unity day. a day arabella always hated, mostly because she always had to be dragged around with her father since he was on the council, every year bored her more and more. she was relieved she didn't have to go when she got placed in the sky box. 

"my friends, this is a historic unity day." jaha began through the radio. "every year, we mark the moment our ancestors of the twelve stations joined to form the ark, but this is the last time we do so while aboard her. next year... on the ground."

the crowd from the ark began to cheer and applaud. "right. after we did all the work." miller spoke from beside arabella. "someone shut him up."

"you shut up, miller." raven told the boy. "no one's forcing you to watch."

miller rolled his eyes while arabella let out a laugh.

"for ninety-seven years we have eked out an existence, hoping that someday our descendants would return to earth..." he continued but arabella was already bored so she walked away to find something to do.

but as she was about to walk away jasper came out of a tent with a large container of monty's moonshine. this was the part arabella was looking forward to. 

"monty stikes again!" jasper cheered. "hey! call this batch unity juice! who's thirsty?"

people grabbed anything they could drink out of and let jasper pour the drink into their cups and bottles. 

he came to arabella and filled up the cup she had found. "happy unity day!" he cheered at her, making her let out a laugh.

...

it was now dark and almost everyone was drunk, including arabella. the coms went out shortly after she left but she couldn't care less.

arabella had barely seen bellamy it honestly made her nervous after their last interaction. 

"arabella." clarke gained the girl's attention.

"hey, clarke." arabella drunkly smiled. "this is the only good unity day i've had! this is so fun."

her attention was diverted to bellamy who was walking over to the girls.

"best unity day ever." bellamy smiled down at arabella.

"do we really think now is a good time to be having a party?" clarke asked the two, mostly bellamy. "i mean, the grounder is out there..."

"clarke. please relax for once." arabella stumbled ever so slightly. 

"we've got security covered." bellamy added to calm clarke's nerves.

"go get a drink." arabella told her. "here have mine." she passed the cup over to clarke. 

"the exodus ship with your mom." bellamy looked at clarke then arabella. "and your dad comes down in a few days. after that, the party's over."

arabella let out a laugh. "not for me it's not." she gently nudged bellamy.

"okay. i'll go have some fun." clarke smiled at arabella as she walked away.

arabella grabbed a drink from someone walking past and gave it to bellamy. "you deserve to have some fun too, bell."

he passed it back to her with a smile. "you could do with it more, sweetheart."

arabella jokingly rolled her eyes and downed the drink, wincing slightly as the liquid burnt her throat. "are we gonna talk about what happened last night?" she asked him, her words starting to slur. 

"well would you rather do it now or when you're sober? because i get the feeling drunk arabella says things she will definitely end up regretting." he smiled down at her.

"drunk arabella and sober arabella always say things how they are." she looked at him through her lashes. "well, maybe anyway." 

bellamy chuckled softly. "i liked the kiss-"

"oh, thank, god. i thought you were avoiding me all day today." she interrupted.

"i loved it." he continued.

"you did?" arabella flirted. "i did too."

"i know what you're thinking right now, bella."

"no you don't." arabella blushed, making bellamy raise an eyebrow at her. "shut up." she said as she quickly walked away. 

"bella-" she heard bellamy shout, but she moved her way into a crowd.

...

"hi, jasper!" arabella chirped, throwing her arm over his shoulder.

"hey, you." he smiled.

"how much better is it spending unity day on the ground rather than in the sky box, huh?" she asked him.

"much, much better." he said as he took a sip of his drink. "so, what's the deal with you and bellamy?"

"what do you mean?" arabella asked.

"well he's currently staring at you and i feel quite threatened. so... what's the deal?" jasper asked again.

"well, we kissed last night. he told me he liked it- well, loved it actually." she explained, her words slurring.

"well, he seems really jealous right now."

"hm, let him. if he wants me he can come to me." arabella shrugged.

"well, you got what you wanted." jasper said quickly, arabella watched as bellamy walked towards them. 

jasper walked away before bellamy got to them. "bye then?" she frowned.

"arabella." bellamy spoke to the girl.

she swilled her drink around in her cup instead of looking at him. 

bellamy's fingers tilted her chin up so she's looking at him. "arabella." he said again.

the girl just hummed, not making eye contact. 

"i don't want things to be weird because we kissed, bella." he told her softly.

"oh, things aren't weird, bell." she whispered. "just a kiss, got it." the girl nodded.

"no, it wasn't just a kiss to me."

her eyes widened then she let out a laugh. "okay, nice joke, you almost got me."

"arabella." he said sternly, her laughing stopped quickly. "it isn't a joke." bellamy said slowly. "look, bella i-"

"hey, i need to talk to you both." clarke quickly walked up to arabella. 

"hey, clarke! having fun yet?" arabella asked the girl.

"i'm serious. we need to talk."

"you always are, so talk." bellamy said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"finn's set up a meeting with the grounders." clarke told them. "i'm leaving to go talk to them."

"well, someone has a death wish." arabella said awkwardly. 

"because you figure that impaling people on spears is code for "let's be friends"?" bellamy said. "have you lost your damn mind?"

"i think it might be worth a shot." clarke tried to defend herself. "i mean, we do have to live with these people. i need you both to follow us, be our backup."

"arabella may not be the right person for that right now." bellamy glanced at her. "and does finn know about this?"

"well, they want to see her too... and finn doesn't need to know."

"excuse me?" arabella almost laughed.

"i don't know why, but they want to see me and arabella." 

"no way. not a chance." bellamy shook his head.

"you don't decide for me, bellamy." she shot at the man. 

he stared at the girl, he knew he couldn't change her mind or stop her. "alright, fine."

"great. also, bring guns." clarke told him.

...

bellamy had gathered up jasper and raven but arabella had already left with clarke and finn. it was nothing but awkward.

it was now light outside by the time they made it to the bridge, where octavia was waiting for them.

"hey, o." arabella smiled pulling the girl into a quick hug. "you okay?"

octavia nodded with a smile.

"so that's how you set this up?" clarke asked, looking at octavia. "you helped him escape didn't you?"

"i trust him, clarke." octavia told her. 

"there's a lot of that going around." clarke said snappily.

the three heard footsteps. "someone's coming." finn announced.

it was the grounder that octavia had been seeing, he ran up to her and pulled her into a hug. lincoln looked past ocatvia and straight at clarke, he was definitely still pissed, understandably. finn turned protective and grabbed clarke's hand.

in the distance arabella and the others heard hooves clopping against the ground. "oh, my god. horses!" clarke said excitedly.

two horses stopped at the side and then another came between the middle of them. but they noticed the grounders had weapons.

"hey, we said no weapons!" finn ran to octavia and lincoln.

the grounders had huge spears, making arabella feel quite nervous. 

"i was told there wouldn't be." lincoln gruffly replied. 

arabella stood at octavia's side, her eyes stuck on the grounders. "well, it's too late now." arabella spoke. 

clarke and finn shared a long look, and then clarke looked over at arabella with a nod. clarke and finn began to walk but lincoln stuck his arm out stopping finn. "they go alone."

arabella glanced at octavia who just sent her a small nod. she began walking over to the grounders, looking back at clarke to follow.

"i'll be fine." arabella heard her say.

the girl continued to walk over to the grounders, waiting for clarke to catch up. the grounder in the middle got off of her horse, and began to walk toward arabella and clarke.

the three women stared at each other for a moment, before who arabella presumed was the grounders leader. "your names are arabella and clarke?" she asked.

"yeah. i'm arabella. that's clarke." she pointed at the blonde next to her. 

"i'm anya." she told them.

clarke nodded and stuck her hand out to the woman, anya looked clarke up and down until she moved her hand back to her side. 

clarke let out a sigh. "i think we got off to a rough start."

"we just wanna find a way to live together in peace." arabella added. "we need to."

"i understand." anya said. 

"oh that's-"

the woman interrupted arabella. "you started a war that you don't know how to end." 

"what?" clarke asked in pure confusion. "no. we didn't start anything. you attacked us for no reason."

"no reason?" anya asked her voice growing angry. "the missiles you launched burned a village to the ground."

"missiles?!" arabella had never been so confused.

"wait. do you mean the flares?" clarke asked. "no. that was a signal meant for our families. we had no idea...

"you're invaders." anya interrupted. "your ship landed in our territory."

"oh, i'm sorry. would you rather we land in the ocean and live like mermaids?" arabella snapped back sarcastically. "in our defence, we had no choice."

"arabella. stop." clarke warned. "look, we didn't know anyone was here. we thought the ground was uninhabitable."

"you knew we were here when you sent an armed raiding party to capture one of us and torture him." anya snapped.

clarke and arabella stayed silent.

"these are all acts of war."

clarke nodded. "we see your point." she gestured between herself and arabella. "that's why we need to put an end to all of this."

"lincoln said there are more of you coming down, warriors."

"soldiers, the guard. but yes." arabella answered. 

"and also farmers, doctors, engineers. we can help each other, but not if we're at war." clarke added on.

"can you promise that these new arrivals won't attack us, that they'll respect the terms we three agree on?" anya asked, glancing at arabella and clarke.

"we promise we will do everything we can to convince them to honor the terms that we set." 

"why would i agree to an alliance that your people can break the moment they get here?" anya asked in anger.

"if you don't fire the first shot, then we're good." arabella shrugged. "we won't attack first because they know that every life down here matters. but those people coming down won't bother negotiating if you come at us. our technology? they will wipe you out." 

"they wouldn't be the first to try." anya snapped back.

"arabella! clarke, run!" the girls heard jasper shout, he began aimlessly shooting his gun into the trees.

anya pulled out a knife and tried to attack arabella with it but she was shot in the shoulder instead, she spun around to see bellamy looking at her with worry.

arrows flew past the two. arabella helped clarke up to get away from the grounders. arabella pushed clarke ahead. "go!" she yelled, glancing back at the grounders but as she did one of them shot an arrow at her, it grazed her arm but took out a chunk of skin. "motherfucker!" arabella shouted, holding onto her arm.

arrows continued to fly past her but as the last grounder was leaving he shot one last arrow, aiming for octavia, but lincoln jumped in front taking it for her.

"oh, my god, lincoln! you've been hit." octavia panicked.

"i'm okay. just run! don't stop till you get behind your walls." he told them. "take her!" lincoln said to finn and clarke. "wait, arabella." he fumbled in his pocket pulling out a small vial. "the arrow could've been poisoned, just take this and drink it to be safe." he handed her the vial. 

"what about you?" she asked in a panic. 

"i have more, i'll be okay, all of you get home." lincoln told her.

"thank you." arabella quickly said, turning around to see bellamy waiting for her.

she ran to bellamy, still clutching her arm. he moved out of the way to let her go first. the group all ran back to camp, constantly checking behind them.

it became dark again by the time they all came to a stop outside their camp. blood had soaked into her shirt, there was still a throbbing pain where the arrow ripped out her skin. arabella still wasn't sure if the arrow was poisoned but she still had to drink the vial.

finn was sending looks to everyone, making bellamy speak up. "you got something to say?" he asked.

"yeah. i told you no guns!" finn yelled. 

"i told you we couldn't trust the grounders. i was right!" clarke yelled back.

"why didn't you tell me what you were up to?!" raven shouted at finn.

arabella glanced up at bellamy who was at her side. 

"i tried, but you were too busy making bullets for your guns." finn answered her.

"you're lucky she brought that!" arabella seethed. "they came to kill us, finn! i got shot by an arrow and it fucking hurts!" 

"you don't know what! jasper fired the first shot!" finn yelled back at arabella, making bellamy take a step forward.

"you ruined everything." octavia said to him.

"i saved you!" he shouted at her as she walked away, he let out a scoff and walked back into the camp.

"well, if we weren't at war already, we sure as hell are now." finn snapped. "you didn't have to trust the grounders. you just had to trust me." clarke looked at him before he walked away, raven following behind.

"i'm sorry, arabella. i'll take a look at you when you come back into camp." clarke sadly said, walking into the camp.

"you okay?" bellamy asked, holding arabella's cheek with his hand. she nodded, leaning into his hand and closing her eyes, until an explosion made her jump up.

bellamy looked up into the sky as did arabella. "the exodus ship?" bellamy asked. "your dad's early."

arabella let out a small laugh, but the longer she watched it fall she noticed something was wrong. "wait. it's too fast. no parachute? something's wrong, bell." 

the exodus ship crashed into the ground, a loud explosion that would've been heard from miles away. arabella let out a gasp, her hand covering her mouth, she stumbled and then collapsed to the ground. bellamy knelt behind her, holding her tightly.