GRIM REAPER¹, bellamy blake

043 ━━ sing along

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IONA WAS surprised to see Jasper riding along in the front seat of the buggy. Ever since Maya's death, he hadn't been the same. He was emotionally unstable and closed off, and rarely tagged along to leave the camp.

He never ate, he just drank and drank until he passed out and his day started again. It was an unending cycle that Iona had watched now for months, and there was something so heartbreaking about watching it unfold.

A happy and hopeful boy turned manic by their crazy and unforgiving world. An innocent soul turned blossoming shades of black as it became corrupted; then, the corruption overcame them and became all they knew.

Jasper saw red and black and the darkest shades of blue. He could no longer see the whites, the lights, or the blinding neon the world had to offer.

He lived his life like an old-time movie scene; sickeningly slow and gut wrenching. Except this time, there were no fake wounds, and no deaths were merely a trick of the eyes.

It was real- too real and had Jasper spinning in circles every time he observed the cluster around him. He couldn't truly observe what it had to offer, simply blinded by the suicidal urges. Everything was dull, yet sharp, and every situation turned bleak and dreary.

Iona had been there once. Her cell- her life within that cell- had been the same way.

"You good?" Iona wondered aloud, eying Jasper suspiciously from her place near the window. Athena neighed from beneath her, as if she was warning her owner to stay in her own business- but Iona never listened to rules.

Jasper didn't reply, staring forward at the road, and out of the bottom corner of her eye, Iona saw him flick the volume wheel on his headphones.

He was tuning her out.

Iona nodded firmly, sighing, and lightly tapped Athena's sides as a sign to speed up.

"He's not getting any better," Iona murmured to Octavia, leaning closer to her right side. Octavia nodded slightly, careful not to reveal she was talking about the men behind her. "How'd you find him this morning?"

"Drunk," Octavia said plainly. "So just like every other day."

Iona felt her stomach churn uneasily and shivered slightly, but it wasn't because of the conversation. She couldn't shake off the feeling that she was being watched, and as music began to loudly echo throughout the buggy behind her, she found the culprit.

Sparing a short glance- though it felt like forever, she was sure of it- back at the buggy, she found Bellamy's eyes planted upon her figure.

He had been admiring the swirling of tattoos upon her lower back that trailed up her shoulders and onto her arms, but he usually wasn't given such a view.

Iona often wore her old commander uniform, covering up every shred of skin.

Now, in her baggy pants and a shirt she'd cut up to fit her- one that she was pretty sure was Bellamy's to begin with- that rode up when she leaned forward to whisper into Athena's ear, her lower back tattoos were exposed for the first time.

The designs were intricate, starting with a snake that crawled up her back, swords cut into the skin every so often, before it became a dragon towards the top of her back.

It meant that she could withstand any damage- well, that was the tribal message- but most people merely saw it as a cool piece of art. To her, it felt like pure power and gave her confidence.

To Bellamy, however, it was something new to discover about the woman he called his friend, and he smiled slightly.

When she caught him, though, his cheeks flamed a slight pink, and he shook his head, covering it up with a teasing smile. He pretended to tip a hat in her direction, and she laughed, beginning to sing along to the upbeat song.

Why can't I get just one kiss?

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