Brave Princess - A Bellarke Story

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Clarke:

They say that the first kids to die on earth were lucky. Luck doesn't come easy anymore.

But would I call them lucky? No. Never.

I will admit that it was an easy way to go. They crashed with the drop ship. They died with the ways of the Ark. At least, we thought the ways of the Ark were gone. Dead.

We were wrong. So wrong.

You can't erase generations of the Ark. You can't erase the past. I guess I had hoped that the ways of the Ark would be at least half forgotten on the ground.

Isn't the ground our second chance? Shouldn't we use the ground as a chance to start over? We should. And we would, if only the chancellor and rest of the council were lenient. But my mother is stubborn.

We are too alike.

We had come here hoping the council would be lenient to Bellamy. They were. They barely acknowledged him. But they weren't lenient with their decision about our people, and that is almost worse.

We left at dawn with the hunting party, when the sun was low in the sky. The sky was grey, and the sun merely a haze of yellow-white light somewhere beyond. The day is cloudy. It mirrors my mind.

I hadn't looked back at the camp as we walked up the hill, where two days ago we had walked down. Sure, I had nodded once at the blonde commander. That was the only gesture close to a goodbye I gave. For me, it was almost an instance of defiance against my mother.

The blonde commander and I share one thing in common. We disagree with the ways of the Ark, and so we acquired a higher position of authority to do away with them. It's one thing we have in common. But it makes us so similar that I wonder if there is any difference between us at all.

If we can agree on that, then I have no doubt we can agree on a lot more.

But for now, I must do away with thoughts of her, the woman who shares my opinions. Instead, I must focus on the journey ahead of us.

We've already gone so far. But there is so much further to travel before this long-standing war with the earth ceases. It will end when the last human dies.

And then, the earth will be the victor, the long-last conqueror of the people of peoples.

There will only be the ghosts of humanity left. The fingerprints we leave behind on our guns and swords. The grenades we build that we never end up using, because we die before we can throw them at the enemy.

The knives we keep stashed away in our clothes, because we are so afraid of the rest of our kind.

Humans are afraid of humans. We are afraid of what we can do.

And so we protect ourselves, with brick walls or metal walls. With steel, and rock. With a dark grey gunpowder that matches the sky today.

But what else can we do?

Running means death.

Staying means death.

Instead, Bellamy and I walk, following in the footsteps of the ancient peoples of this earth. I look at Bellamy now, in the grey light of midday.

He walks stiffly, clutching his gun in his hands like the lifeline it is. I wouldn't have understood that a few months ago, on the Ark. To me then, guns were what guards carried. The guards who slid protein paste through the door slot each day.

The guards who executed my father.

But now I understand why they felt so attached to their weapons. People let you down. Guns will do their job no matter what. They don't change. They protect you against the world without fail.

People lie. People manipulate.

People die. Power survives.

I meet Bellamy's eyes, and he nods. It's time. We both know it. I breathe in. Breathe out. And then we step away from the group, disappearing into the forest as the hunting party continues to walk.

"Are you sure about this?" I ask Bellamy, whispering.

"Yes," he says immediately. "There's no other way."

"None," I say, agreeing. I'm not sure why I initiated the conversation in the first place. Security, perhaps. Reassurance, maybe.

We don't talk for a while. The silence isn't deafening between us. It is comfortable and easy to maintain.

At last, when we stop for a drink, Bellamy turns to me."You succeeded, you know," he says, a small smile on his face.

I swallow my water, wiping the sweat from my brow. "Sorry?"

"You gave them hell," he responds.

I nod, remembering what I told him. "We did."

"We?" He shoulders his pack. "Princess, that was all you." Bellamy smirks.

I shake my head, disagreeing. "All I did was yell."

His face suddenly turns serious. "You gave a very convincing case." He pauses. He's nervous. "You're good at those."

I cock my head and furrow my brows. "I am?"

"Yeah," he replies simply. "I never thanked you. For making me stay."

I smile at him and shoulder my pack. "I already walked away from you once. I didn't want to do it again."

Bellamy smiles in response, and for a time we simply look at each other, studying the face across from us.

"You ready?" I ask, interrupting the moment.

He pauses, as if contemplating words. He chooses quickly. "Lead the way, princess."

I don't flinch at the nickname anymore. It's Bellamy who says it now. Bellamy doesn't make me flinch. "We're only going straight. It's not that hard."

Bellamy shakes his head, laughing. "Still, I'm putting my trust in your hands. So if we're in another deathly situation, I'm blaming you."

His voice fades, only slightly, because I've already begun to walk. "Shut up," I tell him, walking ahead of him.

I hear his deep chuckle behind me. Then footsteps as he follows. "Whatever you say, princess."

AN: Hey! I thought it was time to attempt writing a bit of fluff, so that was my try. I'm not sure if I'm too good at these things, lol. It took me a while to come up with their conversation.

Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed!

I just got to the beach, but I hope I will still be able to write. Right now, I'm also slowly working on another one-shot for my Bellarke one-shot collection.

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