Mother Earth // Bellamy Blake

Sunset • 143

We rode back as fast as we could and it still took over an hour. Bellamy halted to a stop when we were about half a mile out from the bunker.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I slowed to a stop beside him.

"We don't know who came through there," Bellamy's voice was dripping with caution.

"It's our friends. It has to be," I urged for us to keep going.

"We leave the horses here for now and scope outside on foot. It won't hurt to be careful about it," Bellamy ordered. We both hopped off our horses and tied their leads to a nearby tree. We finished the trek on foot, extremely quietly.

Bellamy tapped my shoulder to get me to stop and look over at him. I think the blast that sent us into the anomaly hurt my quality of hearing a bit. He raised his hands to sign to me, 'people are in the huts.'

I turned back around so my ears were facing the direction our shelters were. I could hear mixed voices and shuffling feet. I stood like that trying to see if I could make out any voices. Then I heard someone say dude. I shifted my head once again to look at Bellamy, "it's them."

"Should we ride in on our horses?" Bellamy cracked a smile.

I gave him a light punch to his abs, "that's ridiculous. Yes."

Bellamy and I ran back to Apollo and Artemis and mounted ourselves up to ride the rest of the way to the bunker. When we approached the huts that everyone was hanging around, I couldn't help the tears that came with my smile. Everyone was here, our entire family.

Bellamy and I jumped down from the horses as everybody stared in disbelief for a moment. Octavia rushed forward through everyone with wide eyes and a shocked expression. She didn't stop her feet until she had both Bellamy and I wrapped in her arms. The shared embrace between the three of us was firm and reassuring. I was so glad that they had found us.

"We thought you were dead," Octavia spoke through her tears.

"We're okay," Bellamy stated back to her confidently.

"I knew it was you guys as soon as I saw the huts," Octavia said as we all pulled back from the hug.

"It's a good design," I laughed as I complimented my own work. I looked over to the others in front of us, they all thought we were dead.

"You had to show off with horses, huh?" Murphy made himself known. It only made me laugh and march up to him. Raven and Emori were close enough to for me to grab them all in a group hug.

I had to make all my rounds now, I released from this hug and looked for the next. Reese, Echo, Hope and Gabriel were just getting finished with embracing Bellamy, so I walked over to them.

"Hope," I smiled and got her attention. She looked much different from the last time I saw her, it made me realize that Diyoza wasn't here with us.

"I finally get to meet you. Octavia told me stories," Hope welcomed. I gave her a warm hug, along with Gabriel.

When I moved my eyes to Echo, I could tell that they have been gone for a long time. Like Octavia was. "Your hair is different and you two are matching," I blurted out what my eyes saw.

"It's been a while," Echo's lips curled into a grin. I saw her new scars that covered the sides of her face, but I decided to not mention them. I knew about it being a part of Azgeda tradition, Echo was reminding herself who she was and where she came from. There was no need for her to explain to me if she didn't want to.

"It must have been," I said as my eyes bounced between Echo and Reese. "Because somehow this became a thing."

"Dude, how do you know everything? We weren't even holding hands... not that she'd let me hold her hand," Reese joked while also being shocked that I figured this out so fast. I noticed right away that Reese glared at Echo in a similar way that Bellamy glared at me, it literally gave it all away. I just laughed in response and pulled the two of them in a hug.

"How long were you gone?" I asked as we broke apart.

"Five long ass years," Reese answered with a sigh. I was shocked, my mind was trying to comprehend how they could have lived five years of life in a few days.

"How long have you been here?" Echo asked the same.

"Four days," I revealed.

"You two did this in four days?" Echo motioned to our little camp.

I shrugged my shoulders with a slight smile, "we got bored."

Niylah, Gaia and Indra were my next victims. I wasn't really sure if they were the type of people who hugged, but they didn't seem to mind when I did it anyways. Of course I couldn't forget Miller, Jackson and Jordan. After them, I turned to see Clarke saying her hello's to others she may not have seen in a while. We pulled each other into an embrace, just happy that both of us were here in this moment.

I looked over to Madi when we were finished, "I have something I want you to see." I looked over to Clarke, who nodded to me.

"Bellamy, start the fire for food. We'll be back soon," I told him and he just gave me a thumbs up in return. "Octavia, come on. You too, Hope."

None of them put up a fight to my orders. All of them trailed behind me as we made our way away from the bunker and climbed up a large rocky hill.

"Where are we going?" Madi asked as we got closer to the top.

"I'd like to know the same," Hope chipped in.

"It's my favorite time of the day. We're almost there," I told them little context. When we all finally reached the top, every one of us was panting. I stared out to the view from high up here. It looked unreal, the lake was shimmering from the orange and pink glow of the sunset. The trees stood as painted silhouettes to the sky.

"Pretty, huh?" I gave Madi a small nudge with my elbow.

"Amazing," Madi stared in awe. I turned to see that Hope and Octavia were both taking in the scene. "Why'd you want to show me this?"

"Because I know what you've been through. What Sheidheda did to you. You are so strong," I felt my voice shake as I tried not to let tears well up. "This is what kept me going. Seeing the beauty in the things around you. I hope it can help you too."

Madi said nothing, she just collided her body into mine with a tight hug. I returned it to her and gave her a gentle rub on her back. I let her pull away when she wanted to and when she did, she went right back to looking at the sunset.

At this point, I turned to look at Octavia and Hope. I didn't know Hope, but what I did know was that she helped change Octavia's life. The way Octavia looked when she recognized Hope back at Gabriel's tent confirmed that to me.

"I'm sorry you had to come back to the bunker," I told Octavia, knowing how hard it must be for her to be back here.

"At least you and Bellamy are here," she told me.

"There's an empty hut outside you can take," I let her know that it was all hers. If I were Octavia, I would not want to go back in that bunker. Hell, I myself tried not go in there if I could help it.

"Thank you," Octavia expressed her gratitude.

I switched my focus over to Hope now, "I didn't know your mom, but I know Octavia. You're important to her, so you're important to me. I've always got your back." Hope quickly nodded to me while a singular tear fell from her face.

"Let's go back, Bellamy should have food ready by now," I concluded our moment with the now set sun.