Chapter Text
“Raven!”
Bellamy slowly opened his eyes. His limbs felt numb and his throat was sore. He squinted from the small sun beams that pierced through the mini holes in his tent.
“Raven!”
He could hear someone shouting outside. Again. Was there ever going to be a day when he could have his peace? He got up and managed to put on his grey shirt before a small figure barged in. I guess no peace today. He sighed.
“What do you want, Princess?” he sounded only slightly annoyed, but he was sort of glad to see her.
“Have you seen Raven? I haven’t seen her since yesterday after your bravado.”
He huffed.
“Whatever. How should I know where she is? It’s not like I’m her babysitter.”
She looked at him incredulously. “Fine. Just tell me if you find her.” And with that she left.
Bellamy rolled his eyes. Not a conversation he’d hoped to have first thing in the morning. I guess things are back to…normal? He snorted.
“Bellamy!” someone shouted in a whisper. He froze and tried to guess who was the intruder. “Bellamy, come on!” this time the voice was more clear, feminine.
“Raven? What the hell are you up to?” Now she looked around and stood up from her crouching position. “Clarke has been-“
“I know.” She interrupted. “Clarke mustn’t know about this.”
He frowned.
“Know about what?”
She moved closer. “When you were dealing with those idiots I thought of a way we could make our lives better.”
He raised an eyebrow in question, so she continued. “Clarke showed me this bunker not a while ago, the day after I landed. We headed there to find anything to help us contact the Ark, but since now it’s pretty much useless, I thought I searched for more stuff I could work with. Might even make us walkie-talkies.”
Her eyes were glowing from excitement, she had a head of a mechanic and a heart of a child. He only smiled and nodded at her suggestion. “Alright. Why not tell Clarke?”
“Because.” This time she pursed her lips “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Not a good idea to tell her how we could improve our lives or..?” he trailed off.
She looked at the ground. “Don’t worry about it.”
He knew this wasn’t just about Clarke. He could only imagine what had happened between those three. He wasn’t much for teen drama, so he shook his head slowly every time he saw Clarke or Raven bickering with Finn. Clarke and Raven? They seemed okay. Sort of friends, even. It could be awkward at times, so he tried to humor her in this situation,
“Okay.” Bellamy shrugged. “Then why tell me?”
This time she looked back at him. “Because you know how to fight. You know…Just in case.”
He snorted. “So do you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Get your stuff. I want to leave before Clarke catches me and gets the wrong idea.”
“Why would she even care ab-“ He let out a frustrated sigh after Raven ran out of his tent before checking if it was safe.
***
“You made it.” She greeted him with a smile.
Yeah, almost got caught. “Lets just get a move on.”
She spread her arms defensively “Alright.” She tilted her head to point the direction “This way.”
They rushed through the forest, green bushes brushing their legs as they walked in silence. Bellamy looked up to the sky, the sun was still high up, but he knew they had to make this quick before people in the camp would notice their absence. Clarke already knew Raven was gone, and now that he’s gone with her it wouldn’t be long until she would find out something wasn’t quite right.
“So what’s up with you and Clarke?” she brought him back from his reverie only to find her bending down to inspect something on the ground.
“What is up with me and Clarke?” He asked carefully, unsure of what the brunette had meant.
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.” She looked at him, eyebrow raised as she opened the hatch to the bunker with ease.
Bellamy swallowed and shifted his weight. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh come on! One minute you’re both dealing with shit hand in hand and the other you’re at each other’s throats.” She stood up to look at him.
He sighed, looking away “Lets just get what we came for.”
Raven kept her gaze on him, but when she realized he wouldn’t look back, she pursed her lips and climbed down into the bunker. Bellamy followed her soon enough, taking in the new surroundings.
“So what do you need?” he spoke.
“Find something that has an antenna, batteries, anything…useful.”
He frowned and looked up at her.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” He never doubted her before. She proved herself to everyone after she got that radio working. Bellamy didn’t really have anyone left to talk to in the Ark, so he just admired her work from afar, trying not to attract unwanted attention. And by that he meant facing the consequences of his crimes, and he wasn’t so sure if that would be a good thing. You know, the very responsible and fierce leader being the one who shot the Chancellor. It’s a funny thing, really. Being the leader of the criminals and being a criminal himself made sense, but it didn’t mean he had to like it.
“Yes, why? She asked as if he’d just offended her. Bellamy shook his head and turned to the dust covered shelf, continuing his search for…something?
“Aha! I knew it!” he turned around quickly to notice two small objects she was holding.
“What is it?” he came closer to take a look, but she moved out of the way and hid the findings behind her back.
“I see you shiver with antici-“
She was smiling and he frowned. What the hell?
“-pation.” She finished and noticed the weird look he was giving her so she shrugged, a little disappointed. “Forget it.”
“What do you-“
“Nevermind. Look what I found.” She finally revealed two small objects that looked like the music players in the old culture museum back at the Ark. There was a knock and then a creak, and they both turned their heads to the direction the sound was coming from.
“Yeah, well, I’m guessing it beats what I found.” Clarke was now standing in front of the two of them, glaring. Her eyes shifted from Raven to Bellamy, then she finally fixed her gaze on him. “Not her babysitter, huh?”
“Clarke, listen, this isn’t what it looks like...” Bellamy tried to ignore the rising feeling of guilt building up in his chest.
“Actually” Raven interfered, her eyebrows slightly hunched “This is what it looks like.” Clarke turned her head to face her “We found a way to simplify the communication at the camp. This might not be a radio, but once I get my hands on the microchip, I might be able to alter the parts and use them for creating walkie-talkies. This way we could organise more trips and pass on the information to the camp quicker.”
She looked hopeful and Clarke couldn’t help but notice the change in her eyes that happened every time she spoke about her passion for mechanisms or using her talent to help people. They were alike, in away. Not just because they both loved the same person, but because they both wanted to make it out alive and to help people try and do the same. They were strong willed, smart. Each had respect for one another. She thought she would hate the girl when she met her, but she’d found herself thinking that she couldn’t. There was so much about Raven she didn’t know, but Raven didn’t know much about Clarke either.
She nodded as she finished her speech, but the feeling of being left out of something important, which in this case, was, still didn’t go away.
Raven sighed as she glanced at Bellamy, who now was staring at Clarke, his lips pressed in a thin hard line. If there was an argument building up, she didn’t want to stay and listen.
“I think you need some time to…you know, so I’ll just…” she waved her arms awkwardly before starting to climb the ladder “…go.” she whispered to herself. Once she got out, she noticed how the air became more chilly and shivered. I hope they won’t take too long or I’ll freeze to death. She thought as she tried to jump from side to side, trying to keep herself busy and as warm as possible.
***
After the hatch was closed, everything fell silent. He was barely breathing, composing himself for the inevitable breakthrough of her seeming frustration and something else, though he wasn’t sure what it was.
She wasn’t glaring at him anymore. She was just…standing there, not breaking eye contact, her breathing calm and even. He found the situation unnerving, so he finally broke the deafening silence.
“What do you want me to say, Clarke?”
She took a deep breath. “How about the truth?”
“Raven pretty much told you everything.” He looked away. Shouldn’t have done that.
“Oh? And why didn’t you tell me what you were up to? This wasn’t anything to hide from me, so why did you?”
He shook his head slowly “Listen, Raven trusted me not to tell you, I wasn’t exactly okay with it if that means anything to you, but I was planning to tell you the minute we got back.”
“But why did you leave without me?” He swore he could sense the hurt in her voice, echoing in the small bunker. “I thought you trusted me.” She shook her head, taking a step back “I guess I was wrong.”
This time Bellamy stepped forward and Clarke stopped. “I do trust you.” His voice deep and calm, as if reaching out to soothe her. She finally met his eyes, expecting to see a mocking smirk, a careless expression that he usually put on to hide his real emotions, but what she saw was almost a concerned look, no snarky comments to cover up the fact that he too was a human being.
They stood there for a moment, wordlessly trying to figure out what the other was thinking. He noticed Clarke flinch when they heard Raven knocking “I know that the fact that I haven’t heard any guns blazing down there is a good sign, but I’m freezing, so could you just move your asses and hurry it up!”
Bellamy only smiled and looked down for a moment, then looked back at Clarke “We should probably go.”
“Yeah.” She bit her lip and nodded “Yeah okay.”
“Hey” he caught her elbow “We’re okay?” Why the hell would she care? Why the hell would you care?
She lingered just a few seconds longer, probably considering her options.
“For now.” Her voice firm, though she smiled and turned around before stopping one more time and crouching to take something from the floor. “Huh.” She turned around and smiled again, this time holding a small toy figure that looked like a rifle.
His mind went back to the day they went on a day trip for some supplies and instead found a load of automatic rifles and some bullets. He looked up at her current expression and suppressed a laugh, letting out a snort instead.
“Cute.”
She rolled her eyes and wanted to throw the little toy gun figurine at him but decided against it and went outside to meet Raven. “Hey Rae, guess what I found.” She looked around, but no one was there. “Raven?” The smile disappeared from her face.
“Ugh, not again.” she sighed, frustration changing her features.
“Clarke? Where’s Raven?” Bellamy came behind her and she turned to face him.
One minute she was freezing above them and then disappeared into thin air.
“Something’s wrong” she murmured, voicing Bellamy’s thoughts as they heard someone running in the woods.
He rushed in front of Clarke, shielding her, concentration overpowering his thoughts.
He glanced at Clarke one more time before someone yelled, the scream echoing through the woods and scaring the crows away from their nests.
They were not alone. Not a while ago Bellamy thought that was a good thing. Now he wasn't so sure.