Brave Princess - A Bellarke Story

Chapter Two

"Alright, Clarke, I'm going to finish your stitches for you," I tell her, reaching down and picking up the needle.

"No, Bellamy, you don't need to. I got this," she says, still being stubborn when she is in so much pain.

Her shaking hands try to reach the needle before I can, but exhaustion takes its toll, and I am able to quickly snatch the needle.

"Have you ever done this before?" she asks.

"Honestly, no," I admit.

"Then how should I know that you will do it right?" she asks, raising her eyebrows and then cringing in pain.

I pause. She's right. All we do is fight. Why should she trust me? Especially for something like this. Still, I can't leave her here, cringing in pain and trying to sew her skin together.

"You'll just have to trust me on this one, princess," I say at last.

She looks up at me, her eyes alert and calculating. She stares at my eyes, trying to decipher whether or not she should trust me.

Eventually, she looks away and down to her ankle. She purses her lips. "Alright."

I nod. "I'll try to be gentle," I tell her, trying reassurance.

"Bellamy, there is no gentle way to do this. Just do it."

I meet her eyes, and nod. Slowly, I begin to stitch, trying to keep my stitches neat and even. I glance up, and she is shaking, rocking in tiny movements back and forth. I look back down and continue to stitch. Come on, princess. You got this. She lets out a gasp. Silent tears make their way down her cheeks.

I reach the middle of the cut, where it must hurt the most. Her fists clench, her nails digging hard into her palms. I glance up for a second, but quickly return to me stitching. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see her jaw clench tightly.

"Halfway through, Clarke," I tell her.
In response, she lets out an animalistic groan. She puts her head back as more tears fall down her face. She struggles to keep her ankle steady, but she does. Her toes curl.

"I'm tying it off now, princess," I tell her.

As I do, I realize something. The way I called her princess. It was out of respect, not loathing. She may be from the privileged, but she lost as much as any of us. Maybe more. She went from high in society to down on the ground. Yes. I have respect for her. She truly is brave. Braver than any of us. I recall the way her hands never shake when she is treating a patient. The way she always protects everyone, from anything. Even her own pain.

I cut the excess thread and she almost collapses on the floor. She props herself on her elbows. Slowly, she tilts her head down to look at the stitches. She nods and looks up to me.

"You did good. They're better than I thought you could do."

The corners of my mouth twitch up. "Can you get back to your tent?" I ask her.

"Not right now. There's a hammock, though, set up for patients. I can sleep there," she replies, nodding her head to the left.

I follow her gaze to the crude hammock. Brave princess.

I turn around and she is looking at me gratefully.

"Thank you, Bellamy," she says, "I don't know if I could have finished that."

I smile at her. "You're brave, Clarke, not stupid. I still wish that you had woken someone up, though."

She looks at the floor. "Yeah."

She reaches behind her and grabs a bowl of water and a cloth. She starts furiously scrubbing at her hands, trying to rid herself of Murphy's blood. Even after the blood is long gone she keeps scrubbing. When I watch her doing this, something cracks inside of me. She's broken. Tired.

And still she's brave.

I lick my lips. "Clarke."

It's all I say, but she stops. She sighs. She puts away the water and the rag. Both are stained with blood. I'm scared because I know that not all of it is Murphy's. She reaches to grab hold of the table and tries to pull herself up. Her face tightens with struggle. She stands up halfway on her good leg and pauses there to breathe. She closes her eyes and I step forward. I wrap her arm around my shoulder and help her stand up. She hops along as I support her. I take her to the hammock.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" I ask her.

She nods against my shoulder. "I'll be fine." I pretend not to notice when her voice cracks.

I set her down in the hammock.

"Thank you," she says again.

I smile back at her. "Of course."

She closes her eyes and I begin to walk away. When I turn around, I see her shoulders shaking once more.

I close my eyes and pretend not to notice.

Brave princess.

AN: Hello, again! I hope you all liked that. I am already planning the next chapter right now, so look forward to that. Leave a review to tell me what you thought about this. I really want to write the characters "right," and I don't want them too out of character. Thanks for reading! :)