Clarke cursed under her breath as she crawled through the vent. Leave it up to Bellamy to insist he go to Mount Weather without her. Insist that they can't keep waiting for an alliance to form with the grounders, when things keep getting in the way. He was tired. They both were— but she knew this place was dangerous, knew what the mountain men were capable of, and unlike Bellamy, she had seen certain things with her own eyes.

But when Bellamy made up his mind, it was almost impossible to change it.

Clarke looked over her shoulder to make sure Octavia was close behind. She hadn't even hesitated to let her come with her. After all, they both agreed that sometimes Bellamy acted before thinking. This wasn't always a bad thing, but it wasn't always a good thing either.

Clarke could see where she climbed through into that… room… with the cages, and the bodies hanging upside down as the life was drained out of them.

"I know how to get into the medical centre through here— but I want you to stay here, while I check to see if the coast is clear."

"Clarke, no—"

"Would you rather both of us get caught?"

Octavia groaned, but she knew Clarke was right— knew she was being logical. Still. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to lay still as Clarke got taken away.

Guess she'd see what happened if it came to that.

Clarke jumped down.

The light in the room flickered a little, and despite the fact that she knew what she was going to see, her stomach still tightened at the sight of it all.

Hundreds of cages surrounded her, each one occupied by a grounder. Their arms dangled outside the bars, their body's almost limp, and their minds foggy. They've all been drugged, awaiting a terrifying fate that Clarke swore she would do every thing in her power to protect them from.

But first— she needed to find Bellamy.

Needed to find and get their people out of there.

She crouched, slowing making her way between the cages.

When the sight of a boy, hanging upside down, tubes of his blood leaving his body, going through the floor and into someone else's who was deemed more worthy of living, Clarke flinched.

That's never something you could get use to.

That's when she moved closer, her heart feeling as though it might explode.

Her hand pushed away the boy's hair, and her other one instantly flew to her mouth as a whimper crawled from her throat.

It was Bellamy.

"Oh my god." Her words shook, as she desperately ripped the tubes from his arms, and legs, blood spilling onto the floor.

She began to struggle as she attempted to get him down, but she couldn't do it on her own.

"Octavia!" She screamed, and the brunette was beside her within a single minute.

Her eyes widened when she saw her brother, and it took her a moment before frantically helping Clarke get him down.

Once he was on the floor, Octavia pulled his head onto her lap, begging for him to open his eyes— to just wake up.

With trembling hands, Clarke examined him— but it was too hard to say how much blood he had lost.

She stroked his cheek, his face pale and hollow. He didn't look like himself at all.

"Bellamy?" She whispered, shaking him a little.

"Bellamy, you need to wake up, okay?" She shook him a little harder.

"Why won't he wake up, Clarke? Why won't he wake up?!" Tears spilled down Octavia's cheeks, and Clarke didn't answer. She couldn't.

Leaning in, she grabbed hold of his face a little harder.

"Listen to me, you asshole. You can not do this. You can not leave us. I told you, we needed you." She was crying now. "I told you I needed you."

He didn't move.

She searched for a pulse.

Nothing.

She met Octavia's gaze, and that's when her world fell apart around her.

"No, no, no, no, no!" A loud, ugly noise slipped throughout Octavia's lips, as she hugged her brother's lifeless body, and cried.

"Please, please, please." She said over and over again. "You promised. You promised you would always be there for me."

Clarke stood up and stumbled backwards, until she was a little ways away, partially hidden from view. She wanted to give Octavia a moment alone with her brother, but she also needed a moment alone for herself.

She thought about the first time she had met Bellamy Blake. It had been on the Ark, of course— maybe a couple of years ago. He had been a security guard at the time, and much more approachable than he had been their first day on Earth.

She had almost bumped into him in one of the many hallways. Her first thought, was that he was very handsome, her second was that he had a nice smile, and her third, was oh no, he just called me princess.

She hated that nickname.

Hated how it was used as an insult.

Yet, she didn't particularly mind the way it sounded leaving his mouth.

She leaned against the wall, thinking about how much time was wasted on the two of them hating each other— how over the course of two months, they had grown, not only as people, and partners, but as friends.

God, at this point, he was probably her best friend down here.

Or at least he was.

Thinking in the past tense when it came to him, made her legs feel weak. She slid against the wall, until she was sitting, and then she brought her knees to her chest, tucked her face in between them and weeped.

Sorry, Princess, didn't see you there was the first thing he had ever said to her.

She squeezed hers eyes shut, his last words replaying in her head.

I'll see you soon, Clarke.

He lied.