GRIM REAPER¹, bellamy blake

086 ━━ what's kept hidden

u all despise me rn and i love it but ur so gonna hate me for what happens in chapter 89 yall i got a feelin im never gonna be forgiven

(nor will iona)

anyways enjoy pain

━━━✦━━━

"I SAY we run two patrols around the area starting now," Miller suggested, crouching around the fire in the middle of the group that was purifying the cave water for them all to safely drink from.

Kane nodded, "We'll do that, but we should be safe here. The grounder's blockade is too close for Pike to risk looking for us."

Bryan shook his head, "Yeah, but are we safe from the blockade?"

Iona hummed, heaving out a heavy, stressed breath as she shrugged. Any other day, she'd just merrily point to herself and grin, saying something cockily like duh, we have me; they'd let us through with ease but nowadays, she wasn't too sure.

"As long as we stay on this side of the line, we should be," Kane nodded, pointing to where they were as if that was any indication of where the line really was outside the cave.

Bryan furrowed his brows, "They're grounders, do you really think they're gonna play by the rules?"

Iona sat up at that, giving the man- despite how sweet he was- an award-winning death stare. She held her katana close, saying nothing but sharing the same look with Octavia, who was just as angry as she was.

He does realize he's sitting next to two grounders, right?

"Hey, you're going to be hunted now too. Pike will want you dead just as much as the rest of us," Miller says to Bryan. He pats his thigh comfortingly, "If we take him out, we're all allowed to go back home."

"Take him out, the grounder's lift the blockade, and we get to be the thirteenth clan again," Kane nods, "Those were the terms."

"Lexa's terms," Sinclair said, and Iona looks up, furrowing her brows, "but if what Bellamy says is true and Lexa's really dead-"

 "What?"

Iona's voice was quiet, confused, and full of hurt.

In that moment, it was like time had stilled, and her heart began to pound in her chest. Her eyes blew wide, and Sinclair could practically see the cogs turning in her head as she began to process what he just said.

She didn't know that already? He thought Bellamy told the whole group together- then he remembered it was right after Iona stepped out of the cave to go get a breath of fresh air, and it all clicked.

He avoided saying anything when she was around for a reason, and now, Sinclair had just completely blown his plan.

It didn't matter to Iona, though, because she was in the middle of a full-blown panic attack, falling back into Octavia's arms as the woman attempted to soothe her. She couldn't believe her ears- Lexa was dead?

She'd thought it before. She knew her cousin was capable of dying, just as any other human, but she never believed there would come a time when Lexa actually died and disappeared from her life- and Iona didn't even get to say goodbye.

The last words they spoke were empty promises, now, as Iona begins sobbing into Octavia's shirt at the realization that her remaining family was gone, taken from her just as the rest of her family before her.

Lexa was gone.

Her cousin was gone.

Her heda had fallen.

Iona never truly understood before what it meant to be lost by the loss of a loved one. She never realized how much she relied on Lexa's guidance, and something about how she'd never be able to hear her voice, or speak to her, or see her pretty face again really broke her.

So much had been taken from her those past few days. Her freedom, her love, a man that she wished she'd been kinder to and far more accepting, and now, her best friend.

Iona sobbed.

It must've been a whole hour before her body decided she'd had enough, and that she'd used enough energy as it was and had left her completely and utterly drained.

She was numb again, for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, as she forced herself to stand, wobbling out of the cave until she collapsed against a tree, clinging onto it for dear life as she stared out at the tree line.

She wasn't sure how long it had been, really, but she did know that Bellamy soon approached her- after bargaining with Octavia for minutes, trying to find some way to comfort the woman breaking down outside, and Kane had taken pity on him and set him free- from behind.

It was fruitless, what she tried to do.

"You knew?" She cried without tears. Throwing weak, barely felt punches at his chest, she felt him grab her hands, forcing them around his waist and bringing her into a hug. "You knew and you didn't- why didn't you tell me?"

He shook his head against her, "Because I knew what would happen once you found out," He cupped Iona's face, closing his eyes sadly, "I just... I didn't want to hurt you again."

Bellamy brought her into another hug, on that she couldn't find the energy to reciprocate, and held her weak and fragile body against his, trying his best to shield her- but he knew it was far too late.

She'd already been exposed to all the heartache in the world, and him being around was only worsening her pain.

Still, he tried. He had to.

━━━✦━━━