to the room opened again with the same electronic beep behind him, and Bellamy and Maya froze.
'Lovejoy.' She said hesitantly.
'What are you doing down here?' A voice asked, and Bellamy was careful to keep his body still Maya stepped toward the door, moving behind Bellamy's back, and he strained to listen to what he couldn't see. 'You're not cleared for this facility?' Lovejoy's voice was cautious.
'I know, I'm sorry,' said Maya nervously, and Bellamy felt his pulse quicken nervously. 'I just wanted to see what was so special about him…' Maya glanced at Bellamy, thinking quickly as she glanced at the monitor which showed a flatline, '…but he's dead.'
Bellamy closed his eyes, his mind racing, as he carefully relaxed his body so as to support Maya's story. He listened as heavy footsteps walked around him and he pictured Lovejoy glancing at the machine.
'So he is.' Remarked the guard carelessly, walking past where Bellamy hung, continuing until he was in front of him. Keeping his eyes closed, he listened as Lovejoy pressed a button and Bellamy felt himself lowered back to the ground by the straps on his ankles. He allowed his body to fall slowly and limply onto the floor before Lovejoy walked back over to stand in front of him.
'You're a brave girl, coming in here alone.' Lovejoy said patronisingly to Maya as he untied one of Bellamy's ankles, but before he could do anything else Bellamy lashed out, his foot connecting with the man's throat, throwing him backwards to land on his back on the floor. Untying his other ankle quickly Bellamy moved away from the guard, but he was sluggish from the drugs and from being drained, and too soon he was back on his feet, a hand gun pointed at Bellamy where he lay.
'Don't move!' He yelled, and Bellamy stilled, watching the man cautiously. 'On your feet!' He yelled again, but before anything else could happen Maya had stabbed a thick needle into Lovejoy's neck, causing him to recoil and drop the gun. 'Epinephrine' was printed on the side of the needle and Bellamy realised how Maya had woken him up from his drug induced unconsciousness.
Bellamy threw himself after the gun Lovejoy had dropped but the guard pulled the needle from his neck and used it to slice into Bellamy's arm, causing him to yell out in pain. He backed away from the man, his hand gripping his arm and feeling the blood drip through his fingers. Lovejoy ran at him, wrestling him against one of the cages, the one holding the grounder that Bellamy had been next to, and Maya grabbed the gun from the floor.
'Stop.' She cried, and Lovejoy turned to look at her.
'No don't,' Bellamy struggled to get the words out with Lovejoy's hands around his neck, 'they'll hear.' A gunshot would be too loud and the last thing they needed was more guards coming down.
Taking advantage of the distraction Bellamy threw a hard punch to the guard's gut, causing him to drop his hold, but the guard kicked Bellamy's legs from under him and he crumpled to the floor, waiting for the next blow, but it didn't come.
Rising and turning to look at Lovejoy, Bellamy saw the grounder in the cage gripping onto the guard's raised arm, holding him in place. She was saving him.
Before Lovejoy could attack the grounder Bellamy threw himself at him, wrapping his hands around his neck with every last bit of strength he could muster. Tightening his grip as Lovejoy struggled, Bellamy watched as the life began to drain out of the guard, and he pushed down the guilt and fear and disgust crawling through him. If he didn't do this, Lovejoy would kill him, and everyone else would die. Eventually, the guard sank to the floor, his eyes rolling back in his head, and Bellamy let his shaking arms drop away. He stood, exhausted, leaning slightly against the grounder's cage, breathing heavily.
'Thank you.' He gasped, looking at the crouching woman with wide eyes.
Turning to Maya he was pained to see the fear in her eyes. He felt blood dripping down his face from where Lovejoy had punched him, and spat it away onto the floor, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
'Are you alright?' He asked gently, ducking his head slightly and moving slowly towards her, his hands outstretched as though he was approaching a startled animal. He hated to think that girl was afraid of him. She was shaking, and her eyes slid from the body on the floor, to the gun in her quivering hands, to Bellamy before staring blindly at the floor.
His face drawn in sympathy, Bellamy crossed the floor, placing a gentle hand on her arm, and her eyes snapped up to him. 'Hey,' he whispered softly, 'are you ok?'
Her eyes were shiny with tears but she blinked them away before nodding at him. 'I'm fine.' She said quietly and Bellamy squeezed her arm comfortingly.
Once Maya had calmed down Bellamy turned his attention back to Lovejoy. 'Help me get him undressed,' he said, 'we need to get rid of the body.' She moved towards him and together they stripped the guard of his uniform and Bellamy put it on. Next, they pushed his body down a chute that Maya revealed was used to dump the grounders' bodies once they were practically dead. Bellamy didn't question the 'practically' – Lincoln had already told him what the reapers were given.
Bellamy stood in front of Maya by the door, dressed in the guard's uniform. His face was pale and tired, but he pulled a cap low over his head. Taking in the confliction written all over Maya, Bellamy knew he had to give her an out. 'You've done enough,' he told her, his voice calm, 'you should walk away.'
'You don't know where you're going.'
'So draw me a map.'
Maya knew that the man was trying to protect her, but she had to help right the wrong her people were doing.
'No,' she shaking her head with a sad smile, 'I'm in.' She handed him Lovejoy's gun and security pass, before ripping of his name tag from the vest Bellamy wore, her hands steady.
'The tracking chip.' Bellamy said, remembering what Clarke had told him about Anya.
'It'll trip alarms once we start moving.' She said in agreement.
Bellamy nodded his head once. 'Do it.'
Maya tried to distract him as she cut the tracker out of his arm carefully with a scalpel. 'How did you know what my name was before I told you?' Her voice was light, but it was forced.
'Clarke.' He said, wincing as the scalpel slid through his skin, but her name had the desired effect, and her face filled his mind. If he concentrated hard enough, he thought he could still smell her on him, even though he knew that was impossible. The mountain men had seen to that. 'She said Jasper couldn't stop talking about someone named Maya.' He glanced down to see the girl smiling the same way he knew he smiled when someone talked about Clarke, when he thought no one would notice.
'Put this in your cage.' Maya handed him the tracker, surprising Bellamy with how quickly she had removed it. Nodding, he grabbed a bandage to cover his arm and did as she said, looking at the grounder as he walked to his cage.
'I'll come back for you, I promise.' She nodded in return.
'Let's go.' Called Maya.
Turning, he eyed the girl one last time, seeing in her eyes that she was ready for what they were about to do. 'Okay,' he said solemnly, 'I need to get to the radio so I can contact Clarke.' His heart as her name passed his lips, and his traitorous brain bombarded him again, this time with images of her lying naked in his arms, safe in their bed.
'I helped Jasper and Monty set that up, I know where it is.' Bellamy was relieved that Clarke had been right, as usual, Maya was invaluable right now. But before he could get to comfortable, her next words chilled him to the bone. 'Your people are disappearing. Two so far, Monty and Harper. I thought they'd be in here but-'
'I want to see the others.' Interrupted Bellamy, his voice tinged with worry. 'Now.' He hated being so abrupt, but he didn't have much time, and the sooner he rescued his friends, the sooner he could be back with Clarke.
Maya nodded and they left the room quickly. 'The dorm's on the way to the radio.'
Hours later, and Raven and Clarke were growing restless. Clarke's pacing was beginning to stress Raven out as she fiddled with a small machine that the mountain men used to control the reapers. It emitted a high pitched noise that Lincoln had explain the mountain men conditioned the reapers to associate with pain. It was barbaric. They had stolen the device from a mountain man that an armed patrol had captured the day before. He was being held in the camp and Kane and Abby were trying to get answers from him.
After listening to the sound a few more times Raven had her answer. 'Yeah, I can totally replicate this frequency.'
'Good,' said Clarke as she paced, 'if we can neutralise the reapers then the tunnels are an option. Get on it.' Her voice was harsher than she meant it to be, but the stress was becoming too much. The two strong willed girls were struggling.
'You don't need to give me orders, Clarke,' snapped Raven, 'I got this.'
Before Clarke could apologise, Octavia ran into the room. 'Any word from Bellamy?' She asked, her voice breathless and worried.
'Nothing yet.' Said Raven softly, her expression apologetic as she looked at the younger sister.
'Lincoln's still missing too.' Said Octavia, even more worried. 'He should be back by now.' She turned to Clarke, who put her hand on Octavia's arm comfortingly.
'They'll be ok.'
'They better be,' murmured Raven, still smarting about the way Clarke had taken her anxiety on her, 'your whole plan rests on Bellamy getting in.'
'He will.' Said Clarke, her tone was hard, and made it clear there was to be no argument about the prospect of Bellamy failing.
Swallowing her pride, Raven thought of the way she had reacted over Finn, vowing to ease up on Clarke. She said nothing, and Clarke backed off. Octavia merely eyed the two girls, taking in the tension in the room warily.
Suddenly a voice came on over the PA that Raven and Wick had set up earlier. 'Councillor Kane and Clarke Griffin, please report to the South air lock immediately.'
Looking at Octavia apologetically, and glancing over her shoulder at Raven, already regretting how she had handled things, Clarke left without another word, heading for where the Ark was holding the mountain man they had captured.
The blood tests had come back from their mountain man prisoner, and they revealed Clarke's worst fear. His blood held genetic markers that only people on the Ark exhibited – Mount Weather had started bleeding their friends.
As they walked, Maya explained the workings of the mountain to Bellamy. At one point they walked past the school, and Bellamy felt a vice contract around his heart. He hadn't even stopped to think about the people living inside the mountain – it was easier for him to picture them all as blood draining monsters, but of course there were innocent civilians, and children, inside too.
They finally reached the dorm where his people, his friends, were being held, but before Bellamy and Maya could get inside an alarm sounded and the doors automatically rolled closed, sealing themselves.
'What's going on?' Bellamy asked Maya anxiously.
'I don't know, it's not a radiation breach, but it can't be good.'
Suddenly Jasper's face appeared at one of the small windows on the top half of the doors, looking out from the dorm to see what was going on. His eyes met Bellamy's and his jaw dropped in shock, seeing him standing next to Maya.
'Take me to that radio.' Said Bellamy urgently, hoping that Jasper seeing him meant that they could now work together to figure out a plan.
Clarke stepped back into the mechanic station, seeing Raven still hunched over the radio as it continued to play Jaspers message.
'We're too late,' Clarke said urgently, with no preamble, 'they're already bleeding them.' The two girls locked eyes, and any hard feelings vanished, they were in this together. They were, for lack of a better word, friends, despite everything. 'It's over.' Said Clarke in a defeated voice, and Raven was shocked to see that the icy blue fire that usually burned so brightly in the girls eyes had faded, instead there was worry and fear.
'No.' Raven stood up, her face determined, defiant. She had to make Clarke snap out of it – Bellamy was right, they couldn't do this without her. 'You don't get to give up Clarke.' She said firmly. 'You killed Finn, and I didn't give up. I'm building your tone generator. You do your job.'
'What is my job?' Asked Clarke desperately, fear disguising itself as aggression in her voice, but Raven saw through it.
'I don't know, to come up with something! But Bellamy is in there and I know you're not going to let someone you love die for nothing.' Clarke wondered if that was another dig about Finn, but she knew Raven was right.
'I've tried.' Clarke's voice was desperate.
Suddenly his voice came on the radio, and for a second she thought she was imagining it.
'Camp Jaha, this is Mount Weather. Do you read me?'
Clarke ran to the radio, standing next to Raven. 'Holy crap' breathed the mechanic.
'Camp Jaha, this is Mount Weather, does anyone read me?' His voice came again, crackled and against a background of static, but Clarke would recognise it anywhere, and she knew she hadn't imagined it. He was alive. He had gotten in. Relief flooded her body and her legs felt weak. Raven passed her the radio mic wordlessly and she held down the button to allow her voice reach Bellamy with shaking fingers.
'Bellamy?' Clarke's crackled voice reached his ears and he felt his heart jump wildly. Swallowing loudly he clicked the mic on his end again.
'Clarke?' Even slightly distorted she could hear the relief in his voice and suddenly she longed to be there with him, or at least if she couldn't do that, she longed to be curled up with the radio, listening to him talk, just the two of them. But she knew that wasn't an option so she forced herself to get a grip.
Holding back tears she spoke again. 'Are you alright?' It was a simple question but Bellamy knew it was so much more to her, and the care in her voice made his breath catch.
'I'm fine.' He promised meaningfully, and she sighed in relief, blinking her tears away. 'But that's it for the good news.' His tone had become serious again. 'We have to talk fast,' he said apologetically, 'something had changed. Jasper, Monty, everyone's locked up in the dorm.'
'But they're alive?' Clarke asked, relief flooding through her again, 'all of them?'
'I think so,' said Bellamy solemnly, 'for now. But Maya says they're already using their blood, and things are gonna get ugly in here real fast.'
Raven and Clarke shared a look. 'Maya's with you?' Clarke checked, worried about entrusting his life to a girl she had tried to kill.
Bellamy understood immediately why Clarke had asked, even if Maya didn't. 'She helped me escape,' he reassured her, 'if not for her, I'd be dead.'
Clarke's relief was palpable, but Bellamy wasn't done. 'Clarke,' he said, his tone serious enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, 'there are kids in here. We need a plan that doesn't kill everyone. Please tell me we have one.'
Ignoring the warm feeling she got in her stomach every time he said 'we' Clarke held the mic to her mouth again. Kids. 'I hear you, but we can't do anything until you disable the acid fog. Raven's gonna help you.' The girl beside her nodded immediately.
'Got it. What else?' Clarke almost smiled at the strength and determination in his voice.
'You have to figure out a way to free the grounder prisoners. There's a whole army inside that mountain and they don't even realise it.'
'A Trojan Horse.' Said Bellamy and Clarke smiled at the reference. Of course he would manage to bring up ancient history in a time like this. 'Good plan.'
'What does Maya think?' Clarke's voice was curious, but deliberately open. 'Is it doable?'
'She says it's not a problem.' Bellamy said, glancing at the worried looking girl. And even though Clarke sensed that Maya wasn't quite so sure, Bellamy's faith did enough to reassure her. 'Clarke,' her stomach flipped when he said her name and she forced herself to breathe normally, 'if I'm going to pull this off I need you to buy me some time. It won't be long before they realise I don't belong here, and if that happens-'
'That can't happen.' Clarke said firmly, their conversation was closed; they both had people with them, and they couldn't say what they wanted to, but they could read between the lines, understand each other the way only they could. What she wanted to say was 'I won't let that happen', but Bellamy understood. 'I'll come up with something.' She vowed determinedly.
'Come up with it quick.' Replied Bellamy, a hint of teasing in his voice.
'Copy that,' she said back almost playfully, before she felt her throat tighten, 'Bellamy.' She said softly.
'Yeah?'
'You came through.' Bellamy could hear the small smile in her voice, but he could tell she was holding back tears, 'I knew you would.' His heart tugged at the words, and at the emotion in her voice.
'All I've done so far is not get killed.' His tone edged on sarcastic and she smiled, despite the pain in her chest.
'Then keep doing that.' She replied, hesitating before her heart won over her head, reasoning that she truly didn't know if she'd see him again. So, despite their audience, she clicked the mic again. 'I love you Bellamy.' She said softly.
She heard him sigh, pained that they were so far away, and that so much hung over them. 'I love you too.' He replied with feeling, and a tear slipped down Clarke's face.
'You're up.' She said, her voice thick with tears, handing the mic to Raven. The mechanic pulled Clarke into a quick hug against her side.
'What are you going to do?' She asked Clarke.
'I'm going to keep looking outside instead of in.' She said determinedly, 'I'm going to save them.'
Raven nodded, before letting the girl leave the room, then she clicked on the mic and began to talk Bellamy through the acid fog.
Clarke found Octavia, Indra, and, together with six of Indra's most loyal grounders, they headed back to the South air lock.
A guard stood in front of the chamber, but otherwise the corridor was empty, and Clarke meant business. She marched towards the door, her head held high, barely acknowledging the guard until he shook his head, holding a hand out to stop her.
'Don't.' she warned him coldly without even breaking her stride, and he stepped aside, both because of the fire blazing in Clarke's eyes once more, and the dangerous looking grounders flanking her.
'Get dressed,' she order the mountain man – Emerson, her posture oozing command, 'you're coming with me.' Her voice was fearless, leaving no room for discussion, and as Indra looked at the girl with respect, Octavia was struck with the same feeling Raven had been earlier. Clarke was a leader and she knew, in that moment, that she would follow her anywhere.