An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
“What happened to him?” Jasper asked excitedly and she could already see him painting a picture of this larger than life boy. Clarke understood how easy it was to imagine Bellamy that way, and she felt strange having to explain that according to the council, he was only human.
She took a shuddering breath, and poked at the crackling fire in front of her. “His link went dead a few years ago.”
“So he’s dead,” Monty stated matter-of-factly. Clarke glared at him so fiercely that Monty raised his hand in the universal gesture of peace.
“No,” Clarke said sharply. Her heart stuttered at the thought but she pushed the sensation away. She wouldn’t let herself doubt now, not when she’d held on to her faith for so long. “Look around you, everyone’s links are dead to the ark right now. But we’re not dead.”
Finn touched her arm gently. “Some of us are.”
“Bellamy wouldn’t let the Earth get him,” Clarke said confidently, and dared to look into the eyes of those around her. She wanted this imprinted in their minds until the day Bellamy arrived, whether that was tomorrow or sixty years from now. “He was strong, a fighter—determined to survive no matter what. He wouldn’t let acid fog, or sea monsters, or even panthers get him down for long. This is the boy who defied the council, and not just once—stood up to them, after they’d barely been convinced to send him to the ground, he told them they were either going to send him where he wanted to on Earth or they could float themselves…and they did. Does that sound like someone who would let himself die down here? Right now, he’s alive somewhere on Earth, living like a damn king. And when we’ve all figured out how to survive properly, we’re going to find him. I don’t know about you, but I’m not dying until I do.”
Clarke wasn’t much for speeches, but there was something about the way her face lit up with determination and hope simultaneously, there was something about the passion in her voice, the clear belief that fed a fire that burned in all of them.
“Well, fuck,” Murphy joked in that acerbic way of his. “If I don’t find him before I die, I’ll feel like a failure for sure.”
Everyone laughed, releasing the tension that had built with Clarke’s creation of a god, instead of a boy, Earthbound.