four; SUCH A DICK

"What the hell happened out there?" Bellamy demanded to know after he took another look at the injuries both his sister and his best friend currently sported, alongside the shaken looks that each member of the Mount Weather group each had written across their faces.

"We were attacked," Clarke answered breathlessly, still in shock over the events that led to them practically sprint back to where the dropship had landed.

"Attacked?" Wells questioned, eyebrows furrowed "By what?"

"Not what." Finn corrected, "Who."

"And also what," Reese mumbled. Bellamy caught the look of fear in her eye as Finn began to speak, his voice raised for all to hear, "It turns out, when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last Grounder,"

"It's true," Monty confirmed shakily.

"Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong, there are people here, survivors." Clarke revealed, her bright eyes glimmering happily, "The good news is, that means we can survive and radiation won't kill us."

"But, the bad news is the Grounders will," Finn muttered at the same time Reese spoke, "Or, you know, giant snakes."

Bellamy turned to stare at Reese in shock as Wells glanced between the five shaken individuals before realising that six had left the day before and he asked the question that Reese had been dreading to answer.

"Where's the kid with the goggles?"

"Jasper was hit." Clarke answered, stressing the boy's name, "Was hit, they took him."

Reese looked down for a brief moment before glancing back at Wells, her eyes narrowed slightly as she took in his tense frame.

"Hey, where's your wristband?" She asked curiously, causing Clarke's head to snap up and she rushed forward to grasp her former friend's wrist, inspecting his bare skin where nothing lay aside from the tiniest pinpricks, and the Chancellor's son looked at Bellamy, his expression bitter.

"Ask him." He muttered.

A dark look swept over Clarke's face as she slowly turned to face Bellamy who stood in between Octavia and Reese, an arrogant smile taking over his face that had Reese's fingers twitching to slap it off.

"How many?" She asked angrily.

"Twenty-four and counting," Murphy answered for the man, his tone and expression both incredibly smug.

"You idiots." Clarke whispered before she started to shout, "Life support on the Ark is failing. That's why they brought us down here. They need to know the ground is survivable again, and we need their help against whoever is out there. If you take off your wristbands, you're not just killing them. You're killing us!"

And just when Reese thought Clarke had gotten through to them, Bellamy had to open his damn mouth and spew some inane garbage.

"We're stronger than you think, don't listen to her. She's one of the privileged! If they come down, she'll have it good. How many of you can say the same? We can take care of ourselves. That wristband on your arm? It makes you a prisoner. We are not prisoners anymore! They say they'll forgive your crimes. I say you're not criminals! You're fighters, survivors! The Grounders should worry about us!!"

The delinquents began to cheer and yell excitedly, throwing their hands up in the air as they shouted in support of Bellamy.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Reese spat as she shoved passed him with her good shoulder, ignoring his protests as she followed after Clarke and Monty, shouting at Bellamy over her shoulder as she went, "Your concept of being privileged is bullshit, Blake."

"What do we do now?" Monty was asking when she caught up and fell into step with them.

"Now we go after Jasper," Clarke answered, her voice strong.

Reese clapped her hands together in anticipation.

"I'm in."

✦❀✦

"It's not your ankle, Wells, it's you." Clarke's voice interrupted Reese and Monty's quiet conversation of Jasper's fate.

"You came back for reinforcements." Wells told her stubbornly, following the blonde down the ladder, "I'm gonna help."

"Clarke, he's right." Monty cut in, his eyes wide, "We need him."

"So far no one else has volunteered," Reese commented, as she looked between the two former friends, knowing why they were no longer friends was an easy thing to grasp but seeing the hostility Clarke held for Wells was something else entirely.

Reese had grown up watching the two be as thick as thieves and it was like a punch in the gut knowing how much she had missed by both refusing to live with her father and the year she had been locked away.

"-Orry, Monty, but you're not going, either."

Reese tuned the conversation back in as Monty made a sound of outrage.

"Like hell, I'm not." He argued, anger sparking in his eyes, "Jasper's my best friend."

"You're too important." Clarke replied, not missing a beat, "You were raised on Farm Station and recruited by engineering."

"So?" Monty asked defiantly.

"So food and communication." Clarke answered as though it was obvious, before she gestured to his head with her hand, "What's up here, it's gonna save us all. You figure out how to talk to the Ark and Reese and I will bring Jasper back."

"Let's do this then." Reese exclaimed, giving Monty a comforting pat on the shoulder as the tarp was pulled back and Finn entered the dropship, causing the brunette and blonde to turn their attention to him, "Hey, you ready?"

They shared a brief smile before Finn cut through their short-lived amusement over speaking in unison, "Oh, I'm not going anywhere, and neither should any of you."

"What?" Reese asked in disbelief.

"That spear was thrown with pinpoint accuracy from 300 feet." Finn pointed out.

"Yes, Finn, we were also there." Reese told him wryly, "It's not something that you just forget with a click of the finger."

"So what, we let Jasper die?" Monty asked, his expression hurt.

"That's not gonna happen." Clarke exclaimed before she turned her attention back to Finn and scoffed, "Spacewalker? What a joke. You think you're such an adventurer, you're really just a coward."

"It's not an adventure, Clarke. "Finn defended his choice as Clarke brushed passed him, "It's a suicide mission."

Reese and Wells shared a look before Reese shook her head and followed after the younger girl, but not before hearing Wells mention something about a wall.

"Jasper looked up to you." Reese gazed around the makeshift camp before she finally spotted the familiar blonde striding determinedly toward Bellamy who was cleaning up the wound on Octavia's leg.

"What the hell was it?" She could hear him asking loudly.

"What are you up to?" Reese murmured to herself as she followed after her, stopping next to her in front of the siblings just in time to hear Octavia finish telling her brother what had happened.

"I don't know." She hissed out as the rag touched her leg, "The others said it looked like a giant snake."

"You could have been killed." Bellamy pointed out, his eyes flashing, "Both you and Reese."

"Good to know you still care." Reese murmured spitefully, her eyes narrowed at the male who turned to her in shock.

"She would have been if Jasper didn't jump in to pull her out," Clarke spoke, ignoring Reese.

"You guys leaving?" Octavia asked her, cutting off whatever Bellamy was about to say to Reese and she began pulling the leg of her pants back down hurriedly, "I'm coming, too."

"No, no. No way." Bellamy denied, turning his back on the two, "Not again."

"He's right." Clarke told her, looking as though it physically pained her to agree with Bellamy on any matter, "Your leg's just gonna slow us down."

"She's here for you," Reese told him once he had turned back around to face them, already catching on to the younger girl's plan, her eyes flickering to Wells who had stopped next to her.

"Clarke, Reese, what are you two doing?" Wells asked them.

Clarke ignored him.

"I hear you have a gun." She said, not wasting any time.

Bellamy looked at her suspiciously before pulling his shirt up to reveal the gun in the waistband of his jeans and Reese quickly looked away as she remembered the last time that she had seen him shirtless and clearly Bellamy had not forgotten either.

She shook her head in an attempt to rid her mind of the images as he grinned at her.

"Good, follow me," Clarke ordered as Reese and Octavia shared a look.

"And why would I do that?" He inquired arrogantly, a smirk lighting up his features.

"Because you want them to follow you, and right now, they're thinking only one of us is scared," Clarke told him, raising her eyebrow at him in a challenge.

"Murphy. Come with me." Bellamy instructed as he pulled his jacket back on, "Atom? My sister doesn't leave this camp. Is that clear?"

"I don't need a babysitter," Octavia argued, annoyance lacing her tone as she finished wrapping up her leg with the cloth Reese had given her.

Bellamy stares Atom down as he warned, "If anybody touches her they answer to me."

Reese rolled her eyes before walking away from him with Clarke and Wells.

"Those guys aren't just bullies, Clarke." Wells informed, "They're dangerous criminals."

"I am gonna make your life a living hell."

Reese smirked at Octavia's exclamation.

"I'm counting on it," Clarke replied.

✦❀✦

"Hey, hold up." Reese heard Bellamy call after them, "What's the rush? You don't survive a spear through the heart."

She looked over her shoulder to see him waving his gun around wildly and she shook her head and scoffed, "Idiot."

"Put the gun away, Bellamy." Wells ordered with a sigh before Murphy rushed forward to shove him, a sneer on his lips, "Well, why don't you do something about it, huh?"

Clarke shared a look of exasperation with Reese before she spoke, "Jasper screamed when they moved him. If the spear struck his heart, he'd have died instantly." She explained to him, dumbing it down, "It doesn't mean we have time to waste."

Bellamy reached forward and gripped her wrist tightly before she could turn away from them and Reese tensed at the sight, her hand going straight to her pocket where she knew her weapon was.

"As soon as you take this wristband off, we can go." He told her, avoiding the look he knew Reese was giving him.

"The only way the Ark is gonna think I'm dead is if I'm dead" The blonde spat as she ripped her arm from his grasp, "Got it?"

Bellamy looked her up and down before smirking, "Brave princess."

Reese flinched slightly as another voice began to shout and she quickly turned, her ridgid frame deflating when she realised that it was only Finn.

"Why don't you find your own nickname?" He spoke before looking between the close knit group and sighing, "You call this a rescue party?"

"A party would indicate that we were having fun." Reese pointed out, "So, no, I would not call it that."

"Got to split up, cover more ground." Finn exclaimed, "Clarke, Reese, come with me."

Reese stared at her best friend for a moment before an emotionless laugh left her lips and she shook her head before she turned on her heel and followed after the spacewalker and the traitor.

"Better late than never," Clarke told him.

"I like to think so." He replied as they looked at the trio they'd left behind.

"How are you friends with him?" Clarke asked her old friend in utter disbelief now finally realising that Bellamy was the friend who Reese often snuck away to see.

Reese shrugged, her own eyes gazing at the three males as they disappeared from her view.

"He's not usually this much of a dick." She replied earnestly.

"I'll believe that when I see it," Clarke said, her tone full of disbelief.

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oof, bellamy and reese's friendship is in rocky terrain and i kind of feel like working some flashbacks into the next chapter so y'all can see that they actually are best friends

thanks for reading!

~r