Warrior ‣ Bellamy Blake

Fifty-Four

UM turns out this story is eligible for the 2019 Wattys. Now, all I'm wondering is if I should enter the contest......

What do y'all think?

long chapter, just for you.

BOLD = Trigedasleng

***

After bitching everyone out, complying to a bone marrow transplant, failing to have a good amount of sleep in years, lugging her dead leg around, and trying to figure out how to avoid the extinction of humanity, it was safe to say Aella was tired.

She lied back down in the comfy mattress alone this time, running her finger over the stitches Abby sewed into her hip after begrudgingly taking the girl's bone marrow. Her fingertips were able to touch and feel any inconsistency on her skin, including the stitches made from fishing line-like material. She could feel the scar already begin to form and the little indentations in her skin. It brought up painful memories, ones she chastised herself occasionally for thinking. 

It was no mystery that Aella Kane treated herself harsher than she did any other person, so it should come to no surprise that she was scolding herself for the painful effect these past memories held over her. She wished nothing more than those to become stories of the past, not traumas that still managed to wound her in the present or near future. That was not how trauma worked, though.

Thankfully, Clarke interrupted Aella's wallowing by politely knocking on the door before entering with Archer by her side. The boy quickly hopped on the bed, not understanding what recovery meant, and Clarke carefully sat on the bed beside them, the bed ever-so-slightly dipping down.

"Hey," Clarke greeted softly, her voice sounding a little more strained and gravelly than before.

"Hey," Aella greeted in the same ardor. "I was wondering when you'd come along."

"You know she feels bad, right?" she asked. "Doesn't excuse what she did, though."

"I know," she responded, not even having to ask who Clarke was referring to.

"We're headed to Polis soon," she informed. "Come with us."

She sat up carefully to look Clarke in the eyes. "Why are you going to Polis?"

"Kane found the bunker Jaha was looking for. It was the right one this time. We have a chance of survival now."

"So we made Emori a Nightblood for nothing?"

"I injected myself with it," she responded. "I saw Emori on that table and even while unconscious, she looked scared. I knew I couldn't do it."

"Did it work?"

"I'm a Nightblood."

"I guess we're blood sisters now, eh?" she forced a smile. "I was asking if the radiation test worked."

"My mom destroyed the machine." That caused Aella's face to drop.

"I know she's not my mom, but she said she cared," said Aella bitterly. "She took my bone marrow when I volunteered, but the second you volunteered, she destroyed the machine."

"A..." She trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"I'll pack our things. Tell Abby I'm coming with, but she shouldn't be surprised if I don't speak to her."

"Understood." She nodded and left the room.

Aella sat up and began throwing any clothes and weapons into her backpack.

Archer lying on the bed with confusion etching his face, asked, "What's going on?"

"We're saved," she said, turning around to face him with hope lighting up in her eyes. "You get to live, Archie."