[edited 7 February 2017]

•••

as much air as his lungs would allow him whilst he looked around. The dropship was still filled with sick teenagers, and he was only just beginning to feel better.

His head felt as though it was filled with lead, his eyes were itchy and his entire body ached. He immediately sat up, looking around him for Raine, but she was nowhere to be seen. Panic flared up in his chest, and his thoughts travelled to the pile of bodies just outside the dropship.

He was struggling to his feet as Murphy approached, holding a cup of water in his hand. The bloodied boy held it out, speaking lowly, "Here."

Bellamy glanced up in confusion, suddenly feeling lightheaded. When his vision focused and he saw who it was he scowled and knocked the cup of water away, growling half-deliriously, "Get the hell away from me."

"Bellamy, you're sick." Murphy's tone was condescending and if Bellamy wasn't so weak he would've punched him. "I'm just trying to help."

He then gestured to Bellamy's face, and the older boy became aware of the dark blood dripping from his nose. Murphy quickly reached for a rag, holding it out for Bellamy to use but Bellamy instead chose to use his sleeve, sniffing the blood up. Murphy looked mildly disgusted.

Bellamy coughed once, his throat erupting into pain, and he croaked, "I told you to leave her alone. When I get better... if you're still here..."

"Hey," Clarke interrupted his threat, walking over to them. She was looking better, no longer bleeding profusely but her eyes, nose and mouth were still stained red. Murphy glanced at her she continued, "I've got this one."

Silently, Murphy stood up, handing the half-empty cup of water to Clarke and walking off. Bellamy watched, anger running through his veins. He had told Murphy to stay away – to stay away from her – and yet here he was, like the low-life piece of scum he was. If he wasn't so weak, he would've beaten the boy to a pulp by now.

Clarke sat down beside him heavily, obviously still sick despite her increased appearance, and handed him the cup. This time he took it. He downed the water in one gulp and then looked at Clarke. Her skin was pale, her eyes red and slightly bruised. Bellamy could only guess that he looked the same way.

"Where is she?" was his first question.

Clarke smiled knowingly, "Raine's outside. I had to force her to leave – she was serious about not leaving you. She's been pacing out there for most of the day."

Bellamy smiled to himself, shaking his head softly. "She's stubborn, that's for sure. Is she okay, though?"

"The fever didn't affect her like it did us. She's strong, Bellamy." Clarke answered, still looking exhausted.

"What about you? You look like crap." Bellamy asked, clutching the cup tightly in his hands. The metal was cool, and seemed to calm him down.

Clarke let out a short laugh, replying, "Yeah."

Bellamy noted that she hadn't actually answered his question, but he let it go. Instead, he turned his attention to his younger sibling. "Have you seen Octavia?"

"She was up all night, helping people." Clarke wrapped her arms around her knees, tucking them under her chin. "Murphy gave her a break."

"Don't tell me you trust him now." Bellamy said bitterly, thinking about Raine.

He would never understand why she was so quick to defend him – he was a murderer, a killer. You shot the Chancellor, Bellamy. Get off your high horse; he could hear Raine chastising him, shaking her head.

"Trust? No." Clarke spoke, pulling him from his thoughts. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, saying, "I do believe in second chances though."

Bellamy lowered his eyes, partly in shame, and looked around the dropship again. At least a third of their people were sick, and that wasn't including the large number of those who hadn't made it. "It's almost dawn," he muttered, "It's time to get everyone inside. If we lock the door maybe the grounders won't think we're home."

"Not everyone is sick." Clarke protested.

"Sick is better than dead." Bellamy fired back.

Clarke was silent for a moment, before it clicked and she realised why Bellamy was being the way he was. "You don't think Finn and Jasper are going to pull it off."

"Do you?"

Clarke sighed, "What about Raine? Can you really see her sitting around?"

"I'd rather her be alive and mad at me than dead."

"Alright, I'll get everyone inside." Clarke spoke dejectedly as she stood up.

"I'm coming, too." Bellamy spoke, allowing no room for protest as he stood up. He made his way towards the exit of the dropship, almost hesitantly.

He barely remembered what had happened between him and Raine before he passed out, but he could vaguely remember him saying sorry, and Raine crying. He also remembered something light and feathery brushing his cheek just as his eyes closed – had Raine kissed him?

He shook his head, pulling back the flap to the dropship and stepping outside. The sun was blinding, and he was forced to squint as he waited for his eyes to adjust. When they had he opened his eyes and scanned the clearing, spotting Raine almost immediately.

Just like Clarke had said, Raine was pacing anxiously. Her brows were drawn together, and her lips were pursed as she nibbled on the inside of her cheek. Something filled Bellamy, something that he had never experienced before, and he made his way toward her slowly.

She continued to pace, oblivious to his presence until she turned around, her eyes on the ground. She looked startled at the figure in front of her, and when she looked up her mouth fell open. She froze, her voice a whisper as she spoke, "B–Bellamy?"

"Hey." He breathed, and he had barely spoken the word when Raine was hurtling towards him, surprised and relieved laughter bubbling past her lips. She crashed into him, wrapping her arms around him tightly as she buried her face in his neck. He stumbled backwards but gathered himself and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing him against her.

Her laughter soon turned to sobs, and when she pulled back her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. She scanned his entire face, taking in every little detail, and unknown to her, Bellamy was doing the same.

"You're okay? You're fine?" She asked slowly, almost in disbelief.

"The grounders are going to have to try a lot harder than a damn fever if they want me dead." He replied, grinning.

She broke out into a smile, dimples appearing in her cheeks, and she socked his arm playfully. She spoke, "You scared me, asshole."

"What can I say, Mist? I'm a natural." He replied cockily, and Raine rolled her eyes.

"I think I liked you better when you were unconscious." She tilted her head, and her dark hair fell over her shoulder.

It was his turn to roll his eyes, and he replied, "I think you're full of crap."

She shrugged, looking up at him with bright eyes. The past half a day had been terrible for her; Clarke had basically kicked her out of the dropship about an hour after Bellamy had passed out and Raine had to stop herself from fighting with the blonde. She refused to leave the vicinity of the ship and instead chose to pace outside of it.

In that time, Raine had gone over various things from her hallucination with her mother, the impending war with the grounders and things with Bellamy and Murphy. She had worked herself up so much that she had had to stop, her stomach clenching and twisting so bad that she retched for ten minutes straight.

"So, what's the plan?" Raine asked, "What are we doing about the grounders?"

Bellamy's face fell and he glanced briefly back at the dropship. "We need to get everyone inside and lock the doors. It's for the–"

"What?" she cut him off in disbelief. "Why?"

"Look around, Mist." He gestured to the half empty camp; most of their people were inside recovering. "We don't have enough people to find them anymore."

"Weren't you the one who said the grounders should be worried of us?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That was before," he sighed, "Before they unleashed this fever that took out almost half of our people! People have died, Raine."

"And more will unless we fight!" she protested, stepping backwards.

"Please." He begged, too weak to fight. "It's our best option."

"What about Jasper? You don't think he'll make the shot?"

Bellamy sighed, slowly shaking his head. "No, I don't think he'll make the shot. Please, help me get everybody into the dropship? I feel like crap enough already."

Raine's features twisted into guilt, and she bit her lip. "Yeah, okay. Sorry."

He shook his head, "Don't be sorry. I will say this though; you have a real knack for throwing stuff back in people's faces, don't you?"

Raine smirked, shrugging coyly. "What can I say? I'm a natural."

•••

The trio – Clarke being the third person – worked effectively, easily rounding up people and ushering them into the dropship. Raine had ordered those not sick to go up to the third floor and to tie a piece of cloth around their faces just in case. Raine still hadn't seen Octavia and she guessed that the girl was sleeping.

They were just about to usher the last group of people into the dropship when a loud explosion caused them to stop. The ground seemed to tremble as all of the teenagers looked to the source of the explosion – a massive, grey cloud of smoke billowing up into the sky.

"They did it." Raine breathed out in relief, standing next to Clarke and Bellamy.

"I am become Death." Clarke quoted, and both Raine and Bellamy turned to look at the blonde. "The destroyer of worlds." She glanced at Bellamy and Raine, continuing, "It's Oppenheimer. The man who built the first–"

"I know who Oppenheimer is." Bellamy cut her off.

"I don't." Raine spoke, feeling stupid, and Bellamy raised an eyebrow at the girl. She pulled a face at him in response.

Clarke looked to the girl, explaining, "Julius Robert Oppenheimer built the first nuclear bomb, during the Second World War. After he detonated it, he said those words."

"Oh." Raine spoke, letting out a laugh. "Sorry, but I kind of skipped History class."

"Do you knows what this means?" Clarke asked, hope filling her voice.

"It means we don't have to hide in the dropship." Bellamy said.

"It means we can win." Raine declared.

It wasn't long after that all of the teens had spilled back out of the dropship, quickly filling the camp back up. Their voices were filled with hope and their faces twisted into smiles for the first time in what felt like ages. Clarke disappeared back into the dropship, saying she wanted to start cleaning up, and that left Raine and Bellamy alone.

"So..." Bellamy started, unsure of how to continue.

"So?" Raine echoed, quirking an eyebrow.

"I don't remember much of what happened in the dropship," he spoke, and Raine's eyes widened as she realised what he was getting at. "But I think I remember you kissing me."

Raine's mouth went slack and she turned bright red. Desperately thinking of an excuse, she blurted, "It wasn't me – that's for sure. Why would I want to kiss you? In fact, I don't even want to touch you, so I definitely would not kiss you. Ever. Gross."

Bellamy laughed loudly, and Raine desperately wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. He was awake? She thought that he had been asleep, but obviously not. She let out a loud groan, knowing that Bellamy didn't believe her one bit and admitted, "Fine, I kissed your cheek. I thought you were going to die."

Before Bellamy could tell her that he liked it, there was a shout from Harper across the camp, "They're back! They're back!"

Everyone rushed towards the gate, cheering loudly for Jasper and Monty as they waltzed into camp, triumphant grins on their faces. Raine reached out to squeeze Jasper's shoulder briefly as he passed and the boy grinned at her widely.

Raine's eyes fell back to the gate, where Finn was half-carrying, half-dragging an unconscious Raven. Her skin was pale and sickly and dried blood dotted her face. She watched as Clarke led them into the dropship, but she didn't miss the way Clarke's face had fallen, her eyes lowered.

•••

By the time nightfall had come, most of the teenagers were back on their feet. Bellamy was talking to Clarke and Raine was left to sit quietly by a nearby fire. She was by herself, and quite frankly she liked it like that.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Raine looked up, surprised to see Murphy looking at her almost apprehensively. She frowned at him but nodded nonetheless and shuffled over so the battered boy could sit down.

"You look like shit." She commented, speaking honestly.

He chuckled, "Thanks, little rebel."

"Do you want me to punch you in the throat?" she threatened, hating the nickname. It wasn't like Bellamy's – his was a term of endearment, whereas Murphy's choice of nickname made her want to dive head first into the fire.

"You're threats are getting weaker. Last time you threatened to kill me."

"That can be arranged, Murphy." She snapped, suddenly regretting allowing him to sit down. "What do you want, anyway?"

He thought for a moment, before admitting, "I just wanted to say thank you, and that I'm sorry. Thank you for defending me, and I'm sorry for putting that knife to your throat."

She shrugged, "People do dumb things when they're hurt."

He was quiet for a few moments, before asking softly, "Do you think I overreacted with Charlotte?"

Raine sucked air in through her teeth uncertainly, before admitting, "I'm not too sure. She killed Wells, and then framed you. The only reason I defended you was because I know what that feels like. I don't know, maybe there's a small part of me that's happy that Charlotte's gone... I don't know."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the duo, and Raine watched the boy out of the corner of her eye. He was looking at the fire, the flames illuminating the multiple bloody cuts across his face. Slowly, she turned to face him. "What did they do to you?"

He pursed his lips, frowning a bit before answering, "They locked me up for three days – they cut me and burnt me and beat me. They pulled out my fingernails and then starved me. I thought I was going to die there, but then they let me out, I guess. Here was the first place I thought off, so here is where I came. I didn't know what they had done to me – if I had known I wouldn't have come into the camp."

His tone turned guilty towards the end and Raine suddenly felt sorry for him. He had gone through so much, from being framed, hung, banished, tortured for three days and, now, being treated like scum.

"I'm glad you're okay." She spoke earnestly, and Murphy looked at her in shock. She rolled her eyes at his expression, "Not in that way, you idiot. We need every able body to fight against the grounders."

"But... after everything I've done?"

"Bygones." She offered simply, standing up. She offered him a smile before trudging off, and Murphy watched her retreating figure. His lips curled into a sinister smile, and he glanced towards the drop ship.

"Yeah, bygones."

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