"We have to go after Jasper."

Clarke turned to me from her conversation with Monty and Wells. Archie stood beside me with his arms crossed, ready to back me up. Clarke gave me a look that hinted she didn't want my help, but she knew she needed it. I understood that she may have resented me for siding with Bellamy, but there was no way in hell I would ever do anything to help the Council, and she should have known that from the beginning. 

"We are," she answered as she glanced at Monty. "Monty's staying here to work on contacting the Ark."

My eyes wandered to the wristband on his hand, putting two and two together. He was going to try to build a radio. 

I looked over at Archie, "You should stay with Monty. He'll need a friend here too."

Archie nodded, "Okay, but you better be careful, Harles."

"I will," I said with a smile. "I promise."

Before any of us could head out of the dropship, Finn walked in. He stopped in front of Clarke, and she raised her eyebrows, "You ready?"

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere, and neither should any of you," he looked at all of us. "That spear was thrown with pinpoint accuracy from three hundred feet."

"So what? We let Jasper die?" Monty asked with anger in his voice.

Clarke turned her head to Monty, "That's not gonna happen." She returned her disappointed gaze to Finn. "Spacewalker? What a joke. You think you're such an adventurer. You're really just a coward."

Yikes. That was cold, "It's not an adventure, Clarke. It's a suicide mission."

Clarke walked out of the dropship quickly, and I stepped in front of Finn, "I've already got Miller and the others starting to build a wall around camp with the fallen trees. Make sure it gets done. We'll bring Jasper home since you obviously don't care."

I left the dropship with Wells close behind me. We hurried after Clarke as we walked towards the edge of camp. It looked like I was about to go on an adventure in the forest with two people who didn't like me at the moment. That should be super fun.  

To make matters worse, I spotted Clarke stopping in front of Bellamy as he looked at Octavia's leg. I noticed Atom and Murphy standing close behind them. Murphy gave me a rude glare which I responded to with equal hatred. 

"You guys leaving?" Octavia asked. "I'm coming too."

"No, no. No way. Not again," Bellamy said with immediate protest.

"He's right. Your leg is just going to slow us down," Clarke moved her eyes to Bellamy. "I'm here for you."

I felt Wells tense beside me with a feeling that Wells and Bellamy's dislike for each other went deeper than I thought. It was probably connected to the time from what I had heard from Archie's grand story of the missing months from my memories: I fell in love with Bellamy and broke up with Wells to be with him. 

"Clarke what are you doing?" Wells asked with caution. Good question. 

Bellamy gave me a quick glance as Clarke continued, "I hear you have a gun," he gave her a small nod, pulling up the hem of his shirt slightly to reveal the pistol tucked in his pants. "Good. Follow me."

"And why would I do that?"

Clarke gave him a smug look, "Because you want them to follow you, and right now, they're thinking only one of us is scared."

"Damn, Clarke. You're roasting everybody today," I said with my usual sarcasm as Clarke walked away with Wells. 

Bellamy rolled his eyes at me as he pulled on his jacket, "Murphy, come with me," Seriously? "Atom, my sister doesn't leave this camp, is that clear?"

"I don't need a babysitter," Octavia responded from beside him. 

Bellamy ignored her as he looked at Atom, "If anybody touches her, they answer to me." He glanced at Murphy and me. "Let's go."

"Can you not be pushy for once?" I asked as we walked in the direction Clarke and Wells went.

"I don't know. Can you shut your mouth for once?" He retorted smartly, which pissed me off.

"Can you two not bicker this whole trip?" Murphy asked with annoyance.

"Shut up, Murphy," We said at the same time as we looked at him. 

Murphy let out a sigh as we walked, "Since when are we in the rescuing business, huh?"

"Well, Murphy, there's this thing called having friends, and when your friends are in trouble, you help them," I answered, wondering why in the hell Bellamy even asked him to come along. 

Bellamy disregarded my comment, "And the Ark thinks the Prince is dead. Once they think the Princess is too, they'll never come down." I thought I was the only girl he called princess. Maybe he was just trying to irk me like always. Wait, why did I even care? "I'm getting that wristband. Even if I have to cut off her hand to do it."

Well, this was going to be a fun trip; an adventure in the forest with a bunch of assholes. What more could I ask for?

――――

The fact that Bellamy wanted Clarke's wristband made me want to keep him from getting her wristband. It was funny how when he pissed me off, I wanted to do the exact opposite of everything he wanted to do. We didn't say much to each other for the first part of our trek. The tension was high between us and having Murphy there didn't help at all. 

Clarke and Wells walked as far away from us as they could, shooting the occasional glance behind them. I wanted to fix things between Wells and me. We used to be so close, and now he would barely even talk to me. He acted like I was the only one in the wrong, but his father literally sentenced my father to death and executed him. I had plenty to be angry about, but I chose to separate Wells from his father, unlike most of the others at camp. 

And what did I get for it? Nothing.

"Hey, hold up," Bellamy finally said as we caught up to Wells and Clarke. He had gotten his gun out and was carrying it in his right hand. "What's the rush? You don't survive a spear to the heart." 

"Put the gun away, Bellamy," Wells answered, stepping towards him.

Murphy shoved him back, "Well, why don't you do something about it?"

"Back off, Murphy," I said with a threatening tone.

"Jasper screamed when they moved him," Clake pointed out as she looked at Bellamy. "If the spear struck his heart, he'd have died instantly. It doesn't mean we have time to waste."

Bellamy grabbed Clarke's arm roughly, "As soon as you take this wristband off, we can go."

She ripped her arm away from him and facing him with a challenge in her stance, "The only way the Ark is going to think I'm dead, is if I'm dead. Got it?"

Bellamy glanced at Murphy, and right before he could take a step towards Clarke, I moved in front of him, "Just chill the hell out, Bellamy, and let's keep moving."

He smirked as I stood between him and Clarke, glancing between the two of us., "Brave princess."

Clarke seemed surprised I was defending her. I started to think Bellamy was actually going to try to move me out of the way so he could get to Clarke, but after he took about two steps, Finn's voice echoed in the woods as he walked up to the group.

"Hey, why don't you find your own nickname." His own nickname? Oh, right. Finn liked to call Clarke princess, and I guessed he thought Bellamy was trying to steal that. Why did all these guys like using the nickname princess so much? I didn't understand. Finn stopped beside Clarke. "You call this a rescue party? We should split up to cover more ground. Clarke, come with me."

I felt the tension as Wells watched Clarke walk away with Finn. Bellamy looked at me, "We should split up too. Harley, stay with me."

"That's a terrible idea," I motioned between Murphy and Wells. "They literally tried to kill each other earlier. I'll go with Wells, and you stay with Murphy."

He stepped towards me "Harley-"

"No, end of discussion," Wells clenched his jaw as I looked over at him, knowing he didn't want to talk to me. "Come on."

I felt Bellamy's eyes stay locked with me as we walked ahead of them, taking the other side of the path. I kept my eyes peeled for any movement as a thick silence trickled in the air between Wells and me. I wanted to say so much to him; explain so much, but he didn't seem like he wanted to hear any of it. It's true that I would've killed his father to save mine, but if he was put in my situation, he probably would have done the same thing.

Finally, after a few more minutes of walking, I decided to speak up, "You can't ignore me forever, you know."

"What do you want me to say, Harley?" He asked rudely. "First, you tried to kill my father, and now you're helping Bellamy make sure the rest our people die up in space."

"I didn't have a choice. My father was innocent, and no one on the Council cared," I answered hotly. "I was just trying to save him."

Wells sighed, "Look, there's a lot you don't remember, and if you did, you'd probably hate my father even more than you do now, but you can't take out your anger for him on every innocent person that's still on the Ark. That's not you, Harley."

"And what makes you think it's not?" I asked. "You didn't seem to care to know me when I was locked up. You never came to visit me, Wells. Not even once! All because you knew your daddy would disapprove." I shook my head at him. "It's not fair for you to act like I'm the bad guy, because if the Council did put me through so much, as you say, why would I want any of them to come down here?"

"Because you're a good person!" Wells insisted as I walked a step ahead of him with my eyes forward. "Because deep down, you know what you're doing is wrong."

I wasn't in the mood for a morality speech from Wells. I had gotten too many of those from our time together on the Ark. Frustration seeped into my mind, wishing that he could see past everything. I didn't say another word to him as we continued to walk through the forest. Not a word came from either of us until Clarke and Finn shouted for everyone to come over to where they stood at a river.

Our group met up as Finn and Clarke bent down over some blood on the smooth rocks that weren't completely dried yet. I never thought the earth skills class would ever come in handy. I thought it was stupid when I was on the Ark, but the knowledge all of us learned was proving more useful than I ever thought it would. 

"We're close," Finn said as he stood up. 

The six of us walked down the riverside, spotting small droplets of blood on rocks as we kept going. 

"How do we even know this is the right way?" Murphy asked, causing me to roll my eyes. Of course, he didn't pay attention in earth skills.

"We don't," Bellamy answered as he walked in front of me. "Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker."

"It's called 'cutting sign'; fourth-year earth skills. He's good," Wells pointed out with his eyes on the trees by the river.

Finn let out an annoyed sigh, "You want to keep it down, or should I paint a target on your backs?"

"I'm pretty sure we'd already be dead if there were any grounders around," I replied smartly. After all, none of us were very good at walking quietly.

I almost ran into Bellamy back as the whole group came to a sudden stop. I glanced tot he front, where Finn was examining a leaf that had a streak of blood amongst the green. Then, my head snapped to the side when a distant moan filtered through the air; Jasper.

"What the hell was that?" Murphy asked.

Clarke gave Bellamy a quick glance, "Now would be a good time to take out that gun."

We followed the echoes of the moans of pain for a few minutes until we came to a grassy clearing. My eyes widened when I saw where Jasper was. He was tied up in a tree, and all around it were wooden spikes that stuck up from the tall grass. Blood caked his chest, and his head was layed back against the wood of the tree. We had to hurry. He looked so weak, like he didn't have much time left.

Clarke was the first to speak up, "Oh my God," she said, starting to walk into the clearing.

"Clarke, be careful," Wells warned as we followed her.

My gaze shot from side to side, "I have a bad feeling about this," I stated with a feeling in my gut that we were going right where the grounders wanted.

"What the hell is this?" Bellamy asked as he walked beside Clarke, looking at Jasper strung up in the tree.

The whole group gasped when the ground fell out from underneath Clarke's feet. I saw her fall towards a pit of wooden stakes, but Bellamy's hand was there to catch her.

"Clarke!" Wells yelled.

"Get her up!" Finn exclaimed.

The four of us raced to Bellamy, everyone grabbing onto him and helping pull Clarke up from the pit. Once she was safe, she breathed heavily and got to her feet.

"You okay?" Finn asked.

"Yeah," she answered breathlessly, immediately turning her attention back to Jasper. "We need to get him down."

Finn nodded, "I'll climb up there and cut the vines."

"Yeah, I'm with you," Wells stepped up to help him, but Finn immediately held out a hand in protest.

"No. Stay with Clarke," his eyes fell on Bellamy. "And watch him." Finn moved his gaze to Murphy. "You. Let's go." Someone was being bossy. 

I crossed my arms over my chest as I stood between Bellamy and Clarke, "There's a poultice on his wound," Clarke said.

I furrowed my eyebrows, "Why would they throw a spear at him just to patch up his wounds and string him up in a tree as bait?"

"Maybe what they're trying to catch likes its dinner to be breathing," Bellamy answered.

Finn turned to us from the tree, "Maybe what they're trying to catch is us."

The unsettling thought hit everyone in the group. Adrenaline was pumping fast through my veins at the possibility that the grounders were close; standing by and waiting to kill the rest of us.

"Would you two hurry up?" I sighed as I put my hands on my hips. My comment clearing annoyed Murphy and Finn as they continued to cut at the vines around Jasper. "We don't exactly have all day."

"Shut up, Harley," Finn snapped. "We're going as fast as we can."

All of a sudden, a low growl came from the distance. I looked around with panic in my eyes as the sound echoed through the forest. That couldn't be good. 

"What the hell was that?"

Bellamy glanced at the trees, "Grounders?"

I laughed, "Yeah, I don't think grounders growl like that, dumbass." 

My eyes caught something moving on the other side of the clearing. Holy shit. It looked like a huge black cat; a panther maybe, and its feral eyes were trained on us like we were its prey. The panther let out another growl before charging as fast as it could towards Clarke.

"Bellamy, gun!" She yelled.

I jumped when the sound of gunfire ricocheted through the air. My head turned to the left where Wells stood holding out the gun that was previously in Bellamy's possession. How the hell did he get that? He must have gotten it when he helped us pull Clarke out of the pit. 

One of the bullets hit the panther in the shoulder, but the cat did not go down. It hunkered in the foilage close to Bellamy, causing the leaves to rustle ominously. I turned several circles, trying to get my eyes on the animal. 

Then, out of nowhere, it pounced right at Bellamy's head. My heart leaped with fear until another gunshot filled my ears. This time, the panther fell to the ground dead. Bellamy looked at Wells as he dropped the gun, which was all out of bullets. Clarke and I breathed heavily as we glanced at Finn and Murphy. They had almost got all the vines cut away from Jasper.

My heart was still beating quickly as my hazel eyes fell on Bellamy. For a split second, I thought he was going to die, and it scared me more than I expected. How was it possible for my body to remember someone when my brain didn't? None of this made sense to me, and it was overwhelming. I also realized that I had been a complete bitch to him. I had only been considering my feelings when he was the one dealing with a girlfriend who had no idea who he was. I needed to apologize. 

Oh, God. I hated apologizing. 

So, once Jasper was down from the tree and we were heading back to camp, my gaze shifted to him every so often wondering how in the world I was going to be able to sort through my confusing feelings for that boy. 

――――

Bellamy got all the praise for bringing back the panther to camp for everyone to eat, even though Wells was the one who shot it. Wells didn't seem to care much though. Honestly, all of us were just glad to still be alive, but some of the tension returned when Bellamy decided to make people take off their wristbands for food. Obviously, that didn't go over well, and proved to be pretty useless since Finn and Clarke grabbed some meat with the defense that Bellamy said there were no rules and they could do whatever the hell they wanted to. 

I sat with Archie and Monty on the top floor of the dropship as Clarke put new bandages over Jasper's wound. He still hadn't woken up, but his breathing was better and he was safe.

"I still can't believe there are other people out there," Monty said, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, more like animals," I answered with a scoff. "They tried to use Jasper as live bait after spearing him for simply stepping foot in their territory. As far as I'm concerned, they can all go to hell."

Archie sighed, "What if there's hundreds or even thousands of them? What then, Harley?"

"I don't know," I said as I stood up. "I'll be back later," my eyes shifted to Clarke. "Let me know if anything changes."

"I will," and then as I turned to leave, she said one last thing, "And, Harley?"

"Yeah?"

Clarke smiled slightly, "Thanks for having my back today... with Bellamy."

I nodded, "No problem."

I made my way down the ladder, jumping down onto the lower level where some people chatted. I walked outside with the firelight illuminating people's faces as I walked by them. I found Bellamy leaning against a tree, and a tall brunette was leaning very close to him with a flirtatious look on her face.

I rolled my eyes and walked up to them. I cleared my throat loudly after crossing my arms over my chest. The girl turned to me, narrowing her eyes. 

"Got a problem?"

What was this bitch's deal? "I need to talk to Bellamy."

"Okay, you can talk to him later."

Oh, she was asking for it. I stepped closer to her, and Bellamy sensed the threat in my tone, "I don't appreciate your rudeness."

He stepped in front of me with his hands on my shoulders, "Okay, Harley, calm down," he turned his head to the girl "Give us a minute, Roma."

The rude girl, Roma, gave me one last glare before walking away, "I don't like her."

"You don't say," Bellamy joked. His eyes scanned my face. "What do you need to talk to me about?"

Oh yeah... my apology. I was so not looking forward to this, "Well, actually I want to tell you," the words were physically not coming to me. He raised his eyebrows as I sighed, "I'm sorry." There, I said it.

"You're sorry?" He asked with question in his voice. "Did you hit your head or something?"

I rolled my eyes, "No. No, I just realized today that I haven't been very considerate of how you feel about me losing my memories of the three months we spent together."

Bellamy still seemed shocked that I was apologizing, "It's fine. I'm just glad you're not in a coma and that you're alive."

"No, it's not fine," I said with emotion. "I've been so caught up with everything that happened to my dad, and so focused on my anger for the Council... I haven't even taken a second to see how you're doing with all this."

Bellamy had a sad look in his brown eyes, "I understand. Your father; he was the only Council member that didn't look down on me because I was from Factory Station. He was a good man."

I nodded, "He was."

"And, honestly, Harley," the tone of his voice shifted as he stepped closer to me, "when I got on the dropship to come down here for Octavia, I never thought I'd see you again. You, just being here, is enough for me."

My heart did a weird thing; it fluttered in my chest in a way I had never felt before, or I had a million times, but it just felt so foreign in that moment.

"I wish I could remember," my eyes met his. "I really do."

He nodded, "Maybe you will, someday."

Maybe. His intense gaze was locked with mine. My heartbeat increased with every passing second. I felt a natural pull towards him that was almost too strong to resist. 

But, I pulled myself back in reality as I stepped back a bit, "Well, I'll let you continue your fascinating conversation with Roma."

He laughed, "Okay, but she's definitely nowhere near as fascinating as you, Princess."

I tried to hide the blush on my face as I smiled and walked away. Bellamy Blake was already nuzzling his way back into my heart, and we had only been on the ground for three days. 

Yeah, I was screwed from the beginning. 

――――
here it is!
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