Chapter Two

Clarke's heart hurt, it felt heavy, it felt like Lexa had stepped on it, then had set it on fire. The shock still coursing through her veins, coupled with the pain in her heart, made for a miserable moment in her life. She couldn't believe that not forty minutes ago, Lexa had made a deal to free the trapped Grounders and leave the still living 44 of the 100 to die in the cold, cruel Mountain that she was currently walking away from. She was not happy, no, she was angry.

No, she wasn't angry.

She was damn furious.

At Lexa.

At the world.

At everyone, even the Grounders guarding her as they walked away.

Clarke's upper lip curled into a slight snarl, having never mastered such a feral expression like Lexa had so many years before. She would not walk away while her people, her friends were trapped within that damn, cursed place. This war was not over, not this quickly, not without a fight.

So Clarke excused herself, saying she needed to use the bathroom. The Grounders turned away respectfully, standing a good eight meters from Clarke so it would be difficult to hear her at all. Taking one of the many water skins from her pack, Clarke fastened it to a low hanging branch, where she found a black scale, hard as a rock yet ever-smooth against her palm. Stuck it in her jacket pocket before unstopping the plug on the water skin, letting the water trickle out as though she were using the bathroom while in actuality, she was running out of the forest onto a barely defined path, outlined in almost completely dead logs that had to be years old, probably set down when she was a young child, up there on the Ark.

Clarke ran down the path, too busy getting away from her guard without creating much noise to notice the two sets of foot prints, both larger than her own, that dug deep into the soft earth, indicating a fast run. Clarke sprinted for as far as she could, only slowing slightly after she could no longer keep up her fastest pace. She couldn't afford to stop, not if she wanted to find her people alive, with enough blood in their veins and enough bone marrow left for them to be more than vegetables.

She would reach Mount Weather once again, and snoop around for a place to enter. She would find another way, she just needed to run to get there.

When she got there? That was where the plan ended, because everything after that would be decided based on how quickly she found her people, and how many Mountain Men tried to stop her.

It also depended on how quickly she found Cage Wallace, and how quickly she put a bullet in his head.

Lexa and Lincoln had snuck close to the mountain, placing their backs against a tall, dark slab of vertical rock. They walked sideways across the slab, looking around for any new guards or potential openings.

Soon, Lexa almost tripped as stepped over something uneven. She looked down. A drain. It was a very unique drain, in all honesty. It was made of tempered steel, and after the thick bars of the original drain, were, as far as Lexa could tell, four or five different sheets of wire mesh. As Lexa thought about it, the water was probably inspected by live Mountain Men in some sort of tank, to check for any technology the Sky People could have dropped within that had somehow made it past the mesh. They could fit in, and could travel down once they broke the mesh.

Lexa bit her lower lip, worrying at it with her teeth. If they fit, they would travel down, but neither of them knew how far the drain went. What if it was a dead end? If that was the case, they would most likely drown before they could make their way to the surface. What if they ended up in a tank with no exit? They would drown before they could break whatever glass contained them. But if the tank was made of metal, they would most certainly drown. What if there were beasts in the water? Lexa did not want to run into any Jengai. They were creatures with black eyes, webbed hands and feet, and thin, lean bodies. They were relatively small, but they lived in schools of sometimes hundreds, and Lexa wouldn't be surprised if some of the young had crawled onto the land, sneaking into the drains of Mount Weather due to the chemicals they sensed.

Lexa's lips curled into a slight snarl, and she gripped at a satchel hidden within her belt. Within it, was a cut of thick, horse-like hair, that had once grown on the head of an old Jengai Chieftain. It had given her a thin, long scar that arched over the firm muscle that stretched over her hip, down onto her 'V' muscle. It stood out in contrast to her sun-kissed skin, and Lexa kept the hair as a reminder, one she flaunted whenever she came across the aggressive Jengai that littered Trigedakru territory.

Lincoln inspected the Commander's features before speaking. "We must go down this way, Heda, for my mind-I cannot-"

"-I understand, Lincoln," Lexa said softly, the husk in her voice more prominent whenever she used a softer tone. "We will do this, for our allies. The Mountain will fall by our hands and the hands of the Skaikru tonight, Lincoln."

Lincoln nodded, and they both moved into position.

Lexa and Lincoln stood across from one another, their feet planted firmly on the drain. They gripped each others forearms tightly, and together leaped up, only to smash down onto the rusting drain. It crumbled under their combined strength and weight, and the two look at each other for a mere half second, eyes wide.

They plummeted down, crashing through the mesh only to keep falling.

Clarke inhaled deeply, closing her eyes for a brief moment, steeling herself. She stood outside the entrance to the reaper tunnels, fists clenched as tight her stomach was. She swore she could hear the snarls and howls of the reapers from within the tunnels, and no knowledge of previous Trigedakru entering the cave could save her mind from the fear instilled within her body. She saw how they were, what they were, and it scared her.

You're very brave under the Commander's protection.

Clarke set her jaw tightly, stubbornly, even.

There was no Commander there to protect her now.

She didn't need protection.

Lexa hated the feeling of her stomach shooting up into her throat, she hated it with a fiery passion that was very near the same magnitude of hate she kept for the Mountain Men. She would rather cut off her own fingers, her own hand, her whole damn arm instead experience this feeling.

Yes, she was a bit dramatic, but what leader wasn't?

She remembers the day her and Lincoln jumped off of the massive wheel called 'Ferris', into a lake that had formed from broken tubes that gushed surprisingly clean water. They had been so young, with Lexa only being nine, and absolutely terrified. Lincoln had been too, though he tried hard to hide it.

"L-lincoln a' you sure we shou'ld be doin' dis? Won' Anya be mad?" A yound Lexa asked, her voice quivering almost as much as her nervous body was. She looked down the hundreds of feet that separated her from the solid ground she loved so dearly. They had climbed the whole way up together - that part was easy. The jumping part? Not so much. "An' won't we break our legs?

Lincoln shook his head, "Nah, 'coz we're not jumping from all the way up here! We're just gonna enjoy the sunrise and eat these-" The handsome boy pulled out two apples and striped of jerky. "Then? We jump from down there."

Lexa worried at her lower lip, still nervous, but Lincoln flashed her a comforting smile, and she herself smiled bravely. She could jump off of the wheel they called 'Ferris' with no issue.

No smiles would make her brave now.

So together, Lexa and Lincoln screamed their heads off, as they plummeted down the dark drain.

Lexa squeezed her eyes shut. I'm coming, Clarke.

Clarke walked swiftly through the reaper tunnels, trying her best not to make any noise. However, she apparently wasn't quiet enough, because just as she spotted the light from the entrance, a sword was pressed to her throat from behind.

"Who are you?" A feminine voice growled, and Clarke sighed in relief, it was only Octavia.

"Octavia its me, Clarke, everyone is-"

"-Gone, I know," Octavia said, removing her sword from its possibly lethal position pressed against Clarke's throat. Nothing good could come from accidentally (Or purposefully) killing the Princess. "I stayed behind."

Clarke nodded, inhaling as she gathered herself. "We need to get inside, now, so we can get to our people."

Octavia nodded, gripping her sword tightly in her right hand, knuckles turning white beneath the straining cloth and leather of her gloves. She may not be Clarke's biggest fan, but she needed her, they needed each other, if they had any hope of taking down the Mountain, or at least saving their friend. So she would work with Clarke, her own personal feelings be damned, to get this done.

The entrance door groaned as it was suddenly opened, and instantly Clarke trained her gun on the door, Octavia getting into position with her sword at the ready. The two have sighs of relief when they saw that it was Bellamy. He looked beaten up, but he was Bellamy all the same.

"Bellamy!" Clarke and Octavia cried in unison. They pulled him into separate hugs of relief, all parties filled with new strength from seeing the people they loved. They could do this.

Bellamy turned to Clarke, asking worriedly, "Where is your army?"

Clarke should her head, eyes full of anger and hints of desperation. "Gone. We're all that's left."

Dammit Lexa, you fucking ran. You ran and you left us here to fight a war with enough people to barely hold down a bar fight.

All you Grounders seem to do is run whenever the odds aren't in your favor.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Suddenly, the drain pipe began to curve, and Lexa and Lincoln were shot down a very uncomfortable water slide that submerged them in the distasteful water. Her scaly companion had no worries, the gills inches behind his eyes immediately kicking into gear as he constricted around Lexa's shoulders, the trauma of the fall scrambling his focus.

Lexa and Lincoln looked at each other, then around at their surroundings before beginning to swim through the pipe, its size just big enough for Lexa to swim above Lincoln. They had barely a minute to either find some air, or calm their minds and prepare their spirits for death. The two warriors began swimming faster, their scaly companion leading the way as he moved effortlessly through the water ahead of them.

I need your spirit to stay where it is.

Lexa grit her teeth as she moved faster. Her spirit wasn't going anywhere, and neither was Lincolns.

The odds are not in either of our favors, Clarke, but I will be there to face the odds with you.

This was a really bad chapter, but I'm trying to get back into the gist of things guys! Sorry for the unexplained absence, but I swear it wasn't my fault! I was distracted by this person...

BUT IM BACK.