Forgiveness does not Exist:
Disclaimer: Own nothing. Including the song "Cursed." That's Xandria.
Summary: Warnings for major character death. She was betrayed. The people who she was supposed to protect ordered dead at the hands of a power-obsessed maniac. But she survived. Bellamy, Kane, her mother and many of the others didn't, but she, Raven, Monty, Monroe and a few others did. Dax, Diggs, John Mbege and a few others are still alive. A lot of people that died in the first episodes are alive in this. Warning, mainly a tragedy.
Dark Clarke, dark Skaikru. Clarke, Wells and Lincoln are kind of the leaders now. If you're expecting a nice, fluffy group of 100, you are very wrong. Very short. At the most will likely just be a two-shot.
A note: The song lyrics will be italicized and have parenthesis around them. These things: ()
Forgiveness does not Exist:
Chapter one:
The Survivors of Mount Weather:
The survivors stood at the top of the rock, edging out over the forest. The remaining 100 and the remaining Sky people, plus Lincoln stared at the decimated mountain. It was over. Any chance of peace between them and the Grounders was gone. Destroyed. The Commander had made sure of that. But luckily? Now they would never be found. Or at least found much later. The once tall, strong, wide mountain had crumpled, the stones, trees, moss, roots, tunnels and arch of the structure caving in after the huge series of explosions were released, the missiles being activated.
From where they stood, Clarke, Tim, John Mbege, Wells, Pascal, Monroe, Raven, Derek, Dax and Harper held resigned but nearly satisfied looks on their faces. The mountain was gone now, as was everyone inside. All of the Mountain Men's bodies had been destroyed. And Bellamy, Octavia, Jasper, Mr. Miller, Abby, Kane and the other 100's and Sky peoples' bodies had been destroyed, given what little of a goodbye they could give their dead friends and family, before Clarke and the others had burned their bodies outside of the mountain. The roaring pyre was at their backs.
Clarke moved to the others and nodded to the forest, face covered in restrained pain. Followed after by Lincoln and the others, they fled. It would be a long time, if things went well, before the Commander or any of the coalition learned where they were to go.
OOooooo
Five hours earlier:
The butchery was countless. For both parties involved. The most important people had had bone marrow transplants. The highest soldiers, their children and the council that had been formed in case anything happened to either Cage or his father. It was a good thing for them that they had done just that, as Dante Wallace now lay dead in the main room where the control panel was and his dad had been killed at the hands of the Trikru Grounder, Lincoln who had hurried back to help Octavia and his friends.
But that didn't matter now. Not when everyone she had known and had come down to Earth with had been hollowed out, relieved of their bone marrow and she had lost the restraint over all her anger, shooting each and every council member in the head, holding the children of the remaining soldiers at gunpoint. Clarke hadn't found the tunnel to the main control room in time. When she had finally found Monty holed up in the main control room, Bellamy had been riddled with holes and killed by Emerson, the scum that had been taunting them about their people in Ton DC. Clarke's rage took a hold of her and she used her very first bullet of the gun she had, unloading it into Emerson's face. He screamed and had hurried away as he bled out.
(Keep yourself from falling into cursed deep waters)
She had found his body half an hour later strewn out over the stone floor of the hallway.
At the last minute, after Clarke had seen that the Mountain Men had successfully killed most of her people, taking their bone marrow, including her mother's, Clarke snapped, grabbing the lever that Monty had then successfully transferred all the power to and pulled it and pushed it forward, allowing all the doors and locks open flooding the mountain with air, poisonous to the still vulnerable Mountain Men that remained.
Luckily for Clarke and for the members of the Sky People and 100 that still remained in this world, the number of the Mountain Men still vulnerable to the Earth's very air outweighed the number of the Mountain Men who had the bone marrow transplants. All those that were higher up were safe. The highest generals were still alive.
Piles and piles of scorched, dead bodies laid along the floor and hung over the tables in the main hall. Clarke felt tears begin to pool in her eyes at the sight of the now deceased Maya lying on the ground, face bloody. Had Jasper still been alive he would have cried over her. She would have begged his forgiveness. But these people took everything. They shot Jasper in the head and used his bone marrow. She saw the videos of it in the main control room where she had seen Monty hiding and bawling into his hands like a scared, traumatized child over his best friend. It was an accurate description, actually.
After Clarke had pulled the lever and forced herself to watch all the children wither and die painfully on the screens, not allowing herself to have a moment's peace-she needed to suffer what she did to the children, she and Monty came out from the main control room, taking Emerson's guns, arming themselves, the two of them went down to the dining halls and the other main rooms, finding more and more corpses, both members of the 100 growing paler by the second. They finally got to where the remaining living 100 and Ark people were held captive, screaming and crying. Raven, Monroe, Fox, Pascal, Derek, Wells, Harper, Dax, Diggs and several others were hanging against the wall or chained to the walls, crying and screaming. Clarke was sick to her stomach at the sight, crying out and rushing forward, letting them out as Monty went and locked up the Mountain Men guards that survived, holding them at bay with a gun, escorting them to rooms and locking them in with keycards so they wouldn't cause trouble.
Clarke and Monty went over the damage that they had been dealt. So many of their people were dead now. Bellamy. Octavia. She had been shot in the dining hall by guards. Jasper. Jessica. So many of them had been killed. Drilled and hollowed out of bone marrow. Thankfully Dr. Tsing's body had been found by the stumbling and whimpering Fox, who pointed it out to Clarke once the black-haired girl was free.
Once all of the living Sky People were freed from their bonds and the badly injured ones were helped along, carried by others, Nathan, in tears, screaming, lunged forward, collapsing onto the steel platform where his dead father lay, drilled into, drained of his bone marrow. Clarke watched, trying to keep her own tears at bay. She had failed them. She had failed all of them. She had failed to save the injured ones from losing their family, and she had failed in saving those that were now dead. She chanted the names of those that died here in this mountain. Those that were of the 100. Octavia, Bellamy, Jasper, and she repeated them so on and so forth.
Her eyes then lay on what she had been wanting to avoid acknowledging from the beginning. Her mother's corpse. Abby Griffin and Marcus Kane hung there, strung to the wall with bullets lodged in their heads, heads hanging over their chests, Clarke's mother's dark gold hair hanging past her face and Kane's brown hair hanging next to his pale ears. Bile rose in her throat, clogging it, her eyes burning. Her mother, dead. All of them. She had failed so many of them. Octavia and Jasper's deaths replayed in her mind. She saw the footage of Jasper's death and witnessed Octavia in real-time being shot. The proud at one time Sky prisoner, adopting free Grounder ways had fought back as predicted, but fists and a blade meant nothing to multiple bullets and eventually, two guards were able to gun her down, shooting her in the side and stomach.
As Octavia lay screaming on the ground, teeth grinding, trying to hold back more of her unbearable screams, one last guard walked up, aimed the barrel at Octavia's head and had fired. The last thing Octavia was able to do was glare up in defiance at her eventual executioner, before he splattered her brains all over the dining room floor.
(Keep yourself from falling into cursed deep waters)
Clarke raised her hand to her face, other hand holding the loaded gun, her free hand wiping away the hot tears that were just begging to be allowed to flow. She had failed them. The Blake line was wiped out. Lincoln had lost his love. She had lost Octavia and Bellamy. Jasper and her own mother and Kane. All because she had been stupid enough to trust the Grounders. To trust the Commander and Anya.
This was her fault. Her fault and the fault of Anya, Lexa and all the Trikru outside of Lincoln. And her fellow leader, Bellamy, was dead.
She had to save what few were left.
She heard a familiar, but strained, weak voice speak to her, "Clarke…." Clarke turned to find a limping Wells who was steadying himself against Harper and Pascal. His dark eyes were on her, pain lingering in his orbs. "Oh god, Wells," Clarke whimpered, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault." Wells shook his head, bloodspots covering his forehead and along his cheeks and along his sweat covered neck. "Don't, Clarke. This isn't your fault. It's the Mountain Men's. It's the Grounders' fault for leaving us." Clarke grimaced, pain gripping her as she remembered when the Mountain Men had grabbed Wells, Monroe and the others as soon as Lexa, Anya and their party had retreated.
She wanted to hate the Mountain Men. She wanted to. So badly. She turned her head back to her mother's body. Why didn't she hate them? Why? They took her mother's bone marrow and killed her. Murdered her. She felt her weeping fighting against what little restraint she had and defeating it, her shoulders shaking as the tears finally came. She knew why. She had seen them. All of them. Children. Innocent children who never had seen the ground. Had to have been kept safe their whole lives. Who had never hurt anyone. They had just wanted to live. All of the Mountain Men had. That's all they had wanted. Just like she and her people had just wanted to live. The Mountain Men had been the enemy. That was as clear to her as it was before. But she had always known it. The Grounders? They somehow had gotten her to believe that they could be trusted. Somehow getting her to believe that they were on the same side. She had tried so hard to prove that they would be of use to the Grounders, curing the Reapers, healing their warriors. But that hadn't been enough for them.
Despite everything they had been through, the Commander and Anya had proven to be just as trustworthy as the Mountain Men had been. Her teeth ground together as the burning river flowed freely down her face.
If they survived, if they salvaged enough to gather their people, they had to take their revenge. They had to make sure that the Commander knew that this would not stand. She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her left arm, looking back up at Wells, Pascal and Harper. "Harper, Pascal, stay with Wells. I'm going to get the others." Her voice sounded choked, like she could barely get her words out. The only small relief she got was when she saw the three figures in front of her nod. She ran past them, hearing Wells calling after her. She went to where she found Tim, Derek and Monroe who were taking the guns off the dead guards. She shouldn't have felt the thrill of delight at seeing such a thing, but she did. Seeing Tim, Monroe and Derek arming themselves quickly, getting ready to gun down those that had hurt their people, it made a bolt of satisfaction shoot through her. Her still wet eyes blazed in with anger as she took in the survivors of her people. There was no choice now.
They had tried to do it the right way. They had tried to do it through alliance. They had tried to do it through honor. And they saw where it gotten them. It had gotten a majority of their people killed, including Bellamy, Octavia, Jasper and Miller's dad. No mercy. Not anymore. The Grounders wanted to see them as "Sky Demons?" So be it. They would become Sky Demons if that's what it took to survive the Commander and her lies. No mercy for anyone. Not for the Mountain Men. Not for the Trikru. Not for Lexa and Anya. From now on, they would protect themselves and only themselves.
Pain filled her heart, thinking about the two Grounders besides Lincoln that had done so much for her and yet so little. Had she or any of the others ever meant anything at all to the three of them? Anya? Lexa? None of it had mattered. None of the Grounders outside of Lincoln cared. It was all an act. She knew that now.
"Let's go." Clarke said, forcing the pain from her eyes, the twisted heaviness in her chest remaining, as she stared hard at Monroe, Tim and Derek, making sure they understood the importance of this, "Bellamy's dead. We have to finish the Mountain Men off." She grit her teeth together, chest aching as she saw the horror creep onto the three once prisoners' faces. "No." Monroe whispered. "Bell…"
Clarke nodded, her resolve all that was keeping her from breaking out into sobbing. God, if she had just gotten there a few seconds earlier, Bellamy might still be alive. Her breath heaved out as Emerson's death flashed through her mind, killed by her hand, "Emerson was the one that did it. We should have killed him when we had the chance. I should have….." Clarke looked away from them grieving. "I shot him. I wished I could have had more time to make it slower for him. Octavia is dead too. The guards shot her in the dining hall. We need to avenge them. The Mountain Men must pay for what they've done."
Her breath was shaky, knowing she was just as responsible for this as the Mountain Men and the Grounders were. She had trusted the Grounders. She had been the one to extend their trust and she had gotten several of them captured. She deserved their hate if they hated her. She wouldn't blame them at all for it. She stiffened when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Clarke winced, barely able to turn around and face who was touching her shoulder, startled at the look of conviction on Monroe's face as the other girl held the hefty, black "light machine gun" under her left arm. "Clarke," Monroe said, voice firm, eyes full of pain, "We'll gun these bastards down. I'm your girl. Just show me where to shoot and I shoot." Monroe turned to Tim and Derek who had also both been there when Lexa and Anya had proclaimed their selfishness and betrayal, walking away from the mountain. All three of them knew that Clarke had failed them, but Clarke saw no indication that they were going to leave her.
Tim and Derek both took the safety off their respective M27 rifles, cannons aimed at the roof, steel, murderous resolve on their faces. Clarke again knew that she shouldn't have felt such flows of relief, but god, she did when she saw this. Monroe, Tim and Derek were all telling her the same thing. We're with you. And more than anything else, This is war.
Clarke felt a pained, unstoppable grin from growing on her face. "Follow me," She hissed, nodding towards the stairs, "We're finishing off the remaining Mountain Men. All of the children and the people that tried to help our people are dead," Clarke felt more and more guilt lance her heart. "There is no one else to try to spare. All of them will try to kill us first unless we kill them. Shoot on sight." Clarke couldn't even believe that she was saying those words. That she was ordering this massacre, but what else could they do? What was left for them? Except revenge. Except killing. They had tried trust. They had tried peace. They had tried negotiation and they had seen where that had led them. To an actual dead end. Now they had no choice left, but to pave the road with the blood of their enemies.
Clarke, power, rage, pain and grief fueling her, making her push forward to the door where the stairs went. "Attack," She ordered in a loud voice, hearing several clicking sounds of safety pieces of rifles and machine guns being pulled back and several footsteps following her as she ran up the stairs with her small gun, leaning down and scooping up a rifle that she found next to a bloody body of a fallen soldier, readying it as she, Monroe, Tim, Derek and several more of the guards and the armed remaining 100 flooded the Mountain with bullets, attacking any they saw outside of their own people.
(Have you been to the water
Have you gone with the tide
Have you heard of strange creatures
Beware of the Moonlight)
Gunfire rang throughout the mountain for what felt like hours. Clarke wasn't sure when it had finally come to an end. She could still hear the ringing of thousands of bullets singing through the air, against the metal walls, even after it all ended. All that was left, surrounding all of them were piles and piles of decimated bodies.
John Mbege and Bree reloaded their guns, despite it being clear that no one else was alive that could possibly come at them, bearing guns. Mbege, Bree, Tim, Monroe, Derek and Monty all had hardened hateful looks in their eyes as they scouted out the rest of the mountain's corridors. Clarke sighed, mourning the loss of what little innocence they had once possessed, now gone because of her. Because she had trusted the Grounders. After this was over, she was going to step down. She had no place to lead them. Not after this. She had failed them.
Tim, Raven, Harper and Wells were the most responsible of the group. She'd ask them to take over. They would protect the others.
Myles stepped forward, armed with his M27 rifle, aiming the barrel of the gun at the one remaining squirming soldier, trying to crawl away. The hardened face of the once sweet young man darkened with malice and he pulled the trigger. The soldier's skull split open, blood hitting the nearest wall in a bloody mess. The spry young man turned back to the rest of the group, head of smooth dark hair swishing with the movement of his head as he spoke with energy, "The rest of these fuckers are gone." He grinned a grin that seemed to be so unlike what Clarke remembered of him before the mountain. She sighed, the pain in her heart unrelenting. It looked like forever she would have an image of her friends "before" the Mountain and then an "after" the mountain. The "after" versions were heartless. Like she needed to be if she wanted to help them survive.
They had to be monsters if they wanted to survive. Mercy had been convenient for a time when she and the others had thought that mercy was an option. But it wasn't now as it turned out. The Commander and Anya had proved that mercy was likely never an option. The Grounders were heartless. Emotionless. Mindless. Killing machines. Without any mercy. So they had to be the same to survive them.
She, Raven, Myles, Tim, Wells, Harper, Derek, Pascal, John, Bree, Monroe, Monty, Fox, Diggs, Dax and all the others. They had to be monsters. That was just how it had to be. They would cut a bloodied knife mark along the land so all of the Grounders would remember them. She would step down, but she would help. She would be Tim, Wells, Raven and Harper's advisor. If they would still have her after what she did. If they decided they still wanted her in their group, she'd help them, in any way she could.
Before she could think further, she noticed that Tim, Myles, Derek, Monroe and the others were looking at her now for guidance. They were awaiting her instructions. She felt like she had been punched as she saw who was looking at her. Every last one of the Sky People who still lived was looking at her now for guidance. The remaining 100. It made her ache as she realized there were more of them that had survived than she thought there would be. It ached, because god, looking at them now? At their hardened faces, covered by dirt and blood, eyes like cold steel, it made her almost wished she had died in Ton DC. The rest of the guards looked at her. Nathan was looking at her now, waiting for her to give him an assignment to go on next. The man's father was dead and he had enacted vengeance upon the Mountain Men. He wanted to know what they should do now.
Clarke almost whimpered as she looked at everyone else, noticing Raven was being carried by Dax and Diggs and Wells was still being carried by Pascal and Harper. With Kane and her mother and Bellamy dead, there was only one person they knew of who usually controlled things and they were looking to her now for what to do next. Clarke shivered, thinking about that. She was the only one in power now. That was dangerous. Even if she did in fact step down, being a lone leader would be dangerous. Not just for her but for everyone else. What if she made a foolish choice like she had with Lexa and Anya, trusting them? She couldn't. She was going to step down. And her first piece of advice to the new leader would be to not lead alone. There should be three at the most. That was where Tim, Wells, Raven and Harper came in.
But for now, she'd help them get out of the mountain. She thought about what to do next when she heard footsteps behind her. She froze, eyes narrowed. Weren't the Mountain Men all dead now? Either from poisonous air on her part or a rain of bullets for the ones that had had the successful bone marrow transplants? She then noticed Myles, Tim, Monroe and the others aim and cock their guns at something behind her, glaring at whatever was coming. Clarke slowly turned around, gripping the handles of both her guns, planning to hit whoever was coming, as she knew that she had run out of bullets a while ago, all of those bullets lodged into the brains and chests of the remaining Mountain Men.
Her enraged, icy blue eyes lost their anger when she saw Lincoln standing in the middle of the room, covered in blood from his chest down, save for a few specks of blood on his face and neck. His hands were gripped around two blades. Both curved wickedly and clearly Grounder made. Clarke recognized these weapons anyway. They were weapons Lincoln used regularly and she had seen him use them before. They were soaked in blood, caked with meat that Clarke knew with grim satisfaction was the flesh of the Mountain Men. Should she have been so thrilled by a massacre? By an actual genocide she had helped commit? To order to have taken place? No. It was despicable. But they had to become monsters now, so maybe it was fitting that she delight in something only a monster could delight in.
"All of you," She yelled back to the other 100 and the guards, "Stand down! Lower your weapons. It's just Lincoln. He's one of us."
"Right," Tim snorted and Clarke frowned when she didn't hear his weapon clicking at all like it should when it was lowered, "He's a Grounder, Clarke. They left us. He'll betray us too." Lincoln looked like he was about to spit out something and Clarke knew exactly how grief stricken he must have been. Seeing her mother hanging dead like that in the prison of this mountain had been devastating and she knew would end up being a trauma for her for the rest of her life. It would haunt her every waking moment, as it should for her failure.
Clarke spoke up before anyone else could speak, "You're point, Tim? Lincoln only left the mountain because he was forced by the Commander to leave. They actually forced him to be dragged away. You know that. You saw it." Clarke looked at Lincoln's haunted, dark eyes and said, smiling, endless gratitude, admiration and affection for the selfless, loyal and noble Grounder surging in her veins, "He came back even though he didn't have to. He came back for us. He came back when he knew he could be exiled or killed. He risked everything for us." Clarke walked up to Lincoln, smiling at him sadly as he looked down at her. "Thank you, Lincoln. Octavia…..God….."
She lowered her head, tears threatening to break free again as she thought of the wild, fearless girl that she loved, that she and Lincoln both loved. A wonderful, loyal, fearless girl that she had failed like she had failed everyone else. She heard Lincoln's strained, but gentle voice, "Don't. It is alright, Klark kom Skaikru. She died a great death. She died a warrior." She heard how is voice broke when he said those words and looked up at his face, seeing the sorrow carved into it as he lowered his head, dark eyes closed. Clarke sniffled, putting the handgun into her pocket and reaching a now free hand out to Lincoln's and he slowly put his weapons away, taking her hand in his bloody left one. Clarke nodded to him and he nodded back. Clarke turned around and glared at her people, wanting to make sure that they understood that Lincoln wouldn't betray them before she stepped down.
"Lincoln is one of us!" She yelled into the crowd of bloodied people, "He is our people! He came back for us. He's killed for us. He's fought with us. He might be a Trikru, but he's one of us too." She stared hard at them, waiting for them to try and go against her words, to argue with them. Wells and Harper were looking at Tim. "Tim," Wells said, nodding, "She's right. Lincoln came back for us. He went against this commander's orders. The Commander, who is the most powerful Grounder on Earth. He did that for all of us. Not just Octavia. He's one of us." Tim started thankfully to lower the gun, eyeing Lincoln behind Clarke and eventually nodded, fully lowering the gun.
(Down falls the light as they rise from the sea
In comes the night, give your soul, pay your fee
Living a curse, they were born by their sins
Soon life and death will become evil twins)
There was a collective release of relieved breaths in the room. "What do we do now, Clarke?" Monroe asked, looking at Clarke expectantly. Clarke took a step back, thinking about it, chaos running throughout her mind, decay and death surrounding all of them as everything weighed on her. She couldn't give up now. Not now. They had killed everyone in the mountain that had threatened them. But what now? What did they do now? Her mother, Kane, Bellamy, Jasper, Miller's dad, Octavia, they were all dead. She was the only leader for them right now left. And they needed to figure out what they were going to do next. What did they do? Did they take the mountain? Claim it as theirs? Clarke sighed, thinking about their situation, sorrow becoming overwhelming for her. If they were going to survive this world, they'd need the close help of Lincoln. Someone who had lived on and survived Earth their whole life. If she was going to step down, then Lincoln should also be a leader in the new council.
She turned to Lincoln. "Lincoln," She said, her voice somehow coming out in a firm tone instead of sounding weak and frail as she felt. "I trust your advice. You know this world better than any of us. What do we do with this mountain? Do we stay here? Do we leave? Will we be safe if we take this mountain as ours?" Lincoln looked at Clarke and the rest of the Sky People that he knew now were his people. "This Mountain will last us. For a long time. But in time, the rest of the tribes will notice that the Mountain Men are not abducting their people. They will notice that the Mountain Men are not leaving the mountain at all. They are likely watching the mountain now and will notice that no one has left. Eventually, they will begin to fight over the mountain. If they do that, we will be trapped here. And while the Mountain Men might have many resources stowed away, we would not be able to live on them for the rest of our lives. We would need to go out and get more."
Clarke nodded, sorrow thickening in her chest. A part of her had suspected that. She had dreaded that as a possibility, but knew that it was a likely possibility. Her anger towards the Trikru and the other Grounders was increasing by the moment. Why couldn't they just let them be? Hadn't they betrayed them already? Left them to die? Why couldn't they just leave them be? Rage, burning rage boiled in her chest and throat. God, if she ever got the chance, she'd kill as many Grounders as she could. She knew it now. She knew she was capable of it. Lexa and Anya had made sure of that. Now that they had proven that they were as trustworthy as the Mountain Men were, she knew she could kill them the same as she had the Mountain Men.
Even if she wasn't going to be leading the Sky People into battle against the Grounders anymore, she was going to make sure she had much of their blood on her hands as possible. For herself. For Bellamy. For Octavia. For her mother. For Miller's dad. For Kane. For Jasper. For Raven. For Fox. For Miller. For Wells. For Tim. For Harper. For Derek. For Monroe. For Monty. For all of them.
For Lincoln too. He lost his Octavia because of them just as much because of the Mountain Men and because of Clarke herself.
She met Lincoln's gaze again. "What do we do now then? Do we leave?" Lincoln nodded, face hardening. "It would be wise. But if we leave, then that leaves the mountain and its resources in the hands of the Trikru or any of the other tribes that try to claim it."
"Oh, that's just great," Raven groaned from where she barely stood between Diggs and Dax. "So we're fucked if we stay but we're fucked too if we leave. That's just great. What the hell do we do, Lincoln?" Raven was practically gasping the words out as she desperately tried to stand on her one working leg, wincing the whole time. Clarke hissed, seeing this, "Diggs, Dax, stop her!" Both young men did as she instructed and restrained her a bit from trying to stand. "You're not healed yet." Clarke said urgently. "Please just try to ease up until we find a place to rest." She looked around the room, eyes finding a few unoccupied chairs. She pushed them together, gesturing for Diggs and Dax to place Raven down onto them. Both young men did as she instructed, carrying Raven over to the chairs, gently laying her out over them, despite Raven's acidic growling. Once the mechanic was fully laid out and Dax made sure that the woman was not in pain, it was only then he really let her go. Clarke smiled in appreciation at Dax's care.
Ignoring Raven's glare, Clarke turned back to Lincoln, fresh pain and grief still festering strong, "Where do we go then? Do we take whatever we can and run? Should we take all the resources? Camp Jaha has a few vehicles from the Ark that we could use to go to the mountain and get the resources." "Yeah, but," Pascal's voice became uneasy, "Would that help us with the missiles? If the Grounders take the mountain, wouldn't they have the missiles too?" Lincoln nodded, much to Clarke's growing horror. Sure, she didn't think of the Grounders as being that into weapons like missiles, but they were human beings. When they realized they had an efficient and effective way of wiping out their enemies and fast, they, like most humans in history, would use it to their advantage. That was what had led to the near end of humanity 97 years ago after all.
Her teeth clenched. Dammit. Pascal was right. Raven was right. Lincoln was right. This was a damned if you did, damned if you don't situation at its finest. Clarke closed her eyes as she thought about their possibilities, limited as they were. The missiles, they were too big, too hefty, too long to be able to transport. But the guns, the bullets, the grenades and the other explosives? Those were all transportable. Smaller. Easier to hide. They could just hide all those weapons on their persons. Simple enough. But what to do about the missiles that the mountain contained? Unless…..
Clarke opened her eyes and swiveled her head to look at Raven who was grumbling painfully under her breath. "Rae, is there a way of using a remote control to blow up the missiles? If we're out of the mountain, I mean?" Raven looked startled by the question and her eyes widened, the edge of her lips quirking. "You want to blow this place up?" She flashed some of her teeth at the outrageous implication of what Clarke had asked. "Sounds like my kind of plan. This place should have been blown to bits a long time ago." Clarke nodded. Agreed. And if they left soon, after looking after all their wounds, taking all the resources and weapons, then there would be nothing left living in the mountain. No one would get caught in the crossfire. The mountain would be no more and the Grounders couldn't use it to their advantage.
"The missiles." Clarke began, a plan finally starting to formulate in her now clearing mind, once taken over by panic, "we need to blow them up. Once we're out of here." Clarke held up her empty right hand, three fingers. "Step one. I need to look at everyone's cuts and injuries." She lowered one of her fingers. "Step two. We gather as much supplies as we can get. Medicine, food. Portable weapons." She looked from Pascal, Tim, Derek, Nathan Miller, who still looked like he was going to burst out crying, the now hardened faced Monty-(Clarke swore that that sight would never stop being bizarre and frightening to her), to Dax, then to Diggs. "Do any of you know how to drive the vehicles that we have at Camp Jaha?"
At the startled looks she was receiving, Clarke looked back at Lincoln, "Lincoln, I'm sorry, but we need your help here. Do you know the tunnels to get from the mountain to Camp Jaha? Without being seen by other Trikru?" Lincoln looked surprised at the question. But Clarke saw he understood and he nodded, eyes shinging with understanding and resolve. "Sha, Klark. I will get your people to the…..the "cars," Lincoln tried the word with narrowed eyes, making a small smile touch Clarke's lips, "And bring them back to get the supplies." Clarke nodded, relieved. "Okay." She turned back to the others. "I still need to ask, is there anyone here who can drive those cars?" An understanding now existing between all of them about what Clarke wanted to know. Nathan Miller raised his head. "I know how." "Same." Dax announced quietly, "One of the guards showed me, Tim, Pascal and Monroe how to do it before we got captured." Monroe, Tim and Pascal were all nodding. "Okay," Clarke said, she looked at everyone, "Then can you five get the vehicles and help transport as much food and medicine and weapons out of here? After that, we have to get out of here." She looked at Raven. "And that's where you come in, Rae. I need you to prepare the missiles before we take off. And after we're out? I need you to detonate the mountain when we're far away."
Raven's eyes went wide. She grinned before she could stop herself. Her weak laugh sounded husky, but broken. She glanced at the others. "So, we're going to go World War Four on the Grounders, huh? I guess it's about time." She looked up at Clarke. "What changed? The Commander stabbing us in the back?" Clarke winced, but nodded. "Yeah." More anger than Clarke could help slipped into her voice, "I really screwed us. I never should have trusted the Commander. Or Anya. God, I can't believe I was that stupid." Clarke shook her head, glaring at the ground. She felt her arm being tugged and she looked at Lincoln, startled. He stared at her hard. "Don't say that, Klark." Lincoln insisted, "This wasn't your fault. Heda and Onya made their choices. They are the ones who have dishonored my people. They have dishonored you with their lies. They are the ones that are to blame for this bloodshed. This is not your burden, Klark. It is theirs."
(Bound to go where the wind blows
Bound to serve the unreal
Bound to dwell in deep waters
Greed and fear cast their seal)
Clarke felt her chest ache and she fought the urge to hug the Grounder. Lincoln. What did they ever do to deserve him? Clarke offered a wet smile to Lincoln. "Mochof, Linkin." She said. She turned to the others. "We have to put this in motion. We need to get all of the supplies we can get out of here. And I need to look at everyone's injuries. I'm going to check everyone's wounds. Then I'm going to send you out of the mountain to get the cars," Clarke looked at Nathan Miller, "Lincoln will lead you. I want you to take Pascal, Dax, Tim, Monroe and Diggs with you."
Miller nodded, grim-faced. Clarke knew that he was trying to bear through all this, having his dad's demise on his shoulders, on his conscience, weighing on his heart painfully and endlessly. But he looked at each one of the once prisoners that Clarke had instructed to take with him and called out, voice firm and hard, "Do all of you understand that?" Tim, Monroe, Dax, Diggs and Pascal looked startled at the question, but stood at the ready in the end and nodded, all answering sharply, "Yes, sir!"
Clarke felt the tremendous relief, along with the aching guilt over what she was having her people do. They had made this home of the Mountain Men a tomb and now they were making it into a minefield. They were all now about to relish in the destruction of a mountain that had been here before the bombs had hit. And were about to destroy a home that had once belonged to a whole civilization. Clarke shuddered, the real horror of what they were doing. She forced the growing repulsion down. This was what they had to do. It was ugly. It was horrible. It was amoral. It was survival.
They had to survive the Mountain Men. And now they had to survive the Grounders.
Nothing more than that.
"Lincoln," Clarke said, looking at the man that had saved them countless times at the expense of nearly losing his own life, if not certainly his home in the Trikru. "I don't want to ask you this. But please, lead them through the tunnels so they don't get lost or killed." Lincoln, their Lincoln, the man that Octavia loved, didn't even hesitate. He nodded. "Sha," He answered, "Skai Heda." Clarke almost gaped at Lincoln when he said that. She felt him release her hand and he stepped away from her, dark eyes shining with purpose, masking his pain.
He nodded to the others. "We need to be healed first, sha?" Clarke nodded, heart warming, even if it was only a little at seeing Lincoln be here for all of them after everything. She was just so grateful to have him here. She looked at Monty. "Monty, do you know where the medical supplies are? Where the bandages and the antibiotics all are?" Monty seemed startled, but went back to being focused. "Right," He mumbled, walking to the door to where Dr. Tsing's body was. "This way. Her lab is this way." Clarke let go of Lincoln's hand and walked after Monty. She heard the weak footsteps following behind her.
They reached the medical room surprisingly quickly. Clarke numbly ignored all the gasps she heard from the sight of the bloodied bodies across the floor, including Tsing's. She found the platter of stainless, metal medical tools. On the ground was the bloodied drill. Clarke narrowed her eyes at the tool. She wondered who's blood that belonged too. Her mother's? Raven's? Kane's?
She ignored the morbid thought and went to the glass cabinet filled with antibiotics.
She grabbed the nearest heavy object, the neck of a bowed lamp, and picked it up, slamming the base of the lamp into the glass doors, shattering them to pieces. She heard a few yelps behind her that she recognized as Fox and Harper's. She ignored that. Even if she understood the surprise, they didn't have time for hesitation. She reached into the cabinet, tossing away the lamp and using her other hand as well to loot the cabinet. Soon she had multiple bottles and vials of antibiotics, medical tubes and syringes. She placed all of them out onto a cart that had a silver platter on top of it for medical tools to be placed. She found a group of different rolled up bandages and stitches placed on top of a short cabinet up against the wall. She grabbed all of them and put them on the platter on top of the cart and started pushing the cart towards the group who backed up, some of them limping back as she passed through into the room.
She looked at Raven and Wells. "You two first. You're the most badly injured. Let me look at the two of you." Pascal and Harper helped Wells over and Dax and Diggs tried to do the same with Raven, but the dark-skinned woman struggled in the two young men's grasp. "Hold it!" She yelled. "The others-" Raven swiveled her head to look at all the others. Looking from John to Coleen. Clarke spoke up sharply, "Rae, they're hurt, but just not as bad as you and Wells. You need to be looked at first. Don't fuck around. I saw the screen. I know what the Mountain Men did. You and Wells need medical attention more than anyone else. Everyone else is dead. The two of you are the most injured. And have the highest priority. Deal with it. Dax, Diggs, bring her to the table. Now."
Diggs and Dax, both looking nervous, pulled Raven along to a bare operating table, pulling her up and splaying her over the length of the table and Clarke winced as Raven whimpered at the likely agonizing sensations she was assaulted with because of the movements.
Clarke walked over to the table, bringing the cart over as Dax and Diggs stood on opposite sides of each other, letting Clarke get to Raven. Clarke dragged the cart up next to them, picking up the antibiotics to clean the wound. "I'm sorry, Rae," Clarke said sadly, "This will hurt. I have to clean your wounds so they won't get infected."
Raven stared up at the ceiling, glaring. "Just get it over with." She heaved out.
Two hours of excessive and painful, grueling medical examination went by and by the end of it, Clarke was operating from the seat that Dax had brought to her and by the end of it, Raven had been fully looked at and patched up, then Clarke had made sure she had done the same for Wells. By the end of the two long, exhausting hours, almost everyone that needed severe treatment had been looked at. Now only a few with the occasional cut and bruise had been overlooked, but to lighten Clarke's current load, they had taken it upon themselves to put the antibiotics Clarke had pointed out to them on themselves and put gauze over the small cuts.
Now everyone had been looked at. It was time for step 2 of the plan. Clarke looked at Miller and at Lincoln, breathed heaving out, body slick with sweat with the work she had done, gratefully taking the seventh glass of water that Coleen had brought to her, knowing where the bathrooms were and knowing she'd likely have to go soon. She didn't like the idea of them using the facilities in this place anymore than she had to, but if they were going to take the resources they needed, might as well make use of the toilets too.
"Miller," Clarke began, looking at Nathan, who was aggrieved more than understandably, "You and Lincoln now need to go to the carts at Camp Jaha. Lincoln? Lead the others to Camp Jaha through the tunnels. There won't be any Reapers or Mountain Men left. The only problem left will be Trikru people looking through the trees. Make sure you're not seen."
Lincoln nodded, dutiful. "There's a tunnel near Camp Jaha." He said. "That's how all of you were captured after the fight with Anya's army. I can take all of them through it." He went around to Nathan Miller, followed after by Dax and Diggs, who looked nervously at Clarke, even though she had instructed that they leave her out over a few chairs for her legs to stretch out and a place for Raven to lay back against and the now full leader of the Sky People just nodded. "Go. Raven's sitting down, so it's fine."
She ignored Raven's snaps of, "I don't need a freaking babysitter!" She then looked at Pascal. "You know how to drive go with them. Derek! Go help Harper with Wells. Derek nodded, startled and went over as Pascal gradually let Wells go. Wells grunted softly as Derek took him and he and Harper held him up. Pascal walked over to the others and they reached the door leading out of the room. Clarke met Lincoln's eyes. Lincoln gave her a knowing look and Clarke wondered if he would still give her such a look of reverence if he knew that she had left Octavia to die in Ton DC. But still, there it was. Such a look of respect. It was a look she knew well. It was a look that Kane, Octavia and Bellamy had used to give her before she had completely failed them.
That look told her, You can do this.
It was a look that Clarke now despised with her whole being.
Lincoln and the others soon disappeared from view and Clarke turned to Monty and Raven, eyes intense. "Rae? I need you to get those missiles ready. Blow the mountain to bits. Do whatever the two of you need to do to rig those missiles and get them ready for exploding when we leave the mountain. When we're far enough away, detonate them." Raven and Monty both froze at the iciness and resolve in Clarke's voice and the stony look in her eyes. What hurt Clarke worse was the shocked look on Wells's face as well as the startled Harper and Derek. Fox, Bree, Tyler, Michael, Zach, Coleen, Elena and the rest of the remaining 100 were also shocked by Clarke's ruthless tirade. "Damn." Raven breathed out, her eyes wide. "What did those Grounder bitches do to you?"
Clarke somehow restrained herself from flinching. It was no secret what had happened between her, Anya and Lexa. Lexa and Anya had betrayed them. Betrayed her. And everyone knew it. It wasn't that hard to figure out, even if one hadn't been with the mass of people that had been captured in the second wind of the Mountain Men's rush of soldiers. First there had been an army ready to rescue everyone inside and suddenly there wasn't? Not that hard to figure out.
"The Commander and the general just proved that they were no better than the Mountain Men." Clarke said grimly. "Nothing else besides that." Her face darkened. "I was a fool to trust the Commander and her general. But no more. We kill them. If they try to kill us, we kill them first. Trikru. The other tribes. No matter who they are. We kill them first." She took note of Monty and Raven's shocked faces, but watched with some relief that they did not object. Raven said quietly, "So, where do you want me to start, Princess?" Clarke couldn't stop a smile, relieved and almost touched at the familiar nickname. She smiled and looked at Monty who nodded, face a sheet of hard anger. She could see his need for vengeance in his eyes. He would help her. He would go to the ends of the Earth to make sure their people were safe. From Grounders and otherwise.
(Down falls the light as they rise from the sea
In comes the night, give your soul, pay your fee
Living a curse, they were born by their sins
Soon life and death will become evil twins)
She ignored the hurt look on Wells's face and focused all her energy on Monty and Raven.
Clarke, knowing what they had to do, began telling her two beloved friends what parts around the mountain to set the bombs up.
Two more hours later, and Clarke and everyone else that needed to, went to the bathroom, with some help needed of course. And Raven and Monty had successfully stationed all the detonators where they were needed after Monty had located the spots where the missiles were being kept inside the mountain and the tunnels. Every last missile that they could find, after Monty zeroed in on them on the computers in the mountain's main control room, had been locked on with a detonator that Monty and Raven had set to blow in two hours. An hour later, Lincoln arrived with Nathan Miller, Pascal, Monroe, Tim, Dax and Diggs.
Clarke ordered Monty and Raven to hold the detonators they had close for when they left the mountain and to set the missiles off.
When Lincoln, Nathan and the others got back, Dax stepped up next to Lincoln, looking at the older man cautiously as he kept his hand on the butt of his gun. "The Ark carts are right in the tunnel. Right outside of the mountain. They're not anywhere the Tree guys can find them." Dax narrowed his eyes in concern. "I don't think. Anyway, the carts are in the tunnels. For when we can load stuff up." Clarke smiled, for once, feeling like they might really be making progress now.
"Okay," She said, controlling her voice to come out softly, but confidently. "Great job, guys. Now let's load everything up. Food. Water. Weapons. Medicine. Everything we can get our hands on that we don't want to blow up or fall into the hands of the Trikru. We take it." A chorus of tired "Rights!" rang through the room and soon people were dispersing. Monty grabbed the walkie-talkies and tossed them to people, telling them to keep them close. Miller brought them to the carts to show them the extra carts they had connected to the back of the carts, showing how much they could load up. Gradually, with Clarke, Nathan Miller, Lincoln and Raven's guidance, they had gone through the mountain and had gathered as much as they could that would fit on all the supplies they could get. Vegetables, plastic water tanks, canned goods, dried fruit, loaves and loaves of bread, bars of chocolate, anything else they could get their hands on. More walkie-talkies, more advanced than their own. Barrels of different medicine, syringes and gauze rolls, stitches, needles, scalpels and other medical tools, medicine and multiple cooler boxes with blood bags if needed. Clarke had inspected most of the blood and had learned after putting the blood through a machine that the Mountain Men had that much of the blood was O-negative. At first, the others hadn't understood why Clarke was so happy to learn that until she explained that O-negative could be given to anyone. She then instructed all the O-negative be taken, along with the rest of the blood.
Coolers filled with mostly O-negative blood that Clarke had marked herself and loads of other blood bags in the coolers. Clarke then had Tim and John help her carry the blood-specifying machine that the Mountain Men had with them out of the mountain, into the tunnels and onto the back of one of the carts.
Soon, all five of the carts and all of the carts connected to the first five carts were filled with food, water tanks, blood coolers, the machine, medicine, medical tools and weapons. That was fifteen trunks of supplies. It if Clarke had estimated it correctly, should last them at least a year if they were lucky. Not that they were ever lucky, but technically it should last them that long. Not that they'd live that long. They went back and grabbed sheets from the beds of the bunks that the Mountain Men had, under Clarke's orders. They were to find their peoples' bodies, wrap them up and bring the bodies with them, burn them. Miller had looked horrified at the thought of burning his dad's body, but Clarke had assured him that that was how Grounders said goodbye to their people. If they wanted to survive here, they had to adapt. And they couldn't leave their people in the mountain. They just couldn't.
Soon Bellamy, Jasper, Octavia, Abby, Kane and several other members of the 100 and the Ark adults were wrapped in sheets and brought to the carts. Lincoln put Octavia's wrapped, bloody corpse on the nearest cart. Clarke and Pascal carried over the wrapped up Abby. Nathan Miller, with a mortified, broken face, carried his dad to the cart, putting the dead man's body next to Octavia's body and Abby's body. The other guards brought over Kane and some of the others. A haunted looking Monty, Coleen, Tim and Derek brought over a covered Bellamy and Jasper.
The remaining covered bodies that wouldn't fit on the cart would be carried by some of the older 100 and the guards.
Monty looked at Clarke from where he stood by the door, his body covered in leather bandoliers, each slot of the bandoliers studded with bullets, his face emotionless as he stared down at the covered, dead young man hanging over the edge of the cart who had been his friend since he was a small child. "Clarke?" The boy called out, making the blonde look at him curiously, "What about the rest of the people we were able to keep at bay? I locked them up."
Clarke thought about that. What did they do with the remaining living Mountain Men that they had captive? Wells shook his head vehemently. "What do you mean what do we do? We're not leaving them here." Clarke turned on her old friend. "And what do we do with them then? We're going to blow up the mountain. That will kill them. If we leave them here, the Trikru will take the mountain and likely torture them to death. Or they'll be thrown out of the mountain and burn to death like all the others. It would be kinder to give them a quick death." Clarke turned to Monty, who she knew from the enraged and bloodthirsty look in his eyes, demanded justice for Bellamy, Nathan, Jasper and Octavia.
Clarke sighed. She had to pacify him in some way. What was it the Trikru said? "Blood must have blood?" They seemed to be okay with murdering people left and right and didn't expect any punishment, so why should they be any different?
"Monty," Clarke said. "Do whatever you want with the remaining Mountain Men. Stick to only killing. Not that I think you'd do this, Monty, but any sexual violence and I'll leave you in here when the mountain blows up."
Monty looked startled by the threat before he glared. "Like I'd do that. I'll make them pay. But nothing like that. Thanks, Clarke." He turned to the door, about to step through, cradling his M27 close, "I'll be right back." He walked through. John Mbege, Coleen and Tim walked over with their own weapons, looking at Clarke for permission. Clarke nodded, resigned. They had to get their anger out somehow. If they didn't, it would be likely that they would explode somewhere along the line. "Do what you need to." She instructed. "But same thing with you like with Monty. No sexual violence or you stay here and die."
Tim, Coleen and Mbege both barked "yes, Clarke" to her and walked past her out the door. She felt Wells's shocked eyes on her and she turned to him, face impassive. "We have to be monsters to survive this world, Wells. To survive the people that will be after us after we get rid of the mountain. We can't let the other Mountain Men come after us for revenge and they'll die anyway. This is as close to a quick death as they'll all get."
Clarke knew at that moment that Monty, Tim, Coleen and Mbege had done what they wanted to do when thousands of blasts of bullets went through the air, and so did dozens of screams. Clarke wished she could cringe when she saw Wells, her sweet, pacifist Wells cover his ears, whimpering.
(Cursing their non-lives
Living a curse is their lot
Life without senses
Seeking escape from this plot)
Clarke looked to Lincoln, wanting to see if he was disgusted by her decision. She was startled to see that he had a passive expression on his face. When he met her gaze, he shrugged. "Klark," He said, "There are no more children left alive and all those that didn't agree with Cage and Dante's decisions are dead. Everyone else was with the decision and would have taken your bone marrow until you were all dead. They terrorized my people for decades. I have no love for them. These people are not innocent. Them being alive would just endanger you. Endanger us."
Clarke nodded, hating that he was right. Even if Lincoln was probably one of the most moralistic people she had met, he was still a warrior and he needed to think like one. She hated what they had been forced to become. What gentle Monty had become. What he was doing now to take revenge. But she supposed they all had her choice to trust the Commander and Anya for that. This was their fault and her own. Once they were out, she would ask them who they wished to put into power. She turned to Raven who had a resigned look on her face. "Rae, how much more time on that detonator?"
Raven looked up from where she was sitting on the hood of one of the carts. She looked down at the panel with the digital numbers on it. "We've got another hour on here." Clarke nodded. "Is there a way of making the missiles go off more quickly? If Monty, Coleen, Tim and John are…..finished and it won't take that long to get out of here, we'd want to blow the mountain up faster." Raven lifted her eyebrows but smirked. Raven chuckled, "You kidding me, princess? I could make this thing sing if I wanted to. Making the mountain go boom sooner won't be a problem at all."
Clarke nodded when she heard footsteps approaching from the hall inside the mountain. "That's good to hear." Soon Monty, Coleen, John and Tim emerged from the mountain, several of the bullets put in their bandoliers were now missing. Clarke was going to assume that all of those bullets were now buried in the bodies of Monty, John and Tim's newest victims. Whatever guilt she felt, was quickly chased away as she reminded herself that it was kill or be killed now. They had no other choice. Clarke looked at everyone, calling out firmly, "Make sure we have everyone with us. We're leaving as soon as we do a roll call. Then we're leaving. And as soon as we're out of the mountain, when we're a few miles away, Rae, Monty, I need you guys to set the missiles off."
(Down falls the light as they rise from the sea
In comes the night, give your soul, pay your fee
Living a curse, they were born by their sins
Soon life and death will become evil twins)
Mechanically and with grimness in their eyes, they all responded as positively as they could. The shadows of demons in their angry eyes as the walked around, making sure they had everyone with them only told Clarke that they had a long way to go before any of them would ever be okay again. They had to do one thing at a time. Get rid of the mountain, and get everyone to safety. As everyone was checking to see if they had everyone, and Tim, Miller, Dax, Diggs and Monroe got into the driver's seats of the carts, Pascal, Harper, Fox and Coleen helped Wells onto one cart, and Raven onto another. Clarke went to Lincoln, eyes meeting his. "Lincoln, what do we do now?"
Lincoln stared at Clarke, hatred that was new to him, hatred of his Heda that had abandoned his homon for dead and in doing so, she had been shot, murdered. As had these people that he had been trying to help. People that he had come to see as his own people. His eyes hardened with anger that startled Clarke. "I will go where you go, Klark. You are my Heda now."
Clarke felt like she could faint from what she just heard. She was his Heda? She was? That was insane. She had gotten Octavia killed. She left Octavia to die in Ton DC. "Lincoln-" The Grounder puffed out his chest, looking proud. "Klark," Lincoln interrupted. "I am your warrior. I will kill any Trikru at your command. You are my people." His intense eyes went to the rest of the astounded survivors. "You are all my people. I don't care what happens. You are all my people. The Commander has disgraced all of us. She has disgraced all of the Trikru. She no longer is worthy to be the Commander."
Clarke stared at Lincoln. Lincoln was too honest to lie. Even if he was speaking out of anger and grief, the conviction in his words and eyes was undeniable. Lincoln, before Clarke could stop him, had kneeled down before her, bowing his head. Clarke gasped. Lincoln answered calmly, "Klark kom Skaikru, I swear my loyalty to you. Now and always, Skai Heda. In this life and in the next." Clarke felt like she couldn't breathe. A Trikru warrior, who had been Trikru all his life had just sworn fealty to her and chose her as his Heda over the one he had served almost his whole life. She felt strange. She wasn't sure she could think solid thoughts for a while.
Until she heard John Mbege snort, "Right, right, very touching and all, but we kind of need to figure out what we're gonna do after this. Where do we go now? What happens the next time those Tree dung bitches try to kill us?" Clarke sighed at John's blunt words and noticed Lincoln look up, his feelings about what John just said, unreadable.
Clarke shook her head. "I don't know, but I know this. It will probably be better if I step down. I'll leave other people in charge."
Hundreds of disbelieving voices yelling "What?" almost made Clarke jump.
Clarke groaned from the high note of the many shocked voices as she felt Lincoln's stare aimed up at her. "I got us into this." Clarke said. "Maybe you would have gotten caught by the Mountain Men anyway, but the reason why you almost died was because I trusted the Commander and Anya. Maybe if I had done something different then this wouldn't have happened. Tim, Harper, Raven, Wells, you four should take over. You're the most responsible. After we're out of here, the four of you can take the lead. I'm not going to endanger you guys any more." She turned her head away from her people, eyes staring angrily at the stones lining the walls.
"No, Clarke." Harper's voice was strong and hard, making the other blonde turn to the smaller, startled. Harper glared at Clarke. "You can't blame yourself for what the Mountain Men did. You're our leader. Since Bell and O aren't…..," Harper looked like she was fighting off tears for a moment as she choked out, "I'll help you lead. All of us will. But you're not stepping down, Clarke. We need you." Clarke, eyes wide, looked at the others for their verdicts.
Lincoln stood up, convinced eyes looking at Clarke with loyalty.
Raven was giving Clarke a similar look. She shook her head, "Princess, you're not giving up that easily. You're the best choice. You're our leader, deal with it." Tim, Monroe, Pascal, Myles, Nathan Miller and the others all voiced their agreement to this, looking at Clarke with a combination of total respect and dark resolve. Clarke straightened her body out a bit, feeling kind of light-headed at hearing and seeing all this, not sure if she should be touched or disturbed by the fact that she was still chosen as their leader. Maybe both. "Alright," She said, accepting their choice, for now anyway, "Thank you. Thank you for trusting me, after all of this." She got a few reassuring smiles from Myles, Monroe, Monty, Coleen, Dax, Diggs and even Wells. A few others nodded. They were all damaged, but not broken yet. Not fully at least.
They'd survive still.
It was then planned that they'd try to get to the Floukru, since Lincoln had told Clarke and the 100 before that Luna's tribe would take them in. Even now, Luna would take them in. And so it was decided. They were headed for the Floukru territory. And if they didn't get there? If the Trikru made it impossible? Then they would kill as many Trikru as they could before they were eventually brutally killed.
Clarke had found bitter laughter in her voice when she heard that. It looked like the Commander and Anya got what they wanted. They were just as bad as the Trikru were now. And they were going to do exactly what they needed to do to get rid of any Trikru or any Grounder that got in their way. They had the weapons for it. Every inch of the forest would be covered in red by the time they were done.
"Do we have everyone?" Clarke called out, looking at these people, her people, her family. There was a series of people looking around and as soon as they were sure they had everyone, they turned back to Clarke and responded verbally or nodded. Clarke forced a smile. She turned to Lincoln. "Lead on, Lincoln."
The dark-skinned Grounder nodded and he looked up one last time, agonized and Clarke shuddered, knowing that he was looking at Octavia's wrapped up body. He turned around then and began walking swiftly down the tunnel, with Clarke at his back. Gradually all of the others followed, the sounds of the vehicles carrying all the supplies and their peoples' bodies wrapped up following.
An hour later, Mount Weather was blown to bits, and all of the living Sky People and Lincoln went missing, with their supplies.
(Down falls the light as they rise from the sea
In comes the night, give your soul, pay your fee
Living a curse, they were born by their sins
Soon life and death will become evil twins!)
Note
The 100 still alive: Clarke, Myles, Monty, Dax, Derek, Monroe, Wells, Fox, Harper, Tim, Diggs, Coleen, and so on.
This story is loosely based on Xandria's song "Cursed."