The 99

Chapter Eighteen: Bellamy

I think the most challenging thing with this story is speeding up the chemistry between Clarke and Bellamy. Does it sound like it's moving too fast, with Bellamy's "feelings" at all? Even though they're not quite feelings yet... I don't have two seasons to work with, but I DO think under these circumstances, their relationship would move faster than on the ground as leaders. Because here they only have each other. Does that make sense? Oh, and has anyone seen the new season 3 trailer? (Screams) Sorry. Pleease review!

Bellamy stared at the door until his anger ran dry. He didn't realize his hands were clenched until he noticed the sting from bitten palms. He instantly loosened his grip, trying to shrug off whatever it was that had gotten into him.

If Clarke wanted to die, then so be it. If she wanted to pointlessly hand her life over to the Council by walking out exposed and vulnerable into their sights, that was fine by him. She had left behind the Amoxicillin and he'd remembered the dosage. Since he'd found the pod, their agreement had reached its end. Bellamy, as of now, relied on her for nothing.

"She might be able to do it," the mechanic said from behind him and he ground his teeth, turning away from the door. "No," he snapped. "The Princess has just walked in front of the firing squad."

Bellamy moved past Raven as if he were going somewhere, but then it hit him that he had no where to go. He couldn't leave the room. What he really wanted right now was to take a closer look at the pod, but he couldn't risk it with her leering over his shoulder.

Raven scoffed, causing Bellamy to look over at her. "Clarke just got in front of thousands of people to tell them what the Council doesn't have the guts to. She risked a mass panic, maybe even a civil war to say that. Sure, I've known her about a day, but I wouldn't underestimate her." A nonchalant shrug. "She definitely has Abby's blood, with a backbone like that."

A backbone. Did it take a backbone to send a girl's father out to space? Bellamy stared at her. "I wouldn't be so quick to compare the two of them if I were you," he said darkly.

Raven studied him, one hand on her hip. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He rested against the wall, breaking away from her gaze. "Whatever you want it to."

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

Raven worked on the pod in silence, but sometimes the sound of twisting gears and gadgets would cease, as if she didn't know what to do next. It made Bellamy wonder if her fixing up the ship was just a hoax to throw him off. But she was an idiot if she thought he was about to let go that quickly. Bellamy knew what he wanted, so every once in awhile, he would sneak glances over to the pod, trying to note the mechanics of it in in case he had to take it by force. It would be an ignoble thing to do, but if he was willing to shoot the Chancellor to get to the ground, he'd deprive a young girl the product of her hard work.

"You've always done what you had to do to protect your sister, didn't you? That's who you are."

If only Clarke knew how wrong she was. It would certainly make his actions seem more justified but that didn't make them right. And it certainly didn't earn him forgiveness.

Bellamy tugged his fingers through his hair, feeling annoyed at the random thought of her. But with it, brought something else: The image of Clarke being floated rose up in his mind, unbidden. He could see it clearly, how her body would be sucked back into that endless void, where no hand would reach for her this time.

He pushed it away.

When Bellamy had first met her, he'd taken her for some privileged, incapable girl that had everything handed to her on a golden platter. Her education, her freedoms, her status. Her people were the reason for his people's poverty. They had less so that her kind could have more, but to pin that on Clarke was like blaming Octavia for his mom's actions; it wasn't fair.