Warning: This chap has bloody and graphic violence. And it's a bit dark too. I think I've done a 180 from the first chap. Whoops!

I'm pretty sure Yarwin's morphed into Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy. :p

It was over before it had even really begun. Clarke had been pushed out of harms way by Echo. The agile girl then dodged the first sword swiped at her and rammed one of Clarke's bra wires into the unwitting Polis guards eye socket. He had dropped his sword at this point, hands to his face, screaming bloody murder. Echo stabbed him in the throat with the other piece of wire to get him to permanently shut up. While this was happening, a bloodthirsty Yarwin blindly charged into the room and nearly impaled himself on two swords. Thankfully the third Woods Clan guard grabbed his arm and swung him out of harms way. But in so doing, was slashed across the chest instead. He fell, and Yarwin punched the culprit in the face so hard his nose cracked, and he too was clutching it and moaning as the blood gushed out between his fingertips. Echo snatched up the dropped sword, duelled with another grounder for a couple of seconds before gaining the upper hand...by slicing it off. She then kicked her into the path of the fourth grounder coming after her, impaling one of their own. Yarwin smashed this guards head into the moaning ones and they fell to a heap on the floor. He stomped on them for good measure. The final guard, the gate grounder, had backed himself into a corner, wild eyed. A blood spattered Echo and Yarwin advanced, swords in hand, only too eager to make the kill.

"Wait!" Clarke exclaimed. "He might know where Lexa's being held!" She turned to the cowering guard, sword hand badly trembling and said, "If you tell us what we want to know, I promise they won't kill you."

"Yarwin makes no such promise!" he proclaimed thumping his chest.

"Yes, Yarwin, you do!" shouted Clarke in annoyance. "Well?" she snapped at the Polis guard. "Do you know where she is or not?"

He nodded his head vigorously. "I-I think so! They headed in the direction of the education district!"

"You're going to need to narrow that down for us," said Echo, sword at the ready. "Otherwise, no deal."

Clarke could practically see him sweating from his auburn locks. "W-well," he stuttered, eyeing the deadly crimson edge with dread, "there's the school...li-library...mu-museum-"

"This weakling does not know!" roared Yarwin. "I will destroy him now!"

"No, wait!" the Polis guard screamed. "I can take you to the district q-quickly and undetected! I know a s-secret shortcut!"

"Lies!" said Yarwin, raising his sword. "Cowards who are about to die will say anything!"

"Yarwin, no!" ordered Clarke, a second before he killed the man. She stared the Polis guard down. "If this is a trick, or you attempt to alert anyone to your situation, Yarwin will gut you like a fish. Do you understand?"

"Yes," he squeaked out, looking at the grinning warrior.

The education district was eerily deserted, and this more than anything else told Clarke that they were in the right location. Now they just had to locate Lexa within the dozen or so buildings here. Going from one to the other would take far too long, so she made the decision to split up. The Polis guard was useless now so Yarwin happily thumped him on the head and threw him into the darkened alleyway they had come from.

Clarke held her own sword tightly as they diverged off in three different directions, breaths coming fast and shallow. She stayed low and moved swiftly towards the nearest building, the library. A quick survey around told her that no one was home. Not even the faintest of lighting could be seen through the myriad of body sized windows. She moved onto her next target, the elementary school. As she passed by the playground, she felt the stirrings of guilt. War was hectic, sometimes the innocent suffered. But again, this building too was not their desired destination.

She headed to the third building on her route when a shadow flitted by. Clarke prepared to strike.

"It's just me," said Echo, stepping into a streetlamp. "I think I've found the commander."

They grabbed Yarwin on the way to the quaint looking museum. He nearly sliced them both in half with one mighty blow. "Next time do not startle Yarwin."

Echo led them to the side of the building, and sure enough, a light was shining through. Clarke even fancied she heard voices.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Echo.

"Plan?" said Yarwin. "We bash these branwada's skulls in!"

"Okay, but seriously," said Echo, looking to Clarke, "what's the plan?"

"I think Yarwin pretty much covered it all," she replied, tearing off towards the nearest entrance. Of course it was locked and their only tools were still lodged in a man's eye and throat! Why didn't you bring those with you? she wanted to scream at Echo, even though she too had forgotten to retrieve them before they departed the prison.

"We'll have to smash the glass," she said to them once she had calmed down a bit.

"There goes our element of surprise," said Echo as Yarwin punched his massive fist clean through it without a further prompt. The shattering glass might as well have been a gunshot. Oh how she wished she still had her pistol with her. Even without ammo, it could have served to put the fear of God in these bastards. But it was what it was. Cutting off Melys' head would have to suffice.

She knocked away the remaining jagged glass with the side of her sword and then reached her hand through to unbolt the door. The three Woods Clan members nodded to each other and then stormed in, with no pretence at being quiet.

It was slightly surprising to her that no one came to greet them. Had they gotten the wrong building after all? If so, where on Earth was Lexa?

Her fears were unwarranted, for once they located the light source, they were met with two more Polis guards. After the other five, Clarke foresaw no difficulty dispatching of them. She couldn't have been more wrong.

The Polis guards opened fire on them with pistols!

Clarke and Echo took cover fast enough not to be hit. Yarwin was not so lucky and went down for the count.

Shit! Shit! Shit! she thought as the grounders approached them, clearly intending to leave no man standing.

"Move!" she yelled. Hunched over, they hurried down an aisle full of weapon displays. They turned the corner just as several more shots rang out. They came to an abrupt end down this next aisle.

"Now what's the plan?" hissed Echo, eyes darting all around for an alternate route.

"I don't know! I need time to think!"

"Well you've got about five seconds before they're upon us!"

She didn't come all this way just to get mowed down in the final moment. She couldn't let Lexa down like that. Not after everything they had been through together, and all the times she had saved her reckless hide.

But there was nowhere for them to go! In a fit of panic she flung her sword out at them - hoping to get the better of one of them like she had seen countless grounders do during the war - and missed completely. Echo would have rolled her eyes if they weren't about to die.

"I'm sorry, Lexa," she whispered to herself as the guards took aim.

There was a snarl, followed by one guard being flung backwards into a display case. The other whirled around to face a heavily bleeding, beyond enraged Yarwin. As he turned, Echo dove forwards and slashed at his calves. Yarwin caught the falling guard by the wrists and cracked bone with a savage twist. Even on the ground, his mangled hand continued to grip the gun. The other guard was taking aim at Yarwin.

"Look out!" Clarke yelled, hating this powerlessness.

As she spoke there was a blur of metal and the tip of a sword went plunging through the outstretched gun arm. For a second Clarke thought Lexa had come to their rescue again, like she had done when Quint had come after her. But of course it wasn't Lexa. Echo gave her a look as if to say, 'Now that's how you do it, princess.' There was yet another sickening crack as Yarwin snapped his neck, silencing him forever.

She knelt down and yanked the gun out of the nearest guards hand. As much as she wanted to kill him, it was unnecessary. He was no longer a threat with his legs slashed like that and she didn't want to become a complete monster. Before she had time to blink, Echo had stabbed him through the back with the sword she had foolishly discarded earlier.

"You need to keep pressure on that," she said to Yarwin as she rushed passed him, unable to waste another second more in her quest to save Lexa, not even to tend to the person who had saved her.

When she rounded the corner and into the left wing of the museum, she was met with a chilling sight. That of Lexa chained up with lacerated wrists and ankles, small pools of blood had formed. This would have made her own blood boil if it were not for the next things that drew her attention. Lexa's eyes were closed and she was unmoving. Melys was nowhere in sight.

"No," she choked out, gun dropping to the polished floor.

Echo was right beside her then. She put a hand to Clarke's forearm and then moved over to the commander. Echo placed her fingers to Lexa's neck and held them there for nearly ten seconds. Her faithful companion looked up, grim faced, shaking her head.

Clarke tried to look away from the once vibrant life force that inhabited that body. But she couldn't. It was like the recent Ark ship wreck all over again. The tragedy of it demanded her full attention, whether she wanted to give it or not. And just like that wreck, she was magnetically drawn towards it, her legs moving of their own accord, her heart breaking more with every step.

Her hand trembled as she bit back the bitter tears and reached out to stroke Lexa's angelic, peaceful face. She barely noticed as Echo stepped off to the side to give her some privacy and to mourn her lose.

"Lexa," she cried, throwing herself onto her lifeless chest, clutching at her like they were back in the cavern. "Lexa, please," she pleaded, burrowing her face into her lovers cold collarbone. "Don't leave me here alone. Not like this. Not yet."

Suddenly she recalled a very old fairytale called Sleeping Beauty. Lexa was even dressed for the part. In her grief stricken state, she kissed her princess and waited for the magic to take effect. Nothing happened. She broke down completely then and sobbed like she hadn't done since her father was floated.

Yarwin stumbled into the space, blood leaking down his front. "Yarwin is in trouble," he muttered, falling to his knees.

Clarke couldn't help him. She couldn't even hear him beyond her own despair.

"Clarke!" said Echo, trying to break through. "Clarke, I need your help! I don't know what to do! Clarke! He's going to die if you don't help him!"

Finally Echo bodily yanked her away from Lexa and carried her over to a completely collapsed Yarwin. Clarke stared down at him, unseeing.

"I know you're hurting right now, Clarke, but you have to help him! You're the only one who can!" Echo shook her by the shoulders. "The commander would want you to help him! Do this for Lexa!"

She stopped crying and went into auto pilot mode, barely conscious of her efforts to save the not so gentle giant.

"I need to get this bullet out. It's causing internal bleeding. Find me something to dig it out with."

Echo ran back to the weapons display case, smashed one and sprinted over with a thin edged dagger in hand.

"Will this do?"

Clarke took it without comment, ripped apart Yarwin's clothing, and jabbed the tip in. He was so far gone that he didn't even flinch. Mechanically she felt around for the far side of the bullet and then popped it out with one quick flick of the wrist. Even more blood began to gush out. She staunched it quickly with part of the dress she had torn off previously. Whatever the dress was made out of was really absorbent. The wine stain was barely noticeable anymore.

"Now what?"

"Find me something to secure this with."

Echo ran off into the darkened museum again, searching for some kind of rope to use. She yanked down a tapestry and pulled off its adornments. When Clarke had done all she could with the limited supplies at her disposal, she stood up and went back to Lexa. Clarke would not leave her body here, so she needed to figure out a way to break the restraints off.

Echo saw her dilemma. She stooped down, picked up the bloody tipped dagger, wiped it off on her pant leg and set to picking the four locks. With this accomplished, Echo went to collect Lexa, but Clarke stopped her with a hand to the shoulder.

"I need to do this."

Clarke ever so gently lifted Lexa into her arms, as if it was possible to aggravate her flesh wounds and cause her pain. She did her best to ignore Lexa's cold and limp frame and the way her head kept lolling about, nothing left to support it. Her grief tried to push through in waves, but she struggled against the tide with all her might.

It was no use, she hadn't even gotten out of the left wing before she broke down again. She fell to her knees and held Lexa to her once more, crying. Would she forever be forced to feel the keen pang of lose? She didn't know how much more of this type of pain she could survive. In just three months time she had lost Wells, Anya, Finn, many of the one hundred...

"You do like to cry on me, don't you?"

"Lexa!" she said unbelieving, pulling back in order to look into the eyes of her faintly smirking angel. Besides this expression, Lexa had yet to move a muscle, as if she were too weak for such a thing. "You're alive!" she exclaimed giddily. "But how?!"

"I was never dead," she replied. "Not really."

"I don't understand."

"The commander tried to pull me into the spirit catcher with him, and nearly succeeded. Then it took me awhile to find my way back to my body. The spirit world is a strange place."

"How did you break free?"

Lexa smiled and every part of her warmed as if physically touched. "As I've said before, Clarke, the living are hungry."

Clarke held her close again, and this time, Lexa's arms came up to embrace her back.

Aww...