Had to post this part too ;)
Not trying to set a precedent or anything...doubtful I'll post one chapter so close to the next in the future.
Hope you're having fun with this! I certainly am :)
Her body half out of the makeshift tent set up for communications, Raven stared in horrified awe at the red light that had yet to be extinguished, framing the horizon. "Oh my god! Was that..." Raven trailed off, uncharacteristically subdued by the angry, warning glint in Bellamy's eyes.
"We don't know what it was," Clarke replied, eerily calm, "We suspect it might have been the Exodus Ship, but right now there's no way to confirm one way or another-unless," Clarke forcefully willed herself to dampen her hope, "Unless you've heard from the Ark?" She looked expectantly at Monty who had exited the tent behind Raven. She found herself quickly shifting her gaze, blinking away recalcitrant tears. Her heart constricted painfully as he shook his head to the negative. "That's...that's..." she found herself unable to form a coherent sentence and felt a deep shame in her lack of control. She took in a shuddering breath, but was saved from having to make the effort of regaining her composure faster than she could manage.
"Who was calling us?" Bellamy demanded, forcing the two to break their focus away from Clarke.
"How the hell should I know?" shrugged Raven with a forced nonchalance. The tone in her voice confirmed Bellamy's suspicions.
"Spacewalker," he stated rather than asked, irritated.
Raven pursed her lips together tightly, her frustrated emotions almost palpable-frustration at Finn, at Clarke and Bellamy, at-everything. Her whole world had been altered and she found herself frighteningly lost in the cast of character and the plot of the play. "He's supposed to be resting," she muttered.
"Clearly he's not," Bellamy retorted. "So where is he?" he asked, his voice disdainful.
"He's in the drop ship with Jasper," Monty replied, helpful as ever in his own, quiet way.
"Fine," Bellamy stated. "Clarke?"
"Yeah?" she replied, having managed to sufficiently contain herself once more.
"Ready to go?"
But she knew what he was really asking. Ready to face the next dilemma? Ready to make more impossible decisions? Ready to lead?
"Yeah," she nodded. "Let's go."
And if Raven or Monty had noticed Bellamy's hand grab Clarke's elbow ever so briefly as a sign of support and solidarity, neither of them made mention of it.
"It's Murphy," Finn disclosed softly.
"What?" Clarke gasped, her voice a mix of emotions-fear, pity, concern, dread...
"What the hell is he doing here?" Bellamy demanded.
"Look, he's not looking too good," Finn continued. "Miller found him up against the wall bloody, barely breathing."
"Miller should have left him there," Bellamy barked, "I gave strict orders that..."
"Don't you think we need all the help we can get? Considering the fact that you've just started a war we might be better off having another mindless, ruthless brawler on our side," Finn remarked sarcastically, putting no doubt in anyone's mind as to who he thought the other mindless, ruthless brawler in the camp was.
Bellamy straightened himself to full height, ready to defend himself to the idiotically naive Spacewalker who needed to remember his place. In response, Finn squared his shoulders, ignoring the ache to his left side, equally doggedly determined to make a point.
Shaking her head and letting out a frustrated sigh, Clarke stepped between the two boys. "Stop it okay? This isn't helping." She licked her lips, almost hesitant, "Bellamy, Finn's right. We need to stick together. We need to help each other. Just-just talk to Murphy. There must be a reason why he's come back. You need to find out why before you let your temper get the best of you." She cast him a soft look of encouragement. Try, her eyes urged. Please try.
"Fine," he replied gruffly, casting one last threatening glance towards Finn.
It wasn't until he walked into the ship that she realized she had placed her hand on his chest, right up against his heart.
But Finn had.
"What are you doing Clarke?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, his tone immediately putting her on the defensive.
"With him," Finn clarified, "What are you doing with him? You know he's volatile. And he's changing you. God, Clarke, you take one trip with the guy and suddenly you're trusting him with your life, with our lives."
"You don't know what you're talking about," she retorted.
"I do," he replied passionately, "Do you think he means it when he talks about compromise or shared leadership. This is the guy who's motto is 'Whatever the hell we want' That means whatever the hell he wants Clarke. He's leading us towards whatever the hell he wants."
"Do you think you could do better? Be a better leader? Then do better Finn. You can't just walk into this whole situation blindly. We've lost too many people already. We need to be strategic. We can't just naively think everything's gonna be okay, because it might not be, and we need to prepare for that."
"Clarke..."
"My mom may have died tonight," she half gasped at herself for revealing so much to him, but the flood gates had opened. "Oh god," her voice quavered, having finally said it aloud, "Oh god, she might be dead," she panted softly. She shrugged away the hand Finn had attempted to place on her shoulder in comfort. "But I can't think about that now, because there are other more pressing things to think about-things that I can do something about. And that's why I have faith in Bellamy," she concluded, "Why I trust him. Because he knows how to prioritize. Because he knows that who we are and who we are to survive can be two different things and he's not afraid to put one before the other."
"Then there's no convincing you otherwise," Finn sighed in defeat.
"No." Clarke shook her head, "Not anymore."