CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I really like blowing things up." 

***

"You have no friends." 

 Yep, that was the first part of what I said to Bellamy. He looked taken aback, and I raised my eyebrows, making him turn a deep red color. "I'm sorry, Sunshine, I just-" 

 "Hi I'm Bellamy! I like throwing vital tools for our survival into rivers!" I deepened my voice, before reaching over and smacking his arm. "You fucking idiot." 

 "I told you that-" 

 "I told you that you weren't dying if they came to Earth!" I cut him off, crossing my arms, waist deep in water. "I don't care that you shot the chancellor." I added, lowering my voice and narrowing my eyes, before raising my voice again. "But you can't endanger everyone on the ground just because-" 

 "He's endangering people on the Ark too!" Raven yelled from the ground, and Bellamy sighed deeply, looking one hundred percent done with life. I pointed to Raven, showing that she has a point. 

 "Exactly." 

 "If you're trying to make me feel bad, you've succeeded." Bellamy pouted, leaning down to peer into the water. "But you might wanna help me find the radio instead of chewing me out." 

 "Okay, fine." I quickly reached out to shove Bellamy's shoulders, hooking my foot around the back of his knees, sending him flying back into the cold water. I couldn't help but burst into laughter at the expression on his face. His curls were plastered onto his forehead, and he had a dumbfounded expression on his face, as if he couldn't believe what just happened. 

 "You're gonna get it!" He jumped up, tackling me before I had time to defend myself, pushing me under and holding my waist down. A string of bubbles came from my mouth in surprise, but I shot up, gasping and feeling my heart race. Bellamy guffawed triumphantly, pointing at me this time. The water made my forehead sting, but I barely noticed. I just splashed the boy in front of me, and jumped over so I could climbed onto his back. "Fall!" 

 "No." He stood up straighter, crossing his arms in an effort to aggravate me. "You're like a feather." 

 "I am one hundred sixty pounds of pure muscle!" 

 "Scrawny!" 

 "I am not scrawny!" 

 "Hey! Do you guys wanna keep being six year olds, or come figure this out?" Raven yelled from the shore, and Bellamy took a step forward, leaning backwards and making me crash backwards into the river. I stood up immediately, spitting a mouthful of water out and trudging to where the rest of the group was standing. My heart was still racing, but I felt better then I have it a while. Of course I think about Charlotte, but I don't want her death to blur out the goal on Earth: Surviving. 

 "Can you fix it?" Clarke asked hopefully as I wrung out the water on my shirt. It was sticking to my stomach, and I pulled it away with a louder than what I would deem necessary sucking sound. Bellamy tried to conceal his smirk. And I tried to conceal how good he looked with his shirt sticking to his abs. 

 Gosh Nate, stop being gay for like, three minutes. 

 "Maybe." Raven replied, her voice flat. "It'll take a day to just dry out the components and see what's broken." 

 "Well, we can wait that long, can we not?" I asserted. crossing my arms and shaking my head like a dog, making Raven scrunch her nose. "I mean, is it already too late?" 

 "Yeah." Bellamy muttered, his voice so quiet I could barely make it out. "We're too late." 

 Clarke turned to look at him, fury dancing in her unwavering gaze. She stalked over, until her face was inches from his. "Do you have any idea what you did?" She demanded, "do you even care?" 

"You asked me to help." Bellamy transformed into a completely different person then he was a few minutes ago, his eyes turning hard. "I helped." 

"Three hundred people are going to die today because of you!" Clarke snapped, her tough demeanor falling, tears springing to her eyes. I frowned, when Clarke lets her guard down, shit just got real. I am sure we can do something to help. 

 "Clarke, it'll be fine. We can find a way." I gently grabbed her wrist, pulling her away from Bellamy before she could stab him. I turned to Raven. "The Ark doesn't have to talk to us, right? They just have to know we're here?" 

"Well, I guess." Raven shrugged. 

 "How would we do that with no radio?" Finn asked, standing beside Raven and leaning his head towards her. Raven's a mechanic, unassumingly, since she fixed up a pod and fell through space without dying. So who knows what else she can do? 

 "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I really like blowing stuff up." 

 I was met with a series of confused looks, I shook my head and walked over to the pod. Raven followed closely behind, peering over my shoulder. "Well, this has a pretty powerful engine, right? I mean, can't we make like, a flare or something? And launch it into space? And... blow it up?" 

 I couldn't tell if my idea was stupid or not, because flares were the only things I remembered from the mechanics class I was forced to take when I was fourteen. It makes sense, sending a blast of light into space; and then maybe it would mean that I won't have to murder Bellamy. 

 A grin spread across Raven's pretty face. She turned and punched my arm playfully. "You're a genius! Yes, we can totally do that! We just need everyone to work together so we can deconstruct the pod, and rebuild it with enough force to launch it into the sky!"  She turned to us, smirking.

 "Who's ready to get to work?" 

***

The first time I have done something right in what feels like ages. 

 And it feels good. 

 The flares shoot into the sky like a beacon of hope in this seemingly hopeless world. They emitted a pinkish glow, and I grinned widely, leaning my head back and closing my eyes, basking in the warmth of success. 

 "I gotta say Masteron, I'm impressed." 

 My lips quirked up, turning to look at Raven, the pink glow bathed her features in the light, giving her an angelic look. "Please, I've never met a mechanic better then you. You came down here from the Ark. That's crazy." 

 "I had help." Raven admitted, staring up at the sky with a blissful look. "Abby Griffin, Clarke's mom. She asked me to keep an eye on you." 

 "Abby?" The confusion in my voice made Raven laughed, and she turned to look at me, cocking her hip and smiling. 

 "Yeah, she said that you need someone to make sure you don't accidentally kill yourself or something." 

 I couldn't help but chuckle lightly at that. I miss Mrs. Griffin. After my chat with Clarke, it became clear that I can't picture a life without her. She was the mom that my mom couldn't be.

 "She really loves you." 

 That surprised me. I turned to look at Raven, but her gaze was fixed on the sky. "What?" I asked in a breathless whisper. The word love being associated with me doesn't make any sense; I don't think I've heard it being spoken in years.  

 "She loves you. Like the son she couldn't have." She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "She wanted you to know that." 

 I didn't know what to say to that. I just stared up at the night sky, the flares were almost too small to see, and Raven turned to give me a sideways look, quirking an eyebrow. "I'm glad to have met you, Nate." 

 "Right back at you, Raven." 

 She gave me another fleeting grin, before turning and running into Finn's outstretched arms. I had to say that their relationship surprised me at first. I honestly thought that Finn had a thing for Clarke. 

 The girl herself appeared next to me next, her blonde hair glowing in the darkness as she stood so close to me that our arms brushed together, a scowl on her face. "We can only hope it worked." She said in a dry tone, crossing her arms. "If Bellamy didn't-" 

 "I know you're pissed at Bellamy." I began, nudging her shoulder with mine, the friendliest gesture I have given her for years. "It's because he's an ass." 

 Clarke snorted, "You can say that again." 

 "And I will, he's an ass." 

 Clarke giggled quietly, and it donned on me how long it has been since I have heard her laugh. It is different, Clarke is serious, her laugh is light and playful... it reminds me of when we were kids, and I would say something to make her laugh.

 I guess I miss that.

 "He seems to like you." She sighed, brushing a piece of hair from her face. "I mean, he's not all 'I think I'm better then everyone' with you." 

 "It's because he knows he can never live up to my amazingness." 

 The girl didn't even hesitate. "That's not a word." 

 I shook my head, walking by her side towards the tent I share with Monty and Jasper, we don't exactly have the most... room, in ours. We have to sleep in rows, like at some sort of weird slumber party. 

 "It is in my world." 

"In your world are a bunch of people on the Ark not dying?" She asked, huffing and flipping her hair over her shoulders, then back again. Clarke always plays with her hair when she's nervous. To be fair, so do I. 

 "In my world, Earth was never inhabitable in the first place." 

 Clarke grinned as we stopped staring up at the brightest star in the sky... the Ark. She rested her head on my shoulder, and for once, I didn't have the urge to grimace and pull away. 

 "I need a vacation to Nate world."