For Good- Wicked

"What happened to him?"

"Get out of the way!"

"There's so much blood!"

"What happened?"

"Where have you been?"

"Is it coming from his arm or his side?"

"Why are there so many wounds?"

"Clarke, you're back!"

Words whirled around her. There had been an accident. There was so much blood. Why was there so much blood? She couldn't think about what had happened. She was on her way back from Polaris. She was ready to return home. She was ready to meet again, to see Bellamy, to explain everything and to take the blame for it all. She hadn't realized she was still being hunted. She didn't know that their dogs were following still. Not until she got to the clearing where Bellamy just happened to be.

He was standing there like a character from the Greek and Roman myths he loved so much. He was shirtless and glimmering in the sun. He'd survived the winter still looking like a god. His muscles were tensed where he was pulling back the string of a bow almost as big as she was. He was surrounded by Jasper and Monty (they must have made up after everything) and a few other kids she didn't recognize that must have fallen with the Arc. She couldn't even think about that. It had been too long.

One of the boys turned to face her as she entered the clearing, and they called out Bellamy's name. The arrow flew from the bow and cleanly speared the apple, shooting it backwards into the tree behind it. Sticking both the arrow and the apple to the tree. He whirled around and those beautiful coffee eyes met hers, and it was just like that moment he saved her from falling into the pit all over again. It was a second. A second of relief, of questioning, of caution, of hope. And then the noise broke loose behind her. Like an angry warrior goddess, the dogs swarmed around her, leaving her alone, but racing towards the men in front of her.

"No!" she screamed, just as Jasper and Monty drew weapons. The dogs were upon them in seconds, but Bellamy got the brunt of it. He threw himself in front of a blonde boy near Jasper just as Clarke began running towards them, drawing her knife. He only had his bow and the arrows near him. He was using the bow to swing wildly at the dogs while an arrow in his other hand stabbed at their eyes. It wasn't meant to be like that. It was meant to be a greeting. A coming back. It was a good intention- a good deed. But no good deeds went unpunished on earth. The mountain should have taught her that.

The fight was over in minutes. But there was so much blood. One of them had gotten Bellamy's arm and another had torn a gash in his side. There was no time to explain to Jasper and Monty while he was back. She pulled her knife out of the dog's skull and raced to Bellamy's side where he lay on the ground. She never heard her own scream. The pained howl of "Bellamy" that was yanked from her vocal chords. Her bag dropped beside her and she began digging through it to find the bandages she knew were there.

"Clarke, where have you been?" Monty demanded.

"Get out of my way! I have to do something. I have to fix this. I have to….God just let him be okay."

She wiped the blood away from his skin and stared at the deep gashes left behind, and then looked up at his face to find his deep brown eyes staring at her, contemplating her carefully, even when clouded with pain.

"I'm going to fix this, Bellamy. I'm never going to let you die. I'll never let you die," she murmured desperately.

"We have to get Octavia," the blonde boy Bellamy had been protecting cried out.

"You'll want to wait on that," Jasper said quietly, staring at Clarke as if he didn't know if she were an angel or a demon.

"I'm going to fix this," Clarke promised, digging through the bag again and coming up with a bone needle and some kind of thread. "I shouldn't have come back. I'm sorry. I meant well. I promise I meant well. No good deed goes unpunished. I know that now. No good deed goes unpunished. God, I'm sorry Bellamy. I promise I'll fix this."

"Where have you been?" Monty repeated as Clarke threaded the needle quickly.

"The road of good intentions," Clarke replied.

"Good intentions or seeking attention?" Jasper asked.

Clarke spared him a glance before she returned to what she was doing. She dug in her bag again and pulled out a small green jar. Bellamy was too pale. There was so much blood. She tore open the jar and dipped her fingers into it. She smeared it across his side and his arm quickly, pushing the skin so that more blood slipped out. She informed him, "It's a…it's a….god what am I saying? I don't even know what I should say. I don't even know what I should do. It's a…."

Monty caught on and knelt beside her on the ground finally. He said gently, "A local anesthetic?"

Clarke nodded quickly. She peered up at Bellamy's face and then snapped, "Blonde boy, get some water fast. Jasper, hold him still. I've failed too many people. God I've failed too many people. Not you too, Bellamy. I promise. Not you too."

With that, she pinched the skin together and began the sewing. As she sewed, she mumbled. "I promise I'll never do it again, Bell. I won't do anything for the good of everybody ever again. Only for the good of you. I swear. I'll only have you in mind when I do stuff. I swear, Bell."

Monty and Jasper's eyes met over Clarke's head and the question was shared. What happened to Clarke in the year that she was gone. She had more scars. They could see one that started behind her left ear and disappeared into the collar of her shirt. Her left arm looked as if it had been branded. Her hair wasn't the brilliant blonde it had been. It was darker, as if it had been dyed to hide her. Everything about her screamed of someone who had been punished- both by others and by herself.

When she was finished stitching Bellamy up, she ordered, "Take him back to camp. I'll wait here. Send for me when you're ready, or don't. Just let me know what happens to him."

With that, she sat back on her back legs and stared at Bellamy. When nobody moved, she snapped, "Do it!"

The authority in her voice got all of them moving- even the ones who didn't know her as Bellamy's leader counterpart. Monty commanded, "You better be here when I get back, Clarke."

She looked around her at the dead dogs and then jerked her head downwards in a quick nod. Nothing else was said as they took Bellamy away on a stretcher made out of tree branches. When Monty looked back over his shoulder, Clarke was sitting in the same spot, looking down at the blood on her hands the same way she had when she killed Finn.