FROZEN STARS
FIFTEEN
❝ well, maybe it's me and my blind optimism to blame. ❞

            ONLY TWO people had ever used the nickname 'Mar' to refer to Marley Munroe; the first had been her grandmother, Cassandra, who'd affectionately use it whenever she woke her granddaughter or when she was handing down advice. The second had been Tate. Of course, Marley hadn't always regarded Tate in the same way she did now, with the same anger and ruefully bitter regret. When she was fifteen, she'd fallen for his charms, brown curls, blue eyes and all, and - as she had come to reluctantly believe - he'd inevitably broken her and her heart.

            From then on, the nickname had been something so overwhelmingly negative that a sickness bubbled in the pit of Marley's stomach whenever anyone referred to her by it. Something which her grandmother - the one person she loved the most in the world, the woman who taught her to be kind, who made her who she used to be - had used to refer to her had been distorted into something ugly and nauseating.

            Often, when she was alone in her room, she'd reminisce about what her life had once been and the love her grandmother had once shown her. But the memories were tainted by the nickname she had once held so dear, the nickname that signalled danger in her mind, the alarms blaring as the word befell her ears, scattering her mind with thoughts of a girl lost and broken.

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            "OCTAVIA'S MISSING."

            "What do you mean she's missing?" Bellamy questioned. His eyes had grown wilder and it was obvious he was trying to control the mixture of fear and anger that was pushing it's way up from his chest - he was doing a good job of keeping a straight face, mostly, but the corner of his mouth was twisting downwards and his eyebrows had begun to furrow.

            "Well," Marley gulped nervously, her eyes falling to her boots. Suddenly, the scuff mark on the left side of her right shoe seemed extremely interesting. "After she ran away in the forest, she, um, she didn't come back to camp. So, me and Elijah were on our way to look for her when you came back."

            Bellamy's face was unreadable. All he did was stride off in the opposite direction. The crowd around them had begun to disperse; most were heading towards their tents or were already huddled under the materials they used for blankets. He'd grabbed a thick piece of firewood and dipped it into the fire - it was now set ablaze, lighting his way through camp.

            "Bellamy-" She called as she followed him in a half-jog, trying to stay within the light that was illuminating his way through camp.

            "Did you see which way she went?" He questioned. He didn't even turn to look at Marley, just carried on striding with purpose towards the tents at the edge of camp.

            "No." Marley shook her head.

            Bellamy preceded to pull back the fabric of every delinquent's tent. Most were asleep, or at least trying to sleep, and glared back at him impatiently with tired eyes. Bellamy stuck his head inside and glanced around for any sign of his younger sister but - after he ducked out of each tent and carried on towards the next - she knew there was no sign of her.

            Marley bit her lip anxiously, knowing full well that Octavia probably hadn't returned and that Bellamy wouldn't find his sister inside the camp. Her mind was swimming with a million things that could have happened to her - and it was terrifying to think that maybe she and Elijah were partly to blame for that.

            He came to a stop at Clarke's tent. The entryway was open for all to see inside, fastened at the top by a tiny piece of cord she'd secured to the structure. She glanced up at Bellamy and Marley when she felt the warmth of the torch Bellamy held in his hands. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion but it was obvious she was still angry at Bellamy for breaking the radio Raven had brought down with her; it was a way of asking them both what was wrong without saying it.

            Clarke glanced between the two - Bellamy was looking slightly more worried than he had been before and Marley was stood, hands fidgeting, chewing on her lip in an attempt to suppress her guilt.

            "You're still up?"

            "Yeah," Clarke nodded, before she fired back harshly, "knowing that hundreds of people could be dying on the Ark makes it pretty hard to sleep."

            "Raven's flairs will work," Bellamy stated.

            The blonde glared up at him as she stood to her feet. "Her radio would have worked better."

            "Have you seen Octavia?" Bellamy questioned, attempting to avoid an argument and get back to the real reason he was searching through camp.

            "No." Clarke shrugged, clearly not detecting the urgency in Bellamy's tone, but furrowing her brows anyway. Marley had noticed that Clarke had this inbuilt impulse to try and reassure people, perhaps why her tone wasn't as pointed as others may have been. And, to be fair to Clarke, Bellamy was doing a rather good job at hiding his fear and concern - perhaps it was Marley's tendency to observe outside voices whilst inside her cell that meant she was particularly fine-tuned to the slight nuances within someone's voice. "It's Octavia. She's probably chasing butterflies-"

            "Clarke, we've checked the camp. She's not here."

            When the blonde girl glanced over to see both Marley and Bellamy's concerned faces, her demeanour shifted, softening to one equally as worried as the two delinquents stood before her. "Okay, I'll help you find her."

            Clarke began to stride away from her tent, towards the centre of camp and the dropship. She was walking with purpose; Marley admired the way that she was able to completely push aside what Bellamy had done for the good of his sister.

            "Let's check again. You go to the dropship. Me and Marley will check the rest of the tents." She instructed.

            "Thank you."

            "Don't thank me," Clarke replied shortly, barely glancing at Bellamy. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for Octavia."

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            "HEY, EVERYBODY, gather around and grab a weapon!" Bellamy spoke in a near-yell, drawing the attention of everyone nearby, including Marley and Elijah. "My sister's been out there alone for twelve hours. Arm up. We're not coming back without her."

            "Okay, wish me luck!" Elijah smiled weakly; he reached for a cluster of sticks which had been fashioned into a sharply-pointed trident. The site of the weapon made Marley's stomach churn.

            Elijah had offered to head up the second search party as soon as Bellamy had asked - apparently he was good at Earth skills, according to Finn and Raven - but Marley knew it was mostly because he felt just as guilty as Marley for not following after Octavia. Despite shaking hands, Marley had also offered to help out during the search party but Clarke and Bellamy had shaken their heads and insisted she stay put in Camp.

            She wasn't sure how to feel about that. She knew that she'd be no real use - she'd never really excelled in Earth Skills, during the little of it she'd had, but she hadn't been completely hopeless. And, even though she'd at first been scared - terrified, even - to leave Camp, the worry that she might have caused harm to come to someone was far stronger. She wanted to help for once.

            "Good luck," Marley nodded, "be careful."

            Elijah hummed in reply, reaching out to give Marley's arm an awkward squeeze. Marley smiled back shortly as he turned to leave; the expression faltered as he strode towards the fence, a hoard of weaponised delinquents following closely behind him. She was glad she'd made a friend. She hadn't been particularly good at that before.

            "I'm always careful." He shrugged; Marley admired his determined optimism though he was clearly terrified of the whole situation. "I'm not dead, yet."

            Elijah laughed, his grin widening to show his teeth, but - as he saw Marley's expression with her furrowed eyebrows and worry-filled eyes - his smile dropped.

            "Sorry, no, I'll be careful. I promise."

            Marley's mouth turned upwards at that, managing a small smile through the sickness churning her stomach. She barely even knew any of these people yet here she was terrified beyond belief that something could happen to them and she'd never see them again. She glanced back over at Bellamy, who was trying to usher a reluctant-looking Finn towards his group.

            "Look-" Elijah spoke up, reading Marley's wavering expression and how she was surveying the scene. "-go talk to Bellamy."

            "Huh?"

            "Well, you're obviously upset about what happened even though it isn't you fault. Just talk to him. You'll feel better." Elijah shrugged. "I better go. See you later, Marley Munroe."

            Marley watched him leave, commanding the attention of his entire search party with a whistle and a purposeful walk. The same boy who just seconds ago was making a terrible joke about not yet being dead now held a serious expression on his face as he marched from camp, followed by a flurry of armed teenagers. There was no laughing, no goofing around, he just held within this face a determination to find the missing Blake sibling.

            As Elijah ducked into the tree line, disappearing from Marley's view, she glanced over at Bellamy who was preparing himself to leave camp. She was reluctant to follow Elijah's advice; she didn't want to make Bellamy resent her for constantly apologising or seeking reassurance but her mind was spinning at a thousand miles an hour and her heart was beating so fast in her chest that she could hear it thrumming in her ears.

            She took a few tentative steps forwards, closer to where Bellamy was stood. She pressed her hands tightly against her sides awkwardly.

            "Bellamy," Marley called over the buzz of camp, attempting to earn his attention. He turned towards her. "Can we talk?" She asked quietly as he drew nearer.

            Bellamy stepped to the side, underneath a shaded overhang of trees that stretched over the perimeter wall like jagged, bony fingers reaching ready to grab someone in their grasp. His eyebrows were furrowed slightly, not in anger like one might have assumed but more so pressing anticipation to leave Camp to try and find his missing sister. "What's wrong?" He questioned.

            Marley sighed. "I just... need you to know that I'm sorry... again."

            Bellamy shook his head. "Marley, I don't blame you." He glanced back towards where the rest of his search party were stood, each shifting restlessly on their feet in anticipation.

            "I-"

            "Stay here in case she comes back. See you later, Mar."

            Marley's entire body froze - she even swore that she could feel her heart ceasing it's beating - as Bellamy marched out of camp in search of Octavia. She couldn't seem to find her breath, at least not for a good few seconds.

            Mar. Mar.

            Oh, god. It was happening again. It couldn't be happening again.

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A/N: LONG TIME NO SEE BUT WE'RE BACK GALS