Free falling.

It felt extraordinary...

"Why did you do it, Eden?"

...It felt pacifying, almost soothing...

"You don't understand."

...Your heart beats fast and slow, rapid and unrushed; your mind swims into a stagnant sea to sit and wonder..

"Help me understand, then!"

...Your body feels weightless like an itinerant vessel. You're free, you defy all laws...

"Dad..."

...I was floated...

"You killed somebody!"

...I was floating...

"He was trying to rape me!"

Then I wasn't.

"Hey. Hey. Eden! Wake up." My watery eyes flew open. "Hey... hey. You're trembling. Take deep breaths."

Immediate embarrassment consumed me at having a nightmare in front of Bellamy, again. I knew my dreams couldn't be helped, yet it didn't stop the heat that threatened to travel up my neck to my cheeks as I forced myself to take deep breaths.

"You were talking in your sleep. "

My heart accelerated. "What did I say?"

"You said, 'Please believe me. They won't believe me.' Over and over."

"Oh."

"Do you wanna tell me why you were shaking like that?" The genuine concern in Bellamy's tone was evident, but at the same time I didn't want to talk about it.

"Not really."

"Eden..." I looked up at him showing I had no intention of spilling anything. "That wasn't just a nightmare, you woke up and it was like you were still out of it."

"Yes it was," I sighed. "And it's very embarrassing." I ran my hand through my hair shaking it out, hoping it didn't resemble too much of a bird's nest, unlike Bellamy who even with dishevelled hair still looked good; it was annoying.

He pulled me back into his arms and released a deep breath, letting his worry dissipate. He held me tightly, one hand playing with the locks of my hair. "Don't be embarrassed. You still look hot to me, after waking up from a nightmare."

"I'm a natural beauty," I joked.

"You are."

I laughed smacking his arm. "You're just saying that because you want to get in my pants."

"No I don't."

"So if I did this..." I sat up and swung my leg over Bellamy's hips, I flipped my hair to one side with my hands then leaned forward so we were face to face. My lips left a ghost trail over his tanned skin to his ear where I whispered, "... would you take advantage of the situation and sleep with me?"

"This is coming from the same girl that didn't want to kiss me yesterday?"

"New day, new mindset. You were right― I've got to move on." I knew I'd done terrible things in the past, but I had to understand that it was okay to remember those things, as long as I stopped tormenting myself. Easier said than done though. 

"Wow."

"What?"

"You. Eden Taylor, you have actually listened to me, for once." Bellamy smirked. "But to answer your question, no I wouldn't take advantage of the situation, even if I wanted to."

"Good boy."

"I'm not a dog." Bellamy raised his eyebrows squeezing my leg. The skin on skin contact made me shiver and Bellamy knew that. 

"You're a puppy around me."

"I think you're mistaken. I act the same way around you as I do everybody else."

I bit back my smile. Bellamy was lying to himself, but I'd let him think what he wanted if it didn't change anything. "So, what are your plans for the day?"

"Not much. I need to oversee a few things, though."

"A few things, like what?"

"Don't worry about it. It's not important."

I shrugged. If he said I didn't have to worry, then I guess I didn't have to worry. I wouldn't pry if I didn't need to. If he intended on doing something stupid, then I'd find out anyway, I'd built a solid network of friends around camp. Someone always knew something, you just had to ask the right people.

"I need to go see Finn and check that he's doing okay. How long were we asleep?"

"Not long. You should check on him now and I'll go sort out what I need done."

I slipped off Bellamy and shrugged on my jacket. "I'll see you later?"

Bellamy pushed up onto his elbows and nodded. "Yeah." I took in his rare, relaxed form one last time before exiting my tent.

As always people were shuffling around camp looking lively or dreary.

I headed for the Dropship, but the sensation of something wet on my hand stopped me. A droplet of water ran over my skin and dripped to the floor. Another followed, my eyes focused with fascination. Rain. It was beginning to rain. Droplets descended from the sky in quick succession and the heavens began to brood, spreading a dreary grey. It was amazing. I took a moment to experience what rain felt like before jogging into the Dropship and finding Finn.

"This is Raven Reyes. Calling Ark Station." 

Finn lay motionless on a makeshift table, of sorts, whilst Clarke paced restlessly and Raven droned the same lines into her radio. I stepped into the room receiving a forced smile from Clarke and a harsh and desperate look from Raven. If I'm not mistaken, Raven still hated my guts as much as she hated Bellamy's, or maybe a little less because I wanted to help out with the flares and because I was her old friend's girlfriend― that last one might be pushing it. 

"How is he?" I asked.

Raven whipped around at my question and shot daggers at me. She was clearly in a bad place worried to death about her boyfriend, stress mounting on top of her, so I had to bite my tongue. "How does he look to you? He's not up and smiling. Is he?"

Clarke placed her hand on my shoulder offering a sympathetic smile. "He's not doing great, but his condition is good given the circumstance. We just desperately need to make contact with The Ark, so that I can talk to my Mum. She'll know what to do."

The only thing I could do was nod. Seeing Finn laid out in such a way made me want to cry, it was like Jasper all over again and that was tough on everybody. Having people you care about fatally injured, with no professional means to help them, felt like several blows to the gut by a grounder.

Although Finn and I hadn't spent a lot of time together lately, if he died I would not be able to carry on for a while. He was my first friend down here... and we'd made out so that had to count for something, I laughed in my head at my stupid side note.

Rain began to batter the Dropship, harsh beats pounding against the metal. Joyous screams echoed from outside, before people came rushing in drenched to the bone. Wind joined the heavy succession of droplets, blowing the camp into a dreary disorder as voices hollered commands trying to keep everything in place and our cover intact. "Hold it back!" 

"This is Raven Reyes. Calling Ark Station. Come in Ark Station. This is Raven Reyes. Calling Ark Station. Please come in. Please, please. Can anybody hear me?"

"Are you sure you have the right frequency?" Some girl asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Raven bit back viciously. 

Clarke got Raven's attention and attempted to calm and reassure her. "Raven? You can do this. Okay?"

Raven's eyes caught mine as if waiting for me to say something, something I didn't expect, I just nodded knowing she needed the belief of the people around her to get things done. She carried on repeating the same plea to the The Ark, whilst I moved over to Finn. I grimaced at his wound and blanched skin. Finn just needed to last a little longer, then he'd be as good as new.

●▪●

"This is a restricted station. Who is this? Please identify yourself."

A male voice came through the radio. Clarke and I shot up so fast we crashed into each other. We rushed over to Raven who responded, her words all running and colliding into one another.

"This is Raven Reyes. I-I'm from Mecha Station. I'm transmitting from the ground. The hundred are alive. Please, you need to get Doctor Abby Griffin. Now."

"Hang on Raven, we're trying to boost your signal."

"Raven? Are you there?" My whole mood threatened to turn sour at the sound of Abby Griffin's voice, but I knew I had to push my grievances aside for the moment.

"Mom? Mom, it's me."

We waited tentatively until a response came, "... Clarke?"

After all this time, we finally made contact with The Ark. I expected to feel relief, unsurprisingly it didn't come. There were too many things still to come or things playing on my mind that constantly stressed me out. No doubt now that contact was made, they'd be down here as soon as possible.

"Mom, I need your help. One of our people was stabbed by a Grounder."

"Clarke. This s the Chancellor. Are you saying there are survivors on the ground?"

"Yes, the Earth is survivable. We're not alone." Clarke's words hung in the air for a second before I nudged her arm wanting her to speed things up. "Mom, he's dying. The knife is still in his chest."

Instead of Abby, Jaha's voice rang through. "Clarke. Is my son with you?"

"I'm so sorry-" Clarke paused looking up sadly. The selfless smile of Wells flashed in front of my eyes as if he was really in front of me, followed by guilt that made me shut my eyes tight.

"Wells is dead," I answered for her.

"Clarke, who was that?"

"I'm Eden."

The radio went silent. I could only imagine the immense pain Jaha felt in that moment. Maybe he'd regret sending his son down here to die, I pictured his face riddled with guilt.

Abby's voice crackled in the ship fighting with interference. "I'm going to talk you through it, step by step." A huge gust of wind blasted by outside making things creak. "Clarke... just... find-" Her voice fizzled out into static.

"What's going on?" I questioned.

"Raven what's wrong?"

"It's not the radio, it's the storm."

I spun around, my eyes scanning over everything in the room. Octavia walked by and I called out to her, "Octavia! I need you to help me find a substitute for a steriliser." She stared at me caught of guard. "It's urgent. Let's go."

We dashed out of the room and into the rain trying to navigate our way around. The rain chilled me instantly, sticking my hair to my neck and face. This was probably the only time I regretted cutting my trousers into shorts. I'd never been so cold.

I followed Octavia into the main tent where we began to rummage through things searching for any medical supplies.

"How do you feel knowing we've made contact with The Ark?"

Octavia momentarily peered at me before getting back to searching for a steriliser. I couldn't help but notice it had been a while since we've had a catch up, because Octavia hadn't been talking to me or her brother. "I don't know. They're the same people that locked me up for being born so I'm not bursting with excitement, like other people. "

I stopped what I was doing and looked at Octavia. "Vi? I'm sorry about what I did. In hindsight I probably should have, actually, tried to stop Bellamy from going to search for that Pod, and not have decided myself that going was a good idea. It was selfish." 

"It's fine. You like my brother, so you were bound to go with him."

"Vi, I d-"

"I forgive you. It's okay. I could really just do with having my 'best friend' back."

A wide smile spread across my face, I'd gotten my friend back and she no longer hated me. Now I needed Finn back.

"What about Monty's moonshine? Wouldn't that work?"

"Yes!" I could have kissed Octavia in that moment. We ran back into the rain to get to Monty's tent. "That's perfect! Grab two canisters."

We raced back to Clarke, Vi handing over a canister. Clarke unscrewed the cap to smell the contents and looked appalled as she pulled away. Monty's moonshine was rancid tasting but it did a good job of numbing the world around you as you became progressively drunk.

"Pretty sure no germ could survive it," Octavia stated.

"Storm's getting worse. Monroe, close the doors."

"But we still have people out there," she objected.

"Monty and Jasper still aren't back yet." Octavia commented.

"Neither is Bellamy." Four pairs of eyes all shifted to me making me feel odd for mentioning Bellamy's name. Clarke gave me a subtle smile before talking, to which I awkwardly returned.

"It's okay, they'll find somewhere to ride it out."

Raven cleared her throat. "One stitching needle."

"Great, I still need something to close the wound."

"There's some wire on the second level. I used it for the tents." Octavia said.

"Let's see it."

"Stay away from the blue wires that run through the ceiling. I rigged it to the solar cells in the roof. That means they're hot! You got that?"

"Yeah, I got that."

I took over sterilizing the equipment, left with two girls who should realistically be ripping each other's hair out as they war over Finn. Clarke appeared reluctant to get in the way of a relationship, and Raven just always looked disheartened whenever she spotted Clarke or Finn within a five metre radius of each other.

It brought back memories of how I used to become pissed at this girl on The Ark, named Claryss, who always went above and beyond to grab Orion's attention. It wasn't the same situation, Claryss never slept with Orion, but I could empathise with Raven to an extent. 

"Tell me you can do this," Raven asked Clarke.

Clarke only looked at Raven without saying a word. That look said it all, but I had to be optimistic and have faith in Clarke's abilities to do her best, like normal.

"Of course she can do this. She's had years of medical training," I mocked with a reassuring grin. "Clarke is the best of the best."

"Hey they're back!" Someone yelled right as Bellamy walked in.

I didn't feel like worry consumed me knowing Bellamy was out in that storm, but seeing him brought a flood of relief I didn't know I needed. His messy wet hair stuck to his forehead as the water gave a sheen to his skin making me wonder what he'd look like coming out of a shower. Bellamy's eyes found mine fairly quick, we shared a pocket of a moment, both slightly smiling, forgetting we weren't alone. Octavia's voice brought us back to reality, we looked at her then each other trying not to laugh, then back to Vi.

"Bellamy!" Vi's eyes drifted behind her brother to his group. My eyes bulged at the unconscious grounder being dragged in, the grounder that had Octavia. "The hell are you doing?"

"It's time to get some answers."

"Oh you mean 'revenge'?"

"I mean 'intel'. Get him upstairs." Bellamy ordered the boys. Octavia watched distraught.

Clarke walked up to Bellamy. "Bellamy, she's right." Bellamy was obviously angry, until the sound of Abby's voice came through the radio. "Look, this is not who we are."

"It is now."

Bellamy climbed up the hatch and shut it behind him with a firm bang and click. Astonishment and shock hovered in the air, but we couldn't allow that to take priority over Finn.

"Listen. Octavia and I will go and keep an eye on Bellamy. You guys focus on Finn and keeping him alive."

I didn't wait for any sort of response, knowing they'd set their attention straight to Finn, wanting him alive more than I did. I climbed the ladder first and hauled myself up onto the upper level. The boys were following Bellamy's lead and tying up the grounder so that his arms were tied taught the the ceiling forcing him to stand upright. I stepped further in stopping when his eyes laid on me, until I realised he was staring at Octavia who now stood beside me.

Bellamy followed the grounder's eyes to us. "Octavia, get out of here! Eden, you too."

"I told you he was protecting me. You didn't have to do this."

"This isn't about you, I'm doing this for all of us."

Octavia looked at the grounder's bloody and bruised face. "You did that for all of us?"

"I did that for Finn and Jasper and Eden and John and Diggs and Roma."

"It wasn't even him."

"Me?" I spluttered caught off guard.

"You don't know that!" Bellamy yelled at his sister before turning to me. "Grounders almost killed you. And him-" Bellamy nodded to the side. "He's the one that attacked you outside camp."

I tried to understand Bellamy's point of view, and to some extent I did understand, but I couldn't justify beating and torturing someone- even if it was a grounder. "I killed his people"

Bellamy shook his head. "It's not the same. It was self-defense. We need to know what we're up against. How many there are and why they're killing us. And he's gonna tell us right now."

"No, Bellamy, please!" Vi grabbed for Bellamy's wrist but he shook her off determined to go along with his plan.

"Drew, Miller take her downstairs."

The boys grabbed a hold of Octavia and wrestled to settle her, but she broke away. "Get- get off of me! I don't even think he speaks English, he won't understand you." Octavia gave me a lasting look before she went downstairs, and I knew her look meant I had to stop Bellamy from doing anything too drastic.

I turned to face the others and took in everybody's tense expressions and Bellamy's tense shoulders as he stared at his new punching bag.

"Oh, I think he will."

MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS! I HOPE YOUR DAYS HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL SO FAR 🎅🎉🎄🎉

I guess Bellamy and Eden are gonna need a ship name pretty soon.

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