GRIM REAPER¹, bellamy blake

029 ━━ tension

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THERE WAS a thick tension in the mine.

Octavia rushed to reunite with Jasper and Monty, who, truth be told, Iona hadn't even noticed at first. She'd been too absorbed in staring mindlessly at Bellamy, trying to read his thoughts from her place several feet away from him.

He had an unreadable expression on his face, immediately covering his surprise at the Gounder woman's return, and putting on a hard facade.

Now, when he looked at her, he looked relatively angry and full of frustration.

She couldn't place why or since when, but his stare was full of rage. She wasn't sure if it was towards her or towards their situation, but either way, she couldn't deny that it was beginning to rub off on her.

Iona was never the type to turn down a challenge, and in her eyes, Bellamy was challenging her to speak first.

Thus, the tension came into play.

Every stare between the two of them was heated, an unspoken anger bubbling up in their throats, and one of them would have to look away before the first word had been spoken aloud. Surely it would be fueled by anger and cause a heated argument.

Instead of focusing on the tension, however, Iona focused more on their freshly acquired plan: split up into teams. One team would search for an oxygen whilst another would look for someone named Dante.

Jumping at the opportunity, Iona immediately grabbed Bellamy's arm and tugged him with her, assigning him to be her partner.

He seemed more than unhappy about the arrangement, shaking her off, but complied with the plan regardless.

For a long time, they explored the halls silently; no other sound could be heard besides the clicking of Iona's boots against the tile, and an uncomfortable silence sprouted forth from their situation.

As they approached the next hallway, Iona spotted a door that led into a small closet and instantly, she pulled it open with one hand and grabbed Bellamy with the other.

He struggled momentarily, fighting against her grip, but once the door was closed, she stopped holding onto him, giving him free reign to control the situation. Bellamy seemed to catch onto her gist, slowly walking forward with mysterious eyes.

"Tell me you didn't know," Bellamy broke the silence first.

He had her cornered against the wall, but she looked far from scared or claustrophobic. Instead, she appeared to be enjoying the situation, eyes narrowed in thought as she observed him closely.

"Tell me you weren't in on it."

Iona huffed through her nose, exhaling a heavy breath with a roll of her eyes. "If I was, do you really think I'd be here right now? Like I'd come back to save your sorry ass."

"Yeah, except that's exactly what you did," Bellamy reminded her, jutting his finger out in her direction. "You came back even though your leader bought your freedom. Sounds a bit sketchy to me."

"After everything, you want to call me sketchy?" Iona growled. She took out two of her hands, roughly shoving Bellamy back into the wall opposite them. "You have no idea what I gave up to come save you- to repay you."

He tilted his head up, staring down at the woman- who was only a mere inch shorter than him, but felt as if she was towering over him every time she was this close- through hooded eyes.

"You act like I can trust you."

Iona scoffed, but her voice came out rather shaky, "And you don't think you can?"

Iona chewed on her lip, trying to fight off the feeling of betrayal eating away at her.

She knew they hadn't been friendly in the past; hell, she was mostly the reason for that. But now, after surviving a few days within that mountain- that hellhole- with Bellamy, she felt connected him to a way.

Perhaps it was through their wounds, their blood, or maybe through the emotional- and physical- scars that now litter their skin. Matching scars, matching shapes, matching images of pure pain.

Together, they made a perfect picture of the heartache they both felt and painted a landscape of crimson; blood on blood, skin on skin, sunken eyes meeting an even more sullen gaze.

"You know," Iona began to whisper- and in that moment, she'd felt more weak- slowly, just loud enough he could hear her wispy words, "I sacrificed the most meaningful things to me just so I could come here and fight for what I believe in."

Bellamy's face had fallen slightly, eyes flitting over her heartbroken expression.

She was a strong woman, keeping herself together long enough to face him, but it was so clear on her face that Bellamy wondered if this was the same woman that had voted to sacrifice his people.

"I know why you don't trust me; maybe I'm naive in thinking that would've changed over these past few days," Iona said, rapidly blinking away the water staining her eyes, "but I will not let you stand here and tell me I'm someone I'm not. I've always fought for what I believed in, and right now, I believe in your people."

"So if you'll just shut your fucking mouth for one moment, maybe you'd see that I'm fighting for a cause that has nothing to do with Lexa and has everything to do with my own personal feelings!"

Iona hadn't realized her outburst until a second later, her eyes widening slightly as she heard her own yell leave her lips. Absentmindedly, her hand had gone to her katana, resting on the hilt, and she had begun panting.

Her face fell and she shook her head, taking a step back from the stunned man.

She went to turn, to leave, to escape, but she was roped back into his chest with a tug of her arm, spinning her back into him. Bellamy's arms crossed over her chest, holding her right below her collarbone, and Iona wasn't sure she had it in her to fight him.

His embrace was soft and comforting, something she hadn't experienced in a long time, and against her better judgment, she relaxed into his arms. Iona let her head fall back against him, eyes closing.

"I'm sorry," He murmured hesitantly, breath fanning her ear.

She wasn't sure how she'd gone from angry to comforted so fast- it didn't feel right at all-, but Iona didn't fight it, eyes blinking tiredly.

"I know this isn't your fault," Bellamy sighed. Truth be told, he was just eager to pass blame onto someone, and considering Iona was closest to Lexa, she seemed like the perfect target.

But it was clear to him that he was wrong.

"I'm so sorry, Ona."

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