Bellarke + Grounder!Bellamy au

[AO3]

They only make it a few kilometers, all ninety-seven of them still left alive, when the breath is stolen from Clarke’s lungs because people are dropping out of the trees in front of them. There are gasps behind her, and she hears one of the younger ones shriek.

Clarke kind of wants to shriek too, because she’d just been worried about not seeing any animals yet, but these are people, real people, dressed in heavy furs with faces hidden behind terrifying masks.

Instead, she holds up an arm and calls out a firm “Stop!” She risks a glance back and sees that all of the kids from the dropship have frozen in their tracks. Even Spacewalker, who got two kids killed when they followed his bad example and refused to listen to her demand that they stay in their seats, is motionless and wide-eyed as he looks at the strangers.

They may hate her for being the so-called princess of the Ark, she thinks grimly, but that doesn’t stop them from responding to her orders.

“You speak for the Sky People?” a low voice asks, and she zeroes in on the tall figure just in front of her.

The Sky People. Such a beautiful name for a bunch of fallen criminals.

“I do,” she says, a heavy weight settling in the pit of her stomach.

Wells reaches out and touches her wrist. “Clarke,” he says urgently, but she shrugs him off with a glare.

“Clarke,” the voice echoes, almost curious, and then he’s tugging off his mask––she sees it’s a man, younger than she expected, probably only a handful of years older than her.

“Clarke of the Sky People,” he says, eyes even darker than the pitch-colored paint smeared around them. “My leader wants to speak with you.”

Keep reading