The 99

Chapter Seventeen: Clarke

Announcement! I wrote another 100 fanfiction...Big surprise. It is written differently and is actually my preferred tense and perspective. It's called I Am the Reaper inspired by the poem written by William Henley and is basically about Cage turning Bellamy into a Reaper instead of using him as a blood if you're interested, it's up! Please review :)

"There's one other thing," Clarke said, and Raven raised an eyebrow at her. "You can't tell my Mom about Bellamy. Or about me, for that matter."

In her peripheral vision, Clarke saw Bellamy's look of surprise but she kept her gaze locked with the other woman's.

"Why not?" Raven asked. "You're her kid. She'd do anything for you."

Clarke dismissed the praise. Once, she'd believed the same. That her mom would go to great lengths for her family. At least Clarke had been correct about the first part-she had gone to great lengths, but it wasn't to keep her family safe.

She forced neutrality into her voice. "I don't trust my Mom. If she suspects anything, tell her about me. Just leave Bellamy out of it."

Raven shook her head disapprovingly. "Look, I get that things are strained with you and Abby. But I trust her. She lied to me about you being on the dropship, but she was just doing that to protect you." A note of envy leaked into her tone. "She loves you, Clarke."

Anger bubbled up in her, but Clarke thrust it back down. For some reason, she hated having a person on her Mom's side, who saw the person Clarke so desperately wanted her to be again.

But she didn't let any of that show. Instead, Clarke just looked away, back at the door locked with the date of her father's execution. Immortalized in digits. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "She loved my Dad, too."

<>*<>*<>*<>*<>

Raven allowed the both of them to stay in the workroom for the night. The following day, she'd help send out the feed but made it clear that she would do it no later than that. Clarke had ventured to ask her when she planned to launch the escape pod, but the mechanic had just shrugged and said, "soon." When she didn't elaborate, Clarke got the memo, but she suspected her reasons for secrecy had more to do with Bellamy than with herself.

Raven stuck around to work on the pod and every once in awhile Clarke caught Bellamy eyeing the small ship, his expression unguarded in the moment that she could clearly see the want in his eyes.

She felt a lace of guilt unravel inside her. Clarke was getting what she wanted; the feed out to the residents of the Ark, and even though Bellamy had found what he was looking for-a way to the ground-he still seemed very far from getting it.

But if there was anything Clarke understood about Bellamy, it was his inability to be deterred. It was thicker than just stubbornness and ran deeper than determination. It was something powerful. Indomitable. A force of his own making that even he wrestled for control over.

As the time dragged by, Clarke took a seat on the hard floor around the tools, and leaned against the wall. The cold seeped into her back and goosebumps rose over her skin from the cool draft, but she wouldn't put the spacesuit back on. The last thing she wanted was to fall into nightmares of boundless shadow, illuminated by stars.

Her other thoughts weren't much better. Anxiety tightened around her heart as she tried to guess what the next day would bring. By this time tomorrow, one of her parents will have been proven right. Either people would band together like her father had believed, or pandemonium would explode and the people would destroy each other.

To keep out those haunting thoughts, Clarke retrieved her father's watch, still in her back pocket. The battery was dead and the knitted band frayed, but she didn't care. Gingerly, her thumb caressed the glass face, its fingers frozen at midnight. She could almost pretend that time itself had stilled. That this single moment could be made eternal by the hands of a broken watch. But moments weren't meant to last, which was proven a couple minutes later as Raven finished her day's work and started for the door.