#blake friend fanfic

[callmewrinkles3]

Electric touch - BF x Fem!OC

Summary: All Blake wanted was to drag his best friends out for a night to have a couple of drinks and take their minds off the shitshow that was the last year. And then he met the love of his life. The continuation of this little drabble.

Warnings: Alcohol, talk of sexual situations, Dan and Em being disgustingly cute, a lot of swearing because that's Charlie.

Words: 7.2k

A/N: Hello kiddos! Its been a while, we know. We're gonna be back with more later, but meanwhile a little surprise. This is probably a one-time-only kind of thing inside this mess of a universe we created. But the important part its we're posting it but its totally dedicated to the sweet @a-distantdreamer. For reading every single thing we make and being the sweetest, AND because its her birthday. Have a happy happy one, darling Georgia.🫶🏻🥳

The warm December air didn’t help, but it wasn’t the reason Charlie felt like her skin was on fire. The summer sun may have set even though it was still warm, but each of her nerves was ablaze thanks to the cute, tall man standing right beside her. Blake was still blushing because of some signal that Daniel - holy shit it was Daniel Ricciardo - and Em made at him as he walked her out the front of the bar. Charlie couldn’t help but grin as she looked at him.

She knew it wasn’t normal to feel like that three hours after meeting him but she couldn’t help it. He was handsome and sweet, an absolute gentleman who was funny and smart, and the sound when he laughed was quite possibly her new favorite thing in the world.

He was adorable and all Charlie wanted to do was grab his cheeks and press kisses against his entire face. The few drinks she had weren’t enough to give her the courage to do it. She was on the sober side of tipsy, and she’d never forgive herself if she ruined things. Instead, she decided to stay on her side, waiting for Blake to give her a sign to act.

While waiting for her taxi, they stood there, Blake's hands in his pockets, while Charlie played with one ring on her finger, trying to ease the tension that was starting to build up between them.

“I have to say again, I’m so sorry about Em. I didn’t think she’d do that. Honestly, I don’t think she’s ever done something like that in her life.” Charlie smiled at his words, looking up at his glasses-covered eyes.

“It’s fine. Really, it is. I didn’t dare to come across to talk to you if she didn’t tell me to do it. I should thank her again. I should send her flowers or chocolates. Or both.”

“I… I mean I wasn’t gonna do it either. I saw you turn down the guy who walked over to talk to you, so I didn’t want to suffer the same fate if you were just here to relax”. This time it was Charlie’s turn to blush. She had no idea Blake had seen that. The main reason why she said no to the other guy - Hunter, with a shitty mullet and an even worse pickup line - was because she couldn’t stop stealing looks from Blake. She didn’t think he’d been doing the same to her.

“Oh, he was just some cunt. Not a good one either. And he wasn’t as cute as you.” That final drink she nearly didn’t have finally took effect at the wrong time.

“How long did the taxi driver say he’d be?”. They were on the outskirts of Perth, far enough out of the city that you had to ring individual drivers.

“Like fifteen minutes? I guess it’s a busy night. You can leave if you want. I’ll be fine.”

She was never one to lie. It was something she hated, but that night she did it without shame. The night was not a busy one, even though it was so close to Christmas, but Charlie needed an excuse to spend more time with Blake. Em and Daniel had been sweethearts and disappeared to give them alone time to chat and get to know each other. However, her coworkers were still there. Having her first kiss with Blake in front of the people she would see in less than nine hours was something she did not want to do, so she ordered her taxi to arrive twenty minutes later. If the lie was taking her to hell at least it would've been worth it if she got to kiss the cutest man she ever met.

“What? I won't leave you waiting here alone. I'm not hurrying. I was just curious.”

"If you say so," she smiled, feeling both embarrassed and excited at the same time. "Okay, this is quite awkward because I was planning on saying that I had a really good idea on how we could entertain ourselves for the next fifteen minutes, and then I was planning to try to be all smooth and clever and kiss you at the end. But I think it wouldn't work because you're too tall and the romcom-style moment has been ruined because of my poor shoe choice this morning. And that last drink was not necessary.”

Charlie knew she wasn't drunk. She was far from drunk, but she shouldn't have accepted that last beer. Or maybe it had been an excellent idea because, despite the embarrassment, it had given her enough courage to say something. She wouldn’t have done it otherwise. She wasn’t some shy and retiring woman but Blake made her nervous. His cute smirk from across the bar and Em’s “he thinks you’re cute” made her afraid of ruining whatever that could be.

Everything turned into nerves when Blake moved and stood right in front of her. Suddenly the world moved in slow motion and went silent. No cars drove past in the street, no people walking by or music coming out of the bar. The only thing that existed was Blake looking down at her smiling as he took his hands out of his pocket.

Suddenly, it all made sense. Going out that night with her coworkers after an exhausting day at work, rejecting the other guy, and accepting Emma’s drink and offer. Everything, even the outfit she wore, made sense somehow. She shouldn’t have been in that bar. Her coworkers considered going to another place, but the one they chose was closer to their workplace, so it was faster and easier. It was all destiny.

What was most ridiculous was the fact that Charlie wasn't looking for anything or anyone at all. She was fine on her own. After her last relationship and the way she ended it, she decided it was okay to be alone. Sometimes she missed having someone to share things with and hug her, but she was okay. She kept telling herself she was fine until she saw Blake coming in. It was a cliché, but she stopped listening to what her manager said the second he walked in. Blake’s smile was the only thing she could think about. But then she saw Daniel Fucking Ricciardo walking behind him. Charlie suddenly felt her chances falling to zero so fast it was heartbreaking. She looked away so fast it was ridiculous.

Even with that, Charlie couldn't stop herself and looked his way every few minutes. She tried, heaven knows she tried, but it was impossible. He was too handsome. His smile was just as beautiful as the rest of his face, and his glasses made him even cuter. The moment she realized her hope was gone, she drowned her sorrow in yet another drink. That's why she thought it was a joke when Emma presented herself and brought her a drink. It had to be a joke. It felt like a joke. Something like that couldn't happen to someone like her.

It was a miracle, but it happened. It all led to that moment. It all led to Blake holding her cheek and waist. Every single thing she did that day took her to Blake looking down at her eyes looking for permission so they could finally kiss. Charlie had no idea if magic existed, but she could swear that's exactly what she felt as their lips touched. At thirty-four years old and after too many heartbreaks and bad experiences, Charlie didn't believe in butterflies anymore. She understood perfectly well the reason why a person felt butterflies inside their stomach. She knew it was dopamine in the body. She also knew it was norepinephrine in the central nervous system and hormonal changes. Her PhD in Psychology said she had memorized it all by heart, but that night she couldn't care less. That night, as she kissed Blake, Charlie swore the butterflies were as real as she was.

If someone had told her that same morning that she was going to end the night in the arms of a cute man with glasses while kissing on a sidewalk, she would have laughed because it was ridiculous and impossible. That's not how her night was supposed to be, but it was perfect. Her hands were placed on his chest and around his waist. As he touched her cheek, his arm wrapped around her body and held her close. Charlie wanted to stay in his arms forever. Their lips were locked, their noses touched, and their heartbeats rushed together. It felt like a dream, that's why she was going to do everything in her power to feel his smile against her lips forever.

He tasted like beer for the last ones they had. The two of them smelled like alcohol, but Blake also smelled like the finest perfume that a person could find anywhere in the world. There was also a softness to him. Everything about him was soft, from his kisses to the way he stroked her skin with his finger. Suddenly, there was something there telling Charlie that he also wasn't trying to ruin the moment, which made Charlie smile right there against his lips right as the first kiss ended and the second kiss started. She wanted to do that for the rest of the night. She wanted that for the rest of the year. She wanted to kiss his lips until she knew every part of his face thanks to the closeness of their bodies. She wanted to kiss him until their lips forgot what it was like to have anyone else touching them. She wanted this to be more than just a kiss.

She wanted this to be more than just a kiss and for one night.  

"Is that what you had in mind for your rom-com moment?" Blake asked, still smiling down at her. She smiled back, her heart skipping a beat. Blake leaned down and kissed her again before she answered.

“Yup, exactly that one."

“You’re a smart woman, Charlotte."

Her shoulders shrunk as she joked, "I have a PhD, so I kind of know what you mean." This time Charlie was able to gather the courage to get on her tiptoes, hold his neck, and steal another kiss, which was a statement of how much she enjoyed it. “I don't usually do this, but I am just going to go for it and ask you 'cause you don't look like a psycho or a serial killer. Plus, you're a very good kisser, so do you want to ride in the taxi with me and come to my place with me?" Once the words were out of her mouth, Charlie wondered where that came from. She was never one to ask a guy to take her home with her but those brown eyes behind his glasses were messing up with her.

“Didn’t you say you have work tomorrow and that’s why you were leaving?" Shit. He was totally right.

“Maybe? Ugh. Being an adult sucks. But I can call in sick?” There was a terrible internal struggle inside her. Head versus heart. Responsibility against everything Blake made her feel and all the things her body yelled at her. The rational part of her brain told her to do the right thing and act like an adult. Meanwhile, her heart told her to go with it and enjoy a night of fun. It should be a no-brainer, but her head was empty as Blake kissed her head.

“Maybe? Ugh. Being an adult sucks. But I can call in sick?” There was a terrible internal struggle inside her. Head versus heart. Responsibility against everything Blake made her feel and all the things her body yelled at her. The rational part of her brain told her to do the right thing and act like an adult. Meanwhile, her heart told her to go with it and enjoy a night of fun. It should be a no-brainer, but her head was empty as Blake kissed her head.

“You’re not calling in sick, Charlie” Blake replied, reaching for her hand over his chest to tangle their fingers.

“Why not? ‘Hey, sorry I can’t go today, my legs turned into jello. It's because of a cute guy from Sydney’. See? Easy”

“Charlie…”

"C'mon, don't ruin the fun. I mean, unless you don't want to do it. That's fine too, in that case, but I thought-". The feeling was like a bucket of cold water falling over her head. As soon as she realized that Blake was saying no to her, it was like receiving a kick in the stomach. He was respectful and sweet, but it was a no. She was told no softly, but when she heard it, she wanted to hide under the covers of her bed, hoping that the time would go back so she could fix it.

Charlie knew it was impossible to do something like that, so she just let her hand fall from his waist, shyly stepping back and away. It was just one little step and they were still against each other and holding hands, but it felt like an ocean got between them. Despite her knowing that it was all psychological, Charlie felt as if she was the smallest woman ever and she hated that feeling.

When she moved away from him, Blake stepped forward, closing the distance between them as soon as she moved away. It was the kiss Blake gave her in her hand that kept her calm. She didn't know how he knew, but it was enough to keep her grounded and stop her from spiraling. "Hey, no, Charlie listen, there’s nothing I want more than to go home with you right now, but just- Let me do things right, baby. I really wanna do this properly.”

“You just called me baby and I’m not supposed to beg you? And what do you mean by proper?”

It was probably the puzzled expression on her face that made Blake smile, but that was enough to make her relax again as he explained himself. “Let me take you out for dinner tomorrow. We do a real date like normal people do. I pick you up, open the door for you, all that."

Charlie felt small at first, but as soon as she heard his reasons she felt ridiculous. She wanted to slap herself because she was just making assumption after assumption. Blake wanted to do things right and take it slow while she just wanted to rip his clothes off. She was a complete mess and really shouldn't have drunk that last beer, but it was too late for regrets.

“Looks like I found the last decent man on earth. Are you real or an alien, Mr. Friend?” Charlie joked, finally relaxing again enough to touch his cheek as she asked that ridiculous question, making Blake smile.

“Is that a yes to my invitation?” he wondered as he turned his head enough to kiss the palm of her hand.

“I don’t know. Are you skipping my question because you’re an alien?”

“Are you skipping mine because you’re an alien?”

“Fair enough. I go out with you if you promised to be human”

“I promise I’m human” Blake insisted, and the smile on his face and the kiss he gave her earlier was more than enough to convince her of anything at all. “Tomorrow night then?“

Charlie didn’t answer with words. She just nodded, going back for another kiss. She couldn’t even think about moving away, especially not when his thumb found its way under her shirt, sending shivers down her spine as he stroked her waist. As revenge for what his fingers were doing under her shirt, Charlie made it easy and simple and decided to run the tip of her tongue over his lower lip.

At that point, she knew it wasn’t gonna change his mind, but at least she was happy to get one deep breath and a groan from him. “Are you sure you don't want to leave your decency behind? I won’t get offended. I’m leaving mine by asking you twice. I never do that, so it's a big deal. I mean, this is the nicest way I’ve ever been turned down but maybe I can convince you.”

“I’m not turning you down, I’m just inventing an excuse to see you again. And if tomorrow goes half as well as tonight, then you're not heading home alone.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Mr. Alien Friend”

“It’s not a threat, ma’am, it's a promise. Text me your address and I’ll pick you up.”

“Fine. If I tell you to pick me up at 7 can I kiss you till 8 and then we do dinner?” Charlie asked, half joking and half serious, feeling more and more comfortable every second she spent in his arms. That’s why she decided to get even closer, hugging his neck and running her fingers through his short hair. She kept giving him short, soft, loving kisses. It wasn’t about convincing him anymore, it was simply she was addicted to it. 

“You’re making it hard for me on purpose, don’t you?” Blake asked, placing their foreheads together. Charlie could see all over his face how he was trying to keep his composure. She couldn’t blame him for failing as badly as she did. 

“That is the best and most awful innuendo ever.” 

“I didn’t mean it like that!"

“I know. But still, it was fun." It wasn’t a great joke, it was just a silly funny comment, but both of them laughed at it. Charlie had no idea last time she had that much fun with someone, especially not with a man. It was easy to be with him, just like it was easy to smile at his contagious laugh. “Shit, I don’t want to say goodbye.”

“I don’t either. But less than twenty-four hours and I’ll be at your door.”

“That’s a lot of hours, Blake."

“You’re gonna be sleeping and working most of them, so it won’t be that terrible. Any food you don’t eat?”

“I’m okay with anything. But I also really like tall cute guys for dessert, especially if they have glasses." Charlie joked, tapping carefully the bridge of his glasses. And there was again, the cute, shy smile that made her lose notions of the time and date. She was very close to forgetting her own name and didn't care.

“I think I know someone like that” Blake whispered, trying to act as mysteriously as possible. 

“Wait, is it human or alien?”

“A werewolf”

“Dirty. I mean I don’t mind scratches or bites so it's alright. Shit, that was a lot”. Charlie couldn’t help but giggle at her own stupidity. She was so ridiculously into Blake that she lost track of what she was saying. All that added to the alcohol in her body and how good Blake smelled made her head turn. She was so damn embarrassed that all she could do was rest her forehead against his chest for a moment. She returned to reality when Blake laughed and kissed her head. 

“It's not a lot, I’m just taking it as a promise for tomorrow. We settle for tomorrow at 8 then?”

“I thought we said 7?”

“If we spend an hour kissing we won’t make it to dinner, Charlie”

“7:30 is my last offer or I’ll go out with that werewolf friend of yours, babe”. That was the first time she was calling him babe and it felt just as right as when Blake used that nickname for her. It just felt normal to say it. It felt even better to look up again and see the look in his eyes and how his whole face lightened up when he heard it.

“7.45. Thirty minutes with you and we’ll skip dinner. Fifteen is cutting it close.”

“Fiiine. I’ll put on a dress and heels so we don’t break our necks when we kiss. And to play footsie under the table. Just please don’t let me be overdressed.”

“I won’t. And I can't imagine you looking bad.”

“You haven’t seen me at 6 am without coffee or makeup. That's the most horrible Charlie of them all."

“If we’re awake after 6 tomorrow I’ll tell you how beautiful you look."

“You’re a charmer, aren't you?”

“I’m gonna ruin the charm by saying I think your taxi’s coming”

She couldn't believe her fifteen minutes were over. It felt like a lifetime had passed, but at the same time, she didn’t have plenty of time. She didn’t hug him enough. She didn’t steal enough kisses. She wanted to stay in his arms and make him blush for her silly comments. She got fifteen minutes but wanted fifteen hours. Damn, she wished for fifteen lifetimes. 

“Nah, tell it to go away” she complained, hiding her face again in his chest as Blake squeezed her waist tighter. “I said fifteen minutes, not fifteen seconds.”

“We’ll get more than fifteen minutes tomorrow” Blake promised, kissing her head again, which was enough to leave her favorite new place to hide. “Text me when you get home safe, alright?" 

Charlie hated the second his hands let go of her waist. She hated not feeling his fingers carefully stroking her waist, slow enough to not pass a limit in something so new and fragile. She hated moving her hands away from his neck and how her body wasn’t against his anymore. But as she lost all that, she saw his hand grasping hers, looking at their fingers together. Charlie might hate losing all that, but she loved the new feeling of their hands fitting perfectly together. 

“You want a pic of me in my PJs with it?” 

“You’re gonna kill me. Text me, yeah?" And that was their goodnight kiss, just as a heartwarming as all the other ones, but that one felt like a promise. That one was the simple promise of more coming tomorrow, which made Charlie smile wider against his lips.

“I will. See you tomorrow. Have a good night. Even if it's without me” she joked, hearing the goddamn taxi finally park right beside them. 

“You too. See you tomorrow."

****

The smile on his face was impossible to hide. He knew that. He was well aware of it. He didn’t want to hide it at all. He was even sure his face would hurt after smiling so much, but he couldn’t care less, not when that just happened. That silly happy smile would stay on his face forever and he wasn’t willing to fight it, not when Charlie put it there. If he had it his way, he would keep it there forever, just like he wanted to keep Charlie forever. 

He couldn’t believe what had happened not even five minutes earlier. It felt like some kind of romantic book Em read on planes and long car rides. It was one of those meet cute things his best friend used to talk about and Blake was convinced it could only occur in silly Hallmark movies and books. But then it happened to him. From all the people in the world, the universe chose him to have the meet-cute moment. The gorgeous brunette by the bar decided to speak with him among all the guys at the bar. Then she decided that she wanted to kiss him. Him. And if that wasn’t enough, she agreed to have dinner the next day, which was almost impossible to believe. It was so illogical that Blake couldn’t stop staring at the street until the taxi that took her disappeared from his view. It took him another couple of minutes to stop it and go inside and back to his friends. 

“I was gonna ask how it was but you've a pinkish gloss on your lips” Emma smiled, pointing to her lips as she looked up at Blake. 

Blake had no idea which color it was, but from that night it was his favorite one. All he knew was that it tasted like cherries, which paired perfectly with the fruity drink Charlie drank earlier. But nobody needed to know, at least not yet. He thought for a second about denying it, saying he didn’t have anything on his lips, but there was no point. It was ridiculous to do it when the smile was still there, making it impossible to hide. 

“So you closed the deal?" It was Dan who finally asked the important question while Em offered a napkin. Blake grabbed it but left it on the table as he sat down, not wanting to erase Charlie’s memory from his lips. 

It was strange, but Blake somehow understood why his two best friends kept secrets about everything in their relationship for so long. A couple of kisses with Charlie and he was determined to keep it secret forever. He didn’t want to say anything about the butterflies and the nerves in his stomach, about the way he felt alive again, or the way he wanted to cry with happiness when he finally kissed her. He wanted to keep that night for himself forever. 

“We’re having dinner tomorrow night," he confessed, blushing like a nervous kid.

“Let's go!” Em exclaimed, giving Blake a high-five to celebrate the good news. After his wife, Dan did the same thing. “That's my boy!”

“Alright can we go home now? I gotta see where I’m taking her tomorrow and I really wanna freak out in private”. It took his friends only two seconds to grab their things and get up, all while Dan started to throw options about nice restaurants he could take Charlie to, and Em told him options about what he could wear. Blake smiled even more, but this time because he was thankful for his messy favorite couple.

****

Six years of knowing Blake, and Emma could swear she had never seen him that nervous. She had seen her best friend under insane pressure and terrible stress, but never as that night, especially not for a woman.

He was a mix of a nervous breakdown and a giddy mess as soon as he woke up. There was an unusual smile that Em called “The Charlie Effect” because it only appeared when she texted him. Every hour or two his phone would buzz and there it was, Blake looking at his phone like a lovesick puppy, smile blasted on his face in such a way it was contagious. But as Charlie was back in a meeting or a session, he would turn into a nervous break again. 

Blake looked terrified as he wore and changed another shirt. The previous ones were not good enough. One was too formal, the next one wasn’t casual enough, and the next one was too casual. He wanted to look perfect, and suddenly all his clothes and even the shirts he bought that morning weren’t nice. Not all the shirts in the world were good. He was so nervous he was doubting about every single choice he made in his life, but especially about his clothes and the restaurant he had chosen for that night. Dan recommended something quite private, small, and not as fancy as the Michelin stars restaurants they had been eating in luxury hotels. It was obvious from kilometers away that Charlie wasn’t that kind of woman. The last thing Blake wanted to do was chase her away by picking the wrong restaurant or doing the wrong thing. His final decision about the restaurant was made when Em said she liked the one Dan suggested, and if ‘I don’t like fancy stuff’ Em thought it was okay, then it was good enough. 

After that, Em solved the issue with his clothes. Like a mum helping her kid pick up the right clothes for prom, Em helped her best friend, telling him to go for a blue shirt and some black pants. It was chill and classic and he looked great in blue. But even after that, he took another twenty minutes to get ready, which for Blake was an eternity. Whatever he was doing in the bathroom and the bedroom was worth it because when he came out he looked flawless.

“Timmy, tell me the truth. How do I look?” Blake asked, standing right in front of Em who was sitting on the couch, book in her hand as she waited for Dan to return from taking a call with one of his mates. Not that Em couldn’t listen, but Dan just didn’t want to bother as she read one of the critical chapters. 

“You’re the most handsome man in the world after my husband. You really look great, Blakey. If you change again I swear I’m gonna hit you” Em joked, saying the last word with a straight face before she smiled at her friend once again. “I know you’re nervous but stop it. You look breathtaking.”

“Don’t lie to me”

“I’m not lying! C’mere. C’mon! Come sit with Aunt Emmy." It was a couple of pats on the couch and then Blake did as he was told. He sat right beside Em and she hugged his arm as she looked up at him. “Drop it. Whatever it's in your head just say it cause it won’t help if it’s eating you”

It took Blake a few seconds to say it. He took a deep breath before letting the words leave his mouth even if it hurt. “What if it goes wrong? Or if she doesn’t like me at the end?”

“B, darling, you know she likes you. I mean, you already kissed."

“I know. And I like her, Tim. But what if? Like- Ughh she’s so damn beautiful and smart and funny! How does she like me? What if she was drunker than she thought and now she doesn’t know how to say no to hanging out? Or if it's not the same as last night?”

Em understood perfectly where all those fears came from. Nobody could blame him, especially not Em. She's been through that in her relationship with Dan for years. She still found it difficult to understand how her husband loved her. But on the other hand, she couldn't understand how someone wouldn't want to have a date with Blake. No when he was the greatest friend and one of the best men of all time.

“You’re handsome, smart and funny. I know you’re nervous but it's gonna be alright.”

Before Em could finish showering her brother with compliments to boost his confidence, they heard a loud whistle coming from the other side of the room. Em couldn’t help but smile when she saw Dan standing there, looking straight at them. 

“Ohhh he looks handsome!”

“See? Told you! You look great!” Em smiled, looking between both men, searching for help from Daniel.

“You ready to charm Miss Charlotte?” Dan asked, sitting on Blake’s free side. There was no way he could escape between them and that's what they needed.

“Shut up, cunt.”

“I think she’s already charmed” Em singsonged, kissing Blake’s cheek before he ran from the couch, leaving Em the space to snuggle with her man.

“I think I should go. Don’t wait up. Y’know what? Just don’t wait at all.”

“Do you have condoms or do you want some?” Dan joked, making Blake freeze in his spot and Em laugh maybe too loud for their own good. Coming from them it was probably the most ridiculous joke they could ever say, so the three of them laughed and smiled unnecessarily loudly.

“You telling me there’s condoms in this house? That you have condoms? When was the last time you touched one of those?”

Em and Dan took a moment to do basic math. The first time they slept together was in 2018, Em knew she hadn’t slept with anyone since 2017, but she never asked Dan if he did after they met. He always said he couldn’t stop thinking about her from the second they met. However, she couldn’t blame him if he had been with someone before them. It would be weird if he didn’t. Em was fine with not knowing names or seeing pictures.

“2017?” Dan asked, kissing Em’s forehead before she nodded in agreement. Something as simple as a kiss and a number cleared one of her doubts in a second. “And nah we don’t have”.

“That’s what I thought. Okay, I’m out." He kissed Em’s forever and ruffled Dan’s curls before grabbing the keys of the car he rented -because yes, Blake insisted he wasn’t planning to pick Charlie up in Dan’s pickup truck- and checked again his phone was in his pocket. Em couldn’t help but smile as she looked up at Blake, hoping he would finally get some happiness he deserved. As Blake was almost at the door, she noticed his green backpack sitting on the other couch next to her.

“Hey, your backpack!”

“Why would I need my backpack?” Blake asked with the most confused look on his face. He has his keys, phone, and wallet. Em figured the smart man had condoms somewhere in one of his pockets, so he was oblivious to why Em mentioned his backpack.

“I put clean clothes for you there, dummy. I know you won’t be back for the whole weekend so I figured you would need it. At least to come back dressed." Em made it sound like the easiest explanation in the world, shrugging like it wasn't a big deal. For her, it wasn't. All she did was grab a nice pair of shorts, a T-shirt, socks, and the newest underwear she knew Blake had. Eighty percent of the time Em was in charge of their laundry, so she knew which clothes were older, even in Blake's suitcase. She might have also thrown there a spare deodorant, a toothbrush, and a box of condoms, but she wasn't gonna say a thing about it. She wanted to keep the secret and wait for Blake to find out.

Em thought Blake was gonna say she was insane for doing such a thing. After all, she wasn't his mum and he was a grown-up adult who could take care of himself. She just wanted to look after her best friend and give back some of the love, care, and affection he constantly gave them. Blake knew that was Em's way of showing her love, so he walked back, grabbed the backpack, and pointed straight at her. “I love you."

“I love you too. Go be happy!" Em exclaimed, a smile on her face as she saw Blake leaving the house and Dan yelled to him, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!".

****

He shouldn’t be that nervous. He couldn’t be that nervous. Charlie was just a girl. He hung out with girls before. He did it a hundred times. It wasn’t his first date or anything. At that point in his life, it felt like his first date was centuries ago, but somehow that night was like it again. He had the same excitement and nerves he had when he was a kid in Sydney. The only difference was that this felt final. He has dated girls before, but never experienced anything like that. None of them felt like Charlie. None of them made him forget his name instantly like she did. None of them felt like home, which was insane but true. Kissing Charlie made him feel like coming home after too much time away. It was like heaven even when he knew she could take him down to hell in a second. Being honest with himself, he couldn’t care less. He would gladly go to hell if it meant kissing her again.

He wanted nothing more than kissing her again. He wanted to taste her cherry chapstick again. He wanted her hands against his skin and her body near his. He wanted to feel her smiling and be the one begging for her to take him home. Because he regretted not going home with her. He couldn't stop thinking about it the whole night. He couldn't erase from his mind her beautiful face begging him to leave with her. He couldn't stop thinking about how he should have said yes to that and to every thing Charlie asked of him. He should have gone home with her, but instead, he listened to his decency. All he had in return was a night of terrible sleep while he missed her.

As he drove around Perth's familiar streets, Blake kept thinking about what Em said to him. It was gonna be fine. Nothing pointed in the opposite direction. There was no reason for their date to go wrong. There was no reason, but anything could happen and he didn’t want to think about it. He just couldn’t, that’s why as he drove, he decided to call the only person who could calm him again.

“You got lost or you already miss me?” 

“Tell me again it's gonna be fine?”

“Oh Blakey. Umm- Oh, I know. Hey, remember when we were sitting in the airport flying to Nice? I didn’t want to go and you promised me that no matter what happened it’d be terrible not to go because I’d never know what happened."

"Of course I remember." Some things weren’t easy to forget in life. Em holding his hand for dear life was one of those. How hard she tried to keep tears from falling was another on the list. But nothing was as terrible as seeing her eyes. She seemed lost. She looked like something had broken inside her. It was nothing but the shadow of the woman she was, but Blake needed to take her to Monaco. Maybe it was the most disastrous decision of his life, but he needed to take her there to face her biggest fear. Blake had no idea how it worked. While it felt like a miracle at the time, he came to understand her point months later.

"That’s you right now. This will work out, B. I promise. You just need to enjoy yourself and text me in the morning so I know you’re alive.”

“You know I fucking love you, right?”

“I know. You told me five minutes ago. But I love you more. Now take a deep breath, okay? Just like you made me do it that day. Do that and remember it was alright for me, so it's gonna be more than okay for you."

“Thanks, Emmy.”

“You know you’re the only person except Dan, his parents, and the kids who can call me that?”

“I know. Means a lot.”

“I know, silly. Now go get your girl.”

“She’s not-“.

“Shush. You closed the deal last night. Go get her, make her officially your girl. I’m fucking exhausted of all the testosterone, I need another girl on my side.” 

“She told me she loves Taylor...”

“Blake Francis Friend, if you lose her I will destroy you”.

“If I lose her I will let you destroy me. I feel like the two of you will terrorize me and Dan.”

“What a shame, not like the three of you have done that to me for years!”

“I’ll apologize to you again when I see you. I think I’m outside her apartment so I better leave you. Love you, Timmy.”

“Love you more, Blakey. Have fun!” 

****

The second Blake told Charlie about dinner, she knew what she was going to wear. She knew the little black dress she bought months ago without reason suddenly had a reason to hang in her closet. The black, short, very sexy halter dress was gonna be her ally that night. It was classy, not showing anything but putting her legs out there so his imagination could do the rest. If she was lucky she was gonna convince Blake to just have her as entrance and dessert, and then they could order something on her list of favorite places near home. The problem was what to wear under her dress. She was divided into two bralette bras, a regular black one that was serious but sexy, or a lace lavender one that was cute as it could get. Charlie wasn’t one to compliment herself, but both of them looked gorgeous on her, doing wonders for her boobs.

She needed that night to work. She knew she shouldn’t put all her expectations on a man she met in a bar the night before. She was a grown-up woman who knew better, but damn, she needed it to work. She needed it because something inside her yelled Blake was the right one. She always trusted her gut and she had a really good feeling about it. She wanted that and Blake almost as much as she wanted to call her sister-in-law for a brief pep talk saying it was gonna be fine. Two minutes on the phone with Katie and she could convince her that it was going to be fine. But Charlie didn’t want to make the call. For some reason, she wanted Blake for herself. She didn’t want anybody giving their opinion on the matter. She didn’t want anyone to say it was good or wrong. She just wanted to kiss him again in peace, understand he was real, and then go from it.

“Just chill the fuck out, kid. It’s gonna be fine” she told herself as she looked in the mirror while doing her makeup. She didn’t want to put too many products on her face, trying to make it appear natural. If her wishes came true in a few hours, she would be on her knees for him, so she didn’t want to look like a complete disaster with her makeup all over the place.

Her makeup wasn’t such a big issue. She did it fast and it looked good and simple, but her hair was another story. So used to have half her hair tied up and half down or in a ponytail for work, she didn’t want to do that for her date. She wanted something simple and cute to go with her dress, but her hair refused to behave. And updo looked weird. The ponytail didn’t look nice, and she couldn’t find any cute accessories to keep it up, so she decided to let it fall on her back. As she brushed her hair hoping not even one lock would be out of place, Charlie couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous she was. Not only did she know Blake wasn’t going to care about how her hair looked like, but she also hoped he would make a complete mess out of it.

After the realization hit her she decided to sit down and wait for his text saying he was outside waiting for her. She spent a good part of the last three hours pacing the floor of her apartment. When she wasn’t showering or getting ready she was just walking from one point to another, praying to whatever was out there to not let her ruin it. But then she was tired of walking, so she sat down, double-checking everything in her purse before heading out.

But then at exactly 7:40 and five minutes earlier than they said, her phone finally buzzed, making her jump out of her seat with a smile on her face as she read a tiny “Outside!” that just made her run.

[starboardharpy]

This is basically what happened, right??

Psst, hey! @bilan-igg , it's the Gay Doritos :>

[cyclogenesis]

hugh jackman/ryan reynolds/blake lively throuple post here we go

So, as a disclaimer, I've never known a single thing in my entire life and I'm not about to start now. That said, here are a bunch of reasons why, if like thirty years from now some tell-all comes out about how they were all in a relationship with each other, I'll be like, "Yes, that is what I suspected. They were not all that subtle about it, tbh."

I just want to start you off with this because it's so, so fucking cute. They're all at the It Ends With Us premiere and Blake and Ryan are getting their pictures taken together, you know, as they do, and then you can see Ryan say "Where's Hugh?" and Blake grabs him to pull him into the shot and then they giggle at each other and it's just, man, they all so obviously adore each other. Look, watch the video!

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Adorable. Alright, I'm choosing a random place to jump in because if I try to do this chronologically I'll get too intense about timelines. Bear with me.

So, Hugh spent a lot of time with Blake and Ryan after his divorce was finalized in 2023. A lot.

Here are Ryan and Hugh three days after the split was announced in late September. (x)

They all went to a football game with Taylor Swift shortly after that. (x)

Then they were all together for Hugh's 55th birthday on October 12th. (x)

Through late October they were all spending time with each other still, including at a little house party they all attended with Taylor Swift at Bradley Cooper's place. No pictures of them together but just saying. (x)

Just Hugh's birthday post for Ryan around then...the heart. So true king, couldn't agree more.

Well, people go on social outings with their friends during tough times. Okay. No, totally. I'd just like you to sit with this, from Blake's September 2024 Vogue cover story:

“They are megawatt stars,” Hugh Jackman tells me over the phone from London, talking about Blake and her husband. “These are like old-school megawatt stars…and of course I’ve spent many hours with them, like in pajamas just hanging out in their house with their nine hundred children and dogs and it is just as normal as can be, and Blake will be baking and cooking and saying, ‘Let’s make pizza,’ and then the next thing you turn around,” he says, describing her changing for an event, “and there she is, this incredible star. It’s…it’s astonishing to me.”

Many hours with them, like in pajamas just hanging out in their house...

It's that they're having fucking sleepovers for me. Hugh is a recently single man in his mid-fifties. Do you know a lot of men that age who have sleepovers with their married friends? No, not because he needs a couch to sleep on after the divorce. He has houses. The three of them live in the same fucking city. If Hugh wanted to go home at night it's a...ten minute drive, maybe? (Blake and Ryan are in Tribeca and Hugh's in Chelsea. Yes I looked this up.) Even if he's not staying at their apartment, but at their house in Pound Ridge an hour outside the city (Yes, I looked this up!!), it's not like that's their summer place upstate where friends and fam come to stay for like, a weekend vacation. That's just their fucking house, that's their primary residence. Furthermore, although there is a guest house on that estate (rich people. jesus), I'd like to put forth that you're not going to step out the guest house in your jammies and scamper across the grounds at bedtime. I posit that he just stays in the main house with them for reasons of maximum domesticity.

And just like, again, going off his own words, the scenario here is Hugh in his pajamas seeing Blake get ready to go to an event, presumably not with Ryan, because why would he be lounging watching them both get glammed--so he and Ryan in their comfy clothes observing as she heads out and they stay there together with the kids. (Also supposition here but it would make sense for them to be in the city apartment if there are events to go to...so just once again, in his pajamas because he stayed over even though his own place is ten minutes away. Like.)

Man. Stars...are they just like us?

(Also from that article where Blake talks about 'her love of Jackman': “He’s a guy who will show up for you anytime or place. Whether it’s public or private, that man shows up!” Girl, I bet he does. Also can a man show up if he never leaves in the first place.)

Did I even fucking mention that in the Vogue article in question they called in Hugh to star in a photoshoot with Blake inspired by To Catch A Thief?

Man I fucking guess! With the vision of them playing love interests fresh in your mind, let's just close out this section with more of Hugh enthusing about how gorgeous Blake is:

And she’s, as I said, walking around in pajamas and then five minutes later—it’s Elizabeth Taylor! At the height of her beauty. And you’re like, What? How? And it’s totally…it’s miraculous. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.

Normal way to talk about your best friend's wife. And god we get it, you're all hanging out in your pajamas after sleeping together, in the same house I mean! They're the first people you want to see in the morning and the last people you want to see at night and that's great for you!

But staying with them, okay, I fully accept that like, maybe this is just a thing I don't get as a person who's never had a break-up the recovery from which I felt necessitated spending weeks with my married couple best friends and their multitude of children. I ran across this LaineyGossip post about this time period that I'll excerpt here: In my experience, this is what happens often when someone goes through a breakup – you basically hunker down with your friends. (...) So when I see this scene, of Hugh, Ryan, and Blake, I get it, I know what this is. Or at least I presume I know what this is. For the next little while, Hugh is going to be hunkered down with his boy and Blake.

That is, btw, LaineyGossip of "which could mean nothing" fame. So there's a gift of phrasing here, which must be why "Or at least I presume I know what this is" keeps marquee-ing through my head followed by the neon flashing lights of "his boy".

I don't know, it's interesting. It's just interesting! Aren't you all like "Hmm!"

But maybe you're still like, dude they are just friends. Grown-up married friends can have frequent pajama parties with their newly single best friend. Okay, you're right, maybe they're not all fucking. You know, fine. But it's an indisputable fact that they have thought about it to the point that it's, I think, a running joke between them that they all, you know, could be fucking in some combination. A running joke for at least nine years, because this is from 2016:

Congratulations to the three of them and their jokes about Ryan getting cucked! I think that's really fun. This is also the interview where Ryan tells Hugh that he's "fucking gorgeous" so, whatever in the absolute fuck the three of them are doing I'm just happy to be subjected to their little psychosexual games while they're at it. I for one think their kink is okay and consider it an honor to be non-consensually witnessing it. (gifset link!)

Just, interestingly, Hugh's 55th birthday is not the only one he spent with Ryan. They were also together for his 49th birthday in 2017:

Chatting to Triple J Grill Team, Hugh told the radio panel that his good friend Ryan Reynolds flew all the way to Atlanta just to celebrate his 49th birthday with him. “[I'm] working in Atlanta doing a movie here, and then I’ll go out tonight to a nice steak restaurant with my buddy, with my best mate out here - Ryan Reynolds. He flew in especially," the Wolverine star told the breakfast show. When asked whether or not Ryan was in the area, Hugh told the team: "No he’s just flew in, you know because he’s my best mate and he said I want to be there on your big day."

Listen, all respect to Hugh's marriage. I literally have no idea what the fuck was going on there, I hope he was just happily married for a long time and it was great and it ended amicably and everyone's doing fine. I'm just pointing out that it's low-key crazy work that, from what it sounds like, Hugh was going to be working and wife-less and alone on his birthday, and Ryan was like no, I am going to get on a plane and fly two and a half hours to come and take you out on a nice dinner date for your birthday. And Blake presumably kissed the father of her (at the time) two children and said yes of course you are. Don't let him be wife-less in Atlanta, go get your man.

You know, which isn't to say that there's not from time to time a gentle tug of war between Ryan's wife and husband. Here's a random little post from 2018 where Blake jokes about Ryan loving Hugh more than her. Oh you crazy kids. (Hugh posted that they were all three at the coffee shop later that year!)

Okay here's one that just absolutely kills me. So it's known that Ryan was on set for It Ends With Us a fair bit because, you know...Justin Baldoni is a fucking predator. But I've seen rumors (sorry, it's a pain in the ass to find sources) that Hugh stepped in to be around as well and be there for her when Ryan couldn't. This is from a DM article about Blake filming the movie in New Jersey one morning in January 2024, which includes this lone shot captioned "Later on that day she was seen hanging out with pal Hugh Jackman". That's it, no further info, just Hugh and Blake and baby Olin.

Here's Blake in July 2024 wearing a shirt from Hugh's clothing line and calling him her other man. (x)

God, so...I haven't even gotten to the Deadpool and Wolverine press tour. Christ alive, you guys. I'm going to pick a small selection of things that made me feel the most like howling at the moon and you're going to have to take my word for it or get clicking, this post is already so long.

Ryan made a video for Blake while she was out promoting It Ends With Us about how he misses her and wants her to come home, this starts at 6:25 during this interview. Hugh pops into the video and says to her, "Please come back. I can't kiss him anymore. I can't keep pretending to be you."

I don't normally go in for like, analyzing facial expressions and all that, but this post theorizing the throuple from last September features a video where Hugh's talking about eating a lot of pastries and says, "It's just a lot, it's like a threesome, there's too much information," and my god, the look on Ryan's face as he processes this and then he's like, "Who put a nickel in you today??" like, I don't know man! It sure is a reaction to have! I'm just leaving this here as a slice of salami in the context sandwich of this whole post!

And then there's Blake calling Ryan while they're doing an interview and she's like "I didn't think you were actually on a press tour. I thought you were just honeymooning," and Ryan goes "No we're not! We're not actually just on vacation together," and again, just again, it's at the very least a running joke between them about how doesn't it seem like they are all fucking!

What else did they do in 2024 after spending all this time with each other? Well, Ryan and Hugh had a joint birthday party in October with the family, obviously. I think it's nice that they both wore pretty shades of blue and let the grey hair grow in so they could look even more like husbands who are in love and growing old together. I am going to have a meltdown, thanks for checking in.

I just wanted this in here, it's a little flashback to Hugh and Ryan taking a walk with each other on Christmas Eve in 2019. I think it's cute that they all spend birthdays and holidays with each other.

And as a follow-up to that, this post points out that a photo Hugh posted on Christmas Eve 2023 was taken in the lobby of Blake and Ryan's apartment building. Fine.

Now we're going to talk about relationship dynamics. Are you good? Do you need to get up and get a glass of water? I have more stuff to tell you about. Stay hydrated. So, if you do enough Googling you will eventually run across various listicles that are like "Ten times Blake and Ryan adorably trolled each other" and "A timeline of Ryan and Hugh's hilarious fake feud" and eventually you'll be like, can we call it something other than trolling. I am tired of that word. But then after you try to think of another way to put it and come up blank, and read some of these stupid listicles that reference allegedly cute Instagram comments they didn't screenshot and that Meta will never, ever let you find, what you will eventually realize is that they're all describing the exact same type of relationship.

In fact, here's Hugh calling it the same thing: 'There's no doubt it's a lot of fun because let's face it, it's one of the great – it should be an Olympic sport – trolling Ryan Reynolds,' Hugh joked. (x) Yes, you and his wife are co-gold medalists.

So, with that in mind, here's Hugh and Ryan talking about each other in People magazine (sidebar: this is excerpted from the accompanying video of them interviewing each other, which is absolutely worth your 22 minutes, they are very sincere and adorable in it and also it ends with Ryan talking about what they rely on each other for, and Hugh goes, "Your apartment 😁" and Ryan laughs and goes "Ah, the roommate that keeps on giving" and then they exchange I love yous, GOD, they're so!!! Anyway writing this fucking doorstop fantasy novel of a post has sent me on a quest watching more stuff from summer '24 and my god they do joke constantly about how Hugh basically lives with Blake and Ryan, but there is no punchline to that joke so it comes off sounding like Hugh just...lived with them for awhile, and they're both like tee-hee about it. Fuck me, oh my god, okay, onto the quotes):

“And ever since I've known you, and I would say in particular in like the last five, 10 years, we've had more time where we go for our walks because you're an unbelievable listener," adds Jackman. "So you can tell me anything and I can tell you anything, and I don't feel like you're going to be judging or necessarily giving me the answer: ‘Do this.’ And I think that has been the key.” The feeling is mutual. “I think the secret sauce to a long-lasting Hollywood friendship is not too dissimilar to having a partner or a marriage,” says Reynolds, speaking to Jackman. “I am genuinely rooting for you, all the time. I want you to win. It’s the same way I feel about Blake. As I'm rooting for her, I know she's rooting for me, and it's why we're so connected.”

I just think it's interesting. I think it's interesting when you see that Ryan and Hugh became friends pretty quickly with this cute little teasing/bantery relationship from the jump where they fondly rib each other all the time, and they made an effort to stay friends and then became really good friends over the years, and then Ryan and Blake start going together, and got married within a year (after buying a house with each other after six months together. lunatic behavior, god bless), and it was pretty immediately apparent after that that they also have this adorable teasing/bantery relationship where they fondly rib each other all the time...

And just when you're like damn, it's kinda like Ryan married the girl version of Hugh, and his best friend Hugh is the boy version of Blake, Ryan's like no that's tea. Having a long-lasting friendship is like being married to that person. I feel the same about Hugh as I do about Blake.

And then you're like oh well those are certainly...words...that have meanings...

I'm sorry to put a fucking TikTok in here but we use what we have. And I need you to hear Ryan say, "My wife Blake calls Hugh my other wife."

Yeah, that makes sense. I've seen references to Blake also calling Hugh her other husband, but I can't find the source for that because Google would rather laugh openly at me as I beg it to function. Also, here are various things about them all...just like, co-parenting Blake and Ryan's kids.

'They’re all kind of in love with Uncle Hughey over here, so that worked out pretty well,' Ryan told Extra on Monday. 'My kids prefer everything Hugh to me,' he quipped as The Greatest Showman actor chimed in, 'Mainly just as a parent.' The father-of-four revealed that the 55-year-old actor's films are watched on repeat in his household. 'They watched The Greatest Showman more than the editor for The Greatest Showman,' Ryan said.  'And sometimes I come home, and this guy’s actually acting it out with them and that’s kind of amazing,' he added of Jackman's relationship to their kids. (x)

Sometimes Ryan comes home to his house, because he wasn't there, but Hugh is there already, I guess just being at Blake and Ryan's house entertaining their children, which makes sense because he's at their house all the time, "ha ha" (?). Uncle Hughey...also, I noted down the following exchange between them from some fucking thing related to this subject that I watched and then accidentally closed bc I have so many tabs open that my laptop fan is wailing like it's being tortured. You and me both, buddy.

Ryan: Get out of my house every once in awhile. Hugh: I would if you turned up and parented.

Feisty! It's a funny joke because Hugh lives with them and co-parents their children. Don't you find that funny. Don't you feel so normal about that.

Here's a photo of Hugh talking to one of their kids on the DP&W set while Ryan looks on fondly. (x) There has been much talk about how their third daughter Betty is obsessed with him. She gets a shoutout in the DP&W credits as the "Hugh Jackman Wrangler".

Bonus: Hugh's multiple photo IG feed post wishing a happy birthday to RYAN'S MOM last year. God. Family! Just, you know, in-law things!!

So, to summarize: Ryan sure fucking has a type, personality-wise. (Aesthetically I think his type is: Hot.) He feels the same way about Hugh as he does about Blake, his words! They have been joking with each other about their throuple dynamic for like, at least ten years. They all frequently go out of their way to spend birthdays and holidays with each other. Hugh is basically a third parent to Blake and Ryan's children (honestly there's a lot more to back this one up, this just already took me fucking forever). I think it's safe to conclude that Hugh lived with them for a pretty significant amount of time. I also didn't mention it above, but what got me on this track in the first place was the announcement last November that Ryan was working on a non-Marvel project to star himself and Hugh. When I read that I was like wow, you couldn't wait two entire seconds after finishing a long summer of promo with him to find a way to get back to working with him again, huh? At the time I was not aware of most of this. Now I'm still saying the same thing, but crying.

I put this whole thing together and that means I get to promote my Hugh/Ryan(/Blake) fanfic The Co-Stars: A Romantic Comedy by Ryan Reynolds, which I wrote after that news in a frenzy of very intense feeling. Given that I unearthed the majority of the information above after posting that fic I can now report that the only thing I think I really fucked up was the timeline. The fic starts in 2024 and they clearly were already all three romantically involved with each other by then. That one's my bad, guys. Big canon fail on my part.

Disclaimer 2.0: Just kidding! I'm sure they're all just very good heterosexual friends who have spent the last decade being platonically weird about each other in public where we can see them because it's all a big laugh and also three people living with each other while co-parenting children is something with no implications that may require review. I know nothing except what they've said about each other, and what words mean, and how to interpret human behavior on a basic level. Don't ask me.

(But if someday in the future it all comes out that there was something going on, I want you to think of this post. And I want you to mentally high-five me from wherever you are in the big wide world. I'll feel it. We all will.)

[lime-sketches114]

Anyone wanna be RWBY friends? I've been getting back into it recently bc I love the concept n stuff. I have OCs too.

My fave characters are Ironwood, Clover, Qrow, Tyrian, Watts, Winter, Penny, Yang, Weiss, Nora and Glynda.

[justinewt]

Stir Up a Hornet's Nest - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Thirty-Seven

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (SOON)

Summary: They had found out who was on this ship, and who was down there, so it was time to try to get back to the ground, and get their own people out of that bunker.

Words: 5.3k

Warnings: The 100 season 5 spoilers (second half of episode 3 "Sleeping giants"; episode 4 "Pandora's box")

“Not too long ago, I’d have thought this was magic.” Echo declared as she stared at the cryo coffins along the walls of the room. 300 people were in those, minus one. They all stood there, just looking. They needed to figure out how to deal with this, before those criminals woke up, because they were actual criminals, nothing like the 100 teenagers that had been sent down to the ground years ago. As she thought about it, it hit Michelle in the face just how long it had really been. How long her mother had been dead for, and how long she had spent separated from her dad. She felt her heart ache and she quickly swept those depressing thoughts aside.

“Any advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Raven said, as she studied the panel of one of the cryo coffin. This one was open, so it was easy to suppose or guess that it was that of their aggressor.

“How long can they live like this?” Bellamy had taken the words out of Michelle’s mouth as her lips parted slightly.

“Technically? Forever.”

“Or we can kill them all right now.” Murphy barged in, walking with a determined step and Michelle shot up her eyebrows. She didn’t completely disagree with him. They could just get rid of all those dangerous criminals before they even became somewhat of a threat. As he walked up to them, he glanced at Michelle standing with one hand on her lower back and Bellamy with his tumefied face.

“One of them woke up.” Echo replied, with her split lip.

“Question is how.”

“No, the question is what the hell are we waiting for?” Murphy cut him off. “I’m serious, ok. We’re all gassed up. Let’s pull the plug on this sleeping army and go home.”

“I agree.” Michelle added, crossing her arms over her chest. “If we wait, they’ll just wake up, and either fucking kill us or join this Diyoza down there and still kill all of us.”

“That’s not an option. Kill thiers, they kill ours.” Bellamy contradicted. “Raven?”

“The pods are all jacked into the mainframe. I’m guessing they activated this one remotely from the ground, probably in response to us tripping their alarm.”

“When he doesn’t check in, they’ll wake more of them.”

“I’d say that’s a good bet.” Raven exchanged a glance with Echo and turned, looking down at the endless room.

“So we should do something before that happens, at least get the hell out.” Michelle concluded, supported in her proposition by Murphy and his want to get the hell out of there as well. They were seemingly on the same wavelength at the moment, looking at each other. Michelle thought it a little weird how he quickly broke eye contact for no reason, and she looked over her shoulder at Bellamy, staring at Murphy. She sometimes forgot how their exchanges could look from his perspective and given that they were exes. His brows were a little furrowed. She put a hand on his back, softly moving the tips of her fingers around.

“Bellamy, you know what happens when these guys get to the ground.” They turned their heads to Echo. “Murphy and Michelle aren’t wrong. This is an army.” He thought, frowning harder, looking down, conflicted. “I know how you feel, but it took four of us to take out one of them. Giving them reinforcements when we can stop it is a strategic mistake.”

He gave Murphy and Michelle a glance, “We’ve been off the ring for less than a day, and we’re already talking about murdering hundreds of people.”

“Hundreds of people that would kill us the second they wake up. And then kill our people on the ground.”

“Exactly.” Voices were raising and statements were being made with a much stronger tone, though they weren’t actually arguing. Murphy once again backed Michelle. The way Bellamy looked at them, raising his eyebrows and digging the creases on his forehead, showed Michelle that the dynamic going on between the three of them wasn’t ideal, even though it felt nice to agree on something with Murphy for once in a while. She was afraid that it would make Murphy and Bellamy’s relationship worse if he thought the two exes were getting close again. She sighed in her head. It had been less than a day off the ring and so many things were going wrong. Or many she was overthinking it because of stress or something like that. She would know at some point, if they ever argued or what not, Bellamy would bring it up. “This is survival, not murder. Just like Michelle said, they die now, or we die later. If Clarke was here, this wouldn’t even be—”

“Clarke’s not here.” Bellamy kept his eyebrows raised, pulling their heads together. He wasn’t just annoyed at Murphy, he was sad to think about Clarke, and Michelle knew exactly how he felt. She felt the same way about her.

“Exactly.” He repeated himself. “She died so we could live, Bellamy. This is how we do that.”

“Maybe not.” Raven spoke, quietly. Murphy took a step back from Bellamy after getting up close in his face as things got heated. “We can leave them here like this but block the signal from the ground so they can’t wake them up.”

“They have a shuttle. They can just come back up and do it themselves.”

“Can you rig it so we can kill them remotely?” Echo wondered.

“It’s tricky… But possible. Why?”

“That way we can have leverage.” Michelle figured, speaking as she locked eyes with the former Azgeda spy.

“Put down your weapons or we pull the plug.” Bellamy added. He walked to Raven, Michelle’s hand sliding down and off his back. “How long do you need to make that possible?”

“I don’t know, but I’m on it.”

“Wait, Murphy.” The latter was walking away, leaving them in the room until Bellamy called his name. He stopped in the door frame. “I want to know what you think.”

“I think it’s a risk.”

“You’re right. It is. But Clarke didn’t die for us to live just so we can go back to the ground and make the same mistakes.”

“What the hell?” He smiled, pressing his lips together, not looking directly at them and shrugged. “Let’s be good guys.”

Michelle was pacing around. They were waiting for Bellamy to come back after he went to check on Raven, see if she had figured out how to rig the remote control of the cryo coffins and prevent Diyoza and her people to wake them up from the ground. Emory, Echo and Michelle all exchanged confused looks upon not seeing their fellow engineer.

“Where is she?” The others got up from the benches on either side of the boarding room.

“It’s technical, but, um, someone had to run things from up here.”

“So let it be John.” Michelle’s eyes were on him as Emori pointed at him with here hand. He was hurt that she wanted to be rid of him so bad. He felt her gaze and they looked at each other, and whether or not he interpreted her compassion as pity, or appreciated it, he looked away after a couple seconds.

“I said, it’s technical.”

After some silence, Monty spoke up, already walking away, ignoring Harper’s choked voice as she called out to him, but Bellamy stopped him in his tracks. “It has to be Raven. Once we have a truce, she’ll come down with the prisoners. If we fail, she’ll take the ship’s escape pod. Either way, she will be fine.”

“If I’m flying solo, she’ll be the only one.” Emori wasn’t about to let this go. Bellamy eventually walked past them, towards the pod. When he turned around, Murphy had stepped out of the boarding airlock.

“I’m staying too.” He declared. “Look, Raven might need backup.” Everyone was just staring at him in silence. “What? With Emori flying, this is the survivor’s move. See you on the other side.”

He then pressed on the button to the side of the door, closing it as he walked away.  They all put on their suits and got inside the dropship, Emori and Bellamy taking the commands, counting down the meters as they descended to the ground, lighting and firing up the engines. It shook quite a lot once they entered the atmosphere, and Michelle gritted her hand on the edge of her seat. When the robotic voice repeating Emori’s commands said the landing had been successful, they all had pleasantly surprised looks on their faces. They were on the ground. After 6 years, they were finally back. With a relieved breath, they took off their helmets, one after the other. Emori was so shocked by what she had accomplished, managing to keep all of her friends alive, that she didn’t respond the first time that Bellamy called her name.

“We didn’t die.”

“No. No, we didn’t.” He smiled.

“We’ll celebrate, once Murphy and Raven are back down, too.” Echo wasn’t as happy and cheerful or relieved as the others. She was, as always, much more pragmatic. “There’s no telling how many people saw us. We need to take cover in the trees before they get here.

“Yeah.” Bellamy agreed, passing his gloved hand in his hair to get the locks out of his forehead and unbolted his seatbelt, everyone doing the same and then following him outside after he opened the hatch. It was pitch black outside, and so quiet. So much so it was almost disturbing, and pretty scary given they didn’t know who could be watching them, but if it was someone like that dude on the Eligius, maybe those people wouldn’t be so discreet, but still they were on high alert. “Ok, so how do we dinf them?”

“We don’t. They’ll find us.” Echo stated.

Michelle’s thoughts on those people’s lack of discretion, or rather lack of need to be discreet, were confirmed when armed men appeared before them, aiming at them and ordering them to get on their knees. They already found them. Bellamy took upon himself to do the talking and stepped up as they all rose their hands in the hair.

“It’s ok, it’s ok. We don’t want to fight…”

“Now!”

“No, wait. We just want to talk.” One of the men took a radio, signaling that they had six hostiles in front of them, and they were told to standby. They all looked at each other until they heard a female voice, probably Diyoza’s, telling them they had lost four of their people, and that it was time to even the score. Right when they heard those words, the group knew a peaceful conversation wouldn’t be in the cards for them.

“Congratulations. Two of you get to live.” As he was about to shoot four of them down, a spear was thrown at him from the forest. He fired a few shots but couldn’t aim correctly and just shoot up the trees. A young girl stood there by the dim light of the moon, looking at them. Just a kid, as Bellamy noted, baffled. The girl was staring at him with big eyes.

“Bellamy?” He didn’t respond, staring back at her in confusion as to how she even knew his name. She swept her eyes around, glancing at the others, looking for something, or rather someone else. “Is Michelle there?” The latter walked out of Bellamy’s shadow and the girl smiled. “Clarke knew you would come.”

Bellamy had been so taken aback, it took him a minute before he could speak, “Clarke’s alive?”

“She’s in trouble. We have to go.” The girl urged.

“What about the others in the bunker?” Monty took a step forward.

“Still there.” Michelle closed her eyes for a second, taking a shaky breath, thinking about her father. He wasn’t dead, like she convinced herself of those past few years. He was very much still alive, and she could soon be reunited with him.

“What? No, no. How can that be?”

“I’ll explain on the way.”  They were left dumbfounded, but the girl seemingly didn’t have the time to tell them everything right there and then, so they jogged after her, following her through the woods to a Rover parked nearby. She drove them to a grove where they saw a group of people – most likely the people from the Eligius – and a blonde girl on the ground, seized with convulsions. It was Clarke. Once her hair got out of her face, there was no doubting it, but even before that, Michelle recognized her hair and silhouette almost instantly. Upon seeing the car approach, the group turned towards them, some aiming their weapons in their direction. Madi was about to step out of the vehicle, but Bellamy stopped her, staring ahead of him, through the windshield.             They were outnumbered and this could go wrong so fast, and in so many ways. 

“Madi, no. Take the rover back. That’s the plan.” He spoke. “I won’t let anything happen to Clarke. I promise.

“Come out with your hands high.” A woman shouted outside. Bellamy put his hand on the door and looked over his shoulder, glancing at Michelle sitting in the back, reassuring her that he would be okay, and stepped out to Clarke’s shock.

“Unarmed. Just want to talk.”

“Give me one good reason not to kill you where you stand.”

“How about I give you 283?” They weren’t expecting that one given the face she made and the look a man next to her gave her. “That’s how many of your people are gonna die if you and I can’t make a deal.” He pulled out a mug that he took on Eligius, proving he had been on the ship and wasn’t talking shit and bluffing about being able to kill all of their people. He then raised in other hand, closed into a fist, signaling to Madi to reverse the car and drive off. Michelle had climbed onto the passenger seat at the front and was staring at Clarke and Bellamy. She was battling her urge to urge to just jump out and join them, even though he asked her to stay in the car with Madi, Echo, Monty and Harper.

“283 lives for one. She must be pretty important to you.”

“She is.” Michelle had gotten out of the car, which was actually driving off into the forest this time. Bellamy turned his head, looking at her, sighing through his nose. He wasn’t so shocked that she didn’t follow through with staying in the car with the others. As he would, she would do anything for Clarke, or him, even if that put her in danger. The pair then both looked straight at Clarke, still on the ground. This wasn’t exactly the reunion they had expected.

They sat around a fire, in a heavy silence. The woman with them, the so-called Diyoza, had asked over the radio that someone check whether or not Bellamy’s words were true, and it was confirmed to be. Raven had successfully blocked their remote access to the cryo-room and the coffin-looking pods. They were unable to wake anyone up.

“Do I have your attention now?” Bellamy asked, his hands on his hips. Michelle stayed right beside him; arms crossed. She let him do the talking.

“I don’t know how you got on my ship, but if anything happens to any of my people…”

“Nothing will happen to them, as long as we can make a deal.”

“I dsay we kill him now.” They gave a sidelong glance at the man with them. The latter was inspecting the blade in his hands, not even looking at them, but looking up at Diyoza with a smirk.

“What do you want?”

“We need your help opening a bunker. You’re miners, so that shouldn’t be a problem for you. If you do that, I’ll let your people go.”

“And then what, happily ever after?”

“Then we’ll split this valley down the middle. Whether or not you’re happy is on you, but I’d like to think that we can find a way to coexist.” The same man that thought they should just kill them began laughing and stood up.

“Threatening to kill 283 of my people is one hell of a way to start a friendship.” She continued.

“Can’t expect us to come here without leverage.” Michelle said, shooting up her eyebrows. The explanations seemed quite sensible, hopefully, Diyoza wouldn’t disagree. Bellamy didn’t really give her time to comment on what she had just said. Urging her to give an answer to whether or not they had a deal, and they did have one. Bellamy and Michelle were then led to a room on the small ship they came down on and a door opened after making a buzzing sound, revealing Clarke lying down on a bench in the room.      She looked over her shoulder, both worried and surprised to see her two closest friends at her doorstep. Or at least that’s what Michelle assumed were the emotions carried by the look on her face. They walked up to her, helped her sit up and she took a second to look at them as if they weren’t real, before falling in their arms. There was so much relief in her voice once she could feel them against her. They were really here, and it brought tears to her eyes. She wasn’t hallucinating them. She eventually broke the embrace, and the relief had been replaced by concern and fear.

“Madi?”

“She’s safe.” He reassured her. “She’s in the woods with the others. Diyoza won’t look for them as long as we’re in control.”

“You’re all still alive…? Murphy, Monty, Raven?”

“Echo and Emori. Yeah.”

“Clarke, you saved us all.” Michelle added in a whisper.

She chuckled softly, “Now you’re home.” They held each other some more, before she broke the embrace again, getting all worried, again. “Wait. Why’d she release me?”

“We made a deal.” He replied. “She agreed to open the bunker.”

She showed relired at the news. They could all be reunited with the others. Michelle was especially happy about seeing her father again. She had missed him so dearly those past few years and desperately wanted to be held tightly in his arms and hold him in hers. There were three people mainly making up her entire world, and she had been kept apart from two of them for 6 years. And her father was especially important. During her time away from him, she had realized how much he had made up for her mother’s absence, and not being able to see him had forced her to face the latter’s death, and his own potential death and she couldn’t bear the thought. Bellamy, Michelle and Clarke could finally leave together and contacted Raven on the radio.

“Raven, can you hear me? Come in.”

Her voice responded a few seconds later, “Tell me everyone’s okay.”

“Everyone’s okay. We reached a deal with the people from that ship, and, by the way, the laser-com’s an open line, so they can hear every word we say.”

“Nice to meet you. We’re not bad people. We—” Murphy interrupted the conversation and was quickly cut off, Bellamy taking back the lead of the conversation.

“Raven, keep him away from the radio.”

“Copy that.”

“Anyway, they know the rules, but just to be safe, colonel Diyoza, here they are again. If anyone tries to get around your security, you pull the plug. If anyone does anything that wasn’t agreed upon, you pull the plug, and if you don’t hear from me every hour on the hour, you pull the plug.”

“Is that all?” From the sound of her voice, they could tell it was already a lot, and it was.

“No. That’s not all. Someone wants to say hello.” He handed the radio to Clarke, who, for the first time in years, spoke to Raven and Murphy and the mechanic couldn’t believe it was actually her on the other end.

“Jeez, and they call me the cockroach.” Murphy joked. They laughed.

“You guys just be careful up there, okay? We’ll talk more pnce this is all over. I want to hear everything.”

“Okay, but first, thank you for saving our lives.” Raven’s voice was febrile and heavy with emotion but n ow was the time to leave and get Diyoza to honor her part of the deal and finally be reunited with their friends and loved ones. Polis was in ruins, with only half of the main tower still standing. The bunker door was unattanable, being under the rubble so they caused a bunch of explosions on the top of the bunker, while Bellamy, Michelle and Clarke put on harnesses. Bellamy went down first, soon joined by the two young women, who looked around them upon setting foot on the floor. Tall wire mesh had been mounted on the railings, with people looking at them through the holes. Michelle’s eyes swept the room and fell to the ground, where she noticed pools of blood here and there and just stared. She couldn’t understand what they had been doing in there for this place to turn into whatever this was. She only turned around when she heard footsteps going up to Clarke, and she saw Octavia, with a warrior-like attire and red war paint on her face, as if she smeared her face with blood. Michelle kept on observing the faces she saw through the mesh, but none were her father’s, or even Abby, and she would think that if either of them had seen her or Clarke coming down, there would have been vocal reactions. They would have heard their parents calling out to them at least.  

“Where’s my dad?” Her question was blatantly ignored by Octavia though the latter looked at her, but her eyes were caught by two other persons coming down into the bunker. Diyoza and this man, whom Michelle assumed must have been her second in command or something, unbuckled the cords from their belts. Clarke and Michelle glanced at each other, not understanding what was going on here, and what was up with Octavia.

“Who are they?” She held her chin high in this strange manner that seemed so unnatural to the Octavia that Michelle remembered, with this sense of superiority.

“We’re here to rescue you.” Diyoza told her.

Octavia’s gaze went to their belts, “Why are you armed?”

“O, it’s okay. We have an understanding.”

“Before we get to that, Michelle asked you a question. Where’s her dad? And where’s my mom?” Clarke enquired.

“I’ll take them to their parents.” Indra waited a second for Octavia to give her a go. The latter nodded and the grounder took the girls down a corridor. She led them into a room from which Abby’s voice rose quietly, sitting against bunk beds. Their parents were kept apart, fro some reason that Indra didn’t care to explain, but what she did tell, and only because Michelle was so insistent to understand what had been happening in the bunker, was that her father had been made to fight to death in what she called the arena; the fighting pit. Knowing her father could have died mere moments before they got into the bunker shook her to her core and she went quiet.

“Is it over?” She asked quietly.

“He’s alive… for now.”

Clarke and Michelle entered the room just as silently, “Hi, mom.”

“Clarke?” She couldn’t believe it, and it took her a hot minute to look over her shoulder. She stared at her in shock as she came closer, and helf her daughter’s face in her hands, tand tenderly hugging her. Michelle crossed her arms over her chest, looking away. She was happy for Clarke, of course, but it was still unbearable to watch when she still wasn’t reunited with her own father.

“Everything’s gonna be okay. But first, we have to get you out of here.”

“What happens to Marcus?” Those words brought back Michelle’s attention to Abby.

“I’ll get him to the ground. After that, it’s up to you.” She turned to the door, signaling for Michelle to come with her, and she didn’t need to twist her arm. She followed her down the maze that were the bunker’s corridors, walking with a brisk pace. They stopped in front of cell door. Indra unlocked the door and Michelle followed her inside. He was handcuffed, sitting on the ground, lost in his thoughts and exchanged a few words with Indra without noticing his daughter standing by the door frame.

“Dad.” Much like when Abby heard her daughter's voice, he froze at first, probably wondering if it was just his imagination playing tricks on him. But, eventually, he looked up, and he was unable to take his eyes off his daughter, unable to even blink, as though she would disappear into thin air if his eyes closed for but an instant. Her lips parted, trembling and as she repeated herself, her voice choked with tears that came flooding her eyes. She approached him, taking a peek at the cuffs before wrapping her arms around him and pressing her face against his shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably.

She had dreams and nightmares about what their reunion would feel and look like, and thankfully, it were her dreams that had come true. He was alive, and standing right there. She didn't lose him while stuck in space, like she lost her mother while stuck on the ground. Her father couldn't reciprocate the hug because of his restraints but she felt his hand grab her jacket and take deep, shaky breaths against the top of her head. She never wanted to let him go. She wanted to keep him in her arms forever. Her greatest fear was to lose him. She somehow continued living after the biggest heartbreak of her entire life, which was losing her mother, but her father dying would be the final blow, and she knew deep down that she would never be able to cope with it; with the loss of both her parents, and her love for Bellamy made her think. Too much. And she cried even harder, but her father couldn't know it was also about Bellamy. Her voice was beyond unstable and inaudible because of her crying, “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, honey.” Hearing the softness with which he addressed her made her bury her face in his neck, whimpering, and he brought his hand to her shoulder blade. Hearing her cry, on top of finally seeing her again, made him greatly emotional too and she heard him sniffing next to her ear, trying to contain himself, definitely because he didn't want her to hear him cry and be even sadder. Her only thought in that moment was how much she loved her dad.

“We have to move. Now.” Indra’s voice led Michelle to break the embrace and turn her head towards her, nodding. Indra advised to keep her father out of Octavia’s sight while until the latter was brought up to the surface. She led them back to the fighting pit and was gotten out of the bunker. She had a radio and would signal when it would be safe for Kane to get to the surface. Clarke was already up there, most likely, as there was no trace of her in the arena either, bu there was Abby with them. Michelle stayed down there until Indra called to tell them to bring him up once Octavia had left. He tried to convince his daughter to go up before him, but she refused and pushed him forward. They buckled the cord and pulled him upwards. He looked down to his daughter as he disappeared in the blinding light of the sun. She then motioned for Abby to go forth, but she wouldn’t, and Michelle sighed, nodding, and grabbing the cord when it was thrown back into the hole. She was lifted in the air and helped on the ground. She quickly unbuckled the cord and almost ran towards her father, joining him in front of Clarke. He turned his head to her and caressed his cheek before putting his hands on his shoulder, with Clarke looking at them, sweetly. They backed away from each other, hearing Indra come up to them, whispering to Kane as she dropped something in his hands.

“Wait for night. If you get caught, I won’t be able to help you.” She walked away. What she had just dropped in the palm of his hand was actually the key to unlock his handcuffs. Abby jogged up to them, taking Clarke in her arms. Michelle only then noticed that Bellamy was no where to be seen, but neither was Octavia, so she assumed they must have been talking somewhere, otherwise Bellamy would have been waiting for them at the bunker’s exit. They did as advised and waited until nightfall. Michelle stayed with Abby and her father, until Clarke came to them, and they slipped away.

“Okay. We’re safe here. Let’s get those cuffs off.” Clarke urged.

“If you’re right, and that valley’s the only survivable place, where will your mother and I go?” He asked, while Michelle busied herself with freeing him from those handcuffs.

“I’ll talk to Octavia, see if I can reason with her.”

“You won’t be able to.” Abby retorted.

“Regardless, that’s tomorro’s problem.” She shrugged it off. “Today we have to keep you out of sight until everyone is safely—” Their conversation was disrupted by a strange sound nearby.

“What was that?”

Clarke glanced at her mother, “I know what that was. Stay here.” They watched her run towards the source of the loud sound they had just heard and exchanged glances, but they didn’t stay there without moving for long. Abby and her father heard shouting about a doctor, asking where she was, and they came out of hiding. They refused to let everyone kill each other while they hid. Michelle clenched her jaw and could only follow them. The grounders and prisoners were all gathered around a blown-up fountain, the latter holding massive guns with blue lights on the side.

“Don’t shoot.” Abby spoke. “We’ll come without a fight.”

“I bet you will, traitor.” Octavia glared at Kane as he walked behind Abby, his hands up.

“We?” Diyoza came face to face with her.

“The two of us. Those are my terms.”

“I see where your daughter gets it from. Take them both.”

“Mom, what are you doing?” Clarke pulled her eyebrows together in worry.

“I love you, Clarke.” Two men of Diyoza’s came to take her and Kane.

“Dad—” She grabbed his arm, frowning, and one of the men pushed her away and grabbed him.

“I love you.” He told her quietly as he was taken away. Michelle watched him disappear from her sight without moving. They had just been reunited, and they were already separated. Her eyes went to Diyoza as she addressed the crowd and gave her a death stare.

“Here are my terms. The valley’s ours. Any attempt to get ther will be met by overwhelming force. As long as you stay here, we won’t have a problem. Is that a problem?”

“What about Raven and Murphy?” Bellamy took a step forward.

“For now, insurance. Let’s go, on me.” Most of her men followed her as she turned her heels, but one of those holding the large guns didn’t move. She insisted, ordering him to come with them, and he was about to, if Octavia didn’t provoke him with her smirk. He shouted, charging the gun and fired, obliterating the grouder that thres himself in front of Octavia to protect her. The crowd grew furious and Diyoza urged her people to get out of there and get ready for emergency evacuation. Michelle stepped back, watching Indra get to Octavia to help her as she was a little stunned though uninjured and watched the ship fly over their heads, while everyone ran around her, going in every direction, but she stayed where she was, just thinking about her dad being on that ship and not caring about anything else.

[To be continued…]  

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (SOON)

Published (03/15/2025) by Andrea

Taglist:  @mirellef2001

[behindabook2807]

Wanna see how Blake will react to Neon flirting with Yang over texts? Click the link to read chapter 18! 🐈‍⬛🌈🐉

[threephantomrey]

HAPPY BIRTHDAYYY @rose-of-pollux!!! today i have a gift for you: this oneshot i wrote about Daphne and Vincent! i hope that you enjoy it and that you have a great day! i love you <3

[letmewritefreely]

By Your Side: Part 8

Demetri Stevens had spent the last few years of her life in the skybox for a crime she didn’t commit. One morning she woke up to a huge commotion in her cell block and before she knew it, she was on a dropship. She was sent from the Ark, a space station that had spent the last 97 years in space, down to Earth to see if it is inhabitable with 99 other prisoners. Once on Earth she reconnects with her old best friend, makes new friends, steps on some toes, and helps the 100 survive as they have returned to what was their home once before. With each test and trial; things change, people change, and feelings change. This is a new start for the 100, will Demetri allow it to be a new start for her as well? Or will ghosts of her past keep her stuck, well, in the past?

A The 100 fanfic written by letmewritefreely Bellamy Blake x OC: Demetri Stevens warnings: based off the tv series; gore, mentions or implications of sexual content, angst, fluff, violence, death, gets darker as the series continues.

A/N: It’s been a few years. Sorry about that. Being an adult is pain but, I’m doing so much better than I was when I started this account & started writing this. I plan to get all the parts posted soon. And then continue till the series is finished <33

Anyways feedback, any feedback, is good feedback! Let me know your thoughts! And I’ll bet getting on a semi-regular schedule as I continue to work on the series!  <3 ((S1:E10 & E11))

Parts: Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

She was running. Running through the woods from something but what Demetri didn’t know. All she knew is that she had to run and not stop. She wildly looked around her as she kept moving, leaving the part of the forest she had grown somewhat familiar with and entering completely new territory. Her legs abruptly felt detached like they weren’t her own. She stopped moving her body but it kept moving relative to the outside world. She tried to find something, anything to give her an idea of the time of day or her location. 

Then she saw him. Her dad. He was just standing in the woods watching her pass. Then her mom. She looked just like the picture, her long and wavy blonde hair blowing in some invisible wind. Her piercing green eyes seemed to stare right through Demetri. They stood together, arms looped together loosely with faint smiles. Then there was Clarke and her parents. They waved as Demetri ran past, her chest constricted at seeing Clarke’s dad, Jake, and his wide smile while he had an arm locked around Clarke’s shoulders. Her attention focused forward to see the next human figure before her they faded into the forest. Her eyes locked on Bellamy, he was dressed much like she’d seen him the first day on Earth with his hair brushed back, a crisp button down and utility pants adorning his figure. Except he was standing between Octavia and their mom. Demetri had seen the woman only once, but she was so vivid and real in front of her, she believed she was really there. After the Blakes, she nearly came face-to-face with Marcus and Vera. Demetri couldn’t breathe as she looked at the woman who was practically her grandmother. Vera walked over to her and stepped into the time warp she was stuck in.

“I’ve missed you dear.” Vera’s voice was soft as she stepped closer and cradled Demetri’s face.

“Vera?” Demetri looked her over, “How are you here?” Her hands rested over the older woman’s, “The Ark isn’t scheduled to send more people down yet.”

“I won’t be coming down dear.” Vera’s face remained calm as she spoke. “I’m afraid I will stay up here in space.” The words settled funny.

“Up here?” Demetri’s face scrunched up. “Vera, I’m confused. What do you mean?”

“Why, we’re all dead up here.” Vera’s tone turned ice cold, her hands on Demetri’s face sucked the warmth from her body. “You’re living down on Earth and we’re dead. Floating around out of oxygen. You were sent down to save us and you can’t even do that.” Vera spat, her grip on Demetri’s face tightening enough to trigger Demetri’s fight or flight response.

“Vera, please let go.” Demetri winced as the woman’s hold got tighter still. “It hurts.” She struggled against the abnormal strength of the older woman.

“It hurts?” Vera cackled sarcastically. “Imagine how much it hurt when we all suffocated to death. All because you allowed some boy to steal a radio. A boy that isn’t even worth your time yet is far worthier than you to live.”

“Vera, what are yo--?” Demetri tried to push the woman away from her, aware of the probable nail marks along her jaw and neck. “Vera, if you’re here in front of me then you’re alive.” Demetri argued as she finally stepped away from the woman with her fingers rubbing the spots where Vera’s hands had been.

“But I’m not really here child.” Vera’s head snapped to the right, the loud crack made Demetri jump. “I told you, I’m dead. Up in space. Like everyone else. Because you are weak and you are negligent.”

“No, that’s not-- Ah!” It was like a wall was dropped in front of Demetri, who was still moving as fast as before, slammed into it. Her body crumpled to the ground.

“You’re the reason we’re dead my dear, you failed us. Brought shame to your parents.” Vera’s voice had changed, but the words are what hurt Demetri the most. “You got distracted by an attractive face and forgot about us aboard the Ark, left us to die.”

“I’m keeping people alive down here.” She shook her head. “You up on the Ark sent us down here to die.” She faced Vera. “If anyone has any right to be angry it’s me, one of the 100 who were sent down as an experiment.” Demetri stood up on shaky legs. “We’re trying our best with what we have, you don’t understand that.” Demetri felt defiance swell in her chest, the majority of her life she had had adults speak at her like they knew her. It was one of the reasons she ended up getting into trouble because people felt like they had a say in her life and put labels onto her and no matter how much she fought she always ended up succumbing to those labels one way or another. She had had enough, especially since landing on Earth had allowed her to be more herself than she had ever before.

“You’ve failed us.” Marcus called from behind her. “If we haven’t died yet up here, we will, because of you.” His voice turned sinister as two hands wrapped painfully around her upper arms. “I put so much faith in you Demetri.”

“I died trying to save everyone, and you’ve let them all die.” Jake said from her right as his hands wrapped around Demetri by her throat.

“I put too much trust in a piece of trash like you.” Abby’s voice rang out to Demetri’s left, her eyes barely locking with Abby’s glaring ones. “You’ve spent so much of your life trying to take care of her yet you can’t even protect Clarke, the only one worth saving out of you two.” Her words hurt, but Demetri stood tall.

“You’re all wrong, there’s still time for you.” Demetri managed to get the words out despite Jake’s grip tightening around her throat. “Jake you died trying to warn everyone, they’re doing what they can up there now to get down here. While we’re on the ground doing what we can to stay alive. All of us.” Her lips kept moving but the words stopped.

Demetri couldn’t focus on anything anymore, it was so hard for her to breathe. Jake let go just before she completely passed out and all the hands holding her up instantly disappeared. She fell to the ground again, her hands fisted the damp soil as she steadied herself. When she looked up again everyone she had seen before and more, many from the Ark she’d seen in passing, stood before her with grotesque injuries and dried blood everywhere. Movement to the left caught her eye and when Demetri jerked her head in that direction she was met with such a ghastly sight she almost threw up. Before her, torn to shreds with missing limbs and covered in gashes with weapons sticking from their bodies, stood the remaining members of the 100. Standing at the head of the group was Bellamy and Clarke, both beaten and barely standing. There was a giant gash down Clarke’s face as she stared down at Demetri with such a hatred in her one eye. And Bellamy, he was almost unrecognizable from all the blood covering his body and clothes.

“What -- “ Demetri sputtered crawling towards them a little. “What happened to you?” She froze after a few inches from the smell of decay and blood.

“You’re weak and couldn’t save us.” Bellamy words were gargled from missing half his lower jaw. “And now, we’re all dead.”

“No. We were just sleeping in your tent Bell” Demetri’s head shook as if it were on a spring as tears gathered. “And Clarke we --”

“Your incompetence killed us.” Clarke cut her off, “And now we’ll kill you.”

Clarke raised a handgun in her left hand, Demetri finally noticed that she only had one arm. Then she took three steps to stop right in front of Demetri and pressed the tip of the barrel against her forehead. Demetri blinked rapidly to rid her eyes of the tears but the world before her only got more and more blurry.

“I trusted you. We all trusted you.” Clarke’s voice was so quiet, like she was speaking into Demetri’s ear. “This is your fault.” Demetri heard Clarke pull the hammer back and it clicked into place. She drew in a deep breath, accepting of what was coming. In the next moment came the loud bang that shook Demetri’s entire being. She opened her eyes to see a red haze over everything as her body began to fall over.

Demetri jerked awake just as her body was about to hit the ground in her dream. Her cheeks were damp when she pulled her hands to her face and tried to slow her racing heart.

“It was just a nightmare.” Demetri mumbled to herself.

Her hands slowly rubbed up and down her face, pausing at her forehead. She poked around where she could still feel the cold metal of the tip of the gun and made sure there wasn’t a hole there. Then she felt the rest of her body, patting her feet first then moving up her legs and squeezing at her size and stomach as she continued up her chest, down each arm, and ended with resting her hands on either side of her neck. Demetri leant forward to rest her elbows on her knees as she brought herself back to earth, the vivid imagery of her nightmare flashing before her eyes again. The moment her friends in their varying states of decay came to the forefront of her mind her eyes shot open and she patter her cheeks lightly to try to clear her mind.

“Stay in the present Dem.” Demetri mumbled to herself as she sighed and looked around to see where she was. It took a second for her to remember she had fallen asleep beside Bellamy, she smiled to herself as she laid back and turned on her side to stare at him.

Demetri hadn’t been able to sleep for more than a few hours a night since they landed on Earth. It was a mix of the anxiety of never knowing what was coming and the nightmares that had started to plague her as more and more happened. They were often like the one she had just had, some tragedy that she couldn’t stop and everyone turns on her. She knew she’d only been out for a few hours when she woke up and her body was still sore and her eyes hurt. She focused on Bellamy still passed out beside her in hopes it would chase away the nightmares and his soft, even breaths almost coaxed her back to dreamland. But she remained awake, wanting to burn this moment into her memory for the rest of her days, however long or short.

Demetri had never seen Bellamy in such a peaceful state, she thought maybe he’d been like this when he was younger and he was surrounded by his family. But since she had known him, a month or two now, she’d only seen emotions like anxiety, fear, anger, determination, worry on his face. Now, with him asleep and the lines associated with those emotions nowhere to be seen he looked much younger, more his age. Her fingers traced up his cheekbones, down the slope of his nose, around the curve of his cupids bow. She counted his freckles and lashes with how close she was to him. She relaxed back against his side, in his sleepy haze he pulled her closer and held her to him. Demetri could have laid there and watched Bellamy forever, but the Universe proved it was never really on their side.

“Demi? Bellamy? Are you guys up?” Clarke’s voice called just outside the tent.

“I am, give me a second.” Demetri answered quietly.

She untangled herself from Bellamy’s still sleeping form and quickly threw her clothes on. As she was lacing up her boots, Demetri tried to push her nightmare to the back of her mind. Seeing the two most important people to her so clearly hurt and practically dead before her had really left her mind in a bit of a mess. She didn’t want to leave Bellamy in that moment, but she also needed to see Clarke. Just to reassure her subconscious that both of them were okay and that they were going to be fine. Demetri swore to herself in that moment that no matter what happened, she’d protect those she cared about and that meant all of the 100. With a final deep breath she stood and gazed down at Bellamy one last time before slipping out of the tent as quietly as she could.

After she unlatched the flap and stepped out of Bellamy’s tent, still getting her (his) jacket on, Clarke sent her a funny look. Demetri straightened herself out before she tugged her friend away from the tent a bit. The warmth from Clarke’s hand in Demetri’s eased her heart a bit and she subconsciously squeezed Clarke’s hand before letting it go. Demetri noted that the sky was still dark meaning she definitely hadn’t slept very long.

“Before you say anything, no, nothing happened.” Demetri stopped whatever thoughts were running through Clarke’s head. “We just talked some and fell asleep.”

“Is that what caused that entire braid to fall out.” Clarke motioned to Demetri’s left braid, which had in fact completely fallen out. Demetri didn’t even think about how she would look after having a nightmare like that, of course she’d look like a mess.

“I’ve haven’t redone them in a while, it was just a matter of time.” Demetri waved it off as she calmly removed her band and ran her fingers through what was left of the braid to try and untangle it. “I’ve been wanting to change it up anyway.” Demetri then did the same with the other braid and as she finger brushed her hair out she turned to Clarke. “Sun’s not up yet, so what’s up? That anxious to go to the crash site?” She quickly turned the attention onto Clarke before she could say anything else.

“No, I mean yeah I am but it’s not that.” Clarke watched Demetri tie her hair back into a low ponytail before she nodded at Clarke to continue. “I wanted to check on you, last night with Finn; I’ve never seen you lose it like that.”

“I admit, I lost it.” Demetri nodded as she looked away from Clarke and leant back against a wooden stand. “And I know you have feelings for him, but what that was yesterday was stupid and reckless. If you hadn’t asked me and Bellamy to follow you, you all could have died.” Demetri looked up at the night sky admiring the stars.

“You’re sure you saw grounders in the trees? Ready to shoot?” Clarke asked, needing that confirmation.

“I checked myself before Jasper jumped into action.” Demetri locked eyes with Clarke for a moment before looking back at the stars. “Sure, he should have waited a bit longer, but him stepping out and saving your life was brave. I didn’t see all of them, but the few I saw were all pointing at different people and you’ve seen their accuracy first hand Clarke.”

“I know Demi.” Clarke nodded. “Did you mean what you said?” She asked quietly.

“Which part?” Demetri cocked her head towards Clarke, “Because I meant every word I spat at Finn earlier.”

“The part of about you killing him?” Clarke couldn’t look at Demetri.

“Clarke, if you had gotten killed up there, Finn would have never made it back to camp.” Demetri’s voice was cold, so much so a shiver ran through Clarke’s body; the nightmare bringing a new sense of protectiveness forward in Demetri. “It sounds harsh, and maybe Raven would have fought me after the fact, but he’s not using his head. If you guys up on that bridge got shot down, it would have caused a ripple effect. A war would have started between me losing you and Bellamy losing Octavia. We might still have a chance at peace, at finding a middle ground. But Finn doesn’t get to make any calls. He’s already shown his true colors, blindly putting faith somewhere he shouldn’t.” Clarke just nodded. “Thank you for telling us, but please don’t run off like that again without a plan.” Demetri paused and turned towards Clarke with her hands on the younger girl’s shoulders. “I was terrified on the riverbank.”

“I won’t.” Clarke hugged Demetri tightly. “Should we get everyone up now?”

“Yea,” Demetri sighed as she looked up to see the sun starting to rise over the horizon. “Let’s get going soon, I’ll get Bellamy.”

“Of course, I won’t be waking Bellamy up.” Clarke teased, earning a jab from Demetri.

---

Within the next hour those going on the expedition to check the Exodus crash were up and ready to go. They set off in the direction they saw it crash in with weapons, supplies, and anything that could help any survivors. There was a solemn atmosphere around Clarke as she walked beside Demetri. She had nothing but her backpack and a hope that her mother either survived or wasn’t on the Exodus ship at all. Demetri talked quietly with her the whole way, trying to keep her spirits up while still preparing her for the worst. Demetri continued to remind her that she didn’t know if Abby was even on the ship since they hadn’t talked to the Ark yet. If anyone paid enough attention to Demetri they’d see she was off a little, Bellamy noticed of course but he didn’t ask, even though she hid it quite well.

The sun was high in the sky by the time they made it to the outskirts of the crash site. As they got closer they saw the surrounding vegetation charred black from the explosion. There were pieces of the wreckage everywhere with small fires still burning scattered around. Everyone stepped lightly, listening for calls for help even though they doubted there would be any. The charred, skeletal remains enforced that thought. Demetri walked along with Clarke, staying by her side as both protection and support as she held a rifle in her hands. Demetri kept a watchful eye on everything around them, both looking for anything to answer their questions and for possible Grounders. She would lock  eyes with Bellamy whenever they passed him and he’d always offer a small nod, it was enough to keep her in the here and now. Demetri could hear Finn and Raven in the distance talking about Clarke who was in her own world.

“She shouldn’t be here.” Finn was focused on Clarke as she slowly walked around examining everything.

“Her mom was supposed to be on the ship.” Raven said as if it explained everything. “She’s looking for answers, you want to help her, find me the black box.” Raven paused her search of the pile of rubble before her. “Or hard drives, anything that will tell me why this ship crashed.” She continued her search, careful of everything.

“Stay sharp, retaliation for the bridge will happen it’s just a matter of when.” Bellamy’s voice rang through the space around them.

“Do you blame them?” Finn barked, spinning to face Bellamy.

“No,” Bellamy didn’t miss a beat, he stole a glance at Demetri before zeroing in on Finn a few feet away. “I blame you.”

“If you hadn’t brought guns--” Finn started, finger jabbing the air between him and Bellamy.

“If we didn’t bring guns, we’d all be dead right now.” Raven cut Finn off with a huff as she stopped searching again to speak directly to him.

“Why they’re coming doesn’t matter anymore.” Finn’s shocked gaze flitted to Bellamy, “It’s our job to be ready when they do. We’re on our own now.”

“Clarke?” Demetri squeaked when a smell that was so strong it almost knocked Clarke on her butt, then hit Demetri moments later. “What’s that?”

“Clarke! Demetri!” Raven yelled before heading over to them. “Get back!”

“Rocket fuel?” Clarke asked, covering her nose and glancing at Demetri as she coughed.

“Hydrazine. It’s highly flammable when not solid. If it meets fire, we’re all done for.”

Raven dipped a rock the size of an acorn into the pink liquid oozing from a small opening in the side of the ship. Hardly any of the fuel was on the rock before she yelled a warning and tossed it into a still burning fire. The explosion did not match the fuel and the ground trembled around them.

“Holy shit.” Demetri sighed, staring between the fire and the leaking pink liquid.

“We need to clear the area.” Raven turned from the pair beside her and back towards Bellamy.

“Okay, then.” Bellamy turned towards everyone else. “Move in formation, no stragglers, weapons at the ready. We need to get back before dark.”

Everyone moved as one to form a group and start back the way they had come. Clarke started to walk back, a deep sigh rattled her bones. Demetri fell in step beside her and nudged her best friend. Clarke gave her the tiniest, fake smile she could muster knowing Demetri would see through it. Demetri gave her a tiny smile in return and remained at her side. They had learned nothing from this little expedition except there was a lot of dangerous rocket fuel just waiting to explode and no one survived the crash. The weight of the situation sat heavily on both Clarke’s and Demetri’s shoulders, this left so many questions unanswered and created more questions. Why did the Exodus ship launch early? Why did it crash? Who was on it? Why couldn’t they get in contact with the Ark? Were they really on their own now? It all seemed surreal to Demetri. One minute they were planning the days for each drop ship to come down and the camp was buzzing with excitement then the next the Ark goes dark and the first drop ship since the 100 crashed to Earth. It made Demetri feel like they were never going to catch a break. Deep in her head, Demetri came back to notice they were coming up on a ridge that had taken them an hour to find a way across that morning. Thankfully, they knew where to go and it only took thirty minutes. They had made it pretty far without running into anyone or anything and it made the tension in the group die down.

Demetri had decided to walk a bit away from the group as they went since it seemed they were fine. She started to look around more as they went as she still really enjoyed taking in the scenery. She kept part of her attention on the group as they moved in a pretty straight line back to camp and hung towards the back of the group. Demetri could hear Clarke and Bellamy talking plans of action incase the Grounders attacked as she slowed her pace a bit. She was just enough off the trail and just busy enough looking up and around to miss the sudden decline. Demetri tumbled down the small hill, the rifle disappearing amongst the leaves as she rolled. Her yelp caught a few members of the group’s attention and they only jumped towards the sound with their own rifles raised. By the time she stopped at the bottom of the hill a loud metal clunk sounded and a piercing pain pulsed around her shoulder. Demetri struggled to turn her head around to see she where she had fallen. It looked like a bear trap she’d read about in her Earth science books.

“Bellamy? Clarke?” She gasped, suddenly feeling really stupid for wandering from the group, the fear of dying like this consumed her.

“Demetri?” Clarke yelled. “Where are you?” Panic overwhelmed her when she noticed the older girl was no where to be seen.

“Here! Down here!” Demetri cried out, she had landed on her stomach with her right shoulder in the center of the trap. There was no way she could ever get out of this trap herself. If she had been alone she would have died here.

“Oh my god!” Clarke ran down the hill, holding onto the trees as she went before she landed ungracefully next to Demetri. “What happened?”

“Fell into a trap.” Demetri gasped, biting back a sarcastic reply and swallowing a groan.

“Right, let’s get you out of here first.” At the moment, Clarke didn’t know what to do. She felt helpless. “Finn! Bellamy!”

The two guys bolted to the top of the hill and looked down to see Clarke trying to keep Demetri calm with a metal contraption digging into her shoulder. Bellamy moved first, he threw his gun over his shoulder and much like Clarke, ungracefully flew down the hill. Finn followed a few steps behind and landed across from Clarke just beside the trap. His attention was on the contraption as he stared placing it to his knowledge of trapping and tracking. Finn took only a few seconds take in the full scene. The teeth of the trap dug into her skin about half way up her collarbone, the metal just missing the actual bone. The semi-circle encompassed her entire shoulder and part of her upper arm. He didn’t know much about treating the wound but he knew Demetri would feel much better once she was out of the trap. Finn sighed before he leant over the trap and Demetri to inspect it closer.

“It’s an old bear trap.” Finn carefully moved it around, highly aware of the pained whines coming from Demetri. “There should be a catch that releases it. Bellamy and I can pulled it away from her, this will hurt.” He said the last part directly to Demetri who barely nodded as Clarke turned her onto her side enough for the entire trap to face Finn. All Demetri could do was hiss as the metal dug deeper into her skin.

“I’ll pull her away from of it.” Clarke mumbled as she grabbed ahold of Demetri around her waist, ready to haul her best friend away.

“Found it,” Finn said after a few seconds of feeling around the metal parts, “get ready Bellamy.” Finn looked up at Bellamy’s worried face. “Now.”

Finn pressed on the release and they heard a quiet wheeze from the contraption. The guys grabbed a side of the trap each, their fingers barely fitting in the gaps of the metal teeth, and they pulled. The trap was so rusted and aged it was a miracle that it even went off when Demetri fell on it, yet it barely gave as Finn and Bellamy broke a sweat from the effort. Finally the teeth started to budge from Demetri’s shoulder, blood seeped out of the various wounds left in their wake on her body. As soon as Clarke saw she was clear, she tugged Demetri away with all her might. Demetri clenched her jaw and kept as quiet as she could as she was dragged about five feet away. The pain had subsided a bit after the teeth of the trap were no longer digging into her skin but it still hurt a lot. Physically, this moment had to be the most painful for Demetri as her left hand tried to apply pressure to the wound out of reflex and just the movement of her own body made her whimper. Her entire body went limp in response to the wave of pain with her head was resting on Clarke’s stomach. Demetri just managed to turn her head in time to see Bellamy and Finn let go at the same time and the trap snapped shut with a metallic clunk, her blood covering the teeth.

There was a few moments of just heavy breathing before Clarke’s worry came back full force. She sat Demetri up, much to Demetri’s dismay, and carefully but quickly pulled her jacket off her right side. The wounds would be easy enough to treat, Clarke told herself, noticing how obvious it was that Demetri was in a lot of pain. As if her pale face, shaking body, and sweat covered forehead wasn’t a dead giveaway to that.

“They’re not deep, uhm, I can cauterize the wounds when we get back. But we don’t know what was on the trap. We need to get her back to camp and we need some of that seaweed.” Clarke took a few breaths, “I need something to stop the bleeding for now.”

Bellamy didn’t hesitate to start tearing the bottom of his shirt into strips so Clarke could wrap it tightly around Demetri’s shoulder to stop the bleeding. Once it was done to the best of Clarke’s abilities with what she had, she nodded to the rest of the group. Bellamy zipped his jacket up and hauled Demetri up onto his back.

“Bell, I can walk.” Demetri joked as she winced from the jarring action.

“We’ll move faster this way. We need to get you back to camp.” His tone left no room for an argument.

So Demetri didn’t argue. Finn grabbed the trap on his way back up the hill and followed behind the group as they continued to camp. Clarke had found Demetri’s gun when she headed back towards the group and they had switched places from when they had left, Clarke was beside Demetri watching like a hawk. If there would only ever be one thing Clarke and Bellamy would always agree on, it was Demetri. She was hurt and they were both internally freaking out over it.

---

As they came up on the camp Miller was just outside the doors waiting, his face was set in a deep frown. Bellamy let Demetri carefully slide down his back and stand beside him. In the time it took for them to get back to camp the pain had dissipated enough for Demetri to be able to think and breathe easily. She was also able to move on her own as long as she didn’t move her right arm too much. Even the slightest twitch sent a shock through her body. The rest of the group minus the two couples entered the camp.

“What is it Miller?” Bellamy’s arm stayed around Demetri’s waist to keep her standing.

“Murphy’s back.” Miller didn’t look away from Bellamy as more than just those two words were said.

Demetri felt a weird sense of relief flood her at Miller’s words, John was live. That was good news to her but she was curious why he had come back seeing as Bellamy made it very clear about him never returning. The after thought triggered the worry and Demetri straightened her spine as she tightened her grip on Bellamy’s waist.

“Where?” Bellamy’s face hardened.

“Dropship.”

Bellamy took off, barely registering that Demetri was clinging onto him and struggling to keep up. He halted and turned to her with worried eyes.

“You should go with Clarke and let her take care your shoulder.”

“After we deal with Murphy.” Demetri shook her head, pushed herself out of Bellamy’s arms and hiding a wince.

“You’re hurt.” Bellamy stated realizing afterwards how obvious that was.

“And you need me there to deal with him.” Demetri swallowed her sharp intake of breath and looked right at Bellamy. “Let’s go.” Demetri walked towards the dropship alone, telling herself they’d settle this and she’d rest. She wouldn’t let Clarke and Bellamy deal with Murphy alone, she was the tie breaker after all.

Clarke ran up to her side, scolding her but also supporting her as they kept going. Bellamy sighed before he moved to lead the way, his face quickly hardening as they got closer to the dropship. Finn followed on the girls’ heels because he was worried about the same thing Demetri was. 

“Where is he?” Bellamy barked as he threw the tarp leading into the dropship to the side.

He stormed in first, the girls and Finn only a few steps behind. They all stopped just a few feet into the drop ship, a small crowd standing around the main area. They saw Murphy, bloodied and beaten, curled in on himself leaning the back wall of the dropship. He was dirty, covered in dried mud and grimy, he looked thinner and frailer. Demetri struggled to swallow down the guilt she felt rising in her chest. She had suggested to banish John, she did this. He seemed to be in worse shape than she was and that alone made her want Clarke to check on him and make sure he was okay.

“Everyone but Joseph and Connor out.” Bellamy commanded. The dropship emptied quickly just from the tone of Bellamy’s voice, no one was curious enough to defy him.

“He says he was with the grounders.” Connor broke the silence, the barrel of his gun resting right beside Murphy’s head in a threatening but non-threatening way.

“We caught him trying to sneak back into camp.” Joseph finished the thought, all his attention was on John Murphy.

“I was running from the grounders, not sneaking in.” Murphy coughed and kept his eyes on the floor.

“See any grounders?” Bellamy asked the guards beside Murphy with his hand resting on the handgun he’d always had on him.

“No.” They chorused looking way too pleased for Demetri to feel comfortable.

“Well in that case --” Bellamy started raised his gun towards Murphy, Demetri who had been clinging to Clarke, tried to stumble towards Bellamy with her left arm outstretched.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Finn shoved the nose of the gun down, moving to stand in between Bellamy and Murphy.

“We were clear about what would happen if he came back.” Bellamy looked past Finn and stared right at Murphy’s cowering figure.

“Bellamy, stop.” Demetri flinched as she grabbed his arm and tugged him back a bit.

“If he was with the grounders than he knows things, things that can help us.” Finn reasoned, practically begging Demetri to get Bellamy to stand down with his eyes. 

“Help us?” Bellamy choked back a laugh of disbelief. “We hung him, banished him, and now we’re gonna kill him.” Bellamy raised his gun again, “Get out of my way.” Demetri’s grip slipped from his arm and she moved to stand in front of him but Bellamy’s other arm held her back.

“No, Finn’s right.” Clarke rushed out as she looked at Murphy’s hands.

“Like hell he is.”  Bellamy’s voice thickened. “Clarke think about Charlotte.” His arm fell to his side as he focused his disappointed look at Clarke, everyone was against him at the moment.

“I am, Bellamy. But what happened to her is as much our fault as it is his.” Clarke turned her head towards him, sparing him a moment, before she focused back on Murphy.

“Bell, calm down.” Demetri tugged on his arm, pulling his attention away from Murphy and to her. “We don’t have to kill him, he’s still one of ours.” Demetri needed Bellamy to stand down, it was the only way she could even begin to make up for being the catalyst for this chain of events.

“Dem, he’s--” Bellamy was focused on Demetri as he tried to read her expression as her hands weakly wrapped around his forearm, begging him to listen to her.

“He’s not lying, his fingernails were torn off.” Clarke carefully looked at Murphy’s hands and the wounds on his face. “They tortured him.”

“You should compare notes.” Finn sneered at Bellamy, which earned him a glare from Demetri.

“They know we’re at war, what did you tell them Murphy?” Demetri asked changing tactics and wobbling towards Murphy. She stopped just beside Clarke and knelt before him, already doing a quick assessment of his condition.

“Everything.” Murphy swallowed thickly, eyes darting between those in the room.

“We see what he knows after he’s better then he’s gone.” Clarke stood and moved towards the exit of the dropship. She glanced at Demetri, who was still on one knee before Murphy, as she stopped just beside Bellamy.

“And if he refuses to leave?” Bellamy turned from Murphy to Clarke. “What do we do then?”

“Then we kill him.” She looked at Murphy before answering, there was a strange resolve in her eyes on full display, then she was gone.

“We’re not killing him.” Demetri said by Murphy’s side the guilt eating away at her.

“Demetri, we’re not letting him stay.” Bellamy asserted. Demetri locked eyes with Murphy and the raw fear she saw in them stole her breath.

“That’s fine, but there’s been too much death, we’re not adding John’s name to the list.” She stood and Bellamy moved to help her instantly. “If he doesn’t want to leave we can take him to one of the bunkers, let him fend for himself there. But we are not killing him.” Demetri looked up into Bellamy’s eyes, trying to share with him how she felt in that moment without words, and as his eyes searched hers she hoped he understood her.

“Ok, ok, fine. Let’s just get Clarke to look at your shoulder, okay?” Bellamy placated already turning towards Joseph and Conner. “Get him laid down somewhere, he needs to rest if he’s going to get better.”

---

The next hour was arguably the worst hour of Demetri’s life, at least since they had landed on Earth. There were twenty four individual cuts in her shoulder from the teeth of the bear trap, twelve for each side. Clarke ended up using a knife similar to the one she used when Jasper was hurt to cauterize each cut. Demetri honestly thought she was going to pass out half way through but somehow, maybe it was thanks to Octavia holding her hand so tightly, she stayed conscious. Demetri barely kept herself together as Clarke finally sealed the last cut and Octavia started wiping away the river of tears falling from Demetri’s eyes. The older girl heaved a huge sigh of relief once Clarke announced she was done. Demetri then watched Clarke use some of the seaweed to make a paste and rub it lightly onto the fresh burns on her shoulder. The sensation, though a little painful at first, ended up soothing away a lot of the remaining pain.

Soon after that Clarke had finished cleaning the wounds and had wrapped Demetri’s shoulder. Then she was left to wander around the camp a bit, prohibited from doing any strenuous labor, so really anything. Now that the wounds were taken care of properly they didn’t hurt as much, she just had almost zero movement. That was the real inconvenience.

Demetri had just managed to get herself sat down amongst the others by the fire when Joseph, one of the two that brought Murphy in, started yelling for Clarke. Demetri watched in horror as he coughed up blood and trails of blood trickled from his nose and his ears. Clarke came running out of the radio tent moments later and she had remnants of blood running from her eyes. Demetri jumped up and rushed to Clarke, only for Clarke to push her away as she gasped for air.

“Get away from us.” Connor, the other guy who brought Murphy in, who was sitting by the fire where Demetri had just been sitting puked up blood next. Clarke shared a look with Demetri. “They’re the ones who brought Murphy in.”

Clarke ran to the dropship with Demetri in tow. They found Murphy holding his stomach as he puked up blood, like the others. He couldn’t have looked more scared and beaten down than he did in that moment. The fresh blood mixed with the dried blood and he looked like he shouldn’t be breathing right now.

“Murphy, how did you escape? I need you to tell me.” Clarke knelt beside him, she was dealing with a bout of shortness of breath and was having trouble speaking well.

“I don’t know. I woke up.” Murphy gasped, “They forgot to lock my cage so I ran for it.” He started dry heaving, choking.

“They let you go.” Clarke mumbled.

“Here.” Demetri dropped to her knees and wiped at Murphy’s face. She tried to help him but she didn’t know what to do. All she could really think about was that she had done this to him, she had suggested banishing him and now this. Now he had come back to them to die.

“Demi!” Clarke turned to her fearful before turning to Bellamy who entered the dropship at that moment. “Bellamy, stay back.” Clarke was gasping as she spoke now.

“What the hell is this?” Bellamy looked between Murphy and Clarke.

“Biological warfare.” Clarke looked up at Bellamy. “You were waiting for retaliation? This is it. Murphy’s the weapon.”

Demetri watched Bellamy change, like a switch flipped. His worry became rage so quickly it could have given everyone whiplash. He stepped forward before Clarke threw her a look and he stopped.

“Is this your revenge on us? Helping the grounders kill us?”

“I didn’t know, I swear.” Murphy coughed, choking on another mouthful of blood. Clarke started to treat his wounds as Bellamy paced the dropship.

“Stop lying.” Bellamy bellowed.

“Bellamy, calm down.” Demetri sighed, “If he had known he wouldn’t have come back here, he’s not that type of person.” Bellamy only looked at Demetri for a moment as she helped Clarke take care of Murphy, he saw something flash across her eyes he didn’t recognize.

“When are they attacking?” Bellamy changed topics.

“Think Murphy.” Demetri encouraged. “Is there anything you can remember that will be useful?”

“They’re cruel, vicious.” Murphy managed, staring right at Bellamy.

“You wanna see cruel? Vicious?” Bellamy snarled, advancing towards him.

“Bellamy, stop. Whatever this is, it spreads through contact.” Clarke held her hand out to stop him. Clarke had barely glanced at Demetri when the damp cloth in her hand slapped against the floor.

Bellamy froze, so did Demetri. He watched Demetri turn to look at Clarke and watched it connect in her head that she was already exposed to whatever this was. And anyone Demetri had come in contact since they talked to Murphy the first time had been exposed to it too. Demetri swallowed down her panic and steeled her nerves before she picked up the wet cloth and started dabbing on the cut above Murphy’s eye again.

“It’s some kind of hemorrhagic fever.” Clarke explained, taking deep breaths as she went.

She was about to speak again when Finn barrelled in. Clarke’s eye twitched at seeing Finn look so worried for her. Demetri only spared the boy a look before focusing back on Murphy, who had been watching her now.

“I heard you were sick, how are you?” Finn froze when he saw the smears of blood on her cheeks.

“Those of you who haven’t come in contact with those exposed need to get out. If we keep it contained--” Clarke was cut off by Connor convulsing from where he laid on the floor.

His body shook as he coughed and choked, until he threw up a large pool of blood, much larger than the others. He rolled around onto his stomach and shook a bit more before he took one large, final breath before his just stopped. Clarke had moved as soon as he did, dodging Finn’s outstretched hands, and went to check for a pulse. It was quiet in the dropship as everyone waited with bated breath for what Clarke would say, even though they already knew the answer.

“Is he--” Demetri couldn’t finish her question, Murphy had curled in on himself just beside her.

“He’s dead.” Clarke confirmed, a worried look passing between everyone in the dropship.

“We need to quarantine everyone who had direct contact with Murphy. Get them in here.” Clarke watched Finn run off to start gathering people.

“Joseph, who brought Murphy in last night? Think.” Everyone watched Joseph process the question.

“The first one to get to him was” He gasped, fearful eyes darting to Bellamy. “Octavia.”

Bellamy was gone the moment her name was spoken. Clarke turned to Demetri and crawled over to her. Clarke’s movements were slow, but still calculated, she tried to not move unnecessarily to conserve energy.

“Hold still, I need to examine you.” Clarke checked Demetri’s throat and poked around her neck and face before she sighed. “No signs of swelling or bleeding, you don’t have any symptoms.”

“Great, I can help.” Demetri stood and started to move things around to the best of her ability to make space for the incoming sick.

“Just because you don’t have symptoms that doesn’t mean it you can’t start showing them later.”

“If they come, then I’ll cross that bridge then.” Demetri helped a girl who was definitely showing symptoms into the dropship as she spoke and stayed mindful of her shoulder, which still hurt.

Clarke was about to say something when Bellamy stormed back in with a worried Octavia behind him. There was palpable tension from the siblings as they walked up to Clarke, with Bellamy staying back far enough to avoid contact and he had gotten a piece of cloth to cover his nose and mouth. Clarke looked her over the same way she looked Demetri over and ended up with the same outcome.

“Like Demi, no symptoms. We need to keep Octavia here just in case, since she was the first one to come in contact with Murphy, she could be a carrier.” Clarke turned off the light she had used and turned towards Bellamy.

“She’ll get sick just by being here, both of them will.” Bellamy looked at Demetri who was a few feet away handing out cloth to those needing them to wipe their bloodied faces.

“I’ll keep Octavia on the third level, with others who haven’t shown symptoms. Think of it as a way to keep her in camp.” Clarke spared a glance at Octavia.

“Screw you Clarke.” Octavia rolled her eyes.

“If something changes, I’ll let you know.”

“Fine. What about Demetri?” Bellamy’s eyes shifted to her for a moment before she stood.

“Demetri is going to stay here and help take care of those who are sick, while you get out of here Bellamy.” Demetri informed him, using her foot to kick him lightly towards the door. He sighed, again getting a dreadful feeling seeing the three of them together like this.

“I’ll check in later.” Bellamy left them in the dropship, a worried look on his face.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking Clarke?” Demetri looked at her best friend.

“Probably.” She turned to Octavia. “I need you to sneak out again.”

“And I’m going with you.” Demetri stepped forward.

“Alright, we’ll be back later.” Octavia nodded after a moment understanding what this meant.

---

Demetri stayed a step behind Octavia, her left hand holding onto her right shoulder to try to ease the pain. They had snuck out of camp and were moving quietly further away from their home. They were just around the area that they rescued Octavia from before when she stopped Demetri.

“Why did you want to come?” Octavia turned to Demetri. “You’re not going to go crazy on him like Bellamy did are you?”

“No, I want to talk to him.” Demetri glanced at Octavia before wincing. “We’re facing a war Octavia, with a people who will probably slaughter most of us. I believe we can trust Lincoln.”

“I’m glad someone sees reason here.” Octavia mused, before she lead Demetri into the secret passage that lead into Lincoln’s hideout.

Octavia ran into the cave without stopping, right up to Lincoln who was waiting for her. He immediately began checking her ears and looking around her face. He sighed when he seemed happy with his findings.

“You knew?” Octavia whispered, eyes widening.

“I tried to get you out.” His focus was solely on her. “Didn’t you see the flower?”

“I saw it.” Octavia took a breath, “Before I found one of our own that your people sent to infect us.”

Demetri tried to step down quietly, without disturbing their moment but misstepped and rammed her shoulder into the wall. She had no idea something could hurt that bad, at this point she wondered if death would hurt this much too.

“Ah!” She gasped, the pain surging through her body.

Lincoln jumped, pushing Octavia behind him as he pulled out a knife, no doubt doused in poison. He lowered it moments later when he recognized the girl before him, the only other person from the people from the sky he had even considered trusting.

“She’s with me.” Octavia stepped out from behind him and rushed to help Demetri up.

There was blood pooling under her bandages but Demetri stood straight up and faced Lincoln head on. She took a step forward but stumbled a bit. Octavia held onto her.

“We’ve haven’t officially met, I’m--”

“Demetri, Octavia talks highly of you.” Lincoln nodded. “Here, sit down.”

“That’s good to know, sometimes I think Octavia hates me.” Demetri sent Octavia a fond look. “Thank you Lincoln.”

“You’re here about the sickness right?”

“That, but I also want to apologize again and thank you. What happened in the dropship, it shouldn’t have--.” Lincoln held up his hand. “I understand. I wanted to thank you because I saw you take that arrow for Octavia, I know you care about her. I also know that you know a war is coming our way. I’m not going to ask for you to fight with us, because you have no reason for that. But if it comes to it, can I trust you to get Octavia out of the line of fire and somewhere safe?” Demetri looked right at Lincoln.

“Demetri, I--” Octavia tried to interrupt.

“If your brother were a bit more trusting he’d consider asking the same thing.” Demetri stopped the younger girl and focused on the man before her. “Your people know the land, they’ve been surviving here on Earth the whole time our people been up in space. Unless we come up with some master plan we could all die. If it comes to it, can you promise me you’ll get Octavia out of here?” Lincoln nodded. “I want to hear you say it.”

“I promise you, Demetri.” Lincoln nodded again.

Demetri sighed as she slouched a bit in the seat Lincoln had gotten for her. A weight she didn’t know she had on her chest gone.

“Onto less serious matters, can you tell us about the disease, is there a cure?”

“No, there’s no cure.” Lincoln shook his head, looking away from the girls before him.

“You were gonna let my people die?” Octavia’s voice was loud in the small space, “Let me die?”

“It passes quickly, few are usually immune. We use it to soften the battlefield.” Lincoln moved to Octavia, cupping her face. “I am not surprised you are one of the strong ones.” Then he turned to Demetri, “You either.”

“Battlefield?” Lincoln’s hand dropped from Octavia’s face at her question.

“They will attack at first light.” His voice was quiet, he looked away from the girls.

“She might not ask you to help us, but I will, Lincoln, you have to help us.” Octavia pleaded.

Demetri watched them go back and forth, a sinking feeling in her chest. Lincoln wanted to take Octavia and go East, get away from it all. Demetri thought it wasn’t a bad idea.

“I can’t leave my brother to die, I can’t leave Demetri, my people.” Octavia got a little frantic, “There must be something we can do!”

“There’s nothing, not now. Even the mountain men are angry.” Lincoln shook his head.

“We warn them.” Demetri spoke, rising to her feet, making a mental note to ask about the mountain men if they live. “Octavia can come back here afterwards.”

“Demetri--”

“If you’re safe, your brother will be able to think clearer. I told you I trust Lincoln.”

“Okay, alright.” Octavia nodded after a minute. “Wait for me here, I’ll come to you.”

“Lincoln, please protect her.” Demetri pleaded.

“I will.” Lincoln nodded, he helped Demetri to her feet.

Lincoln held his arm out to Demetri, she moved to shake his hand but his hand grasped her forearm, she grabbed his and he squeezed her arm gently. They both nodded, understanding what they needed to do. Demetri turned towards the doorway they came in when Lincoln turned to Octavia and kissed her. Octavia pulled away and grabbed Demetri’s good hand and tugged her away. A new sense of urgency in their steps as they jogged through the now familiar woods.

---

They were just outside the wall when gunshots boomed in camp. The pair squeezed through the hole just behind the dropship and popped out beside it in time to see the panicked faces of the 100 looking at Clarke. She was standing at the edge of the dropship door with a rifle pointed to the sky.

“They won’t have to kill us if we all catch the virus, get back in the damn dropship.” A hothead with a gun to the right yelled at Clarke with his gun raised.

Bellamy ripped the gun from the guy’s hands and elbowed him in the mouth, which caused the guy to fall to his knees and stumble back. Demetri looked away from Bellamy and the guy in time to see Clarke falling backwards. Finn rushed forward and caught her just before she hit the ground. Demetri ran up and looked over Clarke, she looked worse than when they had left earlier. Lincoln was right, it traveled fast because they hadn’t been gone very long at all. Demetri felt calmer knowing it wasn’t meant to kill them, just weaken them.

“I’m fine, put me down.” Clarke held onto Demetri for support.

“No you’re not.” Finn argued.

“Octavia and Demetri will come back with a cure.” Clarke didn’t noticed that Demetri was right beside her and that worried Demetri a lot.

“There is no cure.” Octavia came out from behind the dropship. “They don’t use the illness to kill.”

“Tell that to them.” Bellamy pointed to the two dead bodies just outside the dropship.

“Bellamy, listen to her.” Demetri called to him. “What she has to say is important.”

“The grounders are coming and they’re attacking at first light. If there’s anything left to prepare, we need to do it now.” The camp fell into a slight panic as everyone started to get ready for whatever was coming.

Octavia moved towards Finn and Clarke, as Demetri told him to get Clarke inside. Octavia shoved Bellamy’s hand off her arm as he reached out for her, he sighed but turned to Demetri. Demetri took a few steps towards Bellamy, just close enough for their conversation to still be kind of private.

“You focus on a battle plan, I’ll take care of everyone who’s sick. Lincoln said that there are always some that are immune, if there are people who have been exposed and aren’t sick yet they’re probably apart of that few.”

“What about you and Octavia?”

“He said if we aren’t sick yet, we won’t be.” Demetri answered confidently.

“Why did you go with her?” Bellamy asked quietly.

“Because you wouldn’t have let her go alone.” Demetri teased, “And I wanted to talk to him. I trust him Bellamy.” Bellamy could only nod. “I’ll explain after this passes and we see the day after tomorrow.”

Bellamy was amazed Demetri could be so positive at a time like this, but he figured that’s why he was so drawn to her. He watched her jog into the dropship to take over while Clarke was sick and he began planning. He instantly started calling out orders and directing the flow of movement so that the time they had to prepare was used wisely.

---

Murphy was helping Finn get Clarke into a hammock when Demetri entered the dropship. Murphy had moved to a pull out seat on the far wall, as everyone gathered around Clarke.

“He said it passes quickly.” Demetri broke the silence, as everyone fretted over Clarke.

“It’s true, I feel better.” Murphy confirmed.

“They need to stay hydrated.” Clarke tried to sit up.

“You need to take your own advice.” Demetri said, pushing her back down.

Octavia brought her a cup of water and after Clarke finished it she tried to move again before Finn pushed her back into the hammock this time.

“You need to rest Clarke, we’ll take care of them.” Demetri moved to get some water to pass out.

“I’ll help.” Octavia nodded, passing out cloth and checking on everyone who was asleep.

“I will too.” Murphy stood and started taking the cups of water from Demetri and giving everyone some.

Clarke and Finn talked quietly until Clarke fell asleep. Demetri knew she told them to get away from camp, to leave her and the sick there. If she thought Finn would listen she was out of her mind, and if she thought Demetri would leave her she didn’t know her best friend that well.

“At this rate, there will be no one to fight back.” Murphy said as he handed Demetri a cup to refill.

“That’s the point.” Demetri told him, handing him the now full cup back.

“Then we slow them down.” Finn left Demetri, Octavia, and Murphy to care for the sick as he ran off, no doubt with a crazy idea. Demetri just hoped he thought it through a little more this time.

Bellamy stopped by the dropship about an hour later on to say that they were going back to the Exodus crash to get as much of the Hydrazine as they could to build a bomb. He said Finn had come up with the idea to blow up the bridge to slow down the grounders and Raven had figured out how to do it. Demetri told him to be careful before sending them off. She stood at the entrance of the dropship and watched them run off into the cool evening air as the sun started the set. She prayed to any of the gods she had heard about while on the Ark that all of them would make it back safely.

A few hours had passed by the time Demetri decided to take a short break. Most of those who had been sick at the beginning, had suffered, survived, and made their way back out into camp to hopefully live another day and prepare for the morning. Octavia was taking care of Clarke and Murphy moved to roll Joseph on his side when he started to convulse and vomit again. Demetri was just standing back up to pass out water again when she saw two people bring Bellamy into the dropship.

“Clear some space!” Demetri’s voice was shrill in fear as the guys carrying him laid him on a now open mat on the floor.

“Bellamy? You’re okay, get it out.” Demetri held him steady as he threw up blood while Octavia rushed to his side.

“Hey big brother.” Octavia cooed as she wiped his face.

Bellamy being so pale, with blood splattered all over his face and shirt, with tears in his eyes before them, left both of them terrified.

“I’m scared.” Bellamy whispered as his eyes rolled back in his head and he tried to focus.

Demetri and Octavia shared a look. Bellamy had never voiced that he was scared, he always wore a strong face and kept up the facade of never backing down. To hear him say it out loud, in such a weak voice, whatever emotion was worse than being terrified they both felt it.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.” Octavia masked her fear well as she grabbed his hand.

“I said that to you the day you were born.” Bellamy managed a weak smile.

“I know, you tell me all the time.” Octavia’s voice was soft.

“I’ll take care of the others, you stay with him.” Demetri stopped petting Bellamy’s hair and went to stand up when his other hand grabbed the end of her jacket.

“Dem, I trust you. I need you to know that.” Demetri blinked away her tears.

“I know Bell, I know you do.” She kissed his knuckles. “O will take care of you okay? You’ll be better in a little bit.”

Bellamy squeezed her hand weakly and let Demetri go. The hand that had been holding onto Octavia’s tightened. Demetri went back to what she had been doing all day. Now more as a distraction over anything else. As time went by all she could do was spare glances at Bellamy as she worked to keep the dropship relatively clean of blood and do her best to insure no one else died. Not long after Bellamy had fallen asleep, Clarke woke up. Her face was less pale and there was no more bleeding from the various orifices. She appeared stronger and breathed just fine. When Clarke called out for Demetri she dropped whatever she was doing and rushed to her best friend.

“God I was so worried.” Demetri threw her good arm around Clarke.

“Demi, your shoulder!” Clarke scolded when she saw that she had bled through the bandages, “If you’re not careful there will be long term damage.”

“Taking care of our people is more important okay.” Demetri looked Clarke’s face over, “Are you feeling better?”

“Much better, what happened while I was out.”

“A lot. Finn came up with the idea to bomb the bridge and Raven figured out how, so they’re probably off doing that now. A lot of people have survived the sickness, many have already moved back out into the camp. There have been a few that it’s hit late,” Demetri paused, looking at Bellamy’s sleeping figure. “Bellamy being one of them.”

“Have you slept yet? Eaten?” Clarke looked Demetri over next, noticing the bags under her eyes.

“How can I sleep when the people I care about most are lying in here? And we’re anticipating a grounder attack at daybreak?” Demetri scoffed, pretending she was not only physically exhausted but mentally too.

“Get some rest, I’ll take over.” Clarke took the cup and rag from Demetri, and nodded for her to leave.

“Are you sure you’re up to it?” Demetri looked around the dropship. “Octavia just left to take a break, she was up all night too. Murphy just took over for her.” Clarke nodded again. “I’ll go up to the third level, if anything happens yell for me okay?”

“Got it.” Clarke immediately got to work, caring for the sick still in the dropship.

Demetri ascended to the third level leaving the hatch open and laid down on the seats against the wall. She stretched her achy body, grimaced when her shoulder screamed in protest, and then moved around till she was in a decently comfortable position. The long night finally caught up with her and soon she was pulled into restful dreamland she hadn’t had in a long time.

---

A loud rumble woke Demetri maybe a few hours later. She hoped it was the bomb at the bridge Bellamy had told her about. She chose to be hopeful and always see a silver lining regardless of the situation as it made everything much easier to deal with. She slowly went down the ladder and just started right back up where she left off, giving out water and wiping sweat from foreheads because there was still people who needed her. Now there were even less people suffering with the sickness. It was a good sign in Demetri’s eyes, the bridge was blown up and their people were making it through a sickness sent to help wipe them out.

She moved to check on Bellamy but he wasn’t in the dropship anymore and she hoped that meant he had made a full recovery too. Demetri went to wringe out some rags in the corner into a barrel that was cut in half and had been moved into the dropship. Just as she finished wringing them out she went back into the main area of the dropship to get clean water when she noticed Raven in the hammock Clarke had been before. She took a newly cleaned rag and wiped at Raven’s forehead, helping lower her fever.

“You’re strong Raven, you’ll get through this.” Demetri assured quietly, she went to step away when Raven grabbed her hand. “Hey, you’re okay.” Demetri cooed, patting her hand.

“I just need someone here.” Raven’s voice was raspy, Demetri saw unshed tears in her eyes and she noticed the necklace she always wore was gone. Demetri’s gaze softened.

“Alright, I’ll stay. Don’t worry.” Demetri held Raven’s hand between her own as Raven fell back asleep.

“After all this time your heart is still pure gold huh?” Murphy asked from the side.

“What are you talking about John?” Demetri turned her body to face him, settling in the seat beside Raven.

“We’ve been down here what? A month now, maybe two. You’re still as caring and righteous as you were the day we landed. Still as much bite behind your bark too. You haven’t changed at all.” He mused, watching as Demetri leant back against the wall and slowly let go of Raven’s hand.

“I have changed John, I’ve watched friends die. I watched you get banished. I’ve seen more than enough death in my days, especially now, to never want to see it again. What’s wrong with staying positive?”

“Nothing is Demetri, but with what’s coming, the death is just starting.” Murphy sat down a few feet away. “I’m worried we won’t make it, I’m worried they’ll kick me out to let me die again.”

“Not this time.” Demetri shook her head. “I won’t let then.”

“It was your idea last time.” Murphy’s voice turned sharp, pointed like the knife he held at her throat all that time ago. The feeling of anger swelled in his chest as he stared at the girl before him, someone he had thought about getting revenge on since he was sent off to die.

“It was that or letting you die. I knew you’d survive, it’s what you do John.” Demetri remained calm, she turned to put the rag back into the bucket. “Ah!” Demetri froze her movement when her shoulder sent a shock of pain through her body.

“You should go see Clarke, you’re bleeding through your bandages.” Murphy nodded, taking the rag from her hand. “I won’t get near her, but I’ll watch her till you’re back.” He made a mental note about her shoulder.

“Thanks John.” Demetri nodded at him, before she left the dropship to find Clarke. Demetri missed the way Murphy glared at Joseph’s sleeping form, before descending on him, out for blood.

---

“It’s been two days.” Clarke said to Demetri as they stood atop a hill just outside the wall.

“I know.” Demetri looked at the scenery around them. “They’re still coming, they wouldn’t give up.”

“Which is why we don’t stop preparing.” Bellamy’s voice scared them from behind. “Jasper thinks he can throw together some more gunpowder with some sulfur and Raven thinks she can turn that into landmines.” Bellamy lead them down the hill. “So watch where you step.”

“Ha. Funny.” Clarke cracked a smile.

“What I want is more of those bombs from the bridge, so we could walk right up to their villages and blow them all to hell.” Demetri smacked Bellamy with her good arm. “What? That’s what they want to do to us.”

Clarke was distracted, her eyes were vacant as she followed the couple

“Anything from the Ark?” Bellamy looked between the two, missing the worried look Demetri sent Clarke’s way.

“No, complete silence.” Demetri answered.

“Ran out of air?” Bellamy said quietly.

“Maybe my mom was lucky, it was quick with Exodus.” Clarke looked down at Demetri’s hand in hers. Demetri kept the comment about it not meaning anything bad to herself. She made one only yesterday and Clarke snapped at her.

“Let’s get you two back in camp, you’re not carrying weapons.” Bellamy broke the silence, his hands moving down to guide them towards the gate.

“I’d carry one if you’d let me.” Demetri countered, but followed Bellamy back towards the gate anyway.

“You’re not suppose to be using your right shoulder or arm Demi, at all.” Clarke scolded her. “You already overextended it when everyone was sick.”

“I wasn’t just gonna sit around and do nothing Clarke.” Demetri turned on her friend. “Sure it hurt a lot then, but I can’t be a hindrance when the grounders could attack at any moment.” Then she turned to Bellamy, “And you, ordering me to either stay by Clarke or with you? I’m not at a hundred percent, but I’m not useless.”

“Can you raise your arm up this high?” Bellamy held his arm out to her shoulder level, Demetri winced when her arm got to just above her stomach area. “Exactly. You’re not useless, but you can’t fight right now. So you do what you can but you stick close to one of us. Or I can assign a guard to you.” Bellamy threatened airly, trying to get Demetri to listen.

“You think your sister was a rebel, just try and give me a babysitter like you did to her.” Demetri glared up at Bellamy.

She knew Bellamy was acting this way because he was worried about her, but she had more than proved to be capable of taking care of herself, injured or not. And with Bellamy suddenly on her case about everything with her shoulder injury, she felt like she was being boxed in. She was beginning to understand Octavia more and more.

“Just come walk rounds with me, okay?” Bellamy tried to placate Demetri.

“Let’s go then.” Demetri smirked.

“Good luck with her.” Clarke waved after Bellamy, sending him a knowing look. Nobody could ever really control Demetri, and Clarke found it amusing to see Bellamy try.

Just as they entered the camp and started Bellamy’s rounds, a fire broke out in the smoke house. Bellamy ran over to pull Octavia out of the doorway as it caught fire. Demetri rushed to check on Murphy who was on the ground trying to get air in and smoke out of his lungs. The entire smokehouse, and everything inside of it, was up in flames moments later. Murphy was only by Demetri’s side for a moment before he was in Del’s face, yelling at him about putting too much wood on the fire.

Demetri stood and went to pull them apart when the other guy shoved her to the ground where she landed on her bad shoulder. Her luck with her arm was proving to be the worst. Bellamy was quick to get between them, holding them at arm's length as he looked over at Demetri. She sat up, holding her shoulder giving him a small okay sign.

“That’s all our food Bellamy, what are we gonna do?” Octavia yelled, glaring at the guy Murphy had punched, Del.

---

After the fire died down, Clarke and Bellamy started poking around as some of the 100 checked to see if anything made it.

“Know what happened here?” Clarke asked as she walked over to Bellamy, who was squatted by a still simmering carcass.

“Murphy said Del kept feeding the fire mostly because Octavia told him it was a bad idea.” Bellamy sighed, realizing he really was dealing with a bunch of kids.

“And we believe Murphy?” Clarke asked.

“I do.” Demetri said as she walked up. “Shoulder’s better now, don’t worry.” She answered the looks she got from both Clarke and Bellamy.

“What we have in the dropship will last one, maybe two weeks depending on how we ration it. Did anything survive?” Clarke asked, considering solutions.

“Nope, not a thing.” Bellamy stood.

“Then we have to hunt. Anyone we can spare goes out.” Clarke decided, going to walk away.

“With a grounder army out there waiting?” Bellamy stopped her.

“We won’t be able to fight if we’re starving Bell.” Demetri added. “We go out in hunting groups then.”

---

“Everyone go out with someone with a gun, use the spears for hunting. Don’t shoot unless it’s grounders, we can’t waste the ammo.” Bellamy spoke over the quiet chatter as people began to get spears or axes from inside the dropship and move outside to form hunting groups. “Get what you can, and be sure to be back by nightfall. No one stays out after dark.”

Clarke sidestepped a few people as she moved to get a spear. Demetri walked into the dropship then, with her backpack on and went straight to the rack of spears too.

“Should I consider us a group?” Demetri nudged Clarke with her good shoulder.

“Demi, you really should stay in camp.” Clarke started exasperated by Demetri’s constant disobedience.

“Look, I’m following both yours and Bellamy’s orders. I’m staying with either of you and not doing anything strenuous.”

“Hunting can be hard on your shoulder, you still need to rest.”

“Look.” Demetri very slowly raised her arm up till it was almost even with her shoulder. “And it doesn’t hurt much anymore. I rewrapped it after I cleaned the scabbing wounds and it felt a lot better.”

“I’m not telling Bellamy.” Clarke picked up a spear and froze when Finn appeared beside her.

“What are we not telling Bellamy?” Finn asked, looking between the two.

“That I’m going out with Clarke in a hunting group.” Demetri picked up a spear and smiled at Finn. “But that’s okay, I’ll tell him.”

“Need someone else?” Finn asked.

“No.” Clarke said.

“Yes.” Demetri glared at Clarke. “You take this, I can handle a gun now.”

Demetri went up to Bellamy, he already had disapproval written on his face.

“Don’t start Bell, Clarke cleared me to go on the hunt so give me a gun.” Demetri held both of her arms out evenly before Bellamy.

“Did she now?” Bellamy turned to Clarke. “Clarke, is she good to go?” Clarke reluctantly nodded. “Alright fine. Who are you going out with?”

“Clarke and Finn.” Demetri gladly took the gun from Bellamy. “Don’t worry, we’ll be careful okay?”

“Why don’t you come out with me?” Bellamy grabbed her hand.

“Bell, I promised I’d go with Clarke. I can’t let her go alone with Finn anyway, girl code.”

“You’re gonna lead me to an early death.” Bellamy sighed. “I need to go see if Raven has had time to make anymore bullets. Please be careful okay? Come back safely.”

“I’ll do the best I can.” Demetri stood on her tippy toes to peck Bellamy on the lips. “C’mon guys, let’s head out!”

Bellamy watched Clarke and Finn follow Demetri out of the the dropship. He made his way towards Raven’s tent as they left camp. He turned to watch them just before he stopped at Raven’s tent.

---

Finn led the way, picking up on boar tracks rather quickly. The trio followed the tracks out and away from camp. Demetri followed at the back with Clarke in the middle. Demetri listened to the quiet conversation of the pair before her, until Finn dropped to his knees.

“These tracks.” Finn started, looking at them closely.

“What about them?” Demetri asked, sparing a glance at the tracks before training her eyes back on the forest around them.

“They’re perfect.” Finn looked up at Clarke.

“Too perfect.” She finished his thought.

“We’re the ones being hunted.” Finn’s attention flew up and around them.

“I don’t see anything.” Demetri said as she looked through the scope of her gun. “Are yo--”

Her words were cut off by an arrow landing in her shoulder, the bad one. The pain was so strong it knocked Demetri off her feet. Clarke rushed to Demetri, trying to figure out how to help her. She sat her forward to see the arrow wasn’t all the way through her shoulder and she tried to figure out the best way to remove it in that moment.

“Clarke, go.” Demetri shoved her away. “You and Finn need to get out of here.” She winced as she sat herself up. “I can hide by a tree, I’ll be fine.”

“Demetri, I can’t leave you.” Clarke cried, tears springing to her eyes.

“Clarke, get out of here now!” Demetri shoved Clarke as hard as she could before she started crawling backwards towards the nearest tree.

“I’m so sorry Demetri.” Finn panted, “Let’s go Clarke.” He forcibly pulled her away from Demetri with tears running down her cheeks.

Demetri watched them run away and played dead when the grounders ran past her, they hardly spared her still body a glance. She heard Finn yell from a distance away before it went quiet. She hoped they had gotten away but deep down she knew they’d been caught. The pain surged through Demetri’s body when she moved, it was so strong she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer and darkness took her away.

---

“Demi?” A familiar voice called, “Demetri, where are you?”

“Bellamy! Over here!” Another familiar voice called.

Demetri opened her eyes only to be surrounded by darkness before Bellamy’s face popped into view. His hands cupped her face as she looked over him, a small smile gracing her pale lips.

“You found me.” Demetri panted as the pain hit her again.

“What happened? Are you okay?” He looked her over as a guy with a torch stood close by, watching the area.

“Grounders were hunting us, they took Clarke and Finn.” Demetri tried to stand, “We need to go after them.”

“You need to get back to camp.” Bellamy held Demetri up. “You promised you’d be careful and look at you.”

“It’s a small scratch.” Demetri winced, “We should go find Clarke and Finn, I’ll be fine.” Demetri bent down to pick up her gun.

“You’re not going anywhere but camp.” Bellamy ordered, then he turned to Raven beside him, Demetri barely caught the strange look on his face. “I’m sorry Raven.”

“Let’s get her back, and regroup.” Raven started to walk away, “We need to make a stretcher.”

“Monty,” Bellamy spoke into a handheld radio, “We’re going home, check in?” Nothing. “Monty? C’mon.” Bellamy looked around those before him.

“Is Monty missing too?” Demetri asked, turning her head towards Bellamy.

“I don’t know, we’ll figure that out after we get you back.”

They quickly threw together a stretcher to carry Demetri back, the reality of the situation making everyone tense. Demetri grabbed Raven’s arm.

“Hey, they’ll be okay. They’re both smart and resourceful.” Demetri tried to smile up at Raven, “We need to believe in them.”

“I do.” Raven answered weakly, “I believe in them.”

---

As soon as Demetri was in the dropship and someone was assigned to look after her the camp broke out into a frenzy. Raven and Jasper started setting up mines just outside the walls and traps were being set to pick off any grounders that got too close. Demetri could vaguely hear all the noise through the walls of the dropship. She tried to focus but the pain from the arrow in her shoulder mixing with the already trying to heal wounds made it hard for her to focus on anything but the excruciating pain she was experiencing. A kid named Amy sat with her and made sure she watched over while all this went on. Demetri was sure if Amy hadn’t been sitting beside her, she would have lost her mind.

---

Bellamy came into the dropship a few hours later to check on Demetri, who was drenched in sweat and holding onto her shoulder tightly. Amy had spent her time wiping sweat from Demetri’s face and body and making sure she was still breathing. She didn’t know what else to do, so Amy just kept up a quiet and simple conversation until Bellamy came back. Amy left the dropship to get back to doing what she was doing before Bellamy asked her to sit with Demetri. Bellamy watched Demetri, afraid to touch her. He had had some of the 100 move stuff used to plan for battle and how to counterattack to a makeshift table in the dropship. He didn’t plan on leaving her side now. He had her stashed off to the side and out of the way in one of the corners of the dropship. So she was out of the way and hidden, just in case grounders came and they needed to hide in the dropship she would be okay. He side glanced a moaning kid named Miles, who also had an arrow sticking out of his body, one in his stomach area and one in his thigh. Bellamy tried to not get annoyed by Miles because he had no idea how much an arrow hurt but Demetri was lying there without hardly moaning while Miles hadn’t shut up.

“You should find Clarke.” Demetri mumbled, “She’ll be able to fix me up real quick.” She held loosely onto Bellamy’s arm, her eyes lazily focusing on him.

“I want to, but if we send people out to look for them, who protects the camp?” Bellamy’s voice was sad, he was torn.

“If the places were switched, they’d be out there looking for you.” Jasper said, from the front of the dropship.

“What I’m doing right now is what I think is right for the camp, for all of us.” Bellamy turned to Jasper.

“Hey, don’t get worked up.” Demetri tugged on Bellamy’s jacket, “You’re no fun when you’re worked up.” Demetri tried to keep the mood light, knowing Bellamy was going crazy on the inside.

“I’m going to work on sulfur for your mines.” Jasper deadpanned before he ascended the stairs, his gun left on the table.

“Water, please.” Miles whined. “Water.”

“Go take care of him. This is nothing for me.” Demetri shoved against Bellamy’s stomach as he stepped closer to her.

It was much weaker than he would have liked it to be, but he nodded. He pushed damp hair from her forehead and gave her a hopeful smile.

“I’ll be right back, don’t you go anywhere.” He teased, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“And where would I go Bell?” She replied, smiling weakly up at him through half lidded eyes.

Bellamy squeezed her hand before he left to get Miles some water.

“You’ll be fine Miles, don’t worry. They’ll find Clarke and we’ll be okay.” Demetri called softly, before resorting to focus on breathing.

---

A few minutes later she heard Miles making weird noises, she moved her body around enough to see Murphy standing over him with a plastic bag over Miles’ head. Her eyes shot open as it registered that Murphy was suffocating Miles just ten feet from her. Biting down hard on her bottom lip, as quietly as she could, she rolled out the hammock she’d been laid in and hid herself in the shadows of the corner. She watched in horror as Miles stopped fighting, she bit her forefinger to stop any noises from coming out of her mouth. Panic coursed through her veins.

A clunking noise drew both her and Murphy’s attention to the ladder as Jasper had started to come down. Everyone froze when Jasper looked up as he hit the ground to see Murphy stashing the plastic bag out of sight. The silence was tense.

“He stopped breathing, I was trying to help him.” Murphy lied.

Jasper nodded, Demetri wanted to yell at Jasper to run, to get help. But she knew if she opened her mouth, they would both die by Murphy’s hands. Nobody moved for a heartbeat before the guys both went for Jasper’s gun he had sat down earlier. Murphy got to it first and aimed it right at Jasper’s heart.

“Murphy,” Jasper whispered, “put the gun down.”

“He tried to kill me.” Murphy motioned to Miles’ body. “Hey! Don’t move!” Murphy yelled when Jasper made a move for the door.

“Okay, okay, it’s fine.” Jasper had a hand out in front of him. He seemed to have forgotten Demetri was in the dropship too and she didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“No, it’s not fine. We both know what will happen if you tell Bellamy.” Murphy sounded panicked.

“Tell Bellamy what?” Bellamy’s voice crackled from Jasper’s side.

Demetri saw the way Murphy tensed up. He took a step towards Jasper who took a step back.

“Give me the radio.” Jasper slowly pulled the radio from his pocket.

Demetri held her breath, if Jasper listened all would be okay.

“Murphy has a gun, he killed Miles.” Jasper barely finished before Murphy slammed the butt of the gun into Jasper’s face, knocking him to the ground.

“No, Jasper!” Demetri whispered to herself.

“Murphy, what the hell are you doing?” Bellamy’s voice crackled through the walkie.

Murphy moved towards the switch for the dropship door and he pulled it, pulling the door up. A ruckus started outside as the door had started to move.

“Murphy! Murphy open the damn door!” Bellamy yelled as the door started to shut.

“You try to be a hero and Jasper dies.” Murphy bellowed as the door shut, sealing them inside.

He already started tying Jasper up, his hands secured behind his back. Demetri started to panic in that moment. She needed to do something, but with the arrow in her shoulder she was practically useless.

“The arrow.” Demetri gritted her teeth together and pressed on the arrow, if she can get it to break the skin on the back she could pull it through.

Under the cover of beating on the outside of the dropship, she let out a soft groan as the arrow broke through the skin of her back. She had to stop because a new, stronger wave of pain washed over her. She felt faint as her body processed what happened. With another deep breath she reached behind her and jerked the arrow out of her shoulder. The pain sent shockwaves through her body again. Clarke was going to tear her a new one later but she’d welcome it then. As it went silent outside, so did Demetri as she tried to stop the shuttering of her body. She slowly forced her body into a sitting position and moved to where she could see the open area of the dropship.

“Murphy, I know you can hear me.” Bellamy’s voice broke through the silence. “All our ammo and food is in the middle level. You know that, you’re leaving us vulnerable to an attack right now. I can’t let you do this.”

“Well in case you haven’t noticed, you’re not exactly in control right now.” Murphy spat, moving away to watch the door and Jasper.

“C’mon Murphy.” Bellamy’s voice was strained, “You don’t want to hurt Jasper, you want to hurt me.” Demetri stopped breathing. “So what do you say? Make a trade, him for me?”

Demetri’s grip on the arrow was so tight her knuckles were white.

“Bellamy, no.” Demetri whimpered.

“All you have to do is let him go and I’ll take his place.”

Murphy looked over at Jasper, saw the tears gathering in his eyes, and smiled. It was then, as Jasper looked around a little frantic that he noticed Demetri tucked away in the corner. She held her finger to her lips to warn Jasper not to make a noise. His eyes widened, remembering she had been lying off to the side with an arrow through her shoulder just minutes before.

“How?” Murphy’s voice was light and airy.

“Simple, open the dropship door, I walk in, he walks out.” Murphy fidgeted with the radio in his hand as he thought.

Demetri realized that would be her only chance, if she could get Murphy after he opened the door and Bellamy was walking in, Bellamy could take care of him. Everyone would be okay. Demetri held her breath as Murphy walked over to the lever and pulled it. The door creaked as it went down.

“Bellamy, just you, unarmed.” He yelled. “10 seconds or I’ll put one in Jasper’s leg.”

Murphy started counting down, Jasper shook his head when he saw Demetri move into a ready crouched position. He stopped at five when Bellamy yelled at him.

“I’m here!”

Bellamy walked through the flap to find a gun pointed at his face as Jasper was pushed past him. Octavia could vaguely be heard telling Jasper to get up before the door started to go up again. With Murphy being distracted by Bellamy, Demetri tightened her grip on the arrow and she charged at Murphy. He spun, the barrel of the gun moving away from Bellamy for a moment.  Murphy stepped out of the way and used his elbow to hit Demetri in the stomach. She dropped to the ground, the arrow scuttering away from her.

“Ah, look at this, your little girlfriend likes to play hero, just like you.” Murphy grinned as he grabbed Demetri by her hair and drug her to her feet just before him. “I liked you Demetri, in the platonic sense. You’ve got a good heart. A little in the not platonic sense to be honest, too bad you had to get mixed up with him.” Murphy wrinkled his nose at Bellamy.

“John, don’t do this.” Demetri gasped, the pain from her shoulder mixed with the air getting knocked out of her had left her in a bad momentary state.

“Don’t hurt her.” Bellamy’s voice was rough. “Let her go, this doesn’t involve her.”

“It does, actually.” Murphy held Demetri against him, arm holding her down around her collar bones with his fingers hovering over her wounded shoulder. “You see, while she believed I didn’t kill Wells and cut me down, she suggested banishing me. She told me it’s because she knew I’m a survivor but because she said to send me away I was caught by grounders and tortured.” Murphy growled.

“Take it out on me, don’t hurt her.” Bellamy inched forward just a bit.

A bullet went through the floor just in front of Bellamy and Demetri jerked back.

“That’s far enough.”

“Bellamy, what the hell was that?” Octavia’s voice crackled through the radio on Murphy hip. “Bellamy!”

“If you want her to know you’re still alive, start tying those together.” Murphy pointed to the pile of seatbelts. “Why don’t you get the radio for me sweetheart.” Murphy sneered, using Bellamy’s nickname for Demetri.

Demetri winced as she reached across her body with her good arm to get the radio then she put it in Murphy’s waiting hand. Bellamy slowly started tying together the seatbelts in front of him, Demetri saw the fear in his eyes.

“John,” Demetri tried again, “no one’s gotten hurt, if you stop this now we can figure something out, look the other way even. Now’s not the time fo-Ah!” Demetri’s words were cut short when she cried out on pain.

Murphy had dug his finger into her arrow wound which effectively stopped her talking.

“You’re always using reason, trying to persuade others to listen to you. It may work on everyone else but it won’t work on me, not now. So shut up.” Murphy’s voice was malicious.

“Bellamy, do you copy?” Octavia’s voice was loud in Demetri’s ear.

“I’m fine.” Bellamy called, when Murphy held out the radio with the button pushed. “It was a misfire, now stop worrying about me and get back to work. And tell Raven to hurry the hell up.”

“Alright, that’s long enough.” Murphy said after he let go of the button. He sat the radio down on the table, dragging Demetri with him as he moved. “Tie those two ends together.”

Bellamy exchanged a worried look with Demetri, who could only watch through teary eyes. She was badly hurt, she was exhausted, and she used what little strength she had left already. She felt absolutely hopeless in the moment.

“Now get up and toss it over.” Murphy instructed, nodding towards a pipe that ran front-to-back of the dropship.

“No, John, don’t.” Demetri started to beg, realizing that Murphy had Bellamy make his own noose. She was helpless as Bellamy did was Murphy said, before turning towards him.

“What do you want me to say? You want me to apologize? I’m so--”

Murphy kicked the back of Demetri’s knee and sent her to her knees as he raised the gun at Bellamy’s chest. Bellamy’s eyes focused on Demetri immediately before doubling back to Murphy.

“I’m sorry.” Bellamy let out a deep breath, watching Demetri struggle to sit back on her knees.

“You got is all wrong Bellamy. I don’t want you to say anything.” Murphy reached down and pulled Demetri’s head up by her hair. “I want you to feel what I felt and then,” He paused, tugging roughly on Demetri’s hair to make her to cry out. “Then I want you to die.”

“John, please.” Demetri begged, “please, don’t do this.” She felt like a broken record as she begged.

“Tell ya what, I know what else would destroy Bellamy here.” Murphy’s eyes turned dark as he looked at Bellamy. “I take what’s his, that’ll hurt won’t it Bellamy. Ruin something so pure to you.”

Murphy jerked Demetri to her feet and with the gun still trained on Bellamy with one hand he pressed Demetri’s back against his chest. Bellamy took a step forward, a fire in his eyes, when Murphy dug his fingers back into the hole in Demetri’s shoulder. Her cries stopped Bellamy in his tracks, he now looked hopelessly on at the scene before him.

“Stay right there, or I’ll kill her first.” Murphy warned Bellamy.

He hand moved from her shoulder, over her chest, down her stomach, and stopped at the button of her jeans. Murphy ran his hand up under her shirt as he palmed her breast while holding eye contact with Bellamy. Demetri was using all her remaining strength to remain on her feet, her hand had weakly tried to pry Murphy’s from her body.

“Get your hands off her.” Bellamy growled, the tears that fell from Demetri’s eyes only making him angrier.

“Why? I rather enjoy this.” Murphy chuckled, “I’m sure if we continued, she would too.”

Murphy removed his hand from under Demetri’s shirt and Bellamy let out a small sigh. Demetri hiccuped from the crying, she felt dirty, she felt like a stranger in her body. Murphy was just playing with them, that much was obvious. He knew all of this would get reactions, and he relished in it.

“You see, I’m gonna spare Demetri here because while I’m upset about getting banished, she is one of the only people in camp who has continuously treated me well this whole time. But, just because I’m not gonna kill her doesn’t mean I can’t have any fun. So Demetri, why don’t you go pull that little table over to Bellamy, so he has something to stand on.”

“No, don’t make me do this.” John squeezed her shoulder earning a whimper.

“Demetri, just do it.” Bellamy begged her, just wanting her to be okay. “Please.”

After she looked at him, searching his eyes to see if he had a plan and seeing nothing, she slowly left John’s arms to move the table. She drug it with one arm right in front of Bellamy. He reached out and squeezed her hand once before Murphy yelled at them.

“Great, now come here.” Demetri obediently went back to Murphy, who put his arm around her under her chest to hold her to him. “Now, you get up on it.” He waited until Bellamy was on the table. “Put it over your head.”

“This is insane.” Bellamy looked from the noose to Murphy, “The grounders could--”

A bang range through the dropship as Murphy shot at the floor, making Demetri jump. A whimper left her lips as she looked at the hole in the dropship floor.

“Put it over your head.” Murphy growled.

“Happy now?” Bellamy growled back after the noose was around his neck.

“John, please.” She tried one last time.

“Shut up!” Murphy threw her to the floor and kicked her in the stomach, “I can still kill you.”

“Focus on me Murphy.” Bellamy bellowed, getting Murphy to leave Demetri alone.

Murphy tugged on the seatbelts, tightening the noose around Bellamy’s neck and causing him to have to stand on balls of his feet. His hands flew to hold onto the seat belt wrapped snug around his neck.

“You’re so brave, aren’t you?” Murphy chuckled, “I mean, you walked in here thinking you’re just gonna turn this whole thing around, that you were stronger than me, and maybe one of your friends would come and help you since your girlfriend here is useless.” Murphy pulled on the seat belts as he spoke which put Bellamy more and more at risk of falling off the table. “Well what are you thinking now Bellamy?”

Bellamy glared down at Murphy. Murphy took a step forward and pulled the noose tighter, then he took another step forward. Demetri forced herself to sit up, thinking through the pain. If she didn’t do anything soon Bellamy would die. She looked around to see the arrow from her shoulder just out of reach. She moved towards it, watching Murphy tighten the noose more and more. By the time she got to the arrow, Bellamy was clawing at his neck, trying to steady his breathing, and keep himself up on his tippy toes.

Demetri steeled herself, made the choice then forced her body to stand. She ran right up to Murphy with what little energy she had left and stabbed her arrow into his side with the limited movement she had from her arm. He gasped and let go of a bit of length of seat belt before he jerked his hand back and smacked Demetri across the face. He retched the arrow from his side and broke it in half before tossing it to the other side of the dropship.

“Demi?!” Bellamy gasped.

“I’ve got to hand it to you Bellamy,” Murphy took control of the conversation again, “You’ve got them all fooled, they actually look up to you almost as much as they look up to Clarke. Especially this one right here. She might have fought you in the beginning, but now? She’s pretty obvious, the way she looks at you it’s easy to tell. But then again, you listen to her well Bellamy, you don’t listen to anyone else, so it was obvious she meant something to you before you realized it yourself.” Murphy looked down at Demetri who had finally started to scowl at him. “But we know the truth, don’t we? You’re a coward. I learned that the day you kicked the crate out from beneath me.” Murphy smirked up at Bellamy, whose face had gone stoic. “Isn’t that what you said, huh? That you were giving the people just what they wanted?”

“He’s not the coward here, you are.” Demetri barked, her glare set on Murphy.

“Oooh, she’s getting angry.” Murphy teased, his hand reach out and caressing her cheek.

“I should have stopped them.” Bellamy pulled Murphy’s attention back to him, he’d do whatever he could to ensure Demetri would be okay.

“Yea, it’s a little late for that now, but thanks for the effort.”

“You think they’ll just let you walk out of here?” Demetri asked, pulling Murphy’s attention back to her.

“Well, I’m pretty sure the Princess is dead, and the King’s about to die,” Murphy glanced over to Demetri, “Who’s gonna lead these people, huh? Me, that’s who. And yea, maybe I’ll have to kill your little grounder-pounder sister, but I’ll need the King’s Sweetheart here for some leverage.” Murphy dodge the kick Bellamy sent his way, and ran for the seat belt rope he had tied off to the ladder and pulled down on it. Bellamy went back to struggling before a shriek from below startled them.

“Raven.” Demetri breathed, knowing she had to stall a little longer now.

“I’m guessing that her right now.” Murphy thought it was Octavia so he pulled his gun up and emptied the clip into the floor.

When the gun clicked Demetri’s head shot up. She moved to tackled Murphy, but he was too fast and kicked the table from under Bellamy’s feet. Murphy side stepped Demetri again and grabbed ahold of her, he pulled her up by the collar of her shirt, till she was right in front of him. Murphy leant so close to Demetri’s face she could see the beads of sweat along his hairline. He stopped when his mouth was right beside her ear and he could see Bellamy just over her head.

“While you were out in the forest dying, Raven was waiting for Bellamy in his tent.”

Murphy let go and let Demetri fall to her knees, his smirk towards Bellamy was wide and sadistic. Demetri shook her head, she couldn’t get distracted, not now. She jumped up and tried to get the gun from Murphy’s hands, she got a nice hold of it but Murphy jerked it from her weak grasp. He brought the butt of the gun down on her right shoulder and knocked her back to the ground. He kicked her in the stomach once for good measure. Then he turned on Bellamy and hit him a few times when the dropship door started to go down. Murphy froze at the noise. When he looked over his shoulder to see the door going down he bolted for the ladder. Demetri pushed herself up and scrambled to try to get the knots of the seat belts undone.

“Demetri!” Jasper called as he entered the dropship.

“Help Bellamy!” She cried, Jasper moved to hold Bellamy up around his knees. Demetri grabbed the knife on Jasper hip and sliced through the seat belts before Bellamy and Jasper hit the ground.

“Oh my god, Bellamy!” She cried, as she loosened the noose and threw is across the room. She pulled his head onto her lap and held onto him. “Please breathe, Bellamy. Breathe.”

Octavia rushed in in the next moment, her eyes falling on both Bellamy and Demetri. He saw her brother’s red face and the blood stained shirt and the missing arrow in Demetri’s shoulder. She fell to her knees before Demetri, giving her good shoulder a squeeze.

“When Jasper said he saw you hiding in here, I was so worried.” Octavia then turned to Bellamy, “That was so stupid what were you thinking!” Octavia wanted to be mad at him. “God, I’m glad your okay.”

Bellamy started to sucking deep breaths, but the rage in his eyes was back. Instead of taking it easy, he scrambled to stand up and started yelling, his voice hoarse.

“Murphy!” Bellamy threw himself at the ladder. “Murphy, it’s over! Give it up!”

Demetri struggled to breathe herself as she watched Bellamy climb the ladder and start beating on the hatch as he yelled. She let Octavia check out her shoulder as Bellamy continued on his rampage, the adrenaline was almost out of her system and the pain was back.

“There’s only one way out of this for you now!” Demetri wasn’t sure she’d even be able to help Murphy now, not with what’s happened. She didn’t think she could try to help him even if she wanted to.

Bellamy continued yelling before a loud explosion just above them shook the dropship and almost knocked Bellamy off the ladder. But he held tight and then continued trying to get the hatch open until whatever blocked it broke. Demetri watched him disappear into the top level, yelling for Murphy, with Jasper on his tail.

Miller came in on the radio a minute later about movement along one of the walls and Bellamy flew down the stairs and out of the dropship. Octavia helped support Demetri as she followed him with a wad of cloth pressed to the hole in her shoulder.

“Wait! It’s Clarke and Finn! Open the gate!” Miller yelled as multiple people rushed to pull the gate back.

Demetri felt like she was going to pass out from both relief and blood loss and had Octavia not been holding onto her, she probably would have.

“We heard an explosion, what happened?” Clarke’s eyes darted to everyone around her. “Demi! Oh my god!” Clarke almost cried at the sight of Demetri leaning into Octavia, she immediately went over to them and started looking at the wound in Demetri’s shoulder.

“Murphy happened.” Bellamy replied, letting his gaze fall on Demetri for a moment.

“You’re okay, thank god. Where’s Monty?” Jasper asked as he hugged Clarke when she stopped to look at Bellamy with nervous eyes.

“Monty’s missing?”

“Clarke we need to go, we all need to go.” Finn cut off the previous conversation. “There’s a grounder army unlike anything we’ve ever seen coming for us right now. We need to pack what we can and run.” Finn was shaking as he spoke, his voice loud and clear.

“Like hell we do, we knew this was coming our way.” Bellamy shook his head.

“Bell, we’re not prepared and some of us are injured.” Octavia, readjusted her grip on Demetri for emphasis, who only shook her head slightly.

“And they’re not here yet. We still have time to get ready.” Bellamy’s gravelly voice travelled over everyone in camp. “Beside, where would we go? Where would be safer than behind these walls?”

“East, there’s an ocean. People there will help us.” Finn pulled out Lincoln’s notebook.

“You saw Lincoln.” Octavia stepped forward.

Demetri let go of Octavia and leaned on the wooden water trough in front of her. Bellamy moved forward to wrap an arm around her. He ignored the talk about Lincoln and turned his head towards the people around him.

“This is our home now. We built this from nothing with our bare hands.” Bellamy made sure Demetri could stand before he turned his whole body as he continued. “Our dead are buried just behind that wall. In this ground! Our ground! The grounders think they can take that away. They think that because we came down here from the sky that we don’t belong here.” Bellamy’s voice cracked from the use. “But they’ve yet to realize one very important fact about us: We are on the ground now, and that means We. Are. Grounders!” His words were followed with cheers.

“Bellamy’s right.” Clarke stepped up. “ If we leave, we may never find a place as safe as this. And God knows in this world, we could face something even worse tomorrow.” Clarke looked at the remaining members of the 100 as she spoke. “But that doesn’t change the simple fact that is we stay here, we will die tonight. So pack your things, only what you can carry, now.”

People jumped into action moments later, the crowd scattered to pack and Bellamy turned back to Demetri. He was about to open his mouth when a pained cry caught their attention.

“Help me!”

“It’s Raven!” Someone called.

“Raven!” Finn yelped.

“Get her into the dropship!” Clarke yelled as Finn rushed over and picked Raven up, carrying her into the dropship swiftly.

“Leaving is a mistake, Clarke.” Bellamy stopped Clarke as she rushed by, Demetri wobbled up to them.

“Decision’s been made.” Clarke answered, looking worriedly at Demetri’s current state.

“Crowds make bad decisions, just ask Murphy. Leaders do what they think is right.”  Bellamy was pleading with Clarke.

“I am.” She replied before she went into the dropship to check on Raven.

Demetri grabbed onto Bellamy when she felt light headed and he turned to her and held onto to her arms. He peeled back her jacket to see the hole in her shoulder was still seeping blood.

“How are you still upright right now?” Bellamy picked her up like Finn just picked up Raven and carried Demetri towards the dropship. “Do you know how reckless you were being earlier. You should have stayed hidden.”

“And let you face Murphy alone?” Demetri’s head bounced over to rest on Bellamy’s shoulder, “That would be breaking my promise.”

“You’re not allowed to die for me, your life is worth so much more.” Bellamy’s voice softened.

“Life without you wouldn’t be worth living.” Demetri replied simply, acting like those words didn’t just leave Bellamy breathless.

“If you do something like that again, I’ll never let you out of my sight again.”

“Isn’t that how we ended up in this situation?” Demetri joked as Bellamy walked into the dropship. “Just thank me for helping stall, give me a kiss, and let Clarke fix me up. We did almost die so I’d appreciate a lecture later.” Demetri’s eyes closed, missing the softest of smiles Bellamy looked at her with.

“Thank you staying by my side.” Bellamy kissed Demetri’s pouty lips before he sat her down in a hammock. “Tell Clarke to check on Demetri after she has checked on Raven.”

“Of course.” Octavia nodded, she rushed over to check on Demetri as Bellamy stepped out of the dropship. “Thank you for watching out for Bellamy.”

“Anytime O.” Demetri grinned, but winced when her shoulder moved wrong.

“Just relax, Clarke will be over here soon.” Octavia held Demetri’s hand, and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“It would be a lot of help if you could stop the bleeding.” Demetri said, “It’ll help me out a lot.”

“Right.” Octavia ran to get bandages and pressed them onto the wound. “Sorry if this hurts.”

“I don’t think anything can top the pain I’ve felt in the last 12 hours.” Demetri winced when Octavia used her palm to apply pressure. “And I’m still alive so that’s a cool thing.”

“Don’t talk Demi, save your strength.” Octavia chuckled softly, “You don’t have to be strong all the time.”

“I know, but it’s easier this way. Pretending to always be strong, it helps people.” Demetri felt like she was rambling but she couldn’t stop. Her head lolled to look at Octavia who, like her brother, had a fond smile on her face.

“How did my brother managed to trick you into liking him?” She mused.

“Maybe you should ask how I tricked him into liking me.” Demetri teased, her voice slurred.

“I will later, rest.” Octavia ordered as Demetri’s eyes fluttered shut.

[47lake]

billie is me the fortnite addiction is real bad

𐙚 GAMES

EDIT: shit i forgot this was in queue 😓 merry christmas i guess (if you celebrate)

Her fingers worked furiously, eyebrows furrowed and lip tucked between her teeth as she breathed heavily, "Fuck!" She groaned, leaning back against the chair as she threw her head back against the headrest softly. Her fingers slowed to a halt, stopping her moments entirely to breathe for a moment.

"GAME OVER," the screen read, flashing white for a moment before it asked if she wanted to play again. And, of course, she pressed, "YES." Billie had been at this for what felt like an eternity, playing some stupid video game instead of paying attention to you. Not even your lazy attempts at bringing her water worked, and it was starting to irritate you intensely.

So, you finally pull the oldest trick in the book: Whining her name lowly, lips pouty and eyebrows furrowed as you squirmed on the bed. Her posture was quickly fixed as the sound reached her ears, fingers pausing once again on the controller she held so possessively. Then, the screen paused, and Billie finally set the controller down on her desk, spinning around in her chair.

Her eyes landed on you immediately, clad in only your undergarments as it was almost midnight. Way past the usual time you and her fell asleep, "What's wrong, Ma?" She asks, voice husky due to the insane amount of yelling she'd done in the past few hours. Her tank top hugs her chest perfectly, and as she stretches, you can't help but stare at the dragon tattoo that peeks out as the fabric rides up.

She yawns quietly before manspreading, hands resting on her clothed thighs. She hadn't even gotten ready for bed before she started the game, and even that was irritating you. You whine again, your pout deepening, "Want'chu in bed, Bills..."

Billie's lips curl into a smirk at your tone, her tattooed hand coming up to run through her soft hair. It doesn't even take you ten seconds to scurry into her lap whenever she motions you over with her two fingers, clinging to her body like you hadn't seen her in a million years—Because that's what it felt like. Her head nuzzles into your neck, breathing in the faint smell of your perfume as her hands wrap around your waist, holding you possessively.

Your body shakes slightly, a shiver running down your spine at the feeling of her touch for the first time in a few hours, earning a quiet, amused chuckle from your girlfriend, "Someone's excited to see me, hm?" Billie comments, one of her ring-covered hands coming down to pat your ass softly. Your hips buck subconsciously, arms wrapping tighter and tighter around her body as your breath becomes uneven.

"Jus' missed you," quickly falls from between your lips, voice quiet and laced with sleep and something else. Something she can't quite put her finger on. Your eyes flutter shut as you relax in her embrace, your hips continuing the slow, grinding movements against Billie's lap. It's only when you mewl straight into her ear that she notices what you're doing and what you're feeling, "I can tell."

Your arousal leaks through your panties, coating a small patch of her sweatpants. Billie gasps just to humiliate you, "Missed you—Bills, missed you s'much." You babble, hips starting to move faster with the help of your girlfriend's hands guiding your movements, "Wan'—Need you, baby," you cry softly, voice breaking. Billie stays silent, her breathes becoming heavy, head falling back against her headrest.

"Yeah?" She asks, voice teasing and raspy. Her nails dig into your hips, eyes locking onto yours as she pulled away from your neck, "Well, c'mon, show me how much y'missed me, babygirl." She nods her head towards your trembling figure, a devious smirk playing on her lips. Your cunt clenches around nothing, clit throbbing with each movement of your hips, head lolling back and revealing more of your neck, "S—So mm..much!"

"Missed you too, sweetie," she mutters, biting her bottom lip as her hands continue to rock you back and forth on her lap. She's already dripping herself, and she swears she could cum just from the sight of you alone, "Sorry for bein' so distracted. Didn't mean to ignore my pretty baby's needy pussy." You huff at her words, sweat beginning to bead on your hairline, "Gonna cum—cum f'you, Bills!—"

Her hands are quick to halt your grinding hips, heart beating rapidly in her chest as she looks up at you with that same mischievous glint in her eye that never left. She spun her chair back around, hands leaving your hips to grab her controller once again. God, you never thought you'd be able to hate an inanimate object as much as you hated that stupid controller.

"One more game." She breathes into your ear, kissing your jawline, "Then I'll treat you better than ever."

𐙚 amiyaps : how not to hate every single thing I EVER WRITE

𐙚 tags : @sophloveswomen @sophloveswomen @mxqdii @livvydunneness @vyntagess @afteraftercare @wiidfi0wer33 @loving1dsworld @tan1shere @fallingforfalll2 @cierraonline @dandelions4us @scarlittt @ifwdominicfike @slxtarchive @stonerfromlesbos @bilsdillldough @47lake @hopingforgoodblogs @karaeilishh @mybluebossanova @hopelessfawn @zayluvss @meliciousmel13

[bellamyblake]

Do you ship Bellabriel (bellxgabe)

Mm yes I do! I used to have this super long headcanon slash fic in modern AU where policemen Gabriel and Kane dealt with twenty something Bellamy who was homeless and part of a fighting ring and then Gabe just couldn't handle not helping him out more so they both kind of let him stay in their place and partly adopted him and then they kind of fell in love but it was a slow process in which (that's because I like whump) Bellamy was very hurt and in pain and it was hard for him to open up and Gabriel slowly helped him out. But yes, I do like the idea of them a lot!

[greensagephase]

Nonviolent Communication - Part One

Pairing: Spider-Man!Miguel O'Hara x Spider-Woman!Reader Summary: You don't show up to a meeting or report for other duties as a Spider Society member because of your period. Your boss shows up to your apartment. Word Count: 5,144 Warning: A little bit of angst?; Mention of death; menstruation, cramps A/N: There's multiple pieces of fan art for this fic. If you'd like to check it out, you can find everything linked in my masterlist! Masterlist Music Inspo (Spotify playlist for the fanfic here) "Nonviolent Communication" - Metro Boomin, James Blake, A$AP Rocky, 21 Savage Next Part

Part One

You were recruited four months ago into the Spider Society. Ever since the beginning, you couldn’t help but gravitate towards the leader and founder of the society. You learned quickly about his past and the way he carried himself these days.

Miguel O’Hara worked day and night. If he wasn’t in his lab working on something, he was out on missions with a select few members or on his own. There were days that you wouldn’t even see him. You wondered if anyone did on those days. You told yourself to mind your business. It’s not like you were friends and you hardly interacted anyway. You were a member of the Spider Society but one of the newest ones. You weren’t part of the most trusted members for Miguel.

And yet… There was something. You felt a need to look after him. You couldn’t understand it. You wanted to chalk it up to interest. Maybe you found his story interesting. How a man had simply replaced a version of himself in another universe to be a father, only to lose her when that universe collapsed. How heartbroken and guilt-filled he was over it. That had to be it, you told yourself. It was just intrigue. 

You figured that if you just gave in to your interest, it would go away eventually. It would fade away… So, you allowed yourself to be interested. You showed up to meetings earlier than anyone else when Miguel scheduled them. You stopped by the cafeteria to pick up coffee cups beforehand and arrived at the meeting earlier. You came in, looking unbothered and uninterested as you placed the cup of coffee in front of him, greeting him.

“The cafeteria staff gave me another cup, and I didn’t know what to do with it,” you’d say as he looked up with an uninterested look on his face.

You’d walk away and take a seat a few chairs away, picking up the nicely done reports he provided at every meeting. You did this every week with a different excuse each time. You didn’t know if he ever wondered why the cafeteria staff gave you so much coffee since that was usually your excuse. You doubted he even cared; you were just another member.

The first few times, you noticed the cup would sit in the same exact spot you’d leave it. Miguel wouldn’t even acknowledge it after looking up at you. You still brought it each week. After some weeks, he wouldn’t even look up when you placed the cup in front of him on the desk but – he started giving you a small grunt of acknowledgement. You’d walk away with a little grin, quickly putting it away when you sat down on your usual seat so he wouldn’t notice it.

Then about two weeks later, you saw it. As he was going over the reports and listening to Ben Reilly ramble on about his past because of some anomaly he caught that week, he picked up the coffee cup and took a sip. You looked away as you felt his gaze about to turn to you. The reports looked very interesting indeed.

All throughout this, you also started showing up to his lab after he and Jessica requested to see you about a mission. You noticed there was quite a mess of gadgets lying around. You offered to organize it, as it is something you enjoy and are good at. You didn’t even know why you offered but Jessica seemed eager about the idea while Miguel frowned.

“Oh, come on, Miguel. Some organization around here wouldn’t hurt, you know? Look at this mess,” Jessica said looking around, pointing at different areas cluttered with all sorts of tech pieces.

“Fine,” Miguel said as he walked away, apparently done with the conversation.

Jessica beamed at you. She seemed to like you a lot since you did your job well and didn’t get into any drama. You were like the perfect pupil. You nodded at her, with a warm smile.

So that’s how you ended up showing up once a week to Miguel’s lab to do some organizing. You show up and organize as he works on something. Sometimes he is up in the air on his platform, going through monitors. You simply greet him as you arrive before you begin organizing and cleaning. Sometimes there is no response, other times there is just a “hmm”.

These visits have led to Lyla taking a liking to you. She often asks you questions as you work while Miguel is there. You don’t know if he pays attention to what Lyla and you talk about. You honestly doubt he even listens. He is always so engrossed in what he is doing.

Lyla definitely makes the time pass faster. It isn’t like you wanted it to but the silence in the lab is… off sometimes. Lyla asks you all sorts of things like whether you have plans for that weekend, if you enjoy a certain activity because other spider members enjoy it, if you like a certain food, or how missions have gone, etc. It is always something different. You respond to her questions as you work. You are fast and efficient.

You never miss a week, and you are never late as you have made it a habit to show up at the same time. Except this week that is. You started your period and this month is kicking your butt with excruciating cramps and lower back pain. You barely make it to your home after patrolling your city, sliding into bed in pain.

You dig through your nightstand, looking for the specific medicine you take to take care of this even if it makes you extremely drowsy and dizzy. You take it and lie down, hoping it will help right away as you groan in pain. You lie in bed, clutching your stomach. The medicine definitely makes you drowsy and dizzy, but it doesn’t seem to help much with the pain. You pass out a few times but wake up again, the pain too much.

You’re so out of it that you don’t notice the time. You don’t remember the day. You don’t notice the sun out behind your closed blinds. You don’t hear a multidimensional portal open in your small apartment living room. You don’t register the heavy footsteps that move through your apartment. Your eyes are closed, hands clutching your stomach, soft groans escaping your lips. You don’t see the large shadow moving through your room until the last second.

“Go away,” you say weakly, thinking someone has broken into your home.

Despite your pain, despite feeling drowsy and dizzy, your mind still has the time to find this funny. The one day you feel like absolute crap is the day someone decides to break into your apartment. And you’re Spider-Woman! How ironic, you think. Let them take whatever they want, you think, as long as they don’t hurt you.

However, you are surprised when you feel a warm and heavy hand pressed to your forehead.

“No fever,” the voice says stating it as a fact.

You continue to clutch your stomach, eyes closed. Unbeknownst to you as you lay in bed in and out of it, a man is in your apartment. His height towers over you in bed.

Miguel O’Hara is in your apartment… Checking on you. He stares down at you as you lay in bed. He sees you clutching your stomach and as he observes carefully, he sees no injury. There is no sight of blood either. His eyebrows furrow in confusion. You are clearly in pain but why? He turns to your nightstand, noticing the bottle of pills. He inspects it. Painkillers…

His eyebrows furrow further as he realizes what it could be. He walks to your bathroom to confirm. His suspicion is confirmed when he takes a look at your garbage can, spotting the plastic wraps of feminine products. His suspicion is further confirmed when he sees a pack of feminine products on the counter, ready for easy access.

“Coño,” he says quietly as he realizes his suspicion is true.

He walks out of your bathroom, looking at your shape in the bed. You are still clutching your stomach and soft groans escape from your lips ever so often. Miguel remembers the days he used to take care of his wife before everything collapsed. It was a long time since he had even thought about doing that for a woman, but his mind started remembering everything he did to ease his wife’s pain each month. He stood there, thinking before he walked out of your bedroom and into the one room that was the kitchen, the living room, and dining room all at once… New York apartments, Miguel thought, as he took in your apartment.

You were organized and clean, but that didn’t surprise Miguel. You did organize the lab each week with such ease despite Lyla peppering you with questions the entire time. Your apartment was warm with its colors. It gave the impression of someone happy and warm. Miguel noticed a bookshelf in the part of the apartment that plays the living room. It is filled with so many books that you have some stacked horizontally over the vertical ones. An avid reader, Miguel thinks before he heads to your kitchen.

It is clean for the most part except for a plate and a cup. Miguel searches through your kitchen, looking for something specific. He returns to your room, looking through your drawers looking for something else. A few minutes later, he returns to your bedroom. You lay still. Seems that you have passed out at last. With ease, Miguel slides some homemade socks with warm rice under your sweatshirt. He places one on your stomach and the other one on your back.

A satisfied hum escapes your lips, letting Miguel know his idea was somewhat successful despite it being homemade. He gives you one more look before heading out to your living room.

He doesn’t even know why he came. All he knows is that you didn’t show up to organize the lab like you did each week. You didn’t show up to the morning meeting either. Jessica hadn’t heard from you in hours and there was no activity from your gizmo.

A few hours later, you wake up from your slumber. You yawn and stretch your body gently. You lay in bed for a few seconds, realizing your pain is gone. Now you just feel the exhaustion that comes from having a period. You sit up in bed slowly, feeling something on your stomach. You look down. Your sweatshirt is tucked into your shorts on both sides. You untuck it and two socks filled with something slide out. You furrow your eyebrows as you lift them up to inspect closer. You bring them to your nose.

“Rice…” you say, recognizing the specific scent of rice. Your eyebrows furrow but you shrug. You don’t even remember getting up to make these, but you thank yourself for doing it despite being out of it. You get up from bed slowly and check the time. It’s already evening. You decide to take a shower to ease your muscles.

Your shower is hot. You fill the bathroom with fog, but it doesn’t matter. It makes you feel like a million bucks when you get into fresh clothes, all shower and fresh. You head out of your bedroom to get something to drink and that’s when you see it. The lamps in the living room are on, there is music playing from your record player. You look confused as you step out further.

“Mierda,” you hear an annoyed male voice, causing you to jump a little.

You turn to the voice, located in the kitchen and find…

“Miguel?” you say slowly but with confusion as you find him with his back to you.

He stands in front of one of your kitchen cabinets, holding it open. There’s a screwdriver in his hand. He turns around at your voice.

“Y/N… You’re awake,” he says turning fully around now.

You take him in. He’s in his suit as always. You’ve wondered many times if he ever just dresses in casual clothes since he’s always in his suit. He stands tall, of course, and you can’t help but think how he makes your already small kitchen look ten times smaller than it is with him standing there. You rub your eyes, making sure this isn’t just some hallucination.

“Um- you are here,” you say looking at him again.

Miguel nods, turning back around to the cabinet. You watch as he uses the screwdriver. You remember then. Your loose cabinet that has been a pain in the butt for months now. You look around the place. There were some dishes in your sink, or at least you remember there being some but now they’re gone. You notice the trash was taken out. Clean dishes were put away. And to your surprise, there’s food on the stove. There’s also a sweet scent lingering in the air that you cannot pinpoint right now.  

“You feel better?” Miguel asks, with his back still to you as he finishes fixing the cabinet.

“Yes. A lot better, actually…” you say as you cross your arms across your chest, finding this situation so strange.

Miguel turns around to face you now. He looks at you before looking down at the screwdriver in his hand. The screwdriver looks like a toy in his hand, you notice.

“Yeah, well…” Miguel starts, looking up at you again. “Jessica was worried about you. She said you didn’t report to the meeting we had this morning. She asked if you had gone to my lab to organize it and when I told her no, she grew worried something had happened to you since she also noticed no activity from your gizmo. She wanted to come herself and check on you, but the baby kept her busy today. She asked me to come in and check for her.”

I nod, realizing that makes perfect sense. Jessica has grown fond of you after all, you just never realized she was that fond of you.

“Well, thank you for checking in on me for her. I’ll be sure to thank her tomorrow,” you say looking around the kitchen again.

“You probably shouldn’t do that,” Miguel says, putting the screwdriver down on the counter. It looks normal sized again. You raised an eyebrow. “She doesn’t like it when people thank for her… caring. If you want to thank her, just get her a coffee and tell her you appreciate her mentorship,” Miguel explains, resting his hands on his hips.

You nod slowly, maybe it was better to just thank her for everything instead of just this act. You sigh.

“I guess you’re right,” you say, scratching your neck softly. “Did she also tell you to fix my cabinet, or did that just bother you so much?”

Miguel’s face remains void of any expression. You wanted to ask about the homemade socks with rice since it became apparent to you that you weren’t responsible for them, but you kept your mouth shut.

“I was looking for – rice when I noticed your loose cabinet and other messed up things around here. You have a shitty landlord or something?” he asks, looking around.

You shrug. “Yeah, but the rent is good.”

“You’re not exactly strapped for cash, are you?”

You shake your head. It was true. You had some money. You could afford to move somewhere else where the landlords were better but…

“Why are you still here then?” Miguel asks.

His question is laced with interest, and you can’t help but think about how this is the longest conversation you’ve had with him since… meeting each other. And even then, that conversation was probably about three minutes long. You avert your gaze from him, looking at the wall nearest to you. Your eyes land on a single picture amongst many.

You lost your Peter three years ago, just like many of your spider colleagues. Losing him has been the hardest thing you have ever experienced. You have been punched till the air was knocked out of you, you have laid in ruble with buildings crushed over you, and you have been on the verge of death many times, but nothing has ever nor will ever compare to the pain and grief of losing Peter.

As you look at the picture of Peter and you, the one you took the first day you moved into this apartment, you think about all the memories in this apartment. It was all the two of you could afford back then but you two loved it. It was your place. It was the first time you were living together, and it didn’t matter much that it was a little rundown. You guys just wanted a place to live together. You two made it what it is now. A warm and happy place where you two could come home after a long day of work. You spent hours thinking of how to decorate it. Choosing the right and most affordable couch, choosing the wallpaper, choosing where the furniture went.

In the end, it had turned into a beautiful apartment. It was a haven for the two of you but what mattered the most was that you shared it with him, your Peter. You sigh, feeling overwhelmed by the loss again. You had moved on, of course. You had to. How else would you live otherwise? And you had promised Peter you would. Your mind is overwhelmed by the sudden memories as he laid in your arms. He had been crushed by ruble during an attack by a villain, his body was weak, his eyes glistened as they looked at you. You remember caressing his face and hair. He loved it when you did that. He always said it was the perfect way to soothe his nerves. The perfect way to get him to relax and nap after a stressful day.

Your own eyes were filled with tears as you saw it. The way his life was slowly leaving his body. What hurt a million times more, if it was even possible to hurt that much, was that you knew he knew. He knew that was it. There was no turning back. There was no miracle. There was no secret medicine or miracle serum that could make him get up and walk away from this unscathed. That was it.

You held him in your arms, rubble all around you. He looked at your eyes, his own hazy, as you caressed his face and hair. He gave you a gentle smile as he reassured you, he was okay.

“You will move on, right, baby?” he asked you, his voice indicating how little time there was left. “You have to… You must promise me you will. This city depends on you.”

You nodded your head and unable to hold them back any longer, your tears spilled down your face. You remember how some of your tears had landed on his pale yet still beautiful face.

“You must promise me, out loud, darling. Please,” he said, struggling more to get his words out.

“I promise. I promise I will try my best…” you said, and he had nodded. He looked satisfied with your response.

“You must continue – you are my hero. You always have been. And you are the love of my life, darling… I only wish we had more time. That I had more time to make you happier… To make you, my wife. Please – promise me you will be open to other loves,” he had gasped out.

You shook your head. That was impossible. How could you fall for someone else when Peter was the love of your life? Peter, noticing your reluctance, lifted his hand weakly to your face. Despite everything, he was still trying to comfort you. You felt something in you break further. He wiped your tears and gave you a weak yet comforting smile.

“Please promise me you will allow yourself to love again… If there is someone out there that makes you feel like that, please promise me you won’t shut them out. Please, love, promise me,” he said, looking at your eyes and cleaning your tears away.

His voice was weaker, and you noticed his chest was beginning to rise slower and slower. The time was running out…

“I promise I will. I will open my heart if someone comes along but I promise I will never stop loving you, Peter,” you had answered, trying to make him happy in his last minutes. He smiled at you, sweetly, and thanked you. You held him close to you, breathing in his scent. You tried to hold on to his warmth desperately. You clung to him, like you could defend him from Death herself. Like you could defy her this one time.

You cried your soul out as his heartbeat ceased to beat. You cried out as his body became limped in your arms. You cried as his chest stopped moving. You cried, cried, and cried as you held him close to you like your tears and grip could bring him back.

You cursed Death.

You often worried about hurting Peter if something happened to you. You never counted on Peter being the one who left too soon.

You inhale shakily. Your vision has become blurred with tears as you continue to stare at the picture on the wall. You turn around, remembering that Miguel is there. You wipe your tears discreetly. You swallow the lump in your throat, trying to force it down. Otherwise, the moment you speak, your tears will flow. You clear your throat.

“It doesn’t really bother me – and besides, I spend a lot of time out,” you finally say, sounding somewhat normal now. Though the ache is there, deep in your chest. It’s like someone stabbed you in the heart with a wooden stick and left a small piece of it stuck. It always hurts, it always aches.

Miguel doesn’t reply as you turn back around, feeling more in control of yourself. However, you can see something in his eyes. Perhaps understanding? You guessed he probably knew to some extent what had happened to you. It was a canon event for all spider-people. To lose someone.

“Have you eaten anything?” Miguel asks suddenly, dropping the apartment conversation probably for your own sake.

You shake your head. It was hours since you had eaten something. Since yesterday, really.

“There’s some food here. Let me…” he says trailing off, turning around to get a plate from a cabinet. You can’t help but feel a little surprised at how fast he learned his way around the kitchen. Then again, it’s not that large you realize. You approach the kitchen island and take a seat on one of the two island chairs as Miguel turns around with a plate of pasta. Your eyebrows raise in surprise. It is one of your comfort foods. Miguel slides it over to you, gently. A fork is already on it, ready for you.

You slide the plate closer, the scent of it making your stomach growl instantly. You’re definitely hungry.

“Thank you,” you say before you dig in. You can’t help but smile with satisfaction. It is amazing. “This is really good.”

Miguel doesn’t say anything, just watches you. You eat some more, feeling a bit self-conscious as you feel his gaze on you, but you ignore it. Or try to.

“So, are you a really great cook or is pasta one of the few things you can cook?” you ask, slowing down on your eating, trying to fill in the silence.

Miguel shrugs. “My mother taught me how to cook when I was a teenager. It stuck.”

You nod, still eating. “Great skill to have, really… It helped me and –“ you pause, realizing you were about to mention Peter. You swallow. “It helped Peter and I when we were in college,” you finish, looking down at your plate.

A hint of a smile forms on your face as you remember Peter and you cooking for the week over the weekends. You guys lived separately but shared groceries to help each other out. It saved you guys a lot of time and money and brought the two of you closer.

“It is a great skill to have,” Miguel agrees quietly as you continue to eat, looking down at your plate.

You nod silently as you finish eating. You look up at Miguel, he’s looking down at the counter. His hands are flat against the counter, and he looks lost in his own thoughts. You can’t help but take this time to look at him. The sight of him in your kitchen is really something. You think about how great he is at these things like looking after a woman when they’re on their period or cooking. You want to facepalm yourself as you realize it’s obvious he would be good at these things. He did have a wife and daughter at one point, you remind yourself. You look down at your plate.

“Oh, I made this for you, too,” Miguel says at last, breaking the silence.

You look up curiously, wondering what else he had made. He turns around towards the stove and you watch carefully as he retrieves a mug from one of the cabinets. Again, you feel surprised seeing how he knows exactly where to find what he’s looking for. It disappears from your view in front of him and you hear him pour something. He turns around again, holding one of your mugs. Whatever it is, is hot as you can see steam from the top. He sets the mug down on the counter and slides it over to you. Again, his movements are gentle. You lean forward and reach for it.

“Careful. It’s hot,” he warns, as you pull the mug towards you gently.

The scent fills your nostrils quickly and you recognize the sweet scent that met you earlier when you exited your bedroom. You look up at him.

“Canelita,” you say, grinning.

Miguel nods. “Growing up, my mom said it helped with cramps. It used to help my…” he trails off.

You nod. “Yeah, my grandma used to say that, too.” You pause as you inhale the sweetness of cinnamon. “Thank you…” you reply, with sincerity, still meeting his eyes.

Miguel only nods. You drink the warm liquid, enjoying the warmth that spreads down your throat, chest, and finally your stomach. As it settles in your stomach, you feel warm and cozy.

Miguel clears his throat then and looks down at his gizmo. “Well – I should get going. I have some things to catch up on,” he says turning his attention back to you.

You nod as you place the mug on the counter gently and get up. He walks out of the kitchen portion and heads to the middle of the room. He starts clicking on his gizmo, presumably starting a multidimensional portal. You walk towards him, leaving some distance, of course. He looks up at you as the portal appears in the middle of your apartment behind him.

You clear your throat. “Hey – I just wanted to say thank you… For everything. I know Jessica asked you to check up on me, but you did much more than that. I truly appreciate it,” you say, hoping that you’re fully expressing how grateful you are.

You can’t help but think about how you’d probably still be in bed right now. Miguel nods.

“It’s no problem…” Miguel replies, though he looks like he wants to say more. You watch, waiting but he just stares back with little emotion until he nods at you and turns around. He starts walking into the portal. The bright lights coming from the portal create shadows in your apartment. You watch wordlessly until he looks behind his shoulder. “Don’t forget – don’t mention it to Jessica. She can be weird about being thanked sometimes.”

You nod. “I won’t bring it up, no worries. Thank you again. Enjoy your night!” you call out and he just nods before he disappears into the portal. The portal disappears a few seconds after him, taking away its shadows with it.

You sigh as you stand there for a few more seconds before taking a seat again on the counter island. You drink more canelita, still cherishing the warm feeling. You look at the stove. Everything is in containers and there’s no sight of dirty pans, pots, or utensils.

“Cooked and washed the dishes…” you say to yourself before taking a sip again.

Your attention turns to the cabinet you found him fixing earlier. You get up and walk towards it. You open it with no issue. You think about all the little nicks this kitchen has. Like the drawer that doesn’t come out fully or the other cabinet door that makes a noise every time you open it. Curiosity gets the best of you because before you know it, you are pulling said drawer. Your lips part in surprise as the drawer fully slides out without issues. You check the other cabinet door. No sound.

You sigh as you look around, your eyes landing on the containers. One of them is full of leftover pasta and the other one contains the canelita. Your thoughts are interrupted as you hear your gizmo go off. You turn in the direction it came from, trying to remember where you left it last night. You are usually very careful with it but last night you barely made it through the door.

You find the gizmo on the console table in the living room section of your apartment. You realize there are a few messages from your colleagues like Hobie, Miles, Ben, and Jessica. You quickly reply to the first three who asked about your whereabouts before you move to Jessica’s. You realize she sent multiple messages all ranging from asking how your last mission went to why you weren’t answering to asking if you were okay. The last one makes you stop. Your eyebrows furrow in confusion as you read it.

“Okay… You haven’t replied to any of my messages. Do I need to send someone to check on you? You’ve been MIA all day. Let me know you’re okay!!”

You look up towards where the portal was opened just minutes ago. You shake your head and reply to Jessica, notifying her about what happened. You leave out Miguel though. You put away your gizmo in its usual spot and look around your apartment, thinking. The lamps in the living room section are still on, the record player has stopped playing, however.

“Hm.”

--------------------------------------------- Translation for italicized words: Coño - fuck (it varies by country) Mierda - Shit Canelita - a tea made out of cinnamon sticks

Next Part

A/N: Might do part two. If it matters, I listened to "Nonviolent Communication" from the ATSV album as inspiration. Such a lovely song for Miguel, I think.

I love Miguel O'Hara. That's all.

[47lake]

mutuals or anyone really lmkkkkk i love adding new people to my tags

taglist

i only write for billie so comment if u want to be added !

💋: @vharperr @brat-at-the-disco @thechipbetweenyourcarseat @dollyvuu @greenbttrflyy @eilishslut @karaeilishh @moralesluvr @anna-geeeezzzz @certifiedwomenlover @asterisk-eyes @mseilishmwah @eeuni @ohdoyoustillcry @bilsdillldough

[cosmicviolencce]

training lessons. bellamy blake.

summary: it was usual for you to take training lessons with your friend bellamy, and he was more than willing to teach you. but what you didn't expect was his reaction when you refused to surrender.

warnings: violence (safe training), swearing, smut, unprotected sex, nsfw, bellamy x fem!reader.

notes: this isn't just my first fanfic ever posted, but it's also my FIRST post on tumblr omgg, english is not my first language, just hope you enjoy it <3 (based on season three opening!)

word count: 2.6k

"not here," bellamy murmured after you punched his hard left chest. instead, he pointed at the cavity between your breasts, "here."

you tried again, only to be kicked in your foot halfway, taking you to the ground.

"too distracted," he said, making you groan in annoyance. "imma give you a second chance. stand."

you look at him from the ground, his toned form towering you with all his aura, curled hair dripping sweat until droplets slide down his strong jawline.

his voice was rough, demanding. even if you were his bestfriend, he'd treat you like a soldier whenever he would teach you something. it's just the way he is. you stand quickly, exhaustion making your knees falter. you take away some hair from your sweaty face before returning to position, clenched fists in front of your face to defend yourself from his quick moves.

a deep breath, and you attacked again.

it was a good punch on his rib, you took advantage of a moment of vulnerability. then, one kick in the other rib, making him stagger. he groaned but responded quickly, grabbing your leg the moment you tried to give your last move, and took both of you to the ground.

he would finish you, but your competitive senses were loud even in your exhaustion. you gathered strength in your heels, rolling you two on the ground and taking advantage again.

your arms were around his neck, locking him in your grip.

"got it. say it, surrender," you murmured with triumph, your quick breath ghosting over his skin.

he tried one, two times, grabbing your heels around his waist as you held him from behind. he did it at the third, releasing himself from your grip and locking your arms behind your body with his knees keeping your legs spread. you mumbled something unsavory. was it his smell of the warmth of his body that got you so distracted it came to this?

"go on. say it," he panted out, lips casually brushing against your ear. "you used to be better at this."

"just... tired." you grumbled, breathing between gritted teeth. he laid you two down on the ground, pressing your face against the cold floor and causing you to gasp. he leaned closer to your face.

"come on, don't wanna spend all night here."

you sighed, hoping there was a way to change this situation. you didn't want to lose again. closing your eyes, you tried to think.

pherhaps if you lifted your heels just a bit up, you'd hit his balls. you moved it up and down, but bellamy quickly understood what you intended. he took one of his hands from the grip on your wrists, taking a hold of your hair and pulling your ponytail, making your head tilt back. you whine, face contorted in pain, but the heat in your tummy only got stronger.

"are we playing dirty now?" he murmured.

"the enemy would," you justified, and he only pulled your hair tightly.

"say. it."

you swallowed, cheeks flushed.

"i... surrender," you said. your head was pulled back so hard you could barely speak, words coming out strangled. he let go, making you fall weak on the floor again. you squirmed, rolling to your back, tired eyes watching as he crossed the room to grab two bottles of water. you were surprised to find strength to catch one in the air, your whole body sore after hours of training.

your cheeks were still flushed, and you almost contorted in embarrassment at the memory of how much you enjoyed his rough hands on you.

he sat down at your side and you watched his chest rise and fall quickly. he offered his hand, maybe he saw you were too tired to sit by yourself. but his grip was too strong, which made you raise an eyebrow. he smirked, leaning closer until he was sat at your lap. your bottle fell to the side and he grabbed your two wrists now, placing them on your chest, keeping you trapped.

"one more," he asked, looking at you with pleading eyes and a hint of amusement.

"no."

he growled, placing a kiss under your ear that made you shiver. his voice was hoarse.

"please." one kiss on your neck. you turned your face to the side, having a feeling that the next one would be at your lips. and you couldn't let him.

"no. bellamy..." you murmured in an warning tone.

things were getting different, and though he had already kissed your skin multiple times, it never made your body feel so warm. and he felt that.

"just one more," he purred, turning your face back at him, his eyes switching between your big rounded eyes and your beautiful lips. his brows lifted, making his forehead wrinkle behind all those pretty curls, "you have to get better at this."

"tomorrow." your words were getting weaker and weaker, a giggle escaping from your lips when he kissed your neck again. it wasn't your fighting teacher, it was only your best friend.

your sweet bellamy.

he smiled tenderly, sucking at the spot between your neck and your shoulder. you gasped, your back arching against the cold floor.

"bellamy..." you tried again, though you had no strength left in your body to fight his broad frame.

but he wasn't interested on another round anymore. his lips traveled over your neck, your collarbone, one of his hands playing with the straps of your tank top.

"bellamy."

he was lost already, his hands clinging to you like he needed to feel that you were really there, underneath him. and the heat in your body only grew, the pulsating between your legs beating painfully, your body naturally craving for his skilled hands to soothe you the way you've always dreamed of.

he bit your skin, making you giggle. you felt his lips curl against his skin.

"the hell are you doing? if someone gets in-"

he laughs.

"yeah, like they have every night we trained," he said, sarcastically. no one's ever got in. not this late.

"well, actually, i don't care if someone gets in because nothing will happen," you tried to sound convincing.

"fight me, then. just one more time. and i'll leave," he defied, brows raised in a wicked suggestion. you sighed, looking inside his eyes and trying to decide, between mind and heart, if you actually wanted him to stop, to leave your body there, untouched by the cold wind.

without a word, you made your decision. your head leaned back against the floor in surrender and his smirk only grew. your thighs rubbed together in an attempt to soothe the aching need between them.

bellamy leaned closer, still trapping you beneath him. he pressed his lips tenderly against yours, lingering there until he decided it was safe to move. he pulled back and pressed another kiss, his breathing now turning deeper, his nose rubbing against your cheek. you parted your lips, and he huffed a chuckle before taking the opportunity quickly and sliding his tongue inside your mouth gracefully.

he tasted you, savored your sweet taste for a deliciously long moment and sucked at your lower lip before pulling back.

"was that okay?" he purred, eyes shining at you.

"yes," you answered shyly, "do that again."

he smiled. there was nothing in the world that could make him feel better than the acknowledgment that he was being good to you, that he was the one to give you this kind of pleasure. it was the kind ot fantasy that ran trough his mind every night before his sleep.

"yes, ma'am."

he grabbed the back of your head to deepen the kiss, both hands releasing your wrists. both of you knew you'd never try to stop him now. both of your hands went to the back of his head, feeling the soft curls under your palms. it was surely one of your favorite things about him.

his kiss was demanding, always getting deeper and rougher, sucking and biting at your lips like a starving man. it made you quiver. wet sounds filled your ears, your breath quickening at every second. his fingers found the hem of your tactel shorts, not having trouble removing them since you lifted your hips almost instantly. quick exhales left his beautiful parted lips, and you felt your cheeks blush under the heavy feeling of his eyes taking you in. but it wasn't enough, he needed more.

craved for his bestfriend so much it felt almost unbearable to control himself, so eager to see if you would look just how he so often imagined.

you quickly realized it, not waiting for him to remove your tank top. you did it yourself. the sensation of the cold wind against your recently freed breasts making you shiver.

"fucking hell," he breathed out, air seeming to run away from his lungs. "so fucking beautiful. been waiting for this for so long."

he touched them, at first as if he thought it was a simple mirage. then, he squeezed them so tightly it made you gasp.

"tease," he mumbled, pinching at your nipple. you could feel the humidity pooling at your panties, he squeezed your breasts until the turned into red flesh between his fingers, "fucking tease."

you moaned, that tiny and pityful sound almost making him lose his mind. he smirks, using only one hand to sneak into your panties. he wouldn't let go of your beautiful breasts so soon. his middle finger slid down your soaked folds, easily opening for him.

he hummed in satisfaction, his purr turning into a growl.

"did you ever get this wet for me before?" he asked with a glint of cockiness in his eyes. you nodded shyly.

"you'd be surprised," your words only made his smile widen, and he dug his fingers deeper inside your cunt.

"i'm not, actually," he comment with a shrug. he'd sound nonchalant if you didn't know him so well. "could always guess when this cunt was wet for me. just didn't imagine it was this wet." he made you smile, and his finger curled so deep inside you that you clenched around him, and all he did was imagine how it would feel around his cock. "tight."

you whined when his thumb brused against your clit, hips lifting against his hand.

"please," you squirmed again, "let's just get on with this. need you so much it hurts," you said openly. he freed his cock with one hand, resentfully removing it from your breasts. he chose to keep rubbing our clit and stroked his hard cock slowly, pulling your panties to the side to focuse on your glistening pussy while that.

"just because we're in a hurry." he explained while positioning his tip at your entrance, "imma have my time with you later," it was a promise almost in a warning tone, dangerous and rough. but the words did nothing but fill you with anticipation.

"okay," you nodded, submitting easily, "okay."

"good," he looked down at you, kneeled between your legs. his lips parted as he moved in slowly rolled his hips and you gasped silently, cursing under your breath.

you could feel every inch of his cock entering you slowly, and bellamy growled as he felt your walls relent easily. you needed him so much, your warm pussy embraced his pulsating cock. he couldn't wait anymore, and his hips pulled back before dragging forward again

"fuck," you panted, knees unconsciously squeezing until you found his body between you. he noticed, holding your thighs and placing them behind his body, the position allowing him to sink even deeper inside you. you moaned loudly, almost too much. "fuck, bellamy-"

"'s that okay, baby?" he asked tenderly under his breath, rubbing your clit again so that you'd take him better. you couldn't speak, so you just nodded with the sweetest whines. your parted lips tried to mumble words, but the overwhelming feeling of his large cock coming in and out made the butterflies go crazy. "taking me so well. fucking shit. just like i thought you would."

you smile, biting your lip. "you shouldn't be thinking this kind of things."

"oh, but i do. a lot," he thrusted deeply, hitting a spot inside you that made you see stars. he growls as you clench your walls around him, the raw feeling of his dick filling you up would made the heat in your tummy grow at every second. the tightness made him growl, and he knew what that meant. he wanted to be slow, to feel every inch of your warm pussy in a delicious rythim, to work you up with his teasings, but he couldn't, not when he was so desperate, when he waited for this every single day since you landed on earth.

so he rolled his hips faster, finding a new angle that made you arch your back further against the floor. wet sounds filled the room, and he could swear he'd never seen someone this soaked before.

if filled him with pride.

"gonna take my time with you, next time," he murmured between gritted teeth, his tongue sliding on his lower lip, "remember that."

"bell..." you cried out when he circled your swelled clit, his other hand coming to the side of your face and stroking your sweaty scalp. you leaned against his palm, feeling the heat turning into a tension that spreaded all over your muscles, your face turning red, "fuck..."

his eyelids grew heavy at the feeling of your tightness, your cunt embracing his cock so sweetly.

"jesus, princess."

you looked up at him trough your watery eyelashes, swallowing hard at the sight. his wonderfully defined chest moved up and down, his eyes shutting as he tilted his head back. his black curls covered his eyes, and his dark skin was shining in sweat under the warm and weak light from the training room. his low, raspy sounds teared the way up to his throat. you were holding back till now. there was no way you wouldn't come at that vision.

you squirmed, your legs tigtened around his waist and he felt it, leaning down on your direction.

"'s okay, doll. 'm right here," he whispered against your ear, "come for me."

there was no going back from this point. the thick tension turned into a wave of release that relaxed your whole body, your cunt clenching around him in an almost inhuman way. your sweet sounds turned into cries, and you called for him when you reached your peak, his cock hitting your sweet spot several times in his own desperation. then you tried to breathe, hands falling to your sides in an attempt to take back your balance, to make sure you weren't floating in the space.

you were in the earth, in arkadia, and bellamy was still fucking you hard.

his sounds were louder now and he panted out mixed words before emptying himself inside you while you still came down from your own high, burying his head in the crook of your neck, his hand letting go of your clit to support his weight on the floor. "fuck. i love you."

"mhmm..." you whined, still dizzy, sore legs slowly falling to the ground and releasing him while he removed himself from your soaked center. he kissed your neck, putting his cock back inside his pants with a sigh.

he pulled your shorts back to your waist, reaching for your tank top and resentfully placing it on your arms, "here."

"thanks," you smiled weakly, an amused glint in your eyes.

your heart was still drumming violently on your chest, sweat rolling down your faces. he leaned to kiss your lips quickly, then pulled back after a quick kiss to your breasts before you put back your top. he helped you to sit, holding your hand.

and while you still fixed your clothes, the door opened. both of you looked at it quickly, eyes wide, and sinclair laughed.

"training hard, hm?" he gave what he thought it was a knowing smile, "that's the spirit."

he left after quickly taking something from a table, a devide surrounded by wires and these stuff. you two sat there, giggling like two idiots.

"hm... hey, bell?"

"what?"

"love you too."

[justinewt]

Meet Eligius IV - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Thirty-Six

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: 6 years into space. 6 years that had strained some relationships, and made others stronger. Time had become a taboo amongst them - they forbade each other to talk about how long it had been. They shouldn't have remained in space for so many years. They should have been able to go back to the ground and yet, there they were. Until they saw a large ship nearby - the Eligius IV - and they thought that maybe, just maybe, it was their ticket down.

Words: 4.7k

Warnings: The 100 season 5 spoilers (episode 1 "Eden" & first half of episode 3 "Sleeping Giants"), violence, blood, murder, some fluff at the end

This chapter marks the three-year anniversary of my The 100 fanfiction!!!!! <3

Michelle sighed quietly, watching Raven and Echo who were practicing fighting in the other room. They grunted, throwing controlled punches at one another and dodging. She turned around, taking a few steps towards Bellamy. He was leaning against the window frame, his arms crossed, looking outside, lost in his thoughts. They had spent the last 6 years in space, waiting for their chance – if they ever got one – to get back to the ground, hoping Clarke and their families and friends had survived down there. It was that hope that kept Michelle going. She didn’t believe in any god, but she started praying to herself at night, in her head, praying for her father mainly but also for Clarke and Abby, praying they were still alive and well, and that they would be reunited. And even if they were all dead, which was a lingering thought at the back of her mind, like a dark cloud hovering over her head at all times, she would rather be in denial. She had lost track of the number of nights she had spent crying over the thought that she would never see her dad and best friend again, and how Bellamy had to comfort her until she calmed down and managed to fall asleep. She would always wake up with the worst migraines ever the next day and she would have to rest, staying in bed the entire morning. No one would see her until lunch time. This happened the most the first couple of years and though it didn’t stop, she got a little more control over her nervous breakdowns, and they only happened a few times a week, three or four times at most, instead of every single night. But she did still look exhausted, with dark circles around her eyes.

Bellamy looked over his shoulder when he felt Michelle’s touch as she softly put her hand on his arm. His eyes were asking her if she felt okay, as he always checked on her. She felt bad for making him have to put up with her and her endless nightly crying sessions but even when she would tell him she could sleep somewhere else, just so that he could actually get full nights of sleep, he never even let her finish her sentence, as if it were unthinkable. He never gave up on her, holding her in his arms, rubbing her back and caressing her hair and never complained. She wouldn’t have held it against him if he did. She felt like such a cry baby and a burden, while he didn’t speak of Octavia, or barely. She blamed herself for not being able to give him the space to express his hurt over being separated from his sister, but, in any case, their relationship still worked out. They had grown even closer than they were the year prior to flying to space. At the same time, Monty walked by, shouting that the soup was ready. Bellamy stared into space – literally –, caressing Michelle’s hand as he turned around, closing his hand over hers.

“It’s not eating. It’s surviving.” Harper commented while she set the table.

“Hey, the new and improved triple-G tastes better and you know it.” Monty replied, sitting down. They had managed to get his algae farm working and had kept themselves fed thanks to it, but it didn’t taste great, especially in the beginning. For a while, Michelle even had trouble keeping it all down, and she still wasn’t exactly used to it, but they couldn’t make any other kind of food anyway, so she didn’t complain.

“Triple-G?” Raven asked, catching her breath from the practice.

“He calls this one Green’s green goop.”

“If by better, you mean doesn’t want to make you violently hurl, then, yeah, it’s an improvement.” She shrugged.

“Speaking of green, how’s Eden?” Monty looked over at Bellamy and Michelle. He stepped away from the window, leading her along with him. Eden was the name they gave to this tiny green spot they had noticed on the surface of the Earth, while everything else was scorched.

“Still just a dot.” He then taped the edge of the control desk where Emory was sitting, telling her to take her break, and went to sit at the table. Michelle sat down beside him.

“I don’t know why you waste your time. I told you, atmospheric radiation blocks radio signals.” Raven spoke firmly.

“They’re down there. We just can’t hear them.”

“We waste our time so they know there’s a place they can live.” He leaned against the back of the chair, crossing his arms over his chest, looking at Raven.

“Ground radiation has been survivable for a year. They can live everywhere.” Everyone remained silent, until Monty broke the ice, serving the soup in each bowl in front of him.

“I think we can all agree that green is good.”

“Yes. He is…” Harper stretched her neck, kissing him. “But this stuff still sucks.” They brought the bowl to their lips, gulping down its content and coughed and gagged, trying to keep it down.

“Okay. Tomorrow, I’ll try again.” Raven then declared, turning her head to Emori. “But I need an assistant who actually listen when I tell her to come in.”

“I will do everything you say, I promise, no fun of any kind.”

Michelle glanced at Bellamy from the corner of her eyes, he was looking down at his hand, massaging it and slightly shaking his head, “or we could just figure out a way to get to the ground, and we could tell them about Eden ourselves.”

“Bellamy, she worked on the fuel problem all morning.”

“6 years and 7 days—”

“Hye, time violation.” Harper raised her voice, cutting him off as he stated how long they had been up there. After passing the 5-year mark they had set for themselves for going back to the ground, it had gotten quite depressing to think about how long it had been, so they agreed on a rule; never to say how long it had been, or they had to do chores. “Dishes, latrine, or Murphy? You choose.” Or go to see Murphy. He and Emory had broken up and he had been a mess for a while, isolating himself in another part of the station. Going to see him and check on him had become a chore, and Michelle usually volunteered to take care of it.

He sighed heavily, “I’m sorry. We said we wouldn’t talk about it, and I know that you’re doing everything that you can.” He handed his bowl to Monty.

“Seconds?”

“Yeah, right.” He stood up. “I choose Murphy.”

“I’d have gone with latrines.” Emory said bitterly, clearing her throat while he walked away. She exchanged a look with Michelle. The latter breathed through her nose and got up, the legs of her chair screeching against the floor and she walked away, following Bellamy from a distance. She wasn’t trying to catch up with him and just followed suit. Everytime it wasn’t her who went to see Murphy; a fight or argument would break out. This area of the ship was really Murphy’s land now, and he wanted to be left alone and not see anyone, but even if it might annoy him, he never got violent with her. Sometimes he shouted, but that was about it, and she would just stand there, arms crossed, staring at him. That’s why she didn’t hurry up when she heard some commotion in the distance, it was nothing. She heard their voices; the words became clearer as she approached.

“—I win, you come back to the group.”

“No deal.” Murphy grunted. “You have too many rules. Besides, there’s no one to disappoint over here.” She sighed. He always said stuff like this, and she knew what she would always say, because he made her repeat herself so many times, it was like lines that she had learned by heart from a script; “You disappointed me more times than I can count. I don’t expect anything you anymore, how the fuck could you disappoint me now? I became kind of a cockroach, like you, you know, you’re not gonna get rid of me by saying shit like this.” She was taken out of her thoughts when she heard a thud, a punch, cutting off Bellamy as he spoke Murphy’s name. She got a little startled but heard Bellamy play into it.

“That’s a good punch.”

“Yeah?”

“Now, if you shift your weight when you throw it, it might actually hurt. You know what I think your problem is?”

“This should be good.”

“You like being a hero, except up here there are no heroes. You’re afraid you’d become worthless again.” Michelle watched from behind a corner, leaning her shoulder against the wall, as Bellamy walked around Murphy. He stood, his back to Bellamy, looking at the floor and swiftly turned on his heels, trying to throw another punch aggressively. Bellamy had hit a nerve. They grunted; he blocked him easily, pressing him against the window. “You’re not worthless, Murphy.”

“Wait, wait. Bellamy, look—” He grunted loudly.

“Say you’re not worthless, and I’ll let you go.”

“Not kidding! Will you look? Look!” Michelle tilted her head to the side, wondering why they went quiet, and she walked out of the shadows, going up to them. The two young men didn’t even care, or were surprised, that she was there.

“What—why is there a ship?” She wondered, squinting her eyes, getting up close to the window. In the distance, they could see something looking similar to the Ark but much smaller.

“Let’s go.” Bellamy’s voice was firm as he left, urging the two to come along and they eventually took their eyes off the strange ship and followed him, joining the others in the main room. They stood there in the dark, looking out the window in silence.

“It’s been 2 and a half hours. Why, exactly, are we sitting here in the dark? We should light up the ring, let them know we’re here.”

“Quiet, Murphy. First, we find out who they are.” Bellamy turned his head, looking behind them. “Raven?”

“Nothing. Radio sounds. Their coms might be disabled.”

“Or the ship could be unmanned.” Emori said.

“Or it’s manned by aliens who prefer anal probes to radio.” Michelle rolled her eyes at Murphy’s misplaced sarcasm, which was often times misplaced. It hadn’t changed much since they first met, that was for sure. “Doesn’t really matter as long as they get us down to the ground. I’m turning on the lights.”

“You know what? That’s enough.” Emori snapped, standing in his way. “We make decision as a team here, even if we can’t stand the sight of each other.”

“Look, all I’m saying is, it wasn’t there yesterday. Now it’s in geosynchronous orbit, which means someone is piloting it, correct?”

“Could be an AI.” Harper thought.

“I prefer the aliens.”

“Something’s happening.” They all turned around, shifting their focus back to the ship outside when Echo spoke, alerting them. “A second ship. Look.”

“That must be a transport.” Raven figured. “It’s headed for the ground. Emori, fire up the radio.”

“Now she wants to talk.” Murphy mumbled under his breath. Michelle briefly closed her eyes, shooting up her eyebrows in annoyance. She didn’t even want to comment. He always had something to say to everything.

“Mayday, mayday. I am calling the drop ship now on re-entry to earth. We are stranded aboard the space station to your west. Please respond.”

The ship was already too far down, and Murphy had something else to say about this, “Great. Looks like we just lost our last chance to get back to the ground.” Raven insisted and kept on trying, repeating her message in case anyone out there could hear her but the only answer they got was complete silence. But soon everyone was walking around, packing their things. They were all going to go to the ship they had spotted. Maybe there was something in there that could help them get to the ground.

“Boys and girls, meet Eligius IV.” Raven announced, as the dropship they got into reached the large ship stationed right across from the Ark. A few words were written on it.

“Powering a better tomorrow.” Emori read.

“Must be a mining ship.”

“I’ve heard stories.” Harper said quietly, making others turn their head towards her.

“Missions sent to mine asteroids or search for habitable planets, but that was a hundred years ago.” Monty added.

“They got back somehow. Means they must have fuel.” Bellamy concluded, looking at the control screen, over Emori’s shoulder. Raven flew a large hole left by the destroyed engines. Michelle barely followed the two women’s conversation as they spoke of a hap and rotation and gravity or something like that, but what she gathered was that there should be gravity on the Eligius IV.

“Sorry, lovebirds. No zero-g space sex.” Raven’s joke fell rather flat with Bellamy and Michelle while Monty and Harper exchanged embarrassed glances and subtle smiles. She went to dock the ship as Bellamy voiced his concerns about the possibility that there were still people on board. Echo’s response was quite direct, and true; if they were still on board and seeing a foreign ship come towards them, they would have shot us out of the sky in no time. Raven then fired the thrusters and circled the ship to reach the docking bay. Once they were aligned with whatever they had to be aligned with, Emori initiated the docking sequence.

“We are so screwed.” Murphy mumbled behind her, prompting the grounder to tell him to shut up. Bipping sounds were going off all around them, and the ship getting unstable as Emory struggled to control it. Michelle grabbed Bellamy’s hand, making him glance at her while she looked at the the screens in front of them.

“Brace for impact. We’re coming in hot!” Emory warned. She managed to get inside the ship, and they all jumped on their seats because of the impact but they could finally take a breath.

“That was fun. We should do that again sometime.” No one really had any reaction to Murphy’s misplaced sarcasm. Michelle gave him a sidelong glance but that was about it. They were all just relieved and took off their helmets.

“Okay. Let’s go find that fuel.” Bellamy declared, standing up and opening the hatch. They took off their suits, leaving them in the cargo hold and followed him into the supposedly abandoned ship. They had to be quick. They had no idea what they were walking into. Echo took her sword out its sheath, while those who had guns held onto them anxiously. He went ahead and pressed a button, opening the door before them and setting off an alarm, quite annoying as Murphy noted. But at least, hearing this reassured them about the fact that there was no one left on this ship. Michelle was looking around at the corridor and turned to Bellamy, hearing him intervene in an argument between Emori and Murphy. She watched quietly, crossing Raven’s gaze. Neither of them enjoyed seeing their friends bicker like this every second of every day, and that for the past few years. It was annoying but a little upsetting as well. If it hadn’t involved Emory, Michelle wouldn’t have hesitated much to intervene in Bellamy’s stead, but she didn’t want Murphy’s most recent ex girlfriend to hate her even more than she probably already did.

“Harper can help Emory. Everyone else move, now.” They then proceeded to walk down the hallway, lights flickering and the awful alarm still blaring. This place was a litteral maze. Everything looked the same, which wasn’t helpful at all. They came to a halt as Bellamy held up his flashlight, highlighting something written right above their heads, “No inmates past this point.”

“Inmates?” Echo was puzzled by the meaning of the word.

“Prisoners.” Michelle clarified, hoping she would know that one, and she did.

“Yeah. Prison labor. The minign missions were dangerous. They sent people they thought were disposable.” Monty added.

“Sounds familiar.” Michelle wasn’t necessarily disagreeing with Murphy on that one, but his tone was still very much annoying to her.

“Relax.” Raven walked past them with her flashlight. “Our ancestors were prisoners a hundred years ago. Their descendants on that transpot ship are survivors, just like us. The bridge is this way. Come on.”

They eventually walked to a destroyed wall. Someone had blasted through it, leaving a large and tall opening through which they passed, slipping into the room, led by Raven. They had finally reached the control room and first thing Monty busied himself to do was to stop this fucking alarm. Some of them sat at the control desk, tapping on the screen, left and right, head tilted forward. Michelle stood by Bellamy, watching them, while Murphy let himself fall on a padded chair nonchalantly and making comments. But what interested the lot of them wasn’t what he could say, it was what Raven was telling them. She had noticed that their big Eligius ship could never have stored enough of whatever fuel they were running on for a long-duration mission – Michelle hadn’t listened carefully enough to really understand what she was talking about in terms of fuel.

“Well, what then?

“It looks like… hythylodium.”

“Must be what they were mining for, incredibly efficient energy.” Monty then said.

“Spare me the science lesson. Can we use it to land the pod or not?” Michelle looked at Murphy through the corner of her eyes, arms crossed, standing still.

“Sure, if you want to explode every cell in your body.”

“Raven.” Bellamy was staring at her, brows furrowed.

“Don’t worry. Just because this ship doesn’t run on hydrazine doesn’t mean they don’t have any on board.” Thanks to the brains of Monty and Raven, they found out they had a way down. There was a dropship attached to Eligius, on which the prisoners that were there flew down to the ground, so there must have been a supply somewhere for refueling just in case. That wasn’t all they had, according to Monty. He pushed a small lever upwards, and they heard a radio frequence; lasercoms. A woman was speaking to someone over the radio.

“Our radios were blocked by residual radiation on the earth, but lasercom was designed to cut through worse atmospheric conditions than that.”

“Well, can we talk to them?” Murphy jerked to his feet.

“Wait.” Bellamy stopped him, stretching his arms out in front of him to block his way. “We don’t know who we’re dealing with.”

“The woman said she lost men. I don’t know how’s the situation is like down there, but I’d assume they were fighting. Fighting against. Who could they be fighting against? Clarke, or someone from the bunker. I don’t know. On top of that, they come from a prison ship, so I don’t think I’m wrong when I say they might not be very friendly.”

“Yes.” Raven spoke suddenly, turning to Bellamy, Michelle and Murphy. She had seemingly been listening to the other voices they were hearing over the coms. “Michelle’s right. I think they’re hunting our people.”

“We don’t know that.” Murphy doubted that the two young women could be right but the way he fixed Michelle’s gaze, she guessed he was just worried and wished that the latter was wrong. For some reason, the eyes he was making while looking at her, as though he sought reassurance from her made her feel bad for being so annoyed with him so much.

“We know that there’s no one else left on the ground; Michelle’s gotta be right.” They were pulled out of their little discussion when they heard Raven asking Monty to move over. “Wait. What are you doing?”

“Finding out who we’re dealing with.”

While she tried to find out who were those people, they kept on listening to the conversation they were having over the radio. They weren’t actively fighting a group of people but rather tracking one single individual. Female, armed and dangerous, according to them. Michelle was frowing, trying to guess who that was. That could totally be Octavia. If she had been fighting with them, she would have been armed, and being Octavia, even if she were unarmed, she would have been dangerous. But hearing that the person knew the terrain they were on, being in her ‘backyard’, made her lips part as her mind whispered to her that it could very well be Clarke.

“Bell…” She whispered, unable to take her eyes off the radio wavelength on the screen as she kept on listening to what was coming out of the coms. Bellamy turned his head towards her. “I think it could be Clarke.” The fear and worry washing over their faces was quite overwhelming. Bellamy turned back his head to look straight ahead of him and grabbed Michelle’s hand, holding it tighltly. She looked down, thinking, but feeling Murphy’s gaze on her. He was standing so close, he couldn’t have not heard what she just said, not matter how quietly she said it.

“We got to get down there. Now.” Bellamy declared after they all heard the girl in question, which could very well be Clarke, had been caught by those people. Monty, Echo and Murphy left to get the fuel to the pod and some time later, Monty came back running, telling them about a room where they found a ton of people in cryo sleep. Bellamy sat down in front of the screen, skipping through the identity files of the prisoners. “Murder, murder, murder, arson resulting in murder, armed robbery resulting in murder. 300 inmates, 25 guards, and 12 crew.”

“Relax.” Raven’s voice rose. “Great-great-grandpappy blake was an astronaut with how many ph.D.S?”

“4?”

“And how many do you have? Oh, wait. Shut up. I got it. The captain’s log.”

“The last entry was over a hundred years ago.” Michelle squinted her eyes in confusion, looking up at the screen.

“Aye, aye, captain.” Raven then pressed a button, playing a recording of the Eligius’ captain. Bellamy stood up.

“I have to make this fast.” The man spoke with a certain urgency, a lot ot it. “The ship has been compromised. The prisoners found out about order eleven. They used an explosion in the starboard engine bay as a distract—” he was cut off when the door in the back exploded, the very wall behind Bellamy and Michelle. They looked over their shoulders at the hole in the wall. The video glitched. “Most of the crew is already dead. They’re about to take the bridge. Listen to me! With the engine damage, it’ll be decades, maybe longer, before they make it back home. I tried disabling cryo but couldn’t.”

“That’s quite enough, captain.” A few people had entered the room aand a woman’s voice could be heard in the background, addressing him.

“If Eligius makes it back to earth, blow it out of the sky! Diyoza can’t be allowed to weaponize the cargo! Do you hear me?! I said blow it—” A man came up from behind him and slit his throat. The captain choked on his blood as it filled his throat and fell heavily to the ground, disappearing from the frame. Michelle frowned, pressing her lips.

“The bridge is yours, lieutenant.” The killer walked away, not even bothering to cut the recording.

“You said you wouldn’t kill the crew.” All the men’s voices sounded the same because of the quality of the sound but one of them seemed to express some disagreement.

“I said I wouldn’t.” A shot was fired, killing another crew member who had until then been forced to his knees. “You did the right thing. I won’t forget it.” Another shot was fired. Same scenario. She was completely unbothered. “Now do your job, and get us the hell out of here, lieutenant.” The woman they had called lieutenant eventually approached the captain’s screen, glancing around, looking to stop the recording, and it cut. Michelle’s lips parted, wondering if that woman was the Diyoza that the captain had mentioned, but she was taken out of her thoughts when Raven spoke.

“Cryo? He said he was trying to deactivate the cryo…” She got up, turning around, thinking outloud when she suddenly shouted at Michelle and Bellamy and a loud growling rose behind them. This big guy came at them, out of nowhere. Bellamy had the reflex to make Michelle stand aside as he threw punches at their attacker – not that she couldn’t have landed a few either, which she then did, throwing her elbow in the stranger’s trachea, when Bellamy was pushed to the ground. She was then grabbed by the throat and lifted up in the air, throwing her legs around as she began to panic and the man began to squeeze her neck. She choked for air, her eyes getting wide, teeth gritted, and she hit his arm with her fist as hard as she could. When Raven came at him, he turned to her and threw Michelle against the wall. She gasped as all the air was suddenly pushed out of her lungs and she took deep, shaky breaths, bringing a trembling hand to her neck. The last time she had been choked like that, she lost consciousness and was bruised for a while, and that happened at the hand of her father. She wished she wouldn’t have been reminded of that incident. She had almost forgotten it, or rather, she thought that she had forgotten about it.

She looked up, hearing more grunting and saw Bellamy coming back into the fight, even more fiercely, throwing even stronger punches, brows furrowed, and jaw clenched, his teeth showing, so much so the creases under his nose and eyebrows were noticeable. He got heabutted hard and grabbed by the shoulders, the two men making each other circle around until Bellamy was thrown on a piece of furniture behind him and held down. Michelle’s nose flared up and she jerked to her feet, jumping at the man, putting her fingers on his eyes and pressing as hard as she could, pushing it in until she felt her fingers get wet from the blood coming out. But she didn’t just push them in, she cut into his eyeballs with her nails. He groaned like an animal and hit her in the stomach with his elbow, trying to make her let go and she cried out through her teeth, but she was holding onto his eyesockets so strongly, he hit her repeatedly, becoming completely crazy, spinning around, bumping into walls and every time she groaned and moaned in pain and eventually fell. Michelle’s breathing was laborious, and she held her hands around her torso, rolling on her side. She heard screaming and recognized the sound of a blade cutting through something. She took a peek above her shoulder and watched as Echo impaled him with her sword. He was still groaning and making sounds and snow also stumbling but managed to kick Echo, pushing her away. Bellamy came back at him with a thick metal wire he had torn from the wall and wrapped it around his neck, pulling towards him hard. He twisted the wire, and the man turned enraged beast made choking sound, falling to his knees as Bellamy kept going until he stopped moving and crashed to the ground.

“1 down… 299 to go.” Raven said with a heavy tone after a second of silence.

He was panting, catching his breath, one knee down and his arm resting on the other. Despite his exhaustion, when his eyes fell on Michelle, he got back on his feet and went to check on her, softly holding her face in between his hands. Michelle opened her mouth, about to talk, but Bellamy beat her to it, “Don’t tell me you’re fine.”

“My back is killing me.” She swallowed harshly. “Actually, my whole body is hurting, but especially my back.”

“You fought the most.” She looked into his eyes, and in a couple seconds, finding the most peace she had ever felt. He calmed and grounded her, and maybe she had a similar effect on him. She wrapped her arms around him, breathing into his neck, a sigh of relief and he carefully put his arms around her in turn, resting his hand at the back of her head, digging the tip of his fingers into her hair.

It was but a brief moment of quiet, for they still had about 299 problems to deal with, as Raven had just said.

[To be continued…]  

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Published (03/03/2025) by Andrea

Taglist:  @mirellef2001

[howi99]

Follow up to this post

Jaune: *trying to "survive" the onslaught of affection from his big sister* J-Jeanne! Pitié! Tu m'embarrasses devant tout le monde! ( J-Jeanne! Mercy! You are embarrassing me in front of everyone!)

Ilia: *pouting* ... I am so jealous right now.

Jeanne: *hugging her little brother, just being far too happy to see him* Frérot! Oh tu m'as tellement manqué! (Lil bro! Oh i missed you so much!) *Kiss him multiple times*

Blake: *aggressively writing *censored* fanfic on her scroll*

Jaune: *still trying to fight against the wave of affection, take his backpack and throw it at Blake* AND STOP WRITING WEIRD THINGS ABOUT ME YOU FILTHY WENCH!

But Blake wasn't affected

"Bleiss": *sigh* The three of them are acting like childrens.

Adam: ... *Clearing his throat* Body pi-

"Bleiss": *sweating* Ok ok! Gee, don't scream it on every roof.

Jeanne: *looking at Jaune's teammates with a smile* Ah! Those must be your friends, right?

Jaune: *defeated by his sister's powerful hug, his face directly between Jeanne's... personality, responding with a muffled voice* Yes, they are the one i wrote about in my letter. Now, can you please let me breath?

Ilia: *turning red* I wish that was me...

Blake: *writing with even more fervor*

Adam: ... Is she..?

Jaune: *muffled* She's the tamest one.

(Beginning of a "little" arc.)

[iamalasagnagirl]

Pls, pls, pls I need more WLW book recommendations!!!

Adults, YA, spicy, soft, I don’t care. I just need wlw books because I want to switch from fanfics only to actual books as well

Okay, here we are, enjoy :)

Bright Falls Series by Ashley Herring Blake: 1. Delilah Green Doesn't Care -> Delilah Green swore she would never go back to Bright Falls - nothing is there for her except memories of a lonely childhood - but when Delilah's stepsister pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a large check, Delilah finds herself back in Bright Falls once more. She plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees Claire Sutherland, one of Astrid's stuck-up besties, and decides that maybe there's some fun (and a little retribution) to be had, after all. 2. Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail -> For Astrid Parker failure is unacceptable. When Pru Everwood asks her to be the designer for the Everwood Inn's renovation, which will be featured on a hugely popular home makeover show, Astrid is thrilled. However, Astrid never planned on Jordan Everwood, Pru's granddaughter and the lead carpenter for the renovation, who despises every modern design decision Astrid makes. Is she going to pursue the life that she's expected to lead or the one that she really wants? 3. Iris Kelly doesn't date -> Everyone around Iris Kelly is in love and she’s happy for all of them, truly. Iris doesn’t want any of that—dating, love, romance. She’ll stick to her commitment-free hookups. There’s only one problem—Iris is a romance author facing an imminent deadline for her second book, and she’s completely out of ideas. Perfectly happy to ignore her problems as per usual, Iris goes to a bar and meets a sexy stranger, Stefania, and a night of dancing and making out turns into the worst one-night stand Iris has had in her life. To get her mind off everything, Iris tries out for the lead role in a local play, a queer retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, but comes face-to-face with Stefania, whose real name turns out to be Stevie. Desperate to save face in front of her friends, Stevie asks Iris to play along as her girlfriend. Iris is shocked, but when she realizes the arrangement might provide her with some much-needed romantic content for her book, she agrees. As the two women play the part of a happy couple, lines start to blur.

Falls from grace by Ruby Landers -> Savannah Grace and her band were huge stars in Nashville. Now enlists Noah Lyman - an indie musician - to help her break out of country music and make a name for herself for once and for all. They have to spend the winter in Savannah secluded vacation home in the woods of Vermont, and Noah brings along his best friend Brynn Marshall and pretend she’s his wife? After all, what could possibly go wrong?

The secret of you and me by Melissa Lenhardt -> Nora hasn’t looked back. Not since she fled Texas to start a new life. Now she can live—and love—however she wants. The only problem is that she also left behind the one woman she can’t forget. Now tragedy calls her back home to confront her past—and reconcile her future.

Books by Haley Cass: - Those Who Wait and the follow-up Forever and A Day -> Spencer Sutton, the daughter of a congressman, and Charlotte Thompson, New York City’s youngest deputy mayor, meet on SapphicSpark, a women-seeking-women dating app. Sutton isn’t built for casual, and Charlotte needs to keep a low profile as the race heats up. In spite of that, a friendship blossoms as Charlotte helps Sutton navigate the dating world. - Down to A Science -> Ellie Beckett is a scientific genius finishing a Ph.D. at MIT, sitting on her stool at her favorite bar, putting the final touches on her thesis - her life is predictable and comfortable enough, until the night Mia Sharpe walks in to play pool with some friends and things are never the same again. and On the same Page -> Riley Beckett met Gianna Mäkinen their first year at Boston University, and it changed everything for the both of them. She knows Gianna doesn't do romance or relationships, and she knows nothing could ever come between them. But when a holiday party mix-up sets in motion a domino effect of changes, Riley has to question everything she thought she knew about their relationship. What, exactly, does Gianna mean to her after all? - In the Long Run -> Taylor Vandenberg is busy running a successful travel blog. Brooke Watson and Taylor’s younger brother have been best friends for the majority of their lives. It means that even if Taylor isn’t physically present, she’s always been a part of Brooke’s most monumental life experiences. When Taylor lands back in Faircombe for an extended stay, it leads to more run-ins than Brooke would like. And more feelings than either may want to admit. - When You Least Expect It & Better Than Expected (I haven't had a chance to read them yet, but I have seen them recommended a lot)

If tomorrow doesn't come by Jen St. Jude -> On the morning Avery Byrne plans to end her life, the world discovers there are only nine days left to live: an asteroid is headed for Earth, and no one can stop it. As time runs out and secrets slowly come to light, Avery fights her way home to save the girl she has been in love with her whole life. But can Avery also learn to save herself and find hope again in the tomorrows she has left?

Kiss her once for me by Alison Cochrun -> Ellie had a Christmas Eve meet-cute with a woman at a bookstore that led her to fall in love over the course of a single night. The next year, Andrew, the shop’s landlord where Ellie works, proposes a shocking, drunken plan: a marriage of convenience that will benefit both of them. They make a plan to spend the holidays together at his family cabin to keep up the ruse. But when Andrew introduces his new fiancée to his sister, Ellie is shocked to discover is the mysterious woman she fell for over the year before.

6 times we almost kissed (and one time we did) by Tess Sharpe -> Penny and Tate keep almost kissing. It’s just this confusing thing that keeps happening. You know, from time to time. For basically their entire teenaged existence.  They’ve never talked about it. They’ve always ignored it in the aftermath. But now they’re living across the hall from each other. And some things—like their kisses—can’t be almosts forever. 

Nottingham: the true story of Robin Hood by Anna Burke -> (A retelling of Robin Hood's story with a Female Robin and wlw couples) After a fateful hunting accident sends her on the run from the law, Robyn finds herself deep in the heart of Sherwood Forest. All she really wants to do is provide for her family and stay out of trouble, but when the Sheriff of Nottingham levies the largest tax in the history of England, she’s forced to take matters into her own hands. Relying on the help of her band of merry women and the Sheriff’s intriguing—and off limits—daughter, Marian, Robyn must find a way to pull off the biggest heist Sherwood has ever seen.

Forget me not by Alyson Derrick -> Stevie has a terrible fall. And when she comes to, she can remember nothing of the last two years—not California, not coming to terms with her sexuality, not even her girlfriend Nora. Suddenly, Stevie finds herself in a life she doesn’t quite understand. And Nora finds herself…forgotten.

It goes like this by Miel Moreland -> Eva, Celeste, Gina, and Steph used to play in world-famous queer pop band called Moonlight Overthrow. But after a sudden falling out leads to the dissolution of the teens' band, their friendship, and Eva and Celeste's starry-eyed romance, nothing is the same. Until a storm devastates their hometown, bringing the four ex-best-friends back together. As they prepare for one last show, they'll discover whether growing up always means growing apart.

Dominion Series by J J Arias: 1. Losing Control  -> Talent agent Adriana Ortiz’s world is rocked when she’s thrust into the tumultuous orbit of Roxy, the raw, enigmatic pop rebel with a notorious edge and a guarded heart. Tasked with steering the wild Roxy on a whirlwind tour, Adriana boards Roxy’s opulent tour bus. The nights are filled with roaring crowds, but it’s the electric tension between Roxy and Adriana that sets the air on fire. A forbidden connection that threatens to consume them. Is the wild, unbridled Roxy worth the risk to Adriana’s career, or is she just another woman falling victim to Roxy’s charms? 2. Fighting for Control  -> Lola Barros is a rising talent agent burning with ambition. Carmen Vargas is a dedicated lawyer poised to conquer the legal field. Their shared high-rise is the only thing these two powerhouses have in common. After a trivial parking mishap snowballs onto a full-blown feud, Lola and Carmen are thrust into unconventional anger management sessions and their fiery rivalry gives way to smoldering desire. But yielding to desire isn't straightforward. Between the shadows of demanding careers and familial expectations, their love is tested. Can Lola and Carmen find a balance between ambition and affection? 3. Relinquishing Control  -> Natalia Flores rules her exclusive talent agency with an iron fist, brokering blockbuster deals while keeping everyone at arm’s length. But beneath the cold exterior lies a heart that yearns to be understood. Enter Professor Samantha Reyes—brilliant, fierce, and unwilling to let Natalia manipulate her way into the film rights to her book. Their encounters spark with tension and undeniable chemistry. In a world where control is everything, can two powerful women let go of their fears to find a love that’s worth the risk?

11:59 by Erica Lee -> TJ Edmonds has created a whole brand around not getting attached to other people. She has a best-selling novel and a popular phone app both dedicated to helping people stay detached from their significant others, so they don't get hurt. But the only reason she can move on so quickly now is because she still hasn't let go of someone from her past. It's easy to guard her heart when she no longer has it to give away. TJ texts Brooke everyday at 11:59 pm with no answers. What happens when, in a moment of weakness, this someone reaches out to TJ?

Price and Prejudice and the city by Rachel Lippincott -> Seventeen-year-old Audrey Cameron has lost her spark. After an embarrassing run-in with her ex-boyfriend, she’s told that she needs to get back out there and take risks. What she doesn't expect is to be transported to Regency England! Lucy Sinclair has her own problems when Audrey lands into her life, claiming to be from two hundred years in the future, it's a welcome distraction.

Never ever getting back together by Sophie Gonzales -> Maya and Skye are invited to star on the reality dating show Second-Chance Romance, to compete for their now famous ex-boyfriend's affections while the whole world watches. Skye wonders if she and Jordy can recapture the spark she knows they had, but Maya has other plans.

The art of us by KL Hughes -> Charlee and Alex fell in love at nineteen and dated for four years. Theirs was an enviable love — evergreen and growing. Unbreakable…Until it broke. Alex’s job now brings her back to Boston, after five years. When, by chance, they meet again, Charlee and Alex are swept up in a whirlwind of heart-rending history, tossed between past and present, and lovers old and new. Will their lingering connection be enough to convince them that some loves are meant to last? Or should the past remain in the past?

That secret something by Emily Wright -> Rebecca Lawson is off-limits. Jess knows this, but Rebecca has captured her heart for as long as she can remember. She’s sporty, tall and confident—all the things Jess is not—but most of all…she’s her best friend Lily’s sister. But when Jess and Rebecca are forced to spend time together the forbidden feelings intensify and sparks begin to fly. Amidst the chaos of raging bridezillas and other wedding disasters, can Jess resist temptation for the sake of her friendship?

The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid  -> Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. Summoned to Evelyn's luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the '80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way

That summer feeling by Bridget Morrissey -> Turns out you're never too old for a summer camp romance. Or a change of heart. When a divorced woman attends a sleepaway camp for adults only, she reconnects with a man from her past - only to catch feelings for his sister instead.

Some of these are my absolute favourites, I've lost count of how many times I've read them. I cannot get enough of "the bright falls series", "One the same page", "Those who wait", "The secret of you and me" and the last entry "Falls From Grace". No matter how many times I read them. And sometimes I wish I could read them again, as if for the first time, if that makes sense. Anyway, I have a lot more titles. Let me know if you want them or not. Enjoy the reading