week two, thursday afternoon

[jettisons]

[Bellamy practically tears his way down to the beach from the oasis, heart in his throat. He's forcing himself to cling to the fact that it's too early for this, that Haru's body didn't disappear, that it doesn't make sense for this to be so different, but that doesn't wipe the image of Raven, throat slit, red bleeding into the rocks, out of his head.

It doesn't matter. He hasn't been this blind with panic since Roan took Clarke, since Octavia was locked out of the bunker. He's almost dizzy with it.]

Raven!

Comments

[hydrazine]

I don't know. So far, he's only given us information we absolutely need, and apparently we don't need to know about the other roles yet. I could probe more when we have our meeting next week.

[jettisons]

Your meeting.

[This is utterly surreal.]

Who's in charge of picking who dies? All of you?

[hydrazine]

Yeah. We meet every Monday night.

[She nods.]

...All of us. We're working on a list of people who we want to make it to the end.

[Sound familiar?]

[jettisons]

[It does sound familiar, which is why his next question is immediate.]

Are you on the list?

[hydrazine]

Yes. All of us in the group are.

[She pauses.]

Then... You, Lief, Lelouch, and Hiro. We're going to work on it more going forward.

[jettisons]

[A normal person would probably be relieved to be on that list, but Bellamy isn't. He's not sure he deserves it, especially not over someone like Nino or Yona.]

How are you deciding it? Partners don't matter?

[hydrazine]

Partners matter. We aren't targeting any of our partners or the partners of the people on that list.

[A sigh.]

But that's still more people than he told us we could save.

[jettisons]

I'm not leaving this island without you.

[Just to make that crystal clear before this discussion moves forward.]

[hydrazine]

I'm not asking you to. We're still getting out of this together. That hasn't changed.

[jettisons]

[Bellamy just nods. He needed to make sure.]

So the only way off this island is killing everyone else. That's what they're telling you.

[hydrazine]

[She nods.]

Seven people out of forty, unless that gets increased.

[jettisons]

[Great. Awesome. He's going to deal with how awful that is later.]

You need to tell me how to protect you at the trials.

[hydrazine]

...Akira was asleep when I left and when I came back to the hut last week, so there was no problem with the alibi.

[And there's a certain amount of guilt in her voice as she says that, a rarity for her.]

I'm not sure he'll do the same this week, after what happened. You could say we were together tonight.

[jettisons]

[God, he hates this, but of course he'll lie for her. Bellamy nods.]

Are you doing the killing or is that someone else's job?

[hydrazine]

Everyone who's willing to do it is going to take turns.

[jettisons]

Are you up this week?

[hydrazine]

[She takes a breath.]

Yes.

[jettisons]

[It's not like they haven't killed to survive before, but this is different. It's calculated and clinical and targeting people who haven't done anything to deserve it. So much for doing better than yesterday.]

Who is it?

[hydrazine]

...Joshua.

[She doesn't look happy about it, either. When she burned Grounders alive and helped an army get into Mt. Weather, it was because they were trying to kill her or her friends. This is different to her. It brings a kind of regret along with it.]

[jettisons]

[Bellamy doesn't know much about Joshua. He's not sure if that makes this better or worse, and he's trying desperately not to think about Joshua's partner and whoever is going to take the fall for Raven. Someone innocent. He can't let her die.

Automatically, he reaches for her again, settling both hands onto her shoulders.]

Raven, look at me. We'll figure it out.

[hydrazine]

[She looks up at him when he grabs her, and she nods.]

...I know.

[They always have, and they'll do it again. She'll do everything she can to make sure this sacrifice is the last one.]

[jettisons]

We need to figure out a better alibi than just saying you were with me. They might not buy that.

[hydrazine]

[She nods.]

We pick a place and a time frame, and what we were doing.

[jettisons]

We'll meet tomorrow morning before the trial, and you tell me how much time you need to account for.

[hydrazine]

[She nods.]

It shouldn't be long.

[That's what she hopes for, at least.]