Clarke

Awareness came slowly to Clarke as sleep started to gradually slip away. She felt cocooned in warmth, the furs curled around her feet and tucked close to her back like a nest. Beneath her cheek was soft cotton covering a firm chest, and as she slowly opened her eyes she watched as the world rose and fell ever so subtly, like the forest around them was breathing.

But it was Bellamy who was breathing, and as she turned her face up, she saw that he was still asleep. His heartbeat under her ear still had that strange skipping pattern, like it couldn't make up its mind whether to continue beating or just stop- keep going, keep going, she willed it like a prayer. We're nearly home.

His face was peaceful, serene almost, his black curls disheveled across his brow. Being outdoors for so long had brought out the darkness of his skin more, and the contrast of her honey-gold tan against his olive skin tone was obvious. His smattering of freckles, which seemed to have multiplied and grown even more abundant, gave him a boyish look, particularly while he slept. The half moons of his lashes sat against his cheeks, soft and long. She gave a small smile to the dimple in his chin, the most obvious common trait between him and Octavia.

Lastly she looked at his mouth, the gentle but defined dip between the two even swells of his upper lip, and the way they sat against the soft pillow of his lower lip. His lips were fuller than hers, and when he kissed her she felt enveloped by them, so much so that it made her melt.

Clarke enjoyed this rare moment of being able to examine every subtle detail of his face, enjoyed the fact that she had time to do anything at all besides adhere to her usual routine of stress, fear, run. Finally, though, the moment had to end, but she couldn't complain. As if sensing her gaze on him, Bellamy's eyes slowly opened and he didn't seem surprised at all to have her staring up at him from her resting place on his chest.

He licked those lips she'd just been admiring, turned up their corners, and said gently, "Hey."

"Hey," she answered, returning the smile. "Sleep well?"

"Actually yeah," he said. "You?"

She nodded, and their smiles only grew as they kept looking at each other, until Clarke heard the very distinct sound of a throat being cleared. She and Bellamy turned their heads in unison and found Octavia standing nearby, arms over her chest, eyes slightly narrowed, the two big sticks from the night before threaded through her elbows.

"You're late," she said to Clarke. "We said first thing in the morning."

"O," Bellamy warned. "This is first thing in the morning. We just woke up."

"A warrior rises with the sun," Octavia said to Clarke, ignoring her brother. "Especially when she's still in training."

"And doesn't a warrior also need breakfast?" Bellamy asked grumpily. "It's the most important meal of that day, right? That's what Mom always said."

She scowled at him as though using their mother's words against her was unfair, but even Clarke could see that her glare wasn't serious. "Fine," she said, nodding her head to Clarke. "Eat, then join me at our stump."

Clarke watched as she disappeared into the forest like a ghost, not making a sound, and she couldn't help but think of Anya, the way she'd complained about Clarke's inability to walk silently in the woods, as though even a baby could do such a simple thing. Maybe Octavia could teach her that too.

"You have a stump?" Bellamy asked wryly. "Should I be jealous?"

"Of who?" Clarke answered, rolling her eyes "Me, or Octavia?"

He laughed softly, shaking his head. "I don't know… both?"

With a sigh she sat up, and he seemed to be just as reluctant as he did the same, rubbing his eyes. "Let's get some food before she drags me into the woods by my hair," Clarke joked, though she wouldn't have put it past the younger girl. The moment she'd agreed to be Octavia's second, she'd been positively gleeful as she instructed Clarke in fighting stance, weapons use, stealth, and self-defense.

Bellamy reached out and coiled one of her braids around his index finger, giving it a gentle tug. "That looks good on you," he said. "Suits you."

Clarke felt herself blushing, thinking of the elaborate styles Yana used to create with her hair, and then she couldn't help but think of Octavia's words the day before, about how she had let herself be coddled and pampered. Gingerly she extracted the braid from his grasp and said softly, "Thanks."

"Lia's not here," Bellamy said suddenly, obvious surprise in his voice as he looked around the campsite.

"I guess she's not as worried about watching us so closely, now that she's on our side," Clarke pointed out, getting to her feet and heading for the saddlebags. She pulled out the injector first, wanting to get that over with before Octavia came back looking for her.

Bellamy cringed when he saw it in her hand. "Can't we wait a while?" he asked apprehensively.

"Look at the sun," Clarke said gently. "We slept in. You're already late."

"I'll be fine," he protested. When he looked at her she saw the vulnerability in his eyes as he said, "Please, Clarke… after we eat?"

"Okay," she relented, putting the injector away and joining him, sitting close enough that their thighs touched. As Lia had promised, breakfast was an incredibly salty meal of preserved meat, but they ate it without complaining. It was a very quiet breakfast, followed by a quiet visit to the woods with Bellamy to give him his dose of Red.

At least tomorrow they would be in Camp Jaha. She could hardly believe it, and she was still nervous, but some of that had been quelled by Bellamy's reassurance that most people would feel happy about her homecoming. Underneath her fear, her nerves, she was slowly becoming excited.

Another long day lay ahead of them, and it consisted mostly of tending the horses, making small talk with each other, and giving Bellamy his regular doses of Red. It was monotonous, but they all knew that with every step the horses took, they were getting closer to him.

When Lia declared, "This is the beginning of Trikru land," Clarke looked to the Blakes and the three of them exchanged matching expressions of total bemusement. It was hard to believe this was really true- they were really back here. Sure enough, their path soon led them over the crest of the hill, and down into thick forest. Octavia seemed the most excited about this, but even Clarke and Bellamy tossed enthusiastic glances back and forth more than once as they breathed in the scent of the woods. Clarke was relieved that it was still familiar.

Occasionally they broke through the treeline and were met with relatively flat clearings, often sighting herds of deer that they had no need to shoot, knowing they would be home so soon. Clarke just enjoyed the beauty of the animals- yes, a few were marred by radiation, but many weren't, and even those who had defects seemed able to keep up with the rest.

The sun was low on the horizon when they emerged into another clearing similar to the others, except this one held no deer on nimble legs, only soft and silent curls of black smoke rising out of a scene of terrible destruction.

They all pulled their horses up and just stared- there had once been a village here, as the skeletons of houses and other buildings attested, but it had been razed, burned to the ground. The smouldering told them that this had been a recent change.

Clarke met Bellamy's eyes and she could see that he felt as uneasy as she did as everyone slid off their horses, leaving them to graze.

"We should keep moving," Lia urged, looking at Clarke as she spoke. "This is not our concern."

"We need to look for survivors," Octavia said shortly. "Just in case."

"What the hell is this?" Bellamy asked. As his sister charged toward the rubble he rushed after her and grabbed her arm, holding her back for a moment. Clarke hurried to both of them, Lia training behind, clearly still not liking this. Bellamy said urgently to Octavia, "Just stay together."

"Where are we?" Clarke asked Lia.

"I do not know the name of this village," she said. "Only that it is marks the westernmost border. We should be cautious… we do not know enough about what's happened. We should not linger here."

"We'll be quick," Clarke said. "Octavia's right, we have to look for survivors."

"We do not have to do anything of the sort," Lia answered, her face sour. Clarke ignored her, and she joined Bellamy as he stood at the outermost edge of the demolished town. She watched him reluctantly let go of his sister's arm, watched his eyes trace her movements through the ruined structures.

"There's no one alive here," Bellamy said, very quietly. "Should I stop her?"

Clarke looked to Octavia, studied her face, the way she picked up debris and toed through it, searching for life. "No," she said finally. "Let her look."

It was an hour before Octavia was satisfied, but she returned to them with a calm expression on her face. Bellamy seemed relieved that she wasn't devastated at the fact that she hadn't found anyone. Clarke understood that it was the act of looking that she had needed- to know for sure that she had done all she could.

A somber mood fell over the group as they retrieved their horses and mounted them again. For a long moment everyone just looked at the village, the quiet billowing of the smoke.

"In less than two weeks the forest will have reclaimed this place," Lia spoke up, breaking the silence. "All that we see will be gone, and the soil will be lush and fertile for years."

No one seemed interested in responding to that, so she tried again, "This is borderland, and such villages are always attacked first. Their deaths were the sacrifice that alerted the Trikru to the coming war. They will be remembered."

Octavia was the first to turn her horse away from the village, and then Clarke did the same, feeling Bellamy fall into step behind her. From up ahead, a breeze whipped back the sound of Octavia's voice, soft and resigned, as she said, "And look at the thanks they got." Clarke could hear the heaviness in her words, and she couldn't help but feel the same.

War was coming, and no one was safe. Why should they be any different?