When Songbirds Fly | Bellamy Blake

Chapter Forty-Three: Nevermore

TW// Mentions and scenes of self-h*rm, dislocated arm

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A rush of movement brings our group to a halt, all staring in confusion at Octavia as she begins to gather her things. 'O,' Bellamy huffs, 'wait. You can't just leave.'

'Watch me.'

'You heard what Jasper said on the radio. Arkadia is not safe.'

Rolling her eyes, she continues to pack. 'What Jasper said sounded insane. Pike's gone. I can handle myself. Grounders burn their dead.'

He gulps, nodding. 'I know that. And then what? Where are you gonna go?'

'You don't get to ask me that.'

'What more do I have to prove that I am on your side?'

Spinning round to face him, her jaw clenches tightly to hide the trembling of her bottom lip. 'Bring Lincoln back.' She starts to walk away but turns once again. 'Turning Pike in does not make you one of the good guys, Bellamy. You did that to save me, not because what you thought Pike was doing to the Grounders was wrong.'

'The Grounders were starving us out.'

'Because you massacred an army that was sent to protect us.'

Groaning, I hide my face against my knee and hug it tightly against me. The pain is building again, only encouraged by the hostility descending on the cave.

'That army could've attacked us at any time and you know it,' Bellamy argues.

'But they didn't attack. You did that. You were hurting and you lashed out, because that's what you do. There are consequences, Bell. People get hurt. People die — your people. Monroe is dead. Lincoln is dead.'

She quickly turns before he can see the pain in her eyes, storming out into the night. He follows closely behind.

I ignore the shouts coming from outside. I just want everything to stop. My eyes remain clamped shut.

Hearing Sinclair's offer of help, I nod silently and let him carry me to one of the rocks by the fire. 

'Clear some space.'

We both freeze. Eyes flying open, I stare in surprise as Clarke runs towards us. Bellamy follows behind with an unconscious Raven in his arms. He sets her down on the ground.

Crawling over to sit next to her, I take one of her hands in mine. Her wrists are bound in bandages, stained with bold lines of scarlet. 'What the hell happened? Clarke, what's going on? Jas?'

'I told you on the radio,' he huffs, 'Raven is not Raven anymore. None of them are. Jaha's been chipping everyone.'

Clarke nods urgently, 'Jasper's right, I saw it with my own eyes—'

'I don't need your help, all right?!'

A few of us flinch at Jasper's sudden outburst. Cautiously approaching him, Bellamy rests a hand on his shoulder. 'Just take it easy and explain.'

The boy takes a deep breath. 'Jaha is using the chips to control everyone. You swallow it and it changes you. You forget who you are and then you see this thing — ALIE —, only she's not really there. She made Raven slit her own wrists 'cause she was trying to get it out of her head. I was trying to help her but—'

'Okay, so let's help her now,' Sinclair interrupts, his confused expression solidifying into that of determination and fiery anger. 'Did she say how?'

'She was working on building something. She needed one of our old wristbands but Jaha destroyed all of them.'