FIVE

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The sound of bottles clinking filled the room as Aurelia ruffled through her bag, looking for the healing balm that Avalon had given her all those weeks ago.

For a brief period of time, her scarred leg had felt better following the incident at Mount Weather, but with the situation with Pike and the threat from ALIE, Aurelia had forgotten to continue dressing her leg daily, and now the slight discomfort had come back to irritate her.

The girl finally found the small pot full of a green paste and pulled it out of the bag with a small cheer of triumph. The door of the bedroom opened as she rolled up the leg of her trousers, and Aurelia looked up to find Bellamy walking in as he shrugged off his guard jacket and threw it over the back of a chair.

"Hey Bubba," she softly greeted as she smiled at him. "How was your shift?"

"It was okay," he responded as his eyes fell to her exposed leg. "What are you doing?"

"Uh," she held up the small pot in her hand. "The scar is hurting a little so I'm dressing it."

"Here, I'll do it," he offered as he moved to sit on the bed, then pulled the girl's legs on his lap.

Aurelia nodded as she gingerly handed the pot to the boy, before grabbing a pillow to hug it close to herself. The cold contact of the ointment caused her to wince slightly, causing Bellamy's head to fly up in alarm. "Did I hurt you?"

"No," she chuckled slightly. "It's just a little cold."

"Sorry," he mumbled as his gaze moved back to her leg, and began to carefully cover the scarred areas in green.

Aurelia furrowed her brows as she watched Bellamy work, the expression on his face unreadable. She chose to not comment on it, brushing it off as him simply concentrating on not hurting her.

"Done," he finally said as he held onto her ankle softly with his free hand. "Do you need to cover it up or anything?"

"Yeah, I just need to bandage it." He held out his hand after wiping off any remaining balm on his fingers, and only withdrew after Aura placed the roll of bandages in his palm.

"Hey," she softly spoke after he finished bandaging her leg, her right hand softly grasping his chin to turn his head towards her. His eyes connected with hers, and she saw a hint of sadness as he gazed at her. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"No, I.." He gestured towards her leg, unable to keep eye contact with her. "This is my fault," he spoke with a heavy voice, "If I hadn't left you-"

"Bell," she sighed, shifting slightly so she was sitting on his lap. "Hey, look at me." His eyes moved to look at hers, tears beginning to well up slightly. She sighed softly as she held his face, her thumb moving across his cheek in a comforting manner. "It's not your fault Bell, you know it's not. You know exactly where the blame lies."

"I know I just-" He tightly wound his arms around her waist as he let out a shuddered breath. "I keep thinking about how close I was to losing you and I.. I'm so sorry Aurelia. I should have just let you come with me-"

"I'm right here Bell. I'm right here in your arms, and I'm okay. Sure I got a little injured, but I'm alive, and that's what matters." She leaned forward and pressed her forehead against his, her eyes firmly fixed on his own.

"You mean so much to me, Bambi" he whispered as he stared deep into her eyes. "I don't ever wanna live in a world without you ever again."

"Likewise," she breathed out softly. "I would have crumbled a long time ago without having you to hold me."

The two fell into a comforting silence, with a mutual understanding that they needed each other to survive in this cruel world. They could come back from losing anything else, but even the thought of losing each other would send them into a deep spiral.

After a few moments, the boy lifted his head slightly, enough for their lips to brush against each other lightly. Without a moment of hesitation, the girl firmly pressed her lips against his warm ones, her eyes fluttering to a close as she felt Bellamy's hand move up to grip the back of her neck.

She felt the pounding of her heart as they kissed, both hands moving to grip his biceps. An unexplainable sensation flowed through her as she felt one hand grip her waist to pull her closer, her body now firmly pressed against Bellamy.

She opened her eyes again as she felt Bellamy nudge her backward softly, and eventually felt her back collide with the mattress. She looked up with bright eyes as Bellamy moved to hover over her with a large heartwarming smile, his forearms pressed into the bed on either side of her as he smiled down at her.

"I love you, Bellamy Blake," she whispered softly as she lovingly gazed up at him, their eye contact not breaking for even a second.

"And I love you, Aurelia McKinley," he whispered back, one hand moving to brush the stray strand of hair away from her face.

"Oh yeah?" Aura questioned as her hand moved to hold the metal tag dangling from his neck. "Why don't you show me how much?" she questioned as she tugged him closer with the necklace, her eyes shining bright with mischief.

With a large smile, the boy leaned down, a hint of promise in his eyes as if he planned on doing exactly that.

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As promised, almost all residents of Arkadia helped in any way they could to prepare themselves for the radiation that would arrive in six months.

Aurelia helped Clarke roll a cart full of medical supplies into the storage room, with Bellamy strolling ahead of them to hold open any doors.

"Two meals a day for people working as hard as ours, we won't make any friends." the boy spoke as they pushed the cart against a shelf, making sure to not block Raven who was standing on a ladder as she welded a patch in the ship.

"Well, if there's one thing our people understand, it's rationing." Clarke defended. "Besides, once we close those doors, it'll be one meal a day for the next five years."

"Try one meal every other day." Raven cut off as she pulled off her welding mask. Aura looked up to find the mechanic waving the blowtorch at her and grabbed it so Raven could step down from the ladder. "Hunting parties are coming back with less and less. Thanks to your friend Niylah, we're preserving more meat than ever. But it's still not enough. Without a way to make water, growing our own protein like we did on the Ark is not an option." Raven aggressively shoved the mask into Bellamy's chest, catching him off guard. "Remember that when we're starving."

"I won't be starving because I won't be inside."

Aurelia widened her eyes as she stared at the boy, but she understood what he was feeling. "I won't be inside either." Bellamy whipped his head towards her in shock.

"Aurelia-"

"Shut up Bellamy. If you won't be inside, I won't be inside either."

"You'll both be inside," Clarke cut off.

"Does that mean you made the list?" Raven questioned, her unfaltering gaze on the blonde who refused to make eye contact with her.

"No. What about drinking water?"

"Clarke, don't change the subject," Raven said as she moved closer to the girl. "We need to know who's gonna be on the inside of these doors when the radiation comes."

"We don't need to know now."

"We need some medical help at the front gate." a voice announced over the P.A. "Looks like we got some sick people here." Aurelia instantly rushed out of the room with the others close behind her, rushing out of the ship and straight towards the main gates leading into Arkadia.

"Do not come any closer," one of the soldiers spoke as she finally pushed her way to the front of the crowd. Her eyes fell on a group of seemingly sick grounders huddled around each other, with some of the older people holding kids in their arms as they coughed and groaned in discomfort.

Her eyes widened as she recognised Nyko, and turned to face the guards with her hands up. "Put your weapons down, they're friendly." Nate lowered his gun, but the others hesitated.

"Please," Nyko begged as Aurelia turned around again, a devastated look on her face as she scanned the group of sick individuals. "They need Skaikru medicine."

"Nyko," Clarke spoke as she appeared beside Aura with Bellamy.

"What if it's a grounder attack like they did with Murphy?" Nate questioned with a low voice from behind them.

"What happened to them?" the girl questioned the Floukru healer as one of the grounders violently threw up.

"The sickness," Nyko revealed as he lowered the young girl in his arms to the floor. "We lost more than forty on the way.

"Luna," Aurelia breathed out as she recognised the girl to the right, not having identified her before due to her crumpled form on the floor.

"Please," the nightblood begged as she weakly looked up and stared at Clarke with pleading eyes. "Please don't turn us away because of what I did to you."

"Out of my way." A voice spoke from between the crowd. "Please let me through." The Arkadian doctor finally made her way to the front with her medkit and stopped as she eyed the grounders sprawled across the floor.

"Mom. What is this?"

The doctor held a piece of cloth over her nose and mouth as she moved closer to Nyko. She crouched as she examined the little girl laying across the man's chest, her pale skin dotted with splotches of red and tints of purple. "Fever, lesions, vomiting," she listed. "It's ARS."

"What's ARS?"

"Acute radiation sickness," the doctor answered with furrowed brows. "When did the symptoms start?"

"Not sure," Luna responded with a hoarse throat. "Right before the fish started dying."

"The fish are dying?" Raven questioned with a look of alarm on her face, her back subconsciously straightening at the news.

"Floating on the sea to the horizon," Nyko spoke up gravely. "..in every direction."

"It's not contagious," Abby revealed as she stood up. "Let's get them to medbay." She moved to help Nyko and the little girl to her feet, as Raven moved to help the other kids.

Aura rushed forward as Luna staggered to her feet. "It's okay, I've got you," she reassured as she wrapped Luna's arm around her shoulders, allowing the nightblood to lean on her as they slowly limped through the front gates of Arkadia.

"Thank you," Luna whispered as they slowly moved towards the ark. "We don't deserve your kindness after what I did to you."

"Don't be silly Luna," Aurelia cut off as she glanced at the sick girl. "You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't want to involve yourself in violence and bloodshed and I would never hold that against you or your people."

Luna's lips curled up slightly before a violent cough shuddered through her body. Aura looked around frantically, her eyes falling on Miller who was standing to the side.

"Nate! Help me get Luna to medbay!" The boy rushed over without hesitation, instantly wrapping Luna's other arm around his shoulders to assist Aurelia.

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Accidentally abandoned this book but I'm back. I hope the Bellaura content made up for it <3

A x

Word Count: 1945
(Not edited)