Chapter 12

"Goddamnit!" Raven shouted, tossing the keyboard in front of her to the ground and pushing her chair back so quickly it toppled with a clatter.

Monty looked up, watching her silently as she paced, running her hands through her hair in frustration. Obviously this was not the first time Raven's frustration had exploded.

"No luck?" he said after a moment.

She shot him a deadly look and continued pacing. "I can't figure out this code," she exclaimed through gritted teeth. "I've tried everything related to ALLIE, to Becca, to Polaris, the 13th station. Nothing works!"

It had been days since they discovered the chip in the vial Lexa had recovered. It was definitely tech they were familiar with, circa the era of the first Unity Day. It must have come to Earth in Polaris with Becca. But it was impossible to decipher without the key code. A key Raven and Monty had been unable to crack.

Raven leaned her elbows on the railing of the upper floor next to Clarke and let out a long, loud sigh of frustration.

"That good huh?" Clarke said, her eyes traveling idly over the milling crowd of Skaikru and Flokru below going about their daily business in the largest room they called the Great Hall.

"We're missing something," Raven said.

Clarke nodded but had nothing to add. The boost of energy and optimism that had come with Luna's sudden arrival had wained with the realization they were at yet another road block. Clarke was tired. Deeply tired in her soul.

"We're missing that damn key. It's only 88 characters but it could be any combination of letters, numbers, symbols… It's impossible to crack. Are you sure she didn't say anything else?" Raven asked.

Clarke's gaze found below Luna as she laughed and talked to Keena. The girl was obviously happy to have her leader returned to her, as were all of the remaining Flokru. Clarke imagined the Grounders were glad to have their Commander back as well. The thought of Lexa brought back that familiar twinge in her chest.

"Clarke?" Raven said.

Clarke broke out of her revery and looked at Raven.

"Did Luna say anything else? Or Lexa, about her vision, that could be a clue?"

Clarke shook her head. "No, just something about Children of the Blood. Nightbloods. But we've exhausted all of our tests on their blood, the liquid from the vial… Everything. A dozen times over. Nothing."

Raven pushed off the railing and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm heading back in," she said. "Can you just… just look through your notes again?"

Clarke nodded, knowing it would be futile.

Clarke had all of the test results laid out in orderly stacks, the most recent results on top. It was a massive amount of information that resulted in absolutely nothing. The longer she stared at them, the more angry she got until finally she kicked the edge of the table hard with her foot in frustration and left a flurry of papers in her wake as she exited the lab.

She retreated to a secluded spot that had become her own, tucked away in the corner of the rafters by one of the narrow, slitted windows. There she could brood undisturbed, which usually involved staring out into the hostile environment outside and drawing in her notebooks.

She pulled her gaze from the window and ran her hands over the rough leather cover of the book. Lexa had made it for her. In fact, she'd made several as she knew Clarke would go through them easily. A sad smile turned her lips as she traced the creases in the worn leather.

She took a deep breath and she began flipping through the pages, glancing through her medical notes. Test results, comparisons, questions, conclusions, inconclusive answers. Endless pages showing absolutely nothing helpful. She tossed it down next to her in anger and scrubbed her hands over her face. "Damnit Lexa," she whispered, letting the tears she normally held in slide down her cheeks.

After allowing herself a moment of self-pity, she sighed, wiped her eyes and grabbed the book again. She paused looking at the page the book had fallen open too. Notes on the DNA comparison between Nightbloods. Her eyes drifted to the doodles in the margins and she ran her fingers over the ridges in the page. The infinity symbol stood out dark against the white sheet because she had traced over it so many times.

She frowned, a thought tickling the edge of her consciousness. She turned the book to the side, the infinity sign now turned vertically looking very much like the number 8.

"Ask the Children of the Blood," she muttered, remembering Lexa's exact words she had shared from her vision

She bit her lip and flipped few a through pages, turning then quickly as an idea began to take shape in her mind. She stopped on a page, running her finger along her findings. The DNA sequences. The breakout of the red dashes. The difference between the sequences from Keena and the two other Nightbloods.

"Children of the blood," she whispered. Then she slammed the book closed and scrambled back to the lab.

She burst in, eyes running over the scattered papers left in her wake from when she left. She pushed though the various stacks, searching for what she was looking for, growing more and more frantic.

Then she stopped, her hands shaking as she clutched the paper she was searching for. The red code that protected them from the radiation. Red dashes with the alpha-numeric labels running down the edge. Identical across all three except for one section. The part that Keena had that the others did not. A short variation that totaled 88 characters.

Clarke burst into the room practically startling Monty out of his chair and drawing Raven's attention from her screen.

"Children of the blood!" she exclaimed, holding the paper above her head.

Raven frowned and looked at Clarke with an expression that indicated her friend might have finally lost it. "What?"

Clarke ran over to her and thrust the paper at her. "The difference in the DNA sequence between Keena and Luna and Lexa. The extra bit they don't have. Raven, it's an 88 character sequence."

Raven's eyes went wide and she snatched the paper, her eyes running over it quickly. "Why the hell not?" she murmured, and began typing furiously. After a moment, her hands froze, hovering above the keys. She looked at Clarke, their eyes meeting. CLICK. Raven pushed enter and they held their breath.

They didn't have to hold it for long. The blinking cursor suddenly erupted in endless streams of text. Readable, English text. Then images began populating the screen so quickly they could barely understand them. A flash of the inner workings of a large complex mechanism. A rock face with vertical vents. Diagrams and charts with radiation levels.

Raven's eyes were huge as the screen was filled with window on top of window. She turned to Clarke, her mouth hanging open. Clarke's stunned look slowly spread into a grin, tears falling from her eyes. "This is it," she whispered.

Lexa was holding court. Her audience, about 30 youngsters seated on the rock floor around her. They laughed as she finished her story about a hunt gone awry in her youth. She smiled gently, watching their youthful faces, full of resilience despite their lives now. We should take a lesson from these children, she thought to herself.

"Heda!" a shout rang out from one of the tunnel entrances across the cavern.

Lexa looked up, recognizing Lincoln moving quickly towards her. She glance at the children and told them to run along and she rose to meet him.

"What is it?" she said as he stopped, out of breathe.

"Something's happening," he said.

Lincoln, Octavia, Indra and Roan stood huddled in the cave entrance staring out as Lexa stepped into the forest. The rain, a constant for months, had stopped. She held out her hands, as if not believing it.

Then they all looked up, a sudden brightness catching their attention. Not the quick flashes of blue lightening they had become accustomed to, but a weak orange glow through the clouds. The sun.

Lexa looked back at the group huddled in the entrance, her smile growing. "They did it," she said.

Despite their certainty of success, Skaikru was still cautious about returning to Arkadia. They tested extended periods of exposure outside, followed by a battery of tests for radiation levels in water, air, animals. They conducted repeated drone surveillance sweeps for storms or violent weather changes. Tests, tests and more tests.

Radiation levels, on a whole, had decreased to levels only slightly higher than before it had all began.

If you were to corner Raven, she would have explained in great detail the discovery and activation of a powerful machine hidden in a mountain to the north. It's creation and sole purpose to clean and neutralised the affects from a nuclear attack or melt down. A prototype safety mechanism built hastily in the times leading up to the nuclear war that had devastated the earth and sent them to the sky. Built by the same corporation that had built ALLIE, had created the Flame, had been the 13th station. Becca.

But most only cared about when they would be going home. Back to Arkadia and back to the sea.

Clarke came to a stop on the hilltop that finally revealed the chaos and debris that was what was once Arkadia. Despite the scouts having reported back that the area was empty of occupants, Clarke still let her eyes roam eagerly searching from some signs of Grounder activity. Finding none she followed the rest of the group and they trudged back to the valley, their long journey at an end, but the rebuilding process just beginning.

She spent several days helping to get everyone organized and the rebuilding process underway before she could wait no longer. She packed a bag mostly containing her journals and saddled a horse. Bellamy met her in the stables. "Not going to say goodbye?" he said, leaning against the open doorway.

She glanced at him while tightening the straps on her saddle. "Is it ever goodbye?" she said smiling.

He chuckled and walked towards her. "I wish I could come with you," he said.

"They need you here, Bel," she said. "Besides, I'll find Octavia. Tell her you're ok."

He nodded. "Thanks."

She pulled herself into the saddle and met his eyes. "Until we meet again," she said.

He smiled, "Until then. Be safe Clarke."

Lexa forced her body to straighten and stretched her back, turning her face to the sun. She, and many other Grounders, were knee deep in the rubble that was once the tower in Polis. They were loading wagons full of stone and clearing them, while other groups had built a tent city in the surrounding grounds.

She wiped the sweat from her eyes and a small smile settled on her lips as she watched her people, hard at work, together. Polis would never be rebuilt to be exactly what it had been, but it would be something new. Perhaps something better and stronger. And it would still be home and the centre of prosperity and order and peace in their region.

She glanced towards the sound of hooves and saw Octavia skidding to a halt on her horse. She dropped to the ground and started moving quickly towards Lexa.

"Heda!" she said, stopping slightly out of breathe.

"What is it?" Lexa asked, frowning in concern.

"You need to see this for yourself," she said.

Lexa's horse followed Octavia's single file through the trees. She knew that the Skaikru warrior had doubled back in a way that Lexa wasn't supposed to notice. She pulled her horse to a stop, finally having enough. "Octavia, I don't have time for games. There's too much work to be done. I need…" her voice trailed off as Octavia led her horse off to the side, revealing a small clearing where a single tent was setup.

She dismounted, giving Octavia a suspicious sideways glance. She edged closer to the clearing, not seeing any movement. Then suddenly Octavia's shrill whistle rang out behind her. She turned on the balls of her feet, ready to spring into action but Octavia just smiled. "You can thank me later," she said, and turned her horse back towards Polis.

The sound of the tent flap moving brought her attention back to the clearing and Lexa froze, staring as Clarke stepped into the daylight. Clarke. Her Clarke. It had been seven or eight months, as near as they could tell anyway, since they'd parted in Arkadia for uncertain futures. And now, they stood staring, only a few feet separating them.

Clarke's surprise soon dissolved as a smile that quickly spread over her face. Lexa stepped towards her and Clarke rushed to meet her half way. Their embrace was crushing, pulling each other close and holding on as if the other might disappear.

When they pulled apart, Lexa had tears on her cheeks. Clarke wiped them away gently with her thumbs and looked into the green eyes that had left such an aching hole in her chest for so long.

"Clarke," Lexa whispered, running her hands along Clarke's neck.

"You did it," Clarke said quietly. "You were right. You saved our people. I'm sorr…"

Lexa silenced her with a kiss. Gentle, reacquainting. She pulled away and smiled softly. "I saved you," she said, looking into Clarke's eyes. "And you saved me."

Clarke pulled Lexa to her lips again, this time kissing her deeply, pouring all of the longing, the fear, the desperation since they'd parted into it.

When the kiss ended, they rested their foreheads together, breathing each others air for a moment.

"What now?" Clarke asked.

Lexa smiled. "Whatever we do, we do it together," she said.

"Together," Clarke agreed. "Always." Clarke's face transformed with a brilliant smile and she pulled Lexa down for another kiss.

The End… for now :) Thanks for reading!