Warrior ‣ Bellamy Blake

Forty-Seven

With Archer on her back, Aella, Bellamy, and Clarke returned to Arkadia to find their friends. Raven had confirmed to them that what A.L.I.E. said was true and that they'd all be dead in six months. They were reasonably worried, so they immediately put all their efforts into finding a way to stop it.

Aella situated Archer into her father's neat room and made sure he was asleep; he surely needed rest after everything that happened and everything that was to come. He protested, of course, claiming he couldn't leave her unprotected, but fatigue shortly won the battle.

Raven, Clarke, Bellamy, Monty, and Harper worried themselves finding the way to stop it for days, Aella checking in with Bellamy their progress level. When there seemed to be no luck, she hid out in the medical center and began testing her blood as much as her limited medical capabilities would allow.

She had taken so many samples of her blood and then asked one from Archer who agreed without hesitation. She took a blood sample and that was when they both realized Archer had a deathly fear of needles, not knowing it because he had never been exposed to one before. She quickly took the sample and then removed the needle, wiping the tears off his cheek and promising he'd never have to be poked with one again.

Then she took a sample from Bellamy. He didn't seem to have much trouble taking the sample but just kept asking questions.

"Why are you taking my blood?" Bellamy asked, sitting on the table with the needle in his arm.

"You've asked me that 30 times already," she murmured in concentration, carefully taking a sample into a test tube and then filling another one.

"Why are you taking more?" he asked.

"Hey, you consented to the blood test."

"I figured you'd answer me if I did."

"Well, depends on what your answer for me is. Have you guys found out how to stop this yet?"

"We're close," he lied, not wanting to worry her.

"You forget I know you so well I can detect any lie that slips through those perfect teeth," she responded, giving him a pointed stare.

"We're probably close," he admitted.

"But no solution."

"Not yet, but there will be."

"I love your optimistic side as well as anyone else, but optimism can't save us, Bell. I need your honesty."

"I'm afraid we won't find something to stop this," he admitted. 

"If you can't, I will, Raven will, Monty will, or Clarke will. Someone will. That's what a team's for."

"What's your solution, then?"

"I'm testing my theory. If Nightblood filters out radiation better than normal blood like Dante Wallace claimed, then I could be the key to this."

"You're literally testing your theory. That's why you've been in medical all this time."

"Bingo."

"When's the last time you slept?" he asked, gently touching the dark circles under her eyes.

"The last time I slept was the last time you did," she responded. "You need sleep too. I already forced Archer to sleep, so don't make me do the same with you."

"You need to fight a little harder to knock me out, you know," he said with the hint of a smile.

"Then I'll give you a healthy dose of tranquilizers," she countered with a small grin.