As grateful as she was for the paint, nothing could fill the empty feeling in her stomach. Clarke's Unity Date was in four mere hours, and her mother had not come to visit. As somber as she felt about that, Clarke painted beautiful pictures to ease her pain. The usually dark gray walls of the confinement cell were covered in beautiful paint that was given to her by Chancellor Jaha. Clarke had painted anything and everything she could think of. Beautiful murals of the ground were reimagined on her walls. She drew grass on the ground, and the sky on the ceiling. If she could never go to the ground, she would paint it and imagine what it was like on her last day existing.

Clarke sat on the cold metal floor of her cell and looked up at her masterpiece. She had painted what the ground looked like in movies. She remembered watching Planet Earth with her family and Wells. She remembered longing to taste the sweet air and explore the rocky mountains, lush forests, and deep oceans. Now, there wasn't even a chance for her to go to the ground.

Voices and groans of the other prisoners surrounded her, and made her feel trapped. Clarke did not belong there. Clarke had only been to the Prison Station a few times during her medical apprenticeship to perform check-ups on the prisoners. Many of the prisoners she worked on were gone. Although there was a possibility that they were just transported to a different cell, Clarke knew why they were nowhere to be found.

And soon, she would be missing for the same reason.

Clarke pondered over the many possible reasons as to why her mother had not visited. Abby could have been held up in the medical ward, or she could be talking to Chancellor Jaha about extending her Unity Date, or she could have not gotten the message of Clarke's confinement. For Clarke, her mother was the one constant in her life. Abby was always her supporter and Clarke felt that Abby would always be there for her, even in these hard last days.

Clarke sat on her bed and covered her face in her paint smudged hands, just as Wells did after she pretty much told him she hated him. But, she meant it. Being floated would be better than marrying a traitor.

"Clarke?" A familiar, cozy voice welcomed her. Finally, her mother had come.

"Mom?" Clarke called out. The guard opened the door and her mother ambled in. She looked exhausted. Older even. She walked like her back was strained and her eyes seemed sunken in. She was about to expire. Clarke embraced her mother and wrapped her arms around her tightly. Abby felt fragile, like she could shatter any second.

"Woah woah woah." Abby said. She gently pushed her daughter away from the embrace. Tears were beginning to well up in Clarke's eyes. She was elated to see her mother.

"Clarke," Her mother's voice was raspy and breathless. "You're being confined for a public act of violence? I raised you better than that." Abby's eyes were full of both disappointment and fear of losing her daughter. "Who did you hit?"

"Wells." When Clarke said his name, something flashed in her mother's eyes, but Clarke didn't know what. "He wanted me to marry him tomorrow. Its my 17th birthday. But, I would rather die than marry that two-face."

Abby sighed. "But, Clarke, you have so much more to do in life. Maybe you should consider-"

"No! Mom, I thought you were on my side!" Clarke's words did not accurately convey her emotions. Of course her mother wouldn't agree to let her die, but there were no other choices.

"Clarke, I am on your side. I don't want you to get floated. No child should die before their parents!"

"I will not marry Wells." Clarke said tenaciously as she retreated to sit on her cot. Although, her mother was right. Clarke was not ready to die yet. She still had a decade and a half ahead of her to be of use to the people on the Ark. If she died, her medical apprenticeship would have been for nothing. The councilwoman looked deeply into her daughter's eyes, as if the solution to this problem was in them.

"Fine." Her mother's eyes left hers and and Abby turned and left without another word. As the metal door slammed behind her, Clarke felt so alone. That was the last time she would see her mom.

Clarke reclined back on her bed, stared at the painted sky on her ceiling, and counted the minutes until her demise.

Two hundred and ninety-six minutes later, the heavy door of her cell opened and several guards walked in with a pair of handcuffs and an electronic tablet.

A young guard, whom Clarke recognized from school, pressed some buttons on the tablet and read in a monotonous voice: "Clarke Griffin. You are being sentenced to execution for two counts of misconduct and a failure to find a spouse within your Unity Date. Please cooperate with us." An older guard, who was probably in his thirties, secured the cold, tight handcuffs around her wrists. Clarke felt distant, like this was happening to someone else, and she was just watching as if it were a movie. But this wasn't a movie, or a book, or a television show. This was real life. Her feet felt heavy. Her heart was beating out of her chest and soon it wouldn't be beating at all.

In her cell, she pictured her final walk to her floatation chamber. She pictured seeing everyone she loved one last time when she walked past the common rooms and the medical ward, but there wasn't anyone she knew. There wasn't anyone at all. The hallways were empty and she could hear the echo of their footsteps. It was emptier than she had ever seen the Ark.

Her final walk felt longer than it was. Memories flashed through her mind. She remembered playing with Wells in the misters in the Hydro Station, and breaking into the Mecha Station so that she and him could mess around with the full face masks. She remembered playing tag with the other children in these hallways while Vera yelled at them to slow down. As they passed the church, she recalled the Unity Day pageant when told the story of the Ark at age 9.

She must have been walking too slowly, because the guard behind her pushed her ahead, causing her to nearly fall. Her final tour of the Ark was coming to an end, and Clarke couldn't bear to say goodbye…

As Clarke and her three chaperones turned the final corner to her chamber, Clarke saw Wells and his father standing in front of the sliding doors. The Chancellor was always to attend and perform executions. Wells was standing poised and elegant with his hands clasped in front of him, like any son of a Chancellor should, but his eyes pleaded Clarke to accept his offer. Silent tears dripped down his face and onto the floor. His father, who had been a good friend to Clarke from the very beginning, was also looking broken. Her mother was nowhere to be found. Clarke's heart broke as she came to realize that her mother would not be the last face she saw before she died. Now, the last face she saw would be the one of the boy who sentenced her.

"Clarke Griffin." Chancellor Jaha began as the guards placed Clarke into the chamber. "You are to be sentenced to e-execution for two counts of misconduct and the f-failure to find a spouse by your Unity Date." His voice was breaking and he looked as if he were about to cry alongside his son. "Any last words, Clarke?" His usually deep voice had turned meek.

"Wait!" A man's voice called out from down the hall. The man was running loudly; his flat feet slapping against the metal ground. "Wait! Wait! Clarke!" The man turned the corner and looked at the girl in the floatation chamber. She did not recognize him. He wore a janitor's uniform and looked to be around twenty- one or twenty-two. His dark hair was gelled back and he had a light dusting of freckles covering his face. The name tag on his uniformed seemed to read a name that started with a B?

"That's my bride! We were supposed to be married today! It's her Unity Day! What's she doing here? Let her go!" The man seemed rehearsed, but Clarke went along with whatever it was that was happening. The opposing option was much worse than marrying a stranger.

Wells and the Chancellor both looked at Clarke simultaneously with puzzled looks on their faces. Clarke looked at the man and tried to read his expression. His eyes were fixed on hers, but not in the same way that Wells looked at her. This man looked very determined. He was the wolf to Wells' dog.

Everyone was staring at her. She had to react.

"Hey… B?" Clarke started. This was not going well. "This must be a misunderstanding Chancellor. You see? I have a spouse for my Unity Date." She motioned towards her mysterious beau, as if begging the Chancellor to believe her. He still seemed skeptical, but now there was a loophole that allowed Clarke to keep on living. The old man nodded and ordered her release.

In order to ensure the belief of the Chancellor and the guards, Clarke leaped out of the chamber and greeted the man with enthusiasm. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he bent down and hugged her back. Clarke could feel Wells' jealous eyes tearing into the back of her head. The man released Clarke from their hug, entwined his fingers into hers, and led her out of view of the preying eyes. Clarke's mind was racing. That had all happened so quickly. Merely 15 minutes ago, she was being led down the hall for what she thought was the last time.

As soon as she knew that they were out of earshot, Clarke exploded with questions. "Who are you? Who put you up to this? How old are you? How did you know about my execution? Where is every-" A fiery glare from the man shut her up.

He let go of Clarke's hand as they neared her room. Her mother was waiting for them in front of her door, with an excited look on her face.

"Good… It worked." Her mother said in a breathless voice as she grabbed the sides of Clarke's head to embrace her. "I had to do something, Clarke. I couldn't let you die-" Her mother stopped abruptly, inhaled deeply, and released Clarke.

"I'm Bellamy, by the way." The man said behind her. "And I guess we're going to get married now."

A flash of uncertainty stirred through Clarke. "How did you get him to marry me? Did you bribe him?" She may have said that a little too sternly, as both her mother and Bellamy wore scared looks on their faces.

"I'm keeping something for him, this is his way of paying me back." Abby said with a shaky voice, realizing how sketchy that sounded.

Clarke felt unsure, but before she had time to say anything, Bellamy leaned over her shoulder to tell her something.

"Get dressed and meet me in the Union Hall." He said. Bellamy turned around and jogged down the hall with his flat feet slapping against the ground.

NOTES:

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading! I hope you all like it. If you did like it, please please please leave me a review. It really makes my day, and it makes me write faster. Thanks! :)

The BravePrincess