I am the one star that keeps burning, so brightly,
It is the last light, to fade into the rising sun

Echo opened the door to find Bellamy slipping on a shirt. She frowned at the image on his back. Last she had seen him unclothed was at Mount Weather.

"What is it, Echo?" his deep voice rumbled.

"Dinner. Monty sent me to get you."

He sat on his bed to pull on his boots. "Then let's go."

The Azgeda spy was quiet through most of the meal, her brow creased in thought. She turned to their leader. "What is the picture on your back? I don't remember it being so big or colorful."

All noise stopped. The rest of the crew glanced between Bellamy and Echo. Emori spoke up.

"What picture?"

"Your soul mark?" Monty queried. "It changed?"

Harper began to get excited. "Seriously? That means-"

"Yeah." He smiled at his companions. The last of the 100 laughed and cheered.

"I'm confused," Emori said. "What is a soul mark? Why are you excited?"

Murphy took up the explanation. "About 70 years ago, soul marks showed up on the Ark. It was in the lower sections mainly. Two people were born with matching marks. As they grew to love each other, their marks changed." He gestured to Harper and Monty. "Show them."

The couple raised the sleeves of their shirts. Vines of ivy circled their forearms, disappearing under cloth. Monty was on his right arm, while Harper's was on her left. When they clasped hands, the vines seemed to intertwine.

"At some point, the marks line up," Raven continued. "It starts small, maybe two inches tall." Standing, she pulled her shirt up to show a two-inch feather on each of her shoulder blades.

Echo turned to Bellamy. "In Mount Weather, yours was maybe this big." She held up her fingers four inches apart. "You had met your match."

"Boy, did he," Murphy interjected. "From the moment we landed. I was there when they touched for the first time. There was sparks."

The eldest rolled his eyes. "There wasn't sparks, Murph. There was . . . awareness."

Emori leaned forward. "That's when you knew? When did you find out for sure?"

He glanced up, thinking. "We were on the ground for three days. She tripped over a root, spraining her ankle. I wrapped it up and saw it."

After he had been quiet for a bit, she prompted, "And?"

"We decided to ignore it. Too much was happening at that time. We didn't want to complicate it."

Harper smiled as she rested her head on Monty's shoulder. "She loved you when you entered Mount Weather if it was already four inches. Hers was about the same size, if not larger."

"Gina hated it," Raven commented. "She bitched about it. Said she could practically see it growing and changing."

Bellamy sighed. "You weren't the only one she bitched about it to. Every morning, she would see it and frowned. 'If she loves you so much, why isn't she here?'"

"Can we see it?" the disfigured Grounder asked. She turned to the couple. "How far do yours go?"

"Up our shoulders and down to our ribs," Monty answered. He was actually curious about Bellamy's as well. Last time he had seen it was not long after they returned to space. "Bell?"

He sighed again. "How much do you want to see?"

"What you're comfortable with showing," the farmer said, as Raven stated, "The whole thing."

He scowled at the mechanic. "I ain't stripping." He got up and turned his back to the table before removing his shirt. There, in shade of dark blue to light purple, was the back of a dragon, its wings lying flat. The hind end disappeared into his pants. Turning, he showed how one of its knees was positioned over his right hip. One of its arms was resting low on his ribs on his right while the other was reaching over his left shoulder. Sky blue eyes stared back at the group from its place on his right shoulder blade, its snout resting on his pectoral.

"How far down does it go?" Murphy questioned.

"The tail raps around my right leg down to my ankle," he pulled his shirt back on. "The other leg is down my left thigh."

"Holy shit," was breathed.

"What about the last time you saw her?" Harper was anxious for the answer. "How big was hers?"

He smiled. "Her stomach. I just saw the neck."

The blonde turned to Raven. "How much longer? We need to get back down there."

"Eighteen more months."

"What happened if one dies before the other?" Echo asked.

"The color fades and becomes a scar."

"Her and your sister must be happy to have just a little piece of you. Your sister is with your soul's mate and knows you're still alive, and she has your sister," Emori said. She frowned when Skaikru went quiet. "What?"

"It's Clarke," Bellamy said quietly. "Clarke is my soulmate."

I am the one voice in the cold wind, that whispers
And if you listen, you'll hear me call across the sky

Madi watched the surrounding area as Clarke bathed. She sighed in frustration. They were the only two people on the surface; everyone else was either below the ground or up in space.

"It's because of the wildlife, Mads," the blonde called back to her adopted daughter.

"What wildlife?" The pre-teen heard the displacement of the water.

"We don't know what survived Praimfaya, or if there are more mutations."

As she dried off, the girl studied the ancient beast that wound around her body. Clarke had called it a dragon. Its scales were dark red, bleeding down to orange. "It's bigger."

Blue eyes met hers when the older girl looked over her shoulder. "Is it?"

"The nose is at the top of your shoulder now. You can rest your chin on it."

A small smile graced her lips as she did just that. "I think you're right."

Later that night, as Madi laid beside her, Clarke wrapped her arms over her chest, her left hand going to her right shoulder, her right to her left ribs. If a person saw her doing this while naked, it would look like she was holding the dragon's claws. Closing her eyes, a tear escaped.

"Tell me a story."

She startled at hearing the girl's voice. "What do you want to hear?"

"Of the Rebel King and the Brave Princess."

"Which story tonight?"

"When they knew they were meant for each other."

"Hmm. When the 100 fell from the stars, the Rebel King quickly took control, while the Brave Princess just wanted them to survive. A few days on the ground, some much had happened. The Princess was tired; she was constantly worried for her people. One was severely injured, a few others were missing, a couple were dead. She tripped over a root and sprained her ankle."

"Did she know to look where she walked?"

"Not yet. The Rebel King found her and carried back to their camp. He took off her boot and sock, then just stared at her ankle. On it was a little figure that was legend before the first Praimfaya. He wrapped up her ankle and didn't say anything else. A few days later, when he was working on the wall, she saw why he reacted how he did. On his lower back was the same mark. That night, she confronted him about it. They didn't like each other at the time, so they decided to do nothing."

Madi groaned. "Clarke."

"It was when the Princess was taken by the Mountain that she realized that her feelings had changed. Then saw the proof that the King felt the same way. Her mark began to grow and change daily, even after the Mountain was defeated, and she left her people. Until one day, she noticed that it hadn't changed in a few weeks."

She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "She knew he was still alive; the dragon still had color. But that meant the King no longer was feeling the same way. A month later, she was proved wrong. The Ice King had captured her and was taking her to the High Queen. The Rebel King had braved snow to find her, to rescue her. When the Ice King went to kill the Rebel King, the Princess offered her life for his."

"Brave Princess."

"The High Queen wanted the Princess to say with her, to be her new Princess. She really wanted to return to her King and their people, to be his Princess again, but she stayed with the High Queen."

"Did she love the Queen?"

"She did but loved her King more. Everything she did was for him. To keep him and their people safe. The High Queen was killed by one of her most trusted advisors, and a new High Queen was crowned. This Queen was being controlled by the Queen of Light. A lot of people died because they didn't want to be under the Queens' rule."

"Not just the Princess' people?"

"No. The people from the sky, the trees, the ice. If they did not accept both Queens, they died. The Princess was able to stop the Queen of Light after one of her people killed the High Queen."

Madi huffed. "Will you get back to the King and his Princess? Did they finally get together?"

"Hey. I had to tell you what happened to get them close to being together."

"Close?!"

"Praimfaya was close. Everyone was under the ground, except for a small group. The group was getting ready to return to space. The King and Princess were bathing and realized that their marks had grown since the Mountain. They pledged to be one when they returned to the stars. She begged him to take the medicine to turn his blood to night, just in case. He refused."

"Would I have had a nontu as well as a nomon?" she asked in a small voice.

"Maybe." Clarke turned onto her side, cradling the girl. "The last of the star children needed him. He was their King."

They let the silence of the night cover them. "How much longer, nomi?"

"Three more months. Ninety days."

As long as I still can reach out, and touch you
Then I will never die

Over a year after the schedule return, Bellamy and the rest of the new Skaikru landed. Clarke and Madi raced to met them. They watched as the Rebel King and his Brave Princess stared at each other, taking in the differences six years had brought. Clarke's hair was shorter, barely brushing the top of her shoulders, with a strand of pink. Bellamy now sported a beard.

The distance seemed to shrink between them. He cupped her cheek, proving to himself that she was really standing before him. She traced the freckles across his nose. Pulling each other close, their lips met for the first time.

"See," Murphy said. "Sparks."

That night, after everyone bunked down, Clarke led her King to a cave not to far from the village. Inside was a natural hot spring. In waist-high water, they embraced.

Echo had followed them. Since discovering what the mark on Bellamy's back meant, she was curious on how it joined with Clarke's. She found them in the water. The Princess' back was to her. Torch light flicked over them, giving her plenty of light to see.

The red dragon on Clarke's back did line up perfectly with Bellamy's blue beast. The snouts met; their claws reached for the other. She quietly backed away. Murphy met her outside the cave.

"Are you gonna quit now?" he asked softly. "We warned you he only sees her." She just stared at him before walking past to return to the village.

The misfit rebel checked on his leaders, seeing exactly what the Ice warrior saw. Finally, after nearly seven years, the King had his Princess.