Chp 7 Bellamy after the Mountain.

Bellamy took a moment to orient himself in the dark before following Octavia out of the tent into the night. The sky was clear and the heavens were on full display. The group were standing on the ridge looking down into the valley below, towards the source of the drums. He could see the relaxed smile on Ben Bob's face even in the dimming light of the fire. What was going on? Why wasn't everyone reaching for their weapons and waiting to be attacked. As he crested the top he could see a huge bonfire further down the valley. It was too far away to make out the shapes of any people around it. "What's going on there?" He asked, puffs of water vapor rising from his mouth as he spoke. Lincoln, who had his arm around Octavia, turned to him eyes alight with a levity Bellamy didn't know they could hold. "It's a wedding. Those are wedding drums. That's a wedding fire. Whoever is down there celebrating, attacking us is the last thing on their mind." Around him Bellamy noticed that his friends were all jigging slightly to the time of the music and for a moment Clarke was beside them, turning her face to beam happiness at him. Then she was gone swallowed by the night. He shook his head to clear it and Ben Bob mistook his intent. "No seriously listen to the beat. That's happy music, they're not trying to intimidate us." Even Wick joined in "Plus that would be an awful lot of firewood to waste without a good reason this close to winter." Lincoln nodded and smiled at Wick, a small surprise flickering across his face. Perhaps Wick was not as clueless as Lincoln thought.

"Not just any wedding!" A crystal clear voice spoke out of the crisp night beyond their fire. They turned as one to face the newcomer. For all his talk Lincoln's pose did shift and Octavia beside him wasn't nearly so subtle. "Who is there?" Bellamy called out, his voice thankfully steady and strong, not betraying any of the jitters he was actually feeling. "Show yourself!" The dark resolved into three shapes. A tall woman in full warrior get up was flanked by two men, the one to her left was short and square with a nose that had been broken many times and a thick beard that hid his face. He was armed. As was the man on her right, but he was no grounder. His clothes marked him clearly as someone from the Ark, or did they. Bellamy turned to face him "What station are you from?" he asked cautiously. With that the man's face lit-up into a huge grin and he covered the distance between them in swift strides. "See," he said turning to his companions, "I told you they were from the Sky, just like us." He turned back to Bellamy as he was saying "Agro Station" then stopped abruptly, his eyes flying wide. They shot between Bellamy and Octavia and then there was hope in them. "Wait, you're the Blakes, you were with the 100." His face scrunched as if he were preparing himself for a blow. Bellamy didn't understand why until he asked. "Have you seen my son, Monty? Is he okay?" Relief flooded through Bellamy's veins. He felt a lightness he hadn't realized he'd been missing. "Yes!" He said emphatically, pulling Monty's father into a bear hug that surprised even himself. "Yes Monty is alive, he's fine, he's better than fine." Bellamy could hear himself babbling and he didn't know why. He was grateful when Octavia sidled up to him and took Monty's dad by the arm and led him to Wick, "Wick get Monty on the radio, he won't mind being woken up even if he is asleep." They moved off in a flurry of excitement. Leaving Bellamy and Lincoln facing these new grounders with the Bobs at their side.

"Who is getting married?" Lincoln asked directly, more at ease. The woman smiled. "The wedding below is the joining of the Skykru with our people. We have formally adopted them into our tribe and one of their leaders is becoming second husband to our leader." Bellamy did the math in his head - the Ark's hadn't been on the ground long enough for a romance to blossom to marriage surely. The confusion must have been evident on his face because the woman saw it and snorted. "It is not a love match The Blakes, this is an alliance." There was that word again, alliance. Bellamy could only hope that this one turned out better than the last. He'd better not be the one to muck it up. He extended his open hand to her, "Hi, I'm Bellamy Blake that was my sister Octavia and these are my men Lincoln, Bill and Ben from our guard." The woman eyed Lincoln appraisingly. "This one is not from your guard. He is not Skykru." "No." Lincoln said simply, "I am not." and left it at that.

After the introductions were complete the woman, Mercury, and her companion Gruff set up their own tent close to the fire, taking advantage of the heat. Monty's father remained in the tent with the radio and the Bob's and Octavia settled down to sleep. Wick, Lincoln and Bellamy remained on guard. Although Wick had tried to convince Bellamy that there really wasn't a need for him to stay up too, especially as Gruff did not look intent to sleep. "Give them some privacy and then you can go back to bed." Bellamy told him looking towards his tent. Wick had looked wistfully at his tent and then said without thinking "I could just bunk in with your sister." If looks could kill Wick would have died then, twice in quick succession, as Bellamy and Lincoln struck him with glares like thunder. He gulped and put up his hands. "Okay" he said in a conciliatory fashion. "Raven wouldn't have minded you know." He finished trying to bluff confidence in front of the two alpha males with their hackles raised. "I very much doubt that." Bellamy retorted. "If I remember correctly she was very territorial." With that he turned and left to watch the other side of the camp. "What was that about?" Wick asked but Lincoln just shrugged and walked over to Gruff.

Bellamy stared out into the darkness towards the fire and the drums feeling like a heel. He didn't know why he had made more of his and Raven's brief interlude than there had been. He didn't even know if Wick knew about it. Perhaps he wasn't the good guy he'd been pretending to be lately. Down there grounders and people from the Ark were celebrating a peaceful alliance. He didn't know all the details but he knew these Arker's hadn't started a war trying to survive. Below him was proof that a different path had been possible. A better path?

The feeble warmth of the early sun was welcome as Bellamy stamped his feet to keep warm. In the early hours after the drums had stopped a thin blanket of frost had spread across everything in sight. It was beautiful beneath the full moon. Glinting like diamonds in the starlight. Wick had returned to bed. Bellamy was worried about him. At first he'd simply thought that Wick was inexperienced in the wild, but now he suspected something more serious was wrong with him. Every day he seemed weaker, less cocky. Bellamy might be a heel, but he was the only heel Wick had right now and he owed it to Raven to keep Wick alive.

He was startled by the sound of the Bob's behind him restocking the fire and beginning breakfast. Some look out he was. He watched them for a moment. They moved separately but in unison. A well oiled partnership. He wondered how long they'd worked together. Since childhood probably. There were not many people related to each other on the ark. Population control had been one of the first things instigated. Any two people on the Ark could share a great grandparent, but no more than that and only if their ancestors had two kids before the policy was enforced. If they'd not both been sons of sons the Bob name would have died out by now and they probably wouldn't know they were related at all. It struck him then for the first time that it was no coincidence that they'd volunteered for this assignment.

Octavia walked towards him her face grave. Without saying a word she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. His arms went around her protectively and he waited for her to be ready. He looked, but Lincoln was nowhere to be seen. Eventually she raised her head and looked up at him, tears brimming on her dark lashes. "Jasper's parents didn't make it." He squeezed her tighter for a moment. Octavia may have moved her affections to Lincoln, but she had never forgotten that she owed Jasper her life. He was one her best friends. She blamed herself for Maya's death. For getting caught. For forcing Bellamy's hand. He'd tried to convince her otherwise, but she was stubborn. "I had hoped when Monty's dad showed up..he's all alone Bellamy." He took her gently by the shoulders and made her look at him. "No he is not. We are here for him. We are his family now." She shook her head at him. "He hates us, he hates us all. You, Monty, Clark, me." Bellamy stopped her. "He doesn't hate you O. I keep telling you this. You were not in the control room. You didn't override their safety systems. You didn't pull that lever. Not you alright. He doesn't have any reason to hate you." She looked at the ground then at her hands. "When we get back you need to be there for him okay. Don't worry about me. He will come around he just needs time, but until he does just be there for him okay!" His words had meant to be comforting, but she just backed away from him silent tears streaming down her face. "I..I..I can't, she croaked, shaking her head, I just can't." Then she turned and fled into her tent, and Bellamy had no idea why. This wasn't Octavia. She never ran away. She never gave up. Bellamy was worried.

The sun was still low as they made their way down into the Valley. They walked through the twisted metal structures, some many times the height of a person. There was a path of sorts and Mercury told them to stay on it. "It's not safe in the waste." She had said, indicating the debris around them. Ahead of him Bill was talking to Gruff asking him what this place was, what it used to be. Gruff wasn't sure exactly. Legend was that this had once been a place of industry where many great machines were made, No one knew exactly what. It had taken a direct hit during the first days. Not nukes or this area would still be barren like the blasted land, but it's destruction was not an accident. Now it served as a natural barrier between them and hostile tribes from the east and north. They had lived in relative seclusion, until now.

The landscape unnerved Bellamy. Sharp shards of metal pointed at him like swords. Twisted frames awning over him threatening to fall and trap him. Broken glass shards still somehow clinging in windows threatening to fall and shatter shredding them into a million pieces. This was as close to hell on earth as he could imagine. At one point Wick made them stop. The radio signal was coming from all around them. "I don't understand it" He had muttered. "It should be right here." but wherever the signal said the ship was, it wasn't clearly. So they had continued on. They didn't stop until the sun was well across the sky and they had made it into the treeline on the other side. There they were greeted by a welcoming party of grounders and Sky people in a camp that was set up and waiting for them.

A much older woman rushed up to Monty's father and asked him if had gotten something. He took a small packet out of his coat and handed it to her. She kissed him once on the cheek in thanks and and rushed over to a fire which already had a kettle boiling on it. No the camp was not waiting for them, it was waiting for their people to return. He leaned into Lincoln. " Any idea what that was?" he asked. "Medicine probably. It would explain why they were on the other side of the waste." Of course they'd come from behind them. The tracks Lincoln had seen the evening before.

A cry came from a tent set near the center of camp. The older woman rushed into it and people around the camp tensed. "It has been a long difficult birth for this one. Three days and nights. The leaves will help bring the baby and after." Mercury was standing beside him following his gaze to the tent. But the tea was still stewing by the fire when the unmistakable sound of a newborn filled the air. All around people erupted into whoops of joy and began clapping each other on the back. The woman appeared again and went to the tea. She looked concerned and stared at it like she could speed it up. Bellamy watched as Bill stepped up to her and they exchanged words. Then he followed her inside. Bellamy looked across at Ben questioningly. "Births are kind of Bill's speciality. He attended a lot of them on the Ark, nearly became a midwife like his mum. But then he followed me into the guard." Ben chuckled. "Reckoned I needed looking after more than the babies."

Bill emerged from the tent looking worried. He rushed over to them. "I need to get a doctor on the radio. Someone needs to talk me through a blood transfusion. I've seen it done, but I don't want to mess it up." Then he looked at Ben. "You up for this?" Ben nodded and then turned to Bellamy's confused expression. "I'm O neg, universal donar, very popular in Medical me." He followed Bill who made him wait just outside the tent while Wick set the radio up. Around people were bustling trying to keep busy.

"Shouldn't the baby be crying more?" Octavia asked. Bellamy just shrugged. There was nothing he could do to help. As they waited a group of Arkers who had been talking with Monty's dad approached them and once again Bellamy found himself playing the unlikely diplomat. He had found it hard to digest everything that had happened to the people on The Boat, the ship that crashed into the water. But the story of Agro Station was far harder to hear.