2,199 Days Later (S5 Bellarke Fic)

Chapter 16: The Beginning of More

Clarke walked on Bellamy's heels. She wanted to talk to him and he seemed oddly quick to run away.
"Hey!" She called out, gripping his left shoulder with her right hand before he spun around to face her. Through the dim lighting of torches, Clarke saw his look as almost a glare. "Are you okay?" Bellamy scanned Clarke's face with his eyes, seeing nothing but worry for him. He admired her vibrant blue eyes for a moment before closing his brown ones and sighing as a way to relax. He wasn't angry. He was just stressed.
"Yeah... sorry. Is there something you wanted?" He asked as softly as he could. Clarke opened her mouth to speak before realizing she didn't have anything important to say. She just... wanted to talk to him. It was just... what they did together.
"Not really." She said honestly, feeling heat rise to her face in embarrassment. "I just... I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Especially after what I said... I'm sorry I kept quiet about it..." Clarke rambled. What the hell is wrong with me? She wondered. Bellamy eyed her, curiously.
"Clarke?" He said. Clarke looked up to meet his eyes after she had placed them on the ground. Bellamy put his hands on his sides. "Are you okay?" He chuckled. Clarke felt her face heat more.
"Uh... yeah. Of course."
"Look, Clarke, I do wish you told me sooner but the important thing is that you told me. Now we are on the same level and we can deal with the problem together."
"Together..." Clarke repeated, thinking back to Mount Weather when Bellamy helped her pull the lever that killed the Mountain Men.
"Yeah, exactly." Bellamy smiled at her. "Go get some rest. You're coming with me tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah. I want to get back to Madi."
"Great." Bellamy said with a smile and nod before walking off. Clarke thought for a long moment as she watched him walk away. Through all the years she spent on the ground, he was the person she thought about most besides Madi. A part of her wondered how much he thought of her.

Clarke sighed and shook her head before walking off to get some sleep- if she could. It would be the first night she spent away from Madi in forever.

***

"Johnathan." Sarah walked in to were Johnathan had set himself up. He had been talking to a couple other prisoners when he turned to meet her gaze. He took notice he had lost some weight, unfortunately. She needed some food and there was only so much to go around. "Bellamy radioed me. He's found some survivors."
"I assume we'll be seeing him again soon?" Johnathan raised an eye brow. Sarah nodded.
"He should be here by late tomorrow."
"Great." Johnathan turned away, hoping Sarah would leave quickly. He waited to hear her footsteps to signal she left but they never came.
"Johnathan?" Sarah called out. He tensed at her voice but turned to face her. He eyed her, noticing her eye brows pressed together, lips forming a straight line, and head tilted down slightly. "I wanted to apologize. When we first came here, we had the intention- I had the intention of tricking you to believe that I was their prisoner so you wouldn't try to start a conflict and end up hurting innocent people..." At this point, Sarah looked to meet Johnathan's eyes, expecting him to yell at her or scold her. But he said nothing. Sarah looked down again. "I made you into a bad person. You were just trying to protect your own people. I see that now. You never wanted a conflict. You just wanted to survive." Johnathan stared at her for a long moment and took in her appearance with a sigh. He didn't want to talk to her. Not after she had betrayed everyone on the transporter. Still, they needed to talk.
"Well, you're half right." He responded, making Sarah look up. "I did want to survive. But I was still ready to fight. Quite frankly, I was more than willing to start a war." He chuckled to himself, looking to the floor. When he returned his gaze to Sarah and saw her blank stare, he cleared his throat. "Anyway, I'm glad it ended up like this. If we have to go to war, at least our people won't be destroyed by their people. We would be destroyed by them and their guns."
"I'm glad, too." Sarah nodded, feeling a twist in her stomach with nerves. "But... I think you're missing an opportunity here."
"How do you mean?" Johnathan stepped forward.
"You keep saying 'their people', 'our people', 'their guns'... but haven't you noticed I've been accepted as one of them? I've even gained a little trust with them. Sure, our relationship is still fragile but... especially if we work with them in this threat of war... maybe they can be our people." Sarah stepped forward, suddenly inches away from Johnathan. He eyed her, considering her idea before pushing passed her to a working table that was made out of scrap metal.
"No way." He sighed. "They may have accepted you, but that doesn't mean they'll accept us." He said, reorganizing his things on the desk. Sarah turned her body to face his back.
"Yes, they will! They'll give us food, shelter, friends... a home!" She raised her voice as she balled her hands into fists. "I know most of us never had that in our lifetimes."
"Do they even know what you did?" Johnathan turned his body to her as he glared, leaning against the table and crossing his arms.
"Yes. I told them." Sarah said confidently. "Turns out, we aren't the only people who were prisoners in space. Bellamy and Clarke had to lead just less than one hundred teenagers who were locked up for anything. From being born to murder. They were sent down to Earth on a suicide mission from their council. Don't you get it? They understand, Johnathan. They understand what it's like to be a victim to an unjust system. And if you're willing to help them, they will help you." Sarah spat and walked out with a huff. Johnathan closed his eyes and sighed deeply.