Chapter 4: Ch. 4 – Bad Days can Follow the Good Ones

I made my way back to camp before dark, but my spell still was not complete. When I got back, Atom found me and pulled me aside, snapping at me about how he was supposed to watch over me. I apologized half-heartedly, but before he could complain, Bellamy's group returned. Now, he could only be quiet, or risk letting Bellamy know that I had slipped out under his watch.

I headed back into the dropship to check on Jasper who was not doing any better, but the infection was not any worse, which was still a good thing. Clarke's group returned just before sunset, but they had no better luck than Bellamy. Healing herbs seemed few and far between in this new world it seemed, but I was not too worried. Jasper's color was slowly returning, so if I could try healing him again, maybe he could survive on his own even if we did not find the medicine. 

We still had another bad night with Jasper groaning, but it was not as bad as the night before, though no one else seemed to realize it. In the morning, Murphy and a few others were threatening to kill him if he was not better, but it was Bellamy's statement that if he was not better by tomorrow, he would kill Jasper himself that bothered me. Yes, Jasper was a major drain on morale with his groans of pain, but the thought of actually killing someone put a very bad taste in my mouth. I knew that it was something that I would have to do at some point as Octavia, the Skairipa, but I had yet to reach that point. I just wanted some time to understand the crazy powers that I had, though in a place like this, it would have been easier to ask to be back in my old life. 

This Earth was not peaceful, especially since the dropship came down, and I knew that it would only get worse. I could not waste my time sitting around, doing nothing, so when night fell, I sat by the large bonfire. There were boys on lookout duty, but most of the camp was asleep, so I thought it was worth the risk to try and learn another spell.

Watching the fire, I sat as close as I could safely and stretched out my hands towards the tongues of flame while letting out a deep breath. The hardest part of learning Fire Magic was the danger that it posed to the user in the beginning. Even Diego had not gone unburned throughout his journey and trials, so I knew that I would likely get hurt, but it was only temporary until I could learn how to wield it properly.

By the next morning, I found that I could bend the flames towards me, but thankfully, they had yet to actually burn my skin. Unfortunately, Clarke's group had been reduced to only Wells and Finn to look for the plants that could help Jasper while Bellamy mobilized most of his group. The days without a solid meal in all our bellies were starting to get to the mob, so those he gathered were hunting rather than searching for medical herbs. I had not shown any sign of sickness, so it was easy for him to not concern himself with Jasper and focus on the group as a whole. While it bothered me since Jasper had tried to save me, I could also understand that we needed more than just the nuts and berries that the group had found near the campground. The sooner that the group started thinking ahead for the winter, the better it was in my mind.

During the morning, I gave Monty a look and he helped me clear out the second level where Jasper was still lying. Once we were alone, I placed my hand over the entire wound and tried to focus on healing it. There were still a few spots where the skin was warm, but overall, it was not as bad as when I had first tried. It was not as hard either which made me relieved, yet when I opened my eyes, the wound was still there.

I sighed, leaning back against the wall and asked, "Can you tell any difference?"

"The skin around the wound is a mild pink instead of the red and his overall fever seems gone... Can you really heal people?" Monty asked.

"It seems like it, but it doesn't come without a cost," I replied, tiredly. Healing took much more out of me than trying to make a stone knife or bending flames. I had just woken up an hour or two ago, but I was ready to go back to sleep after trying to treat Jasper.

"Relax, Octavia. I'll take care of both of you," Monty said as he grabbed a pillow and blanket.

I smiled and took the items without question. "Thanks," I sighed as I snuggled down into my spot near Jasper. 

When I woke up later that day, I repeated the process since no one else was around then laid back down. While learning new spells was more important in the long run, Jasper was just as important. I knew he made it through the first few seasons, but I was not sure how much I might have affected the timeline of the story, so I could only hope I was doing the right thing by trying to help heal him.

Neither Bellamy's nor Clarke's group returned when I was awoken. Instead, it was some kind of yellow fog that drove the group inside the dropship. As soon as I heard that people felt like their skin was burning, I knew it was the Acid Fog of Mount Weather, but that did me no good when both Bellamy and Clarke were somewhere outside.

In the morning, we opened the hatch of the dropship and the acid fog had cleared out. Murphy had been the one that Bellamy had left in charge the day before who was not as dutiful as Atom in watching over me. It was not hard for me to slip out and I started wandering around in the woods in hopes of finding either Bellamy or Clarke. I had been walking for half an hour when a high-pitched scream broke the quietness of the forest.

I took off running towards the scream since it was the opposite direction of camp. The young girl screamed another time, and it was clear why she had once I reached her. Bellamy was standing over Atom who was covered in acid burns and barely breathing. The girl walked up next to him and passed him her knife.

"Don't be afraid," she said.

"Go back to camp," Bellamy instructed. "Charlotte, you, too."

No one had noticed me, so the others made their way back to camp with the little girl taking up the rear. Bellamy stared down at Atom with the weight of the world on his shoulders by his expression. It was clear what was about to happen, even if I did not remember the scene as he knelt down next to Atom.

A twig snapped and both his head and mine turned towards the source. Clarke walked up with a concerned look on her face as she looked at Atom. I used this chance to walk over as well, but Bellamy was not excited to see me.

"Go, Octavia! You don't need to see this," he said.

"I'm not leaving," I replied as I sat down above Atom's head.

"I heard screams," Clarke said while she knelt down on his other side.

"Charlotte found him… I sent her back to camp," Bellamy explained quietly.

Looking at his condition, I knew there was nothing that I could do for him, and Clarke's face told me that she could not help either. I sighed and stroked Atom's hair despite his current appearance in the hope of providing him with some kind of comfort. A boy no older than seventeen was going to die when he had barely begun to experience his life… it was not fair, but neither was this world.

"Okay… I'm gonna help you, all right?" Clarke whispered.

Clarke started humming as she took the knife from Bellamy then stabbed Atom's neck with one fluid motion. I could feel the bile rising in my throat at the sight of him dying, but unfortunately, I knew this would just be the first of many deaths that I would witness. We stayed with him until his breathing stopped while Wells and Finn joined us in silence. Bellamy and Finn went and gathered some thick branches which they turned into a stretcher to carry Atom back to camp.

"Did you have any luck yesterday?" I asked Clarke while we walked ahead of the others.

"We found some seaweed which Wells thinks will help. How is Jasper?" she asked.

"Better. His fever broke yesterday afternoon, and we had a decent night's sleep despite the acid fog," I replied.

"And how are you doing?" 

"My shoulder wound has a minor infection, but my leg seems to be healing fine."

"The seaweed should help you too, but I may need to cut away some of your skin if it looks too diseased. I'll check it when we get back," she said.

"Let's hope that it isn't that bad then," I said with a weak smile, but I could tell there was more on her mind than just me, Jasper, and even Atom. "Are you alright?"

"I, uh… I don't know. Family issues," she mumbled.

"I know the feeling," I sighed, thinking of Bellamy as well as Tori. "Well, I may be a basket case, but I'm here if you need to talk to someone."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

We made it back to camp before midday, but the mood was somber. We left the guys to take care of Atom while Clarke and I headed into the dropship. Bellamy sent someone after us to get whatever Clarke needed, which she asked for boiled water to make tea for Jasper and me. She was genuinely surprised to see Jasper's condition when we got back. Although he was still pale, he looked a lot less green than before and the wound on his chest was even showing signs of healing.

"It looks like you were right," Clarke said with a relieved sigh.

"Jasper's a fighter, we all are," I agreed.

"We need to be if we are going to survive down here," she retorted. "Alright, your turn. Show me your shoulder."

I peeled off my jacket with a slight wince and Clarke untied my bandage. Seeing her face, I chuckled weakly, "That good, huh?"

"It's infected… pretty badly."

"Just make it quick when you do it," I sighed and leaned back against the wall.

"I'll get started on the tea," she replied as she stood up.

She walked over to the ladder and started climbing down. When she was out of sight, Monty put down his tools and shifted over to me.

"Why haven't you tried healing yourself?" Monty asked quietly.

"It's not that easy. I'm still trying to figure out how it works in the first place. Jasper's need has been greater than mine," I said.

"Thank you for helping him."

"He didn't hesitate to save me, so I couldn't either."

Monty and I shared a smile and Clarke returned shortly with Bellamy and Finn in tow behind her. Bellamy and Finn carefully pulled up a pot of water that had bright red seaweed seeping in it. They sat the pot down next to Jasper and Finn got a cup of water then helped Jasper drink it. Clarke placed a knife into the fire, and I knew I was in for more pain. Bellamy came over to my side and looked at my shoulder with concern.

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"I shouldn't have let you go with them," he said angrily.

"It wasn't your decision to make," I replied, pulling out of his grip.

"The hell it isn't! You're my little sister!" he growled.

"I also spent the first sixteen years of my life under a floor and the next year in prison! I am done following everyone else's rules!" I snapped, using the prompt that seemed to appear whenever I needed a little more backstory information.

That seemed to do the trick as he backed off with a sad expression on his face. No one could quite look me in the eye after that, but Finn did something that surprised me by passing me a dirty bottle after he took off the lid. As a drinker in my old life, I recognized the shape of the bottle even though the Jim Beam label faded.

"I figured you might need something to take edge off before…" Finn said, letting his words trail off.

"Thanks," I replied before taking a long drink. "God, that taste horrible… I love it."

Finn smirked and took the bottle back from me.

"Come on, Clarke. I'm ready," I said, straightening up.

"You need to stay as still as you can," she explained as she picked up the knife and sat down next to me.

I nodded my head and looked away. Bellamy took my other hand and gave it a squeeze. I gave him a strained smile, but then Clarke started. It… was not pleasant, not by any stretch of the imagination, but I kept myself from crying out, though Bellamy may have received a couple of bone bruises from me crushing his hand.

After she put on a fresh set of bandages on my shoulder, Clarke and Bellamy headed down the ladder. Finn handed me back the bottle of whiskey and I gladly took another drink. I handed it back to him then he offered it to Monty who took it happily. We just drank for a while, trying to forget our problems if only for a little bit.

"Smooth," Monty coughed.

Finn and I chuckled, but then a voice from behind us asked, "Can I, uh, get a hit of that?"

"Jasper!" Monty exclaimed, scrambling to his feet.

"Let's start with the soft stuff," Finn said, grabbing a cup of the tea Clarke had made. He helped Jasper sit up and drink. "Welcome back, buddy."

Jasper lifted a hand weakly, but Monty grabbed it right away with a big smile on his face. He asked, "Was that a dream, or did I get speared?"

"You'll have a very impressive scar to prove it," Clarke said as she climbed up the ladder.

"My savior!"

"Thank you for not dying. I don't think I could've taken that today," Clarke replied, kneeling next to him.

"Well… I'll try not to die tomorrow, too, if that's cool."

That made all of us give a small chuckle, more in relief than humor. Jasper smiled, but quickly fell back asleep since his body was still weak. At least, we knew that he would make it now, so all of us could relax for the first time since we landed. Unfortunately, as I would learn over time, good moments would get clouded over by the bad ones here.

The next morning, Wells was found dead right outside the wall. He had volunteered to keep watch over the night, so no one had seen him get attacked, but everyone assumed it was the Grounders. I had some suspicions since I remembered that there was something important tied to his death, but outside of the major plotlines and some random details, my memory was spotty to say the least. I just wished that I could meet Katye already, but I did not know who she would be, which would make things a lot harder for me unless she did something very out of character.

I spent the next few days pretty much in my own tent, practicing my spells. There was no way that Bellamy would give me the chance to sneak off to my cave, so I made do with the tent that he had given me. As much as I wanted to work on healing myself, I quickly realized that it could draw attention when my wound started glowing with a golden light. Instead, I worked on Stone Knife spell, trying to speed up my casting time so that I could actually use it in a fight. 

Things had been peaceful and quiet, so I really was not too surprised when I heard shouting, including Clarke's voice. I flicked my fingers with a sigh, sending my most recent stone knife into the dirt with the others that I had made so far today. By the time that I had made it outside, a crowd had already formed, and I pushed my way to the center where Bellamy, Clarke, and Murphy were the parties involved.

"Is this the kind of society that we want? You say there should be no rules. Does that mean that we can kill each other without—without punishment?" Clarke said to the group.

"I already told you. I didn't kill anyone," Murphy snapped.

"I say we float him," someone in the group suggested which was met with a cheer of "Yeah!" from several others.

"That's not what I'm saying," Clarke said.

"Why not? He deserves to float! It's justice."

"Revenge isn't justice!" Clarke said.

"It's justice. Float him!" the young man worked the whole crowd into chatting, "Float him!"

Things were quickly spiraling out of control, but it was when Murphy tried to rush at Clarke when her back was that everything fell into pure chaos. Someone tripped Murphy and then another started stomping his back. The whole crowd quickly started joining in while Clarke and I both tried pulling people off Murphy, but Bellamy grabbed me, holding me back.

"Stop them, Bellamy!" I yelled.

"He killed someone, O," Bellamy said.

"An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind," I retorted, quoting something Tori used to say when I was growing up.

"Things aren't always that simple. Now, stay back," he growled and let go of me.

The mob had tied up Murphy and threw him down a muddy hill. Bellamy followed after them and so did I with no intention of listening to him. Someone threw a rope into a tree while another tied the end around Murphy's neck. I tried to go forward as they pulled Murphy up to stand on some kind of platform, but Bellamy threw me back to one of his goons who held me.

"No!" Clarke screamed. She looked around and saw Bellamy then ran over and shoved him. "You can stop this! They'll listen to you!"

"Bellamy! You should do it!" said the guy who first called for Murphy to be floated, then caused the group to start chanting his name.

"I saw you in the woods with Atom. I know you're not a killer. Bellamy, don't do this. Don't... Don't! Bellamy! You can't do this, Bellamy."

He did not listen to her or my words as he stomped forward. Without any hesitation, he kicked out the platform under Murphy's feet and pushed away Clarke as he shouted, "This is on you, Princess. You should've kept your mouth shut!"

"What the hell are you doing?" Finn yelled as he charged into the group. "Cut him down! Charlotte, get out of here now! Cut him down!"

The same kid that had been calling for Murphy's execution also pulled a knife on Finn, ready to stab him if he tried to stop what was happening.

"Stop! Okay? Murphy didn't kill Wells! I did!" Charlotte screamed.

"Oh my god," Clarke cried as she grabbed the hatchet off of Bellamy waist and cut down Murphy.

Finn opened the rope around Murphy's neck and saved him, but the night did not get any better. Clarke, Finn, and Bellamy tried to protect Charlotte from Murphy's wrath, and he even had the nerve to attack Bellamy when his back was turned, but I knew that he was an important character throughout the series which was the only thing that saved his life. I knew that he would redeem himself multiple times in the future, but I also could not risk the future when Bellamy suffered a concussion at most.

Although I wanted to go after Clarke, Finn, and Charlotte, Bellamy gave me to Monty and Jasper and told them to make sure that I stayed put. They would be the ones to get in trouble if he caught me outside, so I was finally forced to listen, but no one was happy when everyone returned. Charlotte had jumped off a cliff due to Murphy threatening Clarke's life, so they banished him with the threat of death if he should return.

If the night was not already bad enough, Monty had rigged up Clarke's wristband to the dropship's mainframe. Jasper was given the honor of connecting the last port, yet when he did, not only did he fry the wristband that Monty had been working on, but every single person's band. Finn was furious and stormed out of camp with Clarke following behind. I could only sigh as I watched them disappear into the darkness then I headed back to my own tent to finally put this day past me.

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