𝙃𝙄𝘿𝘿𝙀𝙉 𝘿𝙀𝙈𝙊𝙉𝙎² ➣ 𝐵. 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑘𝑒✔

03 | Memorial

I felt my eyes flutter open as they adjusted to their surroundings. My body felt weak as I looked around the room; I'm in medical. I saw a figure to my left, and when I looked at it I realized it was Raven.

"Raven?" I asked weakly.

The girl's head shot up, her eyes wide. "Oh, my God. You're okay."

She stood up, pulling me into a tight hug. I winced slightly, causing the girl to let go of me. "Oh, sorry."

I just shook my head. "I'm fine. How long was I out?"

She seemed skeptical as she sat beside me. "A few hours," she answered. "The force of the explosion had knocked you unconscious; you've got minor burns on some parts of your body from how close you were."

"Sinclair?"

"He's doing okay," Raven answered. "It's really good to see you, Aiden. Abby said if you had been any closer to the fire, you probably wouldn't have made it."

I felt my bottom lip quiver when I thought about Gina. She was one of my best friends. Tears clouded my eyes as I looked at the girl next to me. "She's gone."

Raven gave me an empathetic look, pulling me into a hug. She rubbed my back, comfortingly.

°°°

About an hour later, Abby had cleared me from medical, telling me to take it easy for a few days. I gripped my jacket loosely in my left hand as I made my way to mine and Bellamy's room. I stopped in front of the door, opening it. At the sound of the door opening, Bellamy turned around. His eyes met mine as he quickly walked to me, pulling me into a hug. I hugged back, biting my lip. The boy buried his face in the crook of my neck.

"Thank God," he mumbled. I gently rubbed his back, placing a kiss on his shoulder.

When he pulled away, he pulled me into a long, hard kiss, his hands resting on my face. I kissed back until I pulled away.

He looked at me. "I shouldn't have left you there... I'm so sorry; this is all my fault--"

I shook my head, shushing him. "No, Bellamy. It wasn't your fault. This was all Ice Nation. You couldn't have known that Echo was lying."

°°°

I walked through the hall, stopping outside the Chancellor's office when I heard Bellamy's voice. I peeked inside to see that Bellamy had placed his guard's jacket on the table.

"49 of the people I swore to protect died yesterday because I left," Bellamy said to Kane who shifted in his seat.

"That's not your fault, Bellamy," Kane stated. "Place the blame where it belongs. On the Ice Nation."

"The Ice Nation didn't tell Aiden to stay there," Bellamy said. "That was me."

I pursed my lips slightly as I continued to listen. After a few seconds of silence, Kane spoke. "Given the information you had at the time, you made a reasonable choice. You were trying to save lives."

"But I didn't," Bellamy said, his voice breaking a little. "And Aiden almost died yesterday. That's on me."

As he turned and began walking to the exit, I spun on my heel, walking back the way I came.

°°°

"All that's certain is that we die," Pike said. We're having a memorial for the people who died in Mount Weather yesterday. I glanced at Bellamy to see his saddened expression before turning my attention back to Pike as he continued.

"How we die is up to us. Who will speak for Iris Jones?"

A boy stood up, Miller's boyfriend, and walked to the front of the hangar bay, fiddling with a small switchblade in his hands. "Iris was strong. Good with a knife. She saved my life. I'm just sorry I couldn't do the same for her."