Clarke

The second she and Octavia were locked up together in her chambers, Clarke dropped to her knees and raked a hand through her hair. She let out little gasps, trying to swallow her sobs, her eyes tracing Octavia's frantic pacing around the room until it made her dizzy and she had to look away.

"Get up, Clarke," Octavia growled. She reached down and grabbed her arm, trying to haul her to her feet, but Clarke was like a dead weight of despair, broken and unyielding. Octavia threw her arm down and she looked like she wanted to kick her, but she just snarled, "Get the hell up!"

Clarke looked up at her and accepted the livid fury in her eyes, the fear and hopelessness, the panic- but it was the blame she saw there, the accusation and contempt, that she couldn't bear. Somehow she found the strength to stand and she just looked at Octavia, watched her seethe, blue eyes like fire as she looked at her, as if waiting for something.

"I don't know what you want me to say," she finally whispered, and she hardly recognised her own voice.

"I want you to say that you'll help me," Octavia snapped. "Bellamy is counting on you, Clarke- again."

She saw him again- all teeth and wild eyes, launching himself at her, skin burning up with the drug. "Don't you think I want to help him!" she yelled, crying now, hot tears down her cheeks. "There's nothing I can do!"

"Oh yes there is," Octavia snarled. "Bellamy dragged us through miles of wilderness to find you, almost died trying to get to you… I lost Lincoln so we could find you. And now you're just going to leave him? Again?"

Clarke squeezed her eyes shut and she shook her head. "I'm so sorry…"

"I don't want you to be sorry, Clarke," Octavia snapped, and her own eyes filled with tears, but she seemed too angry to let them fall. "My brother's been turned into a Reaper and of all the people on Earth you are the only person who can help him. And you're going to do it- right now. I can't lose him too."

"Well what do you want me to do?" Clarke asked her desperately.

"I want you to fight!" Octavia yelled at her. "We need to fight our way out of here, get Bellamy, and go- we just need to get him to a safe place, and then we can detox him and go home."

"Fight?" Clarke asked, shaking her head. "Have you seen where we are? There are too many to fight, and you have no idea what they'll do to us if we try."

Octavia's lip curled. "They can't do anything worse to me than taking Lincoln and Bellamy from me," she ground out. "What's wrong with you, Clarke? Bellamy needs you- how can you just do nothing?"

"I'm scared, okay!" Clarke screamed at her, reaching up and shoving Octavia roughly away from her. Both women stood there, staring at each other, chests heaving, fists clenched.

Something in Octavia softened and the anger seemed to go out of her. Clarke watched her warily as she approached again, but this time Octavia just wrapped her arms around her and held her close. Clarke crumpled into her arms, sobbing, crying, clinging to her, and Octavia didn't move, just letting her get it all out. Once she quieted, the younger girl pulled back again.

"I'm scared too, Clarke," she said, gentle now. "But sitting here, being scared, isn't going to change anything, and Bellamy needs us. Fear is a demon, Clarke. So we're going to get out of this room, we're going to get ourselves some swords, and we're going to slay it."

"I don't know if I can," Clarke whispered.

"You can," Octavia answered, nodding her head, her jaw set firmly as though there was no question. "Because I'm going to make you."

"There is no point," a new voice suddenly spoke up from the doorway. The door was closed, but neither of them had heard Lia enter. Now Lia looked at Octavia and said, "Your brother is dead."

"Don't you dare say that to me!" Octavia launched herself at the girl, but Lia just caught her fist in her hand and sidestepped at the same time, swatting her away as though she was a fly.

Lia's attention was on Clarke as she said, "You can still recover from this."

"I won't do what Elody is asking me," Clarke answered immediately, shaking her head. "I won't be her puppet."

"Things are already in motion," Lia answered. "Amat, the village leader here, was angry that Lexa was killed. She has disappeared with Lexa's body. Her head was saved and is now making the rounds amongst the clans, but the queen must act quickly and install you before a new Heda is chosen. There will be war now."

"We don't care about any of that," Octavia snapped. "Clarke's not going to do what the queen wants, and all we want is Bellamy and a way out."

"Bellamy is dead," Lia said. "The Reaper is in him now. The drug is strong, and he won't survive it."

"Lincoln was a Reaper," Octavia snapped. "And Clarke brought him back."

Lia seemed to look at Clarke with renewed respect as she said, "It is no wonder you have such a formidable reputation amongst the clans."

"I don't care about any of that," Clarke said softly, shaking her head. "I'm not doing it."

"I want to see my brother," Octavia spoke up.

"No you don't," Clarke said, shaking her head, touching her arm, remembering the pain and shock of Bellamy's behaviour, the fear she'd felt as he'd torn into her, like he didn't even know her.

"I do," Octavia insisted. She looked at Lia. "You could get me in to see him, couldn't you?"

"I could," Lia agreed with a shrug. "But I am not authorised to kill you right now, and if I take you to him then dead is what you will be."

"He won't kill me," Octavia said, shaking her head stubbornly. "Never."

"Octavia… remember Lincoln," Clarke said gently. "Remember how he was… he didn't know you."

"He attacked you and Bellamy twice as hard as he ever attacked me," Octavia answered shortly. "This is Bellamy, Clarke. We have to try."

Clarke said nothing for a moment, just trying to decide what to do. She looked at Lia, who was in turn gazing at Octavia with a strange expression, almost like an intense fascination. Clarke didn't know this child, but she could see that something about Octavia had her intrigued, and she couldn't help but think that maybe they could use it.

"Okay," she said suddenly, and the other two girls both looked at her in surprise. "Take Octavia to see her brother."

Lia frowned. "That is unwise," she warned.

Clarke's mind was working, thinking of possibilities- if they could get out of this room, if Lia could get them to where Bellamy was, then that would at least bring them closer to getting out of here together. She knew Lia was raised to be loyal to the queen, but Clarke got the impression that even her just standing in this room was not something that Elody was aware of. Whatever her reasons were for coming here, maybe they could use that too.

"Let us worry about that," Octavia said to Lia, seeming to catch on to Clarke's plan. "Please… I need to see him."

For a moment Lia said nothing, and then she shrugged. "Very well. You will see him- but you will not interact."

Clarke met Octavia's eyes and she tried to signal her to be cautious, but she couldn't be sure if she understood as she charged forward after Lia.

It was dark outside, and the streets were almost totally deserted as Lia led the way. She seemed unconcerned that they would run, but Clarke wasn't sure if that was because she knew she could easily catch them, if it was because she knew they wouldn't go anywhere without Bellamy, or both.

When they reached the cell where Bellamy was being held, Clarke felt the fear rising up in her chest again. Octavia seemed to sense it and she leaned in close to Clarke, whispering, "It's going to be okay… we'll grab him and we'll run."

"How do you grab a Reaper without getting killed?" Clarke hissed back. "And what about Lia?"

Octavia didn't answer, and it was then that Clarke regretted what they were doing- they had no plan, they were being escorted by an assassin, and they were about to come face-to-face with the most dangerous thing she could imagine- a homicidal crazy person that they were reluctant, perhaps unwilling, to harm.

But Octavia didn't seem to care about any of that. She just waited impatiently as Lia led them into the room with the window. They saw Bellamy through the glass, crouched in the corner- it was hard to tell if he was asleep or just waiting.

"We have to go in there," Octavia said suddenly, startling Clarke and even bringing a look of surprise onto Lia's impassive face.

"Octavia-" Clarke tried to protest.

"No one is going in there," Lia interrupted. "Certainly not you, Clarke- you are too valuable."

"Then let me," Octavia said, not taking her eyes off Bellamy's huddled form.

"Do you wish to die?" Lia asked her frankly.

"Don't talk to me about death," Octavia snapped, turning furious eyes on Lia. "Not after you killed Lincoln."

Lia said nothing to that, she just glared and said, "That is not your brother."

"He is my brother," Octavia yelled at her. "Lincoln was a Reaper and we saved him- Clarke saved him! We can do this."

"Be that as it may, I will not let you," Lia growled. "It was a mistake to bring you here." She frowned, seeming annoyed with herself more than them as she said, "I do not know why I did."

Clarke met Octavia's eyes and gave her a subtle shake of her head, trying to convey to her that she should back off, stop arguing, but Octavia seemed to either get a totally different message or ignore her completely as she suddenly lunged sideways and ran out of the room.

Lia went after her, but it only took a second for Octavia to duck inside the room next door, and even Lia seemed hesitant to step into a room with a Reaper. She reappeared at Clarke's side, angry, grim-faced, and seemed not to know what to do as she looked through the window.

Octavia was standing against the wall, and Bellamy wasn't moving. Octavia looked up at the window, which Clarke knew must have been a mirror on her side since she didn't quite look at them as she mouthed, "I'll be okay."

Clarke watched, heart pounding, as Octavia turned towards her brother and slowly approached his hunkered down form. When Clarke saw Bellamy's head snap up, she couldn't help but fear that nothing would ever be okay again.