Sorry it's been a few days, I've been insanely busy with taking care of children and crap. Enjoy this update though. There's probably only going to be one more after this.

"Clarke." I called out, looking for any sort of movement. There was no answer. "Stay alert Leo."

We walked around outside, looking for any signs of her. There were a lot of trails leading in and out of the mountain. A cart sat by the entrance. She must have used it to get the bodies outside. I couldn't believe she had done all of this herself. She didn't strike me as that strong physically. I didn't want to go inside, but I wasn't sure I had much of a choice. I needed to find her.

Leo and I cautiously entered the mountain. We called out to her every few minutes, but didn't get a response. By late that night, we had searched the whole place. There was evidence that she had been there recently, but she was no longer anywhere to be found.

"Damn it Clarke, where the hell are you?" I was worried. I didn't want to find her dead body alone in the woods. What if the reapers got to her before I could find her? The only thing worse than finding her dead body, was never being able to find her remains. How would I explain to her people that she had been killed and eaten by the reapers?

I shook my head to clear it of the image. I wanted to leave the mountain, but it was late, and not safe.

"Go see if you can catch us something to eat, Leo. I'll start a fire." I busied myself gathering wood and tinder. By the time Leo returned with two rabbits the fire was ready to cook them. After we ate I turned to Leo. "I'll take first watch."

We had decided to sleep right outside the entrance of the mountain. Where we were sheltere. A few hours before dawn, Leo relieved me of watch. My sleep was tainted by nightmares. I kept seeing Clarke's dead body. By dawn I was ready to be away from this cursed.

We had no trails to follow, no leads on which direction Clarke might have gone. I cursed under my breath as we rode our horses with no idea where we were headed. Hours went by with no sign of her. I was beyond worried at this point. I wasn't sure what we were going to find, but the longer we went without any signs of life, the more hopeless this search became.

By midday we stopped to eat. I looked around our surroundings. The trees were tall and old in this area, but they weren't close together. The sun, masked by some cloud cover, streamed through the colorful autumn leaves. Everything seemed calm and still. I listened to the birds chirping back and forth, and wished with every fiber of my being that we would find her alive.

When we finished eating, a rainbow appeared in the sky. The childish part of me took it as a good sign, though the logical side of me knew it meant we would probably get rain later. I didn't want to think about that. Without proper shelter, rain would mean this warm autumn day would become cold and dreary.

"Let's head toward the rainbow, Leo." I suggested.

We continued our search the rest of the afternoon, with no luck. My heart was sinking to the pit of my stomach. The chances of finding her alive weren't very good. I reminded myself she had still been alive yesterday, according to the smoking pyres, but we had no sign from her apart from that. We had lost her trail not far from the mountain. I had seen no evidence of a fire. As the sun started to fade in the sky, the weather became cooler. That evening a storm blew in. Leo and I found shelter not far from a creek, and managed to keep dry. Leo took first shift, and woke me hours before dawn.

An hour after dawn, I was resting by the creek, staring off into nothing. The babble of the creek was lulling me into a trance. My mind on Clarke.

"What did you do?" She asked, pain of my betrayal etched into her face.

"What you would have done. Saved my people."

"Where are my people?" Her voice almost broke, the realization of what was happening hitting her hard.

"I'm sorry Clarke. They weren't part of the deal." My voice was cold, even to my own ears.

I could see the confusion and pain written all over her. I turned to release the guard I had in my custody. His words of "You made the right choice commander." Were barely registered by my brain.

I turned back to Clarke as my people continued walking out of the mountain. Lincoln walked towards us. "What is this?" He asked, grasping what was going on.

"Your Commander has made a deal."
"What about the prisoners from the Ark?" He asked astonished.

"They'll all be killed." She answered Lincoln. She turned to me again. "But you don't care about that, do you?" Her voice was soft, but firm.

"I do care Clarke. 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." The look she gave me broke my heart.

"I'm sorry Clarke."

I shook my head trying to clear it from the memory. It made my heart hurt to think about how I betrayed her. I wanted to find her, tell how I had no choice. I made the only decision I could make. The duty to my people would always come first, but that didn't mean I didn't care for her. I stared at the creek, as if asking it for answers. Time went by, and I swore it started talking to me.

"Please don't let me die here." It said clearly.

"I'm so sorry Clarke. I left you there to die, I knew what was going to become of you. But you survived it. Please just tell me where you are. Please let me save you this time." I begged the creek.

"Why was I so stupid? Why did I go off alone? I'm never going to see mom again. I'm never going to see my friends again. I'm going to die on this cliff alone."

I shook my head, the voice wasn't in my head. Clearly it wasn't coming from the creek either. I looked around. "Leo, wake up."

He sat up alert. "What is it Commander?"

"I think Clarke is near." I stood up and gathered our stuff. Then I turned and headed toward where the voice was coming from. I shouted. "Clarke?"

I held my breath. A moment went by with no response, but then. "Lexa?"

"Clarke where are you?" I shouted back.

"I fell off the edge of a cliff during the storm. There's a small embankment off the edge." Her voice sounded desperate.

Leo and I headed towards the direction of the cliff. When we got there I looked down. She was filthy, soaked to the bone, and she looked tired. "We're going to get you back up here."