I've always had a vivid memory. Moments refuse to leave my mind, ingrained into every fibre that makes up the person that I am. It's a blessing for when I misplace something, but it's a curse when you can't escape the image of your brother being dragged kicking and screaming away from you by people in strange yellow suits. The Mountain Men. They took my brother, and he never came home. There's no real proof that he's dead, but there isn't much hope that he's alive.

I was eight when my brother was taken. I was nineteen when they came back and took me too.

I'd been in the Mountain for around two months when Bellamy was shoved into the cage next to mine. I was near dead, and could barely move. Grounders don't last long in the Mountain, used for their blood in an attempt to make the Mountain Men able to step out of their fortress home. I'd heard them talking, and it turns out that Grounder blood only worked for a few minutes. Good, I thought to myself, let this all be futile so you can never leave this place.

I had a best friend. She's the Commander. I tried not to believe that she would leave me there to die, but after about a month I realised that she really wasn't coming. She was actually going to let me die.

I couldn't open my eyes, and I certainly couldn't manage to move. I heard my cage door swing open and some muttering between people, and then their footsteps fell away from me. Had everyone been released? It was too confusing to even comprehend, why would the Mountain release the Grounders? Unless they'd finally found a way to become immune to the radiation outside and it didn't involve us or our blood.

I grunted, but I could sense it was to an empty room. Typical, that my chance to escape had been thwarted by the fact that yet again, something was stopping me. I'd never been lucky, and now wasn't going to be the moment that my luck changed.

I must've laid there for nearly an hour when I finally heard footsteps again, and then a cry of pain that sounded female. Sobs followed, and I couldn't understand. I slowly managed to open an eye to see Bellamy's face in front of mine.

"Clio, are you okay? Where is everyone?"

I tried to open my mouth to speak but no sound came out. He looked worried, the hard lines of his face creased in worry as he snaked an arm around me and carefully lifted me out of the cage.

"Monty, can you find her some clothes?" He asked quietly as I drifted in and out of consciousness in his arms. I was set down on the floor lightly and minutes later a piece of Mountain Men clothing was pulled over my head and engulfed my emaciated frame. I'd barely eaten in months, and I'd lost any muscle my already skinny body had ever had. I was a skeleton, a shadow of the strong self I had been before. I'd been a warrior, I'd trained alongside Lexa as a child, being prepared in case the spirit of Commander chose me, but it chose Lexa and part of me thinks now that the belief that the spirit chooses wisely is simply a load of crap.

"Do you think you can stand?" The boy that must've been named Monty asked me, crouched down in front of me.

I wanted to shake my head at him, and tell him that I wasn't sure I'd make it out of here alive. But then I reminded myself, I am Clio kom Trikru. My people believed I had a chance of being the next Commander, that makes me strong. I will not die in this Mountain.

When I opened my mouth I realised just how dry it was and almost choked on the words that followed, "I might need some help," He offered me a small smile, but he couldn't hide the worry on his face.

"We need to meet Octavia at the intake door, come on we'll take an arm each Monty." They helped me up and it would've been a lie to say that I was holding myself up, bearing all my weight on the pair of them. When we stood, I could finally see where the sobs had come from. A girl, cradling the head of a dead man. Another boy crouched behind her with his arms around her shoulders as she sobbed softly, having quietened with time.

"Jasper, Maya, come on we need to move." Bellamy was doing his best to be sympathetic, but the urgency in his tone was certainly felt by all of us, regardless of his attempt to mask it.

The walk to the intake door was painful, and even with the support of two people I almost collapsed more times than I honestly care to admit. I was so unfit having lived in a cage for two months, so weak from the lack of nutrition that a simple walk almost defeated me. It made me feel pathetic, and empty. The Mountain had taken who I had been from me.

When the door opened, we were greeted by a girl with dark hair and grounder braids. She didn't look like anyone I knew, and she looked like Trikru. "Bellamy!" She breathed in relief, reaching her hand out to touch his face. I sensed then, that this was his sister. Her features broke out into a wide smile at Monty and the other boy, "I knew it," She laughed, prodding Monty's side and grabbing hold of the other boy, Jasper's cheek lightly, "You two are too scrawny to kill." Bellamy's sister looked a little confused at the the Mountain girl we'd brought with us, in her Haz-mat suit and then her smile dropped and as she tried to make sense of me.

"It's alright, they're both with us." Jasper said reassuringly.

"Octavia, help hold Clio up will you?" Bellamy asked and passed me onto her, heading over to the blonde that had been hovering behind looking like she was going to burst into tears. I didn't hear the conversation that went on between the two of them, but they seemed like they were sharing the command of this strange little adventure that seemed to be going on.

Bellamy turned back to us, "We need to talk to Dante."

"Maya says he's in Quarantine." Jasper answered, and he and Monty rushed over to the blonde and hugged her, calling her "Clarke!"

I looked to Octavia and felt my brow furrow, why did she look like a grounder if she was Bellamy's sister. "Trikru?" I asked her, trying not to waste my energy by constructing anything but simple sentences. She shook her head lightly at me and seemed a little upset by my question.

"I don't even know what I am anymore." Was her response, and she looked to the floor. I decided not to press it any further.

We were interrupted by a beeping noise, and everyone turned to look at Maya. Jasper rushed back to her and looked at some device at her hip, "Eight minutes - we just changed it, that can't be right. Ah shhh-" He turned to look at Bellamy and seemed panicked, "This is our last tank."

"Um, well we'll find you another one." Clarke said, walking over to Maya and Jasper.

"All the supplies of oxygen are on level five." Maya replied, biting on her lip worriedly.

"Then we'll get you to level five." I was starting to like this Clarke, she was my kind of person - there was no doubt in her voice, she would do whatever it took.

"Five isn't safe for any of us." Maya said simply.

"We'll take the trash chute together, it'll work." Jasper seemed desperate now, his panic practically radiating from him.

"And get in maybe, Maya's right - every soldier in this mountain is there, we'll never make it out." Bellamy took few steps closer to Jasper and Maya, ever the pragmatic voice it seemed.

"We can do this, we'll split up." Honestly, at the moment I thought if anyone tries to stop this Jasper kid again he's just going to lose it.

"Ok, you guys go for Dante." Octavia nodded her head at Clarke, Bellamy, Monty and I. "We'll help Maya." She passed me back over to Bellamy, but I was beginning to feel as though I could make it on my own but I didn't feel like risking it. Octavia then pulled the sword from it's sheath across her back and set off through the intake door, with Jasper and Maya in tow.

The name Dante struck a cord with me, and I couldn't quite place why. "Dante? Who's that?" I asked, cringing at how husky my voice sounded, it almost didn't feel like it belonged to me anymore.

"The former President of the Mountain." Clarke answered simply as she stepped through the door and into the Mountain, followed by Bellamy and I and then Monty.

Dante had been quarantined from the rest of his people, in a big white room so bright it hurt my eyes. He'd hung up painting upon painting, beautiful pieces of artwork that I had no doubt were from before the world was ripped apart by the nuclear apocalypse.

Upon our arrival into his room, Dante was much older than I'd expected, and he appeared shocked to see us. He seemed weathered by his career as President, or maybe that was my delirious imagination from malnutrition and exhaustion.

"Hello Clarke." He said, keeping his voice even as though to mask his surprise.

"Sir, we need your help again." If I'd had the energy, I would've elbowed Bellamy in the ribs for being polite to the former President of the Mountain Men. Did he not realise what a monster this man must be to order for grounders to be used like objects for their blood.

"It's okay," Monty said, stepping forward a little, "I took out the camera from the junction box in the hall, we can talk freely."

"No-one's watching anyway, thanks to you they're all on level five." I couldn't quite detect what it was hiding there in Dante's tone - anger, admiration, or just disgust.

"You're not." Clarke didn't seem interested in chit-chat with this old fella.

"No, I'm not."

"Please, we don't have much time. We need a way to get out of this mountain without killing everyone." Bellamy's pragmatism was beginning to irritate me, how could be behave so respectably around a person like Dante. The man radiated 'do not trust me', he may as well have had it written across his forehead.

Clarke clearly realised that too, as she sighed and took a step back, "He's not going to help us."

"You cut the power, risking the lives of everyone in this mountain. My people, even the ones who helped you."

Suddenly I felt a surge of rage through my weak body, and managed to emit a low growl at Dante. "What makes you think your people are worth saving?" I spat at him, thanking my husky voice for making me sound stronger than I felt.

Bellamy turned to me and frowned, "Clio, be quiet. He's our only hope to get out of this." I narrowed my eyes at Bellamy and huffed, I would not be nice to this old monster.

"We knew your people would be safe on level five, we made sure not to destroy the turbines so you could repair them. We're the good guys here, not you!" Clarke's temper was rising, and I couldn't hide that it was pleasing me to not be the only one seeing this man for what he was.

"Tell me," Dante began, "If we released your people and theirs," He signalled his head towards me, "What would've happened to mine?" It was a pretty logical and fair question, there wouldn't have been much hope for the Mountain men against an alliance of Grounders and Sky people, purely because that their fortress couldn't hold forever.

Clarke had clearly had enough of talking to Dante, and was taking matters into her own hands as she turned to Monty, "Can you get us into the command center? We need to see what's happening on level five."

"No problem." Monty replied with a small smile. Bellamy then transferred me to Clarke who slung her arm around me and offered the smallest of smiles at me although I could feel her dislike, she wasn't very good at hiding it.

"Let's go," Bellamy grabbed hold of Dante's arm and began dragging him out of the room, "You're gonna help us whether you like it or not."

Screens all around us began lighting up, and I watched a small smirk appear over Monty's features. "The command center's live." He said, managing to hide his smirk from seeping into his tone.

We all scanned the screens, and when Clarke's eyes fell on the screen showing her people handcuffed to walls she exhaled loudly and I felt her fear before it even showed on her face, "Oh my God." She said as she settled me down on a chair.

"Is that Raven?" Bellamy's panic was obvious. I had no allegiance to the Sky people, but this was much worse than having your blood circulated around a mountain man, they were drilling into the skin of the Sky people, taking something from inside their bones.

"Mom," Clarke had been scanning the faces of her people and come across her mother, and I couldn't imagine what she was feeling. The only feeling I knew now was rage.

"Tell them to stop, now." She demanded, turning to pick up a radio device and holding it out to Dante who was still in Bellamy's grip.

"I won't do that." Dante's defiance was almost enough to give me the strength to stand just so I could tackle him to the ground, but my body was betraying me, forbidding me to move.

"Emerson," Clarke spotted a man she recognised, and pressed a button on the device, holding it up to her mouth, "Carl Emerson, Mount Weather security detail come in." She released the button, and then Emerson's voice came through.

"Who is this?"

"You know who it is, get the radio to the President."

"They're moving," I said, watching Emerson begin to walk.

"Not a problem," Monty began pressing buttons, clicking away at the technology that was quite frankly leaving me baffled. "I'll bring it on the main monitor," a second later the largest screen in the room lit up, following Emerson as he moved into the room full of Mountain dwellers. He passed the radio to a man with dark hair, wearing a suit of those strange Mountain men clothes.

"This is President Wallace." His voice came through the device in Clarke's hand.

"I have your father, if you don't let my people go I'll kill him." I almost had to stop myself from laughing at how blunt she was, it was obvious what a desperate situation this was but I had no idea that the Sky people had it in them to be so savage - so Grounder-like.

"How do I know you have him?" President Wallace asked.

Clarke held out the device to Dante and held the button down for him to speak, "Stay the course, Cage." He told his son, defiant as ever.

"You won't do it." Cage stated, but he couldn't see the look in Clarke's eyes. I had no doubts she would do it, I could tell she didn't want to, but she was on the verge of losing her mind if she were to lose her people and only an idiot would've doubted how desperate she was to save them. She cleared her throat, and took a deep breath.

"You don't know me very well. This ends now, release my people." She demanded, her voice cracking a little with the strain of the pressure this was putting on her.

"I can't do that."

"It would mean the end of our people, Clarke." Dante interjected.

I cast a look over at Monty who looked horribly scared at what was going on, and what would be about to happen before our eyes. My attention was then caught by Clarke who pulled a gun from her hip and aimed it at Dante. Bellamy dropped Dante's arm and shot to the side, out of Clarke's aim. Monty stood from his chair and I pushed mine back away from her.

"Clarke… we need him." Bellamy was trying to reason with her, but I could see he was wasting his time.

"And I need his son to believe me." She held down the button on the radio, "Don't make me do this."

I turned to the monitor and watched Cage take a deep breath, "Dad, I'll take care of our people."

"None of us has a choice here Clarke," Dante said, but it was obvious in his eyes that he knew what was to come.

"I didn't want this." She said, tears filling her eyes.

"Neither did I." Dante's final words felt a little meaningless knowing the kind of things that he had sanctioned his people to do to mine, but none of it mattered when Clarke pulled the trigger and he slowly dropped to the floor.

Clarke swallowed before she spoke again, holding the radio up to her lips. "Listen to me carefully, I will not stop until my people are free. If you do not let my people go I will irradiate level five. Cage listen to me, I don't want anyone else to die. Stop the drilling, and we can talk. There must be a way we can all get out of this."

Cage didn't respond on the radio, and his expression was hard. He said something to Emerson, and then Emerson walked off. This wasn't a man who was about to be terrorised in his own home without a fight.

"Emerson's coming for us." Clarke said, seeming a little anxious.

"They deactivated my keycard, can you do that to his?" Bellamy asked, turning to Monty and resting his hands on top of the control board.

"That one's easy," Monty chimed as he set to work pressing buttons again.

"Hey, where's he going?" I asked, pointing to the monitor showing Cage stomping off somewhere else, away from his people in the dining room of level five.

Clarke and Bellamy cast a look at each other and then all attention was cast to Monty, "Monty, can you do it, can you irradiate level five?"
"I can do it." The reluctance could've been felt a mile away.

"Clarke we need to think about this," Bellamy closed the distance between himself and Clarke, looking her in the eyes. "There are kids in there."

"I know." Her tone was hard, irritated. Didn't he realise that none of this was easy for anyone? Frankly, I wouldn't have hesitated myself because I'd never forgive the Mountain for everything it had done to me - taken my brother, and now managed to take me away from myself.

"People who helped us," He seemed to be pleading with her, but what other choice was there?

"Then please, give me a better idea." She snapped back at him, and he had nothing to offer as his gaze fell to the ground in defeat.

On the monitor, Cage was pointing to a woman chained up to the wall and signalling to have her moved onto the table where they had been drilling into the girl Bellamy had called 'Raven'. Clarke's eyes widened, and she whispered, "What have I done?" I realised then, that the woman was her mother.

"Clarke, if we do this there is no going back." Bellamy was trying his hardest to think of any other option, I could almost see his brain working through his expression.

"Do it." I finally said. "Like Dante said, none of us have a choice here. Save your people, or watch them die."

Clarke nodded, and looked to Monty, "Figure it out."

I had always been a bitter sort of person, holding onto grudges like there was no tomorrow. It had always made Lexa and Costia laugh at me, they called me a bitter little elf. I've always been small in stature, but I made up for it in being unpredictable in a fight, adaptable and never really sticking to any one strategy. Whatever it took to win. To say that Lexa was virtually unbeatable wouldn't be a lie, but I had her on the ground with a sword to her throat more times than she would ever admit to anyone. She'd underestimate me, and so did everyone else. But I guess I burned my track record down to the ground when I was captured by the Mountain.

I couldn't hide the smirk from my face at the fact that these Sky people were really going to do it, they were going to erase the Mountain men from existence. I couldn't wait. These people had taken enough from me and my people, it was their turn to suffer.

"No!" Bellamy cried, catching my attention and I followed his gaze to the monitor where his sister and the other two had been spotted by two of the Mountain people. He needn't have bothered crying out in concern though as I watched Octavia handle her own, throwing her sword expertly straight into the chest of a guard, whilst sliding in to knock out the ankle of the other, giving her the time to retrieve her blade and slash it across his throat.

"Impressive," I breathed, "Guess you Sky people aren't all completely useless with a real weapon." Now probably wasn't the time to insult them, but the words slipped out before I could stop them. It was refreshing to see that they didn't all have to hide behind guns and technology.

"They've gotta get out of there." Bellamy said, ignoring my comment. Then there was a loud bang at the door, causing all four of us to turn our heads in its direction.

"He's here." Clarke looked to each of us in turn, her eyes widened in panic that she wasn't doing a very good job of hiding.

"Jasper - they caught him," Monty then stopped pressing buttons on the keypad in front of him and stared at it for a brief moment before Clarke barked at him.

"Why are you stopping?!"

"Because I did it, all we have to do is pull this," He signalled at a lever in front of him, "Hatches and vents will open and the scrubbers will reverse, pulling in outside air."

The world felt like it was spinning at a million miles an hour, and as much as I wanted the Mountain Men dead for what they have been doing to my people for far too long, with no other choice and the knowledge that they were about to be erased from existence, I started to feel like I would vomit. Maybe it was just the malnutrition.

"He's gonna blow the door," Bellamy informed us, holding out his gun and aiming it at the door where Emerson was doing his best to get to us.

"Clarke! You're out of time, do it." I shouted, I didn't spend two months in a cage to find myself killed by one lousy Mountain man because I wasn't at fighting strength.

Bellamy looked to the screen where Octavia was now surrounded by guards, and mumbled to himself before he crossed over to where Clarke had put her hand over the lever.

"I have to save them," She choked out, her eyes filled with tears.

"Together," He said softly, looking at her with a sad glaze over his expression.

Slowly, the lever moved with their hands and we could hear the reversal of the ventilation system, and then it started. The Mountain Men started to die.

I felt liberated. There was an ounce of guilt in me because my escape relied on their deaths, but I couldn't say that I cared all that much to have even considered another option if there had been one. The people of Mount Weather were weak, if they couldn't survive the radiation it was only a matter of time before they died off anyway. All I could think about was the fact that I wasn't going to die in that godforsaken place. I was free. But where did I have left to go with all that freedom?

"Let's go get our people."

But who are my people now?

A/N: Hello lovelies! So, Clio came to me on a whim and within about five minutes I fell in love with her. Thank you for reading this first chapter, the next chapter will start after the three month time jump between s2 and s3, I just wanted to start with how Clio escaped Mount Weather for background purposes etc. The usual stuff applies, please review if you can and head over to my tumblr wild-stdreams for edits etc! xo