Who We Are [Bellamy Blake]

Chapter 24

Ordered chaos seemed to break out as Clarke and Finn stepped into the walls of the camp, everyone racing to them either to talk to them, hug them, ask them questions. Athena watched as Bellamy walked up to her, and Athena knew this was her chance to slip out. As she made her way to the tent where she and Bellamy had shared the night together, she heard Clarke speaking about leaving, and Bellamy arguing that they had to stay.

In the tent, away from the chaos, Athena grabbed a small bag and tucked a few things into it. Some gauze, some water, and some of her own clothes that she had swapped for Bellamy’s. It was time for her to return to the mountain where she belonged. Sliding the bag over her shoulder, wincing slightly at the pain, she wondered if she should say goodbye to Bellamy or to slip out unnoticed. It would be easier to go without word, but she needed to make sure that they headed in the right direction.

It was Bellamy’s voice she heard when she left, and things were not going as she had hoped.

“You expect us to trust a Grounder? This is our home now. We built this from nothing with our bare hands! Our dead are buried behind that wall in this ground! Our ground! The Grounders think they can take that away. They think that because we came from the sky, we don't belong here. But they've yet to realize one very important fact: We are on the ground now, and that means we are Grounders!” He shouted and the crowd roared.

However, Clarke was not off put by Bellamy’s speech as the other ones were. As Athena leaned against the drop ship, she watched Clarke with slight admiration. Bellamy was older, stronger, more influential at first glance, and yet Clarke had leadership skills she didn’t even knew she harboured.

And so she retorted willfully. “If we leave, we may never find a place as safe as this. And God knows, in this world, we could be faced with something worse tomorrow. But that doesn’t change the simple fact that if we stay here, we will die, tonight. So pack your things, just take what you can carry. Now!”

               

Athena nodded as she watched everyone head to their tents, gathering food and clothes, approving the actions that were being taken. However, the defeated look on Bellamy’s face made it even harder for Athena to follow through with her decision to stay behind. Clearing her throat and adjusting the bag on her shoulder, she stepped towards a defeated looking Bellamy.

“You’re packed already?” He asked, suspicion consuming the defeat for a moment.

“I didn’t come with much.” She lied, though kicked herself mentally for it as she knew it would be harder the longer she ignored the truth.

“Where do we go?” He asked.

That was something she didn’t have to lie about. “East, and use the sun as your guide. I’d teach you star navigation, but that takes a long time.”

“Won’t… Won’t you be our guide?”

Athena pursed her lips, then shook her head. “I’m not going. I’ll see you out as far as those gates, but then we are going different directions.”

“Where will you go?”

“Back to my clan.” She said, “Whatever’s left of it.”