Warrior ‣ Bellamy Blake

Seventy-Two

For those of you that don't know, I had spinal surgery a few months back and have spent a lot of time recovering. I'm sorry for the delay. I've been going to PT all the time and I see my ortho regularly to make sure I won't need another procedure because I have the spine of a 90-year-old woman with arthritis. I have degenerative disc disease so I have to be vigilant to avoid any more of this. Thanks for sticking with me even if I update this story, like, twice a year. I'll try to make it much more frequent in 2022. Love you!

***

The combined light of the planet's suns shone twice as bright as the one the passengers aboard the ship were used to and it would be easy to hurt their eyes if gazed upon too long, but Aella Kane couldn't peel her eyes away no matter how much they burned. The two suns rising above to meet them as they approached the new planet felt like a symbol of hope. She bathed in its light, and she felt a phantom warmth through the glass. She couldn't help but want to stand on the ground of this new place and bask in the suns' light. She wanted to do things differently this time, but how many times had she wanted that? It was wishful thinking, but she wanted to be the kind of person to believe wholeheartedly in a better future.

She felt a hand rest gently on her shoulder as if to tell her she needed to look away. They needed to discuss what happens next. She knew the hand was Bellamy's since his mere touch often brought her a lot of comfort and Clarke's wouldn't anymore, especially since Aella was still angry with her. Chronologically, that was 125 years ago but the wounds from Clarke's betrayal in Polis were still fresh. Bellamy was quick to reconcile with her, but Aella wouldn't go easy.

"We need to wake them up," Bellamy said, Aella finally turning her gaze away to meet his. 

"We should wait before waking everyone," Aella replied. "Just a few for now. We still have limited resources and no clue if this place has any sort of food or water supply. Don't wanna jump the gun on this one, especially since it looks too good to be true."

"What, you don't think we've finally had a lucky break?" he asked.

"Hope for the best, expect the worst," she replied. "I want to hope that for once, we're safe and nothing bad will touch us again, but..."

"Wishful thinking."

She chuckled. "I don't always mean to sound depressing all the time, you know."

"I know," he assured. "So, have a little faith, huh?"

"I'll try."

"That's good enough for me."

His hand left her shoulder and she immediately missed his touch. Though being friends and working on herself before trying to go back to how they were once was her idea, it didn't mean she liked it.

"Clarke and I will start waking some of them. You can stare at the suns some more if you like. Just try not to blind yourself."

"No promises," she replied with a smile, turning her gaze back onto the planet in front of them with the two suns, a vision of hope.

Abby, Raven, Shaw, Murphy, Emori, and Echo were the first of the rest to be woken up from cryosleep. Shortly after, they were caught up on what was happening after watching Monty's video, each of them faring Monty and Harper off with the famous final words of the Traveler's Blessing.

Raven and Shaw went off on their own and it didn't take Aella three guesses to figure out what they were doing. Everyone else started eating their food, which was Monty's less-than-appetizing algae. Jordan didn't seem to mind it, but to be fair, that was the only food he'd ever known. 

The honeymoon phase between the planet and Aella was painfully short. Soon after reality sunk in, she wasn't as giddy as she had been. She didn't mind the algae and was a little hungry, but she couldn't bring herself to eat it as she found herself lost in her thoughts.