it had become dark out when arabella and clarke walked back to camp jaha, some grounders on horses escorting them. neither of the girls said a word to each other. 

there were shouts coming from inside the camp, bellamy came into arabella's view.

"hold your fire!" he yelled. "they're back! open the gate!" bellamy added on.

"power up the gates. roll-out positions." arabella heard byrne shout. 

arabella and clarke stood outside the gate, waiting for it to open. arabella glanced at the horses who were snorting, when the gate opened. 

finn ran over to clarke. "you okay?" he asked, completely ignoring arabella.

clarke turned around. "shut the gate!" she grabbed finn's arm taking him away. "you can't be out here."

 the three headed more inward to the camp, greeted by abby pulling clarke into a hug. bellamy followed behind them, placing his hand on arabella's shoulder who gave him a small smile. 

arabella heard people saying 'they're back'. she closed her eyes for a moment, sighing deeply. 

"what did she say?" abby asked clarke and arabella. "is there a chance for a truce?"

"yes." clarke said, but she wasn't voicing her excitement. 

"what's wrong?" finn questioned. 

arabella turned to finn with a look of annoyance on her face. "they want you, spacewalker." the girl spat, clenching her jaw. "if we want a truce, we give them finn." she added on. 

"what the hell are you talking about?" raven asked the two girls.

"that's their offer." clarke told her. 

"that's not an offer." raven spoke, shaking her head.

"it's punishment." finn added on. "for what happened at the village. blood for blood."

"ding, ding, ding." arabella chimed in sarcastically. "thanks for massacring a village, finn. they're really taking it well." 

"that's insane." bellamy muttered.

arabella turned to bellamy with narrowed eyes. "is it?"

"if we refuse?" abby spoke up, not allowing bellamy to reply to arabella.

"they attack." clarke replied, her voice quiet.

of course, her words caused an almost immediate uproar with the rest of the camp. "i say we give him up!" someone yelled from the crowd.

"easy, people." byrne attempted to calm the people down. 

a man walked over, his anger prominent. "give him to the grounders."

raven shoved the man in the chest. "back off." 

the man lunged for raven until arabella stepped in, pushing him back and sending a punch to his face. clarke grabbed hold of raven, attempting to calm her down, as well as bellamy, who grabbed arabella to stop her from starting a fight with a fully grown man. 

"i'm not dying for him." another man pointed at finn. "spacewalker burned three months of oxygen on the ark. he should've floated a long time ago." the man got closer to finn as clarke ushered him away.

raven, once again, went to attack the man. "back off!" she yelled again, byrne came up behind her, grabbing her shoulders.

"stop, raven!" the older woman said before raven turned around and punched her in the jaw. 

arabella put her hand over her mouth, trying to stop her laugh from escaping. guards grabbed a hold of raven and they dragged her away.

arabella had a large smile on her face, the whole situation being so ridiculous to her. she didn't like finn, at all. but no doubt she'd get called crazy for wanting to hand him over to the grounders, then again what choice did they have? it was either another war, which meant more deaths, or, they handed one person over for the death of eighteen grounders. arabella thought that was a fair trade, but again, saying that out loud would probably cause a few heads to turn. 

there were still crowds shouting around her, bellamy stood at her side protectively. 

...

arabella, bellamy, and clarke found finn and murphy in a more secluded part of camp.

"hey. we're reinforcing all defences." bellamy told them. "doubles on the perimeter. no one's getting past that wire."

arabella glared at finn and murphy, both for different reasons. 

"i'll see where they're thin." finn stood up.

"hopefully, they'll kick your ass to the grounders." arabella muttered.

finn glared at the girl. "you got something to say, arabella?" finn snapped.

arabella grinned. "god, i thought you'd never ask." she crossed her arms over her chest. "you, finn collins, are a fucking idiot. we are at war, again. so i wonder how many more people you'll get killed because you can't control yourself." she ranted.

"arabella." bellamy scolded.

finn stared at her blankly, but before he could speak bellamy spoke up. "no. you should head inside. b corridor will be easier to defend. if it comes to that."

"i'm not gonna hide." finn told them.

"yay, does that mean the grounders can have you?" arabella perked up, her comment making murphy chuckle from the ground. 

bellamy and clarke sent the girl a look, as well as finn.

"right now, we have to think about keeping you safe." clarke told him, arabella rolled her eyes. "ella and i are gonna talk to lincoln."

bellamy grabbed arabella's wrist before she could walk away, he leaned down and whispered to her. "we're talking later." he said, his voice low. 

arabella just hummed and stood next to clarke. 

"come on." bellamy said to finn, who was just staring at clarke. "finn. let's go." he added on, seeming to snap finn out of his daze. the two boys walked away.

just as arabella and clarke were about to leave murphy spoke up. "hey, any order for me? he asked the two girls.

arabella shrugged. "die." she said simply. 

"stay away from us." clarke told him, taking arabella's hand and taking her to lincoln.

"just trying to be helpful." murphy told them.

the two girls stopped and turned around. "you were with him at the village."

"i tried to stop him." murphy attempted to defend himself.

"not hard enough, clearly." arabella shrugged, her eyes hardened looking at her ex-best friend. 

the two girls turned around, but once again murphy stopped them. "you know, you want to start blaming people, clarke?" the girls stopped at his words. "he was out there looking for you. not arabella. just you." 

clarke looked at arabella, who just shook her head. "let's go." she whispered.

...

they found lincoln in medical with octavia at his side. he was being held down with restraints and sounded like he was coughing his lungs up.

"he's not a reaper anymore." arabella spoke up. "he doesn't need to be restrained." she said as she glanced at abby. 

"yes, i do." lincoln gruffly said, letting out a sigh.

"just tell us. is there a way to make peace?" abby asked him, not daring to even look into his eyes. 

"did she leave riders behind?" lincoln questioned. 

"two just outside the gate." abby replied quickly. 

"they're waiting for finn. you don't have much time to decide." 

arabella rolled her eyes, letting out a huff of breath. "we are so screwed." she almost laughed.

"she can't expect us to just hand over one of our own people." octavia's voice filled the room. "would she do that?"

"she wouldn't let the rest of her people die to protect a murderer." lincoln snapped back.

"thank you! someone agrees with me." arabella cheered.

"if you don't do this, she will kill everyone in this camp." 

"there has to be something else that we can offer." abby told him. 

"like what, abby? it's finn they want, nobody else." arabella argued. 

"you know, arabella. i don't think your father would be proud of this path you're taking. siding with the grounders, willing to let one of your people die." abby turned to the girl.

arabella face hardened, she blinked a few times before speaking. "excuse me?" she asked with a smile of disbelief.

"ella-" clarke tried to calm the girl. "not right now."

arabella stared at abby, and for once, she did the right thing and walked away and left medical. her fists clenched at her side as the open air hit her face. she was furious at abby's words, but she couldn't exactly go around attacking the chancellor, not that it would have stopped her before though.

arabella wasn't paying attention when she bumped into someone.

"careful, bella." murphy's voice rang through her ears, making the girl roll her eyes. "you look pissed, what's up?"

"i'm not talking to you." arabella told him, her arms crossed over her chest. 

"bella, please. i'm sorry." 

she shook her head. "you almost killed bellamy, you hurt me." 

"i know and i'm sorry." murphy looked down her at, his eyes almost pleading. 

"i hate you, you know that right? i don't think i will ever forgive you for this, you were my best friend, murphy." 

murphy felt his heart shatter all over again, but it was different this time, he shockingly no longer loved arabella, but he still wanted to be her friend. murphy slowly nodded, his eyes turned glassy. "i'm sorry."

arabella stared up at him, her own eyes becoming filled with tears. "yeah, i know." she said before walking away and back to her room.

...

once arabella got into her room, bellamy entered shortly after. his gaze immediately falling on the girl sat on the bed with her head in her hands. 

"bella?" the man spoke, he walked over to her and knelt in front of the girl.

she raised her head to look at him, wet streaks down her face. "i can't forgive him." arabella shook her head. "not because of what he did to me, but because of what he did to you."

"what? murphy?" he asked, arabella nodded in response. 

"he was the only person i had while i was in the skybox, they put him in there in hopes i'd kill him." arabella sniffed, more tears forming in her eyes. "instead he was thrown into my cell, and he told me i looked like shit." she softly laughed. "that day forward, he was my best friend."

bellamy hid his jealousy at the thought of how close the two used to be. "if you think the murphy you became friends with can be the same murphy again, don't let what he did to me stop you, sweetheart." bellamy hand reached out to hold her face. "i love you, all i want is for you to be happy."

"i am happy, bell." arabella told him, but even she knew she was lying through her teeth.

"don't lie to me, arabella. i get it, okay? all the crap with finn, your dad, our people still being in mount weather." he told her.

"i'm happy with you, though. i always have been." she told him, this time being truthful. 

bellamy leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead, he looked down slightly as he smiled, something arabella had begun to notice he does a lot. "we'll get through it. okay?"

arabella nodded, moving back into the bed, waiting for bellamy. he smiled at her again, pulling off his shirt he lay next to her, his arms wrapping around her.