Experiment of Fate ~ A Bellamy Blake story

Chapter 5 - Healing

It had been months since Clarke left, and Isla was still adjusting to life without her. At first, the pain of Clarke's abandonment was unbearable. After years of imprisonment and torture in Mount Weather, waking up to the news that her sister—the one she had dreamt of seeing again—had left her behind had felt like a betrayal too deep to name. The hurt simmered within her, boiling over into anger with each passing day. That anger, raw and pulsing, was now a part of her, just like the scars she bore from the mountain.

Physically, she was improving. Bellamy and Octavia ensured she ate and drank regularly, but the Blake siblings knew better than anyone that healing wasn't just about regaining physical strength. The mental scars cut deeper. Isla had started working with Raven to keep her mind occupied, helping fix things around the camp—something that reminded her of her father, Jake, and the times she spent by his side as he tinkered with machines on the Ark. It was through Raven that Isla found moments of peace, moments where the weight of her past felt just a little bit lighter.

But Clarke's absence still gnawed at her. In the quiet moments, when the camp was still, Isla would let the anger take over. It wasn't fair. Clarke had abandoned her after years apart, just when Isla needed her the most. She couldn't understand why her sister would leave, and worse, why no one had stopped her.

Bellamy was a constant, though. He had made a promise to Clarke, and he was keeping it, despite the anger he held toward her for leaving. Isla could see it in his eyes when he looked at her—how much she reminded him of Clarke. It made their relationship complicated; they argued about everything, sometimes over the smallest details, but in the end, he was the one who made sure she was eating, drinking, and staying healthy. She appreciated it, even if it sometimes felt suffocating.

Still, Isla found solace in training with Octavia and Lincoln. She had asked early on to learn how to defend herself. The thought of ever being that powerless again terrified her. So, she trained relentlessly, pushing her body beyond its limits in an effort to never feel that helpless again. Octavia taught her with a fierceness that mirrored her own, and Lincoln guided her with patience, reminding her to pace herself, to respect her body's boundaries. But there was a part of Isla she couldn't train, a power deep within her that had been awakened in the mountain, a power she feared.

Isla hadn't told anyone about it yet. The ability she'd felt—the strange, burning energy that coursed through her when she was angry or afraid—was too dangerous to speak about. She didn't understand it, didn't know how to control it, and the last thing she wanted was for people to fear her. So, she kept it hidden, burying the power deep inside her as she focused on regaining her strength the old-fashioned way.

Kane had been kind to her, understanding in a way that few others were. He allowed her to go on missions with Bellamy's crew, searching for any sign of Clarke. Those trips gave Isla purpose. Helping people had always come naturally to her, and despite everything she'd been through, she still wanted to help others. People in the camp admired her for it. After all she had suffered, she still chose to put others first.

One person she spent a lot of time with was Jasper. He was shattered after losing Maya in Mount Weather, consumed by grief. Isla could see the darkness in his eyes, the way the weight of his loss bore down on him, and she became a quiet companion in his healing process. They didn't talk much at first, but eventually, Jasper opened up to her about Maya, about the guilt he carried. He didn't blame Isla for what had happened in the mountain, and that was something she was thankful for. In him, she found a friend who understood loss on a level most couldn't. They shared their pain in silence and occasionally, in words, as he sought solace in her company.

The only person Isla couldn't bring herself to talk to was Abby. Her mother had tried countless times to reach out, to bridge the gap between them, but Isla kept her distance. She hadn't forgotten why she'd been sent to the ground in the first place-to be kept safe from Abby's plans to get rid of her. Her mother had feared losing her position on the council, feared that Isla's presence would jeopardize her place on the Ark. And for that, Isla couldn't forgive her. Abby might have been trying now, but it was too late. The damage had been done long ago, and Isla didn't know if she could ever trust her again.

Still, despite everything, Isla had found moments of joy again. Octavia often took her riding through the forest, giving her a chance to escape the confines of the camp and feel a semblance of freedom. Isla had come to love those rides, the way the wind rushed past her, how the world seemed to blur into one vast, wild expanse. They reminded her that life could still be beautiful, even after everything.

But even with all the progress she'd made, Isla couldn't shake the feeling of something missing. Clarke's absence loomed over her like a shadow, and though she tried to bury her anger, it would resurface at night when she lay awake, staring at the sky, wondering why her sister had left her. Why, after all these years, Clarke had chosen to walk away again.

Isla knew that Clarke would come back someday. She had to believe it, because if she didn't, the anger and grief might consume her entirely. So, she waited.