Chapter Text
The air weighs heavily, sticky with the heat of too many bodies crowded together. Clarke can barely hear herself think over the noise. The crowd thrums with excitement, hopped up on alcohol and adrenaline: a dangerous combination.
Clarke grips Raven’s fingers, her hand clammy with sweat as her best friend guides her through the tangle of sweaty bodies. The press of bodies around her is almost suffocating and she barely manages to stay upright, jostled from all sides. She spots a girl from her psychology class dressed in a low-cut black romper. Raven pulls her forward and Clarke loses sight of the girl in the sea of college students crammed together in the damp, stale basement.
Most of the people are returning spectators and have left a wide circle of space in the center of the room. From the snatches of conversation around her, Clarke learns the fight starts at ten and should be starting soon. The crowd seems to be building in anticipation for the coming display.
They stop at the edge of the circle, only a couple feet away from where the fight is going to take place. Clarke turns to see Raven wrap herself around a pretty brunette, their lips glued together in a kiss that’s probably not altogether appropriate for public display.
It’s hard to see much in the dank, dimly lit room, but Clarke recognizes Octavia as the slim girl with her tongue in Raven’s mouth.
Raven and Octavia met when Octavia showed up at the car shop Raven had started working at over the summer to help save up money for school. Clarke was lucky, her mom was paying for school despite their strained relationship, but Raven had to do it all on her own. She had a full ride to Ark University, but books and other costs were all on her. Clarke could have gone anywhere, all she wanted was to get as far away from her past as possible. So in the end, a liberal arts school on the other side of the country with her best friend was the perfect choice.
She and Raven moved out as soon as they could, renting an apartment for the summer until they were allowed to move into their dorm room a couple weeks ago. Clarke spent the summer working as a waitress while Raven got a job at the local mechanic. Octavia had shown up a month ago when her car broke down and Raven had fallen for her almost immediately.
It was totally unlike Raven to fall for someone so quickly. Her walls were higher than most, and she had been burned before, but Octavia had busted through Raven’s walls like they were made of paper. Octavia was a whirlwind, a force of a nature, and she swept Raven up in a flurry.
Octavia was always in their dorm room, eating their food and walking around half naked, complaining about the heat despite the A/C unit that was on at all times. Clarke had grown fond of her, she could see how happy she made Raven and as long as they put a sock on the door or sent her a text warning her not to come by the room when things got heated, she didn’t mind Octavia’s near constant presence. She could tell Octavia was good for Raven, the two of them were similar in a lot of ways, both strong-willed, but where Raven had a tendency to close off, Octavia was open and communicative forcing Raven to be much more upfront about her feelings than she normally tended to be.
Octavia’s a freshman like Raven and Clarke, but she grew up in the town next to the college and her brother also goes to Ark U, so she’s a lot more familiar with the social scene than either of them. Which is how Raven and Clarke end up in the stuffy underground floor of the science building, surrounded by coeds waiting to see two people beat the shit out of each other.
Neither Clarke nor Raven knew when they applied but apparently Ark University has a big underground fight scene. The fights happen sporadically, no one knows when or where they’ll be until the day of. Then someone sends out the first text, which filters out through a network of different people, until everyone knows when and where to show up. Octavia is one of the people in that network. Octavia’s brother is a Junior at the college and one of the main fighters, Octavia acts as his manager of sorts, controlling how much he gets paid and figuring out the details of the fights. Clarke had been surprised when she found out about the fights, but she knows Octavia and her brother use the money to help pay off student loans, and Clarke learned a long time ago not to judge people based on how they make ends meet.
It’s the Friday after first week of class and the first fight of the year. It’s definitely not the kind of scene Clarke had been hoping to be a part of when she came to college, but Raven is hard to say no to, and even though she trusts Octavia, Clarke didn’t feel totally comfortable letting Raven go to the first one of these events without her.
She hears a voice over the crowd, a little louder than the cacophony of noise but not loud enough for her to make out the words. She moves closer to Raven to ask what’s happening, but her voice is drowned out by the crowd’s cheers and whoops. Once they calm she hears a woman’s voice speaking through a megaphone. She follows the sound until she spots a woman standing on a chair, her eyes are lined and dark, the shadows making her look even more severe and intimidating. She’s holding a wad of cash in one hand and the bullhorn over her mouth with the other. Her voice is clipped and as she addresses the crowd they fall near silent.
“Welcome to The Ground, my name is Anya and I’m the leader around here. We don’t have very many rules, but if you break them, you will no longer be welcome here. And trust me, you do not want to be on my bad side,” she stops to flash a menacing smile at the crowd, “We have two basic rules: don’t touch the fighters and pay what you owe. If you follow these two rules, you’ll be fine. Oh, and make sure you keep out of the way during the fight, we aren’t responsible if you lose something,” she pauses a moment, and a couple guys step back from the edge of the ring, intimidated.
“But enough with pleasantries,” Raven snorts beside her and she and Clarke share a look, “Let’s get to the good stuff. Tonight, our first contender is a linebacker on Ark’s football team. Let’s bring out Jack Walker!”
The crowd whoops as a burly man appears through the door in the back. He’s massive, his arms are the size of tree trunks and he fully capable of ripping someone’s head off.
“On the other end we have our returning champ… Bellamy Blake!”
The crowd’s cheers are deafening as the man calmly enters the room. He looks completely unaffected by the atmosphere of the crowd. Bellamy takes in the other man with a calculated look, sizing him up. He’s wearing a plain white shirt that stretches across his broad shoulders, dark ink snakes up and down his arms. His hair is dark and messy, a tangle of black curls. His hands are relaxed at his sides, while Jack’s are clenched in fists. Jack towers over Bellamy, practically buzzing with barely restrained energy.
“Alright boys, let’s try to keep this clean. First one down for three counts loses. Whenever you’re ready,” Anya finishes with wave of her hand, signaling the start.
Bellamy and Jack circle each other, Jack lunges forward, but Bellamy skirts around him, moving quickly on his feet. Bellamy’s clever, fast, Jack seems to move at a glacial pace in comparison. It’s clear he’s getting frustrated. He swings again, messy and chaotic. Bellamy ducks and brings his fist up, Clarke hears the crunch of bone when it connects with Jack’s nose. There’s a spray of blood, and the crowd goes crazy.
The fight is intense, Jack gets a few hits in, but he never lands a solid punch. It’s over quickly. Jack is on the ground and Anya is raising Bellamy fist above his head to the yells and screams of the crowd. There’s a cut across Bellamy eyebrow and some blood on his shirt may or may not be his own, but when he smiles triumphantly, the sight is so bright that Clarke’s breath catches in her chest.
Jack’s friends carry him off to the side to clean him up and the crowd immediately starts jostling towards the door. In the confusion, Clarke and Raven get separated. She’s too short to see over the heads around her. Someone knocks their elbow into her head from behind and Clarke trips forward. Two hands grasp her elbows to steady her. She sees dark leather boots and follows them up over black jeans and a white shirt splattered with blood until she’s face to face with none other than Bellamy Blake.
“You okay?” His voice is low and hard to make out in the din. Clarke notices when he takes her in. He smirks, “You look a long way from home, Princess.”
Clarke feels whatever admiration she had garnered watching Bellamy fight evaporate. She jerks out of his grasp, her eyes catching briefly on the wolf inked on his right forearm. She looks away quickly.
“I’m fine,” she grits out. People crowd around her as they move towards the door, another shoulder knocks into her and she stumbles forward.
“You sure about that?” His voice is smug and one of his eyebrows is cocked. Clarke rolls her eyes. She hears Raven’s voice calling her name and turns towards the sound, not even bothering to look back at Bellamy as she shoves her way through the crowd towards Raven. She almost runs face first into her friend, Raven looks relieved. She laces their hands together and drags Clarke behind her as Octavia leads the way outside.
“That was a hell of fight,” Raven grins once they’re in the fresh air.
“Yeah,” Octavia sighs in fond exasperation, “My brother loves to make it a good show. I should probably go find him and make sure he didn’t let that guy hit him too hard. God knows my brother needs all the brain cells he can get. I’m really glad you guys came; I’ll see you tomorrow babe. Bye, Clarke,” she presses a quick kiss to Raven’s lips and takes off into the night.
“So… Bellamy was something else…” Raven drawls.
Clarke snorts, “You’re already dating his sister, I don’t think it would be a good idea to go after him too.”
Raven laughs, “Yeah, I think we both know only one of the Blakes is my type, and I’m already sleeping with her,” Clarke snorts and Raven smirks and rolls her eyes, “What about you?” Raven asks.
“Octavia is definitely my type,” Raven shoves her playfully, Clarke laughs. “I think we both know any kind of relationship right now would be a bad idea.”
“I think you should give yourself more credit, Griffin. If you’re not ready for anything yet, that’s fine, but don’t hold yourself back from something because you’re scared you’ll get hurt again.”
“Wow, one healthy relationship and suddenly you’re the authority on dating, huh?” Raven huffs a laugh, throwing her arm around Clarke’s shoulders, but she drops the topic sensing Clarke’s unease.
They laugh and talk aimlessly on their way to the dorm, both still energized from the excitement of the fight.
That night strong hands and dark eyes pervade Clarke’s sleep. She wakes the next morning, shakes off the dregs of sleep, and tries not to think about the man she dreamt about with blood on his knuckles…