Though the tension in the cave was still thick as mud, Bellamy and Athena both sat comfortably as possible on the rock floor. Athena had more padding on her clothing, and so she tucked her coat underneath her butt to soften the ground. Bellamy dealt with his uncomfortable position smoothly, and it was as if he was used to sitting on rock hard floor his whole life. Athena didn’t know that he was used to it; being in the lower sector of the Ark he hadn’t gotten the luxuries of comfortable living. He never complained though, because it was his sister who was trapped under the floor, not him.

                “Tell me…” Bellamy started, “Who are the Mountain Men?”

                “I do not… uhm… know?”

                “Know, yeah, that’s right.” He nodded.

                Athena didn’t show that she felt stupid, but rather, accepted his generous encouragement. “I have never seen t-them. They cannot leave t-their mountain.”

                “Why?”

                She pointed out to the exit of the cave, though it was out of sight. “How do you say… the air is…”

                “Toxic?”

                She glanced up at him; she had never heard the word before, but it sounded accurate. “Like now.”

                “So, the air is toxic to them, just like this fog is to us?”   

                She nodded, “Yes.”

                A silence passed through the cave, Bellamy was thinking about what he had just learned. The Grounders were not the only threat, and he was worrying more and more about Octavia. She hadn’t looked at him the same since Atom died, which was not his fault, and now she was disgusted by the way he treated the Grounder that Athena called Lincoln. He was losing touch with his estranged sister, but perhaps this connection he felt with Athena would show Octavia that he was giving them a chance, these Grounders, but that he couldn’t risk any of them hurting her.

                “Why are you still here?” Bellamy asked, “Lincoln?”

                Athena couldn’t answer all his questions; she was here because she had nothing to go back to Lexa with. She wanted to go back and either prevent this war that lingered like smoke over a fire, or to start this war and get it over with, before she felt any connection with the Sky People. From what she had seen, they weren’t all that bad, but Lincoln had limped out of the camp hardly able to even speak, and that negative was more heavily weighted than the good she had seen from a few of them.

                Bellamy himself had ups and downs, but he had chosen not to kill her the few chances he had, and Athena had not been able to kill him either. With so much being juggled in her head, she knew in the back of her mind, somewhere deep in there, that it would be easier to try to make peace with these people. Their camp was small enough, and they would probably never stray into the Wood Clans territory. Chances are, in time, most of them would die off from simple things like exposure, animal attack, or the acid fog. Their chances were drastically lower than those who had been born and raised on Earth.

                “Lincoln is free.” She said, but decided not to go in further than that.

                Bellamy’s jaw tightened and his expression darkened, but then he softened up almost as fast as he tensed. Perhaps it was because he recalled that Athena gave him one day to free him, and now that he was free, it didn’t really matter.

                “Where did… y-you come fr-from?” She stammered.

                Bellamy half smiled, “We have a habitat in space.”

                “Space…?”

                “Uhm,” Bellamy thought about how to explain space; the words atmosphere and orbit probably wouldn’t register either. “Higher than the sky.”

                “Oh.” She looked up, though the cave blocked her view of the sky. “Like the moon?”

                “Exactly.”

                “What are your… uhm… meaning? No…”

                “Intentions?” He guessed.

                “Yes.” Athena said.

                “To keep my sister safe.”

                “Octavia?” Athena had guessed that they were related when she first saw Octavia, but had no way of confirming that.

                “Yes, how did you know?”

                “I saw her. With Lincoln.” Athena said, “Same eyes.”

                “She helped you free him.” Bellamy shook his head, “Should have known.”

                “We need to speak about our people.” She knew the wording was wrong, but she didn’t have the right word.

                “We need to talk, you mean.”

                “Yes.” Athena nearly hissed at the correction. “My people see you as threat, I am to prove you are or are not.”

                “We only are if you are.”

                “You have one hundred, we have thousands.” She said her words sharply, adjusting her sitting position slightly. “You must prove you are not a threat.”

                “How?” He asked.

                “I will go to my Unit Leader, talk with her. I may need Lincoln to come.”

                “I doubt he’ll have any good words to say about us, about me…”

                “Lincoln holds no grudge.” Athena said, “He cares about Octavia.”

                Bellamy looked up at her and shook his head, “I can’t allow that. I’ll kill him if he touches her.”

                Athena rose, teeth bared, a growl coming from her feral lips. She stood over Bellamy, who was beginning to rise, but she shoved him back down. “You’ve done enough to him.”

                “I cannot trust your…. Your kind with my sister.”

                “How are we so different?” Athena asked, but the question rung in her own ears. She had only recently been yelling at Lincoln for being such an idiot, fraternizing with the enemy, and now she was proposing ultimatums and showing mercy. The woods softened her while the mountain hardened her, and she was unsure which was worse. She could still taste the words on her lips, and it tasted of bile. She grabbed her weapons and looked towards the cave opening. “I bring word to my commander that you are not hostile, but that is all.”

                “Athena wait…” Bellamy said, but by then she was down the cave near the entrance; the fog had diminished and it was clear to breathe. She had to get back to Aslan before he began to worry; all he knew was that the Sky People had Lincoln prisoner, and he was probably hostile towards them. She needed to tell him, and Anya and Lexa, that these people were simply trying to survive, and that war would only cause unnecessary casualties on both sides. If their leaders could meet, if terms of territory and boundaries could be met, this wouldn’t have to end in a bloodshed. She just hoped it would work, because for some reason, she didn’t want to see Bellamy dead.

I can't believe I am already at chapter 9! I know this story is slowish, but I will be moving it along to the bridge scene, and then of course the bomb scene, and then the battle scene, and things will get interesting once I am in season 2! For those of you who have only seen season one, I will put a heads up on the first chapter that breaches the second season, but I do reccomend finding them online and watching them. Please, please, please comment, I only go one last chapter and it wasn't anything to do with the chapter.  Also, if anyone knows how to make a trailer, message me?