*Shout out to my readers in Greece! I'm planning a summer holiday to Crete with my flatmates right now, but I've been four times already, to both the mainland and the islands, and I fell in love more and more every time. I especially love Santorini, Rhodes and Delphi! Thanks so much for reading and please favourite/follow/review! I'm changing the story a little more, to save you from some of the heartbreak – I know I can't go through it all again*

The grounders set up camp just outside of where the acid fog could reach. It had been a long trek to get this far, but Lexa knew how to inspire an army, and the grounders' morale was running high at the thought of bloodshed and vengeance. They marched on the mountain tomorrow.

Turning, she saw Octavia out of the corner of eye, obviously trying not to be seen. When she realised she was caught she walked up to Clarke sheepishly.

'You do realise your brother's going to kill me when he realises you're here right?' Clarke asked, her eyebrows raised.

'No way,' Octavia replied jokily, 'he'll be so overjoyed at seeing you again that he'll forget to be angry.' Clarke blushed. 'Besides, you didn't seriously think I would stay behind did you?'

Smiling in acknowledgement at the stubborn girl in front of her, an expression similar to the one Bellamy often wore flashing across her face, Clarke knew that she had a point. Of course she would have come here anyway. 'I assume Lincoln's here as well then.' Clarke smiled, knowing when she was defeated.

Octavia grinned guiltily and she sighed dramatically, fighting to keep the smile off her face.

'We march in one hour, into the acid fog zone. Assuming Bellamy's managed to disable the fog, we should be at Mount Weather by nightfall.'

'He's done it, I know he has.' Octavia said assuredly, and Clarke smiled again, nodding. It was refreshing to have someone else who believed in Bellamy as much as she did.

Together, the two girls walked through the camp, discussing what was to come, occasionally falling into comfortable silence. After a while Lincoln joined them as well and they sat together around a small fire, waiting for Lexa to give the order. When she finally did, Clarke and Octavia were on the front line, next to Lexa, leading their people together.

Picking himself up from the ground, Bellamy dusted himself off, caught his breath, and set off again. Crawling back through the vents he navigated his way back to the room he was first held in, following the sounds of the grounders rattling their cages until he reached the end of the vent. Pushing it from the wall he dropped to the ground and made his way over to the cage that held the grounder who had helped him. Pulling a key out of his pocket he started to open the lock on her cage, she turned to look at him, eyes first registering fear before she recognised him.

'Get up, it's time to go. I told you I'd come back for you.' He said, smiling reassuringly, helping her out of the cage. 'Come on out, our people are marching on Mount Weather right now.'

Working quickly, Bellamy unlocked the rest of the cages, and the grounder woman, Echo, calmed them down, told them what to do.

When the grounders were ready she turned back to Bellamy, 'ok, how do we do this?' Her voice held quiet determination and her eyes were steady. She reminded him of Clarke.

'The army will go for the main door, when they get it open, all hell will break loose. That is the signal for my friends to come here, and then-'

Bellamy was interrupted by a man's voice on the PA. 'My fellow citizens,' said Cage slowly,' this is your president speaking. I have news to share with you that will change all of our lives, forever,' Bellamy's heart felt tight in his chest. 'For 97 years, Mount Weather has been our home, it's kept us alive, but it had also kept us captive. Most of us have made peace with what we've had to do to survive. We've done these things for one reason – so that our people could someday return to the ground. That day is today.'

Bellamy's heart tightened again. His friends. 'He's going public.' He muttered. Their time was up.

'Before my friend, Lorelei Singh, was murdered by the outsiders, still at large in this mountain, she found a cure. It was in their bone marrow.'

Bellamy thrust the key into Echo's hand, turning on his heel and heading back towards the grate leading to the vent he came in through.

'Wait,' she cried after him, 'where are you going?'

'He's trying to get his people to turn on each other. They'll find my friends, I have to bring them here now. I'll send them in groups. You get your people ready to go, but you wait for me to come back, do you understand?'

Echo nodded and he turned back to the grate. 'Wait,' Echo grabbed his arm, pulling him to face her again. 'Thank you.' She said sincerely.

'You free your people, protect mine when they get here. We can thank each other when we're all outside.' He knew how hard it must have been for the grounder to thank him, the person she had been told was her enemy.

She nodded again and he ducked into the vent. He had to save his friends before it was too late. Cage's voice followed him through the vents.

'This had been the dream of our people since the bombs. But to reach it now, I need your help. The 44 criminals that irradiated level 5, killing 15 of our people, are now keeping us from that dream. Although we've repaired our home, we can never replace the lives that were so viciously taken from us. Yet as hard as it is to believe, there are those among us who would help the people who did this, and I am speaking to you now. If you truly want to end the blood treatments once and for all, then the 44 murderers you're now hiding are the key to doing that. You have one hour to turn them in without punishment, after that we'll be forced to consider you enemies of the state. I'm asking you, please, do what's right by your people, our people, so that we can all take our rightful place on the ground. We're almost home.'

Bellamy's mind raced as he crawled, he couldn't believe how difficult this was, and not for the first time, he seriously doubted if they would be able to do this.

The army marched until they could see Mount Weather, rising from the trees. They stopped just outside the forest, a few hundred feet from the mountain, and built their camp, preparing their attack.

Clarke was in Lexa's tent, Lincoln at her side, for he wasn't ready to re-enter the tunnels, when a grounder entered, clearing his throat, but it wasn't until Lexa spoke that Clarke dragged her eyes from the plans she was looking at, to the entrance.

'Welcome Sky Crew.'

Clarke's head shot up and she watched as a number of the Ark guards walked in. She saw Miller's father and Monroe amongst them, and was grateful for the familiar faces. She had requested a guard to come to the grounder camp, but the rest of the Sky People had different jobs to do. Miller's father walked up to her, a small metal cylinder in his hand.

'Hydrazine,' he said, handing it to her, 'Raven said it would do the job.' Clarke eyed the seemingly innocuous canister that would create the perfect explosion to blow the door to the mountain, granting them access. 'And Clarke,' he continued, 'your mother wanted to be here.'

'Our wounded need her more.' Nodded Clarke, grateful that her mother had done what Clarke had asked her to, and stayed where she wasn't in danger.

After he was done, he stepped into the circle formed by the remaining representatives of the twelve clans, and Lexa began to speak.

'Field commanders, today is the day we get our people back. The enemy thinks it's safe behind its doors, but it's not. When it realises that it will fight back, hard. We need to be ready.' Lexa turned to Clarke.

'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?' A murmur of 'yes' spread through the circle. 'Then let's begin.'

Clarke explained the layout of the mountain and the concept of their attack – four teams. Raven and Wick would blow the dam, cutting out their power, and turning off the door locking mechanism to the huge door into the mountain, they were already there. Octavia was with Indra and a team of both grounders and sky people, in the tunnels underneath the mountain, preparing to enter. The third team was both their people inside the mountain. The fourth – them. The massive army preparing to march on the mountain, distracting the mountain men from the people inside the mountain for as long as possible.

Jasper listened to the new president's announcement, his heart in his throat, eyeing the couple who were hiding him and Maya. Cage was smart, he had to give him that. The couple looked at each other for a moment, a silent conversation passing between them, before the man rose from the chair he had been sat in, ushering both him and Maya into a hiding space behind a cupboard in their living room. Standing in the silence, Jasper thanked the heavens for the couple, as there was a heavy knock on the front door.

'Yes?' He asked politely.

'Step aside please.' Said one of the two guards who were stood outside the door. From where he hid, Jasper could see them step around the man and begin to search the room.

'What's wrong?' Asked the man, appearing entirely clueless.

'We'll just be a moment.'

Jasper swallowed, reaching for Maya's hand in the dark, grateful that she was next to him.

'If you tell us what you're looking for, maybe we can help you?' Said the wife politely, but her voice betrayed some of her fear.

'You know what we're looking for.' Said one of the guards firmly.

'Honestly we don't.' Protested the man.

'According to your neighbours, you brought extra food home last night and this morning.' Maya squeezed Jasper's hand.

'That's not true.' The man denied weakly.

'Is it true that you've refused treatment 12 times in the past 15 years?' The guard turned to the wife, still sat in her chair, 'Or that you've refused them 30 times? Do you deny that?'

'We take the blood when we need it.' She said, her voice becoming more determined. 'We don't take extra food.'

'Then you've got nothing to worry about.' Said the first guard coldly, whilst the other guard continued to search the room.

There was a silence, then the second guard drew his gun. 'Where are they?' He barked. 'There are water rings on the table,' he explained to the other guard over his shoulder, 'there were two more cups there.'

'Just hold on.' The man protested again.

'You have five seconds to cooperate.' The guard yelled, beginning to count down. 'One, two, three.' The woman sobbed as he pointed his gun at her, 'four, five.'

He clicked the gun and she sobbed again. 'Wait.' Cried Jasper, jumping out from his hiding place. 'Don't shoot! Don't shoot!' We're here, ok, just leave them alone.'

'I'm so sorry.' The man looked at Jasper, tears in his eyes, but he shook away his apologies, the man had risked both his life, and the life of his wife to help them.

The guard looked from them to the couple, shaking on the sofa, before firing two shots, killing them instantly.

'No!' Cried Jasper as the second guard handcuffed him and Maya, shock on both of their faces. The guard had gotten what he wanted, and he still killed them. Cage had lied.

They were led through the tunnels, together with Miller and Fox who had also been found, by the two guards, when their path was blocked by Maya's father. She begged him to turn back, but he refused.

'Don't make me do this Vincent.' Warned one of the guards.

'I'm sorry Paul.' Maya's dad replied, stepping towards him.

The guard, Paul, raised his gun, aiming it at Vincent. 'I have orders.'

A shot echoed out, but it was the guard that crumpled, not Vincent. Everybody froze, including the second guard, before a grate in the side of the wall was kicked out. Bellamy stepped out, gun still raised.

'Thank you.' Maya's dad said gratefully.

'Good job.' Bellamy nodded at him.

The second guard launched himself at Bellamy, but before he could, Miller threw his hands around his neck from behind, using his handcuffs to cut off his air supply, wrestling him to the ground as he blacked out, before smacking his head against the side of the wall.

Bellamy watched as he stepped away from the guard, seeing his friend for the first time in weeks.

'Miller, you ok?' His eyes scanned him quickly as he held his wrists, wincing.

'Better than you.' He replied wryly and Bellamy's mouth quirked on one side. He was fine. Jasper took the keys to the handcuffs from the unconscious guard and freed them quickly.

'Ok get everyone to the harvest chamber, you'll be safer there.' Bellamy said gruffly.

There was pause before Miller spoke incredulously. 'Safer in the harvest chamber?'

'Just trust me.' Sighed Bellamy and Miller and Jasper shrugged.

'Are the others there?' Jasper asked

'Not yet.'

'Monty?'

'Monty's with the other group on level 3.' Vincent interjected. 'We moved them after the last sweep, you'll want to go there next.'

Bellamy nodded. 'Ok, go on, Vincent will take you to the chamber, I won't be long.' He turned but was stopped by Jasper's voice.

'Hey, I'm coming with you.' He held the dead guard's gun in his hands. Bellamy eyed the boy, impressed by his braveness.

'Jasper…'

'I promised I'd protect them, that's exactly what I'm going to do.'

Unable to argue with that, Bellamy nodded. 'Let's go.' Maya moved to follow them.

'Maya.' Vincent called, gesturing her to follow him, but she didn't.

'I'll be ok.' Her eyes pricked with tears

Vincent walked over to her, reaching up to cup her cheek. 'Your mother would be so proud.' He said, his voice emotional. 'I'll see you soon. Be careful.'

Maya threw her arms around his neck. 'You too.' She said, holding back tears, before running after Jasper and Bellamy.

Clarke and rest of the army gathered around the door to the mountain as Monroe drilled a whole large enough to fit the explosive cylinder into. When Raven gave the word that the power was out, they would detonate the bomb and open the door. For now, they pulled back 50 feet or so, leaving a clearing between them and the door.

Octavia and Indra crept through the tunnels with their team, which included Jackson, the medic that always followed around after Abby. After one encounter with the reapers, in which they found that Raven's replica tone frequency generators worked, they found the entrance into the mountain, now they had to wait for the order to enter.

At the dam, Raven and Wick had finally set the detonators on all five of the dam turbines, they pressed the button and ran for their lives. The forced of the explosion sent them flying, but they were alive.

At the gate, Clarke sighed in relief. The ground they stood on rumbled and the lights either side of the huge metal door, 100 feet away from them, had died. Raven and Wick had done it – they had blown the damn. 'She did it.' She breathed. Gripping the controller in her hand she pulled the trigger and the bomb blew, but before they could reach the door, the mountain men opened fire. They were hidden along the mountain, above the doorway, and there was no way through. They would slaughter them before they made it half way there.

'We need to get to that ridge and take out the shooters.' Barked Lexa. 'Stay here, protect Clarke.' She ordered Lincoln, who nodded. 'When the shooting stops, get that door open.' And within a minute she had gone, taking a small team of grounders with her.

Inside the mountain the remaining teenagers gathered in the harvest chamber, helped by Miller and Fox, whilst Bellamy found himself in yet another vent. He was starting to feel too at home in them, he though dryly. At least this time Jasper and Maya were there too.

'We don't have much time,' he said, climbing out onto a corridor on level three, 'the last twelve are on this level.'

'Including Monty.' Said Jasper, climbing out behind him and helping Maya do the same.

'This way.' She said, and they followed her across the floor.

A male voice came on the PA warning about a level lockdown and Maya froze.

Whirling around, Jasper saw the fear in her eyes. 'Listen to me, it's going to be ok, we're not going to let anything happen to you, will we?'

Bellamy winced but shook his head.

'Jasper, in thirty minutes all the backup power gets diverted for species continuity. That means level five for life support and security, radiation will seep in everywhere else. I can't go to level five without being shot in the head.'

'Guys,' Bellamy said gruffly, but gently, 'we need to keep moving.'

'I'll get you your hazmat suit, and enough oxygen to last until this is all over, then we'll figure out a plan.'

Jasper took off running before either of them could say another word.

'Jasper.' Bellamy yelled after him, but the boy didn't stop.

'I'll be back in five minutes.'

'He must really love you.' He noted dryly, and Maya blushed.

Jasper was back in four, hazmat suit under his arm. He thrust it at Maya urgently. 'I'm not letting anything happen to you.' He said firmly.

Maya gripped his hand in hers and quickly put on the suit.

'Ok, let's go.' Said Bellamy and they took off again. A gunshot echoed around the corridor they were in and they followed it grimly. As they rounded a corner they saw a young woman lying dead, a gunshot wound to her head.

'It's Mrs Ryan,' Maya said sadly, 'she was hiding the last 12, they must have taken them to level 5.'

'Then let's go.' Jasper said immediately but Bellamy put a hand out to stop him.

'We have to think, every soldier in the mountain is going to be on level 5, tell him Maya.'

'Yes, but Jasper's right, after the lockdown it'll be impossible to get them, it's now or never.'

Bellamy nodded in acceptance and they stepped inside the nearest elevator, the one that had almost definitely just been used to take their friends to level 5.

But before the doors could close a noise drew their attention, gripping his gun, Bellamy stepped out again peering into the darkness he could see a face. He drew his gun up but he recognised the face. Monty.

'They know about the grounders.' He said shakily.

'What?'

'They know, I heard a soldier's walkie, they're heading for the harvest chamber now.'

Bellamy's heart dropped. 'If they take it, we lose everyone.'

Grabbing Monty, the four of them ran to the chamber, knowing they had no time to spare, if they weren't already too late.

By the gate, Clarke and Lincoln stood cautiously from the boulder that the gunfire had had them pinned behind for the last 20 minutes or so. There was nothing, only silence, no more gunshots.

'Lexa did it.' Remarked Lincoln, but Clarke felt cold. What had Lexa done to get the mountain men to stop firing? There had been no fight that they had heard.

Before she could dwell on it the grounders had surged forwards, attaching ropes to the door. The fell into formation and heaved, pulling the huge metal door open.

'Attack!' Cried Clarke, but before the grounders could take a step, Lexa's voice cut through the war cries.

'Stand down!' She ordered in Trigedasleng, but Clarke understood.

'What?' She gasped, mostly to herself, as Lexa marched calmly towards her, a mountain man at her side. It was Emerson. 'What is this?' She asked coldly, fearing she already knew the answer.

Lexa stared at Clarke, without a hint of regret in her eyes, as a man cried out behind them 'they're coming out.' Clarke turned to see a hundred or so weak, previously captured grounders emerging from the mountain, walking unsteadily over to the rest of Lexa's army.

'They're surrendering?' Clarke asked cautiously.

'Not quite.' Replied Emerson with a smug grin.

Clarke turned to look and Lexa again and thought she saw a flicker of emotion, but she must have been wrong.

'What did you do?' Clarke asked quietly, her heart in her throat.

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

'Where are my people?' Clarke asked dangerously.

'I'm sorry Clarke.' Lexa said, but there was no emotion, no genuine apology, in her voice, she was just going through the motions. 'They weren't part of the deal.'