Bellamy

He hadn't been awake for twenty minutes when Lia returned to the camp, with horses in tow. She had taken theirs the night before- probably so they couldn't get very far if they decided to run- but now she had an extra one. So Bellamy and Echo would no longer have to share.

If Lia wondered where Lincoln's body had gone, she didn't ask, and Bellamy didn't care- he was concerned with Octavia. As soon as Lia had returned to camp he'd stayed by his sister's side to make sure she wouldn't do anything to get herself killed. To Octavia's credit, she behaved remarkably well.

Lia fixed all three of them with a look to ensure they were listening, and then she said, "I have been thinking about communication. I believe that we have had trouble with understanding each other up until now. I hope that some things have become clearer, but I think it would be best if I was more direct."

"More direct than slashing someone's throat open?" Octavia growled. Bellamy reached for her hand and covered it with his and squeezed, catching Echo's alarmed glance in their direction.

"Now I am going to tell you what you need to know for our time together to go smoothly," Lia said, acting as though Octavia hadn't spoken. "When I have finished speaking, I expect that none of you will make any more mistakes in dealing with me. If you do, I am sure you are all very aware of the consequences. Please do not speak until I have finished. Do all of you understand?"

"Yes, shadow child," Echo murmured, and Bellamy nodded his head. Octavia just stared at the girl, her eyes icy, her jaw locked, but Lia seemed not to notice.

"This is what is going to happen," she said clearly. "Together we are going to fulfill the queen's bounty and capture the prisoner to bring back to the Ice Nation. From there, we will all travel to Polis, where we will board a train to Tawa, the capital of the Ice Nation. Then-"

"A train?" Octavia interrupted.

Lia's eyes lighted on her with absolute distaste. "I said, do not speak until I have finished. Is that understood, Octavia?"

"Perfectly," she snapped.

Bellamy squeezed her hand harder. "O," he whispered. She didn't respond to him or even acknowledge he'd said her name, but he saw her relax just a little.

"Now," Lia continued. "After we have taken the train to Tawa, we will bring the prisoner to Queen Elody. You will be reunited with Clarke, and you will be given an audience with the queen in order to discuss the terms of your leader's release. If you do all the things I have said, no one else will be hurt or killed. Pack your things- we will leave momentarily."

Without leaving a single chance for any replies or further questions, Lia turned on her heel and went to her own horse to wait for them.

Bellamy let go of Octavia's hand and released a long breath. "You did good, O," he assured her.

"I hate this," she answered, her words clipped. "Let's just get it done."

He couldn't argue with that, and either could Echo, so the three of them gathered their things and mounted their horses. Octavia had tucked Lincoln's ashes safely into her saddlebags, but Bellamy had also noticed that she was wearing a long cord around her neck, with a small pouch at the bottom, and he knew that must be part of him too.

The way Lia had laid out the plan, it seemed reasonable to think that they would soon be rid of the shadow child. And until then, he just had to keep Octavia from doing anything that could get her killed. He couldn't wait to see Clarke. He wished they hadn't agreed to this annoying bounty detour, but there was no avoiding it now. They'd just have to get it done as quickly as possible.

.

The target of their bounty was due east of their current location, luckily on the way to Polis. Lia promised that it would not be too much of a detour, and Bellamy was glad of that. The landscape they were travelling through now was so different than what had surrounded the dropship. What trees there were came in patches here and there, but otherwise all that surrounded them were rugged mountains and rolling meadows. Occasionally there were villages in the distance, identifiable only by the flickering firelight on the horizon, but Lia never steered them close to any of the settlements.

"Moira said the Plains have to live with worse radiation than most of the other clans," Octavia said to Bellamy, glancing over from her horse. "The people here fear outsiders."

"So they give their imperfect babies to Raven Rock," he said, gritting his teeth, remembering what Octavia had told him about the nursery she'd found. "And those kids get to grow up to be prisoners."

"We should have killed them, Bell," she said, her voice soft.

He looked over at her, saw the broken expression on her face. His eyes flickered to Echo for a moment, who was also watching Octavia with concern, but she didn't say anything. Bellamy said gently, "Come on, O... you don't mean that."

His sister met his eyes and said, "Oh yes I do." He could see in her expression that she was dead serious.

"Those babies would have died too," he pointed out.

That comment seemed to give her pause and she shifted uncomfortably for a moment, then shrugged. "It doesn't matter anyway."

He took that as a signal to drop the conversation, and they fell into silence as they continued their journey. The horses seemed happy to be moving now with relative ease through the soft grasslands, and they travelled a lot quicker than they had previously, when most of the terrain had been forests and mountains.

Finally, late into the second day, Lia did become interested in a village off in the distance. Bellamy couldn't see anything different about this one as opposed to all the others they had passed, but Lia turned her horse in that direction, leading the others along behind her.

She spoke up for the first time in many hours, "The target of our bounty is there. We will wait until nightfall to make our move."

They made camp, but Lia didn't allow them to build a fire. It was freezing, but no one complained. They were all silent, lost in their own thoughts, and a black mood soon settled over the camp. Bellamy felt nervous, wondering how exactly this was going to play out.

He sat down with his back against a log and pulled Octavia down beside him, laying a fur over both of them so she would stay warm from his body heat. Echo dozed nearby, and he envied her ability to sleep anywhere, at a moment's notice.

"Clarke has been gone so long," Octavia said quietly, after a long silence. "What if she's dead, Bell? What if all this is for nothing?"

His jaw clenched and he shook his head. "She isn't," he assured her, hating that thought so much. "Lia's here to bring us to her."

"Lia killed Lincoln just because we weren't listening to her," Octavia pointed out. "Who knows if anything she says is true."

"I can hear you," Lia spoke up, but surprisingly she didn't sound angry.

"Like I care," his sister muttered.

"Octavia," Bellamy warned softly. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him, tucking her head under his chin. She didn't protest, and seemed to take comfort in his warmth and the beat of his heart. Softly he said, "She's alive, she has to be."

"Aren't you mad at her?" she asked. "After everything she did, you're just going to forgive and forget?"

Bellamy let out a long sigh. "I'm scared for her, O," he said softly. "I want her to be safe. Beyond that… I don't know."

"I don't want her to hurt you," Octavia said stubbornly. "I saw how bad it got when she walked away."

He sighed again, curled his fingers under her chin and tipped her face up. "It's not simple," he told her. "You know that, right?"

Grudgingly, she nodded, but he watched her brow knit together and he couldn't help but smile fondly at her; she was good at holding grudges. Suddenly he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle, and he knew Lia's eyes were fixed on them. Sure enough, when he looked over apprehensively, she was staring right at them with what appeared to be great interest. When she saw him looking at her she asked, "Where you come from, is it customary for siblings to be so close?"

"Where we come from, there are no siblings," Octavia snapped.

Bellamy squeezed her shoulders and said to Lia, trying to remain neutral, "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

She seemed to hesitate, just for a moment. Then, softly, she said, "I don't know."

"You were young when you were taken from your mother, right? Echo said you would have been just a baby."

Octavia was holding her breath against his chest; he wondered if she understood what he was trying to do.

Lia shrugged. She seemed uncomfortable. "I have no memory of any family. Only our trainers… we lived communally."

"So then you sort of did have siblings," Bellamy tried. "Right? Were you close with any of them?"

Lia's eyes narrowed as she looked at him. "That is no concern of yours," she said sharply. "Why are you asking me these pointless questions?"

"Because I'm interested," he answered, carefully. "I'm interested in who you are."

"You know who I am," she said. "You saw it in the mountain."

He shook his head. "No, that's what you can do. Who you are is something different."

Lia looked away, out into the darkness. "That is no concern of yours," she said again, but her voice was quiet this time.

"It should be," he answered. When Lia snapped her eyes back to him in obvious surprise he clarified hastily, "It should be someone's concern. Children should be taken care of, not used."

"I am not being used," she protested. "I have been trained for a purpose, and I do it willingly- happily."

Bellamy shrugged a little. "You don't seem very happy to me."

Lia's words were like venom as she spat, "Be careful."

He took the hint and backed off, but he couldn't shake the hope that maybe- just a tiny bit- he'd gotten through to her. Even if it only made her think for one second, it was something. He felt Octavia take his hand and squeeze, and he held onto her, glad for the reassurance, knowing how dangerous it could be if he went too far in irritating the shadow child.

Eventually he couldn't stand the silence so he asked her, "What's the plan?"

Lia seemed glad for the change in subject. She met his eyes and said, "I will go ahead to neutralise any threats. You three will follow after me, secure our prisoner, and then we will leave immediately for Polis."

"Echo and I will do it," Bellamy said. "Octavia can stay here and make sure the horses don't run off." It was a lame excuse, even for him, as the horses were perfectly capable of being left alone, but he didn't want her anywhere near any kind of danger. He felt so unstable, even a cut on her hand would panic him.

"Bell, I'm fine," Octavia said, clearly annoyed. "I can handle myself- I don't need protecting."

"I know," he said to her, looking into her eyes and hoping she saw the desperation there. "I really do. But I just need you to stay here and stay safe, okay?"

She looked like she wanted to argue further, but she just let out a frustrated breath, glared at the ground, and said, "Fine."

Lia was watching them with that same strange look of fascination he'd seen before, when she'd asked about siblings. He wondered if she would ask him something again now, but maybe her interest in it passed, because she went back to the subject at hand and said, "I do not care who secures the target, so long as it is done. I want no arguments, no hesitations, no protests. Am I understood?"

"Perfectly," Bellamy said. The truth was, he could care less about this whole thing- it seemed like a chore to get through, something that would bring him closer to Clarke, closer to finally having both Octavia and Clarke safe.

When it was dark, Lia rose and went to her back, where she drew out a long rolled up bit of leather. When she unfolded it he saw more darts like the one she'd put between Octavia's toes, and not just blue- there were yellow, red, green, purple, and black darts, as well as quite a few vials of different liquids. Bellamy decided he'd rather not know what all of that was for, but Lia seemed satisfied with her supplies.

"I will go now," she said. "Wait five minutes and then follow me."

Once she moved away Octavia said flatly, "Maybe she'll get herself killed before you guys even get there."

"Doubtful," Echo answered, her tone gentle. "But we can hope."

After five minutes had passed, Bellamy and Echo left Octavia- irritated but alive- with the horses and set off across the meadow toward the fires flickering in the distance. Bellamy pulled his gun out as they reached the outskirts, crouching in the tall grass, but Echo shook her head at him. "Too loud," she whispered.

"I know," he replied with a nod, his voice low. "I'll only use it if I have to."

It wasn't a village at all, but a small encampment of about a half dozen tents. Even in the firelight Bellamy could see that it looked temporary. The camp was eerily quiet.

"She has done her work," Echo said, slowly standing up. "We must do ours."

Slowly they crept closer, passing through the outer ring of tents that was set up around a central one. Lia was standing just inside, and she was surrounded by dead men and women, all of them dressed in armour and holding weapons. It looked like not a one had seen her coming. A couple of them were dead from wounds, while others looked to be asleep. Bellamy knew from the black darts sticking out of their necks that they must have been poisoned.

Lia put a finger to her lips so they would not speak, handing Bellamy a coil of rope. The only sound was the rustling of grass in a gentle breeze. Bellamy nodded to Echo and together they walked slowly to the central tent. Bellamy went in first, holding his gun out, even though he knew Lia wanted them to take this prisoner alive, and he did not want to cross her.

The walls and ceiling seemed to be made of a material like burlap, so that it provided shelter from rain while allowing in some light. There were massive wooden poles that held up the roof, and the inside was cluttered with various pieces of furniture, including a bed. It was dark enough that Bellamy could mostly only make out shapes, but he could see that the bed was occupied, and he could hear the soft, even breathing of someone asleep.

Nodding to Echo, together they moved toward the bed, and Bellamy was glad that the floor was dirt so their footsteps were muffled. He motioned for Echo to grab their target, slinging the rope over his shoulder and pointing his gun at the figure in case Echo ran into trouble.

With a nod, Echo crossed the final few feet to the bed and lunged at the bed, wrapping her arm around the person's in a chokehold and wrenching them from the bed. Bellamy kept his gun trained on the struggling figures, only just able to identify which one was Echo.

Just before their target passed out, Echo let out a grunt of pain and staggered, releasing her grip.

Silence no longer mattered, so Bellamy said, "Don't move!" He chambered a bullet, hoping that this Grounder knew what a gun was well enough to recognise a click. From the stillness that settled over the tent, it seemed like that was the case. Echo grabbed the figure in her arms again, the two struggled, and then Bellamy saw a glint of something silver and knew that their would-be prisoner had a knife.

"Look out!" he yelled to Echo, realising it just wasn't safe to shoot, and so he ran forward instead and grabbed the hand that held the knife, halting the blade in the middle of its plunge towards Echo's chest. He felt teeth sink into his bicep and he grunted, but he squeezed the arm, using his nails, until the knife fell to the floor. After that, he used his strength to overpower the surprisingly small person he held in his arms, and Echo used the rope to create shackles for the hands and feet. Once Bellamy was holding the body still for Echo to do her work, he could feel that it was a woman, and that she was absolutely furious. He could hear the seething anger in her breath, but at least she was subdued. They had done what they were supposed to do, and now they could get Clarke back.

Hauling the woman outside, Lia seemed satisfied with what they had accomplished. "Good," she said. "We are now free to travel to Polis."

"You will be killed the second you arrive, shadow child," the woman in Bellamy's arms growled. He froze- her voice was familiar.

"Lexa?" He whirled the woman around to face him and looked into a pair of the most furious eyes he'd ever seen. He was right- it was the Commander- and her whole body seemed to be sparking with rage as she glared at him.

"Bellamy of the Sky People," she bit out, saying his name like a curse. "What is this?"

He just stared into her face. The truth was, he didn't know.