Chapter 22

Clark immediately set out to bandage their hands. She took her time. She knew that she had their full attention now, but she didn't know where to start. They needed to make a move on the Mountain before the Mountain came to cull them. And, she wanted to do it sooner, rather than later. In all honesty, she wanted to do it before the Ark fell, but she didn't know if they could move fast enough to it.

"How long until the fall?" Clarke turned and asked Octavia.

"If like every other time, a week, maybe," Octavia stated.

"Raven, how are the calculations going?"

"Good, Sinclair thinks that he can get the most people on Alpha and Mecha. It's Farm station that he's worried about. And, he said something about a list of those who should go to Farm? What list and why?" Raven asked her as she looked from the tablet, obviously going over some more figures from Sinclair. When her eyes met Clarke's, she knew the answer. "We're culling them ourselves?"

"It isn't a culling," Clarke replied.

"But, we're sending good people to their deaths."

"Jaha is leading them. They will land in Azgeda and the ice queen will kill them for sport. I'm sorry, Raven. I couldn't tell you. I knew that you would try to talk me out of it. The names I sent him are few. That is why I had you concentrate on Alpha and Mecha. They are also working on the Exodus ship, but we are planning on it landing near the Boat People. By that time, I hope to be sending Wells to meet with Luna and help our people that way. Those that are landing in the Ice Nation will kill the Grounders on sight and get us killed, too."

"There is no way around it?" Raven asked.

"Sometimes we have to sacrifice the few for the many," Octavia told her.

"Don't ever let me see that list, Clarke," Raven whispered.

"I won't. I encrypted it and sent it to my mother, Sinclair and Kane. They are moving people accordingly," Clarke replied. "I'm sorry."

"I just can't..."

"Make those decisions," Clarke finished for her. "I know, Rae. I know. That's why I didn't tell you. That is why I bear it."

"Does this have anything to do with Octavia calling you Wanheda?"

"Where have you heard that name?" Anya bellowed.

"Calm down, Anya, and let me explain."

"Please do," Lexa stated. "Is this what you mean by you've spoke with Becca?"

"Where to begin," Clarke mused. "When the bombs fell, Becca was still in the stars on stations. She created the natblida serum to help deal with the radiation, but things got bad on the stations. She wanted to help those on Earth, so she stole a drop ship pod like the one Raven came down on. She started given her serum to anyone who would take it, but some of the survivors were angry with her. Besides, the serum that could make anyone a natblida, she had the Flame. A group of people who had a bunker in Polis captured her and tried to take the Flame from her, but Calliope, the first Flamekeeper, took the serum and the Flame and ran. Thus, only a few had the serum and could hold the Flame. After a while, others started emerging but they didn't need the serum to survive above ground and after a few generations, the blood was no longer black, except in rare occasions. By then, the story of Becca and her black blood turned her into a savior and it was cultivated by those who bore the Flame and the Flamekeepers into what it is now. Titus is your Flamkepa," Clarke told her.

"How do you?"

"I was given the serum, but not by Becca. We found out that another Praimfaya is coming. We have less than six months to prepare, but before all of that, we have to deal with the Mountain."

"I don't understand."

"We have already lived this life. I took the Flame after your death to try to save everyone, but we only managed to save twelve hundred. One hundred from each clan and a few that went back to the stars. I died trying to give our people their best chance. Octavia became the leader after the conclave."

"But, you are both before me?" Lexa mused.

"Yes, and we know of Costia. I know that Titus will end up betraying you because he doesn't really understand peace. He thinks that you should obey him and not turn away from the ways that things have been done. He sees death as a means to an end. He doesn't give it meaning. He makes it a curse."

"I told you not to trust him so blindly," Anya hissed.

"Shop of, Onya," Lexa ordered. "But, I don't understand. Why are you here now?"

"In my first life of doing this, I destroyed the Mountain. I killed over three hundred and fifty people to save a little over forty. Anya and I were in the Mountain. I broke out, bringing her with me. Unfortunately, she didn't survive and I had to bring you her braid. I gave her a warrior's burial with help of Octavia and Lincoln in the dead of the night, still injured and freezing, because I knew it was what she deserved."

"And, why did you break Anya out?"

"So, I could talk to you. I knew that you wouldn't believe me, but that you would trust your general. She wanted to bring me to you as a prisoner. And, honestly, I should have been, but we fought and I bested her. So, I was taking her to my people to get healed and then go to you."

"Your people killed her?"

"That time, yes. Another, it was yours. And, in another life, it was the Mountain men who could already walk above ground," Clarke said nonchalantly.

"What does that mean?"

"We've lived this life several times over, and each time we save more people, but each time it starts over. We don't know what we're doing wrong to stop this, but whoever we give the serum to in one life, wakes in the next with it and the memories of the previous life. In our case, our previous lives," Octavia stated. "And, so far, it is only Clarke, Raven and I down here on Earth. On the Ark, it is Clarke's mom."

"And, that is why you are strategically putting people in certain areas," Lexa mused.

"Yes, I have also ordered all the missiles to be destroyed and launched. Sinclair, our Raven in the stars, is going to make a spectacular light show tonight as he fires off all the missiles towards the stars. His calculations and coordinates mean that there won't be any issues for us here on the ground," Clarke added.

"What else do you know?"

"There is a woman beside the Ice Queen named Ontari. She is natblida that has one thing on her mind that Nia has programmed her with. She is to kill you and assume the throne with the Flame. In her pursuit to do this, she will kill Aden and the rest to make sure that there will be no conclave. She will ascend as she is the last. Having me, Octavia, and Raven in your back pocket assures that isn't the case."

"But, then you would be able to fight in the conclave," Anya spoke.

"Yes, we would, but we wouldn't. That would be one of the stipulations for our clan in the kongeda. No nightblood from Skaikru or the Arkers would ever be forced to fight in the conclave. We would revoke our right to it with each new birth. We wish to serve heda, not be heda. If anything, someone might take on my mantle of Wanheda," Clarke answered.

"You do know what that means, correct?" Lexa asked her.

"Yes, I do. I know that I am the Commander of Death. And, with being both a fisa and a leader, I do just that. I am here to command death again. I want to save lives, Lexa, not take them. I would never battle you for the right to carry the Flame. When I did take it, it was to save everyone and to continue your legacy of peace and prosperity. It wasn't to erase you. You had been killed by Titus. Ontari destroyed the children. And tried to take it, but Titus gave it to me, much like when Becca gave it to Calliope. I wouldn't let Ontari have it, and she killed Titus for it. When Gaia, Indra's daughter and Titus' sekkon, found out that I had it and I had black blood, I took it. But, it wasn't enough to save us all," Clarke glossed over their history.

"So, Wanheda kom Skaifaya, how do you command us?"

"I want to attack the Mountain, but I need your help."

"Why me? You've already defeated them before you said. Why not use the same technique?"

"Because you betrayed me and were challenged," Clarke answered, slowly rolling her eyes up to meet Lexa's.

"And, yet, you are here to ask for my help?" Lexa challenged her.

"I am, because I know that it is the best thing for both of our peoples. You need us to fell the Mountain and we need your survival skills. I would think that you would see it as a win-win situation. We take out your greatest foe and you get another clan that is superiorly loyal to you and you alone."

"You would swear to me?" Lexa asked, clearly unbelievingly.

"Yes, and I have before. In the wake of felling the Mountain, I became Wanheda and made you look weak. Nia used that against you. Knowing that the only way I could save my people and protect you was to bow to you. If you were seen to control the power of Wanheda," Clarke paused to let the information sink in.

"Then, the ambassadors would have no reason to doubt me."

"Oh, they still would, but the people would back you more. The people aren't their ambassadors, Lexa. They have their own mind, and unfortunately, they are told what the ambassadors and leaders want them to hear. The only other way for them to hear about it is through word of mouth. When we took the Mountain, you freed all of those trapped inside."

"Trapped inside?" Anya questioned.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. Y'all don't know about that," Clarke replied and wiped her hand over her face. She looked up into their eyes and held them for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. This was not exactly on how she planned for this discussion to go, but she had to tell them. "Those that are taken fall into one of two fates. The larger males and females are put into a program and made into reapers. Those that they don't classify big enough are sent into what they call the harvest chamber. From there, they are hung up like animals and drained for their blood."

"Why?" Lexa hissed through clenched teeth.

"Because your blood can handle the radiation. They use your people as medicine and see them as no more than cattle. The reapers were created to protect them. They are hooked on a drug that the Mountain calls 'Red.' I'm not sure what is in it, but it robs them of their senses. They will do anything to get their next dose. So, they comb the countryside looking for more victims. Those victims get cleaned and are quarantined for a day or two. When they are deemed healthy enough, they are split into one of the two catagories. Either way, they die. I want to stop this."

"And, you say you can reverse this in the reapers?" Lexa questioned.

"Yes, it takes time. Some will die because their bodies just can't handle the detox. But, those that we save and start the detox on will die as men, as warriors and not as reapers," Octavia told them. "The ones that are saved will need time before they go back to war. A trip to Luna would do them good."

"You know of the coward?" Anya bit out.

"She maybe a coward by your standard as a gona, Anya, but she is still a leader to her people. She preaches peace and is willing to die for it. But, she also takes in any that come to her, broken, beaten, defeated, or just plain hungry. She doesn't turn anyone away. Her numbers were swelling during the conflicts, but that didn't stop her from supporting the coalition and Lexa. They might not be sisters in blood, but they are sisters still the same. Luna still loves you, but she is afraid of what the wars and battles have turned you into. She'll send healers to help with the mountain, but no warriors. Cooks to feed and supplied, but no warriors to fight your battles for you. She sees the Mountain as a nusiance, but she hoped that they would come peacefully."

"They won't?"

"No, they want us instead. While your blood heals them, ours cures them. If they had enough of us, they would be able to walk the ground again. No suit, no worries, and with lots of guns. It would be devastating for all Grounders. They would lay waste to everything that you've built and kill you for sport. They have no honor and they believe that because they live as those before the bombs, that they are meant to inherit the ground for themselves. They see you as nothing more than animals or at worst slaves to serve them so they don't have to work," Clarke ground out. "I see you as people. My people, the Hundred or what is left us, see you as people."

"So, you would become a clan and join the coalition?" Anya questioned.

"If you'll allow it, but we would be just as happy to join Trikru and swear our allegience to Lexa and the kongeda. We don't want to fight anyone. We aren't as skilled as warriors as you are, but we are still willing to fight to protect what is ours. Which at the moment is just us," Clarke answered.

"What would you call yourselves?" Lexa asked, her anger subsiding slightly.

"You once called us Skaikru. We could use that again. Or, we could be Wanhedakru. I will leave that up to you. I know that either will cause conflict among the clans, especially Azgeda, but we are willing to stand beside you."

"And, what would you ask of me in return?" Lexa inquired.

"The same as the other clans. Freedom to venture among one another. Grounds to hunt and gather on. Free trade between us and the rest of the kongeda. We will follow all the laws that govern the kongeda as a whole, but two that I can directly think of."

"Which are?" Anya probed.

"We will take any Freikreina and see if we can help them medically. I know that the Arkers will do this as well. We will not turn anyone away from us and we will not shun them just because they are different. We will make sure that they stay within our lands, once granted, but they will be allowed to travel with us if they are needed. And, two, you already know where I stand on night bloods."

"Does this mean that you will take in the night bloods that parents wish to hide?" Anya inquired.

"I will, but I will also make them pledge to never seek the throne. This way they can live in peace, but we could also use them to help heal the other night bloods and Heda as needed, if ever needed. I will not sentence someone to die just because of their blood," Clarke stated.

"And, you only ask for these provisions?"

"At this time, yes. I haven't exactly been free to read the articles of the coalition. I've spent most of my time trying to save everyone and not dying. To do that though, the Mountain must fall. But, I don't want to kill everyone inside, either. There are some that have been refusing treatments and are trying to overthrow their government on the inside. I want to save them, even cure them. I will bring them into my clan and protect them. There are only a few, maybe twenty and the children," Clarke said and then turned to receive nods from both Octavia and Raven. "We would donate our marrow to cure them. We would have to use the Mountain to do it. And, I would like to keep the Mountain. I would allow all the ambassadors and even Queen Nia, the Natrona, to watch as we destroy their missiles and other weapons."

"Would you keep fayagon?" Lexa questioned.

"I don't know. I know that some of my people would feel more comfortable with them, but I know that they are taboo for your people. I also know that it would be good to have in case some other faction comes to us bringing a war here."

"Does that happen?" Anya inquired, very curious as to know what may come.

"Sha, but not always in Clarke's lifetime," Octavia answered, hanging her head.

It was then that they realized how much Octavia and Clarke supported each other. Knowing the future and trying to change it, they had died several times over with different effects. It didn't stop their rebirths. They knew of futures that they other didn't and with that knowledge, they were trying to still save everyone even if it was still at their expense. Octavia maybe the warrior, but it was obvious that Clarke was her leader. She didn't like to lead the people, but she could. She was like Anya in that respect, and it was something that Lexa could understand. She could also see how Clarke supported her.

Once again, Clarke reached over and took Octavia's hand. Lexa actually envied their ability to show such emotions. Such acts had been beaten out of her at a young age. There were only two that she defied her teaching and showed emotion for, Anya and Costia. She'd already lost one.

"You've said that if we take down the Mountain we will save lives."

"Yes, it will."

"And, you have an idea on how to do it?" Lexa pushed.

"I do."

"And, it would save her life, too?" Lexa asked Clarke, boring her eyes into Clarke's until the end when she flicked them quickly enough towards Anya before returning to Clarke's, but it was enough.

"It would."

"Then tell me, this plan of yours, Wanheda, and we will see if we accept your terms," Lexa told her.