It had been hours that they'd been wandering, and the sun had started to rise again. Clarke still couldn't feel anything but numb. Her mind whorled with weight of killing the people in Bellamy's village. The sound of the brush rustling barely registered in her head until Bellamy had grabbed her elbow and pulled her back under the cover of the forest. Her eyes barely locked on to the man with a gun pointed towards the camp. And only then did she notice the slight popping of the silenced gun.
"The spotter." She whispered to Bellamy. "He aimed the missile, he's alone."
Clarke started to move around to flank the spotter. Bellamy gripped her arm and she turned to look back at him. "Clarke, slow down. If he's a spotter he's here to make sure we're dead. If he tells the mountain we're alive-"
Clarke cut him off. "He won't tell them."
"How can you be sure?" He asked, a confused tone lacing through his whispered words.
"Because I'm gonna kill him." She said as she pulled away from him. She heard him sigh as he moved to follow her.
"I feel your anger, Clarke." He said as they moved around behind the spotter. Crouching up to get into position.
"Do me a favor," Her head whipped around to glare at him. "no more lessons."
"Clarke, you need to focus," His own voice dripping with annoyance. "we do what we must to survive the enemy does the same. It's not personal."
"It is to me." As Clarke raised her weapon to fire at the man in the army fatigues as another figure draws both their attention and Whitman's. As Whitman turned to fire on Lincoln, Clarke rose from her position.
Whitman's attention diverted to her and Bellamy's unimpressed voice rose to her ears. "So much for the element of surprise."
Lincoln yelled to them that he would draw his fire and Clarke told him that she would as she began shooting at the man. Lincoln charged into the fray as Whitman ducked and dodged her bullets, stopping Clarke from firing at will in fear of hitting Lincoln.
Lincoln's hands were around the man's throat when suddenly Whitman pulled out a tone generator. Lincoln's hands dropped from his neck to cover his ears. The mountain man pulled Lincoln to his feet as he trembled from the tone, even as Whitman's blade bit into his neck.
"Drop the weapon." The frantic voice of Whitman screamed out.
"Just let him kill me then take him out." Lincoln's shaky voice tripped over his words. "Clarke, please your people need you."
"You are my people." Clarke's flat eyes met Lincoln's as she raised her gun to fire a shot through his shoulder into Whitman's heart. The man let go of Lincoln as he stumbled backwards, shock written all over his face before falling to the ground, dead.
Lincoln clutched his shoulder as he curled around his wound. "Good shot."
Clarke's eyes started to water as she looked at Lincoln's wounded form, watching him tremble as the adrenaline wore off and the pain set in. Bellamy came up to stand behind her shoulder. His hand falling on her shoulder, it was then that she realized that she was shaking too.
His deep voice was soft in her ear. "Did that make you feel better?"
"No." She said as tears started to slowly trail down her face. She turned to look up at him over her shoulder as Lincoln blew the horn, letting the people of TonDC that they were free to search the wreckage.
She pulled away from him as she moved towards Lincoln to help him to his feet.
XXXXXXXXXX
Bellamy watched Clarke from the corner of his eye. Her emotions had been all over the place, but she had still risen to every challenge that had placed in front of her, with a sort of single-minded intensity. What should have made her reckless, instead gave her laser focus. What the commanders and every mentor he had chastised him for she had used to her advantage. Though she fallen blank in between moments of stress he was still in awe of her.
But he wondered how much more she could take. Her tears had dried long before they made it back to camp and he could hear her and Lincoln softly talking to each other ahead of him, he couldn't help but be concerned for her, and wish that she would talk to him about it.
The sound of his people calling out to him as they noticed them. Lincoln down in the wreckage with his arms around Bellamy's sister. "Heda!" was being shouted in rising pitch.
He moved forward around the immobile blonde. "What happened here will not stand. The Mountain will fall, the dead will be avenged!"
Abby's angry voice cut through the cheers of his people. "Enough, that's enough." Her glare almost as intimidating as her daughters when she stared him down. "There are still others in the wreckage. We heard them. Go to work!"
He turned back to Clarke who was still staring at the ruins with quiet regret. "With our two people working together, we're gonna win this war, Clarke."
XXXXXXXXXX
Octavia moved towards Clarke who had finally picked her way down to get a closer look at what her inaction had caused. "I thought you and my brother were dead, I'm glad you're not."
The dark-haired grounder's arms came up around Clarke. She hesitated only a moment before she wrapped her arms around her too. "You too."
Clarke's arm dropped as she pulled back. Octavia throwing her a quick smile as she moved away towards the other group of grounders preparing to leave. She spotted her mother treating the wounded and she moved towards her.
She looked around for Kane who was usually not far from her mother and knowing that he was injured she did not expect her mother to be far from him. Her mother stood and looked at her, when she noticed her approach. "How's Kane?"
"He'll live." She said stiffly. Her eyes dropping down before looking back up to meet Clarke's eyes with a significantly softer look. "We could really use your help."
"Can't, we're leaving." The "I'm Sorry" that she wanted to shout was stuck in her throat. There was too much that she was sorry for. "I've arranged for a caravan to take you and wounded back to Camp Jaha."
Abby started to say something, and Clarke cut her off before she could get on with blaming Clarke any further. "The sniper wasn't wearing a hazmat suit."
Abby's eyebrows rose in shock. "The marrow treatment works."
She nodded back to her and with a tight voice replied, "They're gonna kill all my friends."
"Then you should hurry." Clarke started to turn away before her mother's voice floated towards her ears again. "I need you to do something for me, don't forget that we're the good guys."
She nodded and moved back towards Bellamy and his warriors. Her eyes focused in front of her as she tried to ignore everything that was behind her.
XXXXXXXXXX
His warriors were loud around his tent as the tense blonde princess poured over the maps on his desk. He was leaned back into his chair as he worked at calming his mind enough to fall into his mind space and have some discussions with the previous commanders. He could not have them all shouting conflicting messages in his mind during battle.
"What if we're wrong and cutting the power doesn't disengage the locks?" Clarke's voice pulled his focus again. Her distraction was only going to make this that much harder for him. He sighed as she began to mumble to herself under her breath.
He sighed before opening his eyes and responding to her. "You people said it will. You should rest, Clarke."
Her voice rose in volume again, ignoring what he'd just said. "We could blow the doors manually."
He stood up and walked over to her, dropping his hands on her shoulders, pressing lightly to allow her tense shoulders to fall before she gave herself a headache. "Plans don't last very long in battle. Tiring yourself with questions already asked and answered is a waste of energy."
"People died for this, Bell." She turned to look at him over her shoulder and he could see her eyes begin to water again. "It has to work."
"You're doing what I did when I first took command." He dropped his voice to a low whisper, hoping that it would draw her mind away from planning and focused on something else. "We can't move forward and it's giving you too much time to think. Once Wells shuts down the acid fog and the battle beings, everything will be clear."
"What if he can't? What if it was too dangerous and I sent him in there anyway?" She quietly pleaded with him to give her some reassurance, but he couldn't. His heart lurched at her worry for that man.
"You care about him." He said just as quietly, though his tone was questioning.
"I care about all of them." She said as her face twisted in confusion. Her blue darted back and forth between his.
"But you worry about him more." He pressed.
"I couldn't have kept us alive all this time without him. We need him. And now I might be the one who gets him killed." Her voice fretted.
"That's what it means to be a leader, Clarke." He told her, shaking his head. "The truth is, we must look into the eyes of our warriors and say, 'go die for me'."
"If only it were that easy." Her voice turned spiteful as she pulled away from him. "Can we please just get back to the plan?"
"No." He reached for her hand pull her back around to face him. His tone resolute, insistent. "You could be a leader your people look to. Pour their hopes and dreams into. Someone they would fight and die for."
"I never asked for that." He could see her fighting back tears. "I'm just trying to keep us alive."
His hand came up to brush some hair out of her face before resting a moment on her jaw before running the rest of the way down her arm to grab her other hand. "You were born for this, Clarke. Same as me."
XXXXXXXXXX
Clarke sat down next to Octavia who was staring pensively into the fire. "Everything okay?"
Octavia's fierce green eyes met Clarke's stormy blue. "I've been going over it and over it in my head, just trying to figure out how you're still alive."
"What are you talking about?" Clarke feigned ignorance, her eyes darting around to make sure no one could hear them. Her heart aching as she noticed Monroe standing off to the side, listening in covertly.
"I saw you in TonDC before the missile hit. You looked like something was wrong. And then you and my brother just disappear and just happen to survive. Did you know it was coming?"
"Octavia, please." She needed Octavia to stop talking she could see the surprise morphing into something she didn't want to name on Monroe's face.
"You let all those people die. You were gonna let me die, just to save my brother?" Her tone turned almost awe like.
"I couldn't let him die, but mostly I couldn't let Mount Weather know that Wells was inside their walls. Your brother was the one who made me see that. But please Octavia, we can't discuss this here." She stood up as she saw Monroe turn to leave. "I've got to go."
"Hey, Monroe, Wait." She jogged over to her grabbing her arm. "I did it to save Wells. So that we could win this war. Don't you see that? If we'd evacuated TonDC, Mount Weather would've known that someone tipped us off. They would have found him. They are killing our friends."
Monroe's anger was swift. "No. Wells would have never told you to do that. He would've found another way."
"I couldn't take that risk." Her voice was pleading with Monroe.
"Right. Because you're in charge now, and you decide who is disposable. You'd have fit right in on the council. You really are the Sky Princess."
"Monroe, please." She grabbed her elbow. "You can't tell anyone. If people found out-"
She sneered back at Clarke, cutting her off. "The alliance will break. I'm not an idiot, Clarke." She sneered at Bellamy who'd just walked out of his tent, as she passed. She didn't bother to greet him as she moved around him to her guard position just outside of camp.
"She won't say anything." She said as she approached him.
"You can't be sure of that." He said, his eyes following Monroe's retreating figure. "Too many people know, Clarke."
"You worry about your people; I'll worry about mine." Her frustration and fear leaking into her tone as she turned away from him. Not before hearing Bellamy say something to Ryder who was following him around.
Clarke watched Ryder slink off not long after she'd moved around to the other side of camp. Noticed him moving him off in the direction that Monroe had walked in. Her suspicion at what orders Bellamy had given him, growing by the second. When she couldn't quell her nerves, she got up to follow Ryder. She followed him further into the woods, further than Monroe had moved. She was just about to head back when it looked like she had mistaken what his purpose was when he turned to flank Monroe, bow drawn.
She crept up quietly behind him. She only cocked the gun when it was a few inches from his temple. "Don't move." Her voice covered with a steel edge.
"I have my orders." He sounded apologetic but his bow didn't lower.
"I don't care. This is not happening." She grabbed his wrist forcing his hand to lower his bow. "Let's go."
She pressed her gun to his lower back and forced him back towards the camp. Monroe's eyes flashed to her in surprise before lowering in confusion when Clarke shook her head, as they passed.
She moved him through the flap of Bellamy's tent without any preamble. Her voice rising to a near shout as she saw him looming over the map on his table, much like she had done early that week.
"You sent him to kill Monroe? I told you she's not a problem." He told Ryder to leave them but when he moved to leave, she pulled him back by his wrist. "No. I'm not letting him out of my sight."
Only when Bellamy told him to stand down did Clarke let him leave the tent. She moved into his space. "What the hell is wrong with you? You can't just kill everyone you don't trust."
"Yes, I can." He said as he stepped closer to her. His chest brushing hers.
"Well, I won't let you." She said, looking up into his face. Watching his jaw work the muscles of his face.
"You were willing to let her die two days ago." His voice lowered as he leaned his towering frame over her. "Nothing has changed."
"You're wrong." She leaned towards him as well before she pulled back and moved out of his space. Her voice lowering "I have. I can't do this anymore."
"Monroe is a threat. If you weren't so close to her, you'd see that." His tone gentling as hers resigned into defeat.
"That's rich." She scoffed. "It's because I'm close to her that I know she's loyal."
"And you're willing to risk everything on that? On your feelings?" He asked, sounding unsure.
"Yes." She said, pushing off the table. "You say having feelings makes me weak. But you're weak for hiding from them. I might be a hypocrite, Bellamy, but you're a liar. You felt something for Gustus. You're still haunted by Gina. And you protect Octavia as if your life depends on it. You want everyone to think you're above it all, but I see right through you."
He started at her, his eyes tracing her face. Her own eyes dancing over his soft face. "Two hundred and fifty people died in that village. I know you felt for them. But you let them burn."
"Not everyone." He said moving closer to her. His hands reaching out to cup her face. "Not you."
"Well, if you care about me, then, trust me." She said staring up at him. Her own hand coming to rest upon the one on her cheek. "Monroe is not a threat."
He shook his head at her, slipping his hand away from her face. "I can't do that."
"I can't sacrifice my people anymore. If you do anything to hurt Monroe, I'll tell everyone we knew about the missile." She promised. Staring him down for a moment before turning away and leaving his tent. Her face disappointed.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Big Brother." The sound of his sister's voice drawing him away from the table of the Commanders. Their chastisement ringing loudly in his ear. She looked at him tentatively, picking around the mess he had created when Clarke had walked away from him. He hung his head in shame.
"Bell?" She moved into his space. Her hand pulling his face up to her. "What happened here?"
"I happened." He pulled away from his sister, leaning back into the chair behind him. Not meeting her questioning gaze.
"I saw Clarke leave your tent." She sounded hesitant. "She looked upset. Did you have a fight?"
He chuckled humorlessly. "Not in the way you are thinking. She called me out on something." His eyes finally rose to meet hers. "She was right, you know. I'm weak."
"Bell-" She started to deny it. He could tell she wanted to by her body softening towards him.
"No, O, I'm weak for her; because of her." His hands came up to tug at his dark curls. "The other commanders are furious. They say that the commander can have no connections. No family and I'm already failing that because of you. They say it will get me killed. That our people will never accept a commander who allows themselves to be weak."
"Bell, it's not weak. And Clarke is admirable; it's hard not to find someone who will do the things she's done to keep her people alive that way." His sister's hands came up to pull his out of his hair. "The people here find her just as admirable as you do. They talk about her already. She is the stuff of legends, as are you Big Brother."
"I want her to be mine, O." He looked up to her eyes. A soft smile playing on her lips.
"I know." She said. "She can be, you know. If you are brave enough to take her. The commanders are not all knowing. They only add more knowledge to the ones before. And besides, you are Heda now, not them. You can do whatever the hell you want."
He nodded at her a rueful smile playing on his lips. He opened his mouth to respond to her when the flap of his tent swished open and Ryder stalked in. They had gotten the sign that the acid fog was down, and his army could move forward.
He looked at Octavia grinning as he sent Ryder to tell his generals to prepare to move. "O, help me pick up? I need to talk to Clarke before we head to war."
She chuckled at him before helping him to pick up his space. Only when his tent was in a more presentable did she leave, telling Bellamy that she would send Clarke to him.
He paced nervously while he waited. Moments before she entered, he leaned against the table holding the map. "You sent for me?" she asked with a confused voice.
"Yes." He said turning to her. "Monroe has nothing to fear from me. I do trust you, Clarke."
"I know how hard that is for you." She said as she moved to place her hand on his bicep.
"You think our ways are harsh," He sucked in a ragged breath. "but that's how we survive."
"Maybe life should be about more than just surviving. Don't we deserve better than that?" Her blue eyes met his before dancing around his face. Her breathing picked up slightly as he leaned towards her.
He nodded at her. His eyes darting down to her lips. "Maybe we do."
His hands came to rest gently against her jaw. Her eyes flicked down to his lips and that was all he needed to press forward. His lips landed gently on hers. When her hands came up to rest on his arms, he pressed harder against her lips. His tongue brushing lightly against the seam of her lips. She opened her mouth to his with a soft groan.
The sound of her own groan seemed to pull her back to her senses, and she pulled away from him quickly. The sound of their harsh breathing the only sound as their eyes danced on each other's faces.
She was the first to look away as her eyes turned down. "I'm sorry. I- I'm not ready." Her voice soft as the look on her face. "To be with anyone. Not yet."
"Your right and now is not the time." He agreed with her even as his mind played back the memory of their kiss only moments ago. The way she responded to him sent a tingle down his spine. "Wells did it. You were right to have faith in him. Now we fight."
He turned to exit and when Clarke moved to his side, he couldn't stop the smile that played on his lips as he looked down at her, her own face pulled up in a smile back at him. They left the tent together and his people started to cheer for him.
He quieted them with a raised hand. "Sound the horn!" He looked down at Clarke again as the horn blew. "To war!" He yelled as the crowd cheered harder.
XXXXXXXXXX
Clarke stood at his side as Bellamy welcomed in the contingent of her people, his smile small but courteous. "Welcome, Sky Crew. Join us."
Sergeant Miller carefully handed her a premade bomb for the door of Mount Weather. "A package from Raven. Hydrazine. She said it would do the job."
"Good." She said as she looked at him. He told her that her mom wanted to be there too, and she nodded in his direction. " I know, but the wounded in TonDC need her more."
"Field commanders, today's the day we get our people back." He stepped forward away from her side. She watched him as he spoke to their people and the hope that he inspired in them, inspired something warmer in her. "The enemy thinks it's safe behind its doors, but it's not. When it realizes that, it will fight back, hard. We need to be ready."
He looked back to her and Clarke nodded at him, before moving forward. Her hand itching to reach out to his. "This is a rescue mission. We are not here to wipe them out. There are people inside that mountain that have helped us, children who have nothing to do with this war. We kill their soldiers, their leadership if we have to, but we are there to rescue our people. Is that clear?"
The men around the room nodded to her as they murmured in the affirmative. "Then let's begin. There are 4 teams. Two of them at the dam and in the mine are moving into position already. The third inside the mountain is freeing the Grounder prisoners as we speak.
Clarke moved forward to the table holding the map. "It is our job as the fourth team to keep the eyes of the enemy off of them for as long as possible. To do that, we have to be in position here at the main door with our entire army. The mountain men believe the door can't be opened from the outside, so they leave it unguarded. Only it can be, and thanks to our source on the inside, now we know how. According to Maya, the electromagnetic locking system has one flaw. When the power goes out, it disengages. That's where Raven's team comes in. The mountain's electricity is generated at Philpott Dam. By now, they've taken the turbine room."
She looked up at the grounders who surrounded her. "It's their job to blow the power. Once they do, we blow the lock. There is a catch, a backup generator inside the mountain. If the lock is still functioning when that backup power kicks in, we'll never get that door open, we'll never get our people back."
It was Sergeant Miller who asked. "How much time do we have until the backup power kicks in?"
She turned to him. "One minute. That's the window."
"Small window. Why don't we just take out the backup generator, too?" He moved in towards her. "Wells is inside. Have him do it."
She nodded as she listened to him and responded when he finished. "Leaving them without power that long would kill them all, and as I said, that's not the mission. Besides, we lost contact with Wells."
Monroe's face was a picture of surprise when she asked. "We did? When?"
"After he took out the acid fog."
Bellamy moved up beside her to place his hand on her shoulder. "Wells is a warrior. He'll be fine."
Clarke nodded sending him a thankful smile before she moved out from under his hand. "As the commander said, once the door is open, the shooting will start, and they'll throw everything they have at us, but that's what we want. We want them looking at us because while we're fighting at the front door, Indra's team will be escorting the prisoners out the back, right through the reaper tunnels. Once all our people are free, they'll sound the retreat. We'll be back home before Mount Weather even knows they're gone, and that's it. That's the plan."
The grounders murmured excitedly as Bellamy moved back to the dais where his throne sat. "The mountain has cast a shadow over these woods for too long. They've hunted us, controlled us, turned us into monsters. That ends today. Thanks to our alliance with the Sky People, the mountain will fall. As Clarke said, we spare the innocent. As for the guilty."
He paused for a moment to look at the people around him. His eyes catching on Clarke's as he said. "Jus dren just daun" The grounders picking up the chant as it rose in volume throughout the camp.
XXXXXXXXXX
Bellamy watched Monroe drill into the door with a machine he'd never seen before in his life. "That should do it." She said after what had seemed like hours of work. "Bombs away."
Clarke reminded the Sergeant to be careful as he placed the bomb in the hole that had just been created. He nodded at her, but his hands still trembled.
Bellamy turned to his people, "Archers, watch the trees." He looked around himself, knowing the eyes of the Mountain were on them and time was running short. He wanted to turn around and protect as many people as he could that still lived but there was a feeling in his gut that he didn't like.
Lincoln's soft words to the older man caught his ears, drawing his eyes back towards the door. "Hey. You can do this."
"What if we're too late?" The older Miller asked Lincoln as he tried to calm his trembling hands.
"What if we're not?" Lincoln reminded him. "Draw strength from your son."
"This mountain has taken too much from both of us, hasn't it?" He said as he finished sliding the bomb home. The beep of the device being activated, resounded loudly in his ears, sending his gut up into his throat though his passive mask stayed on.
For hours he stood at Clarke's side as their army waited. The twilight of night eventually fell before Clarke made an impatient move. "It's taking too long."
"It takes as long as it takes." He reminded her. The twist of her smile told him that she remembered the last time they had discussed that very thing. "What will you do when it's over?"
Clarke looked at him for a moment before she said. "I have no idea."
"Well, what do you want?" He pressed. His palms growing sweaty under his dark fingerless gloves.
"Nothing." She shook her head. "My people back. I can't think past today."
"You should come with me to the capital." He dared a look at her. Her blue eyes holding his brown. "Polis will change the way you think about us."
"You already have." She said with a rueful smile.
Any further conversation of the future was cut off by the sound of distant gunfire. Lincoln perked up as he shifted closer to Clarke. "It's coming from the dam."
"They know we're going for the power." Her voice was choked as her open face looked at him, begging him to deny it.
He shook his head. "They know we're going for the door."
He didn't hear the rest of what was said as he drowned in the dark blue of her ocean eyes. The storm in her coming out of her eyes, and he felt as if he was being tossed around by it.
XXXXXXXXXX
The sound of the bombs blowing the damn met her ears before she turned her excited face to Bellamy. "She did it."
Sergeant Miller started the countdown behind her as the lights on the door flicked off. "One minute starting now."
"For those we've lost" Clarke said, holding out the remote detonator to Bellamy as she started up at him with a soft smile on her face.
He returned her smile, equally as soft. "And those we'll soon find." They both pressed down on the button that should have set the bomb off. His confused face meeting hers as he asked. "What's wrong? Why isn't it working?"
"They're jamming us. I have to get closer." Clarke stepped out from behind cover to move towards the door. Lincoln screamed her name as the gunfire started to rain down on them; He jumped from cover to pull her back.
"45 seconds! If I can get there, I can trigger it manually." Sgt. Miller said. Clarke tried to disagree with him, but he turned his solemn face to her. "For Nate, I have to try."
At Bellamy's shout in his language the grounders formed a shield around Sgt. Miller as they moved closer to the door. The gunfire increasing in tempo the closer they got.
"30 seconds!" Clarke cried out. When suddenly a bullet hit the toe of one of the grounders who fell to the ground, exposing the others. Before her eyes her hope crumbled as quickly as the shield wall had. She had a stray thought that at least now she wouldn't have to break the news to Miller that his father was dead, because she would never be able to get to them now.
"We'll find another way in." Bellamy said as his hands turned her face away from the dead grounders to meet his stare.
"There is no other way in. You know that." She felt the desperation leaking into her voice.
Lincoln's voice pulled both of their attention as he said, "We don't need one." as he drew back on the flaming arrow in his grip. Clarke started to count down the remaining seconds. Lincoln's arrow hit the bomb right as Clarke said one. She held her breath as the bomb exploded. When the light stayed off, she couldn't stop the surprised laughter that fell from her lips
"We need to get to that ridge and take out the shooters." Bellamy said. When Lincoln moved to head towards the ridge. He stopped him, with a hand on his arm. The look they shared spoke volumes to Clarke about how close they had been. "No! You stay with Clarke. When the shooting stops, you get that door open."
Bellamy didn't stop to see the nod that Lincoln gave him. Clarke watched his retreating back with a sense of dread. She couldn't wait for this to be over and for him to be back in her line of sight and out of danger.
XXXXXXXXXX
Bellamy moved as quickly as he could on quiet feet in the brush surrounding the ridge where the gunmen were perched. He motioned for his archers to spread out and get in place. He moved forward to start the attack, but the sight of a man with his arms held high, stopped him in his tracks.
"My name is Carl Emerson, Mount Weather Security Detail. I'm here to speak with the Commander." The man repeated over and over again. He didn't fight when Bellamy sent men out from their cover to bind him.
Bellamy finally moved from the cover of the forest despite Roma and Ryder telling him to stay put. "Carl Emerson, what do you want from us?"
"It's not what we want from you." He said with a sinister grin on his face. "It's what you want from us."
Bellamy's heart dropped into his stomach, but he couldn't stop himself from asking, "Why should I listen to you when we are about to take what we want?"
"Because I'm here to offer you a deal that you'll never see again. I deal that keeps all of your people safe, no more bloodshed." Carl Emerson looked smug as he spoke to Bellamy.
The relief that rushed through him was swift and warm as a summer morning. "What do you mean? You are going to release mine and Clarke's people? Just like that?"
"Not Clarke's people." The relief that had been coursing through him only a moment ago, fled at those words. He felt heavy with dread as Emerson pressed on. "We need them. Their sacrifice will mean we never have to take another grounder again. It means you will have nothing to fear from us ever again."
"Why should I believe you?" Bellamy hissed.
Emerson motioned to the radio at his hip. When Bellamy pulled the radio off the clip and told whoever was on the other end of the line to speak, the radio crackled for a moment before he heard a pleased voice float across to him. "Commander, my name is Cage Wallace. I am the leader of the Mountain Men as you call us. We have all of your prisoners at the front door, ready to be released."
Bellamy was about to ask again why he should believe them when a feminine voice speaking Trigedasleng "Heda, my name is Echo, I am Azgeda and we are free from the cages. We are standing in front of a large metal door."
The pang in his heart told him this was the wrong thing to do, but every fiber of his brain was shouting at him to accept this. That his people had suffered enough, and he could spare them anymore. He tried to find anyway to work around this, but nothing came to mind.
"You may have your truce," He growled. He knew he had just lost any hope of what he and Clarke could have been. "but I will not stop Clarke. She will want her revenge and it may be worse than you think it will be. She will not go softly into the night."
"Leave her to us." Emerson said and Bellamy flinched at the praise the other commanders flung at him.
XXXXXXXXXX
When the shooting stopped, a cheer went up around them. Suddenly there was a movement under the metal of the shield wall, Monroe pointed it out in surprise. Clarke sent them over to make sure whomever was still alive was able to get out from under the heavy metal. Clarke watched Monroe approach them with Lincoln covering her. She shouted back when they lifted the metal that it was Sgt. Miller and he was okay. They pulled him out and helped him to limp back behind the lines.
"They'll be waiting just inside the door." She shouted. "Train your fire on the door."
Lincoln shouted in his language and some of the grounders moved forward to attach the hooks to the door. The lines of ropes of trailing out behind them. With the lines secured Lincoln shouted for them to pull on the doors.
The doors were barely open when Clarke gave the command to attack now only to have Bellamy's deep voice call for them to stand down. His body was radiating tension and regret was pouring from his deep brown eyes.
"What is this?" She asked as he closed in on her. A man behind her shouted that they were coming out and Clarke turned to look at the door to see grounders coming out holding on to one another. "They're surrendering?"
She turned back to Bellamy with a question in her eyes when Emerson came out around his shoulder. "Not quite." Emerson taunted as Bellamy's guards cut the binds on his hands.
"What did you do?" Her eyes darted between Emerson and Bellamy. Her jaw slack as she pleaded silently for him to not have done what she was thinking.
His next words crushed what little hope she'd had. "What you would have done. Saved my people."
"Where are my people?" The tears started to well in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Clarke." He said, the regret pouring off him in waves that almost knocked her over. She knew what his next words were going to be before they were said, but he said them anyways. "They weren't part of the deal."
"You made the right choice, Commander." Emerson's voice was smug, and she wanted to slit his throat for it.
Lincoln approached her, his hand falling on her shoulder as she turned her face down to the floor. "What is this?"
"Your commander's made a deal." She bit out. Her eyes straining to keep the tears from falling.
"What about prisoners from the Ark?" Lincoln asked, his head shaking as his hand dropped from her shoulder.
"They'll all be killed" She said. Her eyes came up to look in his eyes, the tears finally falling from her eyes. "But you don't care about that, do you?"
"I do care, Clarke," His whisper was loud in her ears. She could tell he genuinely regretted his decision, but her heart couldn't forgive him for this. "But I made this choice with my head and not my heart. The duty to protect my people comes first."
"Please don't do this." She begged, her lip trembling.
Bellamy reached out to her, but she pulled away before he could reach her. "I'm sorry, Clarke." His eyes flickered down before they caught on hers again.
"Commander, not like this." Lincoln tried. "Let us fight."
"No. The deal is done." He shook his head. "You, too. All our people withdraw. Those are the terms."
"They'll be slaughtered. Let me help them." Lincoln begged and Clarke turned to him and shook her head, telling him not to fight. And when Bellamy said that they would meet again, she met his eyes with a furious glare, hoping he understood she would kill him if they did.
She stood frozen to her spot as the rest of her people tried to convince her to leave with them. When Monroe told her to "come on" that it "was over". Clarke turned her eyes back towards the door. "It can't be over."
She turned on her heel and ran to the tunnel. When she rounded the final corner where the door to Mount Weather was, she saw Octavia still standing outside the door. "Octavia. You stayed."
"Of course, I stayed." She said, her voice even.
"We have to get in there." Clarke said.
Octavia turned to her, "If that was possible, do you think I'd still be out here? Why did Bellamy sound the retreat?"
"He made a deal with Mount Weather," She turned her distraught face to Octavia. "freed the rest of your people, and now I'm on my own. You should probably head back to him."
Clarke moved forward to bang on the door and Octavia shouted. "Stop! They'll know we're here." The frustration leaked into Clarke's movements as her hand jerked down to the gun at her waist, pulling it out she raised it, aiming at the keypad on the door. Octavia leapt forward in surprise. "What are you doing?"
"I am getting through that door." Clarke ground out as tears leaked down her cheeks.
"Clarke -" Octavia gets cut off by the sound of the door beeping. Clarke raised her gun, expecting it to be mountain men only for it to be Wells, Jasper, Monty and Maya. The relief she felt was overwhelming. She moved towards them in a daze, her arms reaching out to hug the three boys.
"Where's your army?" Wells asked, his eyes traveling her face as she stared at him.
"Gone just like yours." She pulled away to survey the boys. "Say you have a plan."
"Not really. We need to talk to Dante. Maya says he's in quarantine." Wells said before a beeping comes from Maya's hazmat suit.
"Thirty minutes." Jasper mumbles. "And we just changed it. That can't be right. Uh, shi- um- It's her last tank." Jasper looks up at Clarke.
"All the supplemental oxygen is on level five." Maya said.
There is a look in Jasper's eyes that Clarke had never seen before as he turned to Maya. "Then we have to get you to level five."
"Five isn't safe for any of us." Maya shook her head as she looked pleadingly at Clarke.
"We'll take the trash chute again." Jasper's hands tremble at his sides as he promises. "It will work."
"To get in, maybe." Wells scoffed. His eyes weary as he looked at the others. "Maya's right. Every soldier in this mountain is there. We'll never make it out."
Jasper looked up to Clarke and begged her with his eyes to help him save Maya. She nodded at him. "We will split up. Get her some more oxygen and get her to Camp Jaha as quickly as possible. There is an airlock there she can stay in until we can get her some treatment. The right way."
Jasper smiled at her once more, Octavia said that she would go with him to help her. Leaving Monty, Wells and her to head off towards Dante. The guys filled her in on what had been happening since they lost connection with Wells. They opened the door to Dante's room, and he turned his face up to greet her, his body drawn with exhaustion and regret.
"Sir, we need your help again." Wells told him.
Monty assured him that they could talk freely because he took out the camera from the junction box. Dante met them with a rueful face. "No one's watching, anyway. Thanks to you, they're all on level five."
"You're not." Clarke pointed out. Her mind whirling, wondering who now was left alive if any of them were.
"No." He agreed. "I'm not."
"Please. We don't have much time." Wells begged, moving in towards Dante. "We need a way to get our people out of this mountain without killing everyone."
"He's not gonna help us." She told Wells; her voice resigned as she turned away.
"You cut the power, risking the lives of everyone in this mountain" He shouted at her. "My people, even the ones who helped you."
Clarke rounded on him, furious. "We knew they'd be safe on level five. We made sure not to destroy the turbines so you could repair them. We're the good guys here, not you."
"Tell me, if we released your people and theirs," He stood up and moved towards her. Wells stepped up in between us. "what would've happened to mine?"
Clarke turned to Monty. "Can you get us into the command center? We need to see what's happening on level five." He agreed that it would be no problem. She turned to Dante grasping him by his elbow and hauling him out behind her. "Let's go. You're gonna help us, whether you like it or not."
They moved quickly through the halls, Wells and Clarke had guns at the ready. "I told you, there's no one here." Dante said.
"Sorry if we don't take your word for it." She bit out as she yanked him to a stop in front of the command center door. "Why aren't you with your people on level five?"
"After what I've done, they can be free." He shrugged. His tired face turned to her as she watched Monty work on unlocking the door. "I can't. Deliverance comes at a cost. I bear it so they don't have to."
Wells voice was appalled. "It wasn't Cage. It was your idea to make the deal with the Grounders."
Dante nodded as Monty looked up at her. "Got it. We're in."
"It's clear. He's telling the truth." Wells said as he scanned the room, pushing Dante towards the corner.
"Let's get the monitors up." Clarke told Monty as he sat down at the computer.
When the monitors came up, she was horrified. Raven was laid down on the table; her arms, legs, neck and torso strapped down. Her screams would echo in Clarke's head for the rest of her life. "Oh, my god." She whispered.
"Is that Raven?" Wells asked, though she could see in his face that he knew it was. She moved in closer to the monitors to look at who was still alive. She saw the faces of her people chained to the wall. Miller and his dad as they leaned towards each other, Kane begging for them to stop. She breathed out heavily as she whispered for her mother. Her words must have spurred Wells because suddenly he was moving towards the radios. He grasped one and moved back towards Dante, a furious look on his face. "Tell them to stop. Now."
"I won't do that." Dante stood tall, refusing to look at Wells.
Clarke moved back towards Wells and took the radio from him. Her voice was sharp when she called into it. "Carl Emerson, Mount Weather Security Detail, come in."
She watched him look around before he pulled the radio out, "Who is this?"
"You know who it is. Give the radio to the president." She watched him clench his jaw before he moved back away from the way he had come. Monty pulled up another camera on the main monitor, a man in a crisp suit and slicked back hair spoke with Emerson before he grabbed the radio from Emerson.
"This is President Wallace." His voice crackled across the radio.
"I have your father. If you don't let my people go, I'll kill him." She told him. She watched him move out of the room with her people and into the hallway. Monty switched up the camera again.
"How do I know you have him?" He asked.
Clarke moved towards Dante, shoving the radio in his face. "Stay the course, Cage." His voice is wispy.
Clarke can see Cage's nervous movement on the monitor as he paces the hallway. Telling her that she won't do it. "You don't know me very well. This ends now. Release my people."
"I can't do that." Cage's voice had a pleading edge to it.
Dante's wispy voice is begging her to understand. "It would mean the end of our people, Clarke."
She tugs at the ends of her hair before turning her gun on Dante. Wells moved closer to her whispering that they needed him.
"And I need his son to believe me." She said to Wells before bringing the radio to her mouth and begging Cage to not make her do this.
"Dad" Cage sounds choked up and Clarke looks to the screen to see him staring up at the camera. "I'll take care of our people."
"None of us has a choice here, Clarke." Dante said as he took a step closer to her, where she had backed away to when she pulled the gun.
There are tears in her eyes when she said, "I didn't want this." once again raising her gun to him. Dante agreed that he didn't either, his gaze steady on her but she can see the fear that lingered in his eyes. She pressed the button down on the radio as she placed her finger on the trigger.
There is regret that filtered through the pain when the bullet hit his chest. The hand holding the radio falling limply to her side. A harsh groan pulled through his lips as blood started to spill out of his body. She is dimly aware that Monty and Wells are looking at her in shock. She turned away from him when his body hit the floor and the warm blood that had been leaking from him started to pool. The tears flood down her cheeks as she turned away.
She looked up at the screen to see Cage having a fit in the hallway. She brought the radio back up to her lips. "Listen to me very carefully. I will not stop until my people are free. If you don't let them go, I will irradiate level five. Cage listen to me. I don't want anyone else to die. Stop the drilling, and we can talk. There must be a way to get us all out of this."
She watched him turn to move back into the room where they were drilling into her friends. He pulled Emerson aside gesturing wildly before Emerson nodded and left the room. She turned to Monty. "Emerson is coming for us."
Wells' is quick on his feet as always. "They deactivated my key card. Can you do that to his?"
"That one's easy." Monty said and quickly got to work.
"The dorm. Monty, can you do it?" Her pain filled eyes meet his. "Can you irradiate the level?"
Monty agreed that he could do it. But it was Wells' moral dilemma that drew her attention away from Monty who had started to hack their system. "Wait a second, Clarke. We need to think about this. There are kids in there" She agreed with him, but he continued anyway. And people who helped us."
"Then please give me a better idea." She turned to him. He stepped back from her as he took in her desperation, tears trickling down her face still. She turned back to the monitors only to watch Cage take Raven off the table before they moved her mother to the table that Raven had just vacated. "What have I done?"
Wells tried to reason with her again as they both watched Abby scream as the drill entered her hip. "Clarke, if we do this, there is no going back."
She ignored him as she watched her mother writhing in pain. The lack of sound from the keyboard that Monty sat at caught her attention. "Why are you stopping?" She asked, turning to her friend.
"Because I did it." He said. The tension at what he'd done written all over his face. "All we have to do is pull this. Hatches and vents will open, and the scrubbers reverse, pulling in outside air."
The sound of someone at the door drew her attention back to the monitors and away from her friend's pain laced face. He told her that they were out of time as she watched Emerson setting charges on the door. Her eyes flicked back towards the screen that held her mother as she moved forward to place her hand on the level. "I have to save them." She said as she turned her tear stained face to Wells, begging him to understand. He looked just as lost as she felt as she pulled the lever.
Alarms started to beep; the whirl of the fans paused a moment before she heard them start back up. All over the screens she sees the people of the mountain, clutching at themselves as they started to burn from the radiation. Her heart free falling as she looks at the children who were innocent laying in heaps around level five.
Movement in the hall catches her attention as she watched Octavia, Jasper and Maya moving towards the exit. She has no way to tell them that Cage is moving in on them as he ran away from what he had done. She watched in horror as Cage rounded the corner that brought him up behind the trio. He is saying something to them before they took off running, Jasper and Maya away from Cage and Octavia towards him.
Octavia cut off the hand that held the gun but not before Clarke watched a bullet hit Maya in the chest. Octavia's sword is thrust up through Cage's soft stomach and he dropped to the ground in a heap. She turned to see that Monty was already gone; running for his friend.
Clarke closed her eyes away from the sight of what she had caused. "Let's go get our people." She told Wells, weary from what they had done. They moved slowly out of the room. Wells hesitant around her. When they turn the corner to the dorm Kane is helping her mother sit up off the table. "Mom" She called before rushing to her mother's arms, tears falling again from her eyes. "I tried. I tried to be the good guy."
"Maybe there are no good guys." Abby said, tears in her eyes as well. She pulled Clarke's head to her shoulder as she stroked Clarke's hair.
It's hours before they get back to Camp Jaha. She can feel the strain on her body. The people who know what she had done already looked at her like she was a monster. She knew it would only be a matter of time before everyone knew what she did. Jasper was a mess of pain from the loss of Maya. So many of her people had been injured in the mountain. Wells could hardly look at her and Monty held the tension over him like a blanket.
She trailed the end of the caravan of her people entering Camp Jaha. Her feet slowing the closer they got. She could see Wells ahead standing near the gate watching the rest of their people enter.
She didn't realize that Monty had dropped back beside her until she heard his voice. "You did what you had to do, Clarke. Everyone will see that."
Clarke looked over to him before dropping her eyes to study the ground. "I'm not coming in, Monty. They won't accept me after this. I need to be away to give them time to come to grips with what happened."
"Will you come back?" He asked, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. He didn't wait for an answer before he told her. "I don't feel safe if you're not around anymore. No one had ever protected me the way you protected us. Even at great personal risk. You will always have a place with me."
"Thank you, Monty." She pulled him into a brief hug. Her hand rested on his shoulder as she told him, "May we meet again."
He nodded before he moved into the camp, his hands shoved in his pockets once again. Wells moved towards her, his eyes still unable to lock on hers, though his tone tried for lightness. "We'll get through this."
"I'm not going in." she said as she sniffled back tears.
"What? Please come inside." He turned to look at her now.
"Take care of them for me." She shook her head as he tried to interrupt her. "No. Seeing their faces every day is just gonna remind me of what I did to get them here."
"You don't have to do this alone." He whispered.
She looked up at their people, some of them broken and bent from the ordeal they'd just been through, before she looked up at Wells. "I bear it, so they don't have to. May we meet again." She said before she turned away from her people and wandered off into the woods. She could feel Wells' eyes on her until the trees hid her from view. Once she had moved far enough away, she found a pocket of Earth to hide herself in. she pulled her jacket tightly around herself and cried until she passed out.
