#bellamy isn’t like a i’m better than you type person but

[vacantgodling]

not done his page yet, but bellamy’s redesign that i’m much happier with

[slytherinbarnes]

Sub Rosa [86]

ii. the garden

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 6.5k

Warnings: mentions of anxiety, mentions of killing, fighting, dead bodies/skeletons, nausea, language, angst.

Summary: your arrival to a new planet is exciting, thought that excitement is short lived as you come face to face with a new threat.

a/n: HAPPY NEW YEAR MY LOVES! i‘m looking forward to sharing the rest of sub rosa with all of you this year, and I’m looking forward to my new stuff too! here’s to having a better year than the one before! the taglist for this series is open! I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!!!

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist

You don’t know what you expect when you walk through the Anomaly, but it’s definitely not water.

You open your eyes and look around, realizing that you are underwater in some sort of fresh body of water. You tilt your head up, towards the surface, watching as three other bodies swim their way up. You are the last to break free from the water, gasping as you take in a deep breath of air. The second you feel like you can breathe again, you start to look around you, your eyes falling on a mountain range that frames most of the lake. The shore of the lake is covered with a rocky beach, and a dense looking forest stretches behind it. Above you, arching across the sky, are a set of rings, adorning the planet like intergalactic jewelry. 

You look around you in awe, letting out a shocked little laugh as Hope announces, “Welcome to Skyring.”

Echo quips, “Creative.”

“I named it when I was three. What do you expect?”

You look at Hope in shock, her mind easily recalling a memory from when she was young. Your eyes shift over to Gabriel, the two of you smiling a little as he mutters, “She remembers.”

But you don't get to savor the moment for long, because Hope is already frantically swimming to the shore, leaving you, Gabriel, and Echo behind. The three of you swim behind her to catch up, running the last few feet when your feet finally touch the ground beneath you. As Echo emerges from the water, she glances down at her side, now empty, before turning back to you and Gabriel. “My gun, I lost it coming through.”

“Let's hope you don't need it.”

Gabriel pats his bag, making sure it’s still hanging at his side, and you glance down to your now emerged thigh, confirming that your Grounder knife is still firmly held in its place. You look up again when you hear the sound of someone running away, and you catch a glimpse of Hope disappearing through the trees, leaving the rest of you behind. You, Gabriel, and Echo take off running after her as you yell, “Hope, slow down! Where are you going?”

You follow her along a path through the trees, until you emerge into a little clearing. In the center of the clearing is a house, made of wood and slightly dilapidated, but still standing and waiting for someone to step inside. Surrounding the house are a few plots of land where a neat garden used to stand, though now it appears mostly overgrown. All of you stop to stare at the house before turning to Hope, and Echo is the first to break the silence. “What is this place?”

You take in the look on Hope’s face, the lack of fear upon finding a house in the middle of the planet she’s clearly lived on before. You start to connect the dots, nodding as you understand. “Did you live here?”

Hope smiles at you and nods. “Octavia said you were smart.”

The compliment brings a smile to your face, though you don't get to enjoy it for long before she takes off running towards the house again, pushing the door open and immediately disappearing from view. The rest of you exchange a look and follow her into the house, standing just inside the doorway as she frantically tips over furniture and checks inside of things, clearly looking for something. “Where is it?”

“Hope, what are you doing?” She ignores all of you, and Gabriel reaches out for something on the table beside him. You don't realize what it is until he holds it up, revealing a creepy, homemade doll. “Interesting taste in toys.”

Hope looks up, takes one quick glance at the doll and counters, “That's not mine.”

The three of you again exchange a look, all of you confused on how this is her house but this is not her doll. “Is this your house, or isn't it?”

Hope continues searching the room as she answers Echo’s question, “I was with you on Sanctum for, what, a day? Given the time differential, I haven't been here for hundreds of years.”

“It's incredible.”

You can sense Echo’s growing frustration finally reaching a tipping point before she snaps, “Enough! We need answers, starting with where the hell is Bellamy?”

Hope glances at her before she picks up a basket and tips it over, shaking out the contents. “Once they got here, they used the bridge to take him to Bardo.”

“Bardo?”

“They?” 

“Bridge?”

“Yes, the next stop. They are the disciples, the guys that were chasing us in the woods. The bridge is what you call the Anomaly.'' Now Hope is the one growing frustrated, flailing her arms as she talks mostly to herself. “Anders said if I tagged Octavia, they would let my mother live.”

Gabriel tries to process the information as fast as he can before asking, “And Anders is?”

“Head of the disciples.” She grabs a small vase off of the fireplace and reaches inside to pull something out. She holds it up, a strange looking key, glancing between all three of you before she adds, “Now, I'm gonna go to Bardo and make sure he kept his word.”

Hope tries to walk away, but Echo reaches out to grab her arm, pulling her to a stop. “Hey! You traded Diyoza's life for Octavia's?”

“No, I wasn’t trying to kill her! I told you, it was a locator tag. I didn't have a choice.'' Echo gives her an unconvinced look and you step closer to the pair, unsure if another fight is about to break out. You still don't know how you feel about Hope, and you’re still anxious about not being wherever Bellamy is, but you're also aware that Hope seems to have a lot more information than the three of you do, and you need her. Hope’s eyes fall to you, trying to convince you of her words. “She understood. My mother, my responsibility.”

You recognize the words as the same ones Bellamy would use when talking about Octavia, the same words his mother said to him after his sister was born. Which is why you nod at Hope in understanding, letting her know that you get it. You see a look of relief pass over her features, but Gabriel interrupts the moment with another question. “You said the bridge is the Anomaly,  a bridge between worlds. Is there a way to control it here too?”

“Yes.” Hope motions to the space beneath Echo’s feet. “She's standing on it.”

Echo steps aside and Hope kneels down and uses the weird key she found to unlock the hatch. She throws the door open and quickly descends the ladder, the path to the Anomaly Stone on Skyring similar to the one you had to take on Sanctum. You’re the first to follow Hope into the dark space, which she quickly remedies by lighting a torch and then another. You take the second torch from its place on the wall and follow Hope to the stone, as Echo and Gabriel scramble down the ladder after you. Hope glances back at you and says, “I used to play down here as a kid. Little did I know it was a bridge to the stars.”

You use the torch to look around the space, the walls covered in hand drawn symbols taken from the stone. And in the middle of all of those symbols are two letters, carved into the stone wall, surrounded by the hand drawn sequences. Gabriel runs his fingers over them and reads out, “C.B.”

He turns to look at you with curiosity, but you just shrug, unsure of what the letters mean, and not really in the headspace to care. Because now, as you stand in front of the Anomaly Stone, you just want to get back to Bellamy. You turn to Hope with a questioning look. “So how do we get to Bardo?”

“Trust Bellamy.”

She reaches into her pocket to pull out the scrap of paper from earlier, a code printed on one side and a message on the other. “A friend on the inside gave it to me.”

Hope looks down at the paper, already reaching out for the stone, prepared to type in the code. But you watch as her hand and her face drop, and she frantically flips the paper over to check the back. “No, no, no. The code, it's washed away.”

You look at her with horror, and she holds up the small piece of paper to prove her point. You snatch it from her hands, flipping it over and staring at it closely, praying that you can catch some faint hint of the code that was previously printed onto this tiny scrap of paper. But just like Hope said, it’s blank, the code washed away, and all of your hope with it. Your voice is a broken, horrified sound when you whisper, “We're not going anywhere.”

You pass the torch and the paper to Gabriel as he’s the closest person to you, and then you run over to the ladder and quickly climb up, ignoring the trio behind you frantically calling your name. You make it to the top and turn towards the door, unsure of what you're even planning on doing, but as you start to pass through the doorway, someone grabs your hand and pulls you to a stop. You spin around and come face to face with Echo, who is looking at you with concern. “Where are you going?”

“I don’t know. To Bardo. I have to get to him, Echo. I have to save Bellamy.”

“I know, but this isn't the way to do it.”

You glare at her and snap, “Where was that eager attitude that you had five minutes ago? I thought you’d be on my side!”

“I am! But whatever reckless thing you’re thinking about doing to save Bellamy, it's not going to help. It’s just going to make things worse.”

Gabriel, who must have gotten up the ladder without you hearing him, calls out to the two of you from the other side of the room. “Hey, I think I can read this.”

You look up at him in surprise, your eyes falling on the paper in his hand, and you pull yourself free from Echo's grasp to cross the room and stand by his side. He looks up at you with a small smile, “Once it dries, I'll use the charcoal to bring out the indentations in the paper.”

You nod, and he motions for you to sit in the chair across from him. You oblige, plopping down into the seat as he turns his gaze to Hope. “Tell me about the code.”

“I already told you, it operates the bridge.”

“Right. Like the one on Octavia's back.”

Hope shakes her head, “No, that was for me.”

You all look at her in confusion, and she clarifies, “From what I gather, every mind has its own unique code. They call it a, um, a biometric-”

Gabriel finishes for her, “Signature.” He lets out a breathy laugh, and mutters under his breath, “A consciousness code, of course.”

Hope nods and continues, “When you put mine in on Sanctum, you pulled me over. Then I tagged Octavia with a tracker and sent her to the other side.”

“Did you know they were taking Bellamy too?”

Hope turns to you, shaking her head hard. “No, of course not. Octavia loves him. I made a deal to save my mother. The plan was for me to jump back in, rescue her and Aunty O, and kill anyone who got in my way.”

“Well, we’ll just adapt your plan then. We still save your mom and Octavia, but we’ll grab Bellamy too. And anyone that gets in our way, we kill them.” Hope and Echo both nod in agreement with your plan, but Gabriel, who has been fidgeting with the paper in his hand, tosses it onto the table with a huff of frustration. “We'd have to get there for that, and we are not going anywhere. Not with this anyway.”

You sit up from your seat so fast that you knock the chair backwards, letting out a frustrated groan and yelling, “Damn it! We have to get off of this freaking planet!”

You turn and stalk towards the fireplace, putting your hands on the hearth and leaning against it to center yourself. But as you do, the hairs on your arm lift, letting you know that something is off. It takes a second for you to figure out what, but you finally realize that there is warmth beneath your hands, coming from the fireplace. You turn to the others with a wide eyed look. “It’s warm.”

“What?” Echo crosses the room towards you and grabs a fire poker from beside the fireplace, using it to shift the coals around. When she does, some of them start to glow red hot, alerting all of you that the flames only recently died. Echo mutters to the others, “There's someone here.”

You look around and call out, your voice hopeful, “Bellamy?”

“He’s not here.” You ignore Hope’s voice and head to the door to the connecting room, hoping that when you push the fabric aside, you’ll see the smiling face of your fiance. Unfortunately for you, when you move the blanket that separates the bedroom from the room you’re in, you’re met with a man running at you and screaming, “Get out of my house! 

He knees you in the stomach when he comes running out, and you grunt in pain from the blow. But you recover quickly when you see a knife being swung towards you, which you duck away from at the last second. The man seems caught off guard by your movement, and as his arm flies past you, you grab it, twisting his arm until he stands frozen in place. You wrench the knife free from his grasp and hold it up towards his neck, and as you turn to get a look at the others, your eyes land on the man’s arm. In the space on his wrist there is a timer, counting down from what appears to be five years. Your brows pull together as you look at it, trying to make sense of it, but you’re pulled from your thoughts when the man turns to the creepy doll from earlier and mutters, “Hope, I'm sorry. I'll come back for you!”

He knocks your grip off of him and takes off running out the front door, leaving you, Gabriel, Echo, and Hope to exchange matching looks of bewilderment. “What the actual hell?”

Hope looks over at the doll and mutters, “He called the doll Hope.”

You shake your head, trying to process the events of the last minute, and add, “The numbers on his arm were counting down.”  

“It's how long he's a prisoner here. Five years.” Hope pauses, looking between all of you as she adds, “That’s how long I expect us to stay.”

You don't have time to process or disagree with her words before she’s jogging past all of you and heading out the door. You exchange another look with Gabriel and Echo, the three of you seemingly on the same page about staying here for five years. Meaning, none of you are even a little bit okay with that. You all run after her, jogging out of the house and catching up with her at the edge of the garden. Gabriel is the first to ask one of the many questions running through your heads. “You said prisoners. You don't mean this is a prison?”

“I did mean. Skyring is the place where they send people to atone for their sins.” She pauses near one of the plots, looking over it for a long minute. “This garden is one of his. We have to start planting soon if we want to harvest before winter.”

She walks off again, and you stare at her retreating figure, trying to convince yourself that she can't be serious about the four of you staying here for five years. There’s no way in hell you’re okay with that. You run after Hope again, calling out to her back, “Slow down! What the hell are you talking about?”

Hope glances over her shoulder at you as she stalks through the woods. “From the looks of our new friend, he's surviving on jellies alone. Eating like that, he won't make it five years, and we need him to.”

“Why?”

“Because he's our way to Bardo. When the timer on his arm hits zero, the disciples come for him.”

“Right, and you think they'll take us too?” Gabriel scrubs a hand over his face after asking his question, thinking, and the motion reminds you of Bellamy. You feel a rush of anxiety as you try to process your current situation, but your anxiety only deepens when you start to think about whatever situation Bellamy may be in right now. Being tortured, killed, interrogated. Wanted for bone marrow or information or god knows what. 

Hope brings you back to the present when she answers, “Of course not. We kill them, take their suits, jump to Bardo.”

You grab Hope’s arm, pulling her to a stop, in disbelief that she is yet again reiterating a five year time frame. You shake your head, that disbelief written all over your face. “You have to be out of your mind if you think I'm waiting five years.”

“Funny, Octavia said that too.”

She turns and walks away before you can say anything, and you turn to look between Gabriel and Echo, silently asking them to back you up. Gabriel just puts a hand on your shoulder and squeezes before continuing forward, and you turn to look at Echo, who reaches out for your hand and whispers, “We’ll figure this out.”

You nod, unable to say or do much else, allowing Echo to drag you ahead, catching back up with the others. When Echo gets close to them again, her eyes find the sky, tracing the rings that arch over the planet. “Not bad for a prison.”

You shake your head, thinking of the lack of anyone or anything on this planet, reminding you a lot of your time in solitary during your own imprisonment in the Skybox. Reminding you of your near death experience in an arena in what feels like eons ago. “I’d be willing to bet that the real prison is the isolation, like solitary.”

Gabriel nods in agreement and adds to your statement, “Depending on the time dilation relative to Bardo, you could serve a twenty year sentence here in a weekend. It's efficient.”

Echo changes the subject, watching Hope closely. “I take it you've dealt with these prisoners before.”

“One, yes.”

“Dangerous?”

“It depends. Everyone on Bardo is raised to be a disciple. Every single one of them is a warrior, not like the flower children who worshiped you.” She turns and glares at Gabriel, and you almost laugh, thinking that flower children is the perfect name for the people of Sanctum. Almost every person from Sanctum that you had the pleasure of fighting was terrible at it, and the only ones who were any good at it were the Children of Gabriel. Even they were defeatable though. Unless they were in a group. You shake your head, clearing your thoughts and bringing yourself back to the present as Hope continues, “Fortunately, they send people here who aren't pulling their own weight, not devout enough, not strong enough. If everything I've heard about you two is true, we can take him.”

She stops suddenly, bending down to inspect a small broken twig and an indentation in the dirt. She glances at the three of you over her shoulder. “All right, be quiet. We're close.”

Echo, unable to quell her curiosity, asks, “Who taught you how to track?”

“The girl you stabbed and kicked over a cliff.” Hope ends her statement with a withering glare directed at Echo, and you’re suddenly glad that looks can't kill, otherwise your group of four would suddenly be three. Echo rolls her eyes when Hope turns back around and counters, “It's a little more complicated than that.”

You and Echo exchange a look, because Octavia and Echo’s complicated history is very similar to yours and Echo’s complicated history. And despite all of the near death experiences, boyfriend stealing, and clan loyalty, the two of you are now walking hand in hand on a planet that is magically connected to a different planet that you landed on a week ago after a 125 year journey through space. Gabriel seems to sense this moment between you and Echo, because he glances between you before looking back at Hope. “Sounds like a good story.”

Hope quips, “You just heard it. The spy stabbed her ex boyfriend's sister and kicked her over a cliff.” 

None of you say anything, falling into an awkward silence as she continues to lead all of you through the woods in search of the mysterious man. Finally, you break through a line of trees into a clearing, and your eyes fall on none other than...an army of skeletons. You nearly groan at the sight, the image reminding you a little too much of the body snatching Primes on Sanctum that nearly stole your sister from you. You and Echo break apart and you hand her the knife that the man nearly stabbed you with earlier, arming her as you reach for your own knife. As you walk up on the circle of skeletons, you are suddenly hit by the smell of rotten, decaying flesh, and this time you do groan out loud, but so do the others. Echo looks over the clearing in bewilderment, “What is this?”

“I have no idea. Looks like he dug up the dead so he could have company.” You eye the skeletons, some of them sitting up around a chessboard, and you feel a roll of nausea as you focus on breathing through your mouth and not your nose, in an attempt to ignore the smell. Hope suddenly rushes across the clearing, dropping in front of one of the skeletons, her voice sounding teary and broken when she whispers, “Dev.”

The man from before suddenly rushes across the clearing, towards Hope, and she scrambles away as he yells, “Leave us alone! I didn't invite them here, I swear it.”

Gabriel whispers, “Isolation madness.”

The man grasps onto his skeleton friend, continuing his mutterings, “Broke into our house. I tried to save Hope. I tried, but I couldn't. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.”

Hope steps a little closer to him, kneeling down and softening her voice as she tries to console him. “Hey, I'm Hope. I grew up here.”

Gabriel, who has been standing very still to your right, seems to see something, because he starts to step away from you, his voice breaking through the soft conversation between the man and Hope. “Wait.”

It’s loud enough to spook the man away, and you all watch him jump over a tree and run off again, disappearing into the woods. Hope turns around, a glare on her face, directing her annoyance at Gabriel. “Damn it, I told you we need him!”

“Maybe we don’t.” Gabriel kneels down beside a skeleton, and you and Echo draw closer as he brushes a finger across the name patch on the skeleton’s body. It’s half degraded, eroded over time, but the first three letters remain. “C-O-L.”

Echo glances at you, and then to Gabriel. “Colonel? Military?”

He shakes his head, reaching into his pocket for a small knife as he does. “Colin, last name Benson. C.B. It was on the wall near the stone.”

He glances at you, aware that you were present when he read the letters out earlier. And then he unfolds his pocket knife and moves towards the skeleton, reaching out for the skull. He uses one hand to hold it steady, and one hand to pry away whatever disgusting gunk is on the skull, quickly revealing something you weren't ever sure you’d see again. 

“A mind drive?” You look between the drive held proudly in Gabriel’s hand, and his face, confusion written across your own features. “How?”

“Eligius III was here. We're on planet Beta.”

Gabriel pauses long enough for his words to have an impact on all of you and then he takes off running back towards the cabin. You, Hope, and Echo follow behind him in confusion, calling out to him as he moves, but his mind is only focused on one thing, and that does not involve briefing the three of you. So you all just have to watch him in confusion as he crashes into the cabin and heads for his bag, digging around for a second before pulling out a tablet, and only then does he start to explain. “Everyone on the Eligius mission got one of these. Becca Franko designed the memory drives to be a data retrieval system so the mothership crew could determine what happened if they returned to find a mission team dead. You know, like an airplane black box.”

The three of you shake your heads, none of you familiar with the concept of an airplane black box. But Gabriel ignores it and barrels on, “Russell and I reverse engineered their tech to hold an entire mind.”

You process his words before pointing down at the tablet in his hand. “Wait, that'll play his memories?”

“Yeah.” Gabriel tugs a different mind drive from the tablet, glancing at you as he does. You’re already well aware of what sociopath previously existed on that tiny piece of hardware. “Josephine?”

“I needed to make sure she was really gone.” He slides the new mind drive into the spot on the tablet, powering it on, the screen fuzzy and staticky. You look at it with worry, and Gabriel must sense your growing anxiety. “Just wait. It's repairing corrupted data.”

“So what are the odds that Eligius III randomly chose two planets connected by Anomaly Stones?”

Gabriel shrugs, “Long. I'd say it suggests that the people on Bardo descend from Eligius as well, and if I'm right, it could mean that the species that created the stones thousands, perhaps millions of years ago, were looking for a new home too. I mean, think about it, right? No need for spaceships or cryo or mind drives. You could explore an entire universe.”

Your mind starts to wander at the possibilities of the stones. You’re gonna get Bellamy back, and then the two of you can explore the stars like real space explorers. You can travel the Universe without worrying about the time it takes to normally do something like that. You can discover new planets together and experience everything that the Universe has to offer. You’re starting to think that’s the most exciting idea you’ve ever had. Hope breaks your reverence though, and brings your crushing reality right back to the forefront of your mind. “Not to point out the obvious, but if your friend here figured out how to operate the stone, he'd have used it to leave. He wouldn't be here playing chess with the dead.”

“No, no, no. Colin was a quantum physicist, a Fields Medal winner. If anyone could figure out how to-” He’s cut off by a video suddenly beginning to play on the screen. A woman, dressed in a lab coat, her dark hair swept to the side, leans over someone sitting in a chair. “Dr. Benson, blink if you can hear me. Dr. Benson.”

Gabriel lets out a surprised laugh, “Becca? God, I had a crush on her.”

“Wait, that’s Becca?” Gabriel nods, and you look at the woman again, finally able to put a face to the woman that created Nightblood and the Flame. The woman who accidentally caused the end of the world, who later became the first Commander. Despite living in her mansion and her lab for a while, there were never any pictures or magazines with her face lying around. You never really knew what she looked like. Clarke told you that Becca and Alie looked the same, which she knew because she saw them both in the City of Light, but since you never took a chip and saw Alie, you never really knew what that was like. Still, it’s weird to see Becca now, in this video, before she causes the end of the world and before she becomes the center of religion to the Grounders.  

On the screen, Becca continues talking to Colin. “The procedure was a success. The implant will start collecting your memory now. If you die out there, my face will be the first that the follow up team sees. I envy you, you are going on the greatest adventure in the history of history. Lightbourne, the pompous ass, thinks that Alpha is the one. He's afraid that Beta's too far from the black hole relative to the others, but if you ask me, time dilation is sexy as hell. You'll get to the future faster.”

Gabriel mutters, “The black hole, of course. That's why time is so accelerated here.”

Echo, eager to get to the memories that get all of you out of here counters, “Can you fast forward?”

“Quiet.”

Echo rolls her eyes and turns to face you. “This is gonna take a while.”

You nod, your mind drifting back to the man who tried to kill you not long ago. “And I’m sure that guy out there is eager to come home. I’ll take first watch.”

Echo nods in agreement, and you head for the door and step outside, wandering through the garden path and stopping just at the edge of the garden, leaning up against one of the structures and looking out into the trees beyond. You sit out there for a few hours, watching the woods and waiting for any sign of the madman, but you never see him. Towards the end of your watch you start to get bored, and your eyes wander from the woods and over to the garden at your back. You lean down to smell the flowers that are behind you, the patch of purple flowers reminding you of Shallow Valley and you get a pang of longing for your home and your twin and for Bellamy. All you can do is pray to the Universe that Gabriel figures out the code and gets all of you off of Skyring and onto Bardo.

As your eyes roam over the flowers near you, they fall to a bottle, sticking out of the dirt. Curious, you pull it free, shaking it slightly and listening as something shifts around inside. You pull the lid off and turn it over, a rolled up piece of paper sliding out and into your hand. When you unroll it, your eyes fall on a letter, the handwriting both familiar and unfamiliar, and as you start to read, tears tug at your eyes. 

 Bell, 

I hope against hope that this letter reaches you. I need you to know that you were right. There was a darkness in me, but Diyoza helped me past that darkness. It's behind me now. I need you to know that I finally understand all you did to protect me, watch over me, love me. I wish I could see your face and hug you... and tell you that I get it now. I wish I could thank you. By the time you get this, if you get this, I'll probably be an old lady or dead. I want you to know I was happy. I have Hope. Diyoza's a pain in the ass, but I love her like I love you. Please don't worry about me. You deserve to be happy, big brother. 

Always yours, Octavia. 

You hear the door to the cabin open from somewhere behind you, but you are too absorbed in Octavia’s lost words to her brother. Words that indicate that she was here much longer than you realized. Words that indicate that she had started to heal before reality caught up to her again. As you start to lower the letter, Hope’s voice angrily calls out, “Where did you get that?”

You motion to the dirt beside you, confused by the anger in her voice. “I found it here.”

She snatches it from your hand and snaps, “That was not meant for you.”

She walks past you, the letter still gripped tight in her hand, and her feet carry her until she’s just at the edge of the forest. You watch her in confusion at first, not understanding the anger behind her outburst, until suddenly you realize that Hope’s shoulders are shaking slightly because she’s crying. You stand from your place near the garden and walk towards her, and when she hears you approach, you watch her angrily swipe away her tears before she starts to speak to you, her back still facing you. “I remember when she threw this into the bridge, we still thought Sanctum was on the other side. It must have been how they knew we were here.”

She starts to cry harder, relieving the trauma of her past, and you reach out for her arm, trying to turn her to face you. “Hey, come here.”

She shakes you off, resisting the comfort you're trying to offer her, but you try again, aware that she needs this. You only know a fraction of what Hope has gone through, but you know that more than anything, she needs a friend, and she needs a hug. You put your hand on her shoulders, trying to turn her towards you, and she resists you at first. Until suddenly, she spins around in your arms, jumping towards you and wrapping you up in her arms. She hugs you tight, confirming what you knew all along, that she needed a hug. You hug her back just as tightly, letting her know that you're here for her as you whisper, “We'll get them all back together, whatever it takes. Gabriel will get us the code, and then we’ll get them back.”

She nods, and the two of you stand huddled together as she cries in your arms. You hum Clair de lune, comforting her the way that your dad used to comfort you, the way that Bellamy comforted you, and eventually she starts to quiet in your arms. When the two of you pull away, you move to sit at the edge of the garden again, this time side by side, watching the trees in mutual silence. Hope is the first to speak up, her voice low and ashamed. “You must think I'm so weak.”

You shake your head hard, giving her a serious look. “No, the opposite actually.”

A second voice from behind you pipes up, scaring you and Hope both, your heart jumping with fear. “We've seen your moves, and with teachers like Diyoza and Octavia, I wouldn't want to face you in battle.”

You turn around and look at Echo, glaring at the quiet spy who easily snuck up on you both. “You scared the hell out of me.”

She gives you a small smile and plops down beside you. You're not sure how much she saw of you comforting Hope, but she doesn't comment on the girl's tear stained features, and you’re sure Hope is grateful for that. She glance at Echo, responding to her initial quip. “They didn't teach me to fight, my mom wouldn't allow it. A prisoner came here a few months after they left, Dev. He taught me.”

You think back to Hope’s earlier broken cry when you found the army of skeletons. “The body.”

“Yeah.”

You’re about to ask a follow up question on what happened, but you never get the chance, because you're cut off by an excited yell from inside the cabin. You, Hope, and Echo all turn to look at the small building, watching as Gabriel comes running from the cabin, practically bouncing with excitement. “He did it! I need something to write with, charcoal, a pen, anything!”

You all jump up and follow him back towards Hope’s former home, excited to write down the code that’ll take all of you to Bardo so you can save your families. Except, as you step inside the cabin, Gabriel holds out a hand to the three of you, forcing you to stop, his eyes locked on something in the corner of the room. You freeze, already worried based on Gabriel’s body language alone, but when your eyes finally find what he's looking at, your anxiety spikes even further. The mystery mad man stands in the corner of the cabin, the tablet held in his hand. Your one way ticket off of Skyring held in his hands, and he’s turning it over, end over end, looking at it closely. 

“What is this?”

Gabriel holds up his hands in surrender, trying to appear as non threatening as possible. “It's okay, no one's gonna hurt you. That's a memory viewer, okay? My friend was here, and he entered a code and opened the bridge. We need to rewind it, so that we can get the code and open the bridge ourselves. You can go home.”

The man is shaking, his voice raspy from lack of use, and he starts to get panicky. “Too soon. I must serve my time!”

You feel the hairs on your arm lift, and you know that something bad is about to happen unless you can stop it. You meet the eyes of the man, careful to keep your voice soft and soothing, “Okay. If you want to stay, you can stay. Just give us back-”

And before you can finish your sentence, he cuts you off, his voice loud and upset. “No! I serve the master, I am his shield and his sword! For all mankind!”

And before any of you can say anything else or do anything else, he lifts the tablet above his head. Your eyes fly to it, watching the events unfold like they’re in slow motion. As soon as the tablet is high enough, he brings his arms down, putting some force behind his throw, and you are left frozen in place, watching the tablet fall from his hand and clatter to the ground below. You hear someone scream as it hits the ground, shattering into pieces, and later on, when you play through the moment in your mind, you’ll realize that it was you screaming. But in the moment you don't notice, because all you feel is heartbreak and despair. You sink to your knees, staring at the shattered pieces in front of you, well aware of what this means. Without the memory viewer, without the code, all four of you really are trapped here on Skyring for the next five years.

There will be no rescue missions, no saving of anyone, because you’re stuck.

You're stuck until the crazed man in front of you is allowed to go home.

You're stuck until you can kill the men that come for him.

You're stuck, separated from Bellamy.

And in that moment, you swear you feel something inside of you snap.

-

next chapter

[love-a-little-less-archived]

So I decided that for my day nine, I’d do a list of some of my favorite fics to give the fandom authors some recognition. Of course, all of our fanfic authors are amazing and I’m so grateful that they do what they do, but these are just a few of my favorites. 

I tried to tag any authors that had a tumblr account, but it’s entirely possible I missed some, so if I did, sorry

This post isn’t super long but it’s pretty damn long so all below the cut

(also do note that my interest in bellarke is only a few months old so I have a lot more clexa fics than I do bellarke sorry)

Bellarke

Canon AU

Set The Dark On Fire by @talistheintrovert (complete)

Okay okay so this is a pretty dark fic, but god is it beautiful. After waking up from Cryo, Clarke and Spacekru try to figure out what to do about this new planet situation, but Clarke isn’t handling it very well and attempts a suicide. Like I said, pretty dark and serious, so if that isn’t your thing don’t read, but it’s amazing

Three Lives, Three Loves, One Face by @these-dreams-go-on (complete)

This fic has a ton of my favorite themes all mashed together and it’s amazing. Basically it’s similar to the Josephine!Clarke situation of s6, but Wanheda is an actual manifestation also inhabiting Clarke’s body so when Josie gets put into Clarke, Wanheda takes over and goes mass murder on Sanctum. Phenomenal fic, I’ve read it so many times and I adore it

Into The Anomaly by @fuckitup-in-style (WIP)

Time Travel AU!!! Starts after s6, but resets back to s1 canon divergence. The hundred all wake up on dropships and they all remember up until their deaths, and then it’s this thing where the mains all take charge and start herding up their crew. Just- if you like time travel fix-its, this is p e r f e c t please read it

And Now You’re Home by @asroarke (complete)

I just read this one recently and g o d is it amazing. After being left alone during Praimfaya, Clarke finds herself becoming desperate after being alone for so long. Until she finds out there’s been a grounder watching her the whole time. Grounder!Bellamy AU, with some accidental pregnancy that just makes it even cuter

Modern AU

I Found Peace in Your Violence by @eyessharpweaponshot (WIP)

I just found this fic a few days ago and holy shit is it a piece of art. I finally went through and read the entire 80k fic last night, it’s absolutely enthralling. Basically, there’s this gene called HTS and Clarke ends up having it, and so does Bellamy, and it’s just a beautiful story from both a romance and a plot standpoint. Such an interesting concept

our stars came in a packet of two by @millipop (WIP)

This isn’t a super long fic, it’s 20k right now and hasn’t been updated in a few months but what’s there is amazing. So the delinquent group is desperately trying to get Bellamy and Clarke together since they’re constantly denying their chemistry, but what the delinquents don’t know is that Clarke and Bell have actually already been together in secret and it’s such a fun fic, highly recommend

Don’t Wake Me, I’m Not Dreaming by grumpybell (complete) (I can’t find their tumblr sorry)

A very interesting AU where Clarke can see into other people’s dreams. She’s been meeting Bellamy in his dreams for years, him being the only person who could actually see her. Guess what happens when they meet in person? Probably not what you expect. Read the fic to find out, you’ll love it

reelin’ through the midnight streets by @detectivebellamyblake​ (WIP)

I haven’t finished this fic yet, but what I’ve read so far is wonderful. Basically Clarke, Bell and Octavia all grew up in a trailer park together, and eventually Clarke has had enough of her mom’s bullshit and decides to get out. Bellamy and Octavia go with her

Clexa

Canon AU

Broken Body, Broken Spirit by @vmplvr1977 (complete)

I love love love this fic!! It basically mashes together the worlds of The 100 and Deus-ex, and if you don’t know what the latter is don’t worry too much, the fic gives all the backstory you’ll need!! Basically Clarke gets severly injured and ends up with augmented limbs, and Lexa, thinking Clarke dead, has some pretty severe reactions to it all. Kind of an enemies-to-lovers, but it’s set after the s2 finale

Clarke Kom Azgeda by FMLClexa (WIP)

This fic combines so many of my favorite ideas it’s amazing. Coming back after a long hiatus, basically Clarke gets sent down to Earth alone and ends up in Azgeda territory. She’s tortured and trained into Nia’s top assassin for years, and eventually gets the order to infiltrate Polis and kill the commander. You can guess how that goes

A Riffle and the Sea by Follower_Of_Mania (complete)

I will say it’s been a while since I read this fic but it’s amazing. Another Clarke gets sent to Earth alone AU, but she gets adopted by Floukru and trained to be a seriously badass killer grounder, like even Lexa is pretty put off by her. Clarke and Lexa develop this really interesting relationship where half the time you can’t tell if they love or hate each other and it’s amazing

Ascendants by whiteleopard1124 (WIP)

So this isn’t entirely clexa, it’s also clarke x luna but it’s clexa enough. Basically Clarke and the hundred get injected with this solution before being sent to the ground, and it causes certain people to develop supernatural powers. But Clarke gets injected with a special serum that causes her to be extra-OP but like in a very very good way

doing the impossible (with you) by snowandwolves (WIP)

Another Time Travel AU where Clarke kills herself and, after having a discussion with the goddess of death herself, wakes up back in time. She (and her accomplices) work out how to rewrite their story and make everything go better than it did last time. One of the best time travel fics, in my opinion

Healer on the Ground by Owlmemaybe (WIP)

This has long been one of my favorite fics, I love AUs where Clarke turns grounder, and that’s exactly what this is. Basically Clarke has a healing talent, so she can heal herself and others on command, and during s1 gets separated from the 100 and ends up with Heda. Another fic that isn’t likely to get updated, but it’s 100k of goodness that you h a v e to read

Whispers In The Dark (Lead Us To The Light) by JadelynDeath (WIP)

This one also hasn’t been updated very recently, but it’s still 50k good words to enjoy. Wanheda!Clarke AU where Death is a real being and takes a liking to Clarke before she even touches the ground, and once on Earth Clarke is an absolute badass in leading the delinquents.

(my) Destruction Within Your Mouth by @entirelytookeen (WIP)

It took me so long to actually finish this fic once I started reading because oh my god the angst, it was actually too much for me. This is a beautifully written story, so many emotions, can’t recommend it enough. Basically, Clarke gets separated from the 100 and ends up temporarily mute while she’s taken in by Heda

She’s a maniac by ChocDog (complete)

Another big-time favorite, this has badass commanders Heda and Wanheda. The grounder culture is different in this fic, but in such a good way. They’re much more tribal than is portrayed in the show, preferring not much clothing, bloodthirstiness, but it’s amazing. Also Bellamy comes in and makes a fuss of things

Through the Looking Glass by RhinoMouse (WIP)

Role Reversal AU where Lexa comes down with the 100 and Clarke is a BAMF Commander of the grounders. It’s been a really long time since I’ve read this one but I remember loving every second of it. Faintly follows the s2 plot, but it’s different enough that not a second of it is boring

Can you See Me? by clexawarrior (complicated)

Okay so basically this story was discontinued, but the author left a summary of how it would’ve played out at the end, so it’s... complicated. But this is another one of my favorites!! Lexa was at the explosion on the bridge and got injured, Clarke brings her back to the dropship to care for her. A lot of sexual tension ensues

From The Ashes by ArchonsVoice (complete)

I love love love this fic!!! So basically the dropship landed in the sea rather than on land, the ship explodes, leaving Clarke stranded alone in the middle of the ocean. She’s rescued by a clan called Tseekru and after years of living with them, has a run-in with our one and only Heda and sets this whole thing going. Amazing fic, so many twists

Returning to Hell by ElseworldKara, littleraider99 (complete)

If you haven’t read this fic what have you even been doing honestly. Set two years after the s2 finale, Clarke leads the coalition beside Heda, and she’s returned to Arkadia to finally tell them to get their shit together or suffer the consequences. Very dark, a lot of character bashing on Abby, Bellamy, and others. An inspiration for many of my own fics

Then There Were Two by TheWorldNeedsMoreOctaven (WIP)

I haven’t read the most recent chapters of this, but it’s phenomenal. ABO universe where Clarke is the only omega sent down in the hundred (later followed by Raven), and they have to deal with the grounders and nature. It’s a lot more interesting than I make it sound, promise. Also very octavia/raven based too

Doctor on the Ground by @underneaththecovers-au (WIP)

Very angsty, very smutty fic. Clarke finds an injured Lexa while out of camp and takes her to the bunker to help her heal. Lexa pretends she can’t understand English, but even with the barrier, things get heated very quickly. You can imagine the chaos when Lexa’s secret gets out. Must-read

Modern AU

Vantage Point by thatoneloser_kid (complete)

This is pretty short, only 16k words, but god is it good. If you like dark!clarke, this is the story for you. Clarke, Lexa, Octavia, and Raven are all a bunch of criminals who run around- saving people?? That makes it sound like a superhero story but no, they’re all badass. Clarke is literally a psychopathic ex-assassin. It’s just an amazing fic

Are You A Kidnapper? (Because You Abducted My Heart) by 707 (complete)

This isn’t normally the type of fic that I like to read but I’m so glad I picked it up. So Clarke and Lexa have this hatred going on between them that’s actually just hidden attraction, and they’re finally forced to address it when they get kidnapped and locked in a room together. This fic has it all, fluff, smut, angst, an amazing plot, it’s just all around wonderful

Make Two Halves Whole by awkwardrainbow, Lexawoodz (WIP)

This one I also don’t remember all that much about other than that it was amazing. It’s been years since it was updated, though, so I doubt we’ll get any more, but what’s there is 80k worth of goodness. Clarke and Lexa meet online through Twitter, living on opposite sides of the US, but still manage to fall in love with each other

breathe into my lips the life i do not have by @ur-the-puppy (complete)

So this is another long-time favorite of mine!! It’s a 36k oneshot where Clarke moves into a house that ghost Lexa haunts but instead of being creeped out Clarke just starts chatting up the ghost and they become roommate buddies. Such a good fic, I highly highly recommend this one

You See the Smile That's On My Mouth (it's hiding the words that don't come out) by heartshapedcandy (complete)

Another fic I need to go back and reread, but I remember being absolutely absorbed in this fic!! Childhood friends to lovers AU, with a fuck ton of angst and confusion and oblivious pining dorks that you can’t help but love it to death. Also a lot of ‘’’’platonic’’’’ kissing

Other AU

Storm of the Heart by @cruellanita-bby (WIP)

Mermaid AU!! Clarke lives on an island where they grow up hating the mermaids that attack their fishing ships, and she hates them too until she finds Lexa the mermaid washed up on the shore, injured, and starts taking care of her. They fall in love and try to mend the relationship between their people. I’ve been keeping up with this one for a while, it’s so good, please read it

Hold Me Till The Stars Dim by @ur-the-puppy (complete)

I’m putting this one down here rather than in modern AU just because of how different it is from most modern AUs. Lexa goes camping with her friends out in the woods, some shit happens, and she meets what’s basically grounder Clarke, with a twist. This fic is so captivating, I loved it

You’re safe with me by I_am_clexa (WIP)

ABO modern AU where omegas are sold as slaves to alphas. Clarke is an omega who is bought by Lexa’s father as a gift to her, but Lexa doesn’t like the way omegas are treated and goes out of her way to give Clarke the best life she could possibly have

Other Pairings

Canon AU

Three Loves (Pieces Of Us) by @kendrene , @bae-in-maine (WIP)

Clarke/Lexa/Anya fic where Anya takes Clarke back to Lexa as a kind of prize, Clarke ends up making an alliance with the Trikru and maybe also falling in love with the commander and her general along the way. I’ve read this fic so many times, but it hasn’t been updated in years. It’s still 150k worth of amazing fic though

Twisted Steel by Steelehart (complete)

A clarke/raven fic where an explosion on the Ark leaves Clarke with two prosthetic arms. Follows fairly closely to the s1 plot once you get into it, but deviates in the later chapters. It’s an amazing fic I promise, please read it

Modern AU

and four makes home by @dreamsheartstory (complete)

This is over 300k worth of Clarke/Lexa/Octavia/Raven, which seems like a lot but I promise you it’s perfect. It’s been a bit since I read this, but from what I remember it’s your typical fall-in-love modern fic, just with the added angst of figuring out a four-way poly relationship

[laufire]

i definitely think clarke is an example of a villain protagonist, and fandom’s need to see her as a hero is due to the need to see protagonists as heroes. my only stipulation is that i do think fandom is capable of acknowledging that certain protagonists are villains, but only under certain conditions. like fandom can only acknowledge a character is a villain if the story really really really explicitly frames them that way. like people are willing to acknowledge that characters like (1/2)

(a few of these seem to have been lost to this hellsite’s void, sorry :/)

walter white, don draper, tony soprano, dexter morgan, the “it’s always sunny in philadelphia” protagonists ect are horrible evil people. (although even with them, there stans who engage in ridiculous apologism, ie the “walter white did nothing wrong” crowd, but i do feel like most of the audience gets that these characters are evil? maybe i’m being to optimistic, or maybe it’s just because i avoid r*ddit lol) but i think in these cases it’s mostly because the framing is so blatant, like (2/3) 

like the writers basically have to beat you over the head with the fact that the main character is a horrible person for them to get it. but with characters like dean winchester, elena gilbert, and clarke griffin, the fandom largely sees them as good people, (who may be morally ambiguous sometimes, but only because they CAAARRRE SO MUCHHH) and i think it’s because the narrative framing is different than what it is with a character like walt. that’s not to say that the narrative always (3/?) 

frames characters like elena, clarke, dean, ect as good people. i think the narrative sometimes engages in apologism for dean/elena/clarke, and sometimes it acknowledges how terrible they are. i think that for characters like dean/elena/clarke the framing is often much subtler than for characters like walt/don/dexter/tony soprano. i also think sexism/white female fragility plays a role in how fandom perceives elena, clarke, and jessica jones are perceived by fandom (4/?).

This is all true, but I also think there are other factors at play. On is the kind of people these two groups are -I’m less familiar with some of the others mentioned above than I am with The Triumvirate of Doom LOL, but I’d say that (maybe with the exception of Don Draper? I really need to watch Mad Men one day. I remember liking the pilot) they are fundamentally different TYPES of ~bad people. Dean, Elena, and Clarke are empaths, subconcious manipulators; to different degrees of efficiency, and Dean and Clarke use hard power more than Elena, but they’re specifically people who are difficult to parse, and difficult to accuse. They’re the kind of people who trade in social graces and do it well, often coming out of shit smelling like fucking roses. The others are excused by fandom, but Walter White, Tony Soprano and Dexter Morgan’s whole deal is different.

On top of that, there’s a matter of distance. Those you mention are all from mundane worlds, worlds like out, commiting violence in a mundane way. Dean kills monsters, Clarke commits large scale genocide by levers in a distant sci-fi post apocalyptic ‘verse, Elena even has other supernatural beings commiting supernatural violence for her. I know I myself react worse to more “realistic” violence.

And regarding the ‘verses, I think we run into an issue of the perception each of these gets, the depth people are willing to assign to each of them. Nevermind that The Vampire Diaries or Supernatural have been the two most cynically honest shows about the worst of human nature I’ve yet to encounte;, for a lot of people they’re just ~silly genre shows, the first a ~silly girly show, even. The acts committed in those universe is horrifying to the extreme, heightened forms from real-world equivalents, but easy to dismiss for a lot of people because of its source. Which annoys me, ngl, because I don’t think without characters like Elena we’d get some of the female antiheroes we have now, for better or worse; or without shows like Angel for the male ones; Angel was definitely a precursor to the Tony Sopranos of tv, IMO.

There are issues with framing in each of the shows and it matters, but there have also been moments where they have been absolutely ruthless about who Dean, Elena, Clarke, etc. were at their core, and the audience insists on keeping their eyes closed to it anyway. So framing can’t be the only issue.

fandom NEEDS to see white female protagonists as good people. i think this is because of the notion of white female innocence and purity, how white cis women are seen as inherently good and kind, and needing and deserving of protection from white men. of course fandom woobifies the shit out of white male characters too, just look at dean winchester and dean winchester. however i genuinely can’t think of a example of a white female protagonist who was explicitly framed as terrible person, (5/?) 

and where most of fandom fully acknowledged her shittyness. the only real example i can think of is dee reynolds, and like that doesn’t really count because iasip is a deliberately absurd bizare sitcom where you really aren’t meant to take the characters actions seriously. the show isn’t grounded in reality and it’s not meant to be. also dee is nothing like elena or clarke, and iasip is nothing like the 100 or tvd so i’m comparing apples to oranges. (6/?) 

maybe blair waldorf from gossip girl? i actually think she has a lot in common with elena and clarke, it’s just expressed in different ways. but maybe that’s due to the fact that serena was technically the female protagonist (even if the writers blatantly favored blair), and blair was introduced to the show as an antagonist for serena. although there was a fuck ton of blair apologism in the gossip girl fandom so who knows. (8/?) 

i have seen daenerys targaryen referred to as a villain (even before the second last episode), but in her case i actually feel it’s somewhat unfair. i mean obviously burning down kings landing was a villainous act, but on the whole i see her as more of a mix of an anti-hero and an anti-villain. like of course she has done many horrible things, but she isn’t terrible in the same way elena and clarke are, like she is a different type of character than them. (10/?)

i also feel like the got fandom wasn’t as pro daenerys as the tvd fandom and the 100 fandom were of elena and clarke respectively. (maybe because daenerys shared protagonist status with the stark family?). (omg i am so sorry this ask was so long! i seriously thought this was going to be two parts, maybe three tops lol) (11/11)

I’m not too familiar with Blair and only half-familiar with GOT and its fandom, although yes, I would consider them slightly different cases than Clarke or Elena, on first sight.

White female fragility definitely plays an ENOURMOUS part in these characters’ perception. A lot of the Clarke vs. Bellamy discourse was profoundly racist, for example. And do not get me started on Jessica Jones and how the show portrayed, and the fandom received, her dynamics with black men.

[tvandenneagram]

Hi! I was wondering if you are planning on ever typing The 100 characters

Hi, Anon

We’ve been asked for The 100 a few times, so we’ve decided to a quick-typings of the characters. We’ve only seen some of the early seasons and  read a bit about their characters and personality, so we’ve tried to do the best we can with what we know.

NOTE: We will be doing some of the other characters in another post, this is Part 1.

Clarke Griffin: 1w2

Clarke is principled, responsible and self-sacrificing. Clarke has shown time and time again that she believes in saving everybody. She has a strong belief in the greater good and wants to do the ‘right thing.’ Clarke usually thinks before acting, but has been shown to act impulsively in certain situations. Sometimes her moral compass can make her make decisions based on absolutes that can lead to extreme consequences.

Clarke is very idealistic and tries to avoid hurting others if she can. For example, she stops the other Delinquents from killing Anya (their enemy) because it isn’t necessary. However, she does sometimes torture others, especially if she feels it is a necessary evil or if she is persuaded by Bellamy.

1s can become jaded and selfish when they are in the unhealthy levels, which we see with Clarke. After the aftermath of the Second Nuclear Apocalypse, Clarke becomes singularly interested in protecting Madi. Clarke begins to lose her own humanity and begins acting in self-interest, rather than for the greater good. Clarke shows her wing 2 as she is more people-oriented and emotional than a 1w9 would be.

Quotes

“This isn’t about saving my people. It’s about saving the human race.”

“I bear it, so they don't have too.”

"While we're on the subject, why is it that everyone thinks me wanting Jasper to not die is a bad thing? Like I'm such a downer. I can be fun."

“I tried... I tried to be the good guy.”

“Maybe life should be about more than just surviving. Don't we deserve better than that?”

Lexa: cp6w5

This may be a bit of a controversial take on Lexa’s type, as I’ve seen her typed as both an 8 and a 1. However, I think Lexa’s main motivations are to fulfil her duties as Heda and to keep her people safe. Lexa is a very strong and fierce leader, but I think she has to take on these traits to gain respect from her people. 6s and 8s both have a real emphasis on ‘survival’ which is really prominent in Lexa’s character.

Lexa is protective, dutiful, strong and loyal. She is a fierce leader that isn’t afraid to go against the traditions of her people for peace. Lexa doesn’t like hurting people and when she is forced to punish people, she tries to choose the most human punishment. She doesn’t use her power for her own interests or vengeance, as she only punishes people to gain justice for her people. Lexa also doesn’t like conflict and is seen as trying to bring peace to the factions, despite the wishes of those around her.

Lexa was not always closed-off to love and did not always believe love is a weakness. This is due to her relationship with Costia as she blames herself for her death because she couldn’t keep her safe. Hence, Lexa emotionally closes herself off from love under the guise of it being a weakness. This changes when she meets Clarke as she begins to let her guard down a little bit more and allows herself to be vulnerable with Clarke. In her relationship with Clarke, Lexa realises that she is worthy of love and that it is not a vulnerability. Lexa has a wing 5 as she is more emotionally reserved and introverted than a wing 7 would be.

Quotes

"My mistakes? Azgeda cut off Costia's head and delivered it to my bed, and still I let them into my alliance! I am more than capable of separating feelings from duty!"

“I know how hard that is for you. You think our ways are harsh, but that's how we survive.”

“Blood must have blood.”

“Victory stands on the back of sacrifice.”

“Some on my side say that's not enough. They wanted the murderer to suffer as our tradition demands. But they do not know that your suffering will be worse. What you did tonight will haunt you until the end of your days.”

Bellamy Blake: cp6w7

Bellamy is protective, assertive and responsible. Due to his childhood and his relationship with Octavia, Bellamy has always had a focus on seeking safety for himself and his family. Bellamy has a take-charge attitude and isn’t above bending the rules to survive. He is also very loyal to those he loves, and will go to great lengths to protect and help them.

As leader, Bellamy becomes controlling and begins acting in self-interest, rather than for the people. However, he realises his actions are wrong and does feel guilt over the consequences of his actions. Bellamy also did help the Delinquents survive and adapt to the conditions.

Bellamy seems to want to find meaning and something to believe in, which is common for 6s. For example, he accepts the simplistic view that the Sky People are the ‘good guys’ and the Grounder are the ‘bad guys.’ Likewise, after being trapped in Etheria, he becomes very loyal to the Disciple’s cause. This can happen to 6s when they are in the unhealthy levels, as they begin to develop an ‘us against them’ mentality and become obsessed with belief systems. Bellamy shows his wing 7 as he is more expressive than a wing 5.

Quotes

“Who we are, and who we need to be to survive are very different things.”

“I was so angry at you for leaving. I don’t want to feel that way anymore.”

"We all have things to answer for things that shouldn't be forgiven but are. because we did them for our people -- our family."

“I’m not leaving my friends! I can’t do that again.”

“Fears are fears. Slay your demons when you’re awake, they won’t be there to get you in your sleep.”

Raven Reyes: 5w6

Raven was a bit hard to type as she has traits of 1, 5, 6 and 8. I was mostly between 1w9 and 5w6 as she is very concerned with doing the right thing. However, I settled on 5w6 as I think she is more motivated by gaining knowledge so she can be a useful member of the Delinquents.

Raven is intelligent, resourceful and judgmental. Raven is a very useful member of the Delinquents due to her strong intellect. She is also very tough and will not hesitate to do what needs to be done. Sometimes, Raven can be a bit unemotional and seems to use her wit and sarcasm as a defence mechanism. However, as the series progresses we can see the emotional toll her actions has taken on her. 

5s are able to separate their emotions and fears from the task at hand, which we see with Raven. Raven is very mentally strong and is able to overcome many setbacks. She is also not afraid to speak her mind, especially if she thinks she knows more than the others. Raven shows her wing 6 as she is more practical and person-oriented than a 5w4.

Quotes

"It's not your blood that defines you. It's your heart."

"I can barely walk, and my shoulder's killing me. But, my brain is all kind of awesome."

"Well, my mom was AWOL most of my life. When she did show up, it was empty-handed. Pretty sure she had me just to trade in my rations for moonshine."

"Everywhere you go, death follows. You always want to save everyone. What you don't realize is you're the one we need saving from."

[turning-dreams-into-chaos]

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3. Use the hashtag #Riaswritingchallenge and tag me so I can see what you created! (make sure you use the correct tag because that will be how I am looking for posts)

a. I will reblog all the posts you write and if I don’t reblog within 3 days, send me an ask to make sure I see it

4. If it’s more than 1.5K (no word limit, go for it), add a keep reading option please so we don’t have pages and pages of pieces

a. If you can’t, that’s fine, I don’t think you can on the mobile

5. Don’t Stress and Have Fun! We aren’t comparing works to anyone; we’re just sharing what we wrote!

6. I’m not putting an end date on this challenge until I see activity! I’ll reblog with a date when I have one.

EDIT: So I’ve decided not to take requests for myself off this list and just leave these prompt to you guys, SO PLEASE DON’T SEND ME REQUESTS FROM THESE LISTS! CHOOSE ONES FOR YOU TO WRITE! 😊 Thank you!

Characters (Pick ANY character from a fandom):

The 100• Marvel• Harry Potter• Flash• Walking Dead• <- those are examples, choose what ever you’d like!

Prompts (specify which list in ask):

Fluff:

1. “Just hold me close and never let go.”

The One by @with1love1anu (Sirius Black x Reader)

2. “You may be good, but I’m better.” 

@abysshaven (Draco Malfoy x reader)

3. “You know, I’d go through hell for you.” “Really?” “Yeah, or well, really hot weather.”

@abysshaven (Draco Malfoy x reader)

@fridasfantasy (Zuko x Reader)

4. “Well you’re fun.” “And you’re annoying.”

Sirius Black x Reader by @valiantartwritingweasel

Just my Type by @writeseasonally (Fred Weasley x Reader)

5. “You’re drunk.” “I’m not drunk.” “Then what are you?” “…I’m not dead, right?”

@nekoannie-chan (Brock Rumlow x Reader)

Truth under Moonlight by @approved-by-dentists (Sirius Black x Reader)

6. “You’re a lot more interesting in my head.”

Hoax by @seiraswriting (Hermione Granger x Reader)

7. “You just have to trust me.”

Proud of you by @fandomscombine (George Weasley x Reader)

8. “Time flies when you’re a prisoner.”

9. “You’re my home.”

Home by @capsheadquaters (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

10. “Thanks for not killing me.”

@wonderful-writer​ (Sirius Black x Reader)

11. “I’m going to choose to take pride in that.”

Freedom of Innocence by @summer-writes (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

Gone by @moony-writes-stuff​ (George Weasley x Reader)

12. “You’re my second chance.”

@bad268 (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

Second Chances by @shaynawrites23 (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

13. “Take me by the hand and hold me tight.”

If it Hurts by @oingo233 (Daryl Dixon x reader)

14. “I’m proud of us.”

15. “Will you get off me?”

Snowscape by @kalimagik (Fred Weasley x Reader)

16. “I didn’t think it was possible, but I just fell more in love with you.”

@they-write-once-in-a-blue-moon (Remus Lupin x Reader)

I Love you by @theonly1outof-a-billion​​ (Mob!Tom Holland x Reader)

17. “You are everything I dreamed of.”

@the-moon-and-the-book​ (Remus Lupin x Reader)

18. “Here, let me help you.”

@dreamer821 (Sirius Black x Reader)

19. “Can I have a kiss? Please?”

Can I kiss you? by @bad268 (Julian Albert x Reader)

20. “Your hand is so soft.”

Gentle Hands by @johnmurphyisbisexual (John Murphy x Reader)

21. “I’ve been thinking-“ “uh oh.”

A Beautiful Dream by @missmulti (Remus Lupin x Reader)

22. “But you love me anyways.”

@leah-ravenanne (James Potter x Reader)

Secret Admirer by @shaynawrites23 (Sirius Black x Reader)

23. “Want a back rub?”

24. “Can we cuddle?”

Gentle Hands by @johnmurphyisbisexual (John Murphy x Reader)

25. “You realize how insane you sound, right?”

Crazy for You by @writeroutoftime (Sirius Black x Reader)

@wonderful-writer​ (Sirius Black x Reader)

26. “Stop making that face. It’s too cute.”

Proud of you by @fandomscombine (George Weasley x Reader)

27. You are perfect for me.”

Party Revelations by @angelinathebook (Sirius Black x Reader)

28. “You’re so warm.”

Snowscape by @kalimagik (Fred Weasley x Reader)

29. “I love you more every day.”

30. “Where’s my morning kisses?”

31. “Wanna go for a walk?”

Comfort by @iliveiloveiwrite (Sirius Black x reader)

32. “I’m here when you’re ready to talk.”

Comfort by @iliveiloveiwrite (Sirius Black x Reader)

33. “Stop stealing my food.”

34. “Wow, I almost forgot how beautiful you were.”

@hollands-weasley (Fred Weasley x Reader)

35. “There’s an open seat on my lap.”

Party Revelations by @angelinathebook (Sirius Black x Reader)

@stiles-o-dylan24 (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

36. “Please just look at me.”

@horsegirly99 (Remus Lupin x Reader)

37. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Star Crossed Lovers by @missmulti (James Sirius Potter x Reader)

@horsegirly99 (Remus Lupin x Reader)

38. “Netflix and cuddle?”

39. “I can count to ten.” “You can barely get to 3.”

40. “My best friend is an idiot. Awesome.”

Angst:

1. “Despite everything, I still care about you.”

Blind Love by @hyperion-moonbabe-art3mis (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

2. “I should go…”

Never Leave Me Again by @with1love1anu (George Weasley x Reader)

@they-write-once-in-a-blue-moon (Remus Lupin x Reader)

3. “Joke’s on me, right?”

To Love and Be Used by @the-moon-and-the-book (James Potter x Reader)

4. “Break my heart, I’ll break your face.”

5. “Fuck you and your promises.”

Promises by @masterofthedarkness (Fred Weasley x Reader)

6. “Remember when I asked for your opinion? No? Me neither.”

7. “I’m not worth dying for.”

A Beautiful Dream by @missmulti (Remus Lupin x Reader) 

8. “There’s still good in you.”

All for You by @blisfvll (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

9. “I thought you died.”

Home by @capsheadquaters (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

@screennamealreadyused (Jason Todd x Reader)

10. “Don’t touch me.”

@screennamealreadyused (Jason Todd x Reader)

11. “I’m fine.” *Passes out*

Can I kiss you? by @bad268 (Julian Albert x Reader)

@dreamer821 (Sirius Black x Reader)

12. “I was hoping you’d save us both.”

Never Leave Me Again by @with1love1anu (George Weasley x Reader)

13. “I’m invisible.”

14. “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

To Love and Be Used by @the-moon-and-the-book (James Potter x Reader)

15. “You’re not you.”

16. “What do you want me to say? That I’m sorry? I’m not.”

@novellaquill (Barry Allen x reader, The originals crossover)

17. “Okay, fuck you.”

18. “You wanna play hero? Be my guest.”

Drama by @obsessedwithrandomthings (Remus Lupin x Reader)

19. “You’re an asshole.”

20. “I hope it was worth it.”

21. “Trust me, it could get a whole lot worse.”

22. “The only mistake I made was you.”

@acciomarauders (Regulus Black x Reader)

23. “Prove to me you’re different, then I’ll believe you.”

@stiles-o-dylan24 (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

24. “No one blames you.” “I do.”

All for you by @blisfvll (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

25. How come you’re still here?”

26. “This is when you stop talking.”

27. “How am I supposed to say goodbye to you?”

@novellaquill (Barry Allen x reader, The originals crossover)

28. “God, just let me fall apart.”

Gone by @moony-writes-stuff​ (George Weasley x Reader)

29. “Just let me die.”

John Murphy x Reader by @johnmurphyisbisexual

Duelled by @teheharrypotter (Sirius Black x Reader)

30. “You got to let go.”

Star Crossed Lovers by @missmulti (James Sirius Potter x Reader)

31. “Why can’t you look at me like you look at her?”

Fool’s Gold by @marauderswhisperer (James Potter x Reader)

32. “You don’t get to die today.”

If it Hurts by @oingo233 (Daryl Dixon x reader)

33. “I’m spiraling and I can’t make it stop.”

John Murphy x Reader by @johnmurphyisbisexual

34. “You’re never too broken to be fixed.”

She’s a Survivor by @eleven-times-lively (Remus Lupin x Reader)

35. “Fun? Is that all I am to you? Fun?”

36. “I would’ve given my life up for you, but now? Now I don’t even know you.”

@shatteredlovesick (Steve Rogers x reader)

37. “I haven’t been the same since you left me.”

Charm-ed by @nekoannie-chan (Steve Rogers x Reader)

38. “You were supposed to protect me.”

39. “You gave me the world, but it wasn’t enough.”

40. “Give me another chance to prove I am still in love with you.”

Smut:

(Sorry I couldn’t find or come up with more smut ones lol)

1. “Ruin me.”

2. “Lose the shirt.”

3. “You know we’re in public, right?”

4. “Be good.” “Or what, you’ll punish me?”

5. “I can’t wait to get you alone tonight.”

6. “Spread your legs for me.”

7. “Remember. You’re mine.”

8. “Stop the lip biting, you’re driving me crazy.”

9. “Tonight, you’re in control.”

10. “I’m not wearing anything under this.”

11. “Try to stay quiet for me. Can you do that?”

Learned your Lesson by @johnmurphyisbisexual (John Murphy x Reader)

12. “Aw, is somebody jealous?”

13. “If you wanna fuck, just say the words.”

14. “I forgot how much I missed seeing you beneath me.” 

@shatteredlovesick (Steve Rogers x Reader)

15. “Oh, fuck you!” “Your place or mine?”

16. “Was the sex really that good?”

17. “Like what you’re seeing?”

18. “On your knees.”

19. “Handcuffs? Sounds fun.”

20. “Touch yourself for me.”

Learned your Lesson by @johnmurphyisbisexual (John Murphy x Reader)

21. “Try not to ruin the sheets, I just cleaned them.”

22. “Why is your dick out?”

23. “Boobies!”

24. “I think the condom broke.”

Oh, baby by @grounderxbellamy (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

25. “Cute underwear.”

[coeurdastronaute]

Essays in Existentialism: Atlantis 6

Previously on Atlantis

The moment she woke, Clarke kept her eyes closed and just listened, realizing that things were not what she’d expected. She felt the familiar weight of her blankets, and she smelled the smell of her parent’s house, the smell as old as time, that she often never noticed, but after being removed for so long, inhaled greedily as she dug her face in her pillow. 

There were noises downstairs that finally registered before she opened her eyes, held her breath, and hid in the pillows. She heard some clamor of her parents making breakfast, coffee steam sifting up through the vents. She heard the squeak and chatter of some birds in the trees outside her window. For a moment, Clarke pretended that she was miles underwater, and there might be a beautiful girl awkwardly standing outside her door. 

But there wasn’t, and there wouldn’t be. Clarke rolled to her back and stared at the ceiling before digging the heel of her hands into her eyes and sighing. A day ago, she was in a beautiful palace, and now she was back at her parent’s house, without a job, without a career, without a mentor, without any idea of what was to come forward. 

Her body was completely healed, a feat that was mind-blowing considering her wounds and condition after the explosion and being stranded at sea. But now, when it was quiet, and she was safe in the familiar, Clarke realized the massive grief heaped upon her, that surviving came at a cost. 

When it got to be too much, when she cried silent tears that covered her face and left her chest fluttering and aching, Clarke wiped her face and took a few deep breaths, hoping to find some sort of center amidst the flood of absolute pain that washed over her entire body. She wanted to take another sleeping pill and pass out until her heart didn’t hurt anymore, but that seemed unwise. 

As soon as she made it down the stairs and stepped into the kitchen, Clarke realized she’d made a horrible mistake and should have stayed in bed. 

“Clarke! Oh my God!”

“We were--”

“I’m so glad you’re--”

“You look!”

The chorus of voices erupted and she took a step back, confused and overwhelmed by the outpouring of her closest friends as they began to circle and reach out and smother. 

“Okay, okay, back up everyone,” Abby jumped in carefully, keeping the horde from her terror-stricken daughter. “Give her a moment to breathe. I’m sure she’s not used to being around people, they had her in isolation due to exposure during the explosion.”

“But luckily, she didn’t come in contact with any of the pathogens she was studying,” Jake smiled graciously behind the island as he added more pancakes to the pile forming on the large breakfast display. “Better safe than sorry though.” 

“You should have seen your mom. I think she nearly got arrested for trying to break into a government installation,” Raven offered with a smile as Abby hit her shoulder. 

“Come sit,” Octavia hurried, clearing more of a path. “You must be hungry.” 

“Not really,” Clarke smiled softly and took the seat anyway. 

The friends shared a look as Clarke sat there and looked at the display of everyone trying to be normal. Abby hovered, rubbing her daughter’s back, soothing away the worries that remained. No one knew about the ten minutes ago, where she broke down and clawed at her chest in her bed. No one. 

“Your appetite will come back,” her mother promised. “Let me make you a little plate. Everyone can dig in. Your friends have been anxiously waiting to see you.” 

The general hubbub of people moving about the kitchen really only settled well after Clarke had a plate set in front of her. She ate a blueberry and nodded, smiling at her mother to tell her not to worry. It felt like before, like how it always was, since middle school, the whole gang fighting over this and that, piling over each other to eat. Even when college and life took them different ways, they were never far off. There was something grounding in it, just like her sheets, just like the noises of the morning. 

“So what happened, Clarke? We only heard bits and pieces on the news,” Raven explained between mouthfuls of Jake’s famous pancakes. “They kept repeating the same things, over and over again.” 

“What did they say?” 

Clarke already knew the story. She’d been held in a government facility for six hours and briefed on how to behave and what to say. She had a business card with FBI on it and Agent Barne’s number hidden in her sock drawer. 

“Just that a bad storm led to the ship sinking. I can’t imagine how bad it must have been,” Octavia shook her head. “At first they said no survivors. We all thought you were dead for seventeen hours.” 

“I’m… I’m…” Clarke furrowed and shook her head, looking guiltily at her food, afraid to meet their eyes. “I’m so sorry.” 

“But you’re not,” Bellamy interrupted. “And you don’t have to talk about what happened.” 

A pointed look was exchanged between him and the rest, warning them to behave and not push. 

“There isn’t much to tell,” she shrugged, perking up a bit and deciding to pick up her fork. “The storm was bad, and then I woke up in a government hospital. I wish there was a better story. I was checking weather reports in the navigation center, and I think we hit a wave or gust and I must have hit my head and blacked out.” 

“It’s not every day that a concussion is a blessing,” Jake offered, finally taking his seat with the rest. “But it must have saved you.” 

“A blessing,” Clarke repeated, contemplating the word for a moment before taking a big bite of breakfast. “Like these pancakes. I feel better already.” 

The group chuckled and refused to talk about the accident again, while Clarke ate and smiled until she couldn’t any longer. She explained that she was still a little drowsy, and wanted to lay down. Every person promised to be back and see her again, demanding that she call if she needed anything at all. With grateful and long and tight hugs, her lifelong friends filed out as Clarke slipped upstairs. 

It truly was exhausting, to finally think about it, to remember the storm and her colleagues and all of the people who died. The numbness-- that was the true blessing of Atlantis. There wasn’t time to grieve when her body was overloaded with stimuli, unlike now, where everything was mundane and allowed her to think. 

Clarke slipped into her childhood bed again, and she pulled the blanket over her head, rolling into herself tightly before drifting off to an uneasy sleep. 

XXXXXXXXXX

For about a full week, Clarke existed in a fairly mundane routine of recover that all at once suited her and drove her nuts. Simultaneously, she felt prepared to do something-- anything-- and yet, could not imagine doing anything other than nothing. Her body and mind and soul needed time to come back, and she knew it. It didn’t make it any easier for her to stomach, but she begrudgingly listened. 

Every morning she got up and had a special breakfast her father made, even though her appetite was minimal and favored banalities. And then she would take a walk, sometimes with a friend, sometimes alone before coming home to shower and read or watch tv before a nap. Usually someone came by in the afternoon before dinner to occupy her, keep her busy, keep her doing something. Then came a family dinner, every night, her mother arriving right on time to join them. Dinner led to a movie, which then led to sleep. 

It was a safe and easy schedule in which she didn’t talk about anything with anyone. 

Until the arrival of the invitations for the funerals for the people finally confirmed dead after the concluded investigation into the crash and retrieval of bodies from the water, an initiative led by the Atlanteans as a gesture of good faith. 

Two weeks after her return, Clarke found her schedule consisting of funerals, nearly every day, each more difficult than the last, but as the final crewmember standing, as the only representative of her research team, she sat there at each and remembered with everyone else, commiserating in their grief. It helped and hurt, as any cathartic thing is meant to do. 

The third week she returned somewhat to her normal schedule with an intermittent funeral, the last residual ones ending quickly. 

A month after her return, Clarke felt marginally normal, except that she had no idea what the future held. 

It took five weeks for her to schedule an appointment with the university, despite her mother and father telling her she could take more time. 

Only after six weeks, did Clarke allow herself to really think about her time in Atlantis. Most of the time, she found herself daydreaming about Lexa in some form because it was one of the few thoughts that made her feel unburdened and less heavy in her chest. But, she actively kept herself from thinking too much, often shaking away the thoughts when her mind began to drift. 

After the nightly movie, and after she excused herself to sleep, Clarke sat at her desk and look at her laptop, knowing full well what was about to happen. She moved to lift the lid and then stopped, closing it and drumming her fingers along the top before looking over her shoulder at her closed door, straining her ears to hear anything. 

Though it was quiet, she hurried to place an old sweatshirt near the bottom of her door to block out any light, listening again, closer to the hall, at the familiar noises of her parents getting ready to go to sleep. 

Satisfied that no one would see her, Clarke ripped open her laptop, and quietly as she could type, logged in and began to type her query. 

L-E-X

Backspace.

A-L-E-X-A-N

Backspace.

P-R-I-N-C-E-S-S O-F A-T-L-A-N-T-I-S

Enter.

In the dark room, the glow of the screen colored her face, but she didn’t care. She bit her lip and looked at the photos first, and upon not finding many, looked through the first few search results. Little was known about Atlantis, let alone the heir to the throne, and any pictures that existed were not good. 

Mildly disappointed, Clarke slumped back in her chair and toyed with the scroll, debating what to do with no information and how deep, exactly, she was willing to dive into conspiracy theories and doctored photos. 

Backspace.

A-Q-U-A-G-I-R-L

Enter. 

Clarke paused only to look back at her door and close her laptop slightly, though not all the way, when she heard a sound in the hall. She held her breath and waited for her parents to go to bed before opening it fully again. 

There were more search results for that name, and Clarke mildly regretted it, because the images of Lexa, in a skin-tight suit, with a weapon, was a little disorienting. And then she stood beside her father, who was, even though it was an understatement, an actual mountain of a human. Lexa had his eyes, his chin, his grin, and goodness, did she have a similar fitness regime. 

Slowly making her way through the gallery, Clarke smiled to herself when she thought about Lexa, shy and with red-tipped ears, kind and gentle and soft to her for no reason at all. And then she looked at Lexa’s biceps. 

“Fuck,” Clarke sighed and shook her head. 

Backspace.

A-Q-U-A-G-I-R-L -B-I-C-E-P-S

Clarke hesitated before smiling to herself. 

Enter.

XXXXXXXXXX

The meeting at the university didn’t turn up much good news, as the semester was just ending and the summer was approaching. With an epic catastrophe to handle and fix, the powers behind all decisions, didn’t have any answers other than to enroll Clarke the following semester to finish her degree requirements. 

It was fair and just and gave Clarke time to recover and get back into thinking about existing again. Of course, Clarke found anything reasonable to be exhausting, in and of itself, and so she hated having to wait, hated losing her research, hated everything about everything that left her stuck. 

Three days later, however, she found herself back at the Spindrift, unsure of why she was there, and marvelling at how it operated when it was opened. People were buzzing about, familiar with their duties, as if it hadn’t opened merely two months prior. 

“It’s nice to see you again, Agent Barnes,” Clarke smiled, shaking the agents hand as she approached the waiting area. 

“Thanks for coming down.” 

“I don’t think I had a choice.” 

Clarke looked over her shoulder at the two men that picked her up for her ‘appointment.’ When she looked back, the agent was not amused. 

“You are being formally offered a position here, at the Spindrift.” 

“I might formally ask why?” she furrowed and looked at the blue folder that was handed to her, complete with the seal of Atlantis on it. “I’m still in my degree program for the Masters, and haven’t decided to complete the doctorate…. Is this salary serious?” 

“Government salaries are never a laughing matter.” 

“I could make three times this in the private sector.” 

“Yes,” the agent nodded. “And you would never work with any Atlantean healers or products ever again.” 

“Why me?” 

The agent opened another folder she was carrying. 

“You searched Atlantis comma Princess Lexa six times,” Barnes read from the folder, dragging her finger along the words there. “And Biceps comma Aquagirl, approximately a dozen.” 

The manilla folder shut quickly. 

“Per the queen herself, in conjunction with your university and the United States government, you are being offered a position at the Spindrift for research in intercontinental knowledge sharing.” 

Clarke furrowed and shook her head, not sure of what she was following entirely. There was certainly some mortification in there, she knew that, felt it eating her alive in front of the agent with an inability to change her inflection at all. 

“I find this idea the best case scenario, and you to be a complete risk to yourself and the sanctity of Atlantis,” the agent muttered, tossing the folder on the table. “Accept it so that I can watch you behave yourself and stop doing searches online of a reclusive and dangerous foreign entity that only you have visited.”

“You… you-- you hacked my computer?” 

“You are an intern and only living non-Atlantean who has been to Atlantis, of course your government is watching you.” 

“But why? I don’t know anything.” 

“You know enough.” 

“Who else has seen this?” Clarke blushed, though she attempted to hide it as best she could. There surely was no surviving this level of mortification. 

“No one.” 

“Was my offer made because of-- because I know--” she paused and took a breath. “Who did this?” 

“This offer was asked for by the Queen herself on behalf of one of her greatest medical researcher. Apparently you are the only person this researcher could tolerate.”

That feisty old broad, Clarke thought to herself as she shook her head. 

“How is… um, how-- How is the-- uh-- How is Aquaman? I heard about a battle before--”

“You have seventy-two hours to think about this. I will only ever communicate with you regarding official matters in this office, and anything relating to activities done by Atlantean royal family are unofficial until commented upon by official state representatives.” 

“You sound like a blast at parties.”

The agent didn’t move at all at the comment. 

“I’m sorry,” Clarke apologized. “That was rude. You are just so-- intense.” 

“I’ve worked fifteen years with the King to make this a reality. If I wasn’t intense, it would be for nothing.”

“Can I ask about, um, the Prin-- about Lexa?” 

“Officially, no.” 

“Unofficially?” 

“Unofficially, no.” 

“But you just set it up like you would say something unofficial.”

“I cannot control any inferences made.” 

With growing frustration, both at the agent and herself, Clarke pursed her lips and looked down at the seal on the folder. It was something, and some sort of direction in a time when she very badly needed it. 

“Unofficially,” the agent finally started, lowering her voice. “Just save the pictures. Why would you keep searching the same thing?” 

“After a brief, embarrassed pause, Clarke nodded and looked back at the agent. 

“I’ll look this over and get back to you. Unofficially or officially or whatever, thank the Queen, if you see her.” 

The agent nodded instead of arguing, nudging her head slightly so the agents would continue to escort the scientist back toward the entrance. 

XXXXXXXXXX

Three months after her shipwreck and rescue to an untouched land, hidden in the depths of the sea by a beautiful princess with a mythical bloodline and inheritance in the shape of a trident, Clarke sat at her desk in a very small cubicle, in a very small office, with six other research associates. 

It was a very tedious job for the first few weeks, and just on the horizon was the actual research that Clarke hoped would lead to figuring out what the healer did to heal her so quickly, and if she could figure out how to help other people. 

There was an element of escapism to worke each day, enough that Clarke found herself staying late to avoid her worried family’s glances and the mothering that all of her friends did. It was appreciated but also extremely stifling for someone who was stubborn and willingly admitted it. 

“You heading out soon?” Wells asked as he shouldered his bag and looked over the cubicle wall to see Clarke’s small desk, covered with pictures of Atlantean books. 

“Yeah, in a bit,” Clarke nodded, not looking up from the notebook she was writing something down quickly. 

“I could wait around and we could go grab dinner. There’s this great place in town. Only like fifteen minutes from the main gate.” 

“I’m not sure how long a bit is going to be. I want to finish looking at this property sheet before we get samples next week.” 

Kind and bright, Wells was a soft-spoken doctoral student with a knack for keeping an eye on Clarke without being overbearing. Always firmly pressed in his khakis and tucked primly with his button downs, he hid behind thick-rimmed glasses, but ran marathons. He wasn’t overwhelming in the eye he kept on his co-worked. Sometimes, Clarke thought he might even fancy her a little bit.

When Wells didn’t say anything, Clarke looked up and offered a smile as he debated the next step for the evening. 

“Get out of here,” Clarke told him. “I won’t be too much longer, and some quiet will help me.” 

“If you’re sure.” 

“I’ll see you on Monday.” 

“Have a good weekend.” 

Clarke watched him nod and returned to her work, doing her best to transcribe an ancient language with limited training and the most basic knowledge of what some of the ancient plants used. She felt like an archaeologist, investigating something she would never truly understand, and yet she’d been there. She’d heard the words spoken. 

The ‘little bit’ she mentioned gradually turned into a while, and the evening settled outside on the water, calming it until the waves were nearly non-existent. There was still a fading light outside when Clarke closed her notebook and shut her laptop for the evening, and it only truly disappeared after she shouldered her bag and shoved in a few folders to work on over the weekend. 

With a final look around the office, Clarke nodded and made her way to the door, preparing for two long days of her parents making sure she was alright. She needed her own place, and enough space to stop thinking about--

“Lexa?” 

The same smile, the same caught look in her eyes, the same stance, the same eyes-- the entire package looked back at Clarke expectantly. Gone were the formal Atlantean clothes, and in their place was simple jeans and an old sailor’s sweater, a shoulder lovingly patched by expert hands. Gone were the intricate braids and armor, and instead a wild mane perched itself atop Lexa’s head, blown about by the wind and her hands in equal measure. 

“You’re here late.” 

“You’re here.” 

“You said you’d be close.” 

Without meaning to, Clarke took a step forward before catching herself. Lexa tucked her arms behind her back, ever vigilant to remain proper and royal. 

“Have you eaten?” Clarke finally broke the quiet. 

“You were my first stop after my grandfather’s. I don’t know my way around land that well.” 

“I’m honored.” 

“Care to show me around?” 

The question came with a grin, and Lexa extended her elbow willingly, waiting for Clarke to take it again as she hadn in the Hanging Gardens. That was all she needed, to remember that it hadn’t been a dream, that three days, three months ago happened. 

There really wasn’t a question to it at all. 

Clarke nodded, smiled, and took the arm offered to her, and whatever else would come attached.

NEXT

[sableu3]

Day 51

100 Days of 100 Prompts 

 *simulation ended* “Clarke, you’ll be paired with Bellamy Blake. The two of you really excelled in survival, leadership, and partnership. There were a few mishaps in the simulation of course but it really is remarkable how the two of you kept coming back to each other, forgiving each other and working together to save mankind.”

Clarke sat up and grunted, bringing a hand to her head at the dull ache that throbbed through it. She was in a lavender room with a man in grey typing away on a hologram screen.

“Ah, yes. The headache and confusion should dissipate soon. It’s an unfortunate side effect of the compatibility process.” The man said.

“What?” She croaked out, but before he could answer a door panel slid open and Bellamy came through with another person dressed in grey.

“Clarke?” He was in white scrubs and rushed toward her as soon as he noticed her in the room. “Are you okay?”

“Bellamy.” She breathed his name out in relief as she grasped his arms. She still didn’t know what was going on but she was thankful they were together.

“I know they say it’s better to let couples process together but I’ve never seen anything like these two before.” The woman who came in with Bellamy commented.

“I know. They have a record breaking compatibility and they were really put through the ringer in the testing process. You got here just in time though.” The man turned to them and folded his arms behind his back as he addressed them. “Alright, I’m Tristan, this is Ellen, and we were your techs for the duration of the testing. As I said, the confusion should clear shortly and you’ll remember the real world soon enough. You’ve been in a mindscape test to determine your placement and compatibility.”

“Placement for what?” Bellamy asked.

“For life, of course. The two of your ranked rather high so you’ll be in good positions, I’m sure. Not to worry.”

“And how is that placement determined?” Clarke asked.

“By how you respond to the situations in the simulation. You are given certain choices that determine the course of the simulation and I’ve got to hand it to you two, you did not choose the easy path. Some of the higher ups threw you a few loops like ALIE and the death wave to see how you’d respond, just because you did so well with the other situations. We got a little worried a few times but by the end of it,”  Tristan shook his head, grinning, “You guys nailed it. It was remarkable to watch, really.”

Clarke and Bellamy shared a look. “Um…Exactly how long is it going to take before we remember the ‘real world’ because if that was all a simulation, I’ve got to tell you, I’m getting some pretty strong Bardo vibes right now.”

The techs looked startled for a moment before Ellen laughed nervously, “It could take a few days to filter back in. You don’t want to rush it and risk a hemorrhage in your brain. Just let it come back as it comes back. You’ll be set up in your own set of rooms for now until you are ready to rejoin society.” She hesitated a moment before adding, “I understand your testing process was much more intense than the normal version so please keep in mind that the people you knew in the mindscape, both ally and enemy, are based on real people that you might later run into here. You should give it a moment for the memories to return before reacting in a strong way.”

Tristan nodded along, “Yes, you made friends of people in the mindscape you hadn’t been friends with out here and also enemies of others that you were previously friendly with. This isn’t normally an issue but…” He trailed off.

Clarke could imagine the rest.

“What about the others?” Bellamy asked.

“Oh, a few of them were simulated but based on real people, just to see how you’d react to certain situations. Raven, for example, is our lead tech here. She thought you guys did amazing by the way. But John and Emori, Miller and Jackson, and a few others, are coming out of their own mindscapes as we speak. It’s not just a placement testing after all. It also tests to see who you are most compatible with and chooses your life partner.”

“Life partner?” Clarke asks startled.

“Like, marriage?” Bellamy asks.

“Yes, of course. You’ll be married at the time of your placement ceremony.”

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Promises & a white tiger' : New chapter for "Always for the greater cause..." is out !

Chapter Summary: Promises are spoken about between some people as Bell & the team is leaving East-Berlin to see what's on the other side of the Iron Curtain...right into the US.

To read it on AO3, click here!

Taglist: @snowgoldwaylon , @clxudtea , @efingart

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

24th February 1981

Bellamy Petrov, Perseus

Hotel room in the Palasthotel, East-Berlin

The awakening was a bit hard for me to endure when I opened my eyes and getting greeted by the blinding light of the sun, my brain still trying to process and remember what I did last night with Portnova and the first thing I could see was seeing myself drinking with her when we arrived here in that hotel room before making love on the bed. Nonetheless, I gasped from that, as I was almost looking shit as if Knight punched me in the face for real but it was just me, still feeling the drunkenness in my body...dammit...

I was only wearing a pair of boxers under the sheets, nothing covering my chest & my legs as my clothes were all gathered around on a pile near the side of my bed. Portnova, at her side, was sleeping well, looking away from me and I let her be, knowing that she was better like this & not wanting to disturb her...and get stabbed by surprise as she was the type of person that could do that. Better to leave her waking up on her own. With that in mind, I decided to take my clothes and dress up.

"You're already leaving?" I stopped myself while I was putting on my jeans as I heard Portnova's muffled voice behind me.

"Oh, no, not at all, love," I reassured her, resuming to put on the jeans, making some little noises with them.

"So, why are you dressing up?" She asked me, hearing her move from her side and when I slowly turned my head around after getting my jeans, she was sitting on the bed, using the sheets to cover her top, having crossed her legs and her eyes were narrowing at me. "Always been like you, right, Bellamy?" She added, slightly slide her head on the left.

"Come on, don't start," I mumbled, taking in my hands my black shirt.

"Always saying beautiful & flirty things, making love and then disappear in the morning, only leaving a little note for me," She said, refuting my suggestion to not speak about it, having launched a hot topic between us.

"Portnova, I'm not like that, you know that," I tried to protest, moving my head away from her to focus on getting my shirt on me.

"Oh, really? That wasn't something you did last time & many countless times?" She demanded, sending rightful shame in me, having in fact done this but regretting it fully.

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay?" I sniffed away, my eyes looking at the outside of the hotel room, the day raising, the city all alive. "I was stupid at that time...just that," I continued, putting on my shirt, and once done, I looked at the ground, my hands on my lap. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"No, I'm the one to be sorry here," She breathed, hearing her move a little on the bed, feeling her presence near me. "It's just that...I'm sometimes afraid about you," She admitted as her hands were getting on the top of my shoulders, her thumbs staying on the back of them.

"I know, it's our work that keeps us apart but I don't want you to be with me in the Collective because I don't want to harm you..." I started as she was rubbing my shoulder, going slowly, surely as a form of apology at me even if I needed to apologize too. "...and you know well that I will never leave my father's organization,"

"Never?" Portnova whispered.

"Never," I replied, my voice been all honest about it. "We're both tasked to defend their interests: me with my father, you with your loyalty to the Motherland," I snorted, tapping with my fingers on my lap as a means to destress a bit. "We can be together but it will take time until we can live each day like a normal day, our work is going to be successful," I affirmed, impossible for me to not be with her.

"To say that I've got the luck to be with the man that is almost the prodigy and maybe future leader of your father's Collective," She confessed to me, giving me a big smile on my face, happy because it was sure that my father was going to let me take control soon. "And you, were you lucky to meet one of the best KGB agents?" She demanded, putting her left hand below my chin and directing my head to look at her.

"Of course I am," I muttered, landing a kiss on her lips as her arms were moving around me as a sign of making me stay but it was something I wanted to, knowing that work was going to be something that I will do later in the day. "Tell me, did we drink a lot last night?" I asked her, curious.

"Yeah but we almost got the whole bottle finished...and making love fully drunken isn't so exciting if we don't remember everything," She responded with a laugh at me that I followed too, seeing myself as the one who was going to drink the whole bottle by myself. "You were looking like someone who didn't drink vodka for a long time," She stated, smirking.

"With work, we ain't got the time to do what we want," I stated as she finally let me look away from her as she decided to get sit next to me, holding my right hand in her left one. "Stitch always saying that we couldn't let the 'fun' get in our way, him seeing only his hatred for Adler...and of course, the thing we're doing,"

"With that Bell, right?" I nodded at her question.

"It doesn't please me to play the 'best friends with her but what Stitch & Wraith did to her, it's really fucked up," I exclaimed, giving my thoughts to her on that situation, a little knot in the chest just by thinking of the last part I talked. "I'm like...shocked and thinking that there were no choices about it,"

"Doing that isn't human but..." Portnova wanted to continue in her words, looking by her but she stopped herself, closing her mouth and not saying anything as if she couldn't give an opinion on it. "No, I can't really give my opinion on it, I'm not well placed for that," She told me clearly as I thought.

"We're still trying to find out who is she and guess who got the job to do it? Me," I sighed, something that I didn't want to and it has to be Wraith doing it at me.

"Oh, at least, you're not..." The sound of a little device inside my jeans left pocket interrupted her sentence as I rolled my eyes in annoyance, moving my left hand to take out the little pager that each member of the team was given to communicate instead of using the phone.

"For fuck sake..." I cursed, seeing the message that was sent to me on the pager, the long sentence crossing. "Stitch is asking me to come to the airport in one hour, we're leaving," I resumed even if Portnova's eyes were looking at it too. "I'm sorry, love but it's important, I need to go," The pain of not enjoying a simple morning with her was coming in my voice and body as I got up from the bed.

"As always but...no, it ain't your fault, Bellamy," She said, acknowledged that it wasn't really my fault if Stitch can't fucking decide himself on when I was needed, having said to me last night that he wasn't going to disturb me when I talked about seeing Portnova again. "It's okay, Bellamy, you can call me at any time, you know that I'm free," She reassured me, taking my hands before I leaned towards her for a little kiss.

"Up to next time then...bye Yiri," I snorted, a bit sad in me as I started to walk away from the bed, leaving Portnova alone.

"Good luck & stay safe, Bellamy," She waved at me when I opened the door of the hotel room, returning the favor before stepping out in a big hallway, and then closing the door of the room, not having tears or pain at all, just angry about things and Stitch...

To say, that asshole is good in keeping people away...

-------------------------------

24th February 1981

Yirina 'Bell' Grigoriev, Ex-KGB, Perseus

On a cargo plane above the United States airspace

We didn't take too long after I woke up with a start before Stitch decided to make us go into the US earlier than thought and after getting my stuff ready with the others and also Bellamy who came a bit late, we took the direction of the same secret runway that I & Stitch came in where a big military cargo plane labeled as a fake American plane was waiting for us before installing ourselves in it in the cargo hold, and then, taking off for a long flight to the USA, also having taken with us, Smirnov, still in interrogation.

As the flight was going to be very long, half a day and knowing that I didn't want to arrive in Denver, our destination in the US, completely exhausted and having stayed awake for 12 hours, I decided that it was better for me to take asleep, leaving the others in their talks & thoughts as I laid myself down on the bench on the left side of the plane, the others keeping a safe distance within each other, and then, I closed my eyes, trying to sleep with the engines of the plane making the biggest noises.

However, I was scared to actually sleep after what happened last night when I passed out, and as I thought, my worst fears came back but this time, it was more different than before...everything looking so strange...so real, like in that weird dream. The usual pictures were coming but there were briefer and faster in my head before I was then ejected in another dream as I did...and it was strange...so strange...

I was in a sort of a queue behind some people as...the woman who was with me in that last dream was here too, holding my right hand but still impossible to see her face and anything that could really help to know who she was as my surroundings were also not helpful as if someone was forcing me to not make me look at everything around me but there was a little detail that was not hidden from me...

It was...the picture of a white tiger on the wall in front of me, behind a sort of reception desk and that was the only thing I could see: a white tiger, his front paws in the airs...but it was so quick for me that in a second, my eyes were forcibly closed by something that couldn't be me and I struggled, giving every fiber of my bones to get them open...until I heard a noise, feeling myself move and finding myself back into that bench in the cargo bay of the plane, enlightened by red lights.

"Always been a big drunk, right, Bellamy?" That was Knight's voice that I could hear when I opened my eyes, seeing him in front of me at the other side of the plane along with Bellamy & Stitch as Wraith was on my side.

"Hey, big guy, my private life isn't concerning you," Bellamy called him out and to say, I think that Stitch got a good idea by putting himself between Bellamy & Knight even if his face was regretting it. "If I want to see my girlfriend, I'll go,"

"Pfft, we all know that it's just for having an insider in the KGB," Knight spoke up, crossing his arms and looking away from him...to me. "Hey, seems that Bell is waking up," He told everyone as I was getting myself redressed on the bench, everyone's eyes on me.

"Slept well, Bell?" Wraith asked me in a curious voice.

"Yeah, just a bit strange, seeing things but I'm good," I replied, my right hand holding my head and scratching my forehead, looking at her before the others. "What's the deal?" I demanded, speaking to Knight directly, sort of stepping in their conversation.

"Bellamy mentioned his 'girlfriend' to us minutes ago," Knight responded, even gesturing with his fingers to me, seeing Bellamy roll his eyes around.

"I love her, Knight, knock yourself out if you can't find anyone else," Bellamy scoffed and surprisingly, Knight only responded by a laugh to him, Bellamy didn't react at this, not even clenching his fists in anger or annoyance. "She's not our insider, she's my lover, understood?" He clarified, his eyes crossing towards everyone in the cargo bay.

"Bell," Stitch's voice spoke up, surprising me as he was staying silent. "You said that you saw things, what things?" He asked me, referring to my words a few seconds ago, having get his attention on that.

"I don't think that it's really interesting," I thought clearly as this moment was not very important to talk about.

"Tell us, it can be good to know," Stitch insisted, even leaning towards me on his seat, a hand on his left knee, the other around his waist.

"Yeah, what did you see?" Wraith joined in as Knight & Bellamy...everyone in the team was having their eyes on me, everyone looking interesting to know what I saw.

"You're all very insistent, aren't you?" I questioned them all and everyone nodded at me without any shame, making me take a deep breath, already feeling the shame of what I will say. "It was weird but I was in a sort of reception room...and the only thing I could see perfectly...was a white tiger," I said, putting my eyes on the ground once I was done.

"A white tiger?" Bellamy repeated, sounding a bit confused. "You were in a zoo or something?" He joked...the only one to do this.

"Why did you see a white tiger, Bell?" Knight demanded, also leaning towards me. "Just by curiosity, not to pressure you," He added, meaning it by the tone of his voice.

"I don't know, to be honest, it's just all weird," I responded, my hands a bit trembling under my gloves and I clenched them, trying to hide that from the others. "As I told you, it wasn't this interesting at all," I exclaimed, seeing on everyone's face that the thing I see wasn't that big.

"As you thought, I'm joining you, it shouldn't be too important for you," Stitch claimed, a smile on his face to reassure me that I shouldn't worry about it before exchanging a glare with Wraith, "What do you think, Wraith?"

"Oh, I'm like you," Wraith affirmed, having crossed her legs on the bench before looking at me, also with a little smile...and another hidden wink, making me blush. "I hope that the American air will maybe change your thoughts," She supposed in a joking tone.

"We'll see about that, last time I was here wasn't so nice for me...and our beloved Irish," Bellamy stated, breaking a laugh towards Knight, hands on the bench.

"Again? Let me say this to you: it was YOUR fault if that British agent got away if you weren't joking around with her during the beating you were trying to give her," Knight rolled her eyes while sniffing away, pointing with his finger Bellamy, avoiding to do this to Stitch.

"A British agent?" I stepped inside their arguments, "What's her name?"

"You don't need to know about this, Bell," Wraith joined in too, having taken out a knife that she was inspecting closely. "And besides, the two also forgot her name, so don't hope on the two," She added, shrugging at the two.

"Everyone." A loud voice interrupted our discussion, coming from the cargo hold speakers. "We'll be landing in Denver in a few minutes," It was surely the pilot announcing this to us before the speakers went off.

"Naga & Jackal are already waiting for us at the temporary safe house in Colorado Springs, they were sent in before as the two were assigned with Aldrich," Stitch spoke up in the cargo hold, resuming the conversation and his look was mostly focused on me. "We don't know how much time we'll be staying in the US but we'll have to stay focused and not attracting any big attention on us," He added, gesturing at everyone & me who nodded.

"Don't worry, Stitch, we ain't amateurs," Bellamy claimed, crossing his arms before looking in the direction of the big bay door as the plane was slowly descending in the skies, meaning that we were going to land soon at Denver...

"Let's see again how is the American Dream from up close,"

[kl4us4]

Reassurance (Bellamy Blake x Fem!Reader) 

Request: hiya, i love your writing so much!! can you write one that is bellamy x reader and basically when raven is tied up because she’s chipped and is taunting everyone and the reader and bellamy are a couple and raven taunts them about when bellamy and her slept together before the reader and him were together?? super fluffy is you can pls 💓(sorry if that didn’t make sense oops) thanks in advance!! xx

Warning: coarse/vulgar language, sexual themes.

the 100 masterlist

bellamy blake masterlist

Raven lays, tied up, eyes wandering the room for her next target. You wish you didn’t feel bad for her, you know Ravens going to be okay - she has to be - but for the moment you can’t stop the hopelessness that seeps into your heart as you look at Ravens exhausted body.

Noticing your eyes filled with worry, Bellamy takes your hand in his. His warm touch instantly calms you, and you release the tension you didn’t know you were holding in your shoulders.

“Hey,” he whispers, giving your hand a squeeze as you turn to face him, “How are you doing?”

You sigh, giving him a small shrug, “Probably same as you,” you admit to him, forcing a smile on your lips, “It sucks seeing your friends hurt.”

“Friend?” Raven speaks up, or at least the monster controlling her does, “You think she’s your friend?” ALLIE refers to Raven, rolling her eyes and letting out a scoff.

To start with, you and Bell try to ignore Raven, not even wanting to give her the satisfaction of getting a rise from either of you. “I’m sure it’ll be over soon,” Bellamy smiles, pressing a quick kiss to your lips, “it’s only a matter of time.”

Raven hums loudly, “Isn’t he a great kisser?”

You frown, almost laughing at loud at the ridiculous nature of the question. Turning to Raven, you send her an incredulous look, “What?”

“Bellamy,” she responds, her brown eyes drifting to your boyfriend, looking him up and down slowly. It makes your heart race as a frown finds its way to your face, “His lips. They’re perfect, at least that’s what Raven thinks.”

Crossing your arms, you watch Raven closely, “Didn’t realise Raven had a crush on Bell.” You smile, nonchalant as you try to ignore the gut feeling that ALLIE is talking about more than just some crush.

Bellamy is stiff, his hand pressing against yours slightly as he becomes nervous, “Just ignore her, she’s trying to get a rise from us. And it won’t work.”

Raven smirks, tilting her chin up and staring Bellamy down, “I know a few things that could work on you... love.”

Your face falls. The faint resemblance of disbelief and laughter turns into something more serious. Letting go of your hand, Bellamy points a finger at Raven, as his voice booms, “Don’t call me that.”

“Bell?” You mumble, your voice sounding small and unsure, “What’s she talking about?”

Ravens head snaps to you and the corners of her lips stretch upwards, “You mean you don’t know about us?”

“There’s nothing to know.” Bellamy shuts it down, his expression furious at the emotionless girl on the bed, “Come on, let’s just go.”

Bellamy reaches for your hand but you pull it away gently as your eyes stare up into his, “I don’t know...” you mutter quietly, “It sounds like there is something to know.”

“Well!” Raven announces, sitting upright on the bed. The chains around her wrists and ankles clank together in harmony as she smiles devilishly at you, “You know how Bellamy’s obsessed with kissing the other persons neck during sex?”

Your eyes are wide, your lips slightly parted. You can’t help but stare at Raven, your eyes even dart down to her neck for a split second as you stand there, still and silent, somewhere between utterly embarrassed and completely betrayed. “I-I don’t understand.” You mumble, like an idiot, not wanting to connect the dots just yet.

“It was one time,” Bellamy’s presence beside you feels heavy and attentive, “Long ago.”

“Yeah, so!”

“ALLIE, stop.” Bellamy orders, giving her a glare.

Raven continues, “Bellamy had left all these hickeys on my neck, the animal, and the next day I had to wear a jacket even though it was summer and the dropship heats up like crazy!”

“Y-You and...” you glance at Bellamy before looking to the ground, “You and Raven got together? When we were on Earth?”

“Oh, you didn’t know?” ALLIE speaks up, acting innocent and casual, “Why would your boyfriend keep such a thing from you?”

Bellamy runs a hand down his face, “Because it didn’t mean anything compared to what you mean to me, Y/N.” He admits, looking down at you. His eyes never leave yours, “Nothing is more important than you.”

“Was it... before or after we got together?” You’re almost too scared to ask the question but you do it anyway. You can’t help but look away from him.

“Oh God,” he mutters sincerely as he takes a hold of your hands, “Before. I’d never do that to you.”

Raven sighs, “He needed someone to practice on before you showed up. He couldn’t handle coming so quickly but I guess he couldn’t help himself.”

“Shut up.” Bellamy snaps, turning his head to send ALLIE a glare.

Raven looks up to the ceiling, “And oh, fuck, the way he moans when he comes!”

“I said shut up!” Bellamy let’s go of your hand once more.

You cringe, shutting your eyes for a split second before rushing out of the room, Bellamy’s footsteps close behind as he shouts as someone else to look after Raven. You feel as though your heart is about to cave in, you’ve never felt so jealous and utterly unwanted in your life.

“Hey, hey!” Bell chases after you, pressing a hand to your shoulder.

“Don’t touch me.” You snap, turning around to face him. Upon seeing his face fall, you step away. “I’m not in the mood to be touched. Sorry.”

He shakes his head, raising his hand in surrender, “It’s okay. You don’t have to apologise, I do. I’m sorry I never told you about Raven and me, it just happened in the past. It didn’t mean anything, truly.”

You shrug your shoulders, “Bellamy, I don’t care about you and Raven.”

“You don’t?”

“No.” You admit, “We’re adults, we were both with other people before we started dating. I just...”

“What’s wrong, baby?” His voice is gentle and calming.

You sigh loudly, you’re frustrated, “I hate feeling jealous.” 

“Oh.”

“I absolutely hate it,” you seethe, clenching your fist, “and just hearing her, fuck, hearing her fucking talk about you like that made me want to lose my mind.”

Bellamy nods, “you’re not usually the jealous type.”

“Yeah,” you agree, “but that was a whole other level.”

“I know, baby,” Bellamy sighs, examining you with his brown eyes, “I’m sorry that happened. Is there anything I can do to make it better?”

Feeling calmer now that the two of you are alone, you take a deep breath and walk towards his open arms. “I can touch you?”

“Yeah.” You smile, resting your head on his chest as you close your eyes. Breathing in his scent, you wrap your arms around him and he does the same to you. Bellamy’s hand traces patterns on your back and you just smile.

“I love you,” he whispers to you, “always.”

“I love you too, Bell.” You reply, pulling back to press a kiss to his warm cheek.

TAGLIST: relentlessgame captainlini @mesmericbell @cctaviasblake paul-steroline-lover @imaginexmeintheuniverse @bellamyblakemorley twisted-tasty14 mika-xxx

[t100ficrecsblog]

an interview with @queenemori (she/hers)

what are you working on right now? I recently started posting We Don’t Need To Say It, which is a multi-chap Memori actor AU. It’s a slow burn, don’t ask me how I looked at Murphy and Emori and decided to write a slow burn, but it’s what’s happening. I really do mean slow, the chapter I just finished writing is only the beginning of the angst, you’ve been warned. My beta tells me she hates me at least once a chapter if you want an idea of how angsty this is gonna get. I started out writing for Bellarke in this fandom, and I’ll be going back to that later this summer. Anyone who follows me knows I’m obsessed with Emma, and I have an Emma Bellarke AU that’s in the outlining stages currently. I’m hoping to work on it more once I get further into this Memori fic.

what’s something you’d like to write one day? The fic I’m working on now is actually the thing that I was like, “I want to write that one day”. I love actor AUs and I wanted to write one for some fandom at some point, and in January I got this idea, but I was working on other stuff, so I was like, well maybe I’ll write it this summer. And now I am! Though I would like to write something featuring dad!Murphy in the near future.

what is the fanwork you’re most proud of? It’s actually one I haven’t published yet! I participated in Bellarke Big Bang this year, and I wrote a soulmates rom-com fic. I’m excited to share it soon once we get the go-ahead, and the artist I got to work with @clarkeindra has made some amazing art to go with it! For ones that you can actually go physically read, I will say You’re Already Breaking My Heart. It was my first fic I wrote for t100 fandom, and also the first thing I wrote after a really long time of just not writing anything, so I’m proud of it for getting me back into something I love and I’m glad that other people seemed to enjoy it. It’s what got me more into this fandom in the first place and how I made some of my first friends.

why did you first start writing fic? I got more into writing around the time I started college, though I always used to write little stories. There were a few times I almost wrote fanfic before then, like the time I almost wrote a Glee fic in ninth grade, or the time my junior year of high school where I almost wrote a Downton Abbey fic where Sybil and Branson were pen pals while Sybil was on her nurses course in season 2. But the summer before college, I wanted to write, and didn’t have any ideas for characters, but I had just read a really amazing next-gen Harry Potter fic called “Potters, Weasleys, and Misguided Snogging” which made me ship Scorpius Malfoy and Lily Luna Potter, or Scorily. So I started writing a couple stories specifically for that ship, back when I still used FF.net. It was just a one-shot and a multi-chap I never finished, but it was fun to interact with people and get to hear what they liked about the story and that they hoped I continued it, so I guess I caught the fic writing bug then.

what frustrates you most about fic writing? I wish people would leave more kudos. I’ve had this discussion with some friends before where they’re like, “What makes you leave kudos on a fic?” and I leave kudos on most fics I read, so it’s very interesting to hear people say they don’t do that as liberally as I do. If I made it to the end of the story, I’m probably going to leave kudos. The writer kept me engaged long enough to get to the end, which I think is worthy of showing some sort of support, even if I don’t leave a comment. Though I am trying to get better about leaving comments more often. Kudos are a very low stakes way to show you like a story that someone put out. Afraid to comment, but want to show the author you enjoyed reading? Leave kudos. A couple of stories I have out have gotten a fair amount of hits, but the amount of kudos in comparison to the amount of people who have probably opened it is a little disheartening. I’ve also heard people say they don’t want to leave kudos on stories that have been out for a while, but I love to get kudos on my old work! It’s fun to see that people are still reading things I put out in like 2017 or even just last year. Kudos brighten my day just as much as comments do sometimes, especially when I know not everyone feels comfortable leaving a comment!

what are your top five songs right now? The answer to this is 98% always related to what I’m listening to when I’m working on a certain writing project lol.

Sweet by Cigarettes After Sex Heartbreak Weather by Niall Horan I Will Follow You into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie Bye-Bye Darling by Borns Fire for You by Cannons

what are your inspirations? Red, White & Royal Blue, since I read that recently. It honestly just made me want to write a movie, and I kind of hope that whatever TV or movie adaptation it ends up getting in the future I’m able to work on. I want to be a screenwriter, so I tend to get inspired by TV a lot. The Mindy Project, Insecure, and even Never Have I Ever are big inspirations for me. Or more like, anything that Issa Rae or Mindy Kaling are involved in, to be honest. I write a lot of modern AUs, so just anything that shows good relationship progression or has fun with mundane, everyday situations.

what first attracted you to Memori? what attracts you now? So fun fact, I stopped watching the show for a bit. I binged basically two seasons in a weekend while visiting a friend in like 2017, and I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t obsessed? Then I started s3 and a bunch of characters were getting on my nerves so I put it down for a while. Then I was on Tumblr at the beginning of 2019 and saw a gifset from 3x05 of Murphy and Emori kissing and I was kind of like, “That guy’s still alive? And he has a girlfriend?” So I started watching again, legit only because I was shook Murphy had survived lol. So the thing that first attracted me to them was just the fact that they were a couple at all, I guess. I’d say now that I’ve rewatched the show and seen their relationship develop, I love that these are two people who have always had to fend for themselves and kind of had that “me against the world” mentality. And then they find this other person that cares about them and wants to take care of them, and life becomes a lot less lonely. Also now we get to see their relationship after years together, so they’re very domestic, which adds this lovely sense of normalcy on this post-apocalyptic sci-fi show that I absolutely adore. Their interactions especially in s7 just read as a married couple who are very comfortable with each other, but still incredibly devoted to one another and in love.

Besides Memori, what character or pairing do you like best on t100? For ships, I also really like Bellarke. When I was more casually watching the first time around, I didn’t have much of an opinion on them/didn’t really ship it until season 4, but ever since then I’ve been on board. It’s very clear I’m a huge Memori person, but I do ship Murven, though mainly in AU settings. And Memoraven are my OT3!! My other fave character is Bellamy. And I feel like Gabriel has also quickly become a favorite for me. It’s definitely a mixture of his confused, but obsessed with science vibe on the show and the fact that he has been very fun to write in my actor AU when he makes appearances every so often.

why did you decide to start writing for bellarkefic-for-blm? Ever since I’ve been home due to the pandemic, writing has kind of been my escape. Weirdly enough, I’ve written so much (both fic and some real life stuff), even though I’m still working and everything like that. And when the BLM movement was getting a lot of traction specifically in our fandom spaces, I was immediately skeptical of people’s intentions because as a Black person in America specifically I’ve seen this happen before where all the attention is on this issue for a couple weeks and then everyone goes back to posting what they normally post about. And I guess this time things are a bit different, but the thing that began to frustrate me was seeing people shame others for saying they were going to watch the next episode of the show or for working on their fanfic. Fandom spaces have been my biggest escape from the news since March and while I was glad people were focusing on this sort of thing, I kind of hated the way people were making it out to be like this was a new issue when in reality it’s just my life. When I close my laptop and go out into the world, I’m still Black. I had considered opening my ask box up for prompts in exchange for someone donating to a bail fund or something like that, especially since I had just reached a follower milestone, but when I saw that Sam was organizing this and it was going to be an ongoing thing rather than just for a certain period of time, it was heartening to see someone realizing that this isn’t something we can just stop talking about even when the media moves on. The structure of these prompts makes it so that a person has to do a bit of research on BLM and educate themselves or confront the issue in a way they might not have had to before. And it gives me a chance to write things like my fluffy Memori wedding fic ! It’s a way to have my little fandom escape and also stay aware of what’s going on in the real world.

what’s your writing process like (esp for prompts, chopped!, etc)? I LOVE outlines! The Virgo in me loves to talk about my fic outlining process lol. With some short one-shots, I tend to just go in with a sentence or concept that I write at the top of the document and just write and see where that takes me. I also put at the top of the document all the things I want to tag it as when I go to post to AO3, so I don’t have to spend too much time thinking of those when it’s time to post. With multi-chap fics, I first make an ideas dump document which is just me typing out a bunch of thoughts, things like who’s in it, the premise, stuff like that. My actor AU has three preliminary documents: My ideas dump, the actual outline, and then the outline for what happens on each season of the TV show the characters are all on, since I reference those plot points a lot. For things like Chopped or prompts I receive, I do a mixture of the outline/ideas dump in one document. I put at the top all the information I received (so with prompts I tend to just copy/paste the ask from my inbox, and for Chopped the different tropes and theme), then think about what characters I want to use if it wasn’t specified, then kind of do bullet points on what happens in the story. These have all been really helpful in terms of keeping me on track, but I make sure to remind myself that things can change as I write and take a different direction than I expected. So my outlines are constantly changing, but the general idea is already written somewhere so I don’t get too stuck.

what are your thoughts on dad!murphy? The concept of dad!Murphy has really been living rent-free in my brain since before the beginning of season 7. I just kind of love the idea of Murphy (who is a character at first glance I feel like people don’t picture as much of a father figure) kind of falling into being a dad in an unexpected way, and then realizing how much he loves it. It’s just such a sweet thought, and I talked about it so much with some of my friends, that we started a Dad!Murphy Enthusiast Club server on discord (we’re always accepting members so DM me if you’d like to join us!). We just kind of talk about our dad!Murphy headcanons, share fics featuring dad!Murphy, and then get excited when people make new dad!Murphy content. It’s a fun time and though I am a very large Memori, I’m a multi-shipper at heart, and Murphy is one of those characters that I find easy to ship with a lot of people, so we love dad!Murphy in all forms!

what are some things you’d like to recommend?  This is a mix of Bellarke and Memori stuff, since that’s what I mainly read.

Literally everything @mobi-on-a-mission writes, but if I must get specific, then Revive and The Cockroach. 

Almost Paradise (We’re Knocking On Heaven’s Door)  by @nakey-cats-take-bathsss , 13 hours by Kats_watermelon, feat. by Debate, and of course, my comfort fic so i sing a song of love  by twilightstargazer.

The best place to find @queenemori is here on Tumblr. You can find her ao3 here. Request a fic written by her via @bellarkefic-for-blm.

[slytherinbarnes]

Sub Rosa [29]

xvi. blood must have blood, pt. 2

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 3.6k

Warnings: Death, angst, language, mass murder, blood, torture.

Summary: You, Bellamy, and Clarke discover how far you’ll go to save your people.

a/n: THE FINALE IS HERE!!! if you want season three, let me know, because I want to make sure there’s enough interest! i love you all little moons!!! also new episode tonight for the first time since the show went on a break, so this is a good day all around! the taglist for this series is open! I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!!!

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist // map

You and Bellamy are still standing and staring at the cages, silent and confused, Maya’s sobs soft behind you. 

You turn and look at him, “We should take care of Vincent.”

He nods and you both walk back over to Maya. You drop down across from her, reaching for her hand. “Go get your suit and as much oxygen as you can, we’ll take care of your father.”

She opens her mouth to say something, and sensing a protest, you squeeze her hand. “You shouldn’t have to see him like this.”

She lets out another sob before nodding, and Jasper helps her to her feet. You pass Monty your gun. “You two go with her. Meet back here.”

They nod and turn from the room, leaving you and Bellamy to look down at Vincent’s body. You shake your head, pushing away the emotions that threaten to rise, before whispering, “We need a sheet.”

Bellamy nods and jogs out of the room, towards the Quarantine rooms on the same floor. You kneel beside Vincent and push his eyelids closed as you whisper, “In peace, may you leave this shore. In love, may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, until our final journey to the ground. May we meet again.”

You wipe away the tears that slipped down your cheek as Bellamy steps back into the room, sheet in hand. He lays it beside Vincent’s body and you both carefully lift him onto it, before wrapping him up the best you can. Then you carry his body down to one of the Quarantine rooms and place him in one of the beds before you both head back to the harvest room and wait for the others. 

You only have to wait a few minutes before they arrive, Maya now suited up. Monty walks over to you and Bellamy and whispers, “All of the canisters were half full and we could only find a couple.”

“Shit.”

You look at Bellamy, opening your mouth to say something when you hear the sound of banging nearby. Your brows pull together as you ask, “What was that?”

“What?”

When you hear it again you take off running, the others following you in confusion as you run past the harvest cages and into the intake room. Once there, you stop and listen again, turning to the others when you can hear voices from the other side of the door. Bellamy pulls out his gun and motions for you to do the same, and you lift them as he uses a keycard to activate the door. 

It beeps and unlocks and he pushes the door open, revealing Octavia and Clarke, looking back at you in shock. Bellamy and Octavia collide in a hug, and you run past them to grab your twin and hug her. She hugs you back, grip tight as she whispers, “I’m sorry.”

You pull away and give her a smile. “There’s nothing to forgive. Stronger together, right?”

She nods and you turn away to hug Octavia. After you pull away, you reach up to touch one of the braids in her hair. “I like this new look.”

She smiles, “I'm not so sure about yours.”

You glance down at your clothes, covered in dirt and some of Vincent’s blood, along with a layer of sweat. “This is better than it was.”

She starts to answer you, but she sees the others step into the doorway, and she runs over to greet them. You turn back to Clarke, and as you do, your eyes land on the mine cart in the corner, a pair of feet sticking out the top. You look inside and your stomach drops when you see Fox, bruised, bloodied, and dead. 

You call Bellamy over, and he walks over, tensing up as soon as he sees her. You exchange a look and walk over to Clarke, huddling together as he asks, “Where's your army?”

“Gone, just like yours. Say you have a plan.”

Bellamy shakes his head, “Not really. We need to talk to Dante, he's in quarantine.”

Just then, the tank on Maya’s tank beeps, and Jasper lifts the gauge to check the levels. “Thirty minutes, and we just changed it...It's her last tank.”

Maya whispers, “All the supplemental oxygen is on level five.”

Jasper looks at her, “Then we have to get you to level five.”

“Five isn't safe for any of us.”

He turns to you and Bellamy. “We can do this. We'll split up. You guys go for Dante. We'll help Maya.”

Everyone nods and splits into the two groups: Maya, Jasper, and Octavia for level 5, and you, Bellamy, Clarke, and Monty for quarantine. With one last exchange of smiles and nods, you break apart and walk through the doors, back into the intake area. You run past the cages and the harvest room, and once out in the hall, you go your separate ways. 

You take the lead and guide them down the hall until you reach his room, the door now wide open. You all walk into the room, stopping just inside as Dante turns to face you. You nod at him, “We need your help again.”

Dante’s eyes jump over to the camera on the wall, but Bellamy ignores his fears. “Please. We don't have much time. We need a way to get our people out of this mountain without killing everyone.”

Dante says nothing, just stares between all of you, focusing his gaze on Clarke as she steps forward. “He's not gonna help us.”

“You cut the power, risking the lives of everyone in this mountain, my people. Even the ones who helped you.”

Clarke’s voice rises as she steps even closer. “We knew they'd be safe on level five. We made sure not to destroy the turbines so you could repair them. We're the good guys here, not you.”

“Tell me, if we released your people and theirs, what would've happened to mine?”

Clarke doesn’t answer him, she just turns away and looks at Monty. “Can you get us into the command center? We need to see what's happening on level five.”

“No problem.”

She steps out of the room, and Bellamy steps forward and grabs Dante, leading him out behind Clarke, as you and Monty follow. You make it to the command center on level seven with your weapons drawn, despite Dante’s insistence that it’s not necessary. Once you reach the command center, you all stop and step back, allowing Monty to do what he needs. You eye Dante suspiciously. “Why aren't you with your people on level five?”

“After what I've done, they can be free. I can't. Deliverance comes at a cost. I bear it so they don't have to.”

You and Clarke share a look, and you can see her mind working over the phrase. Bellamy takes in a sharp breath as he comes to a realization. “It wasn't Cage. It was your idea to make the deal with the Grounders.”

He nods, and you and Clarke tense at the same time, inching towards him. Before either of you can do something stupid, the doors to the command center slide open. “We're in. Got it.”

You all file inside and close the doors behind you, while Monty makes a beeline for one of the computers in the middle of the room. He gets to work, silently typing for a minute, before the cameras and computer screens all around the room start to buzz to life. “The command center is live.”

You watch as one of the cameras in the dorms pans around the room, revealing your people chained to the wall around a table in the middle of the room. When your eyes fall to the person on the table, a drill being pushed into their leg, you gasp, and Bellamy’s voice comes out in a horrified whisper. “Is that Raven?”

As the camera pans around again, it lands on another familiar face. Clarke sees it too, because she whispers, “Mom.”

Belllamy picks up one of the radios nearby and tries to push it into Dante’s hands. “Tell them to stop. Now!”

“I won't do that.”

Your jaw clenches and you feel that familiar flare of anger move through your blood, spreading through your body like wildfire. Clarke’s eyes scan over the other feeds on the floor, and she whispers, “Emerson.”

She grabs the radio from Bellamy and lifts it to her lips. “Carl Emerson, Mount Weather Security Detail, come in.”

“Who is this?”

You see a flash of fire in her eyes. “You know who it is. Give the radio to the president.”

You all watch the video feed as Emerson grabs Cage and leads him to the edge of the room, passing him the radio. Monty makes sure to keep the cameras focused on them, no matter where they move. 

“This is President Wallace.”

“We have your father. If you don't let our people go, we'll kill him.”

“How do I know you have him?”

Clarke rolls her eyes and holds the radio out to Dante. He says, “Stay the course, Cage.”

You can see a look of fear pass over his face before it settles into disbelief. “You won't do it.”

“You don't know me very well. This ends now, release my people.”

“I can't do that.”

Clarke whispers your name and you know what she wants before she even asks. You lift your gun towards Dante, aiming for his chest. Bellamy steps closer to you, looking between you and your twin in shock. “We need him.”

You glance over at him, “What for? He’s the one that left us in this damn mountain without a choice.”

Clarke whispers into the radio, "Don't make me do this.”

Cage is silent, and you can tell he’s thinking of his options. He looks back into the mess hall, which is buzzing with people, before answering, “Dad...I'll take care of our people.”

You see a look of horror pass over Dante’s face, as he realizes that his son’s words have sealed his fate. Clarke turns to you and mutters, “Do it.”

You start to hesitate, but you think about Fox and how you promised to keep her safe, only for her to end up dead, left with no marrow. You think of Vincent, who was killed trying to save you and your friends, and you think of one of the first things he ever said to you. You turn and repeat them to Bellamy now, hoping he understands. “They’ll never stop.”

And then you pull the trigger.

The bullet hits Dante in the chest, and blood instantly starts to bloom and spread, staining his white shirt red. You can hear the blood gurgling in his lungs as he breathes, before he takes one last breath and falls to the ground. 

You turn and look at the monitor, at Cage’s fallen face, and you know he’s heard the whole thing. Clarke made sure of that. She presses the button to deliver one final warning, “Listen to me very carefully. I will not stop until my people are free. If you don't let them go... I will irradiate level five.”

Cage says nothing and lets the radio drop, before he turns to say something to Emerson, who’s standing nearby. You watch as Emerson turns and runs away, now heading towards you. “Emerson is coming for us.”

Bellamy steps over to Monty, “They deactivated my key card. Can you do that to his?”

“That one's easy.”

You all turn back to the screen and watch as Cage heads down the hall. “Where's he going?”

“The dorm.” Clarke turns away from Bellamy, and over to Monty. “Monty, can you do it? Can you irradiate the level?”

“I can do it.”

Bellamy starts to protest, “Wait a second, Clarke. We need to think about this. There are kids in there…”

“I know.”

“And people who helped us.”

“Please give me a better idea.”

You all look between each other, the tension from the conflict radiating between the three of you. Clarke is about to say something else when her eyes lift the screen, and she lets out a horrified whisper. “No.”

You turn and watch as they take Raven off the table and drag your mom over to it, strapping her down. You feel emotion rise in your chest as you watch them plunge the drill into her thigh, and her mouth opens in a scream that you can’t hear, but you swear you can feel. You turn away from the screen and you feel Bellamy slide his hand into yours and whisper, “If we do this, there is no going back.”

You look over at him. “I know. But those are our people, Bellamy, our friends. Everything we’ve done, everyone we’ve lost, it’s been for them, to save them.”

He turns back to the screen, looking at your people, before his eyes bounce to one of the cameras trained on the hall in level 5. Octavia and Maya are running down it, and Octavia takes out two guards before they turn and run into the mess hall, trying to escape. Bellamy lets out the same horrified whisper that Clarke did moments ago, as the guards descend down on the pair. 

Pounding on the door behind you alerts you to Emerson’s presence, and you watch on the cameras as he tries to break in. Your eyes go back to the cameras in the dorm, and you all watch in shock as Jasper is led inside and chained up with the others. “Jasper. They caught him.”

Monty continues to type quickly, as all of you watch the different video feeds displayed in front of you. Your people chained up and being killed, Octavia and Maya surrounded by guards, Emerson trying to break in, when suddenly Monty stops. Clarke turns to him, tense. “Why are you stopping?”

“Because I did it. All we have to do is pull this.” He points to the lever beside him. “Hatches and vents will open, and the scrubbers reverse, pulling in outside air.”

The hall camera shows Emerson pulling explosives out of his bag, and you turn to glance at the door. “He's gonna blow the door.”

“Clarke, we're out of time.”

Bellamy’s eyes float back to his sister, now caught and being restrained, and he whispers, “My sister. My responsibility.”

Clarke whispers, “I have to save them.”

And you look between them, already knowing what you're gonna do, dropping your hand onto the lever first. Clarke’s hand falls on top of yours, and Bellamy’s on top of hers. You meet each of their eyes and whisper, “Together.”

They nod and you slowly push the lever from one side to the other, before turning to watch the monitors stretched around you. Those that aren’t immune react almost immediately, freezing in place as red spots and blisters start to pop up on their skin, their mouths opening in silent screams. It doesn’t take long for the video feeds to go still, most of the people in them now dead, and Clarke mutters, “Let's go get our people.”

You leave the room quickly, making your way up to level 5, heading for the mess hall first. You all pause at the door, surveying the death and destruction you caused, eyes scanning over the bodies of the innocent mixed in with the bodies of the guilty. Clarke leads the way into the mess hall, stepping around bodies as you try to make your way over to the dorm and your people. Clarke freezes in the middle of the room, and when you look around her, you see why. Jasper is on the floor, clutching Maya’s lifeless body in his arms, crying. He looks up at all of you, angry and disgusted. “What did you do?”

You feel your heart break as you look down at Maya, your guide, the one who got you through the mountain, kept you alive. She risked it all for people she barely knew, because it was the right thing to do. You feel regret for not being able to save her. Clarke’s voice shakes when she answers, “We had no choice.”

“I was gonna kill Cage. If you'd just given me one more minute, it would've been over.”

Bellamy looks at him, repeating your words from earlier, “Jasper, they never would've stopped.”

His head drops down again, tears falling down his face, and Clarke glances back at you and Bellamy. “We have to go to the dorm.”

You follow her out of the mess hall and into the dorm, both of your eyes landing on your mom, who is sitting up on the table, Kane right beside her. Her face lights up when she sees you both and Clarke runs to her first, pulling her into a hug. Your mom meets your gaze over Clarke’s shoulder and waves you over, and you jog over to them, allowing them to pull you into a hug; the sun, the moon, and the stars finally back together again.

-

The walk back to Camp Jaha is long, slowed down by the amount of injured people in your group. Lincoln catches up with your group early on in the walk, letting you know that Cage is dead and taken care of. 

Sometime after night bleeds into day, Bellamy jogs off in search of food for the two of you, and Lincoln and Octavia step up beside you. Octavia presses something into your hand with a smile. “Almost forgot.”

You open your palm to reveal your necklace, the pretty little moon glinting at you in the sunlight, a small cluster of stars hanging beside it. “Thank you for keeping it safe.”

On the other side of you, Lincoln reaches into his pocket and says, “There’s something else.”

You turn towards him and he pulls out the Grounder knife you carried before sneaking into the mountain. “I found it in the wreckage, and I remembered seeing you with it a few times.”

He passes it to you and you look down at the knife, studying it. The girl who picked this up the first time to save her life is very different from the girl holding it now, the knife now lacking a few hundred tally marks, but you try to shake that from your mind. “Thank you, Lincoln.”

“It’s Grounder made.”

You nod, and look over at him. “Do you know whose it is?”

“It's not one that I recognize.”

You hum, and give them each another smile. “Thank you both.”

They both nod before jogging off to check on the others in the group, always worried about everyone else. You slide the star charm off the necklace and stick it in your pocket before attaching the chain around your neck, the moon now resting below your collarbone where it’s meant to be.

-

When you step through the treeline and into the clearing, you watch as the sun catches on the sign in the distance. 

Camp Jaha.

You want to cry in relief, but you follow Bellamy to the gate, and stand watch as you watch your people file into camp, home and safe. 

Bellamy stands beside you, and when the last of the group walks inside, he nudges your arm. You look over to him and he meets your gaze, before tipping his head to your twin, who is standing outside the gates and hugging Monty. Monty walks away when you both approach, and you all stand and watch the camp, now buzzing with energy. Bellamy smiles down at you and your twin. “I think we deserve a drink.”

You nod in agreement, but Clarke shakes her head. “Have one for me.”

You look over at her, catching the strange tone of her voice, and you can see the broken look on her face as she stares at the camp. You reach down and grab her hand, whispering, “We'll get through this.”

She turns to fully face you. “I'm not going in.”

“What?”

“Clarke.” You think of the burden on her shoulders, the horrors of what she’s done weighing down on her, and it reminds you of the night at the bunker with Bellamy. “If you need forgiveness, I'll give that to you. You're forgiven.”

“Take care of them for me.” She looks from you, over to Bellamy. “Take care of each other.”

Bellamy’s voice is quiet when he answers, “Clarke-”

She cuts him off, not wanting to hear his argument. “Seeing their faces every day is just gonna remind me of what I did to get them here.”

You squeeze her hand. “What we did. You don't have to do this alone. We’re stronger together.”

She looks back at the camp, and then her eyes lock with yours. “I bear it so they don't have to.”

You stare at her, long and hard, before she slips her hand from yours. She fumbles with her wrist before sliding off her watch, your father’s watch, and pressing it into your hands. And something about the act feels like something you can’t dispute, because you know her mind's made up and you’ll never be able to change it.

She steps over to Bellamy and hugs him, and you take the moment to slide the charm out of your pocket. When she turns to you, she pulls you into a tight hug, burying her face in the crook of your neck. You feel tears fall down your face as you cling to her, silently begging her to change her mind. 

She doesn’t.

She pulls away and whispers, “May we meet again.”

You hand her the star charm and when her eyes land on it, you see a flash of sorrow pass over her features. But she doesn’t reject the gift, instead she quickly slides it onto her bracelet and nods her thanks. And with one last look at you and Bellamy, she turns away, heading straight back into the woods and leaving you both to watch her leave. 

-

next chapter

[bellamygateoldblog]

I fucking love Echo. Bellamy doesn’t deserve her but I think he and Clarke deserve each other. Like I wanted Bellarke to happen so I could see Echo thrive by herself and I’m pissed that her arc this season involves her relationship with B so much cos the flashback to the ring only showed me how much he has manipulated their relationship (cutting her off with a kiss gross). He constantly moves his bar for forgiveness out of Es way but will move it for C in a heartbeat and I 😡

I can’t work out if this is the typical ‘i want her to be a strong independent woman!' (i think the other woman deserves her love interest. I think a romance makes her lesser. I think denying a badass female character love is revolutionary and not at all reinforcing rigid female character types) i see so much from bellarke shippers? In that case why shouldn’t Clarke get to be a strong independent woman, too? Echo can thrive by herself and still be loved. Also, how does a Bellarke canon need to affect Echo at all? If Echo’s to be alone “to thrive” why shouldn’t Becho just break up and that would be the end of it? There's no reason this would require her boyfriend to get together with a different woman. If you meant something different send me another message and i’ll correct myself.

S7 isn’t Echo revolving around Bellamy as his ‘girlfriend’, their relationship has always ran much deeper than that and plays a big part into her own personal development. They go way back. They’ve been having significant interactions for time, so many examples i can’t even list them- but the point is, he’s been apart of her life way before they went to space, and represents a stage of major growth for her. (truthfully don’t understand that argument that it “came out of nowhere” or “had no development” like what are you even talking about? It’s been here the whole goddamn time!)

Bellamy saved her life, she wanted to save his. Echo saved his life before he saved her life, Bellamy saved her life before she saved his- it’s what they do. The romance is obviously tied into it and she’s grieving that too, but he’s also her family, his actions gave her a family, with him gone she feels like his murderers stole the rest from her because she just isn't secure in her belief she means anything to spacekru, or anyone else, without him. Raven, Octavia, even Hope, keep on voicing her worth back to her. That’s why those scenes between these women were so significant. This arc has always been about Echo, not Bellamy. He isn’t even in the season. His kidnapping was a catalyst to embracing who she is and letting herself heal from her trauma, detaching herself from those demons that continue to haunt her.

This was said about Echo in season five, too. That she’s ‘only Bellamy’s girlfriend’ when in season five, and right here in season seven, they’ve specifically emphasised her connections with non-Bellamy characters??? In both seasons she’s had meaningful dynamics with a bunch of different characters, all which helped shape her own character and allow us to get to know her better.

I’m not sure i believe the kiss was ‘that’ bad? It doesn’t make it less concerning on Bellamy’s part but it wasn’t there specifically to say something about their relationship, it’s a pretty typical trope. I also don’t believe in the ‘power imbalance’ between them, with Bellamy pushing forgiveness out of her way when if anything the flashback showed us it was Echo that was stalling the development of romantic connection on the ring, not Bellamy. The ‘power imbalance’ between Becho was never there, regardless of what Bellarke shippers say (that argument from them is ironic imo).

I do agree, though, he forgives Clarke really easily. At first i found it outrageous he took 3 years to forgive Echo for Octavia’s near death experience when it only took a matter of minutes for him to move past Clarke’s many hurtful actions, because surely you’d be more crushed by a friend’s betrayal than an enemy’s? But i attribute this simply to her being the protagonist (put in a position by the writers where she has very little believable meaningful relationships. So it has to be forced if they want to convince us she’s important and cared about in-universe. No real effort has ever been put into building up her relationships naturally). I was also discussing this with @nomattertheoceans where we said, pretty much, the show makes it so there’s another big threat looming over to conviniently move past any smaller scale conflict between their characters. Something else to focus on, something bigger, ‘forgive me now because we don’t have time to spend on grudges.’ In space with Echo, though, they had time to sit with their feelings.

Neglecting to hold someone accountable and adjust your relationship when they cause you harm only makes you extremely vulnerable to being exposed to more harm from that person. Bellamy suffers from this imo. Most characters with relationships with Clarke suffer from this. There’s been a couple times a character has probably regretted saving her life after she’s thrown it back in their faces. But the thing is- this is about Echo. There’s absolutely no reason anyone should be bringing up Clarke, or comparing her to Clarke when she has almost nothing to do with her? Especially in seasons five and seven where Clarke is so disconnected from everyone else.

[kilibaggins]

Hey!!! Hope you are doing well! My request is Murphy/Bellamy 'coming out' to the other prisioners/100. Showing everyone their relationship. The motive why is up to you. Hope that's okay. Thank you!!!

Innocent

You want them to come out to The 100 so I made this fairly Canon-Divergent, lol. It's still gay and great tho. Also, the scene isn't exactly the same because I'm not using all the right dialogue, and actions. Clarke kicks The box Murphy was on when being hung instead of Bellamy. Also, a Grounder actually did Kill Wells.

I hope this is good for you :)

Sorry if i made Clarke the "bad guy" I just needed someone to do it other than Bellamy.

Warning: Hanging (but no death), G A Y (lol),

Word Count: 1,347

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Murphy had been working on the wall all day and night. No matter how stupid he found Clarke and all of the others who think they should work together with rules, he knows this is important. They aren't sure what's actually out there, so they have to prepare. He swears he's been on wall duty Making sure it's strong enough to those who want to get in, can't. And completely out of nowhere he's being yelled at for Clarke about a knife he lost a few days ago, and how he supposedly Killed Wells. Don't get him wrong here, he hated the guy, but not enough to kill him. He was just a minor annoyance that reminded him too much of his father, Jaha, it's not like he'd ACTUALLY kill the kid.

"I didn't kill the kid! I must have dropped it a while ago. Murphy says shaking his head in annoyance. He didn't have time for this. He had to get back to Bellamy to tell him all of what he's done over the past 24 hours so he can stop worrying. Clarke said a few leader type things and soon enough everyone is beating him to a pulp. He can't see Bellamy, and that's all he can think about. He's savior Bellamy. That's all he needs is the man who'll save him.

He can't move on his own accord as people all around him beat him and scream things at him. He knows they've always wanted to do this, Clarke just finally gave them the opportunity. He can hear Jasper and Octavia screaming at all of them and trying to get to him. He wants to scream at them to just forget it, to not get hurt for him, but he can't get the words to come out of his throat.

He's being dragged somewhere and he feels something go around his hands. He tries to pull his hand away but there's to many people holding him at once he can barley move. The force him to stand on a box, and He hears people saying 'String him up' and 'Teach him a lesson' and be starts freaking out knowing what's going to happen. He hears a familiar voice screaming at everyone to stop, but he doesn't have time to figure out who it really is.

He hears screaming of Clarke's name, urging her to kick the box from under him. He looks down at her with wide eyes, begging to not be hung. But she doesn't listen. She kicks the box from under him and he falls. He can't breathe but he hears a bunch of people cheering, but soon he Hears Bellamy screaming.

"What the Hell, Clarke? Cut him down! Please!" Bellamy screams throwing himself towards the man dying in front of his eyes. Clarke starts defending herself as if she is doing nothing wrong.

"Let go of me! Please! Clarke please, I love him please!" Bellamy screams people around them gasp, the people holding Bellamy let go and he runs to his hanging boyfriend and cuts the wire holding him there. Murphy is unmoving for a few seconds and then he coughs and starts shaking on the Ground next to Bellamy. Bellamy lifts him up by the arms to lay in his lap. He brushes the man's hair out of his face.

"Hey, it's alright, it's alright big guy." Bellamy says as Murphy grabs for him and roughly pushes himself into Bellamy's Chest. Everyone is looking at them in surprise.

"You're gay?" Connor asks him rising his eyebrow. Everyone looks to him anf then back at the two men holding on to one another.

"Uh... Kinda?" Bellamy says looking up at them all. Murphy is still buried in Bellamy's chest. "Bisexual, but yeah I guess I kinda am." Bellamy says looking up at Them. Clarke takes a few steps forward, and it's obvious Murphy saw it from his hiding place because he started to push himself away from her. Clarke stops and sighs.

"I'm sorry..." Clarke says looking down at them. Murphy glares at her and pushes even farther away. Bellamy looks absolutely betrayed and pulls his towards his chest once again.

They all turn around as Jasper and Octavia walk quickly up to them, holding their hands out to help them both up. They get up and Bellamy dusts the boy off trying to get the mud and leaves off of the boy. Octavia and Jasper take them to the dropship where they check Murphy's injuries.

"Listen, alright? I'm not gonna say you're a bad person, but I am going to say you better watch what you do to him. Hes my big brother and I'll kill you if you hurt him." Octavia says looking Murphy in the eyes, he nods his head.

"An I'll let you." He says, and then looks down at his lap.

"So... You two... Uh?" Jasper hits his hands together, and clicks his tongue and Bellamy gets up quickly pushing the kid out and away from the Dropship. Octavia laughs and leaves as well.

"So, I guess that's how we came out." Bellamy says crossing his arms and looking at the younger man. Murphy gives a small smile and lifts his hand to his throat slowly rubbing.

"Hurts." Murphy says, his voice barley working correctly, it comes out low and raspy and Bellamy decides he hates the sound. He knows it means his Boyfriend is in pain, and he can't deal with that. Bellamy surges forward and kisses Murphy's forehead making him go cross eyes for a second trying to keep looking at Bellamy's face. Bellamy grabs his hands and pulls the smaller one up.

"We're going to my tent, so I can cuddle you and make you feel much, much better." Bellamy days sweetly and wraps his arm around Murphy's shoulders. They walk out of the tent and a Grounder is on his knees just outside the wall, the gate is open when it really shouldn't be.

"You killed him!" Clarke yells at the Grounder and the man smiles up at her in a shark like way. Some people carry him off to some secluded area and the others come inside and shut the gate. Murphy sees Clarke look at him as if she wants to help.

"Let me take a look at your neck, Murphy." Clarke says walking forward. Murphy quickly shakes his head and grabs at Bellamy's hand that's now next to him. Bellamy looks into Murphy's eyes and sees the terror there. No matter how much Murphy would love to hide the pain and fear he cant hide them from Bellamy.

"Yeah, no... There's no way that im letting you anywhere NEAR his neck." Bellamy growls out. Clarke looks at him in surprise and Bellamy looks at everyone who is watching them.

"If any of you even think about hurting him again I'll personally kill you." Bellamy yells and leans down to kiss Murphy on the lips. Murphy whines slightly and kisses back. A few teens cheered, Two f them being Jasper and Octavia, and some of them just rolled their eyes and moved on. Most of them had no problem with it. Obviously there's were a couple teenage girls who were overly jealous that they weren't the ones Bellamy picked, so they Showed their anger through homophobia, but I'm the end nobody actually stood up to them in that moment. Everyone knew Bellamy wasn't bluffing.

Bellamy frags Murphy to his, no their, tent and lays him down on the makeshift bed. Murphy relaxes almost instantly into the blankets and Bellamy chuckles. He takes off both his and Murphy's shoes and lays down next to the other. He helps Murphy lay on his side's and he throws his hand around his torso, spooning him from behind.

"I love you, John." Bellamy says, softly kissing his neck. Murphy smiles and takes a deep breath. He pats Bellamy's hand that's on his chest Four times.

Bellamy knows this means "I Love You, Too."

[arysafics]

the love of a hero

Summary:  Only three people know that superhero Lioness's true identity is Clarke Griffin -- her boss, her mom, and her worst enemy, Bellamy Blake.

for @marauders-groupie and @bellarkebingo 

prompts filled: superheroes/superpowers, argument, frantic kiss

To look at Clarke as she walks up to Raven’s front door, no one would guess that she’d been locked in combat with Arkadia’s resident supervillain only half an hour ago. It’s one of her non-superhuman skills that she’s developed over the years—making herself look presentable in a short amount of time. That, and acting like she’s been doing boring administration work all day, and not saving the life of Josephine Lightbourne, daughter of billionaire oil exec, Russell Lightbourne, and only heir to his fortune.

Raven opens the door, and Clarke smiles brightly, like she’s not totally exhausted from having the shit kicked out of her by her nemesis, Crixus. She’s bested him a number of times, though never to the point of being able to bring him into custody, but today it looked like he had her beat. That is, until he’d abruptly stopped mid battle, cursing to himself as he fled the scene. Clarke was able to free Josephine and return her to her father, with twenty minutes to spare before Raven and Murphy’s housewarming party.

Clarke holds up a bottle of wine. “Happy housewarming!” she says. Raven grins, taking the bottle of wine as she pulls Clarke into a hug.

“You made it,” she says. “Thought that hard-ass boss of yours might make you work late again.”

“She’s not that bad,” Clarke says, following Raven inside.

“You work late more often than not—like some stupid filing or something can’t wait until the next day?”

“Uh huh,” Clarke says, forcing herself not to roll her eyes. Of course, Raven has no idea of what Clarke really does. No clue about Clarke’s super-human strength, or her lightning quick reflexes, or her ability to fly.

No, Clarke Griffin is an entirely separate entity to her alter-ego, Lioness, according to most of the world, including her closest friends. The only people who know Lioness’s true identity are her boss, Charmaine Diyoza, and her mom, for emergency contact purposes. Sure, Clarke can take a hit better than most, and she heals faster than the average human, but she’s not indestructible. Plus, her mom has known of Clarke’s abilities since she was three-years-old, and would likely be able to guess who Lioness was even in her costume.

There’s only one other person who knows her true identity, other than Diyoza and her mom, and it’s the worst possible person who could have that information—none other than Crixus himself. But since she knows his true identity as well, they seem to have some kind of unspoken agreement that neither will reveal the other’s real name, or hold it over their head as leverage. It seems Clarke’s nemesis isn’t completely without honour.

Raven leads Clarke into the house, towards the kitchen. There’s an array of salads on the counter, and the timer on the oven is ticking down, close to going off. Perhaps Clarke isn’t as on time as she thought she was.

“Okay, I know you said you didn’t want to be set up—”

“Raven,” Clarke groans, already anticipating the end to her friend’s sentence. “Please tell me you didn’t.” She really doesn’t have time to date right now, what with constantly having to stop Crixus from taking his next victim. And even if she did, the whole relationship would be based on lies, seeing as Clarke isn’t exactly about to tell someone her real profession on the first date.

Raven opens the fridge and finds a place for the wine in the door. “It’s not exactly a set up. He’s a friend of Murphy’s, and we were inviting him anyway, and I just thought you should know he’s single, and probably your type.”

“You don’t know my type.”

“He’s hot, isn’t that your type?”

Clarke rolls her eyes. “At least tell me you didn’t tell him I’m single.”

“Can’t tell you that.”

“You made me look desperate, didn’t you? I know you did.”

Raven shrugs. “He’d figure it out within two seconds of meeting you anyway. The desperation just kind of radiates off you.”

“You’re the worst.”

“Shall we go and make the introductions?”

Clarke exhales dramatically. “Let’s get it over with.”

Raven looks a little too pleased with herself as she leads Clarke through to the living room, where the other guests, and Raven’s husband, Murphy, are standing around, drinking and chatting. Jasper and Maya, Monty and Harper, and then a stranger. Except, when he turns his head, almost as if in slow motion, he’s not a stranger at all. He’s all too familiar. A face she’s only seen once before without his mask—Crixus. Clarke’s stomach drops.

For a moment she feels sick—did he follow her here? Did he find out who her friends are and infiltrate the group so he can somehow do something worse than just give her a concussion? But no—unless he’s a much more skilled actor than he ever let on, he’s just as surprised to see her as she is to see him. His mouth drops open as he pauses mid-sentence, and he looks like he’s half a second from fleeing the room. He doesn’t, though.

“Clarke, this is—” Raven starts, stopping when she sees Clarke’s stunned expression, and Bellamy’s matching one. “Do you know each other?” she frowns.

“No,” both of them say at the same time, both as vehement as the other, both realising if they admit to knowing each other, they’ll have to explain how.

“This is Bellamy,” Raven finishes, though she seems sceptical. “Bellamy, this is my friend Clarke.”

Bellamy clenches his jaw, his surprise morphing into something a little more heated—Clarke can only assume it’s hatred. But he holds out his hand anyway, and Clarke takes it, noticing, not for the first time, how warm his skin is. His thumb brushes over hers as he pulls his hand away, and it’s alarmingly intimate for someone who tried to kill her less than an hour ago.

“Nice to meet you,” Clarke says politely, though inside she wants to squeeze his hand until it breaks. Except, superhuman strength is an ability they both possess, and he could just as easily crush her hand right back.

“Likewise,” Bellamy says, and it almost sounds like he means it.

“Dinner’s almost ready,” Murphy says. “So get your asses into the dining room. Give me a hand will you, Reyes?”

Clarke doesn’t look at Bellamy as they head to the dining room as instructed, side by side. She can feel him steadfastly not looking at her either. There’s a rigid tension between them, and Clarke can feel her loathing simmering just under her skin. She balls her hands into fists to keep it from bursting out of her.

She’s aware of the others talking and laughing, unaware of her torturous situation, but the words are distant and unintelligible to her. She can focus on nothing but Bellamy, walking casually next to her, as if he hadn’t had her pinned to the floor earlier this evening, a kidnapped heiress tied up next to them.

Last into the dining room, and with the heads of the table being obviously reserved for the hosts, Clarke is forced to take her seat right across from Bellamy, which means she’ll have to spend all night looking at his stupidly handsome face.

He stiffens as her knee knocks against his. She quickly jerks away, swallowing thickly. She’s not sure why her heart is racing. It’s not like he can try anything here, not surrounded by her friends, unless he wants to reveal himself.

Murphy and Raven bring in the food, and Raven sits at the head of the table, between Bellamy and Clarke, while Murphy sits at the other end.

“Looks great,” Monty says.

“Dig in,” Murphy says. “And no need to hold back on the compliments.”

“Your head is big enough already,” Raven snorts. Their bickering continues, and Clarke tunes out again. Bellamy reaches towards her to grab a bread roll from the basket in front of her, and her hand curls instinctively around her knife. She glances up at him, and she can see he hasn’t missed the subtle action. He raises an eyebrow at her, a smirk playing on his lips, as if to say really? You’re going to stab me? Here?

Clarke loosens her grip, realising she’s being ridiculous, and if she doesn’t relax, she’s going to give herself away.

“You going to eat something or what, Griffin?” Murphy says. “It’s not poison.”

“Yeah,” Clarke says, her voice coming out a little hoarse. She clears her throat. “Sorry, just deciding. It all looks so good.”

“Was that a compliment?” Murphy teases. “A far cry from if you ever hurt my friend I will little crush your skull with my bare hands.”

“You’ve proven yourself to be worthy so far,” Clarke shrugs.

“Not saying you’re not tough, Clarke,” Jasper says. “But crushing his skull with your bare hands? If you want your threats to actually be intimidating, maybe try being realistic.”

Someone snorts out a laugh, and it takes Clarke a moment to realise it’s Bellamy. Of course, he’s the only one who knows exactly how capable of crushing someone’s skull she is.

“Something funny?” she asks him acidly.

“Nope,” he says, but his smile doesn’t drop. “Here, have a bread roll. You need to keep your strength up if you’re going around crushing skulls.”

He’s teasing her. And not in a nasty, malicious way. He’s teasing her like they’re friends. Like they’re the only ones in on the joke, which they are, but they’re definitely not friends. How can he be so cavalier? They’re mortal enemies. They’ve spent two years battling each other, trying to take the other down.

He drops a bread roll on her plate, then passes her the potato salad. She almost declines just to spite him, but she actually does want potato salad, so she snatches the bowl from his hands, glaring at him the whole time.

He’s not allowed to be nice to her. It reminds her of the last time he was nice to her, and that makes her stomach feel all weird, makes her start questioning things, and she doesn’t like that at all.

“I can get my own food, thanks,” Clarke snaps. Raven shoots her a look that says be nice, while everyone else eats their meals, awkwardly pretending not to notice Clarke’s outburst.

“Wow, this chicken is amazing,” Harper says. “Great job, Murphy.” As if this wasn’t already the most awkward, terrible dinner party of all time.

“What have you been up to lately, Clarke?” Monty asks. “It’s been a while.”

Clarke glances at Bellamy, who now seems overly focused on the food on his plate, though if she’s not mistaken, he’s still smiling to himself. He really thinks this whole thing is funny.

“Mostly just working,” Clarke says with a shrug.

“What do you do for a living?” Bellamy asks her. She glowers at him.

“Administration.”

“For who?”

“None of your business.”

Maya interjects before Bellamy can push her further. “What about you, Bellamy? What do you do?”

His eyes don’t leave Clarke. “I’m a librarian.” Clarke rolls her eyes. A suitably boring job that no one will want to ask more about—same as Clarke’s excuse for a job.

“So, Bellamy,” Clarke says, and she swears he actually flinches. “How do you and Murphy know each other?”

“Poker,” Bellamy says swiftly.

“Poker?” Clarke repeats scornfully. Of course he plays poker—and he probably wins almost every hand, one of his talents being his silver tongue, able to convince anyone of anything. Though curiously, it doesn’t work on Clarke. She’s put it down to some kind of superpower immunity.

“It’s a card game.”

“I know what poker is.”

“So which part didn’t you understand?”

“Seriously, do you two know each other?” Raven asks suspiciously.

“No,” they say in unison, not taking their eyes from each other. The heat between them is palpable, and Clarke gets a sudden flash of him on top of her, an hour earlier, when, for a moment, she’d been sure he was going to kiss her. And, she’s ashamed to admit, some traitorous part of her wanted him to.

“Let’s play fuck, marry, kill,” Jasper suggests.

“At a dinner party, really?” Maya scolds.

“Fuck, marry, kill—Trump, Obama, Clinton,” Murphy says, aiming his question at Jasper.

“Which Clinton?”

“You pick.”

“Kill Trump, obviously. Marry Obama, fuck Clinton. That’s for either Clinton, by the way. Try something harder next time.”

“Okay, okay,” Raven says. “This one is for everyone, because I’m curious—and I was just reading an article about them before—Crixus, Red Queen, Lioness.”

“What was the article?” Clarke asks.

“Did you see they kidnapped someone else this afternoon?” Harper says, eyes wide. “Another heiress, apparently.”

“She was returned unharmed,” Maya adds. “I don’t know if Crixus got the money he was after though.”

“He didn’t,” Clarke says, shooting Bellamy a triumphant grin. He gives her a look of distaste. He’s not finding it so funny now.

“So? Fuck, marry, kill?”

“Fuck Crixus, marry Lioness, kill Red Queen,” Monty says.

“I wouldn’t fuck Crixus if my life depended on it,” Clarke says haughtily.

“No, you should definitely fuck Lioness,” Bellamy says, which is basically just a fancy way of telling her to go fuck herself. He’s looking all smug, like he thinks he’s incredibly witty. Of course, no one else gets the joke.

“Can we change one of them?” Clarke says. After all, Crixus and Red Queen have both tried to kill her, and Red Queen almost succeeded. The only reason she didn’t is because, well—Clarke doesn’t want to think about that.

“Fine. Crixus, Lioness, and Spacewalker,” Raven amends.

“Fuck Spacewalker, marry Lioness, kill Crixus. Easy,” Clarke says, pleased with herself.

“I’d kill Spacewalker,” Bellamy says. “That guy is a poor excuse for a hero.”

“Fuck Crixus, definitely fuck Crixus,” Raven says. “He’s hot as hell in that gladiator outfit.”

“Sure,” Bellamy agrees easily.

“Which means you have to marry Lioness,” Clarke points out, to antagonise him, mostly. But to her surprise, he actually blushes.

“Would you rather me fuck her?” he says, despite his obvious embarrassment, and then it’s Clarke’s turn to blush. She so doesn’t want to think about that. What it would be like to have him touch her like that. She feels hot all over, and she quickly crosses her legs, feeling a throb between them that she’d like to ignore.

“I doubt she’d have you,” Clarke sneers.

“It’s weird that neither of them have killed each other yet,” Jasper says. “Like, how often do we have to read about them fighting each other? You’d think one of them would have got the winning shot in by now. Even if it was just an accident.”

Clarke swallows, and she can feel Bellamy’s eyes on her, though she refuses to meet them. Only he knows how close it had come for her.

“I think it’s all staged,” Murphy says. “They just like the buzz around their names. They probably decide who’s going to win before each battle.”

“It’s not wrestling,” Clarke huffs. “Perhaps they’re just evenly matched.” She glances at Bellamy, and he seems just as affronted by Murphy’s accusation as she is.

“I think they get off on it,” Raven says. “They probably go home after each fight and fuck each other’s brains out.”

Clarke’s mouth drops open, and the tips of Bellamy’s ears turn red.

“I’ve read fanfiction about it,” Maya admits.

“Okay, but who do you think will win in the end?” Jasper asks. “They can’t go on like this forever.”

“Crixus,” Murphy says with a shrug. “He’s the one kidnapping people, right? Lioness is never going to kill him. She’s probably under orders to capture him and bring him in so the government can do whatever it is they do with supervillains. Whereas he clearly has no morals.”

“I think if he wanted her dead, she’d be dead,” Bellamy says gruffly. He looks to Clarke, and suddenly she can’t take it anymore. Tears prick at her eyes, though she couldn’t for the life of her explain why.

She stands up, abruptly, and all eyes land on her. “I—have to pee,” she says, then hastily exits the room, towards the bathroom, as her tears start to spill silently down her face.

She can’t stop thinking about it. About him cradling her in his arms as she bled out onto the asphalt, her stomach sliced open. How sure she was in that moment she was going to die, because when you’re the hero, who else is left to come and save you?

His voice, so vivid, as everything else went dark and blurry.

“Fuck, Red. Get out of here.”

Red Queen’s voice answered him.

“I thought this was what you wanted! You asked me to help you. If she’s dead you won’t have anything stopping you. What’s the problem?”

“No one was supposed to die!”

“Well, you’re fucking welcome. Ask someone else to help you next time, big brother.”

The sound of Red Queen’s heavy footfalls retreated into the night, Clarke trying to follow her blurry figure with her eyes, but ultimately letting them close as it became harder to breathe, as the pain started to fade, her body having no use for it anymore.

“Hey,” Crixus’s voice cut through her haze of self-pity, of her looming death.

“I guess you win,” she’d croaked out. “Congratulations.”

“Don’t you dare die on me.” Was it supposed to be a command? It sounded more like a desperate plea.

“What are you going to do? Save me?”

“If I have to.”

Her last memory of that night is of him lifting her from the ground, her head lolling back, her eyes closing, unable to keep them open any longer. Not embracing death, exactly, but accepting it. Even though she’d never expected it to end that way—somehow she had it in her head that he never meant to harm her, not seriously anyway.

She’d woken in a crisp white hospital bed the following afternoon, her golden lioness suit and mask gone, replaced with a hospital gown, her head pounding worse than her worst hangover. Her mom had come in a few minutes later, as Clarke gulped down the water left by her bed, and burst into tears the moment she saw her daughter.

“I thought I’d lost you,” Abby had sobbed, arms around her daughter. “Don’t worry, no one knows your true identity. He made sure of it.”

“He?” Clarke swallowed, though she already knew the answer.

“Crixus. He did that thing—talked everyone into believing they never saw the costume.”

Her mom had left then, needing to get back to her rounds, leaving Clarke to process what had happened. Crixus not only saved her life, but he made sure he protected her identity too? It didn’t make any sense.

Even more nonsensical was his appearance in her hospital room, not twenty minutes later. She knew it was him instantly, though he wore no mask, and just plain jeans and a henley, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Words had failed her, perhaps partly because of her unquestionable attraction to him in that moment, but mostly because of her shock at him being there at all. She didn’t even have it in her to be scared of him.

“You’re okay,” he said.

“What are you doing here—how did you—” she stopped. How was a stupid question—he can talk his way into anywhere. “How did you know to bring me here?” she asked him instead.

“You told me to.” He stepped further into the room then, and picked up the chart on the end of her bed. “Clarke Griffin,” he’d whispered, reading aloud. His eyes met hers. “Griffin. Part lion, part eagle.”

“Get. Out.” Clarke had said icily. To know her face was one thing—to know her name was something else entirely. He’d stolen something from her, something she never wanted to give him, and now he had the upper hand.

To his credit, he looked guilty as he nodded, replacing the chart and retreating from the room. His last words as he paused in the doorway were, “Bellamy Blake.”

There’s a knock on the bathroom door, jolting Clarke out of her memory. She looks up from the sink, into her pale reflection.

“Clarke?” It’s his voice. Clarke loathes the sound of it, because she can’t stop thinking about how he sounded as he held her in his arms and told her not to die. Like he cared. It’s the first time she’s heard him say her name out loud since the day he found out what it was. It’s altogether too intimate, the way he says it, so hesitant, so full of meaning. Yet what the meaning is, Clarke can’t put her finger on.

She wrenches the door open and pulls him into the bathroom, before slamming it closed again.

“What are you doing here?” she hisses.

“I told them I had to make a phone call—”

“No, what are you doing here? In this house. At the dinner party. Are you stalking me?”

Bellamy looks aghast. “No. I had no idea you’d be here. Murphy and I really do play poker together.”

Clarke looks up at him, concern etched across his face. God, he really is the most magnificent looking man she’s ever seen. His lips look so soft, his freckles disarmingly adorable. And why do his eyes have to be so brown? Why does he have to be so beautiful, and so fucking charming, and most of all why does he seem to care about her?

“Are you okay?” he asks.

Clarke shakes her head. “Stop it. Stop acting like you care. Not an hour ago you were ready to choke the life out of me, and now you’re asking me if I’m okay? Is this some kind of sick game to you?”

“It’s not a game,” Bellamy snaps. “I actually do care.”

“Right,” Clarke snorts. “You care about money. About power I guess, about notoriety? For Crixus at least, if not Bellamy fucking Blake. You don’t care. You’re pure evil.”

Bellamy’s jaw ticks. “You really think I’m the villain, don’t you?”

“Of course you are! You fucking kidnap people, and demand ransoms in exchange for their lives.”

“Did you ever think—”

“You named yourself after the cloud of toxic smoke in Ferngully for crying out loud!” Clarke continues. “Is that not a clue that you’re the bad guy?”

“I—what?” he frowns for a moment, genuinely confused. And then he actually laughs. “Ferngully? Clarke, that’s Hexxus.”

Really? That’s the part he’s going to focus on? “Whatever,” she huffs. “You still literally kidnap people.”

He gets that annoyed look on his face again. Clarke supposes even villains don’t like getting called out on their shit. She purses her lips at him.

“Why didn’t you let me die?”

“What?”

“Red Queen was right. You could have let me die, and all your problems would be solved. Who the fuck else would bother to stand up to you? Spacewalker? He’s pathetic.”

Bellamy gives a half laugh. “Yeah, he is. Still, you’re the one who claimed you’d fuck him.”

“Answer the question.”

Bellamy studies her, perhaps searching for the right words. “This shouldn’t come as a shock to you, since it’s not the first time you’ve heard it. But I don’t want you to die. I don’t want to hurt you at all, but since you’re fucking relentless, and somehow immune to my power of coercion, sometimes it has to come to that.”

Clarke shakes her head. “I don’t get it.”

“I know you think what I’m doing is evil. But it’s not like I’m kidnapping innocent people, Clarke. I’m kidnapping billionaires. People with so much money they don’t know what to do with it. They just hoard it, when they could be helping people. And if kidnapping a spoilt kid once in a while is what I have to do to get some of it off their hands and into the hands of someone who could actually use it, then I’ll do it.”

Clarke gapes at him. Somehow he’s tilted her whole world upside down in the span of a few seconds. “You—you donate the money?” she says faintly.

“You think I’m just hoarding millions of dollars in my evil lair or something?”

“I mean—kind of. Yeah. How do make money then?”

“I really am a librarian.”

“Oh.”

He shakes his head, a sad kind of smile on his face. “I’m not what you think I am, Clarke,” he whispers. Her stomach flips over at the way he says her name.

“No, you’re a regular Robin Hood,” she says. “But—why don’t you just use your powers to convince them to donate money themselves? You don’t have to resort to kidnapping.”

Bellamy sighs. “I’ve tried it, Clarke. You know what happens when a billionaire starts donating millions of dollars of their own accord? People start praising them. Idolising them. They forget all the horrible things these people have done, forget that they don’t actually care. No, it has to be done by force. I want them to be scared. Not worshipped. They don’t deserve that.” He pauses. “Plus, do you know how hard it is to get a billionaire to talk to you if you’re someone like me?”

“Someone like you?”

He raises an eyebrow. “Poor.”

“Oh.” He keeps leaving her speechless. She’s misjudged him—and part of her feels like she can’t totally blame herself, but it still makes her feel guilty. She still doesn’t agree with his methods. But he’s not completely evil.

“I don’t want to fight you anymore.” His voice is so soft, Clarke half thinks she imagined it.

“So what do you want?”

He licks his lips, eyeing her nervously. “I want you to join me,” he whispers. “God, think of what we could do if we worked together.”

Her heart is pounding. The thought of them taking on the world together, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, just like in the stories she read when she was a kid. She can’t deny there’s a thrilling appeal to it—the two of them, notorious outlaws, champions of the people, righting wrongs, fighting injustice, regardless of what the law says.

But no—she can’t condone kidnapping, let alone take part in it herself. Doesn’t matter how honourable the outcome. The ends don’t justify the means.

She shakes her head. “I can’t,” she says, her voiced laced with regret. Because she truly does wish they could work together. But he’s never going to be satisfied with just catching murderers and rapists—he wants something bigger. Clarke gets it, she really does. But what she does is noble too.

“I know,” Bellamy says sadly. His eyes are full of sorrow, and yet she can still feel heat in them too. She flushes under his gaze, her eyes dropping to his lips, then hastily to the floor before he can notice. There’s no way he’s thinking about kissing her too. It’s not passion for her that she can feel radiating from his body—it’s passion for the subject at hand.

“We should get back to the table before someone misses us.”

Bellamy nods. “You go first.”

It takes her a moment. Something holds her back, some reluctance to leave things like this. But she forces her feet to move, and she heads for the door. Her arm brushes against his as she passes him, and then she feels his fingers curl around her wrist.

“Clarke, wait,” he says huskily, tugging her back, and then his lips are on hers, urgent, frantic, bruising, like he’s afraid this might be the only chance he’ll get. And knowing that he’s right, Clarke kisses him back, just as desperately, clinging to him as his large hands slide to her waist, gripping her tightly.

She moans against his lips, his tongue in her mouth, and they stumble back against the sink, bodies glued to each other. God, she wants him.

A crash from the dining room is what brings them to their senses, and the break apart, both breathing heavy, his forehead pressed against hers, his hands still on her waist, thumbs stroking her absently through her dress.

He swallows. “I’m sorry.” He opens his eyes, stepping away from her. His lips are red and swollen, and Clarke knows hers will be just the same. She rubs her thumb across her bottom lip, still feeling the lingering effects of his kiss. “I just—I really had to know what that felt like. Just once.”

“It’s okay,” Clarke says. She straightens, smoothing down her dress with her shaking hands.

They say nothing else to each other before Clarke walks out of the bathroom, and back to the dining room, where Murphy is cleaning up the remnants of a china bowl, and a pile of pasta salad.

“What did I miss?” Clarks asks, sliding back into her seat.

“Jasper is a clumsy fucker,” Murphy mutters. “Where’s Bellamy?”

“How should I know?” Clarke sniffs haughtily.

When he returns five minutes later, he doesn’t even bother sitting down. “I have to go,” he announces, and Clarke feels her stomach drop. He gives her a regretful look. She knows he’s leaving because of her. Truthfully, it would be hard for her to sit across from him for the rest of the night after their encounter in the bathroom. Harder than when she hated him, even.

“You barely ate anything,” Murphy complains. “And there’s dessert.”

“Sorry. I just—I’m not feeling great. Thanks for inviting me though.”

“Whatever. I’ll see you at poker, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Bellamy agrees. He looks to Clarke. “I’ll see you around.” It’s vague enough that it could be directed at anyone, but Clarke knows it’s for her. She hopes her eyes say what she cannot—I hope you do.

[kinetic-elaboration]

July 18: (Pre) Bellamy/Raven/Clarke, Lavender Viper

Really short today because I was just going for a feel, idek.

Pre-Bravenlarke, past Braven, mentioned Bellarke, ~440 words

Possibly the same ‘verse as Bootlegger but I’m not certain???

*

Raven's in the front room of the Lavender Viper, trying to catch the eye of the blonde at the bar. The lamp above her booth sends a tremulous circle of green light over the tabletop, spotlighting Jasper's hands as they fidget against his glass, tapping out distorted Morse Code where the ice cubes clink. He's trying to keep his business small, he's saying, but it's getting out of control. Everyone in Arkadia, always wanting a piece of something.

"That's Clarke Griffin," he says, when he realizes Raven isn't paying attention. "She's got an in with the Council. You don't want her noticing you."

Raven leans all the way back, against the cracked leather of the booth. She picks her own glass up and watches Jasper over the rim. "I know who she is," she says, and drinks.

Clarke Griffin. Her mother used to be on the Council, and even now she's all tangled up in it, knows just about everyone important, and now she's here. It's no surprise. An open secret on the south side of Arkadia that she's Bellamy's girl.

When Bellamy shows up at the Viper it's always news. Like seeing a vision manifesting from the gloom: a legend, better suited to tall tales than the mundanity of flesh and blood. This is the narrative he’s made for himself, as he prefers to keep himself invisible, hiding out in the back with his goons and his money. He runs the city now, better and more completely than the Council does, no cracks in the machine he's got in place. It whirs away in the hidden dark tunnels of the underground. Raven knew him first and best when he wasn't anything. Now he's the silent partner of three-quarters of Arkadia's businesses, keeps the whole enterprise running through a network of friends of friends of friends, of allies, of henchmen. If you're seeing him face-to-face you're either very lucky, or practically dead.

Clarke half-turns on her bar stool, surveying the room. She's drinking something shocking pink out of a thin straw. Raven's never seen her before in person but something of the familiar pings about her, like they've known each other in some other life—more like she knows her type. Rumor is that Bellamy's got her under his thumb, too, that their arrangement is only business. But Raven knows better. This girl is one of them. Maybe they're not in love but they're electric.

Clarke's eyes, narrow, thoughtful, glance from person to person, across the dance floor, the pool tables, the booths.

When Clarke settles on her, Raven lowers her glass and lifts her chin. She holds Clarke's gaze and doesn't let go.