Clarke and Wells follow after the woman, squeezing past the moose carcass at the bottle neck opening of the alcove. The Grounder man swings between them and the extra weight causes them to almost slip into a sink hole. The woman's hand shoots out and curls around Clarke's grimy shirt, yanking her back to balance as they head desperately into the wall of light they know to be the entrance.

When they make it outside the twenty or so wolves look glum, some are washing themselves in the lake while others are lying unconscious on the ground.

"Where's Octavia?"

"She sprinted back inside when we dropped the kid and of course that idiot Atom would go too, Finn gave us Charlotte but then took after them; I don't even know how Octavia is moving." Murphy has a hand against his reddening eye. "Charlotte is with our wolves in the shade."

The woman hears this and after murmuring to the Grounder man sprints back into the cave. The urgency in her movements has Clarke following without thought and Wells coming right behind her.

The ten left have been pushed within yards of the entrance, the creature slithering after their steps. The flames have consumed parts of the Lerna's skin and muscle. Its dried skin has peeled back revealing blacken bones and pulsing organs. One of its heads thump along the ground, the neck not obeying commands to lift, cerebral fluids leak out of a cut in its temple.

Finn has the Grounder girl draped on his shoulder and his arm around Octavia's torso. Atom is on Octavia's other side, tugging at the girl towards safety. Bellamy is desperately attempting to keep the Lerna at bay from his sister. The Grounder woman rushes pass the wounded and slides next to Bellamy, sword slashing to block a potentially deadly bite. She deters as many of the Lerna's lunges as she is able to but the group is losing ground.

Its fringed gills spring open as it shrieks at the group, slamming wolves it has gripped in its tail into the walls of the caves. A wolf's skull caves in and when the beast uses the dead as a club they all dodge back but can feel their bodies get spattered by fluids.

The monster is raging, smashing down at the group again and again until the entire ground trembles beneath their feet.

Clarke takes the Grounder girl and shifts her into Atom's arms. He's limping too hard to really help Octavia without dragging them both down but can at least manage the fainted girl. "GO!"

Atom struggles with the new weight but obeys Clarke's order. He disappears into the bright wall of light as Wells rushes into the fray to give Clarke more room to work. The earth quakes as the battle continues. Octavia drops back as she slips on the squirming wounded head of the hydra, her weight jolts that part of the Lerna to action. Its saucer wide eyes spin to focus on Octavia as it opens its maw to take her entire leg between its teeth.

There's a crashing echo beneath them that stills even the Lerna for a moment. The ground in the deeper regions of the den starts caving in. The floor empties out and a gaping dead drop begins to swallow everything within the cave. The sands drain down beneath the great beast, sinking the Lerna's hind quarters lower into a bottomless pit. It's wails are pitching higher and higher in tone and volume as it distresses over its plummet. Clarke watches Wells almost get dragged off the shifting sands before Bellamy manages to snatch onto his arm.

The gaping hole is only growing and it has the Lerna which means Octavia is sliding back with the deadweight of the dying head. Both Finn and Clarke fling themselves after her but their momentum has them both veering dangerous near the edge. A sword is hurled clean through the hydra's neck, making it open its jaws on Octavia but they are already moving down too fast. The trio slide with the sands until Clarke feels her momentum jarred to a sudden halt by a boulder. She ignores the shattering pain in one of her arms and thinks of nothing else but twisting around to grab Finn and Octavia. Clarke screams as Finn grasps onto the arm she's sure she has broken while her other hand is tight around Octavia's wrist. Octavia has fainted and dangles without movement at the end of her grip. Clarke shifts so she has her knees against the curved boulder that has saved them tilting over the edge. She keeps her body taunt since the boulder is her only leverage point, knowing if she slackens and tilts then all three of them will be joining the Lerna. Finn is grasping onto Clarke's but he's hanging over the edge and any attempts at finding a foothold are only causing her more pain and draining her dwindling strength.

"Don't you fucking dare let go of my sister, Clarke." Bellamy shouts from the other side of the cave, he's tugging at Wells with hands just to keep them both from careening in but he lets one go as a warning, the action has Wells slamming into the jagged fallen out edge and the motion almost has Bellamy tilting over as well.

Wells' howls are wet with the gurgle of blood.

"You don't have to threaten me," Clarke screams back in exasperation, "I'm not letting either of them go!"

"It's not really your choice, Princess." Finn has stopped his swaying; he's giving a resigned smile up at Clarke.

"Don't you even think about it, don't you let go." Clarke has tears from pain but the thought of losing one of her own in this crater into hell is what blinds her, she feels one of his hands let go and cries all the harder. "We can do it, there are still others, just please hold on."

"Tell Raven I love her kay?" He's squirming and swing, trying to free his hand from Clarke's.

"You fucking tell them yourself!" But Clarke is yelling to the darkness because he's gone.

Just empty space.

For one comically infuriating moment Clarke wonders if Finn realizes that it was the balance between their bodies that even allowed her to keep them from falling into the ravine in the first place. Without him equaling out the weight, Clarke feels herself slide towards Octavia and begin a descent over the edge.

Solid ground rips pass her, gravel taking chunks of her flesh then nothingness but she refuses to release Octavia even as she feels a jolt on her wrist. There's no whistling air as she falls and it's a moment longer until she realizes she hasn't dropped all that much. Clarke looks up through the blood dripping into her eyes from a head wound and sees the Grounder woman glowering down at her. The woman has a knife crammed into the rock face above them and another hand gripped into Clarke's collar.

"Ste steel."

There's an upward tugging motion which makes Clarke cry out with each jarring yank. The movement shoots pain through her broken arm but she only tightens her grip on Octavia all the harder. It takes a while but eventually whoever was pulling get her and Octavia over.

Bellamy wraps his entire body around his little sister, cradling her neck in his hand as he checks her over. Clarke makes eye contact with him but there's no apology in his gaze. He's impenitent on what he has inflicted on the group and Wells.

There's nothing he won't do for his sister. Nothing.

With a firm nod and grateful thanks directed at Clarke, he exits into the bright white with Octavia protectively cradled in his arms.

Wells sobs as he gingerly brings Clarke in for a hug. He's coughing out blood and she's about to pass out from the excruciating pain seizing along her arm. They're an absolute mess.

Clarke turns to the Grounder woman and starts laughing at the solemn concern on the woman's face. Once she starts she can't stop. The Grounder helps Clarke to her feet and stays close as she helps Wells too. They are welcomed into the light to see the sun has barely moved two past noon. They've lost a lot of people and fought down a beast of legend and yet the world hasn't stopped spinning.

The world has never stopped spinning for any of them.

Clarke's laughter has the entire group going, they give yips and hoots, there's a manic hysteria in their celebration and some soon turn into thankful sobs.

They're alive.

"Clarke!" Bellamy is chest deep in the water. His sister in his arms as he desperately tries to lower the girl's boiling temperature. "Something is wrong!"

Clarke swallows her glee and stumbles from the Grounder woman's arm. Everything aches and she just wants to sleep but she's determined not to lose another. She wades into the lake, letting the cool water calm the emulating pain. She blinks confusedly down at Octavia's bloated body, sees the ruddiness of her skin tone.

"Feisbona."

Clarke turns to the Grounder man; he's smiling as he waves the severed juvenile Lerna head. "Ai fis em."

"Poisonous?" Clarke asks and when the woman nod Clarke sighs, medical and biological lessons blending together to help her piece together the nature of the venom. "It would explain the fast clotting, the bodies in the cave were all swollen with blood, keep the prey barely alive and cause them to hemorrhage internally making the blood pack last longer for the young."

"That's just gross." Octavia mumbles, her eyes squinting in the bright sunlight but her voice has Bellamy shatter into tears as he holds her all the closer. "Where's Tris?"

"Tris os, mochof." The Grounder woman has made her way into the water.

"Tris can speak English, are you Anya," Octavia blinks sleepily up at the woman, she reaches one hand up to touch Anya's face but the woman backs away, "oh, kay, just cause if you are I know you can speak English too."

Octavia looks perplex at how her hand had missed Anya but then lolls at head back and watches Clarke with a leer. "Heeeeey, how was your chase?"

"Tris is fine, thank you." Anya interrupts before Clarke can answer. "You should all come back to shore; the venom sacks injected into your systems have to be removed."

Bellamy brings his sister to the healer; he brushes her bangs from her face and smiles right back into her happy grin.

"The small ones don't have the venom hence why the parent injects the sacks under the skin of the prey," the healer taps his calloused finger over a lump in Octavia's thigh, "every time your heart beats it brings more poison into the blood stream."

The Grounder man had already cut into the bites of his own flesh. "Hello Octavia, I heard you and Tris talking, my name is Nyko."

Octavia smiles some more and tilts back into the warmed shore, her hand clasped inside of Bellamy's. "Hey…"

Clarke goes to Charlotte first, the girl was shaking and feverish, her small body oversaturated in the Lerna's poison. She manages to wrangle a couple of her people to help bring the child over to Nyko and smiles when Octavia graciously pleads the healer's attention onto their youngest. Bellamy wants to protest but even he can see how dire Charlotte's condition was.

Clarke makes her rounds through the group, checking on everyone's injuries and ordering a fire be started to cauterize any open bleeding cuts. She's swaying on her feet by the time she makes it to Wells who had been watching her until sleep had taken him. There's a good portion of Arkers piled near and on top of each other like a bunch of worn out puppies around the blazing campfire.

When Clarke feels like she's about to drop onto her knees she finds Anya's firm grip on her hip. She wants to return her thanks but Anya's serious expression of displeasure has her voice stall.

"A leader knows when to guide and when to delegate." Anya strokes a hand up Clarke's spine and coaxes the girl down onto the sand to lean back into her chest. "You've already sent Murphy back to alert the group at your camp and everyone living right now will make it to tomorrow, rest now."

The living… Finn. Clarke chokes up a cry as she recalls Finn's selfless act. All three of them would've made it if he held on but he chose to plummet down into the abyss while thinking he had saved her. "He's dead."

"Yes." Anya combs a hand through Clarke's hair, wiping at the blood seeping from the cut caused by the loss of Finn's weight during their earlier balancing act.

"I couldn't save him."

"He was brash and could have killed you all." Anya rumbles her tone suddenly angry.

"Only if you hadn't been there." Clarke blinks tiredly back at the Beta, surprised that the woman would care so much on her behalf. "Thank you for risking your life to grab the both of us, you didn't have to."

"I did."

Clarke furrows her brows, thoughts muddled once again by the heavy fatigue in her body. She's content though, the strong heart beating behind her eases the ache in her body. She lets her head loll back onto Anya's shoulder. The scent seems familiar.

So familiar.

…

Clarke's arm feels like it's getting torn off. She needs to let go or… She looks to the side and sees Bellamy grin towards her, his smile slashing through his face until his skin rips back to reveal bloodied fangs. His hands snap into paws, leaving Clarke to watch as Wells disappears into the dark ravine.

Clarke finds her breath gone, her heart constricting just as hard as it had when her father had died. Seeing Wells gone gives her no reprieve, she's no happier to lose another. Another and another and another. How many will she loose?

"Death for a death, Clarke, you've killed my sister and Finn." Bellamy paces towards her, his body smoky as he curls his tail around her. "You've even lost Charlotte."

"No, I haven't, Octavia is alive!" Her hands shift and she finds herself in wolf form, on all four she charges him, tackling the russet wolf onto his back as he smirks up at her. "Finn and Charlotte are both fine!"

"Am I?" The auburn fur glimmers, bends and moves as if a pulsating wave is caressing the colour from the fur until Clarke finds herself staring at a silt grey wolf. The ashen fur ripens with blood, the body lies fall broken beneath Clarke. The wolf's chest cracks open as his mouth gurgles. "My heart was beating for you, I was chasing you, and I died for you to live."

"No, I never asked for you to!" Blood oozes from the chest wound and floods the pit Clarke finds herself in. Her paws are soaked with red; the gushing flow comes up to her chest until she has to kick her legs out to stay afloat.

The body disappears under the rising crimson waters but Clarke can't paddle free. There's something beneath the darkness grasping at her ankle. She feels herself be plunged under, an unrelenting force taking her deep into the bloodied liquid until there's only the empty of vacuum of space.

It's her father, lips blued and eyes milky. His cries can't be heard but the sight of him alone has Clarke drowning. Her chest feels like it will splinter open just as Finn's had. She sees her mother next in similar state, suffocated and gone.

Everyone on the Ark will die because of the compromised oxygen systems. How was she going to save them? She has to stay alive long enough, to have her bracelet transmit her life as a beacon back to her people.

She can't make it to the top.

Her arm feels crushed as she startles from the bed. There's not enough air, there's not enough. She's drowning and she can't get her lungs to fill with anything but death. She stumbles from the comfy blankets but find her feet leaden and useless. She falls and knocks over the bedside table, landing heavily onto her already injured arm.

The pain shocks all her senses into blinding white.

Her entire body stiffens.

Air.

Air.

She needs air.

She scrambles from her belly, crawling to the entrance until she drops onto the dirt ground outside the housing. She rolls prone onto her back with the round moon high in the pitch dark sky. The world seems so much vaster than the windows on the Ark had made it appear. Everyone seems so microscopic in the scheme of things. Her erratic breathing slows, she forces herself to hold a breath in to just wait out her need to gasp in air but she can't release it when Finn's face appears before her. His expression is rather blank, disappointed.

He's here? He can't be… He's dead? She killed him?

"Clarke, you should not be out of bed." A voice above her fades Finn's shade.

"Lexa?" Clarke coughs up the name startled, the pain from her arm makes her keep still, sleep tugging insistently for her acceptance.

Clarke feels the Alpha slip an arm underneath her legs and another behind her shoulders. She feels secure for in these strong arms.

But the sheets on the bed swallow her whole and she's taken under as soon as the Alpha leaves.

Everyone she's tries to hold close, her father, Finn and now Lexa… they all eventually go.

The dream repeats itself and Clarke can't wake from the cycle.

…

When Clarke blearily opens her eyes she's in the same plush bed of fur. It smells safe around her, warm. She takes another unsteady breath but finds she can't sense any of her people. Where was she before? On the beach? Where was everyone, are they safe are they okay?

"Wells?" She sits up, head pounding and mouth dry and hurting. "Octavia?"

A hand settles on her back and a cup is brought to her lips. She's parched, and she takes a sip. She can barely see, her eyes feel overly sensitive even to the soft candle light. She tries to spit out the bitter liquid but finds her nose clasped shut and another hand clamped on her mouth.

She struggles for as long as she's able to, managing to satisfyingly knock her elbow into something but once the liquid slides down her throat, she finds sleep swallowing her in turn.

It's a thankfully dreamless event.

…

This time Clarke wakes to notice her arm in a sling. She's in new and unfamiliar clothes but the scent is the same one that she can sense from the bedding. She has to get to her people. She has to find her way back.

There are weapons galore in the wooden housing but she chooses to take a thin metal blade into her good hand and cautiously makes her way to the door. She wraps a shawl around her golden hair and creaks open the entrance. It's still night time but the moon seems further away. There's a large bonfire blazing at the far center of the village and an abundance of life in a supposedly inhabitable Earth. If she stays to the outskirt of the village she should be able to stay undetected. She'll find her way back to her camp by the stars or scent if that's what it'll take. She can slip into the forest and make her way round through there.

"You shouldn't be up."

Clarke spins around and almost loses her balance until Tris's steadies her.

"They'll be worried if they don't find you in bed."

"Who'll be worried?" Clarke questions, her voice low, afraid to garner attention. "Are the others okay, the girl that was with you, where is Octavia and Charlotte?"

Tris grimaces, pulling away when Clarke had leaned in desperate for information. "You've been asleep for almost three days; maybe you should freshen up before going to your friends or Heda and our Unit Lead."

Clarke blushes and holds the back of hand against her mouth as she speaks. "Sorry, I'm just…disorientated."

"Tris, you may leave your post." Lexa commands, voice soft. She's donning full armor, her body layered with straps of leather and steel. The soft breeze plays with the jacket's ends against the ground, chasing the frayed cloak of crimson flags from her pauldron. She appears more intimidating than before, her hair in a intricate braid and a fierce splash of black stretches over her eyes and drips over her sharp cheekbones.

Clarke can't help but find herself as captivated as she was during their first encounter.

Tris bows her head to Lexa, letting the woman hold a hand against the back of her neck for a second before heading into the forest. "Tris has insisted on taking guard shifts; I hope she didn't startle you."

"Umm, no." Clarke shakes her head, hand still up against her lips. "Where are my friends?"

Lexa reaches for Clarke's knife. "Your group has been taken as guest at TonDC but perhaps you'll like to see them now?"

Clarke drops the weapon into Lexa's palm, her fingertips grazing against the Alpha's skin. The touch sparks up along her arm and warms her in ways she really shouldn't be feeling at the moment.

Her whole face burns red.

Lexa smiles, her stance next to Clarke a very formal distance as she leads them towards the center of the village. There's a gargantuan roast being prepped over the open flames. The people chatter in a foreign language and children dart around the adults, skimming from the dishes being prepared and getting shooed off. Clarke's stomach is still too uneasy for her to enjoy the scent of food. There's a percussion of drumming from a pair of older men and-

"Wells!" Clarke runs now, almost falling over before leaping into a smiling teen's hug. There's abrasions all over her skin but she laughs when he lifts her up. They spin for half a turn before he's settling her right back down, he bends over coughing as he presses into his ribs.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry." Are you okay? The question stays on Clarke's tongue. The initial excitement at seeing a living Arker has worn off and everything crashes back into her. She certainly doesn't want Wells dead but they'll never be like before. Not after her father's death. She's still mad at his betrayal and now resentful of the distance he has instigated with his actions. She wants to have him back and he obviously sees his place supportive and by her side but she can't.

Not completely, not yet.

He must see the shift in her posturing, the confusion and upset clear on her face. He's much more sombre when he straightens fully. "I'm fine, I'm happy you're okay."

"Yeah, Princess, you've been out like a light even longer than me." Octavia smirks from her spot around the ring; she's leaning heavily against an imposing Grounder while Bellamy broodily glares at the man.

She can hear Finns voice, feels her heart sicken at his look of acceptance when he lets go.

Clarke's expression crumples as she snarls at Octavia. "Don't. Ever. Call. Me. That."

The crowd fall silent, the drumming stops and the children gawk at her. "I'm… I'm sorry I just… Finn..."

Octavia ducks her gaze, understanding her error easily. Bellamy had stood on alert but he settles once he sees that Clarke's outburst meant no harm.

"He was a good Alpha." Bellamy concedes, turning his focus back to his sister and food for the time being.

"He…was." Clarke trips over the past tense; it makes her feel raw for having a hand in loosing another one of their group. "Where is Charlotte, did she recover."

"She'll make a full recovery, but it'll take time." It's the Grounder beside Octavia, his eyes are unusually kind. "I aided Nyko in his treatments."

"Thank you…" She doesn't know his name.

"Lincoln." He dips his head. "Thank you for saving Octavia."

Clarke can't answer to that; the weight of the dead lingers, she didn't manage to protect everyone.

"Hey don't look all gloomy, this tall dark and handsome just thanked you," Octavia stands, her optimism making her miss her brother's snarling towards Lincoln who doesn't even glance his way, "we've got food and we're alive!"

"I guess… I guess we are."

Clarke notices Lexa and Anya standing together near the flame. Many approach them, kneeling to the Alpha before conversing. Clarke's focus is drawn back to her group, they some of the healing techniques Nyko had used but then move on to other topics. It's so commonplace it felt like they were in the Ark cafeteria.

The hustle and bustle of dinner time is in full swing when Anya and Lexa make their way towards Clarke. "There's a lot we must discuss."

"We don't want to take you away from your people so soon but it's urgent." Clarke looks to Lexa then Bellamy and Wells; the boys give her a subtle nod.

…

Clarke follows the Alpha and Beta back to the housing she was in before and they settle around the fire pit. Anya starts the flames while Lexa sets up a large pot of water to boil. They work in easy tandem, a familiarity bred with a lifetime.

The pair sit in front of Clarke on the soft woven carpet but keep themselves at the same level as Clarke which makes her want to duck lower. She had seen them outside, however briefly she had witness the village all respectfully keep their heads below their leaders. They hadn't acted afraid of them, just respectful. Even Clarke's own people had deferred to these two.

"Even with Lexa's permission, your group had entered a sacred ground and slain the beast that protects this valley." Anya begins her words ever stern. "We've told the neighbouring clans that you lead your pack and they've given as much time as your awakening takes to postpone the discussion of your crimes."

"But with your rather witnessed arrival to tonight's dinner there's no doubt that the other clans will convene in TonDC to speak on the matter before tomorrow ends." Lexa looks a mix of impressed and chagrined. "I hadn't expected you to greet your pack so readily after what I've heard they've done."

"What they've done?"

"Your group is rather… let us call them talkative." Lexa steeples her fingertips together as she carefully chooses her words. "You've had a rather eventful time considering you agreed to stay in your own camp the last time we spoke."

"I couldn't let them die." Clarke does duck her head now but she raises her eyes to assess the pair. Lexa appears impassive but Anya is downright hostile in expression.

"Yet you would put yourself in harm's way?" Anya growls, leaning over the Omega but Clarke doesn't back further.

"If I hadn't brought the fuel then we wouldn't have been able to damage the Lerna." Clarke holds her ground but doesn't bare her teeth at the Beta, Lexa seems amused by her stubbornness but Anya is anything but pleased.

"What if you had been hurt in the fight…" Anya clinks her mouth close, fangs having elongated during the talk.

Lexa places her hand on Anya's knee causing the Beta to huff and stare into the fire. They are all tense, Lexa appearing much more detached in her full attire, Clarke confused by Anya's sudden anger. Had the Beta been worried for her?

"We acted only in the hopes of protecting and retrieving our people, surely there's a way around… Punishment?" Clarke looks at the sling her broken arm sits in, if Lexa or Anya truly intended for her to come to harm it would be rather wasteful to use all this time to let her recuperate. "Who will take the sentencing? Will my entire pack be held responsible or will only their leaders?"

She should discuss their alternatives with Bellamy who she deduces her camp now follows. That boy has ruthlessness in him that their pack may need to survive on Earth. They need to make it, at least one of their people must show their vitals to the Ark to ensure the ship will re-enter Earth's atmosphere. She thinks to Finn, for his thoughtless sacrifice. To how many they've already lost lining the shores bloodied and bruised. She doesn't even know how the others at the camp were doing.

"If it is allowed I'm willing to be held accountable as their leader."

…

"Ste stel"= Stay still

Feisbona=Poison

Ai fis em=I can cure her

…