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Alice's eyes widened as her gaze fixed on the blue-eyed boy holding a girl over the flickering flames of the campfire with a crooked smile. She screamed in terror, struggling to wriggle out of his grasp as he pushed her face closer and closer to the fire.

"Bellamy, check it out! We want the Ark to think that the ground is killing us, right? Figure it'll look better if we suffer a little bit first." Alicent could have sworn she saw the smile on the stranger's lips widen into a mischievous grin as Wells suddenly lunged at the boy and pushed him roughly to the ground. Alice froze. She struggled to form a thought, to realize what she should do. Instead, her mind went blank.

"You can stop this," Wells groaned breathlessly as his brown eyes locked on Bellamy Blake's. The self-proclaimed leader smirked with amusement.
"Stop this?" he asked as his coffee brown eyes paused for a moment at the sight of Alice. "I'm just getting started." The brunette felt her hands tremble, her breath hitch, even her heart skip a beat as her eyes darted back and forth between the two boys in panic.

Go, she thought. They had to go before the situation escalated.

She took a step forward, one hand long outstretched toward her friend, before a quick, fleeting movement froze her in place. Suddenly, the blue-eyed boy moved into her field of vision and punched Wells in the jaw so quickly that he staggered back a few steps in surprise. Blood dripped from his nose or from his mouth. Alice couldn't tell. She stepped forward, her hands reaching out for the stranger, who straddled Wells and threw numerous punches while her friend on the ground desperately tried to shield himself from the attack with his bare arms.

Her fingertips brushed the stranger's jacket before someone unexpectedly grabbed her arm and yanked her back, away from her friend, who remained almost defenceless beneath his attacker. She jerked her head around to look directly into the two coffee-brown eyes of Bellamy Blake, who was only inches away from her. This time, however, something had changed in her eyes, he realized. He recognized the anger, the fire that threatened to ignite.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" the angry one snapped, not realizing how much closer she was getting to him. "Don't you see you can't control this? Tell him to stop!" She stared him straight in the eyes, her eyebrows raised expectantly while her lips remained tightly pressed together. For a moment, Alice thought, it seemed as if Bellamy Blake was trying to form a thought and weigh up his decisions at the same time. He parted his lips, but by then her attention had long returned to Wells, who had pushed the stranger to the ground and now had the upper hand. Like the blue-eyed boy only a moment before, Wells was now sitting on his torso, brutally delivering blow after blow as if he was in danger of losing control of himself.

"Wells!" The boy froze as the familiar sound of his friend's voice rang in his ears. He blinked several times in confusion as he looked over his shoulder at the girl's stunned face. She looked at him as if she couldn't recognize him at that moment. Wells wasn't aggressive, he wasn't even brutal. This, Alice thought, was not Wells.

"What the hell, boys," a deep, dark, oddly familiar voice called across the square, grabbing everyone's attention. Alice felt her heart sink as her eyes focused on Graham, who walked amusedly toward the two fighters, reached forward, and in a quick, unexpected move, grabbed Wells by the collar and pulled him off the the stranger. He didn't glance at Alice as he circled the boys. Instead, his blue eyes remained fixed on Bellamy Blake.

The stranger, meanwhile, had pushed himself off the ground, his face now smeared with blood, and pulled out a small knife as he walked toward Wells. Alice noticed Bellamy flinch next to her and take a fleeting step forward, hands outstretched in both directions as if to settle the argument. The next words had long since danced on the tip of his tongue, only to be interrupted by Graham loosely bracing a hand against the stranger's chest and pushing him back.

"Come on, Murphy," he chided. "You're better than this." He pointed to the red knife sticking out of Bellamy's pocket with a wry smile. The black-haired boy hesitated for a moment, his eyes fixed almost uneasily on Graham, who casually slipped his hands into his pockets.
"Fine," she finally heard Bellamy say as he tossed the knife at Wells' feet. "Fair fight." Alice watched as the two self-appointed leaders stepped back to give the fighting men their space. Mischievously, the familiar smile reappeared on the thin lips of the stranger - Murphy - who began to swing his blade dangerously. Wells grabbed the knife, his eyes wide with fear. Then Murphy lunged forward, knife awkwardly pointed at the boy, when suddenly the girl jumped in front of her friend.

Murphy froze as his ocean-blue eyes locked on Alicent's brown ones, which stared back at him fearfully. He was no longer smiling, in fact, the sparkle that had revealed his excitement for the fight had faded from his blue. Now he was serious, even a little surprised, while Alicent tilted her chin and tried her best to appear brave and strong.

"That's enough," she said shakily, not really expecting him to pay attention to her words. But he didn't move, not even a muscle.

She was still trembling when Wells put his hands on her shoulders to push her aside as panicked chatter suddenly filled their ears. Her attention immediately shifted to the small group of people running breathlessly out of the forest and onto the small open space, seemingly relieved to be back.
In the crowd, Alicent recognized only one face, identified the watch that encircled her right wrist and the golden blonde hair that fell in waves over her shoulders. Clarke, she realized. The girl she recognized was Clarke Griffin.

"Octavia!"Immediately, as if his life gradually depended on it, Bellamy Blake sprinted in the direction of a brown-haired girl holding her leg, which was wrapped in a thick, black scrap of cloth. He grabbed her by the hips and lifted her gently to the ground, careful as if he feared she might break otherwise. Alicent watched them, staring as if she couldn't tear her attention away from the scene. Was that his girlfriend?, the voice in her head whispered, not once considering that this girl might have been the reason he had come to Earth.

"What the hell happened out there?" he muttered angrily, his coffee-brown eyes fixed solely on Clarke Griffin. The blonde took a shaky breath.
"We were attacked," she finally admitted, snapping Alice out of her daydream and back to reality.
"Attacked? By what?", said Wells just as breathlessly. Alice noticed that he was standing only centimeters away from the blonde, who barely paid any attention to him.

"Not what. Who," corrected a boy with shoulder-length hair who had long since settled down on a rock. "It turns out, when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last Grounder."
"It's true. There are people here, survivors. The good news is, that means we can survive-" Clarke began in her familiar know-it-all tone that had gotten on Alicent's nerves so badly in her biology class years before. She pinched her temples painfully hard before interrupting loudly:

"That's impossible! The Ark said that we were the last remnants of humanity and that it was impossible for the survivors on Earth to have been able to survive the radiation." Clarke looked surprised when she met the familiar brown eyes of Alicent Kane. She swallowed hard, suddenly intimidated by the brown-haired beauty, and continued with difficulty:

"Well, they were wrong. We know that because Jasper was hit." Her blue eyes lingered on the brunette for a moment longer before her attention shifted from the knife in Wells' hands to his free wrist.
"Where is your wristband?" she gasped, almost panicked, as she grabbed his arm. Only now did Alice realize it - the missing wristband - and recognized the hatred in her friend's brown eyes as his attention shifted to Bellamy Blake.

"Ask him," he hissed contemptuously, though Bellamy didn't move. When, Alice asked herself. When had this happened? She must have been asleep, but wouldn't she have been woken by the noise? When? And why hadn't she noticed?

Clarke immediately turned her face in the direction of the new leader and took a large step toward him.
"How many?" she asked challengingly, but, again, Bellamy didn't answer. Instead, Murphy wiped his bloodied face and replied with a grin:
"Twenty-four and counting." Clarke expelled the air from her lungs loudly.
"You idiots! Life support on the Ark is failing. That's why they brought us down here..." slowly and yet so quickly Clarke's words fell silent. Her paper-thin lips moved, but Alice didn't hear a word she said. Suddenly she felt dizzy and hot. Dazed, she staggered back a step and then another and another until her back bumped weakly against a hard chest.

Before she could turn around, someone grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards the dropship. She was pushed onto the ramp and then, before she knew it, a small bottle was in her hands.
"Drink," she heard a familiar voice. She looked up and met Graham's blue eyes, which sparkled with concern. "Drink, Alicent," he urged when she didn't move.

The girl hesitated before shakily bringing the bottle to her lips. She breathed a sigh of relief as the water coated her dry tongue. Although she didn't want to admit it, this was exactly what she needed.
"Thank you," she murmured so quietly that he couldn't possibly have heard. She didn't want to talk to him. Not after everything that had happened.

"You should stay away from these people." With a short nod of his head, he pointed in the direction of Bellamy Blake, who was kneeling in front of the brunette in the distance, carefully dabbing the wound on her leg.
"I can take care of myself," she replied grimly and immediately handed Graham the water bottle. The boy rolled his eyes. He was impatient, Alice knew that. If it were up to Graham, she would lie in his arms tonight and praise him for how brave he was. Graham had always been so unconditionally convinced of himself. She had gotten to know him that way and had even admired the way he was - that self-assurance he had - before it turned into a toxic pattern of behavior.

He parted his lips before his attention - and hers - shifted to the red-haired girl, who watched them both impatiently from a distance. When she realized their eyes were on her, she cleared her throat and spoke intentionally loud:
"Graham, are you coming?" She gave him a sweet smile to disguise the nervousness she actually felt in Alice's presence.

Instantly, she felt that familiar sinking feeling in her stomach.
"So she's here, too," she gasped quietly before she could stop herself. Graham didn't answer because he knew, just as she did, that any answer would be wrong. She pushed herself off the ramp as her brown eyes darted once more to the spot where Bellamy was patching up the girl. The black-haired boy had now pushed himself off the ground and whispered something to one of his companions before turning his back on the brunette and following Clarke Griffin in the direction of the woods. Immediately, the dark-haired girl - Octavia, Alicent believed - tried to follow him when the boy grabbed her by the arm and roughly tugged her back.

"Alice, things have changed," the girl heard Graham sigh loudly. "She doesn't matter to me. Not like you do." He moved a little closer to her, hopeful of reaching with words the place in her heart that had once throbbed for him alone. Her brows twitched and for the first time in a long time she smiled.

"Sure, Graham." She looked up at him, the tips of their noses touching. Then she turned her back on him and stepped towards the girl, who was struggling to wriggle out of the brown-haired boy's grasp.

She didn't have a sensible plan, nor had she even thought of her words when she called out:
"Octavia!" She pushed her way between the boy and wrapped an arm around the girl's petite shoulders, who looked at her in confusion. "Weren't you going to tell me about that thing? What was it again?" Alice pretended to think about it as she led Octavia away from the boy in a most obvious manner. When they were far enough away from him, Octavia immediately pulled away from her.

"I can take care of myself," she muttered, clearly upset. Alicent crossed her arms over her chest. Frankly, she was still trying to figure out what had driven her in Octavia's direction.
"I wasn't questioning it," she replied quietly.
"Sure you weren't." A pained whimper escaped the younger girl as she sat down on a wooden stump. There was a brief silence between the girls before Alice sat down next to the brunette with a soft clearing of her throat and gazed silently in the direction in which Clarke Griffin had disappeared at Bellamy Blake's side.

Dozens of thoughts filled her head, questions upon questions to which his had no answers.
"So, Bellamy Blake," she tapped her fingertips nervously on the wood, trying to sound as casual as possible. "Is he your boyfriend or something?"
"Yikes." Octavia's face twisted in disgust. "Thankfully, I'm just his sister. Why do you care? Are you one of his toythings or something?" This time Alice laughed.
"Oh God, no!" She began to shake her head mechanically, as if the thought was so absurd. And it was. The very idea that she might be having an affair with the boy who had condemned her made her feel sick. At the same time, she began to understand why he had come to Earth: Bellamy was here because of his sister. Did that change the way she felt about him? No, she would say.

She would never forgive Bellamy Blake for what he had done to her.