The 1oo. A fan fiction (Season One)

Chapter Seventeen: Missing

    My mother's stifled screaming was almost unbearable. She was hanging onto the edge of the bed, hovering over a blanket, her bulging belly heaving.
    "Mom, please let me go get Dr. Griffin-"
    "No! No, Bellamy, you can't. Tell me what happens if you do." She ordered, her breath coming in short, pained gasps.
    "You'll be floated." I said, my eyes watching the blood drip from under her legs. She nodded and groaned. "I don't understand. Why is it a crime to have more than one baby?"
    "The Ark couldn't survive." She said between gasps. "The Chancellor can't allow it." Her face was strained as another contraction rippled across her belly.
    "He's like the emperor Augustus, right?" I asked, my own fear for my mother growing. She nodded again, her face contorted with pain as sweat matted her hair to her forehead.
    "Yes, that's right." She smiled briefly through her pain, and then she started gasping again. "The baby's coming. Go get the blanket!" She ordered, and I turned, grabbing the fluffy grey blanket from the bed behind her. I placed it underneath her, and with a groan of pain, a small, bloody bundle slipped gently onto the blanket. She slumped to the ground and pushed the baby and its blanket from under her, handing it to me. I wrapped the baby, who I now saw was a girl, in the blanket as snugly as I could, listening to the cries coming from her. My mother smiled weakly at me.
    "My brave boy," She whispered. "You've a sister now." I cradled the baby in my arms, moving to sit next to Mom, watching her tiny face the whole time. "You should name her." She said softly. I turned to stare at the squirming bundle in my arms.
    "Augustus had a sister. Octavia." I said, looking up at mom. She smiled for a moment, but it slipped off her face when Octavia started to wail.
    "Bellamy, you have to keep her from crying. Give her to me." She demanded. As I made a move to hand the baby over, mom whimpered and shied away from me, her eyelids fluttering. "I'm so tired, son. Your sister, your responsibility." She muttered as her breathing became even and slow.
    "Mom? Mom, wake up! I don't know what to do!" I cried out, Octavias' wails growing louder. I peeled my eyes away from mom and stared at Octavia. I gently placed my finger in her mouth, stopping the cries as she sucked on the tip of my finger. I watched her and felt love swell in my heart. Her big brown eyes glanced around and I grinned. "It's going to be okay. I won't let anyone hurt you. Ever. I promise." I whispered to her.
    I startled awake, sitting bolt upright, feeling the sweat beading on my chest and neck. I ran a hand over my face and wiped away the perspiration sticking there. The memory of Octavia's birth was an interesting dream to have. Then I realized I hadn't seen her since yesterday. Worry worked its way up my throat and I gently removed myself from the sleeping bag.
    I glanced down at Shayla, whose back was turned away from me. After I was dressed was when I finally noticed the way she was shaking, the soft moans escaping her lips. I leaned over her shoulder and saw her eyes screwed shut. A nightmare. I thought, instantly knowing what was happening.
    "Shays. Shays, wake up." I whispered, gently shaking her shoulder. Her eyes flew open and a small scream escaped her lips as she scrambled away from me, her eyes wild and scared. "Hey, hey, it's just me. It's Bellamy. You're safe." I said, knowing she was dreaming about her father again. Her breath slowed from gasping as she calmed down, realizing it was just a dream she was having.
    "Bellamy?" She whispered, her body trembling like a newly fallen leaf. I nodded and she crawled over to me. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close.
    "You're okay. I'm here, you're okay." I whispered into her hair as she sobbed. She looked up at me, tears making her eyes shimmer. She sniffed and sat up.
    "Why are you awake? Did I smack you or something?" She laughed slightly through her tears. I grinned at her and cupped her cheek in my hand.
    "No, I was dreaming, and I woke up, that's all." I replied vaguely. It didn't do me any good to answer like that, because Shayla saw right through me.
    "I know you're not telling me everything. Spill." She ordered, crossing her arms and pulling her head away. I sighed.
    "I was just dreaming about when Octavia was born. Nothing special." I responded. She smiled and took my hand.
    "That was one of the happiest moments of your life, I thought. How did it turn sour?"
    "It didn't turn sour. I think it might have been a sign or something. I haven't seen Octavia since yesterday. Have you?" I asked her. She furrowed her brow as she thought.
    "Last time I saw her was when we were leaving to find the dropship. After that, I don't know. You think she's avoiding us, or in danger?" She asked, her voice worried. My own fears for my sister burned in my mind. I shook my head.
    "I'm going to go look around camp to see if I can find her. If not, I'll come back for you and we can all look. Sound good?" I asked, releasing her hand and turning to pull my shirt on. I felt Shayla's hand on my arm, squeezing comfortingly.
    "I'll look with you. Octavia is important to me, too. We didn't hide her all those times for nothing, did we?" She laughed softly, thinking of the times she was over at my apartment, playing with Octavia while I was training to be a guard, and the many more times she had to help me, my mother, or both of us at the same time hide my sister. I nodded and got up.
    "See you out there, then." I said, leaning over to give her a kiss. She grabbed my hand.
    "Octavia is a tough girl. I'm sure she's fine." She said, smiling reassuringly, before turning away to get dressed. I slipped out of the tent and grabbed a still lit torch nearby. I looked throughout the entire camp, checked every tent, and still didn't find her. In the last tent I checked, Clarke was sitting up, wide awake, staring off into the distance. When the light from the torch shone on her, she squinted up at me.
    "What are you doing up?" I asked, my voice hard. She shook her head and clambered out of the tent.
    "I don't know Bellamy, maybe the fact that 300 people might be dying makes it a little hard to sleep." She responded sarcastically. I glanced away for a moment before my gaze went back to her face.
    "Ravens flares will work." I told her.
    "A radio would have worked even better." She mumbled. I glared at her and she ducked her head, avoiding my gaze. I decided to ignore that poke at Shayla, so I got to business.
    "Have you seen Octavia?" I asked, keeping my voice calm despite want to slap her across her face right then and there. She shrugged and finally met my eyes.
    "No. It's Octavia. She's probably chasing butterflies or something."
    "I've checked the entire camp and she's nowhere." I heard the urgency in my own voice, and Clarkes eyes widened as she looked at me. Nodding, she replied.
    "I'll help you look for her. You go to the dropship and I'll recheck the tents. I assume Shayla is-"
    "Clarke, Bellamy! Did you find her?" Shayla had come up behind me and was standing at my side.
    "Not yet. You go with Bellamy to check the dropship. I'll search the camp." Clarke directed as we started to walk.
    "Thank you by the way." I said to Clarke as she walked off.
    "Don't thank me. I'm doing this for Octavia, not you." She replied, disappearing into the darkness. Shayla took my hand to stop me.
    "Bell," She whispered, getting my attention. "We will find her, okay? I promise." She gave me a soft smile and gently squeezed my hand. I clung to her hand, keeping her words of hope close.
    Letting go, we went to the dropship.
After looking with no avail, Shayla came up with the idea of getting the whole camp together to look for her. I nodded and gathered up some weapons. Shayla glanced at the bundle I had gathered and pulled out a hand-made sword from the pile. I smiled.
    "Nice choice. It suits you." I told her as she examined it. She shot me a sly grin.
    "Thanks. I'll work a little bit more with it later." She replied, sliding it through a belt loop. I wrapped the weapons up in a sheet and lugged it towards the middle of camp, where thanks to Clarke, was bustling with activity.
    "Gather round everyone!" I shouted, placing the weapons on the ground. "My sister has been out there for twelve hours. Alone. So arm up, because we're not coming back without her." I had hooked my axe to my hip and had two knives in both pockets. People crowded over the pile, taking what they wanted. I saw Clarke talking to Jasper, and went over, hearing the tail end.
    "I have to help her." Jasper told Clarke.
    "Good. We need all the help we can get." I told him. Jasper nodded and went to grab a knife from the pile.
    "Finn! Come on, we need a tracker!" Shayla yelled at a nearby tent.
    "Alright, I'm coming." Came a short reply. He appeared just as we were getting ready to leave. Suddenly there was a commotion in the clearing. Shayla gasped as her eyes flew upwards. I followed her gaze and saw silver streaks dotting the sky. Murmurs and shouts of confusion and curiosity we thrown about. Clarke and Finn pushed their way to the front of the crowd, and when Clarke saw, her mouth opened, tears filling her eyes. I squinted at the sky, trying to make out what it was.
    "They didn't work." Raven's voice was hard as she stepped out from the darkness and into the clearing. "They didn't see the flares." Regret filled her words. I glanced over toward her.
    "A meteor shower tells you that?" I asked skeptically.
    "It's not a meteor shower, that's a funeral. Hundreds of bodies being returned to the Earth from the Ark. This is what it looks like from the other side." Clarke responded. I felt Shayla lean into me, resting on my arm for support. I could feel her shaking a little bit and looked down. Her eyes were darkened, and her hands were clenched into fists. I slipped my hand into hers and squeezed it comfortingly. I knew she was feeling pretty bad right about now, and I wanted her to know that I'm here for her. Looking up from her lowered head, I saw Raven glaring menacingly at her.
    "This is all because of you, Shayla!" She shouted, lunging forward. Finn and Clarke held her back as I shoved Shayla behind me, but I felt Shayla push my back, moving out from behind me.
    "You want a piece of me? Come on then! I'm right here!" Shayla shouted and jumped forward. I just managed to wrap my arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides as she struggled to get away. I winced as I felt her elbows jab my stomach as she wiggled in my grasp. "I still helped you find your damn radio! I didn't have to!"
    "Well you didn't have to steal it and throw it in the river!" Raven interrupted, shoving Clarke and Finn away as she quit thrashing around. I loosened my grip a little and Shayla shook me off, shrugging.
    "And I would do it again in a heartbeat." Her soft growl was one I almost missed. My heart skipped a beat. This woman is incredible. I thought, a warm feeling of love spreading through my body. I forced myself not to smile. "Yea, I feel bad, alright? You don't have to make it worse, jagoff." Shayla said, crossing her arms and glaring at Raven.
    "Look, Raven, just leave it alone. Shayla has to live with it for the rest of her life." Clarke said, shooting a glance in Shayla's direction. She narrowed her eyes at Clarke, shaking a little, and I tensed, ready to hold her back if she went for a fight again. But she didn't.
    "Are we leaving to find Octavia or what?" Shayla asked, and stalked away toward the exit.
    "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's move out!" I shouted, following after her with the group on my tail. I heard Jasper call out to me to wait for Finn, and I stopped, looking out towards the darkness where Shayla had disappeared to. My heart skipped a beat when I didn't see her right away, but then I saw her crouched down next to the gravesite where Wells was buried. I saw her shoulders shaking and started to go to her, but then Jasper and Finn came over, saying they were ready to go. I glanced behind them, looking for Clarke and Raven.
    "Where are the girls?" I asked. Finn shrugged.
    "Not coming. They're going to work on the radio you two trashed." He replied, glancing from where his sister sat and me. I put aside my urge to punch him and moved toward Shayla. Finn darted ahead of me and was standing behind her. I stiffened as I watched her turn to look up at him, tears streaking her face. She furrowed her brow and looked away as she got up, wiping the tears from her face. Finn reached out to grab her shoulders and turned her to face him. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I was shocked when she hugged him. They stood there for a little bit before coming back to the group. Shayla looked more relaxed than she did a few hours ago.
    "Let's go then!" Finn shouted and started to lead the way off into the forest. Shayla moved to follow, but I grabbed her arm before she could get away.
    "What was that about?" I asked, tilting my head in the direction of the graves. She smiled up at me softly.
    "Finn apologized and we resolved an issue between us, that's all." She replied. "Now lets go find your sister, shall we?" She asked, holding her hand out to me. I grabbed on and we followed after the group into the shadows of the forest.

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    "Over here!" I heard Jones shout. My heart leapt in my throat as I raced toward the sound of his voice. I slammed into Bellamys back. He held out a hand to steady me, but was otherwise distracted, staring down into a small gorge.
    "What do you see?" I asked, hearing an odd amount of strength in my voice. Bellamy's hands were shaking as Jones pointed out what he had seen.
    "Right there, hanging off that bush, you see it?" I squinted down at the bush he had pointed out, and saw a belt hanging loosely off a branch. "Is that Octavias?" He asked, looking to Bellamy.
    "I need the rope." Bellamy said, taking the coil of rope handed to him. He unrolled it and tossed one side down the gorges' edge. Someone asked what he was doing and I rolled my eyes.
    "He's gonna need someway to get back up." I replied, watching Bellamy tie the other end off to a tree.
    "Jones, let me borrow your flashlight." Bellamy said holding his hand out. He stuck the flashlight in his pocket and wrapped the rope around his waist, getting ready to go down. I watched with my shoulders stiff as he rappelled his way down towards the bush. Reaching it, he picked up the belt and examined it, calling back to us, "It's hers! I'm going all the way down." He said, clambering the rest of the way down. Jasper handed the torch he was carrying off to me, fastened the baton he was using as a weapon to his belt, and followed Bellamy down.
    I scowled and stuck the torch in the ground, feeling the heat from the flame on my thigh as I followed Jasper down. Bellamy was crouching down and looking at a rock when I reached the bottom. I peeked over his and Jaspers' shoulders and gasped. There was a small rock at their feet, and on it was blood. Bellamy touched it and it stuck to his fingers.
    "Someone else was here." Bellamy said grimly, his eyes wide. I glanced at where he was looking and saw a large bootprint embedded into the mud. I saw Finn come from behind me and crouch nest to the other boys.
    "The prints are deeper going that way. He was carrying her." Finn said, pointing down a path through the gorge.
    "If he was carrying her, that means she's still alive, like when they took me." Jasper stated, his voice relieved
    "Well come on then! We have to follow them!" I said following the footprints at a jog. I heard everyone else start to come after me. I stayed in front, not wanting to talk to anyone at the moment. I was still in a bad mood from seeing the Arks funeral and having Raven get on my ass about it. I heard the boys talking in low voices behind me, and I ignored them.
    We were walking for about ten minutes before I stopped. I felt my heart leap into my throat at the sight in front of me and I gasped, stumbling backwards. I backed into something and I let out a startled yelp, whirling around with my hand on the hilt of my sword. Bellamy held up his hands in mock surrender and glanced behind me. His face went slack as he stared. I turned slowly and took in the sight. Lining the path ahead of us were skeletons hanging on stakes. There were so many of them, I couldn't count them all. They were dirty and covered in moss and vines that had snaked up the poles over the years.
    "I don't speak grounder, but I think this means keep out." Finn broke the silence. Quite a few people were unnerved so much, that they turned and left, leaving us with only a few people, plus myself, Finn, Bellamy, and Jasper. I glanced at Bellamy and saw his hands shaking.
    "You cowards can go back. My sister, my responsibility." Bellamy spoke, walking forward. I stiffened my shoulders and marched after him. I caught up to him and walked at his side. I heard Jasper's voice say something I missed, then I heard his footsteps follow. The rest of the groups' steps followed suit. I slipped my hand into Bellamys and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He looked down at me and I smiled softly. He gave me a tight-lipped smile back and continued on his way, not letting go of my hand the entire time.
    A thought when Octavia was younger and very close to being caught and floated popped into my mind, and the fear that came with it. Panic raced through my blood at that moment I stumbled, letting go of Bellamys' hand as I stopped.
    "Shays? Hey, you okay? Shayla!" Bellamy's voice echoed through my mind as though underwater. I felt my grasp on reality slip and my breathing was fast and shaky. I felt myself fall to the ground against a tree and managed to see Bellamy's and Finn's faces in front of mine as the darkness overwhelmed me.