It had been days since Rhea had woken up, but nothing much had changed. Bellamy had distanced himself from her but she didn't care much. She had been so wrapped up in cleaning up the camp and trying to decipher what her hallucination had meant. It confused her beyond belief and it didn't make the least bit of sense. Why would she have seen the world before the war, and why did she go to where her great-grandparents were the day of the bombs?
Those weren't the only things puzzling her, the Blake siblings seemed to be fighting more than usual. While Rhea worked she kept noticing Octavia sneak into the drop ship and not long after come storming out repeatedly over the past few days. Something was off, Octavia had spent her whole life confined, so the fact that she was fighting to go into the drop ship just did not make sense..
She needed to know what was drawing so much attention, but everytime she had tried to go in and look one of Bellamy's goons followed right behind her or sent her back to work. She spent most of her down time working on a plan to get inside, but really all she needed was the right opportunity to get away from her guard detail.
As if a higher power was on her side, Octavia came storming out of the ship, Bellamy hot on her tail. Rhea looked at today's goon knowing that if she had any chance of getting in there, she would have to lose him.
"Hey," She started, she had a brilliant idea, "I need to use the washroom, I'm not feeling so good. Can you go find Clarke and see if she can get up here?" She asked, rubbing her stomach while having her best 'I feel sick' face on. He looked conflicted at first, knowing very well what Bellamy would do to him if he lost her, but he also knew what Bellamy would do if he let her get worse.
"Uh, yeah. Go to your tent and I will bring Clarke there, okay?" He questioned, almost as if he was hopeful that she would listen.
"Well, I'll be at the mounds and then I'll be there, I promise." She informed him, while referring to their makeshift washrooms. She turned around and headed in their direction. When she was far enough away she braved a glance behind her to see if he was out of sight. Not seeing his face amongst the crowd made her smile gleefully but she didn't have time to celebrate. Quickening her pace she switch her route towards the drop ship.
Once she arrived at the ramp she ran in, not even bothering to look around to see if anyone noticed. Relief flooded her when she saw that the only two in the lower level was Finn and Raven, both of whom were sound asleep. Wanting to waste no time she moved to the ladder and began ascending to the second floor. To her surprise, the second level was empty, so she just continued onto the third level. Pulling herself onto the floor she closed the hatch, making sure to lock it, before she proceeded to turn around.
The sight before her made her stagger backwards in shock. The grounder that had been in the cave was hanging by his arms from the drop ship. There was cuts and bruises all over his skin, exhaustion prevented him from standing. She slowly moved towards him, trying to see the full extend of the damage done to his body.
"Oh my god, what have they done to you?" She whispered with sympathy. Had her people done this? He jolted away at the sound of her voice, fear on his face.
"No, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." She cooed, not wanting him to fear her.
"My name is Rhea, I'm just here to help." She put her hands out infront of her, to show that she had no weapon hidden in their grasp. He kept his gaze on her but the fear had left his features. Continuing her movement towards him she noticed a bucket of water and a rag beside him. Octavia must have brought them up, hoping to be able to help him, which explains why she was hovering around the drop ship so much.
"I'm just going to clean you up alittle okay?" Something told her that he wouldn't hurt her so she continued on her path to the bucket. Bending down she grabbed the rag and dipped it into the water.
"Okay, I'm going to clean your face off first." For some reason she felt the need to inform him of what she was doing, maybe it was because she was afraid of scaring him but by the look on his face, he wasn't worried. After wringing out the rag she moved so that she was directly infront of him. Looking him in the eye she dabbed the rag gently along a cut on his face. His slight wince startled her but she kept the rag in place and began rubbing the blood off of the wound.
Cleaning the largest cuts didn't take very long, but it seemed to put alittle bit more life into him but Rhea knew he was still weak, his body was shaking from lack of food and water. Dropping the rag on the ground, she took a quick look around the room hoping to find something to put water in. Her eyes caught sight of a cup not far away, that had probably been left there by one of the guys, she picked it up, happy to see that there was already water in it, she wouldn't have felt right giving him bloody water from the bucket.
"Would you like some water?" She offered, holding the glass up so he could see. His eyes narrowed at the sight of it, most likely fearing that she was intending on poisoning him. Shaking her head she tried to show him that she meant no harm.
"Here," She brought the glass to her lips and took a sip, "It's not poisoned, now would you like some?" Watching his face she saw a slight twitch that she took as a yes so she brought the glass to his lips letting him drink as much as he could. He managed to down the entire glass before giving her a brief nod in appreciation. That's when she realized, he must be starving, her heart sunk into her stomach, she had no food for him and she wouldn't be able to sneak her way to the food tent and back without getting caught.
"If I had known that you were here I would have brought you food. I'm sorry." Frowning at him she could feel her hurt at his state begin to turn to rage. This man was probably a strong warrior in any other situation and now here he was, weaker than someone half his size. Who could have done this? Then she realized, Bellamy had been keeping Octavia out, so he would be the one she would need to hound for answers, maybe even hold responsible.
"I need to leave, but I promise," She moved her hand so it rested on her heart, "I will get you out of here." After saying this she moved her hand so it was hovering over his heart, she wished he understood her.
"Please, stay alive." her voice would have cracked if she hadn't been trying extremely hard to control her emotions. Pulling away she walked over to the hatch, unlocked it and put one foot onto the ladder. She stopped when she heard something that almost made her fall down the hole.
"Thank you, Sola." Muttered the man not far from her, but before she could speak to him again she heard shouting from the lower levels of the drop ship.
"I have to go, but I will keep my promise." With that she continued down the ladder until she was on the first floor.
"Rhea! What are you doing in here?" Bellamy hollered, he was clearly mad at her for slipping past her detail, "This ship is off limits." He snarled,
"Why Bellamy? Because you have a human being chained up on the third level?"
"Human being?" He snapped, "That thing almost killed you!" The venom that dripping from every word he spoke made her step away from him. His reponse made it obvious that he genuinely hated the grounder.
"Does that make torturing him right?" Her disappointment only managed to enrage him more.
"I did what I had to do to save your life!" He shouted, not understanding why she was fighting him on something that made sense to him.
"I would have prefered to die if I'd known that you were destroying your humanity to save me. That's not who you are." Her statement made his face pale but only briefly, quickly recovering, his expression changed to stone, it was as if he was not wanting to hear what she was saying.
"This is who I have to be to make sure our people survive." The look on his face told her that he genuinely believed what he was saying was the truth, which scared her.
"Then you are just as bad as them." She knew her words would hurt him, and honestly, she had wanted them too. Not being able to look at him anymore she turned and walked away. She couldn't get through to someone that was determined to believe that they were right, even if they were horribly wrong.
She spent the next two days working with a group that had been assigned to rebuilding the camp. Removing branches and stumps, setting up tents and building huts for shelter. The damage from the storm had ruined more than just their tents, their food supply had been wiped out as well so groups had been sent out to scrounge for food such as nuts, vegetation and meat. She would have prefered being on one of the hunting parties but Clarke and Bellamy wouldn't allow her to leave camp. Normally she would have gone anyway, but she needed to keep an eye on the grounder that they still held prisoner. Also she needed to keep an eye on Bellamy, now that they had direct contact with the ARK she feared that Shumway would find out that she hadn't killed him yet, and knowing Shumway he would convince someone to do it for him. So even though she was still extremely angry at Bellamy, she still had to watch out for him. He was an ass but he didn't deserve to die.
Octavia had also been put on rebuild duty, which gave them both sometime to talk about what their gameplan was when they had the opportunity to break the grounder out of his metal prison. They had spent so much time going over so many different plans, but all of them went up in smoke when it came to how they were going to get the grounder out when Bellamy and his crew were constantly around. That's when an idea came to Rhea's mind.
"Octavia." She whispered, not wanting to get the attention of the other kids in the group. The brunette looked at her with a bored expression, she was in the same boat as Rhea, rebuilding was just not her thing.
"Uh, are you thirsty? We should go get some water." Rhea suggested, motioning towards the water trough that had been set up the day before. It was their usual meeting place, noone would suspect they were up to something because it just looked like they were hydrating themselves.
Getting the hint Octavia stood up, brushed the dirt off of her knees and followed Rhea to their meeting place. They made sure to keep a pace that didn't draw too much attention to them as they walked through camp. When they arrived at the trough, each of them grabbed a cup and filled it before Rhea began.
"I have an idea." She started, not wanting to jump right in fearing that someone might overhear them.
"I could take Bellamy and Clarke out for a recon mission, you know check the area for any place that might have survived the bombs, the leader in them wouldn't be able to pass up the chance." She smiled, while Octavia processed the idea, but before she could get an answer from her Clarke was yelling her name.
"Rhea, you're wanted on the radio." She felt her nose scrunch up, she knew it was only a matter of time until Shumway requested to speak with her, she dragged her feet on her walk to the radio tent wanting to waste as much time as possible. At the entrance she took a moment to gain her composure. When she was ready she ducked under the parachute at the entrance. On the screen infront of her was exactly who she had been expecting,
"Sir." She said, giving him a slight salute.
"No need for the formalities Lieutenant you know why we are here." The look on his face was strictly business. On the ARK it would have made her shake with fear but she wasn't on the ARK.
"Commander, he hasn't uttered a word." She lied, hoping it would convince him. "My orders are that if he informs anyone of why he is down here then I am to kill him." She informed him.
"I know what your orders were Lieutenant, I gave them too you, but your orders have changed. There is too much at risk." Shumway informed her stoned face.
"What are my new orders sir?" She questioned, even though she feared she already knew the answer.
"You are to kill Bellamy Blake, he can't be alive by the time the people of the ARK get to the ground. Is that clear?" He demanded, he lost his composure for a second, but Rhea had caught it. He was scared, something had him shook up. Knowing she was walking on eggshells she nodded. She had no intention of killing Bellamy, but she didn't want Shumway to know this until he was on the ground, just incase he sent someone else after Bellamy.
"Alright Lieutenant, you are dismissed." Shumway told her, Rhea didn't waste any time, she had to warn Bellamy. After ducking out of the tent she grabbed the arm of a girl that had been walking by.
"Hey, where's Bellamy?" She asked a girl named Fox, Rhea felt bad when she noticed that she had scared her, but that wasn't important at the moment.
"Uh," she squeaked, "He's over there." Rhea looked where her finger was pointing and then nodded at the girl muttering 'Sorry' before she headed off in that direction.
He was in his tent which didn't surprise her, ever since they had acquired communications with the ARK he had been off, like his mind was constantly elsewhere. It had gotten worse after their argument, she had been purposely avoiding him, but now was not the time to hold a grudge, she had to warn him. Without knocking she moved into the tent, regretting it instantly when she noticed that he was not alone, or clothed.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" She shouted with embarrassment before she retreated from the tent. Images of Bellamy and a blonde she had seen around camp burned into her thoughts making her feel sick. She had known that Bellamy had turned into quite the player, she had even seen it with Roma, but she had thought he had moved past it, obviously not. Her mind was reeling, had he moved on? Was the Bellamy she had known really gone? A firm hand on her shoulder ripped her from her thoughts. Looking up she noticed that the hand was attached to Clarke, who was talking to her.
"Hey, Rhea. I have something for you too do. Well for us to do." Clarke's face looked almost hopeful. Rhea instantly felt grateful, finally something that would make her feel useful. The grateful feeling drained from her when she remembered that Clarke had allowed Bellamy to torture the grounder, hate replaced it.
"Oh and what is that?" Ice was on every word, which was disregarded as Clarke began telling her what she needed her for.
"The ARK has records of a supply depot not far from here, I'm going to need some extra back up. You in?" Rhea would have told her to shove it, but then she remembered the idea she had mentioned to Octavia earlier, this would be the perfect opportunity.
"Fine, but since I am the one that has had actual training, you listen to my orders, not the other way around, you got that?" She told her, her eyes narrowing with each word. Clarke just nodded in agreement.
"Sounds good, meet me back here in ten minutes." Rhea walked away without even acknowledging what Clarke had said, she needed to find Octavia. After looking around camp and not seeing her, Rhea walked towards the drop ship. She regretted her decision almost instantly, as she took one step onto the drop ship Bellamy walked out.
"Rhea." He whispered, guilt written all over his face.
"No, I don't have time for this." Was all she could say, the hurt from the betrayal she had witnessed earlier seeping deeper into her heart, threatening to overwhelm her. She quickly shook it off and walked right passed him.
"Octavia," she yelled, moving towards the younger girl that was seemingly on some form of protest.
"Rhea, hey." Octavia casually greeted her, instead of asking her what she was doing Rhea just got straight to business.
"Well I'm heading out with Clarke to go on a mission, you got this covered here?" She asked while shifting her eyes towards the ladder not far away, letting her know that their mission was a go.
"Oh, the mission with Bellamy?" Octavia questioned, informing Rhea that she was going with both leaders. "Clarke just finished inviting him, didn't you Clarke?" Another warning from the brunette, they weren't alone, which was something Rhea hadn't noticed.
"Yeah, I just thought we would need another body, to help us carry anything we might find." Clarke shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, but Rhea was screaming on the inside, she wasn't ready to face him again.
"Uh okay, well we better get moving." Rhea stated, recovering rather quickly after her moment of weakness. Clarke nodded, tossing a pack at Rhea.
"Here, I found this under a blanket in the corner there, you must have left it there when.." She trailed off, seemingly afraid to mention what had happened almost a week ago.
"Thanks." Rhea muttered, kneeling down she opened the bag hoping to find what she had been missing, inside neatly packed away was her holster and her gun. Smiling she pulled them out and strapped them on. Zipping the bag back up she swung it over her shoulder and followed Clarke out into the sun.
"First I have to check on Finn, I'll meet you at the gate alright?" Rhea nodded and moved towards the ration station. She knew that this trip could take longer than a day so she wanted to be prepared.
Jasper and Monty were at the nut station when she arrived, munching on the nuts and packaging them up.
"Hey boys" She smiled, "How's it going?"
"Oh you know, it's going." Was the response she got from Jasper, Monty just nodded. Rhea hadn't gotten the chance to talk to them much over the last week and she felt awful about it.
"So what do we got?" She asked motioned towards the table in front of them.
"Well," Jasper cheekily started, "We got nuts," he held up a rather large nut, moving his hand to a smaller one, picking it up he held it out to her, "nuts."
"And more nuts." Monty kicked in the time, tossing a bag of nuts her way. Laughing at their antics Rhea tossed another couples bags into her pack.
"Well, we have quiet the food palette huh?" The boys chuckled at her before she moved to the meat station, there was a pile of dried meat just sitting off to the side so she swiped a small amount of it and put it on top of the nuts. One of the boys that was there gave her a side glance.
"Taking rations now huh?" His deep voice rumbled, as he looked her over. He was a giant compared to Rhea which was slightly intimidating.
"I'm leaving camp on a mission, just taking enough to live." She informed him, trying to hide how nervous he was making her. When a smile passed over his features she sighed,
"It's alright guard, take what you want we can get more. Just make sure you come back." He ordered, pointing a knife at her, threatening her jokingly. Rhea was mildly confused by how he was reacting to her but she smiled at him anyway before she walked towards the gate.
She wasn't waiting long when the two leaders walked towards her, both with solemn expressions as if their thoughts were distracting them from the real world. Rhea could not allow that, if they were distracted someone was going to die.
"You both need to get your heads in the game or this day trip is going to end up with another mound in that cemetery, you got that?" She ordered, clearly not impressed with the two of them, receiving a glare from Clarke, who was clearly in a bad mood, and a stone cold look from Bellamy. Rolling her eyes at them Rhea turned and began to walk into the woods.
"Where are you going? I haven't even told you where the depot is." Clarke yelled after her, making Rhea spin around.
"Do you honestly think I am an idiot?" Trying to stay calm Rhea just folded her arms across her chest while she waited for an answer, when nothing came she continued.
"My father was the Commander of the Guard for 20 years, he made me begin studying maps of Earth when I was 8 years old. The only possible place this 'depot' could be is in this direction" Rhea declared before she stormed off towards where she had been previously walking towards, when she heard nothing from Clarke she let a smile grace her feature. She actually didn't mind showing the know-it-all leader that she wasn't the only highly educated person that had come down on the drop ship.