FROZEN STARS
EIGHT
❝ he stays right there, my last bit of warmth in a world turning to dust. ❞

ALL WAS silent in the cave. It had been since Bellamy asked about the jaguar. The only sound Marley could hear was the slow breathing of Bellamy next to her as he stared at the jagged stone wall ahead. Every so often, he'd glance at Marley as before but, this time, it was as if he was checking that she was okay - she could see him out of the corner of her eye. He'd bite his lip and, occasionally, it seemed as if he was going to speak up again. The silence was never broken though and he continued to stare stoically at the dull cave wall.

It was her own movement that triggered Bellamy to finally speak up. Marley had curled up into a tight ball, trying desperately to preserve what little warmth she had left in her body when the words finally rung through the echoing confines of the cave.

"Marley, why were you in the skybox?" He enquired.

The brunette gulped. She bit down on her chapped lips and glanced over at the older boy sat beside her. His eyebrows were furrowed in what looked like concern.

Marley pressed her lips together and moved to sit up - her back was jammed against the jagged rocks at the back of the cave. It was uncomfortable but - then again - so was the entire situation. "Do you really want to know?"

Bellamy looked away; he stared ahead of him towards the mouth of the cave. "You're just so-"

"Weak?" Marley interjected. "Pathetic?"

"Cautious." A more polite way of saying those things.

Marley's eyes scanned over her thumbs as she twiddled them. She wondered why she was able to tell Jasper and Monty why she'd been dropped to earth alongside them so easily, but she was having trouble getting the words out now that Bellamy had questioned her on the subject.

Maybe it was his inexplicably intimidating nature or the fact that she wasn't one hundred percent sure that he was a good guy.

On the other hand, she'd rather Bellamy heard her version of events - the truth of what happened - than hear some warped version told by Tate or one of his followers. A version which made her out to be a murderous kleptomaniac. Tate stole the truth and warped it, twisting it to fit his own lies.

"You don't have to tell me," Bellamy whispered. It was only then that she realized she'd been silent and staring absently at the wall of the cave in front of her. "It's just, you don't exactly seem like the kind of person who would be..."

"No... no, it's fine." She replied, "It's just..."

The freckled man lowered his voice to a whisper, "How bad is it?"

Marley shook her head insistently. "It sounds worse than it is." She assured him.

She half expected Bellamy to say something in response; part of her was sure it would be something that sounded shocked or partly horrified. Instead, he just raises his eyebrows, willing her to carry on with her story.

The longer the awkward atmosphere settled around them, the more Marley regretted ever contemplated telling Bellamy the truth in the first place. She didn't know him in the slightest - how did she know that he wouldn't judge or use it against her later?

It was different when she'd told Jasper and Monty. They were different. They were just so nice. And she felt relaxed enough around them after they'd showed concern for her feelings on the dropship - and Marley was relieved that not everyone was as terrifying and, well, murderous as she'd imagined they'd be.

She pushed on, however, through the reluctance obscuring her voice. The only other alternative to opening up to him was to let the inevitable Tate-fuelled rumours spread around camp until she was vilified for crimes she didn't even commit without a shoulder to cry on - even if they didn't have the grounds to judge her. They were more likely to belittle her because she was an easy target; they'd deem her as a 'fake' in response to her quiet, reserved demeanour.

"I was in the Sky Box for theft." Marley saw Bellamy's shoulders visibly relax, only to tense again once she finished her sentence. "And murder. But I didn't do it." She insisted, urging him to believe in her and her innocence.

She saw Bellamy swallow before he looked at her for the first time. His brown eyes were gleaming under the dim blue light filling the cave's interior. He didn't say anything at first, however, as his eyes scanned Marley's own grey ones; once bright grey eyes now dulled and rimmed with freshly-formed tears which threatened to spill out over her lashes.

He pulled his gaze away from Marley's in favour of looking down at his slightly grimy and dirty hands - she was partly relieved as she didn't have the weight of his judgement bearing down on her as she struggled to find the right words to convey her situation. "What happened?"

Bellamy's unwavering reaction spoke of only one thing - though he may have tried not to, Marley knew that part of him wondered whether or not she was lying about being innocent. As much as she wanted to trust that he wouldn't judge her, that he'd stand by his statement that the delinquents were in fact "not criminals", she wasn't sure. Nothing seemed to alleviate the panic of her racing thoughts. They were surrounded by liars and cheats and killers, how was he to know that she was any different? After all, looks could be deceiving and her quiet demeanour didn't go far to prove she wasn't some kind of cold-hearted murderer.

Marley's small voice was already cracking through the tears now tumbling down her reddened cheeks. She felt so foolish to cry and to leap to the conclusion that she was being judged, but it was like a strange instinct that had buried itself into her subconscious whilst she was locked away. It was clear to herself that maybe she wasn't the trusting, naive girl she once was. Maybe that was a good thing but she wasn't sure.

"Well, I- um, I-" She managed to splutter out but it was as if something was blocking her speech.

"Was it Tate?"

The brunette clenched her fists at the sheer mention of his name - an inbuilt reaction formed through her pure resentment of the boy - but kept her composure as best she could through the silent sobs and jerking of her shoulders. "Yes."

She felt embarrassed even admitting that to him; she was nervous, more than anything, in that she was opening herself up to a complete stranger whom she was unsure she could trust in a moment of weakness and fragility.

"Why? How?" They were uncomfortable questions; uncomfortable for both Bellamy to ask and for Marley to answer.

How had Tate managed to condemn her to such a fate? Why had she let him? Why did he do it? Why her? How did he manage to pin such a gigantic crime on someone so unsuspecting and normal?

"I-I was young and gullible and naive," She whispered. Her hands were all over the place; they were shuffling and shaking and she couldn't keep them still. "Tate liked to steal things from the Med-Bay and sell them to people, usually junkies."

Marley wiped her hands across her cheeks in an attempt to brush away the barrage of tears that were incessantly falling as she recalled her past. She didn't dare to even so much as glance at Bellamy - not even her own parents had believed her when she said she'd been framed, so why would a complete stranger who she'd only known for a few days?

With a small sigh, she continued, "Every... Every time I, um, I told him that what he was doing was wrong, he'd joke that he was actually doing good and that, if-if they ever caught him, there was no way they could ever justify floating him. He used to threaten me, too. Say that, if I ever told anyone what he was doing, he'd kill me. I was so afraid that he would that I kept quiet."

She had to take a moment to compose herself - the way she was almost forcing her voice out meant that it came out broken and quiet and small. Marley took a few deep breaths before progressing with her story.

"That night, I-I came back from the food hall to find some guards waiting in my compartment. T-They arrested me and carted me off the Skybox. Tate had planted some evidence in my bunk and had... he'd told them that I'd stolen something from the Med-Bay and then- then killed a gua-" There was yet another brief pause in Marley's tale as she tried to grab ahold of herself and stop her voice from trembling. "I-I-I trusted him and... and now I'm here."

And, with that, Marley's silent stream of tears turned into inconsolable, ugly sobbing. Her shoulders were shuddering as she gulped for air - trying to stay as quiet as she possibly could so she would not wake Charlotte and so she could try and avoid making the entire situation any more awkward and embarrassing for everyone in the cave. Marley kept her head down, dirtying brown hair falling half over her face to obscure her face which she was sure was red and blotchy.

Bellamy was shuffling next to her yet again, his mind clearly conflicted; she was positive he didn't know what to do in this situation. She could sense that he was torn between comforting her with words or consoling her with an embrace.

After a few moments, Bellamy wrapped an arm gently around Marley's shaking shoulders, allowing her body to curl into his frame. The girl was clutching onto his shirt for dear life, afraid that if she let go she was going to be alone again. Afraid that, by reliving the horrors in her mind, they were going to reemerge from the shadows and engulf her in their harsh embrace.

She felt embarrassed. Pouring her heart out to a complete stranger hasn't been part of her plan for today - she was sure some sort of burden was supposed to have been lifted from her shoulders but now it felt heavier. That niggling fear of judgement was present at the very back of her mind, but - regardless - it was troubling her. She wanted to let go but she couldn't out of fear of losing someone, or herself.

‣ ‣ ‣

Marley hadn't even realised that she'd fallen asleep. She hadn't really slept since she'd arrived on Earth; she even vaguely recalled mumbling something to Bellamy about being restless and uncomfortable when she tried to drift off. She was only aware of her previous unconscious state when she was jolted awake by the sound of screaming and Bellamy's sudden movement from underneath her head.

Her cheeks reddened once she realised that she had actually fallen asleep on Bellamy; she couldn't recall the last time she'd felt this embarrassed. Falling asleep on someone she'd only known for a few days wasn't ideal under any circumstances, let alone one where she'd practically broken down in front of them just a short time before.

It took a few moments for her senses to entirely kick in - it was only after these few seconds when Marley realised exactly where the screams were emanating from. Charlotte was thrashing around in her sleep; her head shaking back and forth, her legs kicking frantically in different directions.

"Charlotte, wake up," Bellamy whispered, shaking the young girl awake in an attempt to free her from her torment.

The blonde girl glanced feverishly around the interior of the cave as if she were checking that the monsters hadn't crawled out of her nightmares and into the real world. "I'm sorry," she whispered, settling back down against the cold stone wall.

"Does that happen often?" Bellamy asked. There was a long pause - an understanding silence passing between the pair - before the freckled man beside Marley began to speak again. "What are you scared of?"

Charlotte shuffled around awkwardly, clearly trying to evade the question entirely. Marley understood why she was so nervous; she, herself, as a child had suffered from terrible nightmares. She'd always feel ridiculous when anyone asked her what was wrong and why she was so afraid because telling them would have to admit that she was scared of something of her own mind's creation.

"You know what, doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what you do about it."

Marley watched on as the exchange between the young girl and the freckled boy continued; she couldn't quite see his face completely, but she could make out enough to notice that he was shooting the small blonde girl reassuring smiles between words and phrases.

"But... I'm asleep." Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

Bellamy's small smile spread across his lips again. "Fears are fears. Slay your demons when you're awake, they won't be there to get you when you sleep."

"Yeah but... how?"

"You can't afford to be weak. Down here weakness is death. Fear is death," Bellamy stated. His voice was strong and unwavering, like an army general preparing his soldiers for war. "Let me see that knife I gave you. Now, when you feel afraid, you hold tight to that knife and you say 'screw you, I'm not afraid'."

"Screw you, I'm not afraid. Screw you, I'm not afraid," Charlotte repeated slowly as she came to grasps with the mantra Bellamy had just provided her with.

The black-haired man grinned, before glancing back at Marley as a way of informing her that he was now speaking, not just to the scared young girl curled up at the other side of the cave, but also to the terrified seventeen year old who'd revealed a glimpse of her past just less than an hour ago. "Slay your demons, kid. Then you'll be able to sleep."