Thank you for the amazing words of encouragement that I found myself getting after I posted the first chapter of this fic!

I decided to continue with this and try to divide the chapters by a topic or a motive. Let's start with another flashback – Clarke being around twelve and almost failing one of her classes. This is part one and I will post the second part in a couple of days (weeks? – hopefully not!)

Reviews are always much appreciated!

-s.

Guidance – part one

Clarke was lazying around their family quarters – with a reading assignment in her hands that she wasn't even following properly – when the main door opened and two men joined her in the small living room.

"Hey, kiddo."

Clarke smiled upon hearing her dad's greeting. He smile turned to a scoff, though, when the man proceeded to ruffle her hair.

"Get away!" she shrieked trying to avoid her dad's hands and slapping his hands away. Her dad laughed but obediently took his hands away.

He then gestured to the second man – who was still stain ding in the doorway, if a bit stiffly – to wait a moment, before disappearing in the depths of his and her mom's bedroom.

Clarke grinned and waved at Kane. The man grunted uncomfortably.

"Mom's not here," Clarke threw with a shrug of her shoulder.

She then turned back to her book, but in the corner of her eye, she could see Kane's shoulders relax visibly. Seconds later, the man stepped deeper into the room towards her.

It was ridiculous to watch, really, Clarke mused with another roll of her eyes.

From since she could remember, Marcus Kane and her mom were not friendly. It wasn't a secret. Far from it, if they were being honest, but even as a kid, Clarke with real difficulty watched Kane flinch every time her mom's name was being mentioned in a conversation or she appeared in the same room.

Clarke had no idea what happened between them, but it was still funny to observe. And taking into account Kane's and her dad's friendship, such situations happened a lot.

Kane and her dad grew up together on the Mecha station. Her dad once told Clarke, that Kane and her mom had met even before her parents started dating each other. Needless to say, the first impression that they had left on each other must've not been of the pleasant kind.

Kane and her dad became friends when they were both little boys and even their different life paths – her dad starting apprenticeship with engineering and Kane joining the Guard – wouldn't keep them apart. Even her mom had no power over it, apparently.

"What are you reading?" Kane's voice brought Clarke back to reality. She blinked several times. Kane was sitting in a chair at a nearby desk. Clarke threw the book into Kane's hands.

"Some boring stuff for school," she yawned to highlight her point.

As predicted, Kane caught the bait and silently opened the book on the marked chapter. She saw the corner of his lips lifts ever so slightly and in that moment she knew that she would get what she wanted – a free, ready to hand homework.

It wasn't that Clarke wasn't a good student. She was – as much as it made her parents proud – but ethics wasn't something she was especially fond of or interested in in general. She only took the class because it was apparently required for someone in order to get a shot at apprenticeship with Medical and become a doctor, like her mom.

She didn't need to know the solution to every ethical riddle that the teacher was throwing at them in the class, though. She only needed to pass the course, not use the ethical crap. They had the Council and the Guard to decide what was best and bad for the Ark. Clarke trusted her mom and Kane enough to entrust hers – theirs – safety into their hands.

Six years later – when she would be send to the ground along with a hundred other delinquents – Clarke felt like a complete idiot thinking back to her twelve-year-old self and that belief.

"The trolley problem, huh?" Kane mused. "That's actually very interesting."

Clarke shrugged. She would much better be spending the afternoon with Wells.

"We have to present our solution and justify it," she explained with a roll of her eye. "But it stupid."

"How so?" Kane's voice seemed full of polite curiosity.

"Because," Clarke scoffed, crossing her arms. "How am I supposed to know what I'd do if I've never been in such situation myself. We don't even have a troll on the station."

"Trolley, kiddo," her dad corrected her with a chuckle. "And I'm pretty sure we'd find a couple of trolls on the Ark, though."

Clarke laughed at her dad's joke but Kane was still serious.

"It isn't about a literal trolley, Clarke," he explained using his "teacher voice" on her. Clarke swallowed a groan hearing it. "It's a metaphor about making an impossible choice; choosing the lesser evil."

Clarke opened her mouth to response with another quip, but her dad interrupted her.

"Sorry, kid," he kissed the top of her head. "But I need to steal Kane away. Will you be fine on your own until mom comes back from the medical?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

Kane stood up from his seat and stepped towards her to place her textbook on her lap.

"Read it again and let me know what your conclusion was," he instructed her with a point glance that stopped her from rolling her eyes and groaning again.

Clarke watched the two men leave. Once she was alone again, she threw the textbook another hateful glare. She looked behind her at the closed door and let out another loud sigh.

When an hour later her mother came back home, with her nose buried in her own stack of documents, Clarke only threw a brief look and a short "hello" at the woman before returning her full attention to the book.

It was almost a déjà vu moment for Clarke when three days later her homework was interrupted by her dad and Kane entrance. This time, though, Kane was fast to approach the same chair he used before and pull in up to take a seat directly in front of her. Clarke lifted her gaze from the biology textbook she was reading and raised her eyebrows at the man's behaviour.

Dad must've told him that mom was getting home later that night because of another flu outbreak, Clarke mused before returning to her lecture. But Kane's eyes were still glued to her and suddenly something clicked inside Clarke's head.

She felt her cheeks redden and she opened her mouth – only to close it almost immediately and rush into her dad's side, poking him hard into his chest with all the ferocity she could muster in her tiny frame.

"You told him!" she hissed, her voice thick with sense of betrayal.

Her dad responded by raising his eyebrows.

"Told who what, Clarke?" he asked feigning ignorance, which infuriated Clarke even more.

"You told Kane that I failed my moral ethics assignment!"

"Hey," Clarke's dad tsked. "What did we say about talking about someone in their presence? Besides, I thought that you don't need a good grade at ethics, remember?"

Clarke thought that her face couldn't get any more pink. She pursed her lips into a thin line – gesture that she picked up from her mom – and stormed into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her with a loud thud.

Ethics was stupid. It was also needless – she knew how to tell right from wrong on her own and any over-elaborated theory wasn't going to help her with that or change her life in any way, which is why she told her dad about it and wasn't necessarily concerned about her non-passing grade.

But, she thought as she threw herself on her bed with an angry growl – it was one thing to tell her parent. Having it announced to another person – Kane – was something completely different. Maybe it was her mom's words and attitude rubbing off on her, but Clarke wasn't going to sit down and let Marcus Kane think that she was a failure. She will show them all that Clarke Griffin was better than some petty troll theories.

With a solid resolve, Clarke grabbed her ethics textbook and turned it to the chapter on the recent assignment.

It was easier said than done, unfortunately. Clarke groaned and slumped her head onto the pages of the book, completely devoid of strength, an hour later. Regardless of how many times he read the problem and its possible versions, she couldn't find the correct answer.

In the meantime, she could hear a hum of a football game relation and two muffled voices coming from the Griffins' livingroom. She knew that all it would take was getting out and asking for help.

Not that she would ever, Clarke chastised herself silently.

And so she went on, analysing, evaluating, considering and redoing all her arguments over and over, and – finally – she was almost certain that she was right this time.

Until she wasn't.

But this time she bravely fought the urge to kick something. Somewhere along the way, solving the riddle became more than proving a certain point – a point that she was unable to name anymore, anyway.

It wasn't even about showing her dad and Kane that she could do it on her own.

Now, it was purely about solving the riddle itself. And she was almost ready to admit defeat.

Her dad's and Kane's voices were still present in the next room, the football game was also still on, which meant that Kane wasn't going home yet.

Jumping to her feet, Clarke shut her book an run out of her bedroom. Her sudden appearance must've surprised Kane, but not her dad who only glanced at Clarke with a knowing smirk and grabbed his data pad that was sitting on a table next to him.

Clarke cleared her throat and slowly approached sofa occupied by the two men.

"Daddy," Clarke forced a polite smile. "Could I borrow Councillor Kane for a bit, please?"

A minute later Clarke and Kane settled down at her dad's desk. Kane was still silent, watching her with clear expectation in his gaze, which made Clarke roll her eyes. Of course, he was waiting her out.

She folded her arms and declared, "I give up. Tell me the correct answer."

Much to her dismay, Kane shook his head and mimicked her posture and body language by leaning away and crossing his own arms on his chest.

Finally, he revealed: "There is no 'correct answer' to this question, Clarke." Clarke swore her jaw hit the metal floor, when she realised what he was implying. Once the thought settled inside her head, Clarke was hit by a wave of anger and flooded by the sense of injustice.

"What?" she threw out of herself, dumbfounded.

"There isn't a correct…"

"Then why the hell was I failed on my homework?!"

"Clarke, language!" her dad – who was shamelessly eavesdropping on them – scolded her, but not without a tinge of amusement in his voice. Kane, on the other hand, didn't even try to hide his laughter.

"I told you that ethics was stupid," Clarke hissed with a dismayed grimace, her previous resolve flowing out of her. "I already regret taking up this stupid elective."

She stood up but stopped when she felt Kane grab her hand.

"No, wait," Kane stopped laughing and she appreciated how he schooled his expression into seriousness once more. "Philosophy and ethics are amazing subjects," he nodded encouragingly. "And it's very useful, even though you can't see it just yet."

She responded with a glare.

Kane's expression turned into stone again as he let go off her hand.

"And here I thought that you were more than capable of taking the class," he shrugged. "Apparently, I was mistaken. Maybe it's best you took the class when you are…" he was looking for a good word, but Clarke interrupted.

"What – smarter?" she threw. "Because let me assure you that I am very smart."

"And also very young," the man looked at her pointedly.

"I'm almost thirteen," Clarke reminded Kane coldly.

"Really, because you're behaving like you're in a kindergarten still," Kane was merciless. "Are you going to storm out again, or yell at us every time you're not right? Wait, let me go grab my earplugs because I have a feeling you're going to do a lot of yelling. You are so much like Abby that…"

"Stop it!" Clarke stamped her feet. "I'm not my mom!"

Clarke scoffed at the ridiculous thought. She loved her mom, but there was no way she was that similar to the woman. But what stung her most was being compared to her by Marcus Kane, the man who disliked her mother so much.

Asking herself – not for the first time that day – why she was so dependent on Kane's approval, Clarke couldn't find one good answer, until she heard the words left the man's lips.

Clarke had made certain plans for her future and being treated like a kid all the time was standing in the way of achieving these goals. She wanted to start apprenticeship with the Medical and her mom and her goal was to become the youngest student in Ark's history. But her mom wouldn't hear her out, regardless of how many times Clarke tried to breach the subject, saying that she still had time to decide about her future. Which translated loosely into 'you have no idea what you are doing, kid' in her mom's language.

If she could gain Kane's respect, have someone like Kane treat her like an adult, then maybe her parents would, too, stop treating her like a child.

Biting her lip, Clarke moved back to her seat and put her textbook back on the table, pushing it towards Kane.

"Okay, let's do this," she took a deep breath and smiled a bit when Kane nodded with appreciation. "Let's start from the top," he instructed.

Clarke gasped when Kane wordlessly shut her book closed and bluntly tossed it aside. He was the one to teach her to always follow the instructions – how did he want to get to work without the book containing those?

"We don't need that," he explained. "The book would restrict your thought process."

Clarke nodded, pretending to know what he meant.

"Now," the man continued simply. "You are watching a trolley coming down the track. On its way there are five construction workers, who are unaware of the danger and will be soon killed. On the other hand, you can divert the course of the trolley to another track with only one person that would get hit by the machine."

Clarke was nodding automatically – she knew the problem by heart by now.

"Question – what do you do?"

"Simple," Clarke shrugged. "I switch the track."

"Why?"

"Because it's always better to save five lives instead of only one."

"Always?"

"Yes."

Much to Clarke's satisfaction, Kane nodded in agreement. He shifted on his chair and Clarke knew what that serious stance meant immediately. She braced herself for another salve of questions.

"What if one of the five was a criminal who killed tens of people?"

"I still believe that killing four innocent people to save one life is wrong," Clarke answered with confidence.

Kane smiled which made Clarke's shoulders relax a bit more.

"What would you do?" she asked and Kane was quick to answer: "Sacrifice one, then catch the bad guy."

Kane then proceeded to grill Clarke with more questions, developing situations and introducing more people to the equation. Soon enough Clarke began to enjoy the game and stumbled only once or twice before stating her suggestion of solving the case. She would also ask Kane about his choices and was pleasantly surprised to find out that he agreed with her on many times.

That was until Kane started to go deeper and deeper that Clarke's smiled gradually was turning into a frown.

"Imagine now that either of the five people on the first track were terminally ill," Kane prompted. "And saving them would only postpone the inevitable? Would you still save them?"

"I think I would…" Clarke hesitated. "It would be better to save one person for good."

"Even if the families of the five dead people would never understand?"

Clarke shook her head.

"But they would suffer eventually," she argued.

"Yes, and what if there might be someone able to cure them?"

"In that case, I'd rather save them," Clarke mitigated quickly. "But only if the chances of saving them were good enough."

Kane smiled. "Define 'good enough'."

Clarke hesitated – again. "Like – eighty percent?"

"I'm sure Abby would be willing to take the risk even with less than fifty percent," the man noted with something akin to fondness to his tone. "Would you call her decision wrong and yours good?"

"No," Clarke's voice faltered. "She has more experience, so it's obvious that she would be able to work with less."

Kane chucked suddenly. Clarke groaned and let her head drop onto the top of her hands on the table.

But apparently, Kane wasn't close to ending the discussion. He cleared his throat and asked if she was ready for another shot. Not seeing her way out of it, Clarke nodded her head in agreement.

"Ok, that would be last one," he announced much to her relief. "Tell me what would you do if you knew the one person on the second track?"

It was the first time that he addressed the topic, so Clarke instantly felt her blood rush in uncomfortable anticipation.

"Depends. How close am I with this person?" she asked hesitantly.

Kane thought for a second.

"Let's say Jake or Abby?"

"I…" Clarke stumbled on her words, not expecting that option to appear. "I think I would…"

"Stop thinking about the ideal situation," Kane prompted out of the blue. "Tell me what you would do?"

Clarke swallowed. Even though her voice was low, she made sure that the tone didn't leave Kane with doubt:

"I would save mom or dad. Always."

"You do remember that at the beginning you told me that saving five over one was always better?"

Clarke froze when she realised that he was right. She turned her head to look at her dad, but the man was nowhere to be seen, so she assumed that he must've gone to his and mom's room.

"You are twisting my words," Clarke narrowed her eyes with poorly hidden annoyance.

"No," contrarily, Kane's tone screamed calmness.

"So, what would you do if it was dad?" Clarke asked trying to avert the attention from her.

"Sacrificing one life is always better than five."

Clarke froze when she realised what the words were indicating. She bit her bottom lip and tried not to think about the fact that the man in front of her would be willing to kill his best friend, her dad, if the situation forced him to do that. Even though Clarke could understand where this choice was coming from, she was still a bit mad at him for thinking that way.

"Let's hope that we never have to prove that theory in practice," Kane's voice brought her back to reality and the girl found herself nodding in silence.

However, she also started to see what Kane meant at the beginning, when he told her that finding one correct solution to the problem wasn't possible. Her mind wasn't fully comfortable with this idea – she was used to maths and science, where finding a correct answer was the ultimate goal, something essential to learn and develop. What she encountered wasn't sitting well with, but – well – maybe taking a break from her usual way of thinking would be a relief from time to time.

"I get it," she declared suddenly. "We could sit here and argue forever and there would always be something more to add, to take into account and someone else's opinion to consider…"

"Which is why there is no one good answer," Kane finished for her, triumphally.

"I'm home!"

Startles, both Clarke and Kane jumped in their seats when her mom came in. seconds later, Clarke smiled and waved at the woman, who froze for a slight moment when she noticed the man sitting beside the girl.

"Kane," her mom greeted the man curtly.

"Anny," Kane spoke back, mimicking the stiff tone of her voice.

Clarke feigned ignorance as Abby kissed the top of her head. But just as her mom was about to leave the two of them and greet Clarke's dad, she seemed to notice notes that Clarke made during her impromptu ethics lecture.

"What is this?" Abby looked between the pair, ignoring Clarke's poor attempt to hide the piece of paper. The woman's expression turned icy when she realised what she's looking at. "Clarke, go to your room." Clarke tried to protest, but her mom cut her short: "Now."

Letting out a heavy breath, Clarke silently gathered her stuff. She only managed to exchange a quick look with Kane, who looked bored at most. Nevertheless, she mouthed 'sorry' to him and obediently moved towards her room. Feeling her mom's glare on the back of her head, Clarke sped up and slowed down only when the door to her room shut close behind her back.

Only after listening to ten minutes-long argument between her mom's and Kane's hushed voices, did Clarke dare to approach the door and open it again. Kane was gone and her mom was sitting with her dad on the sofa.

"he was helping Clarke with this ethic homework," her dad was explaining her mom patiently, but not without a hint of amusement in the tone of his voice. "The same she failed and you told her to pass if she ever wanted to become your apprentice."

Clarke swallowed a giggle, when she saw her mom's dumbfounded expression painted all over her face.