Brave Princess - A Bellarke Story

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three

Bellamy:

The guilt chokes me, wrapping me in its arms and refusing to let go. Everything comes crashing down as I wake in the middle of the night, with Clarke in my arms. I couldn't get her out in time. I couldn't protect her from her poisoning.

I could only watch as she left.

I couldn't get our people out. We couldn't get them out. It's as if I didn't try hard enough.

I squeeze Clarke closer. I don't know how I got so lucky. I got her back. Her previous words scare me, making my heart ache.

She lost me. And she hated it.

My nightmares have lessened now that I found Clarke again. I suppose I've always simply craved the touch of another. With our bodies pressed against each other, the warmth spreads through my torso and down to my toes.

I breathe in. I breathe out. My breath shifts her hair, sending it fluttering. My heart aches. She looks so innocent--so peaceful. None of us are innocent. That's the truth.

-

Morning comes quickly. And with morning comes the quick realization of coldness on my side. Not coldness, I soon realize, in my dusty morning haze, a lack of warmth. My slow brain puts the facts together. Clarke is warm.

And then. Clarke is gone.

I stand up, knocking the sleepiness from my body and breathing heavily into the smoky morning. My breath sends clouds of warmth into the cold air.

I look around, whipping my head from side to side. "Clarke?"

There's a pause. "Here!" Comes her voice from behind me.

I close my eyes in relief, and turn to face her. "You scared me," I tell, my gaze too relieved. "I thought--"

She puts her hand up, stopping my words. "Don't finish that."

I press my lips together and nod.

-

"Where are we going to go?" Clarke asks in the afternoon, with the sun high in the sky. "Where are we going to get an army to get them out?"

I stop walking and grab her forearm, turning her toward me. "We'll figure it out. For now, let's keep going to the drop ship."

We had decided on going to the drop ship, assuming that the inside of the ship hadn't been burned. Perhaps there was something there we could use--guns, ammo, anything. And if we don't find anything, we will at least have found someplace to rest.

Clarke isn't satisfied with my words. Her gaze flits away from me, almost in disappointment.

"Clarke, I can't give you a better answer," I tell her, trying to apologize. "I don't know what to do either."

She looks back up and begins to walk again. "I know."

And so we walk. But our conversation doesn't end.

"But they're our people," she says slowly, "And we need them."

Her words ring true. Truer than the harshness of the midday sun. We need our people. And then comes the sudden realization that provokes fear in my heart, a sort of evil terror lurking in my brain.

Our people. We came from the sky. And a week or so ago, the rest of us seemed to come down too, when the Ark entered the atmosphere. The Ark is where I shot the chancellor. But now, I have to face my fear and find the Ark.

Not just for me or Clarke. For our people. For the others we led on earth. "The Ark," I say at last, my voice filling the silence.

Clarke understands immediately. "It fell to the left of the gate."

"West." I turn to her and our eyes meet. "We'll go west."

There's an old story my mother told me, about the moss of a tree only growing on the northern side of it. We find north on a tree. And then we turn and walk to the west.

West. The very word is hopeful, but sinister in a way. It draws out at the end, sounding like a hissing snake. This could be dangerous. I shake the thought out of my brain.

Not all snakes are poisonous, I tell myself.

It's this thought, and the glances I sneak at Clarke when I think she isn't looking, that keep me going as the day draws on.

The sun sets. Time spins its web. We continue to walk. We only stopped once. My stomach rumbles. I can only hope we will find food soon. There have been no animals--no sign of life.

And then I erase that thought from my mind, because I hear voices, quiet at first and then growing louder as we near them. I look at Clarke and our eyes widen. Clarke hears the voices too.

We manage to quicken our pace, putting aside the burning pain in our legs and replacing it with hope. And we're running, sprinting up the hill. Pebbles fall in my wake, but I pay no heed to the clattering.

We slow as we reach the top. I put a hand on Clarke's back, letting her look first. I hear a quiet gasp. And then she turns to me, grabbing my hand and pulling me up the final stretch. I follow her eagerly.

We stand on the hill and look down. My lips part, because there it is. The Ark. My fear.Where I would have died. I am a criminal. Clarke doesn't know what I've done. Not even Octavia knows what I did to get on the drop ship.

A wave of nausea hits me, and I almost collapse. I hold onto Clarke's hand desperately. But she can sense something is wrong.

"What is it?" She asks.

I can't look at her. I stare at the Ark, broken, with people running about the smoking metal. They're alive. Some of the people made it. I look closer and recognize the suits of guards.

Guards made it. They will have information on me. They will know what I've done. And they will kill me for it. "I don't think I can go in," I say.

She lets go of my hand. "What?"

AN: Hello! I hope you enjoyed that chapter. I wonder what will happen with the Ark, and the fate of Bellarke.

Oh my gosh. I just realized that rhymed. 😂

Anyway, feedback would be great!