Chapter Text
“May we meet again”
The words echoed through him as he walked back towards Camp Jaha and his whole body turned numb. He stood still, trying to process the last few weeks, but all his mind could handle was, “May we meet again”.
“BELLAMY, BELLAMY”
The words slapped him across the face and brought him back to the camp. He looked up and saw Octavia and Lincoln starring at him yelling his name.
“Bell, where is she going? It’s not safe out there! Our allegiance with the grounders is over!” Octavia shouted.
His heart dropped to his stomach as he realized that he was going to have to tell the whole camp that she was gone. He was going to have to face Abby. All he could do was whisper; “She’s gone,” while starring at the ground.
“What are you talking about?” Harper emerged, “I mean, what are we supposed to do now? Where is Finn? I can’t find him either?”
Finn’s name made him flinch. Another reminder of what the ground had done to all of them and everything he was going to need to explain.
Octavia pushed forward and placed a hand on his shoulder searching his face. She must have seen the grief, not so subtly hidden, because she took a step forward and addressed the amassing crowd of kids.
“Clarke has set out on a mission,” she stated, “In the mean time, she has asked Bellamy to represent us on the council and at the camp.”
Bellamy focused all of his energy to look up at the crowd and nod. He channeled the early days back at the drop ship and gave his next statement all the confidence he had left.
“Medical is going to need as much help as they can get and the camp will need to be reinforced.”
As soon as he had finished the kids scattered talking among themselves, but getting straight to work. He could do this, he thought desperately, and he won’t be alone.
Miller and his dad took this opportunity to approach Bellamy and his sister.
“I know I said this already, but thank you for getting me my son back,” Officer Miller started, “Nat has been filling me in on what went on and I want you to know that if you want a spot on the council, that me and the other parents will back your play. I owe you all everything.”
“I appreciate it, but um, it is a bit too soon to be thinking politics.” Bellamy countered, still not entirely sure what had just happened. He felt he should be looking to Clarke to make a plan.
Sensing his unease, Lincoln jumped in and suggested that they deserved some of Monty’s moonshine and Bellamy welcomed the distraction. Grabbing a table in somewhat isolation: Lincoln, Octavia, and Bellamy sat down with drinks. He knew he should be thinking about how to rebuild the camp, but all he could think about was those dead kids and her kiss on his check. The three of them sat in silence for what felt likes hours, but in reality was only thirty minutes. Finishing his drink he knew he had to go tell Abby and Kane. This was going to be hell.
As he went to get up Octavia grabbed his arm, “Bell, you gotta tell us what happened with Clarke,” she whispered slowly.
The concern in her eyes caused him to break. Wasn’t he supposed to be looking after him? His whole body began trembling. Jumping up Lincoln grabbed his other arm and the two of them lowered him back down to his seat. Now Octavia’s concerned had turned to panic, but she stayed quiet and patiently waited for him to start.
“The guilt, about what we did, it was just too much,” he slowly spit out, “She wouldn’t come back,” he started to stutter, “I… I… I told her she wasn’t alone, but it wasn’t enough.”
Octavia pulled him into a hug cradling his head as the tears rushed down his face. After five minutes he wiped the tears from his face momentarily brushing over the place where her lips had been only an hour ago. She was strong; he could be too.
“I need to do this alone,” he said calmly while running his hand through his hair.
He took a deep breath and headed towards medical.
Abby was the last to get her stiches. She was still lying on the table as Kane held her hand with both of his. They both looked up as he walked in, smiling. He never had expected those two to smile at him. He knew it wouldn’t last after this conversation.
“Hi Bellamy! How is Clarke doing?” Abby asked, “We figured you two might want sometime to talk.”
He tentatively stepped forward. Apprehension covered his face. They must have known something was wrong because their faces dropped. The sad look of recognition swept over Abby’s face and for a moment she looked just like her daughter.
“She left didn’t she?” Abby asked.
Not loosing eye contact Bellamy responded, “She couldn’t handle the daily reminder of what we did.”
Bellamy expected Abby to lash out at him. To blame him as she always did. He braced himself for the response.
But when she responded all she said was, “Okay.”
Her eyes were filled with tears, but an exhausted understanding.
She reached out and grabbed his hands pulling him closer so that no one could hear what she said next: “No one in the camp can know why she left. We need to move on from Mount Weather if we want to survive. What have you told people already?”
Shock overcame him, but he pushed it down, “Octavia told everyone that Clarke went out on a mission.”
Abby nodded, still blinking back tears.
“Good, we can work with that,” she responded.
Bellamy understood where Clarke got her strength.
“She asked me to take care of everyone and I plan on doing just that.”
Kane and Abby simply nodded solemnly in agreement.
With that, he made his way out of medical only to find a small crowd had gathered, the faces of his friends gazed at him with anticipation. Octavia, Lincoln, Monty, Miller, Raven, Wick, and Monroe froze, waiting for him to tell them what to do.
“What now?” Monroe asked expectantly.
“We rebuild,” he proclaimed.
Clarke asked him to lead their people, so he would.