This chapter was quite hard to write, my inspiration was a little low! Thanks for those who reviewed as always! Also to the question about when this is set, to be honest I didn't want to make it that specific because I wanted a flexible storyline but it's obviously after Raven landed and I sort of replaced Finn getting injured with Bellamy, although Clarke didn't require any Ark help. But the Ark will play more of a part in the future chapters! I may include little snippets from "We are Grounders Part 1" with alternate characters etc (-: We'll see! Sorry if the lack of canon storyline makes it confusing :c Enjoy x

Clarke POV

"So there's been no headway about who killed him?" I asked, tugging my jacket closer around me as I helped Jasper scrub the scarlet stains off the floor of the drop ship.

I had thought it would be difficult to face but it was sort of therapeutic, the repetitive motion of scrubbing, I felt as if I was cleaning the memory from my mind.

Jasper shook his head, "Sorry Clarke, but nobody saw anything which is really odd."

"Who was meant to be on duty?" I asked, part of me desperately not wanting to hear the answer.

"Bellamy," He replied, watching for my reaction, "Clarke, I know Bellamy, he wouldn't do that."

"Well where the hell was he then?" I sighed, feeling defeated.

Jasper didn't reply.

I had spent the night in the medical bay curled up one of the old drop ship seats, and now my entire body ached, along with the dull ache in my chest which hadn't subsided since my encounter with Bellamy. I had woken with a clearer head and an immense amount of guilt, what if Bellamy hadn't done it? Please let Bellamy not have done it.

I wondered either way, whether he would ever forgive me for such an accusation. I'd just stormed away from him, not even giving him a chance to explain himself, I had been so totally sure and so totally crushed.

"Where's the girl who found him?" I asked, pausing and letting the brush drop to the floor, a glimmer of hope beginning to unfold in my mind.

Jasper shook his head, "She's with one of the older girls, Diane, in their tent, but I don't think you'll –"

"I'm going to talk to her," I said immediately, rising to my feet, "Maybe get Reynolds or Miller to help you clean this up, I'm not sure that any of the other girls or the guys will be able to stomach it after what they saw last night."

Jasper nodded, sending me a weak smile, "Good luck."

I found the tent rather easily and discovered the young girl and the woman who had knelt beside her, who I assumed was Diane, sitting inside weaving ropes together. Since our discoveries of the bunkers we had managed to teach ourselves to weave together yarn we'd found, and from spare rags to create new, warmer gloves and socks for the Winter.

They both jumped to their feet as I entered, obviously somewhat jittery.

"Clarke," Diane nodded, "Was there something you needed?"

I let my eyes drop to the young girl who was hiding just behind Diane's shoulder, "I was wondering whether I could speak to…"

"This is Ella," Diane filled in for me, "But if you're here to question her than—"

I cut her off, "I just want to know what she saw, the safety of the entire camp is at risk if we can't find the killer."

Diane nodded uneasily, sighing and sitting back down, nudging Ella around so that she was in front of her.

"Hi," I smiled, crouching down so that I was at a lower level than them both, "Would you be able to tell me what you saw?"

Ella's eyes flickered toward Diane, searching for reassurance. Diane nodded, sending her a small smile.

"I, I walked into the drop ship to look for some more rope materials and I found the," She paused, biting her lip, "I found the body."

I nodded sympathetically, "I know how hard that must have been for you, you were pretty brave."

She smiled shyly at me. I was suddenly reminded of Charlotte and her tentative sweetness.

"Did you see anyone around there?" I asked, hope bubbling up in my throat.

She nodded slowly, briefly flickering her gaze to Diane and back again, "I saw someone slipping away from the body…but I, I was too scared to say anything."

I nodded in understanding, the suspense almost overwhelming me, "Would you be able to describe them?"

"I know who they were," She replied, certain for the first time, and a trace of bitterness colouring her tone, "It was Bellamy Blake."

I felt as though someone had poured a bucket of icy water over my head and I had to force the next words out through my teeth, "What did he look like? Was he holding a weapon or anything?"

The girl glanced toward Diane quickly again, her eyes dropping to my shirt, "He just had one of those knives that they made when we landed, with the red handles that everyone carries around, and he had his gun."

I nodded, attempting to keep the sympathy and sadness etched onto my face, "Right, well thank you so much for your time Ella," I smiled, gently resting my hand on her shoulder, "Could you tell me one more thing, what colour shirt was Bellamy wearing?"

Ella paled, scrunching her shirt up in her fingers, "I, I can't be sure but I think it was black."

"It was dark," Diane jumped in, squeezing Ella's hand in her own, "And obviously her mind was on other things."

I nodded, "Of course, you've been very helpful, thank you so much." I smiled once more and walked out of the tent, a small smile tugging on the edge of my lips.

I had someone to apologize profusely to.

I took a detour to the drop ship where I found Jasper still scrubbing hard at the floor, this time Miller was crouched beside him, water soaking the knees of his dark pants, they were chatting quietly.

"Bellamy didn't do it." I announced, unable to keep the relief from my voice.

They both looked up at me, "Well I figured as much," Jasper replied, but I could sense the relief in his tone, "How'd you find out and who did actually do it?"

"I haven't gotten that far yet," I sighed, "But I spoke to the girl Ella and it was clear that someone has bribed her into telling everyone that it was Bellamy."

Miller furrowed his eyebrows, "How'd you figure that?"

"She told me that Bellamy was carrying one of the knives like 'everyone else' with the red handle and that he was wearing a black shirt, when I know for sure that he was wearing that gross white one that he has had to wear since his black one was ruined when he was stabbed." I replied smugly, not being able to keep the excitement from my voice.

I wanted to find Bellamy and wrap my arms around him.

Miller smiled slowly, "And Bell generally refuses to use knives, and if he does he uses that bloody shard of black metal with the rope around the handle."

"Do you have any idea who did it?" Jasper asked curiously, dropping the brush and climbing to his feet.

"Not for sure, but I have a very good idea." I was remembering seeing Diane with her arms wrapped around a tall dark haired boy on the way to my tent one night, a boy with oily black hair.

….

It didn't take me too long to find Bellamy. He was leaning up against the gate with Roma, both of them holding their weapons lightly in their arms, chatting quietly and glancing up occasionally over the fence. Roma saw me first and must have muttered something to Bellamy; he turned slowly, his face cold and unwelcoming, his fingers tightening around the cool metal of his gun. Roma, noticing the tension, muttered something to Bellamy and then retreated further up toward a group chatting by the tents.

"Hi," I greeted timidly, pressing my fingernails into my palms.

"What do you want?" he asked and I winced at the sharpness of his tone.

"I spoke to Ella, the girl who you know, found the body," I paused, inhaling, "And it seems I owe you a huge apology."

His jaw tensed, and I ached to press my lips to his cheek, to smooth my fingers across his jawline. "Right, so now you've found proof that it wasn't me, you've come to apologize for accusing me when you had absolutely no reason too. That's fucking good of you."

"Look," I reached out my hand but dropped it when he yanked his body out of my reach, the movement stinging me, "I thought I had a reason too and I'm sorry."

"Doesn't really cut it," He replied sourly, "I thought we trusted each other, yet you didn't even stop to think that perhaps I didn't do it, you didn't even consider that I might not be a monster."

"You're not a monster," I whispered, "I know that, I just, I thought it had happened again, I thought I'd trusted someone stupidly and I didn't want to be caught oblivious again, so I jumped to conclusions."

"I'm not Finn, Clarke," he snapped, and I knew I'd hit a nerve, "You need to stop comparing the two of us, I get that what happened with him sucked, but I'm not him and if you think I am then the point of this conversation I moot."

I could see the muscles in his arms tensing, his expression wounded and angry. He was waging an internal war between his anger at having to admit that he was hurt by what I said and pretending to not care.

"I know you aren't, thank god you aren't," I took a step forward, and this time he let me rest my fingers around his wrist, his skin hot beneath my palm, "I know there's no excuse for what I said to you, but in that moment I was so honestly terrified and I couldn't find an explanation and then you were there, comforting me, and it seemed too kind for such a moment and I panicked and I thought I had to figure it out, to figure everything out and you were so angry with him and I so badly didn't want it to be true that I thought it must be."

He was silent, and I was too afraid to meet his eyes.

When it became too much for me I tightened my fingers around his arm and sighed, pressing my forehead against his knuckles, staring at his booted feet, "I know it's no excuse."

I felt him exhale heavily and his black laces moved closer to mine. I felt like a boulder had lifted off my shoulders when his warm arms dropped around my body and his chin pressed onto the top of my head, "I don't want to be someone you're afraid of."

I shook my head, pressing my cheek against his heart and wrapped my arms around his waist, securing my body against his "I'm more afraid of me and how the hell I would possibly lead these people without you."

He laughed softly, pressing his lips to my hair, "Without me you'd turn them all into softies within the day."

I smiled against his shirt, "Not to be nosey, but where were you though? Jasper said you were meant to be on duty?"

I felt him tense against me and I braced myself for his anger, but instead he sounded embarrassed, "I figured he would be okay for a moment, so I went and one of the guys gave me a bowl of food, but afterwards I felt really tired so I just sort of dosed in the bottom level of the drop ship and I woke up to the yelling."

"It's not your fault," I said, gripping a handful of his shirt in my fist, "I am willing to bet you were drugged."

"I should have seen it coming," His arms tightened around me, "I'm so sorry Clarke, now we might never know why the hell he attacked you, god that's on me I know it—"

I cut him off drawing my head away from his chest, and pressing my palm to his mouth, "I don't blame you at all, and you don't need to worry about that, I think I have an idea."

"What's that?" he asked, pulling my hand away from my mouth and entwining his fingers through mine. Neither of us were making any effort to hide our affection from those around us.

"I think I know who can tell me who Gerard Riley was and I think I know who killed him," I clenched my teeth, "It's time to get Raven to fix that radio, it's about time we attempted contact with the Ark."

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