- were all formerly homicidal.

- she knew Bellamy’s look was a warning to not give away too much… and I hated to agree with him, but he was right.

“We’re just joking…” I translated for her… “You know… banter.”

They looked unconvinced… but let them think we were a bit dark and twisted was better than letting them think we -

- to my throat and knocked me out in the desert. I had heard that Raven pulled a knife on Bellamy after he stole her radio and trashed it, too. But some of the people here probably knew how to kill us all with the press of a few buttons.

‘Tous… oso jos mimen.’ Emori slipped into Trig because -

- death every day.’ Bellamy gave each of us a look… we didn’t need to elaborate and tell any of these people all of the things we had donr to each other. Bellamy and I had hung each other for crying out loud… I shot Raven… she tried to shoot me, and turn me in instead of Finn. Emori held a knife -

- ‘You guys are hella morbid…’ One of them observed.

“What makes you say that?” I asked as if our conversation was purely innocent.

‘That you all talk about death like that… it’s… weird.’ He looked uncomfortable.

‘It’s just joking… dark humour. Trying to survive on the ground was life and -

-
‘Murphy has a point, Raven.’ Bellamy nodded as he chewed on the last of his rations. ‘You were never one to waste resources.’

Emori was just shaking her head and laughing. I noticed two of the Eligius crew looking at us curiously, and I shrugged at them as if to ask what the problem was.

-

- failed. Honestly… I think she just didn’t want me to succeed at something.” I nudged her and winked to show that I was joking.

“See, she keeps on saying that. But I don’t think she’d have wasted the explosives. Not when she could have ended me so many other ways.” I continued the teasing.
-

I chuckled at her and shook my head. “That sounds like a promotion to me… I’ll take it!” I laughed.

The jokes about trying to kill each other didn’t hit the same when Bellamy made them instead of Raven. “I believe by that point I was trying to keep her alive, and she was determined to ensure I -

- think the imfirmary would make people like you less?’

“Maybe…” I teased. I elbowed Raven gently. “I managed to drive this one crazy.”

- of the people that feed them, Murphy.’ He shrugged.

That was when I squeezed myself between Bellamy and Raven to put a buffer between me and them. “I think I need a new job assignment,” I muttered, taking the last bit of my rations and washing it back with water.

‘Where?’ Emori scoffed. ‘You -

- But here she was, trying anyway. I smiled at her as we ate, but shuffled awkwardly when some of the people came and went, said hello or goodbye, almost all of them addressed Raven by name, and a few said the same to me. Bellamy laughed at my awkwardness. ‘People tend to learn the names of the -

- her or caused her pain. Yet I couldn’t stop the feeling that this was better, knowing her… everything it cost to get here. It was better… and I think that Raven felt that too.

I smiled… I could tell it was going against her workaholic nature to stop when she was used to eating on the run. -

I could see her mind working and wondering about all the things that happened while I wasn’t at the dropship camp. I wondered what happened to her there, too… I knew she had her heartbroken, and saved every one of them… a lot. That was a time that I didn’t know her, a time when I hadn’t ever hurt -

< Then you drag this one off to do whatever it is you need to.” I winked at her. “I’ll have dinner waiting when you are done.”

< translated for Bellamy when his brows lifted higher than I would have thought possible.

‘And now I miss when John had a proper kitchen, too.’ Bellamy added with a fake gag.

My eyes moved up to Raven… after giving them a good, hard roll at Blake’s comment. “Have lunch with us, Stargazer. >

< gone through a lot in the few weeks we were alone in the wilderness after splitting from Jaha and his chipheads.

‘Honestly…’ Emori took a bite of her ration. ‘Honigraun’krola sounds so good right now.’ She swallowed thickly, and I offered her a swig from my water ration.

“Honey bugs.” I >

‘Things.’

I laughed. “Oh, please, I have seen you mash up bugs in honey to eat them!”

‘Oh, you mean the thing that saved your life when you almost died of fever in the woods?’ She cocked her head, and I laughed again.

I looked sheepish and chuckled again. “I almost forgot about that…” We had >

< fact, a good reason why I paid attention to this.

‘Yes, please.’ Emori smiled, glancing at me first. ‘I really don’t need to hear the lectures from John about skipping rations and all the math he had to do to work out the recipes for these…’ she held up the ration and wrinkled her nose. >

< person, just like she was for me and for all of our people. And Emori could be that same thing for her.

I was grateful to Bellamy for telling Raven to stop and eat… As much as he had teased me about constantly reminding her about these things, he must have started to notice that there was, in >

< and I was all she had… at least in her mind. And if something happened to me, she would need Raven. She would need someone else she loved, and I knew that was something she could have with her, someone other than me, who would die for her, and who would do the same for her. Raven could be that >

I knew that Raven would protect Emori like she was one of us. But Emori… the only person she trusted was me… and Luna to an extent. But I knew the more time she spent with Raven, the deeper their bond would be. I had learned the hard way that no one could survive alone in this world, >

< plenty of ways into the systems.” I still couldn’t bring myself to trust these people… not until I knew what really happened to the prisoners on this ship.

I watched as two of my favourite people bonded, and it was like a safety net being thrown out under me while I walked a tightrope. >

< as deep as they used to, now that she had fixed herself. But the biggest thing was her promise to never leave me behind again, death by spacewalk… well, that would break her promise. Raven didn’t break those. But still… I couldn’t stop the flinch. “Don’t worry… I’m sure the crew have >

These people were really something. I just let the comments roll off my shoulders; few opinions mattered to me, and in this room, those were Emori’s and Raven’s. Bellamy’s wasn’t a concern to me… as long as he didn’t want me dead… again, we were cool.

Raven's jokes about her own death didn’t cut >