Warrior ‣ Bellamy Blake

Sixty-Three

A long chapter just for y'all. Enjoy!

BOLD = Trigedasleng, but you already knew that

***

Throughout the night, Aella had been helping Jackson heal the wounded and cover the dead, not that many of their people had died in the encounter with the terrorists. The two worked relatively in silence, Aella not being one to talk much anymore and Jackson unsure of how to approach her.

He took a deep breath and said, "You're, uh, suture skills still seem pretty good. You get any practice?"

"Yep," Aella replied, adjusting her leg brace.

"Do you need any help with that?" he asked.

"Unless you can make a new one," she answered, fiddling with a broken strap. "Praimfaya and sandstorms were not friendly to my leg."

"I don't think they could've been friendly if they tried."

She almost smiled to be nice, but she didn't.

"But you kept up your skills a bit. We could've used more people like you in the bunker."

"Yeah," she said, biting the inside of her cheek. "Part of me wishes I had stayed behind in the bunker, but it wasn't meant to be. Besides, you had Abby."

He almost scoffed, but respectfully didn't. She didn't know what happened with Abby.

As if reading his mind, she asked, "Abby seemed off."

"Same old Abby," he responded.

"Are you sure? She seemed so scared of Octavia and everything. I know O's scary now, but Abby's not one to be scared."

He scratched the back of his head, thankful when Miller came by.

They murmured some things to each other, Aella hearing Jackson tell Miller to be safe before the two kissed. 

Aella did not falter or react, but she knew that six years ago, she would've been ecstatic to see those two together. 

When she noticed Miller looked armed, Aella asked, "Miller, what's going on?"

He brushed past her silently and kept on going to stand in line with people armed with big guns. Her eyes widened.

"What is this?"

"Aella..." Miller began, but he simply didn't know what to say next, continuing forward.

"Yeah, what is this?" Bellamy asked, he and Archer stepping in Miller's path.

"Wish I could tell you, Bellamy," he responded.

"Octavia told you not to?" he asked.

Miller refused to look in either of their eyes.

"Guns," Aella said, noticing the heat Miller was packing. "You're going to Shallow Valley to move ahead of the army and scout terrain."

"A-" he began.

She brushed past him and shouted back, "Where's Octavia?" 

"Stop!" he said, grabbing her arm. "Look, you don't exactly make the calls anymore."

"I'm aware, Miller," she replied, staring into his eyes. "Where is Octavia?"

"That doesn't matter right now."

"Yes, it does." She crossed her arms. "What route are you taking?"

He didn't answer, Archer saying, "Just listen to her. She knows what she's talking about."