A second chance

by laserturret1

Not my story written by MaxiBrux

1. 1

Back on Earth

Chapter Summary

The gang land on Earth and begin their great adventure. Clarke learns of some of the differences between their first trip and this second chance.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

The next time Clarke woke up she was greeted by the smiling Octavia.

"Hey, nice of you to join us" Octavia grinned as she held a ration pack to Clarke's mouth.

"Bell said that you've not eaten or drunk anything for days and that your burns need treating.

When you feel able to move, I'I help you to the lower level and then me, Bellamy and Raven will get you to the lake with the sea weed. Bell's organising everyone now to start setting up the tents and prepare a fire pit etc. He said we should have ration packs for lunch but he wants me to go hunting this afternoon, I'll take Harper and Murphy with me since they were the best at Archery so we should get plenty" and Clarke phased out what Octavia was saying while she relished the feeling of sustenance in her stomach.

"I'm okay now, Octavia. How long have we been down for?" Clarke asked.

"Just over an hour. So far I've been acknowledged by Raven and Mrs Blake, and for some reason Mr Mkembi smiled at me and asked how I was feeling after my long incarceration. I have no idea who he thinks I am but I said something jokingly about being in isolation was nice and peaceful. Some of the others were around so they got a bit of my story. Even if it all comes out now, what are they going to do?"

Clarke snorted but thought that it was better to be safe than sorry. Octavia held out another ration pack and this time Clarke was able to feed herself.

Once Clarke was on the ground again, she sank to the earth in relief. She did not think that she would ever get to smell the rich woodsy odour again; or feel the fresh untainted breeze as it sent her hair into disarray. It was good to be back.

Bellamy lifted Clarke into his arms and strode out towards where Octavia had indicated was the required lake, followed by Raven and Octavia. Both Raven and Octavia noted that the ship had landed in a slightly different position than before, luckily closer to the stream that Raven wanted to use for their fresh water in camp even though it was a little further to walk to the lake. Once they arrived everyone stripped to their underwear, Octavia and Raven assisting Clarke, and entered the lake, Octavia with a sword at the ready.

"Where did that come from?" Clarke asked, indicating the sword.

"I made it as a surprise for her" Raven was smug. "I knew it might come in handy especially since she knows how to wield it."

"The balance isn't quite right, though" Octavia complained. "T'll have to work on that if I want it to feel natural."

Clarke, supported by Raven, was lying in the cool water, soothing her burns and ingesting small sips to hydrate. Bellamy was collecting the sea weed.

"Here we go" muttered Octavia. "Move on out for a bit just in case, but it looks like we could be serving serpent for dinner."

Raven and Bellamy helped Clarke to the shore as they all watched Octavia calmly stand as a dark shadow made its way towards her. Bellamy, not used to this Octavia, clearly wanted to order her out of the water too. It was the confident stance and the sure way that Octavia held the sword that stilled his words.

A quick downward thrust and the water around Octavia was tainted red. She bent to lift out the body of the serpent. "I wonder what it tastes like" she said.

The three air dried and wrapped as much of Clarke's body as they could in the sea weed and redressed. Bellamy carried a bucket of the weed while Raven and Octavia offered some support to Clarke as they made their way back to the camp.

"You're not limping" Clarke observed to Raven.

"No, I woke up and fell out of bed in agony. Your mom thinks that I somehow got a fragment of metal embedded in me when I was young and the fall out of bed caused it to move and give me such pain. She removed it and I recognised it as a bit of shrapnel that must have been missed. After a bit of physiotherapy I was fine. I still can't run the same way as I used to, though and there is a slight but constant ache. Still, it's much better than it was before. What about you, still a nightblood?"

Clarke hadn't given that any thought but asked Octavia to cut her finger to check. Lo and behold Clarke was still a nightblood. "I think we shouldn't tell anyone about this, especially about how it came about" said Octavia. When she saw Bellamy was about to ask her to explain, she went on "Nightblood was invented by Becca as a way to deal with the radiation.

To the people on the ground, those with nightblood are special and only they can become the Commander. They choose their commander by fighting to the death, hence me suggesting that no one else knows that Clarke is a nightblood in case they try to take her to join the other nightblood novitiates. If it were to ever come out that Clarke is nightblood we should keep it quiet as to how she got it because they see it as a special gift from the gods and to artificially create it is sacrilegious. If, as happened in the past, we may want Clarke to become the Commander, so we make sure they have no reason to reject her."

Octavia was correct, but, if as Clarke thought, the nightblood gave her some protection from the radiation of praimfayer, shouldn't they try to give it to others? She asked as much.

It was Bellamy who answered. "We should try to give some people protection through nightblood but not everyone." He saw that Octavia was about to argue the point so continued.

"After the death wave there will be nothing left to live off. Radiation levels may have dropped sufficient after five years to allow us to breathe, but it will take many years, decades to get to the point that there is new life. It is hard, but saving only a few humans may be the only way we can go on after everything has been destroyed."

No one wanted to say so, but they all agreed with Bellamy. If the remaining humans had to fight over few resources then the humans would not survive. It was better to save some humans and some flora and fauna.

"We need Mount Weather" said Octavia.

"What happened to the bunker?" Clarke asked.

"It sounded like the building fell on top of it and the seal got broken. We tried to fix it but we didn't have the necessary tools or time and the patches we could make didn't work and radiation seeped in. Within hours everyone was sick. I don't think anyone would have lasted the week: I know I didn't. Since we got this second chance, Raven and I have talked about what can be done so that if the same thing happens, the seal remains intact. We also had to discuss what we could do to get out again with goodness knows how much rubble blocking

the door."

"We three talked about taking Mount Weather before they had a chance to take any of our people" Bellamy started. "I was opposed on the grounds that I didn't want anything I did in the past life held against me in this one so I couldn't in all conscience agree to killing all those people for something they might do in this one. I finally said I would approve if we discovered that they were taking grounders and either killing them or turning them into reapers - dehumanising them."

"Yeah, that would be a good indicator that they would do the same to us given the chance" Octavia was snide.

Clarke thought about Bellamy's words and agreed that it would be wrong to take a preemptive strike against the mountain, but yeah, if in this lifetime they were still dehumanising and killing grounders then it was reasonable to stop them on those grounds alone - once they made a treaty with the coalition.

"Is there any way we can reduce the impact of praimfayer?" Clarke asked. "I mean, can we shut down any of the reactors now before they go into meltdown?"

"I spent some time looking into that and the simple answer is that it's not worth it. We can get to two mega reactors on this continent but we can't get to any of the others. The lessening of the impact by safely shutting down the two we can get to will be minimal and not worth the risk to those having to do it - unless we make and take only nightbloods. That might be feasible" Raven ruminated. "Give me a couple of days to really think about it."

"What are we going to do about making peace with the clans?" Clarke asked.

"Over the next few days you and I are going to make it seem like we think we are being watched, or we see things that can't be true so we must be imagining" Octavia said. "Then at some point either you or I, or even both of us, will go out and when we're far enough away from the camp that we won't be seen we call out to whoever is watching us. We tell the rest of the camp we did it that way in case we were imagining things and we didn't want them to think we were going nuts."

Clarke thought that was a good plan and it would mean that they wouldn't have to let on that they had information that they were not supposed to possess.

At camp there was the distinct air of excitement and progress.

A fire pit had been dug and there was the start of an excellent fire being built. The metal stand and canopy had been put together so that once it was lit rain would not put the fire out but would be diverted through a gutter into a water barrel. Dax, Clarke could see, was putting together a contraption that looked like it was a spit with a tray underneath to catch the juices.

There was also a large metal grill that would go over the fire. It was definitely better than what they had before.

"Hey, we caught something towards dinner tonight!" Octavia yelled as she threw down the serpent. "No idea what it will taste like but it might be good." There were some loud cheers.

Nate Miller came up to Bellamy and Clarke and said that there were two injuries - bad cuts that looked like they would need stitches.

"Are you up to that yet?" Bellamy asked

Clarke held out her hand showing the still healing burns that were already improving, and the slight but distinct tremor. "No, but I can check them for contaminants and bind them so they heal properly, just longer than if I could stitch. I'm much better than yesterday, and tomorrow I'll be better still so I may be able to do it then."

"What happened to you?" Nate asked.

"One of the guards thought it would be fun to torture the princess in solitary. I think it was some kind of acid but I had already used that day's water so couldn't rinse it off until the next and by then the damage had been done. I'm Clarke" and Clarke held out her hand, looked at it before withdrawing with a shrug of apology.

"Nathan Miller. I answer to Nate or Miller but never Nathan" Nate said as he mimed shaking Clarke's hand with a wry grin.

"Nate should be our deputy for when both you and I need to be away from camp, I think" said Bellamy.

"What do you mean 'our' deputy? What has me being away from camp got to do with anything?" Clarke was confused.

"You seriously don't think I could be in charge on my own without your cool calm logical head to keep me in line do you?" Bellamy laughed, thinking about the stories of his passed misdeeds. "Raven hated having to be the responsible one keeping me in line when dealing with the Council and the plans so she abdicated overall responsibility to you oh, calm Clarke."

"Point taken" agreed Clarke. "Well I can't say anything to the contrary since most people here are unknown to me, but I do know of Nate from his dad, a good man." Nate smiled and agreed with Clarke's assessment.

There was a village of tents and Raven led Clarke to one close to the dropship.

"You, Octavia and I will share this one. We have sleeping bags this time, enough for everyone. They won't be warm enough for winter but it's better than nothing for now."

"Everything seems to be better than the nothing we had last time" Clarke said.

"This time Bellamy and I could prepare and negotiate with the Council. The deal is that when the rest come down we have to let them live in the homes we build and continue to build more, but you and I know that that one isn't going to happen. As well as the hundred delinquents, and let's hope no one counts them to find one extra, we have ten orphans, including three who were delinquents but Bellamy negotiated with Kane for them to have their convictions quashed including Charlotte, Aurora Blake who is our resident seamstress and child guardian until you and Bell decide what to do for them, Beppi Mkembi who is dying of cancer and has no more medicine allowance so we need some pain relief for him, Molly Higgins who has a broken arm and has no more medical allowance - when you're up to it you're going to have to reset that; Ben Rhodes aged eight who has epilepsy, autism and some learning difficulties so we're going to need some seizure control for him; and Ben's father, asshole extraordinaire who has accompanied him."

"Wow, as well as stitches and broken bones I'm going to have to expand my knowledge base" said Clarke. "I think I know where we can get something for seizures, I'll go out with Monty and a couple of others tomorrow specifically to look for medicinal plants."

"Oh, yeah. We were able to get a bunch of eight, Monty, Jasper, Sterling, Murph, Nate, Zoe, Fox and Harper to help prepare for the landing. We tried to get Kane to agree to including you but he wouldn't budge. Just as well since you've only just come back. You also have a tablet of your very own, amongst all the medical stuff, which I better take you to so you can look at the two cuts, which Abby assures me has been uploaded with every piece of medical information she can find for you. You can peruse that at your leisure. Once the fire is ready and all the tents are up with sleeping bags Bellamy is going to let everyone have lunch and then start on the wall. You, me and Aurora, necessary job holders, as well as all the sick and injured and children under fourteen are excused the physical work of wall and hut building in case of accident."

Clarke could only grunt with approval of those decisions as she and Raven entered the dropship where two young men were sat bleeding.

Raven looked at the crates until she came across the one marked "Medical" and pulled it towards Clarke.

There were actually two tablets: one labelled Medical Texts' and the other 'Medical Files'.

There was also lots of basic medical equipment.

"Monty thought that used medical materials could be sanitised again."

Clarke grunted at Raven's statement and decided she was really going to enjoy being down on earth this time.

Using the bucket that Bellamy used to bring the sea weed to camp since it was the only source of water currently, Clarke cleaned the wounds and made pads of the sea weed, which she would make into paste when she found a pestle and mortar, and bandaged them. "Keep them clean and come and see me in the morning" she said as she saw them off. Clarke took some of the weed to dry so that it could be used to make a tea in case it was needed later.

Once everyone was gathered round the now roaring fire Bellamy called order.

"First up, in everyone's bag is a rag which I want you all to hand over. You will use leaves that will be placed by the toilet areas and not your rags, unless you want to be washing them after every time you take a shit. The rags will be used for medical purposes." There were some grumbles from the masses who didn't want to have to give up anything they had.

"You all also have some non essential items. They are for sharing with everyone so don't hog them and play nicely!"

This time there were some snorts from the masses.

"After we've enjoyed this, our very last meal of Arc rations, we get back to work. Octavia Georgio., Georgiothop .., Georgiotheodop .., never mind, Octavia will take out a small group who will be hunting for meat for us to eat; Clarke Griffin and Monty Green will take out a slightly bigger group to look for nuts and berries to eat and for any medicinal herbs and plants; I shall take out a group to collect some water and Jasper Jordan will take a group to collect large leaves to wipe our bums with at the latrines that Zoe Monroe and Roma Fielding will be setting up. Nate Miller will be in charge here of overseeing the start of building the protective wall. Mrs Blake will be in charge of all children aged thirteen and under except for Ben who is still under his fathers supervision, who are excused wall building work and she will make sure that Mr Mkembi and Mrs Higgins are kept comfortable. Raven is working in the drop ship, attempting to repair the radio and setting up more of our contraptions and she may seek assistance from the older children. Once we have finished the wall everyone will be assigned a job. All jobs will be essential. Not all jobs will be pleasant so they will be rotated, unless you have a particular skill and will be based in that field with shorter time on the other jobs. Even Clarke, Raven, Mrs Blake and myself will do our share of the unpleasant work so there is no excuse for the rest of you to try to get out of it."

"What about the children? You can't expect my Ben to have a job" Rhodes was snide.

"Even the children will have a job, but their main job will be to pay attention in their classes and learn. Ben, do you think you can do a very important job for the camp?" Bellamy talked kindly to the child. On receiving a most emphatic nod from Ben Bellamy went on to explain Ben's job. "We have to make sure everyone gets up in the mornings, so do you think that you can go round the camp ringing the bell to wake everyone up?"

There were groans of disapproval from the masses at the idea of being woken up by a bell, but Ben was nodding very enthusiastically.

"Good man. When Clarke or I need you to wake everyone we'll give you the bell each morning. If anyone tells you they can't get up because they're sick, then you go find Clarke and she'll sort them out."

"Why do we need a wall since we're the only people here?" Atom called out.

"A very good question" said Clarke. "Unfortunately we don't know what animals are about.

Will our arrival attract them? Will radiation mutated predators fancy something a bit different to their usual fare? Until we know it is safe to let our guard down, we don't. We make sure we do what we can to protect our camp and our people."

The grumbling stopped and some started to look around as if they expected large wild beasts to suddenly jump out at them.

Very early next morning, long before the others were awake, Clarke led Bellamy, Octavia and Nate to the former FEMA supply bunker. "I've got Raven investigating possible other bunkers in the near area" Clarke said blithely to Nate.

Nate, not being an idiot, just grunted in agreement and decided to keep his thoughts to himself about how knowledgeable the Princess was.

Unsurprisingly they hit the motherload with the find of a barrow full of guns and boxes of ammunition.

"I think this calls for some shooting lessons and to find the best marks men to make sure the guns are only in the hands of those who can handle them" said Bellamy. "I'll give them all a quick once over first to make sure they're all working properly, though." No one disagreed with Bellamy's pronouncement.

Chapter End Notes

So, a fairly dull chapter with scene being set for the main events yet to come.

Something I'm starting to give some thought to, should Aurora have a love interest along with all the embarrassment that would cause her children? Let me know what you think.

Making Contact

Chapter Summary

Clarke and Octavia make contact with Trikru and they learn (again) about the dangers they face from Mt Weather.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Clarke went out with Monty and five young delinquents to look for medicinal and edible plants. Of course she knew where she was going and what she was looking for but had to pretend that she didn't.

Monty spotted some leaves that he said would be good to ease stings. They could be ground up and made into a paste or they could be just rubbed over the affected area. He didn't know if they could be ingested as a general anti histamine, but it was a possibility for consideration if anyone developed hay fever.

When he went to point them out to Clarke he saw her staring up into the trees with a look of concentration. Realising that she was being watched she shook her head and saw what Monty was trying to tell her.

Monty found some berries that they could eat but no nuts yet. Clarke insisted that enough be taken back for everyone to have some and wondered if someone knew how to preserve them.

Clarke surprised them by finding some wild potatoes and onions to flesh out their dinner.

It didn't take long to find some herbs, both for cooking and healing.

All seven had plenty to carry back to camp knowing that they had a very successful foraging trip.

"You okay, Clarke? You seemed a bit distracted" Monty said.

"Yeah, fine, thanks. I think some of the acid might have gotten to my eyes because I see shapes sometimes, and when I blink, they've gone. I'll have to give them a few more rinses, maybe use some of the seaweed water."

Monty just nodded as if her words made perfect sense.

The next day the same seven plus John Murphy went out again looking for more useful plants, and Clarke showed them how to set a snare, all the while she rubbed at the back of her neck.

"Your neck bothering you, Clarke?" Murphy asked, surprising Clarke since she was used to the previously surly John Murphy.

"No, not at all. I just have this feeling of being watched. Do none of you feel it?" Clarke asked.

"No, but it wouldn't surprise me to discover that we are being watched by something that thinks we would make a nice meal for it, we should make sure we're close in groups of at least three, just in case" suggested John.

Clarke took out just John and one other from the food team to check the snares first thing.

They had three rabbits.

"These will make a nice stew with some onions and potato" John said.

"And the fur will make some nice hats or mittens for winter" Clarke added.

"Yeah, I'll get that to Fox once I've cleaned them. D'yer think Zoe'll want to start breeding them so we have some over winter?" John asked the question, looking to the future of a bleak winter with scarce pickings.

"It's an idea. We'll need somewhere to keep them that they won't be able to escape from, but still be nice enough that they'll feel at home and breed. Why don't you talk to her about it?" Clarke suggested. "You know I said that I thought that we were being watched?" Clarke changed the subject. At John's nod she continued. "Well I spoke to Octavia yesterday about it and she said the same thing, that she feels like they're being watched when she leads a hunt.

Do you think that it might be because we were in solitary for so long that we went a little on the crazy side?"

John pondered Clarke's words, not wanting to say 'hell, yeah' which is what he really thought. "Or it is possible that your time in solitary made you bit more sensitive to such things. But it is odd that you don't feel that in the camp. Perhaps it's your fight or flight response that is kicking in and you're not interpreting it correctly since you haven't used it for so long."

"I guess it could be lots of things. Never mind. Let's get those rabbits ready for the pot." That evening, when the camp was winding down and all were meant to be safe within its confines; Clarke and Octavia went for a walk. It was a clear night with an almost full moon so they had no qualms about what they were doing. As soon as they were sure that they would not be disturbed by their colleagues they sat down and drew their knives and Octavia's sword, putting them on the floor just in front of them and raised their hands.

"Hello, we know that you're watching us. As you can see we've disarmed; so why don't you come out and talk to us?" Clarke called.

There was no response. Clarke looked at Octavia in question.

Octavia's smirk told Clarke that Lincoln was indeed close by.

"We know you've been watching us, probably since we landed. You clearly want something from us and it will be easier if we just talk about it - less chance of misunderstandings that way."

Clarke waited for a few seconds of no response before she decided to inject a bit of humour.

"If you don't want to talk to us girls, we could always go back and bring a couple of the boys to talk, would you prefer that?" As expected that got a response.

Lincoln fell to the ground just to the side of the two women. He stood tall and folded his arms, showing that he was not about to reach for one of his weapons.

"Hi, I'm Clarke and this is Octavia. We'll lower our hands now. Would you care to sit with us? I would offer refreshment but we didn't bring any with us."

"I am Lincoln kom Trikru, that is of the tree clan."

"It is very nice to meet you Lincoln kom Trikru. I suppose we should be of the space clan" Clarke deliberately didn't want to say 'Sky crew'.

"We call you Skaikru" Lincoln made clear that it would not change.

"That's as good. We were all led to believe that no humans survived on earth after the apocalypse. Our group were sent down to test to see if it was possible to live down here. You see, our former home, a space station called the Are is dying and soon everyone on it will die unless they can come to earth too. Are there very many of you in the tree clan, and are there other clans? I ask because while our other people will have to come to earth, we don't want

them to cause bother when they do. And if we have caused trouble for you by landing here then I sincerely apologise. We were meant to land on Mount Weather." At that Lincoln snorted and as hoped, informed Clarke and Octavia all about the mountain men and their evils.

"Unfortunately our radio was damaged in the landing so we can't contact the Are yet, but Raven is working on the problem so we can warn them not to land on Mount Weather, and I guess we need to tell them that this place is already home to people and to be careful where they land. Perhaps you could advise on where they could land safely?" Clarke prodded.

"I shall need to speak with Heda, our Commander. It is Heda who makes all the decisions" Lincoln advised.

Clarke asked if it would be possible for a small delegation from Sky Crew to meet with the Commander to negotiate a peace treaty. Lincoln indicated that Heda would probably want to meet but he could not offer any other information.

Knowing that Lincoln was not particularly chatty, Octavia took over the conversation and started to tell Lincoln all about the people in the camp. She told him the truth about her relationship with Bellamy and Aurora and why she had to hide and lie. Clarke and Octavia were both gratified to see the appalled look on Lincoln's face on heing told that Octavia had hidden under the floor for years and what would have happened to her if she were discovered.

Lincoln offered to show Clarke some healing herbs that she had not yet come across, which she appreciated.

"We need to tell everyone else the things you have imparted, particularly the warnings about the Mountain" Clarke stated. "Would you be willing to give a brief talk to people tomorrow so that they know that we are not making it all up?"

"For a little while I will talk to your people but I must report to Heda" Lincoln stated, surprising Clarke and Octavia who both thought that he would refuse.

Clarke and Octavia returned to camp. They told Bellamy that Lincoln would come to the camp to talk to them. He thought that he should meet Lincoln outside the camp with Clarke and for them to bring him in. Clarke agreed. But it wasn't just Lincoln who turned up to meet them, Nyko came along too.

"I have brought Nyko kom Trikru, he is our healer. He is interested in talking to you about your healing methods and abilities."

"Hello, Nyko kom Trikru, it is very nice to meet you. I am Clarke kom Skaikru. I am happy to talk to you and to share knowledge but I am only a young trainee and when my mother arrives I shall ask her to talk with you too."

"I look forward to sharing knowledge. Here, Lincoln said that you appeared to be covered in burns. This salve should help" and Nyko handed over a pot that Clarke know would help soothe her skin no end.

"Thank you. This will be a great improvement in my recovery. Lincoln, Nyko, let me introduce you to Bellamy my partner in leading our small group."

Lincoln carefully studied the man who had protected Octavia almost his whole life; the only true brother in their whole clan. There was nothing in Bellamy's demeanour to suggest that he in any way resented the burden of responsibility that he had had to bear. Lincoln also realised that Clarke and Bellamy were so very young to be the leaders of their clan and neither appeared to shirk from the task.

"Let me go in and call everyone together" said Bellamy. "I shall then say that we have discovered that we are not alone down here and that I want to introduce two of our neighbours. Perhaps after I have said your names you can say a few words, maybe that you wanted to warn us about the men in the mountain, and that you will go and talk to your Commander about us and our desire for a peace treaty. I shall say something about our need to hunt and gather, and prepare for winter, but would be grateful if someone could spend time showing us how far we can safely wander from our camp so as not to impinge on your needs.

You can just answer as you would if I asked that in private. Nyko, would you like to say anything to our group?"

"Thank you, just that I would like to exchange knowledge with your healer so that we can all benefit."

Bellamy nodded and headed into the camp area. In a loud voice he called everyone together.

Clarke, Nyko and Lincoln stepped closer so that they could hear Bellamy but stayed out of sight until they were called upon.

There many outcries at being told that we are not alone on the earth and that we landed in the territory belonging to Trikru. There was clearly a lot of fear.

"No need to panic: they have not killed us yet and they have had ample opportunity to pick us off if they had wanted to. I have met with two of our neighbours and they would be willing to come in a say a few words to you; some things that we must be aware of. Clarke" Bellamy raised his voice, "can you bring in Lincoln and Nyko, please? I'm sure everyone here is eager to hear their words." The latter point was said more in warning to the people of the camp than as a literal truth.

Clarke walked into the camp, flanked by the two grounders, both larger than most Arc adults.

"Thank you Bellamy. First I should like to introduce you all to Nyko who is a local healer and has very kindly given me a salve that should help my burns. And to Lincoln who is a ...

Actually, I don't know what you do, Lincoln, other than watch strange people who crash into your territory." Clarke gave Lincoln the opportunity to say something that he would have no idea that she would know the veracity of.

"I am a warrior" Lincoln spoke truthfully even though it was with brevity.

Ah, so they sent a warrior to watch us in case we were dangerous: very sensible" Clarke cut off any chance for panic to build up in her people at the thought that they had a warrior in their midst. "I suppose it is possible that we may inadvertently cause you some problems, so feel free to put us on the right path if we do start to do something wrong. Perhaps you can tell our people of the things you warned us about, please in case I missed any details." The campers were muttering to themselves in disquiet. Clarke wondered how Lincoln would handle this. He merely looked around the camp and raised an intimidating brow until the buzz died down.

"People live inside Mount Weather" Lincoln began. "They cannot live outside without wearing special full body suits with helmets. They take people and they are never seen again.

They also take people and turn them into reapers. Reapers are vicious, out of control cannibals. We have many theories as to why they would do this, but we do not know. The mountain men also send acid fog. It is deadly to humans, but does not kill plants. We believe they do this so that we cannot storm the mountain. If you hear a horn sounded then you need to take cover. Another horn will sound the all clear. We have certain hunting grounds that you must never enter, or if you do, you do so at your own risk since we have many traps. I will speak to Anya, to ask if we can outline some area for you that will be safe pending formal talks with your people."

Clarke interrupted to ask if Lincoln could explain a little about how territories and government were organised on the ground.

"There are twelve clans in the coalition. We are led by our Heda, the Commander. Our current Heda is called Lexa kom Trikru. That means she was originally from Trikru before she ascended. Each clan is very independent and has its own laws and punishments so if you want to travel you have to know about all the clans. This is Trikru and it boarders the mountain so we are the biggest target for their steals, although all clans have faced losses. We and Azgeda are the biggest clans and until Heda made the coalition we were the bitterest of enemies. Anya is the leader of Trikru. We have named you Skaikru since you fell from the sky?"

Clarke thanked Lincoln for his explanation and asked the campers if they had any questions for Lincoln or Nyko, "Questions that they can realistically answer, so be sensible" she exhorted.

"When will winter start since we only have tents at the moment and will need to build warmer shelter, and probably stock up on food?" Nate asked.

"I cannot offer any promises, but even if the talks don't end well and you have to leave our territory I think it likely that we will let you stay through winter..."

". unless you really piss us off, which so far doesn't look likely" interrupted Nyko.

Most people snorted at Nyko's words, hoping that they were the truth.

"But", Lincoln continued, "you should already begin stocking up on food. Our village began preparing over fifty days ago. If you wish, since I know some from our village are eager to meet you, I can ask one or two to show you how to dry and store meat and fruit for winter.

You are correct to make sure you build a wall, some animals that do not hibernate will wish to take advantage of the mass of food that is a human. You have less than forty days before the colder weather begins, and about fifty days before hunting and food gathering become very difficult. About thirty days after that it will be impossible. The temperature will drop to below freezing. You must have your warmer shelter ready before ninety days. One camp fire to keep everyone warm will not be enough."

"I'm in charge of food preparation" John Murphy said. "I studied what I could but practical help would be good, thanks."

Lincoln nodded to acknowledge John's words.

"Will us drawing water away from the stream to the west affect you? Until next year all I can do is to syphon water and send it back to the stream further down, along with our waste. Will it affect the local eco system?" Raven asked.

"No. One hundred humans will have little to no effect on the ecology as long as you are not introducing any poisons" Nyko said.

"For the time being, we carry on as normal" Bellamy said. "We had always planned for a three stage settlement, so we carry on with stage one of getting through this winter and leaving stage two for spring. Hopefully by then we'll have finished our talks with the Commander and we'll know about when the rest of the Arc is coming down. Thank you, Lincoln and Nyko, we look forward to meeting more of your people. Would it be possible for Octavia, Monty and Jasper to accompany you back to your village so they know where it is and people know who they are?" Bellamy asked.

"You can point out things of interest along the way, too" Clarke added.

Lincoln and Nyko left the camp attended by Monty, Jasper and Octavia. Unbeknownst to Monty and Jasper, Octavia was there to make sure that they didn't get lost on their way back and to be their protection in case they ran into something (human or otherwise) that fancied a little taste of Skaikru. Lincoln noted the way that Octavia walked with her sword by her side and he knew exactly why Octavia was there.

When everyone had drunk some of Jasper and Monty's moonshine (although Bellamy, Clarke, Octavia and Raven had drunk less than everyone else thought they had), and the main gang were sat in a group slightly apart from the majority of the teenagers who were grouped around the camp fire despite it being a warm evening, Clarke started to get everyone thinking.

"You know how we were always told that the earth wouldn't be inhabitatable for 200 years after the apocacalipse?" Clarke pretended to be a bit tipsy with her speech.

"Yeah, well clearly they were wrong" pointed out Murphy.

"Yeah, but what if they weren't?" Clarke persisted. "They were supposed to be the smartiest scientists in the whole wide world so how could they have got it so wrong?"

"I know what you mean" Raven put in, "but they did get it wrong 'coz people have been living here for ever and we are all still alive."

"But what if they were right, but the whole story didn't get passed down?" Clarke insisted

"Think, we know that there are higher levels of radiation now but yeah it is livable for us, but what if there was something else that was to happen as a consequence of the bombs that would make it so that we couldn't live here until about another 100 years? What if there was some sort of timer that would set off the rest of the bombs to finish the job?"

"Clarke, we love you dearly but I think you're a little nuts" Jasper said earnestly.

"No" Octavia disagreed, "Clarke was right about us being watched and she is right that it is odd that the best scientists got it so wrong, so what could we he missing?"

"A meteorite" offered Miller.

"Ooh, yes. Maybe they knew it was heading for earth and it will wipe out the mammals like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs" suggested Harper.

There were murmurings from everyone else, most agreeing with the possibility until a moment of silence when Raven said "The nuclear reactors, that's what they had in mind."

"Why do you say that?" asked Bellamy.

"Unless there was sufficient time to shut them all down safely, and we were told that the launch was sudden which is why the world leaders couldn't get to their bunkers so it is doubtful that they were, then they would all have a maximum of about 100 years before they would start to deteriorate, heat up and eventually explode" Raven was sombre.

"So they're gonna go at any time now?" Fox asked

"Maybe" Raven agreed. "I think that we need to consider how we might find out which, if either of our theoretical possibilities are correct. I shall need to be sober to do that so for the time being let's drink and be merry just in case tomorrow we die."

"Hear, hear! I'll drink to that" Jasper raised his cup.

Chapter End Notes

The gang are starting to implement their long term plans to 'discover' the second praimfayer. Not yet clear, but they also have plans for the Arc that they will start thinking out loud about soon(ish). If you can think of anything they should be doing let me know and I might be able to incorporate them into the story.

Night Blood

Chapter Summary

Clarke finally donates her marrow to make more nightbloods.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

When Clarke had recovered from her injuries and was fully operational as the camp medic, having reset Molly's broken arm and found an anti seizure treatment that after an initial period of trial and error seemed to be working for Ben, she discussed the first round of bone marrow extraction with Bellamy, Raven and Octavia.

"I'll need to talk you through it Raven, will you be okay to do it?" Clarke was concerned that Raven's memories of having her own bone marrow forcibly extracted and without any anaesthesia would prevent her being able to drill into Clarke.

"As long as you have some pain killers so aren't screaming in agony, I should be fine. Who's going to get the first two doses?"

Clarke looked at her fellow crew and wondered how they would feel about her proposal. "I want to give the first two to Raven and Beppi" she said.

"What? Why?" asked Octavia.

"I know that night blood somehow helps with pain management; and although Raven's pain is nowhere near the level it was before, I can tell she is still in some pain which is why I want Raven to benefit as soon as possible" Clarke smirked at Raven and acknowledged her grin of gratitude. "I don't know if it will be of any benefit to Beppi, but I want to use it as a test. At best he has weeks left and if this buys him more time, or helps with his pain then I think it is something that we might want to know for the future. Of course it might not do anything for him, or it could hasten his death so I will talk to him about what and why and let him give the final say."

The other three looked at each other and seemed not to be able to come up with a reason not to go with Clarke's plan. "When will we get it?" Octavia asked.

"Everyone who receives my marrow, except Beppi in the first instance, should be asked to donate themselves once we are sure that it has taken. No one who receives it from them should donate since we don't know if there is any weakness with distance from the originator.

I should be able to donate again every four to six weeks with no adverse effects. The question is, to whom do we want to give it and to whom do we talk about it?"

"I don't think that we should give it to anyone other than us four, mom and Beppi until we know we can trust them" Octavia said.

"I agree, but for slightly different reasons" Bellamy said. "Anyone getting injured will bleed and everyone in camp will know and there will be no hiding it from outsiders either." Clarke nodded her agreement. "This means that both you and I, O, will need to be very careful not to bleed in front of the wrong people" Bellamy finished.

"How long can it keep once extracted?" Raven asked.

"Without the correct equipment, which we don't have, no more than a couple of days" Clarke answered. "If we are able to make use of Mount Weather's med facilities then, in theory, it could be kept for as long as we had power. Why, what are you thinking?"

"As soon as we can we should start extracting and storing so that it can be used in the build up to Praimfayer so that the key people can continue to work up to the last minute, perhaps even go outside once the wave has passed to check and work on external equipment. I don't think it should be used to increase the population beyond that which we think the earth can sustain" Raven explained.

"I agree" said Bellamy; "but remember, Mount Weather had been able to sustain a small population continuously for a century and there is no reason to think that with proper management it would not continue to do so. We just have to make sure we can help the earth recover fairly quickly so that people don't need to die of starvation."

"If we can shut down the two mega reactors on this continent then the amount of the earth that should be survivable increases from 4% to just below 10%, the difficulty will be on getting to that 10%, although it is possible that it will include Hawaii and not sure if I would want to live so close to a string of volcanos" Raven added. "To be honest, though, I need access to a better computer system, Becca's lab would he perfect if we could get there without being assassinated by ALIE's drones or misled through her hacking of the computers.

Not sure if we could reason with her if we could let her know that we've destroyed her backpack so there's no way she could leave the island or create more chips; perhaps she would be grateful for the promise of company if a group of us were to base ourselves there."

"We could move some stuff from the house and make a very comfy home in the lab for those with night, no, we should call it black blood so that we differentiate from the Grounders," said Clarke.

"I remember the schematics of the lab and there is plenty of room there to create a very comfy base for about 20 to 25 black bloods, especially since it managed maintain power through Praimfaya so Becca must have some special tricks on her island and I'm sure it would be more fun than spending five years stuck on the GoSci ring" Raven said. "Let's give that some more thought later, first priority, take out Mount Weather and then find a way to keep the majority of the Arc in space." The others could only agree with Raven's suggestion.

Clarke went to talk to Beppi. She made it clear that the treatment she proposed was experimental.

"I am almost certain that it will not worsen your condition, but it is a possibility, and it could actively hasten your death" Clarke explained. "I think it is a bigger possibility that it will improve your condition but I cannot even guess as to what degree, anything from easing your pain to eliminating your cancer. There is also the possibility that will have no effect on your health at all. I will not require you to undergo the treatment and will not stop giving you pain management medicine if you do choose not to try it, but I am asking you to." Beppi looked closely at the camp medic, the Arc Princess, the prisoner who spent a long time in solitary and he saw a woman who had more compassion, integrity, strength and conviction than of all the Are's Councillors put together in her little finger. "What makes you think that it will make things better?" he asked.

Clarke gave a rare smile and said "because my face is now blemish free when it should be covered in burn scars."

Thinking that he should have realised that point earlier, Beppi agreed to the treatment.

"There is one point that will definitely happen, but we don't want anyone else to know"

Clarke said as she got a knife and nicked her palm and allowed the black blood to surface.

"I've had this black blood now for a few months and I can tell you that it had allowed me to feel less pain and recover from all sorts of injuries and illnesses faster than I would otherwise be able to do so, if at all. We propose to extract bone marrow from me and give it to you and Raven. We also want to give it to Bellamy and Octavia after I have recovered so that we have potential donors to treat others if needed. We don't intend to give to anyone else unless it is needed to preserve life when all other measures fail because we don't know the long term effects."

Beppi looked at the black blood and considered the implications of Clarke's words. He hated to think that Clarke's own mother, someone Beppi has always admired both as a doctor and a person, had probably had a hand in experimenting on her daughter while she was locked up for something she hadn't even done. He wanted to ask about it but realised that it was something that Clarke would not want to discuss.

"Okay, I'll try your treatment; it's not as if I need to worry about the possible long term adverse effects since we both know that without it I won't get to live to see snow, and that is something that I really would like to experience."

Clarke laughed "snow is cold and wet, but I think everyone looks forward to enjoying their first snowfall. We'll do it in a couple of days' time so let us know if there's something you want to do tomorrow just in case it all goes wrong."

"I want to go to a river, or lake. Put my bare feet in and feel it flowing over my skin" Beppi said with a hopeful look at Clarke.

"Okay, water it is. You'll have to be carried in a stretcher, but I promise it will be worth it." The next day Beppi was loaded onto a stretcher and a large party, including all the children, went to the lake for an afternoon of relaxation and fun. Even those who were there as guards had some time off to relax. Octavia tried to teach everyone the skill of skimming stones with very mixed results. There was much cheering when anyone managed to get their stone to bounce more than two times. Because children were naturally inquisitive creatures, they all wanted to know how the stones could bounce on water which led to an impromptu science lesson.

Everyone noticed that Ito wanted to know more about the power and strength of water, which led to a discussion on hydro electronics and then to other engineering marvels.

"I guess you have an apprentice" Octavia said to Raven.

"Yeah, now we need to identify a 12 to 14 year old as well" Raven added.

"Even if the treatment doesn't work" Beppi said as he grabbed Clarke's hand, "I want you to know that I had a wonderful day and am so grateful that I got the chance to experience the wonders of earth. Thank you for your care of me."

Clarke smiled at Beppi as she turned her hand to squeeze his in return. "You are very welcome. Thank you for testing our pain remedies for us: without your insight I would have been very concerned about operating on Molly's arm. Knowing that she was not in pain helped my nerves and the success of the operation."

The next day Clarke was able to dose herself with a light painkiller and apply a topical anaesthesia to the area that Raven would have to drill. Bellamy and Octavia were there to offer moral support and use the tablets to allow Clarke to see exactly what Raven was doing.

It took all of Clarke's concentration to remain still despite the discomfort that she could still feel from the drilling.

Raven soon had two doses of the treated marrow to inject. Octavia attached the tourniquet to both Raven and Beppi and injected the marrow.

"It will take at least three hours to know if it is having any effect" Clarke said from her bed.

"The first thing to check is your blood; then we'll check your un-medicated pain levels and only after a few days will I be able to check for any changes to your tumours, Beppi, and that will have to be by opening you up and looking."

"Don't you worry about me, little lady" Beppi reassured. "If you need to open me up then do so, but I'm equally happy to live on in blissful ignorance."

By the end of the day Raven was walking freely and Beppi was hobbling for a short distance aided only by a couple of sticks. Within the week, Raven said that she felt like she had never been injured and Beppi was walking around camp and talking about what he could do to contribute to the camp's welfare. He agreed to be a teacher and try to learn how to be a wood crafter.

Five weeks later the procedure was repeated with Bellamy and Octavia being the recipients.

Chapter End Notes

There is the potential for the decision to give Beppi black blood to turn round and bite them. There is a plot thread here that will get its next hit in a couple of chapters.

I hope you enjoy.

Mt Weather - Part 1

Chapter Summary

They get their excuse to attack the Mountain, and meet some new people.

Chapter Notes

Before we get to the meat of the post, I want to thank everyone who leaves kudos. It really makes my day when I receive an e-mail letting me know that someone has left me a kudos, so thank you.

I think that I always reply to comments and I hope I always remember to thank you for your comments. If I don't, please feel free to leave another one deploring my manners!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Clarke had to decide how she was going to deal with Lexa on a personal basis: both if she, Lexa, did, or did not, remember. Clarke and Lexa had loved each other in the earlier life, but Clarke was now a different woman to the one Lexa knew. Clarke rather thought that she and Lexa were actually very alike; too similar to have really lasted long together. They were probably doomed to hurt or be hurt by the other and it would probably be best if they could somehow make sure they steered any potential relationship into that of friendship and allies.

Actually, Clarke rather thought that her relationship with Bellamy would be a good model for her relationship with Lexa. There was undoubtedly attraction, and much love and affection between her and Bellamy previously, but Clarke had already noticed some changes in the two of them and thought that they would become close, but not lovers. Perhaps she should wait until she felt better able to enter a relationship with someone that was less likely to lead to hurt and focus on leading her people through Praimfayer as safely as possible before she decided to fall in love. At least there was a chance that the relationship would last since there would not be very many people to move on to!

Lincoln came to the camp to let Bellamy and Clarke know that the Commander would like to meet with them in 30 days' time to negotiate a peace treaty. That, apparently, would give both sides ample time to think of what they could offer the other, and what they would need in return. However, the Commander did say that they would not require Skaikru to vacate the land until 30 days after the first spring blooms even if they could not reach agreement, provided Skaikru did nothing to make Trikru regret their forbearance.

But Clarke did not need 30 days to demonstrate that they could contribute to the coalition.

Although Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia reminded everyone about the fog horn and steps to take to keep safe, not everyone listened.

Philip Rhodes was caught out unaware when the horn sounded. Ben remembered everything Bellamy had told him and knew that they were in danger but his dad thought that it was a wind up and ignored Ben's requests to run until he saw the yellow fog heading their way.

There was nowhere to go other than up. Philip placed Ben on his shoulders and helped him

himself as secure as he could be, then he told Ben to stand up on his shoulders and hold onto a branch and to not move until the horn sounded again.

Philip only stayed silent as the acid fog ate into his flesh up to his waist because he could not bear to scare his son more than he had to.

As soon as the all clear sounded Ben scrambled down, unknowingly causing his father immense pain.

"Get Bellamy and Clarke" Philip gasped out. "Quick!"

Ben slid down the tree until he hit the ground. He then headed to camp shouting for his hero

"Bellamy! Bellamy, help!"

It only took a few half clear words for Bellamy to learn what had happened. He told Ben to go into the camp and to tell Clarke what had happened and for her to prepare a bed while he and Sterling went to get his dad.

Sterling raised his brows in question, but followed Bellamy regardless.

"I doubt we can do anything for him, but I don't want to tell Ben that unless I'm sure" Bellamy explained.

They soon found Phillip Rhodes wedged between some branches up a tree.

Bellamy climbed up and saw the damage: he thought it extremely likely that Rhodes would lose his legs and wondered if it would be worth trying to save him. But Bellamy knew that it was not his choice: for the sake of Ben, if Rhodes was to die, Bellamy wanted to be able to say that everything possible had been done to save his dad.

Apologising for the pain that they would be causing, and cursing himself for not thinking of having a stretcher made to bring down, Bellamy eased Rhodes away from his perch and lowered him down towards Sterling.

"Look after Ben for me" Rhodes was saying between gasps and grunts of pain. "Promise me you'll look after Ben for me."

"If the worst comes to you, I promise that I will look after Ben; but first we're going to do all that is possible to keep you alive so that you can look after him. You just have to hang on in there and keep breathing. Let the rest of us do everything else, you just focus on breathing." Bellamy could hear his name being called and he answered so that no one would get lost looking for him. He was surprised to find Jasper holding a contraption that unrolled into a stretcher.

"Clarke thought that you might need this" Jasper said and even he could see the accuracy of Clarke's surmise.

The three carefully carried Rhodes back to camp. There Bellamy saw that Clarke was talking to Ben and Aurora. "I'll come back to talk to you as soon as I know what's happening, I promise. You wait here with Mrs Blake, okay?"

Ben nodded at Clarke before watching his father being carried into the med bay.

Bellamy watched Clarke carefully washing her hands and forearms and take a deep breath before she turned to her patient.

"Mr Rhodes, I need to be honest with you. Ben said that the fog was above your pants and that you were standing in it the whole time. If the acid has burned its way past the skin into your internal organs then I probably won't be able to save you. If your internal organs are intact then I might be able to save you. In either case you will be in an awful lot of pain. I can give you pain killers, but I cannot take away all the pain of recovery. First I'm going to examine the damage and it will hurt. I am sorry."

"Don't bother trying to keep me alive. My insides are burning and I taste blood on my breath" Rhodes said.

Clarke still carried out a cursory examination but it was clear that there was no saving Philip Rhodes, unless... "I am sorry that I can't do more for you than to give you pain relief unless you agree to trying the same experimental treatment that I gave to Beppi."

"Do what you have to" Rhodes said. "If I live through it then great, but I'm not holding out much hope."

"Let me give you this medicine and clean you up a little then I'll send in Ben so you can talk while I prepare."

Clarke used a dropper to put some liquid into Rhodes's mouth. It was mere seconds before the pain was clearly easing. Clarke wiped away all the excess dirt from his face so that Ben would feel comfortable talking to him.

"Ben, I am so sorry but the acid has eaten away at your daddy so much that I don't know if I can fix him. But I have given him some special medicine so that he won't hurt any more. I don't know how long it will be before his body stops working if I can't fix him, so why don't you come in and talk to your daddy for as long as you can?" Clarke was honest with Ben, but hopefully in a way that he would understand.

"No, Clarke, no!" Ben cried. "You have to fix him; you have to!"

"I will do my best but I might not be able to save him since so much of your daddy got killed by the fog. At the moment only his head works now and soon that will stop unless this special treatment I am going to try works. In case it doesn't, please come in to say 'goodbye' to him and to tell him that you love him. Please come and let him hear that you love him."

Ben gave in to Clarke's pleading and went to see his dad for what might be the last time.

Clarke prepared Bellamy for bone marrow donation.

There wasn't a dry eye in the bay. Rhodes was able to tell Ben how much he loved him and how proud he was of him, but from now on Ben had to think of Bellamy like his dad and do what Bellamy said, because if he had done what Bellamy had told him to then he wouldn't be hurting so much and possibly dying. Clarke thought that was a bit of a harsh lesson to teach his son, but she really could couldn't argue with Rhodes's words: if he had done what he had been advised then he would not be potentially dying. Ben promised to be a good boy and that he would never forget how great his dad is and how much he loved him.

Clarke gave one of the doses of bone marrow from Bellamy to Rhodes, and the other to Aurora. The only other things Clarke could do for Rhodes was to make sure he stayed hydrated and in no pain. She also had to make sure that Bellamy was taking the opportunity to recover from his donation. Other than that it was a waiting game.

"We need to organise search parties: two fourteen year olds are missing" Nate said as he barged into the med bay. "Apparently they like to sneak off to make out, but they should have been back by now."

Clarke went to get the second stretcher. She didn't want to disturb Rhodes by pulling the other from under his body.

"Take this. You can either improvise or quickly ask Raven to get another made up" Clarke said.

No one wanted to ask Raven to take on board another task so Nate grabbed some of the parachute material to use if necessary.

A search party of four, plus one of the love birds' friends soon found their bodies. They had together so that they could both be carried on the one stretche material to wrap them up The 117 plus Octavia that had come to earth were now 116.

While it might appear to be disrespectful, Clarke took the arm bands and the outer clothing to retain for future use. She also removed Trina's contraceptive implant so that it could be sterilised and inserted into Octavia which would mean that Octavia would be safe from pregnancy for just over three years.

Once everyone was settled for the night, Clarke called a meeting with Bellamy, Raven and Octavia to talk about the Mountain.

"We know that the Mountain is blocking our transmissions to the Arc, and theirs to us. We don't know if they are intercepting them and thus getting information that we don't want them to have. I think we need to act sooner rather than later. I do, however, have one concern:

Praimfayer; from what it looked like to me, it would cause all water to evaporate leaving nothing to power the colony afterwards. Am I right, Raven?" Clarke asked.

"Actually, yes, and no. I think I can get some wind turbines built if we act sooner, but they could not be used until the main wave had passed and I don't know how long that would last."

"My best guess is somewhere between 24 and 48 hours from what I remember" Clarke said.

"Well, in that case it should be relatively easy to arrange for us to live off emergency power for two or three days before wind turbines could kick in. The wind turbines could support us until the dam was repaired from our sortie and the water built up again. So you want us to take the Mountain now?"

"I want us to invite Lincoln and maybe a few others, silent but deadly, to assist and see us as we take it" Clarke said with a smirk. "Is there any way you can teach me what Monty did so that you don't have to come into the Mountain?" Clarke asked Raven.

"No, why?"

"Because you are our most valuable asset and we need to protect you at all costs. Also, getting you across the reservoir unseen will be difficult since you cannot swim. We'll need to tow you through the water and you'll have to trust us not to let you drown. Bellamy, we need you to remain outside since you are our best shot and a few others like Harper, and maybe Nate, so you can take out any who escape in suits. You should get your mom to try to come up with something that you can carry to put on if the fog should be released, make a few of them, can you talk to her? Perhaps we can ask Lincoln if one or two of their top archers would keep also keep watch."

The women looked at Bellamy, who was not happy at being kept out of the Mountain, but considering the task Clarke set out for him required their best sharp shooters and that was undoubtedly him, he could only nod in agreement.

"I shall need at least four small but very sharp knives, as sharp as scalpels, with the blades of similar size but with slightly bigger handles, and balanced if possible for accurate throwing.

I'll ask John or Nate if they could do it. And, if we can have some sharp skewers that we can hide in our braids so that if we were captured we would still have a weapon that can kill or disable if stabbed in the right place. Can you ask Lincoln if he and others want in, tomorrow, O and perhaps ask if he knows anyone who would lend me a light, thin rapier?" Clarke wanted to get on and get the job done.

The next day Clarke gave Raven rudimentary swimming lessons and Aurora fashioned a towing harness that Raven could wear that would keep her tethered to whoever led her across the water. Bellamy and Miller worked on some knives to meet Clarke's specifications. They were rather proud of what they achieved.

"Are you sure that it's a good idea to have Clarke go into the mountain on this mission?"

Miller asked when he was told what Clarke wanted the knives for.

Bellamy wondered how to answer without giving too much away. "Yeah; she's the only one who knows her way around at all and although she could draw a map of what she remembers seeing in the schematics she once saw, she will probably forget something and only think of it once there. It was a choice between Raven and Monty, but Raven said that since she is the eldest the responsibility should lie with her. Both Clarke and I wanted to argue with her, but neither of us could imagine what it would do to innocent Monty's psyche so we gave in. I don't like that I'm not going in either, but we need our best shooter outside, and modesty aside, that's me."

Octavia was just returning to the camp when two grounder females arrived at the gate asking to speak to Wanheda. Of course no one in the camp knew who Wanheda was, but Octavia knew that it meant that there were more people who knew what had happened before. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

Octavia recognised the Azgeda spy, Echo, who had tried and almost succeeded in killing her, but was banished for cheating in the conclave, but not the other female with her, the one that appeared to be in charge. Silently, Octavia drew her short knife and held it to the neck of the unknown Trikru female.

"Who are you and what do you want with Clarke?" Octavia asked.

"Ah, you must be the infamous Skairipa" the unknown female was remarkably cool for someone with a knife held to her throat.

"I repeat, who are you and what do you want with Clarke?" Octavia dragged the knife slightly to cause the shallowest of cuts.

"My name is Costia, and you know Echo, we need to speak with Wanheda, and anyone else who knows, which I believe includes you."

"Skairipa, I apologise for my actions that almost led to your premature death. I promise that in this life I shall act to protect you where I can."

Octavia lowered her knife and indicated that the two should follow her into the camp, after giving Echo a nod of acknowledgement of her words.

The three women ignored all the stares that were sent in their way as Octavia led them to the drop ship where they would be able to ensure some privacy. Seeing Ito, Octavia called him over and asked him to find Clarke, Raven and Bellamy and send them to the ship. Since Clarke was already in the ship, she saw the visitors first and raised her brows on seeing Echo with someone who was obviously Trikru.

"Wanheda" Echo said as she bowed her head in respect, "I thank you for the chance you gave me to live before. I swear that I have learned from my past mistakes. I wish to swear allegiance to you, over and above all other loyalties."

"Erm, well, thank you, Echo, I'm sorry that it didn't do any good in the long run, though."

"It was not through any fault of yours. And it would have done no good if only seven of us survived so it was for the best, I think."

Clarke gave a wry smile as she agreed with the spy's conclusion. "And you are?" Clarke looked to the Trikru woman expectantly.

"I am Costia kom Trikru I believe you know of me."

Clarke gave the biggest smile as she looked at the visage of Lexa's love. "I am so happy to meet you. Are you and Lexa still ...?"

"Yes and you cannot have her" Costia was belligerent.

"I am a different woman to the one Lexa loved and I am sure that without your death to change her that Lexa is a different woman to the one I loved. I promise you, I am no danger to your relationship. Does Lexa remember too?"

Before Costia could answer that question Raven and Bellamy entered the ship.

"Echo?" questioned Raven who had paid so little attention to the Azgedan that she was unsure as to her identity.

"Hello, Raven, Tekheda. I thank you for trying to save me, and you Bellamy, I have pledged my loyalty to Wanheda but I also wish to serve you if I may. This is Costia kom Trikru, she also remembers and since she was the first to die, knows all."

The group all stared at Costia, trying to work out the implications of Echo's final statement.

"What do you mean 'knows all'?" Bellamy asked a little suspiciously.

"Why don't we all sit down with some moonshine and water while we talk about it?" Clarke said as she calmed the atmosphere. "I'll ask Miller to take charge while were here; top level?"

Bellamy nodded and led the way up the stairs to the third level of the drop ship, an area set up to allow for a group to sit comfortably while they talk.

"You, Wanheda, Clarke kom Skaikru must again take the mountain, and in order to save Lexa it must be done without her apparent betrayal and making her appear weak to her people" Costia said. "We were actually talking about that and have worked out a plan. We will need some help, though, O?" Clarke asked Octavia if Lincoln had agreed to help.

"Lincoln said that he would help in whatever way we needed and he was sure that others would be proud to assist in any way, too; but he did not know of anyone who had a small thin rapier like the one you had requested."

"Good, and I guess I'll have to manage with just knives. Echo, if I remember you are an excellent archer, would you be willing to be one of those watching for any escapees from the mountain?" Clarke asked.

"I think that I would be better helping you inside the mountain since there are other excellent archers but very few as stealthy and lethal as me which would be to advantage in getting to the ... the.." Echo tailed off as she realised that she didn't know where they would going to do whatever they had to do.

"It is the Control Room where I shall have to pull the lever" Clarke explained. "Raven is the one who must be protected at all costs since she could tell you what to do if I should fall, but no one could carry out her function. We will need to work around the fog which will require us to cross by the reservoir by the dam and be in the reaper tunnels before the dam is blown.

Unless someone essential is turned into a reaper and we can get to them quickly, given the future it is probably kinder to give them a quick death rather than a cure."

"I agree" Costia said. "Even when cured they still suffered; their constant need for the red and their memories of the atrocities they carried out meant that they found no peace: it is one of the reasons why Lincoln did not fight death, he thought it was a way to atone. What can we do to help?"

Clarke and Raven explained their plan for getting into and taking down the mountain. "I'm only sorry that we can't think of a way to save people like Maya and her family" Clarke lamented.

"Maya, that name" Costia seemed confused. "Maya, she was after me!" there was clarity.

"Maya also remembers. I do not know at which point she will come back, but she too was chosen. As soon as the alarm sounds she will know what to do to help. Can you save her?"

Clarke thought for a few moments and suggested that their best bet would be to have a few shots of bone marrow ready to be injected. It will take a few hours to work so she will have to get the injected and other children into the quarantine area. She should be able to carry out more marrow transplants if there is enough oxygen to wait for it to take effect."

Raven pointed out that once they had access to the mountain's equipment she should be able to 'discover' praimfaya and radio the Arc. Bellamy wondered if it was possible that there was other secure facilities that might be found with the right computer systems.

"We can but look" Raven offered. "We really should try to find a way to use Becca's lab, too, but that can wait. When do we want to do this?"

"As soon as possible" Clarke answered. "T'll need to amputate Philip Rhodes's legs and it would be better done in the medical facilities there."

"What is 'amputate"?" Costia asked, the healer in her coming out at the mention of the medical facilities.

"They were so badly damaged in the acid fog that I can't save them so I need to surgically cut them off before they become infected and kill him" Clarke answered.

"Why would you keep a man alive who had no legs?" Echo was puzzled.

"Because his son still needs his dad, and he is a shoe maker, something that doesn't require standing, running or climbing" Octavia explained the strange concept to the two grounders.

Echo tried hard not to show how disconcerted she was by the idea, but Costia was intrigued and asked if she could assist Clarke in carrying out the procedure. Clarke was happy to accept the offer knowing how difficult it would be without trained assistance.

As they all talked about their plans it became clear to Echo and Costia that Bellamy did not in fact remember, but had been told.

"So it is only women who remember" Echo said.

"Is it possible that Roan remembers?" Clarke asked.

"I believe he would have made contact with either me or Heda to try to discover if we, too remembered" Echo answered. "If he had observed me, prior to making contact, he would have noticed that I was behaving in a manner that would indicate that I knew something even if he could not understand the extent of my knowledge."

"Or he could just be wandering around the countryside thinking he was going mad" Octavia observed wryly.

"Perhaps, after we have taken the mountain, you can try to find him and see if he wants to align himself with us until such a time as he can take the throne, if he could put up with a bunch of teenagers sorely in need of some strong adult guidance. If he could bring himself to stay with us we would certainly welcome him" Clarke suggested.

"We could certainly do with some help keeping some of the delinquents in line" Raven muttered, "Dax and Mgebe being cases in point and I know he's intimidating enough to do it without even raising a sweat."

Clarke agreed with the assessment: Bellamy being reasonable instead of an asshole was finding it difficult to maintain control of some of the more obstreperous delinquents. There may come a time when more stringent punishments would have to be implemented if some of the delinquents could not grow to being more co-operative.

Echo and Costia brought in their horses that they had left a short walk away for Skaikru to have the opportunity to meet the beasts. A few brave souls even agreed to enjoy short rides.

Surprisingly it was Ben who appeared to have most affinity with the animals, something that Clarke and Bellamy were both pleased to note since they had wondered what area they would be able to direct his education as he grew so that he and everyone would know that he would be able to contribute to the welfare of the clan when he was older - provided they were able to save some horses from praimfaya.

Chapter End Notes

I guess I could note the OCs in the tags, but they won't play too big a role (other than Beppi and Rhodes so I might change my mind on them later). Costia and Lexa is an established relationship so they are now going to have to be noted. Sorry for those wanting a Clexa, but I found myself typing 'and you can't have her' and that was it, the possibility of Clexa was gone. I have yet to decide who (other than Octavia and Lincoln who must be together) will pair off with whom, current characters or new ones. We'll see what happens as I continue to type. Mount Weather Part 2

Chapter Summary

The teams go into the mountain with the plan to irradiate. Can they save Maya? Do they lose any of their friends? Can they make sure that they leave no loose ends that could come back later?

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Three days after Costia and Echo's first visit they returned with six warriors, three of whom were clearly archers. Bellamy took them to one side and told them the plan and offered the lightweight tents that they should carry so that they would be protected from the acid fog if necessary.

One of the other warriors would go with Clarke into the mountain and had been tasked with protecting Clarke at all costs. Clarke tried to persuade her that Raven was the one who was more essential to the mission but "Heda has commanded me to protect you. Others will protect Tekheda" and there was nothing Clarke could say to convince her otherwise.

Costia said that she and Nyko, who would attend shortly with Lincoln and three Trikru warriors who would assist inside the mountain, together with the two remaining warriors (both of whom Clarke recognised, Lexa in disguise and Gustus), would set up near to the mountain in case their healing knowledge would be needed. The two warriors would offer protection from any reapers that might attack. Clarke asked Murphy to accompany them with a gun since it could only help. Clarke, Raven and Octavia's tent was dismantled, folded tightly and given to that group for protection in the event of acid fog. It would be a tight squeeze, but all five could fit in at a push.

Once everyone was assembled, the plan was gone over once again. Clarke showed those going into the mountain a drawing of Maya and said that she should not be killed since she was their inside source.

"We have not heard from her for some time so it is possible that she has been compromised, but if at all possible, keep her safe" Clarke declared. Those in the know only hoped it would be enough to keep the young woman safe.

Clarke and Bellamy announced that Beppi and Aurora would be in charge of the camp until they returned. They expected to be away for two nights, maximum.

Aurora, trying so hard to hold onto her stiff upper lip, watched the group march into battle.

She knew that it was very likely that they would succeed: she knew that it was necessary for the future of the human race that they succeed: but it did not lesson the pain of seeing her beloved son and daughter, and the young woman she had come to adore as they plotted to come to Earth leave to kill hundreds of people knowing it was possible that they might not return.

"They will come back, and in one piece, you know" Beppi said to the mother who was barely holding it together. "I have seen enough to know that they have prepared for this fight long before you and I even knew that there was one to have; and I also know that this is just one battle in a much bigger war that they are already preparing for: they and a couple of our new friends."

Aurora looked at Beppi wondering how much he really knew, could she talk to him about her knowledge? It would be so much easier to manage if she had someone, a contemporary, who she could confide in. Perhaps after the mountain had fallen she could get clearance from Bellamy to do that

Some of the warriors that were accompanying the group asked questions about how they came up with their plan. It did not go unnoticed by Clarke that Lexa was the most interested.

"We were supposed to land on Mount Weather and to use it as our base. We were able to look at an old plan of the inside so we would have a rough idea of where the commodities we would need were, if the bunker had remained intact" Clarke said. "We had no idea that there would be people living in the bunker, in fact we were told that no one was alive on the planet so we were sent as a test to find out if it could sustain humans. When Lincoln told us about what was happening in the mountain we guessed that we would, at some point, be targeted and knew we would have to come up with a plan. We had thought that we would be more defensive rather than offensive but, as Bellamy pointed out, they were dehumanising people, your people, and the longer we left it, the more damage they would do. Also the best defence is a good offense and we don't want to have the threat hanging over our heads so we refined our plan so that we could attack sooner rather than later. An added bonus is that their medical facilities are bound to be an improvement on ours and I need to do a surgery on a man who was caught in the acid fog. He might not survive anyway, but every little bit of help I can give him, like a clean sterile operating room with proper operating tools, I will do all I can."

"Yes, Costia has said that you wish to remove the legs of a man and she would like to help" Nyko said. "I, too, should like to help, or at least observe, if I may?"

"Yes, you can help, but I will ask that you do everything I say, like sterilising your hands, wearing sterile clothing. We are not used to the bacteria here so we must do everything we can to prevent infection. We even have to be very careful with the smallest of cuts until we have had time to acclimatise."

The warriors all shook their heads at the idea of so much effort to keep a man alive who, if he did survive, would have no legs at the end - although they could not imagine that a man with no legs would even want to survive.

"Why are we going to attack the dam?" Lexa asked. "Will it affect people down river?" "The dam provides the power for the mountain. If the dam is damaged they will have to reduce their power usage quite dramatically which means that all non-essential personnel will have to congregate in a specific area leaving fewer people to run around drawing our focus.

Lincoln sent word to the villages closest to the river down-stream to warn them of the potential flooding. The one he told me about said that this was the first time that they would be praying for floods" Clarke answered.

"And you didn't think that it was necessary to ask the permission of Heda to potentially flood her villages" Lexa was snide.

"I assumed that the Heda would want the mountain defeated and any of her people that may still be in there released and that a slight risk of flooding was worth it. I also assumed that if Lincoln, Costia or Echo thought that the Heda needed to grant permission that they would have sought it, or at least told me to do so. If I am wrong then I guess I shall have to apologise afterwards when we get to have our meeting, assuming I'm alive to apologise afterwards" Clarke wanted to remind Lexa that there was the possibility of dying in this attack.

Soon the parties prepared to separate: the snipers and archers together with the medical unit going one way while the attack unit had to cross the river.

"We'll attack before dawn" Clarke reminded Bellamy. "Keep your tents at hand and stay safe, look out for their snipers, too." Clarke hugged Bellamy for the longest time, then went to Harper, Murphy and Costia to do the same before nodding to the others.

Raven and Octavia followed suit, both hugging Bellamy even longer than Clarke had, while Miller gave them all clasps on the shoulder.

"I promise to keep them safe" Miller said to Bellamy who gave a nod of acknowledgement.

They turned to go and as one, Bellamy, Clarke, Raven, Octavia, Harper, Miller and Murphy said "May we meet again."

They crossed the river and began the long hike towards the dam. The plan was that they set up camp just over an hours hike away from the dam in case the mountain's cameras were watching them. They would wake up at 03.00 so that Raven could blow the dam and they could be in the reaper tunnels by 04.30. Hopefully it would enable them to catch the mountain men off guard. Clarke hoped that Maya would be able to get to them before they had to irradiate the entire facility.

No one got much sleep, but they were still alert for the attack.

Lincoln pulled Raven across the reservoir using the harness that Aurora had made for her.

They used hollowed out bone as snorkels so they could travel under the water just in case it was being watched. The timer was set on the bomb so that they would be safe in the tunnels when it went off. Luckily there were not many reapers about, which made Clarke worry about where they were, and they were quickly disposed of without having to resort to the use of guns. They were almost at the shute exit when the bomb detonated. They could hear the sirens from where they were. Raven had attached another (smaller) bomb to the shute door when it was pushed open.

"Clarke, is that you?" a voice came from inside.

"Maya? Maya, are you okay?" Clarke called amazed at the luck.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I knew to expect you so I've been hanging around in the med vents and as soon as I heard the explosion I knew it was time. I could see you outside here on the cameras.

I had to kill a guard who also saw you and took them offline. Get up here quick."

Clarke received a heft up into the waste disposal room and quickly hugged Maya and gave her an injection of black blood marrow through her hazmat suit. The needle hole was quickly covered by tape but some radiation would still have seeped through, hence the black blood.

Clarke handed Maya vial and said "There's enough in there to give ten doses, all O neg. Take who you can trust to the quarantine area and inject ten. After a few hours, you may be able to take marrow from them to give to others, but I don't know how long the oxygen will hold out. You go and do your part so you're not with us while we do ours. Thank you, and may we meet again."

Maya took the vial and handed Clarke a key card belonging to the dead guard, then climbed back through the vent, no doubt to inject her father and others she would try to save.

The attack team made their way through the bunker, helped greatly by the cameras being off line, but they did meet some resistance that they were able to kill silently until they were spotted by a guard who managed to radio in before they realised that he was there. He did not have time to give their location but he did warn of their presence. One of the Trikru warriors was hit in the shoulder. It was not fatal, and he could keep pace with the team but Clarke knew that without proper care he would not regain the full range of motion and was determined to ensure that Nyko knew exactly how to treat the bullet wound.

The swords became almost useless as they came under greater fire and Clarke, Octavia and Miller had to use their guns. One of the team was shot in the head - there was no coming back from that. Octavia was shot in the leg. She wanted to be left behind but Lincoln tied a tourniquet around her thigh and carried her over his shoulder, using just the one hand to hold her steady so he could still throw with the other, and Octavia could still use both of hers to shoot. Clarke noticed Lincoln's slight smirk as the other grounders inhaled sharply at the sight of Octavia's blood. She assumed that Octavia had already told Lincoln about it, and how she came by it.

They reached the Control Room with just the loss of the one team member, but with four injuries.

Clarke opened the door and shot dead the single occupant. Once all the team were inside she locked the door behind them.

"Raven, you do your thing and see if you can bring the cameras back online, please" Clarke said as she took her field med kit out of her back pack and started to assess the injuries. Only one was time critical. It was a through and through, and although it was bleeding profusely it did not appear to have damaged any internal organs irreparably. They just needed to control the bleeding until Clarke could open her up and get inside. Guessing that Echo's fingers were the best fit Clarke instructed Echo to reach through the holes with her middle fingers until they met. If she could feel the pulse of blood to apply pressure to try to cut down on the bleeding.

"Dammit, they've released the fog!" Raven shouted. "Switching off now. Don't know how far it would have gone or how much damage it's done. Cameras back online and air purification reversed. Over to you, Griffin, but best be quick, look."

Clarke looked at the screen and could see Cage Wallace, Lorelie Tsing and Carl Emerson in the harvesting room with all the caged grounders. The Trikru growled and demanded that Clarke kill all the scum now. Unfortunately Clarke had spotted that all three held automatic rifles and they could kill an awful lot of those in the cages before the radiation would kill them.

Clarke took the microphone.

"Mr Wallace, I presume. My name is Clarke and I have control over your air supply. I will start to count down from five and I want you and your people with you to put down your weapons and open all the cages. If you do not comply, and if you hurt a single person in one of those cages I will immediately irradiate this entire facility. If you do as I say, the people you have kept caged up like animals may wish to exact revenge, but you will die knowing that your people are safe. Your peoples' lives are in your hands, surrender and they will live.

Don't and they will…"

Dr Tsing went to lower her weapon, Emerson seemed to want to discuss the situation with Cage, but he didn't want to talk. He opened fire, killing first his two comrades as Clarke pulled the lever, but also hurting, if not killing a number of the caged grounders before the radiation rendered him, and everyone else not treated, immobile then dead.

Chapter End Notes

Should Clarke go to so much effort to save Philip Rhodes when she wouldn't attempt save the reapers? It was a question that I had to ponder greatly and at some point she will be asked to justify that distinction. I promise that she is not as heartless as she appears.

Mount Weather Part 3

Chapter Summary

This is a little bit of a tidy up the details chapter, the ending of the battle for the mountain and dealing with the immediate aftermath - counting the dead, treating the injured, that sort of thing.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

"Raven, Lincoln, Echo, please help me get everyone injured to the medical facilities quickly" Clarke organised while ignoring her own injury. "Miller, Phelan, can you quickly get to those outside and bring them here to help treat the injured? Don't forget to look out for reapers.

Lincoln, once we reach medical, can you go through to the cages to release those in there and bring the injured to medical."

There were only nods of acknowledgment as everyone went to do as Clarke suggested.

Lincoln reported that two of the people in a cage who had been shot were dead. The others did not appear to be too seriously injured, three appeared to be injured by bullets grazing their bodies, others seemed to be ill. Clarke's first job, therefore, was the through and through. She stitched the entrance wound on Jant's back and prepared to go in through her abdomen.

"You should leave me and treat those who can be saved" she said.

"Shut up and let me concentrate on saving you" Clarke ordered. "This is going to hurt but I need you to be as still as possible and I don't want to knock you out."

"I am a Trikru warrior and am used to pain. Do your worst, Skygirl."

Clarke had to admit that she was very impressed with how still Jant was being, despite Clarke slicing open her abdomen and having Echo press down hard on an artery. Clarke took a few seconds to find the fine suture and patch kit she needed to stitch the blood vessel.

When all the assistants, except Maya, were present, Clarke had them all scrub their hands and instructed Bellamy on how to close Jant's wound after Clarke had done all she could to ensure the security of the internal organs. Clarke knew that Bellamy was quite capable of sewing a seam and ignored his obvious fear at being required to turn his skills on to something live. She then prepped Harper and Miller to donate a pint of blood each because Jant had lost too much and she didn't want to take the time to type and cross match when all from the Arc were O negative, universal donors.

After Jant was sewn up, Bellamy was asked to donate a pint to transfer to Octavia. Costia and Nyko were watching closely as the needles were inserted into the donor's arm. There were gasps of shock at the sight of Bellamy's blood. With an extra pint going into Octavia, Clarke knew that she could wait for her wound to be treated.

Just as Clarke was about to start on the shoulder injury, an unhelmetted Maya turned up wanting to know what she could do to help.

It was discovered that all the grounders that were in the cages were already blood typed so

Clarke asked Maya to type the rest so that they could cross match to those needing transfusions. At first there was some consternation, but the little pin prick to test their blood and seeing how Skaikru had already donated soon calmed the others down. Maya, with help from Lincoln (and, undoubtedly, Lexa) soon had two potential donors at hand for each person who had been shot with another pint going into Jant. Clarke also wanted a pint of blood to be given to those who were kept in the cages who were 'ill' pending further tests. Only three donors were needed from the cages, and, luckily, none of them had been bled so were still strong.

Maya's next job was to organise and x-ray all the bullet injuries. This was something that fascinated the grounders, particularly Costia and Nyko: to see everyone's bones clearly, and some of their internal organs was, to them, almost miraculous.

Costia and Nyko watched carefully as Clarke worked through removing all the bullets and stitching wounds explaining what she was doing and why. They helped where they could and were impressed at the patience and thoroughness Clarke was exhibiting with each patient despite the number of injuries. Then they became more impressed when Clarke removed her shirt and said that they would need to operate on her.

The x-ray showed that the bullet was lodged in Clarke's liver and they would need to remove about a quarter of the organ. She pointed out that the liver would regenerate and that any bleeding from the liver should cease with the application of pressure or, if necessary, cauterisation; it was other blood vessels that they would need to be careful of. Before surgery was to start on her, Clarke asked Maya to run blood tests on everyone who was in the cages who appeared to be unwell. While she was on the table under the knife with nothing more than a local anaesthetic, Clarke was informed that the blood work showed that iron and mineral supplements, as well as time would allow them to heal.

The surgery on Clarke was the longest to carry out, even though it was not the most complicated because neither Nyko nor Costia had carried out such surgeries before. They had previously assumed that to even attempt one would be fatal and therefore pointless. On learning that Clarke was also a nightblood, Lexa offered herself to be a donor for Clarke and a pint of the Commander's blood was transfused into Clarke.

There were no more deaths, thanks primarily to Clarke.

When everyone was settled, and safely recovering, Maya spoke up. "We cannot leave all the bodies in here to rot and everyone needs to eat."

"What do you suggest Skaigirl?" Lexa asked.

Maya was about to contradict Lexa about being designated a skygirl but a quick glance at Costia stopped her. "I suggest that all those who are well enough help me get enough food and water to bring down here for everyone. I'll go and talk to the people who were helping here to see if they how they are doing after their treatments and when Clarke is a little better perhaps she can tell us when they should be able to leave quarantine. Once we're all nourished sufficiently I would like for a mass grave to be dug outside since the only thing the people of Mt Weather wanted was to get to the surface."

"I can send word to a village to ask for volunteers to come and help with the dead. We will want to build a pyre for our own since it is the way we release their spirit to the afterlife."

Maya went to talk to the others from Mt Weather and warned them about the assumption that she was from the sky people saying that it was probably better if they went along with that.

Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, including the hundred plus previously held in the cages, Lexa declared that all her people should return to their homes and spread the word of the fall of the mountain. Echo, Costia, Lincoln and Nyko asked if they could remain to help with the funerals: permission was granted, but Lexa and Gustus would be returning to Polis, calling at the villages downstream to see if any needed any help from floods.

"You're the Commander, or at least very senior in the hierarchy aren't you?" Raven asked, knowing the answer but not wanting to let on that she was sure.

"I am the Commander, yes" Lexa replied. "I did not wish you to know so that I could observe you as you worked, know you as behaved naturally. I am very impressed."

"Yeah, well, thanks, I guess. Anyway, since you're the Commander, it might be helpful if you took a radio so you could contact us without having to send a rider, or something" Raven pressed.

"What is a radio?" Lexa asked.

Raven took great pleasure in instructing the Commander on how to use the long range communication device, explaining that they had thought to offer some radios to the people of the coalition as part of an alliance package.

Every ten minutes or so after she had left, the Commander radioed to ask if they could still hear her, and to confirm that they were still inside the Mountain. Lexa sounded surprised at every call!

Eventually the Commander, Gustus and one of the uninjured warriors arrived at the first village downstream from the dam. There was some flooding, but thanks to Lincoln's warning there was no casualties. When informed that the Mountain had fallen, the village celebrated the victory and were almost happy to move further up the banks, clearing trees to build new homes to replace those lost. Lexa promised that help would be sent from TonDC to assist.

The same was true of the next village. Freedom from the threat of the Mountain was well worth the loss of some homes. Lexa told the story of how Clarke kom Skaikru took down the Mountain and refused to let those hit by the Mountain's fayaguns die, even though she too had been injured and needed to be cut open and part of her insides removed.

"Wanheda!" was murmured reverently. "Wanheda fell from the sky to save us from the Mountain."

Lexa agreed with the allocation of the title. Wanheda had commanded her, Lexa's, warriors to live even when it was so clear that some should have died: Clarke kom Skaikru was indeed Wanheda and a worthy ally.

Bellamy instructed Harper, Miller and Murphy to return to the camp to explain what had happened and that the rest would return later once everyone was well. Some more accommodations would be required for the new people joining them. Raven said that Maya could share with her, Clarke and Octavia so that was one less person to worry about. Murphy looked like he wanted to say something a bit insalubrious, but a sharp look from Raven quelled his instinct and he just said "There's a small gap in your tent next to the zipper. It let in some fog until we held a pile of cloths over it. No one was hurt" he added when he saw that Bellamy was about to raise that point.

"I'm staying to help with the dead" Miller said uncompromisingly. Bellamy could only accept.

Raven took Bellamy and Miller to the Control Room so she could look at the schematics of the Mountain. Finding what she was looking for she led the two men to the vehicle hanger. It was the motherload. As well as some smaller Rovers, there were three trucks, an armoured vehicle, two motor bikes, a mobile crane and a digger. All were solar powered. She opened the hanger doors so that light could enter to begin charging all the batteries. The digger would make digging a grave for 371 people a lot easier than doing it by hand.

Maya remembered from the past life how long it would be for everyone who received normal Skaikru bone marrow to be safe to breathe the no longer purified air. She went to tell her people that they would be able to leave in a couple of hours.

Once she was up and able to walk, albeit in some pain, Clarke hobbled to the quarantine area and reminded them all that it would be best to be tested regularly to make sure that the marrow kept them safe. Clarke explained everything about Maya being taken for Skaikru since she had helped them and why they would all have to be assimilated into the Skai clan.

"Why can't we still live here?" asked one of the children.

"We might come back, particularly if winter gets too cold" Clarke explained, "but your people have always wanted to live outside and now you can. You can get to run in the forests, swim in the lakes, smell the fresh clean air and when winter comes, play in the snow?"

All the former Mt Weather people agreed that it sounded like a great idea.

Lincoln, Echo and Maya made sure that the pathway to the families' quarters was clear of the dead so that none of those treated would come across a body: they didn't need to see what fate would have awaited them if Maya had not been able to inject them with marrow donated by members of Skaikru. Using trollies and sheets, all the bodies were moved from the areas that the people would need to use and to make it easier for the funerals the next day.

Bellamy, Raven and Miller, after fierce, almost violent, arguments agreed to take turns with the digger. After discussions with the four adults from Mt Weather (five including Maya), it was agreed that there would be three graves: one, the most important one; the one that would be marked most prominently, would be for the children who died. Each child would get to hold something that was personal to them, be wrapped in cloth and laid out side by side: the second would be for the adults who had expressed their sadness that the cost for them to live was the lives of others, even though they were not prepared to do anything to stop the treatments. They would be named on the marker for the grave: and thirdly, the one for the Wallaces, Carl Emmerson and their ilk. Their bodies would be treated little better than the trash they treated the grounders' as. Lincoln had brought back the bodies of two snipers from the mountain who had been unsuccessful in their attempt to defend their home. Bellamy pointed out that they should keep and repair their hazmat suits.

Three pyres were built: one was for the warrior and the two caged grounders that were shot dead; the other two were for all the reapers that had to be killed. Clarke didn't know how long it would take for all the remaining reapers to die, or to find their way to the tunnels for their fix, but she knew that a watch would have to be kept for some weeks just to be on the safe side.

Everyone was amazed at the number of people who turned up from nearby villages to help move the bodies and witness the funerals - both Grounder and Mountain. Clarke thought that it might be because they wanted to make sure that the mountain men had truly been vanquished.

Death, something that most do everything they can to fight off was the one great equaliser and something that eventually happened to everyone. Or at least that was what Clarke had thought, but she had already noticed that she was being revered as 'Wanheda' and hoped that she would not come to regret that title in the second life as she did in the first because she did not want anyone to think that it was within her power to command death when death could not be commanded.

Chapter End Notes

Now that the mountain has fallen things can move on and hopefully the gang will be able to 'discover' the forthcoming apocalypse.