[not edited]
bold= Swedish fish

CHAPTER THREE
I SPY MISPRONOUNCING NAMES

"You know, the more we walk around in what appears to be circles, the more I feel like I should question your navigational skills."

Looking up from the map, Ren narrowed his eyes at his friend, challenging her to continue, "We aren't going round in circles."

"I feel like we are."

"Well your feelings are wrong."

The engineer swallowed the urge to groan at Ren's curt replies and instead continued forward. Ever since she pushed for him to stay at Camp Jaha with her, he had built up a wall, reinforced by another wall, like he was trying to block Carter out specifically, which she thought was stupid because in a radioactive forest such as the one they had been living in, she was all he had.

"You can't stay mad at me forever, Ren." Carter sighed, glancing cautiously at him as he promptly kept his attention on of the map.

"Challenge accepted." He replied simply, looking up at her with a thin smile.

"What, no— that's not what I meant," Carter rushed, before exhaling in defeat, "Look, if it really bothers you that much, I won't bring up staying at Camp Jaha again," She paused for a moment, wondering if her next move would prove too bold, but she did it anyway, "I'm sorry, Camp Jahaha."

That seemed to have cracked through Ren's facade if not a little, as he released a small breathy chuckle before looking back down at the map. After one last final glance, he folded it up and put it back in his pocket, turning to face Carter once again, "You promise?"

"Hey, what a pretty tree..." Carter trailed off purposefully as she pointed towards an ordinary pine tree.

"Carter,"

"Fine," Her shoulders deflated as all plans to try and convince Ren to stay with her went out the metaphorical window, "I promise."

"Atta girl," He smiled happily, almost immediately jumping straight back into his regular childish self as he patted Carter on the head, ruffling her hair before she batted his hand away, "I'm bored, are you bored? Let's play I Spy."

And suddenly, Carter wished she didn't reach out to make amends.

"I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with..." His eyes scanned the vicinity, expression all too serious as he tried to think of a good one, "B."

"B?" Carter echoed, arching a brow as she decided to play along. According to Ren's map skills— which Carter never cared to learn where he acquired them from— Camp Jaha wasn't more than a few hours away, so maybe playing some trivial game would help pass the time, "Bark?"

"Oh, you're good," Ren feigned awe while fashioning a faint smirk, "Your turn,"

"I spy something beginning with..." She pursed her lips into a thin line of concentration, when she spotted a familiar black bird perched high up in one of the many trees, "R."

"Oh wow, you really are obsessed," Ren's eyebrows shot up as a bright look of amusement lit up his eyes, "It's me, isn't it?"

"You're ridiculous." Was Carter's only deadpan response.

"I wouldn't blame you, it's a pretty good one." Ren defended lamely, "Oh! I got it! It's that bird thing named after your friend, Robin!"

Carter frowned as she tilted her head to look at him, "Robin?" She raised an eyebrow, "You mean Raven?"

"Yeah that one, I was close enough, they're both birds." Ren shrugged nonchalantly, "Is that right?"

"Yeah, that's right," The engineer affirmed with a slight smile, "I'm surprised you remembered her name."

"Excuse you, I remember all the names of your friends, you mention them enough," Ren scoffed, "There's Klork, the angsty leader with enough self-loathing to feed an entire nation,"

"Clarke."

"Whatever," He waved her off, "There's Octagon, the badass who slept with the enemy before he was an ally—"

"— Octavia," Carter sighed.

"Minty and Japo, the nerdy tech friends that are actually smarter than you—"

"— Okay, you're doing this on purpose now."

"Steph and Coral, your illegitimate siblings,"

"Oh my god, you're an idiot," Carter shook her head, though a smile threatens to pull at her lips, "Steven and Kara."

"Wick, the other engineer who is apparently worse than you— which I find hard to believe," Ren smirked, but Carter was more surprised that he pronounced Wick's name properly, "Then there's Rain, your outsider friend who could potentially be a sociopath,"

Never mind.

"It's Rae," Carter pinched the bridge of her nose, "Stop being an ass, you know their names."

"Mophy, your frenemy that has tried to kill you more than once," He paused for a moment before nudging Carter's shoulder slightly, "And then there's Bellamy. The one who almost ruined your life and yet happened to be the center of your world."

Carter smiled up at him, it was small, but it held so much emotion, "You said his name right."

"I know, and I could have had a field day with the name Bellamy," Ren snorted, throwing his arm over Carter's shoulders playfully, "But much like Wock, he's suffered enough."

"You're a mess."

"You say that like it's some grand discovery."

***

He sometimes thought it was weird, and maybe it was.

To most of the Ark, it probably looked like a grieving thing. Like he couldn't move on so he stayed in a twilight zone, where it was like she hadn't even left at all, but that wasn't true. To his friends, the ones who knew Carter as well as he did, aside from Raven, it probably looked like he had lost his mind.

Staying in a dead girl's bedroom.

They would all be wrong. But Bellamy didn't tell them that, he didn't care what they thought, he didn't owe them an explanation. He knew why he stayed in there, and that was all that mattered to him.

It wasn't because he was stuck in a state of bereavement, it wasn't because he was in denial. He stayed in Carter's room so when she got back from her glorified detox, her bedroom wouldn't be clad with dust, it wouldn't smell like it had been empty all the while she was away. Bellamy didn't want it to have the same cold feel it had to it when she went away, back when she was in a place that was unreachable, even to him.

Perched on the end of the low rise double bed, Bellamy's head was dipped as his elbows rested on his knees, his messy curls spilled over his forehead as his dark eyes focused on the thin, off-color shirt in his hands. His thumbs brushed over the fabric mindlessly. She didn't have many clothes, none of them did. But the small amount she did have were kept folded up in the top drawer, exactly how she left them.

Since he gave up his room to another member of Arkadia, all of his clothes resided in the drawer just beneath hers and he couldn't help but wonder if they would have done this had she stayed. Would it be too soon? Did she even like sharing her living quarters? Probably not, but this was Bellamy. She had angrily and accidentally proclaimed her love for him, so he assumed she wouldn't mind.

With one final sigh, Bellamy stood to his feet and placed the shirt back in the top drawer. He sometimes would imagine a scenario where she was there, and he'd give her a kiss goodbye as he left to go work. He imagined she would be distracted most of the time, either asking mundane questions that didn't need an answer or tinkering with some project she worked on with Wick or Raven, mumbling quietly to herself as she narrowed her eyes in concentration.

He shrugged on his Guards jacket and glanced around at the room before squaring his shoulders and schooling his face into its usual stony expression. This was his haven. Maybe they were right, maybe he was in denial. But in that small, bleak room? He was allowed to be himself, he was allowed to think of all those silly little scenarios and was allowed to hope.

Because if he didn't have that, what did he have?

***

"I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with—"

"— it's tree." Carter interrupted, her eye twitching slightly as she kept her focus forward. They had been walking for hours. She was sure that if the sky wasn't thick with dark grey clouds, the sun would definitely be directly above them— which was not okay since they left pretty early in the morning to get back to Camp Jaha for a reasonable time.

"You don't know that," Ren rolled his eyes, shoving his hands into his pockets, "It could have been anything."

Carter's head snapped towards him, eyes glassy like she was about to lose her mind and her voice creepily monotone, "We have been playing this game for hours, Ren. It's definitely tree."

"Okay, fine you win." He mumbled, a faint pout on his lips.

With a slight frown, Carter slowed her pace, glancing around the forestry with perplexed curiosity, "Are you sure we aren't going round in circles."

There was a brief moment of silence, "Wow, it's almost like you want me to hate you."

"I'm serious Ren, we don't seem to be getting anywhere." The low morale had been wearing Carter down as she slumped against a free, brushing the stray strands of dark blonde hair back. She hates touching her hair, it was thick with dirt and grease where they didn't come across drinkable water as much as they hoped. She didn't even want to know how many knots were amongst that messy ponytail of hers.

"We're close, now stop whining."

"How do you know that?" She asked, sending her companion a pointed look. Other than the exhaustion that was beginning to take its toll, Carter had had enough of walking. The pads of her feet were sore and she was pretty sure she had a blister at the back of her left foot, which personally offended her since her boots never gave her blisters.

"Because I'm me, I know how to read a map."

"I don't want to doubt your navigational skills but..." Carter trailed off before shrugging, "I'm doubting your navigational skills."

"Oh come on, Carter, we're not far now, I'd say another two miles, four tops."

"That definitely constitutes as far in my opinion."

"I never thought I'd say this but you're more dramatic than me, and I can put on quite the theatrics." Ren notes, looking down at the sulking mess next to him. He opened his mouth to continue his string of insults in the hopes that it would get her to move, but he was immediately shut down when Carter held up her finger, head perked up and eyes wide.

"Do you hear that?" She whispered.

"Hear what?" He lowered his voice too, despite not knowing why. Whatever Carter had thought she heard must have resounded again as she immediately jumped to her feet and began sprinting in the opposite direction to where they were supposed to be going. Ren stood there for a nanosecond, gathering his thoughts and basking in confusion before he quickly picked up her backpack she had left behind and followed her, "Hey asshole, wait up!"

Carter didn't listen as she dodged and darted over forest debris, the low grumble getting louder as she got closer. Her lungs burned and heaved with every stride, her arms and legs aches and her chest throbbed but she didn't slow down, not even for a second. Shielding her face from the rogue twigs that hung low on a wall of bushes, she pushed through before coming to a stumbling halt on a dirt road. Her mouth was ajar as she tried to even her erratic breathing, well that was until she found the product of what had been grumbling. Just on the side of the road, covered in thick sheets of protective metal and weapons stood Carter's most prized possession.

It was her car.

is anyone else enjoying this version better thus far? there isn't too many differences yet in all fairness.

and does anyone read in inverted colours or is that just me?

thank you for reading!