The smell of mud woke me up from my deep sleep. I glanced around, trying to piece together what had happened. So far, all I could remember was that Lincoln, Bellamy, and I were sitting around in a circle, there was an earthquake, and then we were engulfed by a white light. Now I was in the middle of the forest, covered in mud and freezing cold.
I sat up, but yelped when I accidentally sat on my hair. Wait. What the hell happened to my hair?
I stood up and pulled my newly dark-blond hair around so I could see just how long it was. My hair had grown so long that it extended down past my butt. I shifted on my feet, feeling a little taller than I had been yesterday. My eyes traveled down to my boobs which were definitely several sizes biggers, and my skin was several shades darker. I had to be at least two years older, but how was that possible?
"What the hell?" I gasped.
"Oh my God that's her!" Wells shouted off in the distance. I flipped around, instinctively reaching for a gun that wasn't there.
Wells appeared with his father and several members of the guard. My mother was also with them, but there was no sign of Bellamy. I put my empty hand back down at my side and glanced around at the group, utterly confused.
"Clarke! We've been so worried about you!" My mom gasped, wrapping her arms around me. I thought back to how I'd ran off into the woods to escape what I'd done in Mount Weather. Did I pull the lever again? Did I leave camp for months? How was Wells still here?
"How long have I been away from camp? Wells how are you here?" I asked, completely dumbfounded that he was even still alive. Wells glanced around at his father and my mother in concern before pulling me aside and answering my questions.
"Clarke, you know I came down a year ago with the Ark, right? And you remember how you got flustered during a meeting last night with the council and ran off? Did you get hurt? We've been looking for you all day." Wells replied. So I hadn't left because of Mount Weather…
"What about Mount Weather?" I asked.
"Did you bump your head, sweetheart?" My mom asked, examining me. Her concern was growing, but I had to get these questions answered. If what they were saying is true, we just jumped ahead to one year after the war with the grounders was supposed to take place, did it?
I shook my head, "No, but tell me what happened, I can handle it."
Abby glanced between Wells and Jaha before replying to me, "You made a deal with the grounders the day before the Ark arrived. When the Mountain Men came down, we were there, ready to fight, but it never came to that. You helped cure the reapers and set all of the grounder prisoners free. Lexa said she's forever in your debt. You're a legend. The grounders call you The Commander of Life." My mom revealed. The moment she said that, it was as if those memories suddenly flooded back to me. I remembered reuniting with her and Wells, I remembered helping the reapers and going to Mount Weather where Jasper was in charge now.
I glanced down at my clothes which had a chancellor's pin attached to them and raised my eyebrow. I was the chancellor?
"I'm the chancellor?" I asked. My mother lead me over to a log and sat me down.
"Yes, sweetie, the dual chancellor. Are you sure you didn't hurt yourself last night?" She asked.
"Who else is chancellor?" I asked, instantly panicking.
"You know the other chancellor is Bellamy, right sweetie?" She asked, her voice becoming more and more concerned by the minute.
"Where is he?" I finally asked, afraid of the answer. My mother took a deep breath and signaled for everyone else to give us space. I figured this meant the worst, so I closed my eyes and braced myself for the news.
"He woke up this morning a little disoriented, just like you. He was freaking out that you weren't at camp and that was when we realized that you'd never come back last night. He's back at camp because, we couldn't have both of our chancellor's out here. Plus I wanted Jackson to check him out and make sure he wasn't sick." She said. I couldn't believe all of this was happening. Some of the worst things never happened because we solved the spirit's quest. If we took down the Mountain so early, then that meant the bomb never hit Ton DC, Lexa never betrayed us, Bellamy never had to infiltrate the mountain, Lincoln was never put into the Cerberus program, and I never had to commit genocide. We were actually living in peace and it was all because Bellamy, Lincoln, and I were sent back in time.
I didn't want to waste anymore time sitting out here, so I ran up ahead and ordered guards to head back towards camp. My body guided me in the correct direction of the Ark and as we got closer, the more memories of the past year came back to me.
Octavia moved up from Indra's second to Lexa's second because of how many grounder lives she saved by breaking into the reaper tunnels in Mount Weather. Murphy never shot Raven so her leg wasn't paralyzed, Finn never committed the massacre in the grounder camp and was fine, and Maya was still alive, living in Mount Weather with Jasper.
Now I could see the Ark from the top of the hill I was standing on. It looked exactly as it had in the past, but this time there wasn't a fence around it. It made sense since we were in an alliance with all of the grounder clans, but it was odd to see.
When I ran into the camp, hundreds of people, whose names were slowly coming back to me, greeted me. I asked each person to direct me towards Bellamy until I found Finn and Raven in the crowd. They approached me, hand in hand with smiles across their faces. My heart swelled at the thought of them still being together and finding a way to overcome Finn's feelings for me.
"We thought you weren't coming back." Raven joked, releasing Finn to hug me. I smiled, wrapping my arms around her. Finn watched us and we locked eyes for a moment, but that look of longing for me wasn't there anymore. He truly was still in love with Raven.
"I'm sorry I left. Where's Bellamy?" I asked, pulling away from the hug.
"He's across camp in his tent. Jackson asked Miller to look after him, he's been freaking out about you all day. You really gave him a scare last night. I know the grounders aren't a threat in the woods anymore, but there are still wild gorillas to worry about. Don't leave us again." Raven said. I nodded and quickly thanked her before running off in the direction she said Bellamy was.
When I arrived I didn't hesitate to burst through the tent. It felt like slow motion when our eyes locked from across the room and he instinctively jumped up from the bed and ran at me as quickly as he could. When we collided in a loving embrace, the world stopped spinning for a moment. It felt like we were the only people in the world. He buried his face in my hair and then peppered me with kisses as he whispered "I love you" over and over again to me. I said it back, clutching onto the back of his shirt so that he couldn't pull away. This was real, we were really back and we both remembered.
He eventually released me and I instantly burst into tears. Here we were, back where we left off but everything was so different. We were able to fix everything that had happened this past year just by learning to accept our pain. The truth was, bad things were going to happen to us in the future, but how we handled them would make or break us. We needed to work together, side by side, and the universe was giving us that chance. Guilt wouldn't rule us anymore.
Bellamy lead me over to the bed and sat down next to me. I could tell he was probably thinking the same things as I was, so I hugged him again, soaking in his familiar smell and warm touch.
He wiped the tears from his eyes and we laughed in relief. After the earthquake, I was terrified that I'd be all alone, but the truth was, I was never alone. When I looked to my side, Bellamy was always there. It didn't matter what life I lived, Bellamy would always be by my side to live it with me. In the past, in the present, and in the future, I'd always have Bellamy and that could get me through anything.
"I love you so much, Clarke Griffin." He said, pulling me in for a kiss.
"I love you too." I replied, smiling into the kiss.
Bellamy rested his forehead against mine and pursed his lips, "It's gonna be weird not knowing what's going to happen every day."
"Yeah, but I'm excited to find out what the future holds." I said, squeezing his hand, "There is one thing I know for sure though." I said, my lips curling into a bigger smile. Bellamy playfully raised his eyebrow, begging me to continue.
"That we will always have each other, no matter what lifetime." I said.
Bellamy leaned in to kiss once more, "I will love you forever, no matter what lifetime, Clarke Griffin."
And he did.
A/N: It is with a heavy heart that I post the final chapter of this story. I can't even begin to describe how blown away I am with the response this fic has been getting. Thank you all so much for taking the time to leave reviews for me, PM me, etc. Your positivity is inspiring, so much so that this journey isn't over. I will be posting Bellamy's perspective of certain scenes very shortly on here. If there are any you're dying to hear from Bellamy's POV please don't hesitate to leave a comment or send me a PM. May we meet again.