ɴɪɴᴇ : ᴡɪsʜ ᴜᴘᴏɴ ᴀ sᴛᴀʀ
⋆

The sound of Clarke's voice outside the tent awakens Clara. She sits up, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She turns to wake Octavia up, but her cot is empty. Frowning, Clara stands from her spot on the ground and exits the tent.

A few yards away, Clarke and Finn are speaking with another delinquent. Clara thinks she has heard someone call her Fox, which is a fitting name for her because she has ginger hair sharp features.

Fox hugs herself for warmth in the chilly night and says, "Bellamy said we have to wait until sunrise to go check it out."

Clarke scans the sleeping camp for Bellamy, but she doesn't spot him. She nods at Clara when her eyes fall on the curly-haired girl walking up to them. Clarke frowns. "Where is he?"

"His tent, maybe?" Clara suggests, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Clarke steps over to Bellamy's tent, the largest one in camp, and doesn't bother knocking before opening it and marching in. Clara follows close behind. Her nose crinkles at the sight of Roma in his bed, topless. She has a blanket pulled up to her chin to cover herself.

"Ever hear of knocking, bitch?" Roma sneers. Finn walks in behind Clara, and Roma rolls her eyes. "Oh, great, it's a free show. Anyone else want to take a look?"

Clara frowns. "What are you doing in here?"

"What do you think?" Roma snaps, her tone belittling.

Clarke, cutting to the chase, asks, "Where the hell is Bellamy?"

Roma shrugs but doesn't drop her glare. "He took off a while ago."

Finn scans the tent. "His gear's gone," he realizes.

Clarke's eyes widen as she connects the dots, Where's Clara is still hung over by the fact that Roma is naked in Bellamy's bed.

"He told everyone to stay," Clarke voices her thoughts with growing anger. "Whatever's in that thing, he wants it. We've gotta get there before he does."

Without another word, Clarke and Finn exchange a look and exit the tent. Clara lingers behind and sends Roma a small smile. "Um, thanks."

Roma scoffs. "You're welcome."

Not having anything else to say to the girl, Clara awkwardly shuffles out of the tent and trails loosely behind Finn and Clarke as they argue. Clara doesn't intervene, knowing it's a private conversation, but she can't keep her mind off of the fact that both of the Blakes are missing.

When it seems like the two are done going back and forth, Clara makes her presence known and adds, "Octavia's gone, too."

Clarke doesn't spare Clara a glance. "She's probably chasing butterflies, let's stay focused and stop Bellamy before he kills us all."

★

Clarke and Finn walk side-by-side during the trip, basically ignoring Clara as she treads behind. They're engaged in another conversation that doesn't involve the other girl. So, she pretends like she isn't third-wheeling and lets her pace slow as she follows the other two loosely.

They reach a new part of the forest Clara hasn't explored yet. The trees are closer together, creating a darker atmosphere under their leaves and branches. A twisty, bright green vine runs up the trunks of the trees, and Clara finds herself slowing down even more to examine the intricate patterns.

Her hands reach out to the vines. They're soft to the touch, a small fuzz covering the stems that reminds Clara of a peach. She stops in front of a tall tree and cranes her neck to look up at the towering plant. The vines run all the way up and twist around the branches.

Clara turns back to follow Finn and Clarke, but when she shifts her attention away from the vines, she freezes mid-step. Clarke and Finn are nowhere to be seen.

Panic surging through her, Clara turns around in a complete circle, frantically scanning the forest. When she still doesn't spot the other two, she stops spinning and sighs. "Dang it."

Lost, of course. It doesn't help that all the spinning she just did completely screwed up her sense of direction.

Too scared to call out their names in fear of attraction unwanted grounders, Clara just takes a deep breath and guesses which way the others went. About five minutes in, she thinks she recognizes some familiar landmarks like she already passed them, so she turns around and heads the other way. She passes the same tree with the cool vines a few times, unaware that she's walking in a huge circle.

Clara eventually decides to just commit to one direction. She closes her eyes, spins around a few times, and stops. When she opens her eyes, she heads that way.

Another half hour passes. A surge of hope shoots through Clara when she spots a figure walking alone. She gets closer and makes out the mop of dark curls on his head and his broad stature. Bellamy.

Clara runs—more like trots—up from behind and taps Bellamy's shoulder.

As soon as her finger makes contact with the fabric of his jacket, Bellamy spins on her and grabs her shoulders, slamming her against a tree. Pain erupts from her shoulder at the rough movement.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Clara shrieks, holding her hands up in front of her face and squeezing her eyes shut as Bellamy pulls his fist back.

Bellamy freezes, blinking. He lets his fist drop. "Clara, what the hell? I thought you were a grounder!"

Clara opens her eyes one at a time. She lowers her hands when she sees that Bellamy's no longer about to punch her face in. He's staring down at her, eyes hard, and his grip still on her shoulder to hold her against the trunk of the tree.

"Why would a grounder politely tap your shoulder?" Clara retorts.

Bellamy doesn't respond. They stare at each other for a few more beats, the only sound being their rugged breaths as their chests quickly rise and fall.

Finally, Clara squeaks, "Can you let go of my shoulder now?"

Bellamy's eyes widen and he quickly steps back, his hands going to his sides. Clara lets out a breath and holds her aching shoulder.

"Sorry," Bellamy mutters, studying her, scared he accidentally hurt her.

Rustling in the distance grabs Clara's attention. She turns and lights up when she spots Clarke and Finn with an unfamiliar girl with olive skin and a bleeding gash on her forehead. Clara cups her hands around her mouth and shouts, "Over here, I found him!"

The three pick up their pace and make a bee-line to Bellamy and Clara. When they approach them, Clarke immediately gets in Bellamy's face.

"Hey! Where is it?"

Bellamy tilts his head to the side and acts oblivious. "Hey, princess, you taking a walk in the woods, too?"

"They're getting ready to kill three hundred people up there to save oxygen," Clarke hisses. Clara frowns at this new information, glancing at the new girl watching with narrowed eyes. "I can guarantee you it won't be council members, it'll be working people." Clarke jabs her finger at his chest. "Your people."

When Bellamy doesn't react, Finn steps in. He shoves the older boy and demands, "Where's the radio?"

Bellamy shoves Finn back, just as rough. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he assures through his teeth.

"Neither do I," Clara murmurs under her breath, biting her thumb nail as she watches the exchange.

The new girl steps forward with confidence. "Bellamy Blake? They're looking everywhere for you."

Bellamy sends her a warning glare. "Shut up."

Clara glances over at her. "Who are you again?"

"Looking for him, why?" Clarke asks, her question cutting off Clara's.

The new girl studies Bellamy, realizing she's the only one who knows his secret. Biting back a smirk, she turns to Clarke and states, "He shot Chancellor Jaha."

"Oh snap."

Bellamy glares at Clara for her unnecessary remark. She looks down sheepishly.

"Sorry."

Clarke pieces the puzzle together in her mind before looking up at Bellamy with a furrowed brow. "That's why you took the wristbands, you needed everyone to think we're dead."

"All that 'whatever the hell we want'? You just care about saving your own skin," Finn adds as he, too, figures out Bellamy's motives since day one.

Bellamy opens his mouth to defend himself. He glances at Clara, the curly-haired girl waiting for, hoping for, a good excuse. He just closes his mouth and shakes his head. Bellamy turns and starts to walk away.

Clara watches him start to retreat with disappointment. Maybe he isn't a leader at all, she thinks. Maybe he's just scared.

The new girl doesn't let Bellamy go so easily. "Hey, Shooter!" She jogs to follow him and grabs his arm, stopping him as she steps in front of him. "Where's my radio?"

Bellamy looks down at her with a warning glare. "Get out of my way."

"Where is it?"

"I should've killed you when I had the chance," Bellamy threatens lowly.

Raven, undeterred, scoffs. She sizes Bellamy up. "Really? Well, I'm right here."

Bellamy doesn't hesitate to grab her by her jacket collar and shove her against the tree. Finn rushes forward to break it up, but then the girl pulls out a knife—not a makeshift knife from scrap metal, an actual knife—and holds it dangerously close to Bellamy's face. He visibly pauses, not expecting the girl to pull the blade out.

Leveling her glare, the girl repeats, "Where's my radio?"

"Okay, stop it," Clarke commands, fed up with the fighting.

Bellamy doesn't drop his gaze as he releases the girl and moves away. "Jaha deserved to die," he defends himself, his voice more vulnerable than usual as he tries to convince the others. His gaze flickers to Clara. "You all know that."

"Yeah, he's not my favorite person either," the girl snaps, "but he isn't dead."

Bellamy's entire demeanor shifts. He slowly turns to the random girl—Clara still doesn't even know where she came from—and stammers, "What?"

Random Girl shrugs. "You're a lousy shot."

Bellamy averts his eyes. His jaw clenches as he thinks hard, and Clara feels compelled to ask his side of the story. Surely he wouldn't have just shot the chancellor because he felt like it, right? He didn't wake up one day and think to himself, "Hey, I think I'm going to go kill someone today. That Jaha guy seems like the right person." As Clara watches Bellamy process everything he has just been told, her gut tells her that there is definitely more to the story and more to the boy in front of her.

Clarke steps up to Bellamy when no one else does. "Bellamy, don't you see what this means? You're not a murderer, you always did what you had to do to protect your sister—that's who you are. And you can do it again by protecting three hundred of your people. Where's the radio?"

Bellamy is still lost in his thoughts. His eyes are downcast, his fists clenched so tight at his sides that his knuckles are white.

Softly, Clara whispers, "Bellamy."

At her voice, his eyes dart to her. He swallows and turns to Clarke. "It's too late."

★

If you asked Clara in the morning what her plans for the day are, she wouldn't have told you they'd include digging around in a shallow river for a radio. But, nonetheless, here she is, doing just that.

Apparently Bellamy threw the radio in the river, which wasn't a smart move for a multitude of reasons, one being the fact that the river's current is somewhat strong so the radio could be right where they're searching or five miles downstream.

Clara's shoulder still aches from when Bellamy slammed her against the tree by her shoulders when he thought she was a grounder, so she limits the use of that arm as much as possible. Of course she isn't wearing the sling because she simply doesn't want to, but now she's regretting her decision of ignoring Clarke's nagging to keep in on.

As Clara searches the river, a few other delinquents from camp helping as well, she finds herself a few feet away from the girl that showed up out of nowhere and pulled a knife on Bellamy. Although Clara doesn't know who she is, she does have a brain, so she eventually connected the dots and figured out that the girl came down in the pod that she saw fall from the sky earlier.

Stepping closer to her, Clara says, "So, I never got your name, Astronaut."

The girl looks back at Clara, smiling. "Raven. I never got yours, either."

"Clara," she replies. She glances over at Bellamy looking down at the river as he treads through it a good distance away from them. "Sorry about Bellamy, I promise not all of us are stupid."

Raven lets out a small laugh. "Yeah, I'd hope so."

"Raven," a voice behind the two says, causing both girls to turn. Finn's undivided attention is on the girl beside Clara, and when he shoots her a look, she gets the hint and quickens her pace to give them some space.

Clara keeps her head down as she looks for the radio, though to be honest, she isn't even sure what it looks like. Was that misshapen rock she saw a few yards back the radio, or was it just a weird rock?

As she takes a step, her foot slides on a rock covered in slick algae. Before Clara can crash into the water, an arm shoots out. A hand grabs her by the arm and steadies her.

Letting out a breath, Clara glances up at the person who saved her from making an embarrassment of herself. Bellamy retracts his hand and looks away, continuing his search.

"Thanks," Clara says quietly, stepping over the rock this time and walking beside the older Blake sibling. Her left hand returns to hold her shoulder despite the action not soothing any of the pain.

Bellamy glances at her from the corner of his eyes. "Your shoulder bothering you?"

Clara lets her left hand fall to her side and flashes him what she hopes is a convincing smile. "It's nothing to worry about."

They walk another few steps in the shallow river. The water pools in Clara's shoes. She hates the feeling of her damp socks on her feet every time she lifts her boots.

"Is it hurting from when I grabbed you earlier?" Bellamy asks.

Clara turns her head and sees that he's already looking at her. She sighs and admits, "It's just a little sore."

"Hey! I found it!" A camper, Dexter, calls out as he holds up a dripping black box with wires coming out of the bottom.

Clara and Bellamy exchange a quick glance before trudging out of the river to the banks were Raven meets Dexter. She takes the soiled radio from him and holds it out to drain the water.

Clarke rushes over, Finn by her side. "Can you fix it?"

Frustrated, Raven replies, "Maybe, but it'll take half the day just to dry out the components to see what's even broken."

Beside Clara, Bellamy crosses his arms. He tries to put up the facade of not caring and says, "Like I said, it's too late."

Clarke's gaze shifts to Bellamy, her eyes immediately turning dark as she storms up to him. "Do you have any idea what you did? Do you even care?"

Bellamy stays guarded. He tilts his chin upwards slightly. "You asked me to help. I helped."

Clarke shakes her head furiously. "Three hundred people are going to die today because of you!"

"He knows, Clarke," Clara cuts in tiredly. Both Bellamy and the blonde look at her with subtle surprise that she spoke up. "Don't rub it in."

"Hold up," Raven suddenly says, a light bulb going off in her head. "We don't have to talk to the Ark, we just have to let them know we're down here, right?"

Not following, Finn asks, "Yeah, but how do we do that with no radio?"

Raven grins brilliantly. Clara imagines it's the same grin Isaac Newton wore when he discovered gravity.

★

Clara and Rez sit together, both looking up into the sky as the first round of flares shoot into the sky. The rest of camp watches as well. Clara prays someone is watching and sees their flares from the Ark, but there's no way of knowing until it's too late. She glances at Rez beside her. The red light reflects off his face with a warm glow, his eyes following the next flare as it rockets into space. Whereas Clara is hopeful, Rez looks downright dismal. He gnaws on his bottom lip and has a bored look on his face.

Clara nudges his shoulder lightly. His eyes slowly move to her watching him with worry.

"They're going to see it," she assures.

Rez shakes his head and looks back up at the flares. "You don't know that."

Clara's lips downturn. Where is her happy-go-lucky friend? The one who teases her and barely ever frowns? In the past week, Clara has never seen Rez so down and pessimistic.

Clara spots Clarke and Bellamy watching the flares at the front of the crowd. She squeezes Rez's shoulder before standing and walking over.

"You think they can see them?" Clara asks as she walks up from behind.

Bellamy turns and looks at her over his shoulder. The flares reflect in his honey eyes as the next round shoots up. He steps aside, giving Clara room to stand between him and the blonde, and replies, "We're not sure."

Clarke's eyes stay trained on the flares, deep in thought. "Can you wish on this kind of shooting star?"

Both Bellamy and Clara cast odd looks at Clarke.

She shakes her head and sighs, uncrossing her arms. "Forget it."

"I wouldn't even know what to wish for," Bellamy says, playing along. "What about you?"

Clarke's longing gaze flickers to where Finn and Raven are. Finn's arms are around the fierce girl, the latter cuddled against his chest with a satisfied smile on her lips. Clara glances between Clarke and Finn a few times before it clicks. That's why they've been arguing so much lately.

Bellamy knowingly nods and looks over at Clara instead. "Well," he says, realizing he won't get an answer from Clarke, "what about you?"

Without hesitation, Clara replies, "A cheeseburger."

Bellamy snorts. He actually cracks a smile and looks down at Clara by his side with a lightness she isn't used to seeing on his face. "Classy."