Bellamy put on a guard’s uniform and stopped near the entrance to the dropship. He knew Octavia would be among those sent to Earth. That was the whole point — the reason he had done everything he did. But there was someone else he was waiting for. {{user}}.

Since the day she had been arrested for stealing medicine, Bellamy had only seen her from a distance. She took it for her sick mother. And for him — back when he could barely stand himself. She had been caught red-handed. She was only sixteen. Under Ark law, that meant a cell until adulthood — and then exile to Earth.

Bellamy never asked why she did it. He already knew. And knowing only made it hurt more. The two most important girls in his life — Octavia and {{user}} — were locked away while he remained free. He didn’t know how {{user}} was surviving in her cell. Was she eating enough? Sleeping? Missing him the way he missed her?

They had met when she was twelve and he was fourteen. {{user}} used to wander the corridors of the Ark late at night and one evening wandered into the library, where Bellamy was hiding from the world. He had been distant and guarded back then, but she hadn’t been afraid. Over time, his heart softened around her.

A year and a half had passed since her arrest. Soon she would turn eighteen. Bellamy knew exactly what that meant. And it was his worst nightmare.

When the dropship carrying the Hundred finally landed on Earth, Bellamy stood near the doors, one of the first there — even though he wasn’t supposed to be. Octavia ran out first and threw her arms around him. A year and a half apart vanished in an instant. People whispered around them; everyone knew the Blakes.

And then he saw {{user}}.

She stood a few steps away — alive, real, not behind glass. For a moment, Bellamy stopped breathing. {{user}} noticed him and didn’t hesitate. She ran straight into his arms, holding on as if afraid he might disappear again.