Bellarke One-Shots

I Found Love Where It Wasn't Supposed to Be

Clarke's POV

My name is Clarke Kom Tree Kru. I was born to a family on the higher chain of the Tree Kru, and we were expert hunters and military men. I was a perfect shot and even better at strategizing. I had a mother and father, but no siblings. My mom was a healer named Abby Griffin, I had trained with her from time to time, but enough so that I could be a healer if the Heda ever asked me to be. My dad, Jake Griffin, had passed away when I was fourteen or so, he had died in a battle against Skai Kru. I wanted to hate them so much. The Skai Kru, they had taken the life of my dad and so many others of my tribe. They took our land and started a war against us. I was raised to hate them, it had been engrained into my brain since I was six and they had landed here on the ground. However, 12 years later, and I still found them fascinating, not evil, I saw them adventurous, not cruel. But mostly I realized they were just people trying to survive, just like we were.

So when I was taking my surveillance rounds through the forest up in the tree tops and saw a Skai Kru guard, I paused and just watched him. I followed him silently up in the trees as he walked also quietly on the ground.

He had brown and curly hair. He looked as though he was my age, possibly older, but that wasn't why I kept looking at him. What made me want to get a closer look at this guard, was when he bent down and picked up a flower. He glanced around quickly to make sure no one saw him and then he smelled it. I saw him smile a little, just the corners of his mouth flick up, but I saw his eyes, full of amazement and wonderment. I accidentally snapped a tree branch leaning closer to him and he threw the flower down, whipping out his gun and turning back into a guard, back into a "Skairipa" as we called them.

He mustn't have seen me though because he started to walk back to his camp and put his gun back in his holster, though not taking his hand off it. I knew why. We were currently not on very good terms with the Skai Kru. We had a weak and fragile peace treaty and it was on the brink of breaking, one person or misunderstanding on either side could lead to a new war, plus the Skai Kru had just gotten a new leader. Pike they called him. I had heard talk of his ruthlessness and how much he distrusted grounders. The peace between us was thin ice and it was spring, the time where ice melts and what lies underneath reveals itself.

And reveals itself it did when, in the middle of the night, a few days later my village was ransacked by Skai people. Nearly everyone was killed and my mother was taken as a hostage. I was left there, with my bow and arrow, alone and barely scratched. I hadn't killed any one, but I had injured enough that a few of my people could run and hide, a few had chances of living. I could've ran to, but I was going to follow them. It will most likely go horribly wrong, but that has never stopped me before.

And that's how I found myself jumping quietly from tree top to tree top in the dark of the night following the Skairipas and my mother, to wherever they were going.

As the sun rose, I found out where they were leading my mom. The Skai people arrived at their camp in the early dusk light. I snuck in quickly, without being noticed and followed them stealthily. An older black man threw my mother in a jail cell and locked it.

"Scum." He said and slammed the door on his way out. I crawled out of the air duct I had hidden in and ran to the other side of the room where my mom was locked up.

"Mom." I said quietly and with urgency, "I'm going to get you out." I began trying to pick the lock with my arrow.

"No Clarke." She said weakly. I looked at her more closely and wished I hadn't. She had clearly been beaten and was tired from her long walk. "Get out. Save yourself."  

"I almost got it." I said and then the cell door clicked open. I pulled it open and hugged my mom. "Cmon I getting us both home."

She looked warily at me, but didn't protest as I threw her arm over my shoulders and helped her into the air ducts.