Rupture | Bellamy Blake ² [Discontinued]

✭ | chapter two

❝i wrestled with satan, and i emerged victorious.❞

-william faulkner, author

♛

CLARKE'S PLAN IS NOT the greatest. It's extremely risky, time-constricted, and even one mistake could have the entire thing come crashing down. No person in their right mind would do it. But desperation is a funny thing— it pushes us to do things we'd normally never do. Which is why I agree to sneak into the tower with the Griffins to save the dying King of Azgeda.

"I don't like this," Bellamy sighs, shifting his weight onto his opposite foot and tilting his head to the side. The light in the temple is still soft, obscuring the sharper angles of his face in shadows but casting an orange glow over his curls. It's silent except for the crackling of the hundreds of candles in the small room.

I scoff. "You never like anything. Besides, I'll be okay." My voice turns softer at the fact he still doesn't look convinced. "There are risks, yes, but there are risks outside of the tower, too, and Clarke asked for my help."

Bellamy grumbles incoherently under his breath. I sigh, reach up to cup his face in both of my hands, and press my lips firmly to his. I can't remember the last time we had a moment like this. Things have been so hectic to the point where we hardly get a break, and being back in his arms again fools my brain for a moment into thinking we have peace. But just as quickly, the illusion fades once I pull back.

"I'll be okay," I repeat firmly as I run my thumb along his cheek. My gaze locks onto his until he eventually gives in and nods, though still clearly unhappy about the plan.

Together, we walk out of the temple and find the others waiting for us. Bellamy heads to one of the abandoned buildings to keep watch as a gunner. Jaha has already located a spare body bag. Octavia is nowhere to be seen — maybe she's looking for the shroud of the Commanders — but her absence sets me on edge nevertheless.

"The guards stationed at the tower door will probably deliver you to the room where Roan is with Echo," Clarke says to Jaha. "Mom, Fallon, and I will sneak through the back corridors and follow you guys up there. You know the rest."

The small group of us collectively nods. I cast a quick glance in the direction that Bellamy went, but he's not in position at the top floor of the watch building yet.

I let my gaze drop to the former Chancellor of the Ark. I had spent most of my life avoiding him, hating how he allowed the upper class to thrive like they did while the working class barely had enough rations to survive. How he floated otherwise good people for the pettiest of crimes. But now I see a man stricken with regret of what he's done, a man who stayed in space while the rest of the Ark's inhabitants went to the ground. Jaha is already so different than the man I'd imagined he'd still been.

I'd punched him just a few weeks ago. Hopefully he'd forgive me for that— I'd let my emotions get the better of me and it was wrong.

But now is not the time for a formal apology. As Clarke takes my hand and starts to pull me toward the back of one of the Azgeda-stolen buildings, I barely have time to turn back and hastily blurt, "Sorry about the sucker punch."