Chapter 31

Enjoy;)

~~~~~~~~unedited~~~~~~~~

The next morning, everyone was on edge. Since Octavia freed the Grounder, with the help of Dawson and unknown to everyone else, sleep was very minimal to most delinquents. Addison wasn't the least bit phased; sure, having a loose and most likely vengeful Grounder running around the forest with their camps whereabouts was unsettling, but she couldn't find it within herself to be scared; not like the rest of the teens in camp.

Maybe it was the mending of her and Octavia's friendship, and how the joy and happiness from it overrules every emotion but those two within her. Or maybe it was finally seeing eye-to-eye with Bellamy and his approval of her, and how their once frenemy relationship has turned into pure friendship. No hate or the want to hurt the other, whether it was intentional or not, none of those emotions swarm within the two now.

Addison tiredly drags herself out of her tent, slipping her jacket on on the way out, and eyes squinting at the sudden brightness. She raises a hand over her eyes, shielding the sun's rays, and yawns, tears surfacing.

"Someone had a night," Raven's teasing voice comes from across the path, her figure stopping in front of Addison.

The younger brunette drops her hand, narrowing her eyes at the girl, unamused. "Hilarious, Raven." She responds dryly, releasing her greasy hair from it's ponytail with a scoff, "God, I need to find somewhere to bathe..."

Raven chuckles, "I'm sure you know of a spot with all the sneaking around you've done at night."

"You're still not funny," the younger girl says just as dryly to Raven's teasing poke, "But, unfortunately, you're not wrong either."

She hums in satisfaction, her lips curling into her infamous Raven Reyes smirk, which annoys Addison, as she folds her arms over her chest. "It is a nice day to go for a swim. Why don't you ask...I don't know...Octavia?"

Addison's eyes widen, her entire facial features shooting sky high. "Whoa, Raven! I am not under any circumstances asking her that!" The eldest girl continues chuckling, her chuckles soon turning into pure hysteric laughters that make heads turn. "I just got in Bellamy's good graces to be her friend, I am not screwing that up."

Raven shrugs, cocking an eyebrow in defence, "It was just a suggestion, not a—hey!"

Addison chuckles this time, clenched fist retracting from the girl's shoulder. "Now that, was funny."

She rolls her eyes, scoffing, "Shut up."

"Addison!" Bellamy calls, interrupting their banter.

"On that note..." the young brunette sighs, glancing back to Raven, "See ya later."

Raven scoffs softly, chuckling lowly at the younger girl. "See ya."

Addison hops into a jog, going towards Bellamy, who stands near the dropship, distributing firearms to the delinquents. She gently shoves people aside, mumbling apologetic words once in a while.

She comes to the front with a huff, her eyes immediately finding the boy. He connects their eyes, "Give us minute."

The delinquents comply without a fuss, dispersing in small groups of their own a little ways away to give the two privacy. Addison sticks her hands in her jacket pockets, shrugging her shoulders, "Sup?"

"Good morning," he greets chipper than usual that makes Addison's brows knit.

"What have you done with Bellamy Blake?"

The boy snorts, "Come on, Addison... we're past that now, remember?" he raises a brow, the memories of their brief talk from last night flashing her memory. The girl slowly nods, bitting the inside of her cheek in response, "Okay, good." He reaches behind him, holding out a black automatic rifle flat in his hands. "We could use you as a gunner," he says nonchalantly.

Addison slowly takes it from Bellamy's hands, eyes flickering to him, a look of pure confusion and dumbfound covering her slightly tanner face. "You trust me with this?"

"If I trust you with my sister, I'm pretty sure I can trust you with an automatic rifle." Bellamy practically chuckles out in amusement.

"Valid point," she sighs out, flipping and examining the rifle in her hands. Her head finally bobs in a repeated upwards motion, "Alright, Blake... I'll be a gunner, but can I please wash up before training?" Addison whined out desperately.

Bellamy hums, brows weaving together in thought. "I don't know, Addison... the Grounders could attack at any—"

"Bellamy!"

"Okay, okay..." he chuckles, hands raising up in defence, "I'm just messing with you."

Addison scoffs softly and uses the butt of her new rifle to push Bellamy back in a playful manner. "I'm laughing so hard," she narrows her eyes, bringing the butt of the rifle back to her. "You know, I think I liked you better when you didn't mess with me, unless it's just a total Blake thing."

Bellamy chuckles with a smile, "Find me when you're done, but don't take too long. Every minute of training counts, okay?"

Addison nods in understanding, "Aye-Aye, Cap." She bids playfully, taking her leave as the delinquents go back to being handed their own firearm.

She takes her time walking back to her tent, continuing to flip and examine the rifle more closely with a smile. The tent flap swings open, startling the girl with a gasp.

"Seriously, Liam?!"

The boy smiles innocently, "Sorry."

Addison shakes her head, releasing a breath as she enters her tent, laying her new rifle in one of the corners. "What are you doing in here, anyways?"

"I'm your best friend—"

"Hey," she snaps, pointing a finger at Liam, "Don't use my own words against me, Liam Montgomery."

Liam chuckles, "I was gonna add my own flare, don't worry."

"Uh-huh," she quirks a brow, crossing her arms. "I'm kinda on a time crunch, so speed this up, Lee."

"I just wanted to say that..." he trails off with a heavy sigh, nervously averting his eyes to her blankets. "I'm sorry." The sincere in his voice has Addison quirking a brow, feeling the most confused she's ever been in her entire life, and that says something; a lot of things confuse her.

"Liam, what do you have to be sorry for?" She asks, rounding him and gestures for him to follow her.

He trails after her outside her tent, following after her slowly moving figure to the gates. "For getting you locked up."

"Liam..." she chuckles out confusingly and stops in her tracks, "You didn't get me—"

"Yes I did." He cuts her off quickly, brown eyes meeting brown. He nods slowly, the rapid blinking of his eyes and the shake of his head saying it all. "My dad found out about what you did to Avery Williams," the words sucked the breath out of Addison, heart stopping.

She didn't know he knew about that, and she planned on keeping it that way.

"He couldn't live with the fact that they never caught who did it, so he dug further into the security footage," Liam begins explaining quietly, "There were only two or three cameras that caught you, but they were just blurs of you running, and no one could see your face. He figured out about the vents and he tracked every camera near a vent that you could've came out, hoping to find you. He happened to come across a camera in Mecha, of you leaving Agro to get back to Factory."

Addison shakes her head, stopping him. She pleads, "Liam, please, don't continue."

"You have to know the truth," he answers softly. "My dad threatened to have you exposed to the rest of the Council and killed, for your crime, but I stopped him. I came up with the idea of staging you, for something I did. That's why they took you, and that's why my father found you first."

Addison remains silent, backing away slowly from Liam. She puts a hand out in front of her, eyes shifting down everything but him. "This is a lot to take in, Lee..." she whispers, "I'll see you around."

With that she walks off, numb. Liam's the reason she was locked away, why she suffered and went through what she did in Solitary Confinement. But she knew it wasn't his fault—there's no one to blame but herself.

___________________________

The Ark, a year ago.

"Okay, so...I have an idea for movie night." Addison wiggles her shoulders, rubbing her hands together in excitement.

Liam hums, looking down at her with his hand son the straps of his backpack. "Can't wait," he draws out, but not the least bit playful, like his usual self.

Addison frowns, "Hey, Lee...you okay?" he nods, continuing down the corridor with an occasional look thrown over his shoulder. "Liam—"

"Addison Anderson."

Liam's brute of a father calls from down the corridor in front of them, his shock baton buzzing with electricity in hand. Addison feels Liam tense from where her shoulder touches his arm.

Addison freezes herself, brows knitting. Footsteps catch her attention from behind them, her head whipping around. Marcus Kane leads the group of four guardsmen towards her, his hands clasped calmly behind his back.

"Addison Anderson...you're under arrest." Kane's voice booms off the walls when they lock eyes, nodding for the guardsmen to take her.

Her eyes widen, snapping to Liam's sad ones. "Come here, son." His dad calls sharply, but Liam doesn't move, his and his best friend's eyes staying locked together, until a guardsman grabs her.

She flinches, the snapping of the wire handcuffs restraining her hands. "You have to make sure they survive, please Liam..." She whispers, pulling against the handcuffs.

"Take her to Prison Station," Kane spits, nodding in the direction of the Station.

"I'll take care of them, don't worry." Liam says softly before she's ripped away from his side.

She doesn't have time to respond to Liam, trying to desperately get free. Addison wiggles in the guardsman's tight grip, "No, I didn't do anything. Please, you have to believe me!" Addison continues to try, but it was no use. She reluctantly stops fighting, glancing over her shoulder at Liam's sad face one last time before disappearing around the corner.

Addison rips the grass out, root and stem at the memory. She sighs, bowing her head in her hands and pushes her back further into the large tree she sits in front of. She knew something was off with Liam that day, but she couldn't place it. Before the news of her mother hit her ears, she thought about the encounter as much as her sick mother and worrisome father, but she simply brushed Liam's weird behaviour that day aside. Now, she knows her gut was right, like it always has been. His father never liked her, any chance to get her locked up was a win for him, and he won.

He got his wish, but she still didn't know how Liam got locked up. A twig snaps behind her, her head whipping around and a gasp coming from her pink lips.

"Sorry," Octavia apologized sheepishly, coming into the clearing.

Addison releases a relived breath, shaking her head, but remains silent. The Blake girl comes to her side, taking a seat in the grass by the brunette. Silence engulfs them, Addison soon leaning her head on Octavia's shoulder.

Addison feels one of Octavia's hands run up and down her back in comfort, the other girl's head resting on top of hers.

"I wasn't supposed to be in Solitary Confinement," she says softly, curling closer into Blake girl. "I was out of control when my mother died, you know that..." Addison trails off.

Octavia slowly nods against her head, pulling the brunette closer to her, "You almost killed the kid you were put with."

Addison nods and lays her left hand on her and Octavia's lap, scanning the back of it—five tiny, faint scars rest on her forearm. No one would be able to see them unless they looked really closing, "These scars, are from her. Her name was Maggie," she smiles softly at the thought of the sweet girl she wished she hadn't of done what she did to her. "Only a year younger than me, and caught thieving around Mecha near the old dropships. She told me she was looking for something for her mother's birthday, I think it was, and I snapped."

Addison sighs, tracing over the faint white scars with her fingers.

"I had grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the wall, choking her. She dug her nails into me, hoping I'd let go, but I didn't." Octavia soon replaces Addison's fingers with her own, tracing over the scars. "They dug so deep that I bled everywhere, but I still didn't let go." The brunette removes her head from Octavia's shoulder and shakes it, bowing her head down in shame at the ground between her legs. "Guardsmen finally came in and shocked me, so I'd let go. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in Solitary Confinement. After I found out my mother had died, I broke this wrist, then re-broke it a few weeks later because of the thoughts that filled my head..." she adds on to her background almost inaudibly.

Addison watches Octavia's expression, but it never once faltered nor showed fear, like the night she told her about Avery Williams.

"If your dad wasn't aloud to see you, I'm guessing you got to know Clarke's mom really well." Addison's lips curl into a small smile at the girl's true words.

Octavia looks up and meets her eyes, cracking a smile, too. "I'm surprised I haven't scared you away. If Bellamy knew about everything I've done, I'd never be able to get in his graces again."

Octavia's eyes widen, green eyes lighting up. She whips her body to face the brunette's, "What?!"

Addison chuckles with a nod, "Last night, he actually said he was glad he didn't chase me away. Can you believe that?"

The raven-haired girl's smile widens, arms wrapping around Addison's neck. The brunette shrieks in surprise, being tackled to the ground and nearly missing the large tree she and Octavia were leant up against moments ago.

"Octavia!"

Both girls giggle, the brunette wrapping her arms around the other girl's waist. "Not to ruin the moment or anything, but I really need to bathe," Addison chuckles out, looking up at the tree branches that hang above them through Octavia's mess of hair.

"Not yet. We'll go in minute," she muffles in the girl's neck, Addison chuckling, but she doesn't protest.

The feeling of Octavia's body against hers sends her body into panic mode. She hates how much she loves the warmth of Octavia's body atop hers, and how she closes her eyes on instinct when Octavia's lips brush against the side her neck.

Addison's eyes snap open, feeling Octavia shift. She removes arms from around the brunette's neck, allowing the brunette's head to rest completely into the dirt. Octavia flips her hair to the right, resting a hand by Addison's head, and leans on her elbow, their eyes locking.

"Addie...?" Octavia questions under her breath.

The brunette hums, her fingers playing with the hem of Octavia's tank-top out of nervous habit.

"I'm sorry," she whispers.

Addison's lips form a small and confused smile, "For what? You haven't done anything."

She didn't have time to register before Octavia's lips smashed against hers. A fire lit inside Addison's core as she slowly moves her lips in sync with Octavia's, and she knew right then and there, that if there was a heaven, she had just found it.