hesykhia • bellamy blake

xxii. human trials and long into an abyss

Dᴀɴᴛᴇ Wᴀʟʟᴀᴄᴇ's ᴏғғɪᴄᴇ is dark and dim as Jasper steps inside. A painting is hung up behind the president as he sits at his desk working on his own piece of artwork. When the door is closed behind Jasper and beeps, Wallace places his utensils down and stares up at the scrawny teenager.

"Thank you for coming," Wallace says and stands up. "I've been told you visit Medical three or four times day asking about Clarke and Skye."

"Yeah," Jasper answers him as the older man steps around his desk to come closer. "No one will let me see them."

"That's because they're no longer here." Jasper is fiddling with the back of a seat before he hears this and stills himself to stare at Wallace. "Clarke and Skye ran away. I tried to convince Clarke that she was safe here. But she couldn't stop looking for enemies when she was among friends. She must have convinced Skye of her paranoias."

"I'm sorry," Jasper says, "I don't meant to be disrespectful, but Clarke and Skye wouldn't just abandon us."

He knew for sure that Skye wouldn't leave him. Not on her own accord.

"I wish it wasn't the case."

Jasper shrugged.

"Well, are you looking for them?"

"I can't risk the lives of my people to bring back someone who doesn't wanna be here. I hope you can understand that."

Jasper voice is a soft whisper as Wallace walks to stand closer to him, "Yeah."

He knew that even though Skye and Clarke had their differences, their need to protect all of their people over powered all of their senses. Being trapped in this mountain where they can't know what or who is left on the outside just didn't suit them.

"What I can do is let you go after them yourself."

Jasper didn't really like the idea of that. All of the terrible things the Grounders did to him come flooding back into the forefront of his mind.

"Can I come back?" Jasper asks.

"Of course you can. Jasper, this is your home now. You're welcome to stay here as long as you like." Dante Wallace placed his hand on Jasper's shoulder comfortingly before walking over to the door. "Let me know what you decide."

Jasper nods and walks out of the president's office.

···

Skye Davis could hardly sleep through the night. She was worried if Clarke made it out without any fatal injuries and if she was able to find someone who could help. Her never ending worry about Bellamy and Murphy plagued her as she tried to find a comfortable position against the metal of the cage. It wasn't just the worry that kept her awake, but the groans of the Grounders who surrounded her. The sounds never ceased. It reminded her of the ever present hum of the Ark she would hear up in the Skybox, but up there she could trick her brain into ignoring the machinery. The groans of humans was more difficult.

No one had came back after Dr. Tsing and Cage visited her. She knew at some point they would feed her some way. How else would they be able to store all of these Grounders and keep them alive if they didn't feed them? They would have cages full of dead Grounders. Each may be severely malnourished and weak, but they had to be getting the bare minimum to keep them alive. What Skye had to do was learn the schedules of the feeding time, the times Dr. Tsing came in to check the Grounders, and whatever times for any routine monitoring they may do.

Morning came at some point. Skye can't really tell because there isn't any signs to tell her how time was passing. No windows, obviously. No clocks because what would Grounders need clocks for. The only way she could tell how much time passed was the ache in her body as it settled into one position against the cage. When she isn't moving around, she watches the Grounder below her. She knew it was probably rude to stare at him, but the only other Grounder she had studied in this way was Lincoln. The innocence she saw in his eyes the night before tells her he and Lincoln were similar. Not that Lincoln was innocent, she has a scar on her leg to prove it, but their energy was the same.

"What's your name?" Skye asks.

The boy's eyes snap to look at her, noticing for the first time that she had been watching him. He doesn't reply, just stares back just as intently as she is.

"Do you know Lincoln?" She asks.

The woman in the cage next to her makes a sound of a scoff full of phlegm and says, "Do not speak of that traitor."

Skye remembers that Octavia once told her that only their warriors understood English. So far, she's noticed the boy below and the woman beside her can understand her as well as the man towards the middle cages across from her. She wonders how many others understood her as well.

At the woman's words, the boy quickly, almost too quick for her to see, glares at the woman before turning his eyes back to Skye. She can tell he didn't share the woman's sentiments. If anything, it tells her that he may have been close with Lincoln. It comforts her to know that even in a cage next to complete strangers who would not hesitate to kill her outside of the mountain, she can find someone to connect her to her friends when she's so far from them. If he knew Lincoln, he could know of Octavia. And Octavia is Skye's direct connection to Bellamy. She had been too focused on Bellamy and Murphy that Skye forgot how much she misses Octavia. The Blake sibling accepted Skye from the beginning while also being an outcast herself. She knew how much Murphy meant to her, and she knew how to cheer her up when he was banished and when Bellamy slept with Raven. Skye hadn't realized how many friends she made on Earth, but now she felt even more alone.

···

Bellamy Blake can see the sign of Camp Jaha with the Guards pacing inside the fence as he steps out of the forest line with his arm guiding Mel and Octavia and Monroe following close behind him. He didn't know how Abby and Kane were going to react to him coming back empty handed besides Mel. But it didn't matter much because he was sure to be back in the makeshift cell again to wait his punishment.

As his group approaches the camp, the Guards are demanding someone to open the gates. He and Mel walk through first, and Bellamy makes sure to make careful steps as he crosses to get inside the camp.

"We're gonna need your weapon," a Guard says and relieves Bellamy of his weapon. He carefully lets go of the gun and holds his hand out to make sure the Guard knows he is not a threat.

Abby is the first person to approach him, but she doesn't pay much attention to him. Instead she turns to Mel.

"I know you. Factory Station," Abby says as she examines the girl's face. The girl nods. "Where are the others?"