'Master of cliffhangers' can I make that my official title? Loving that XD
You're all panicking that Lexa's dead, so cute!
Okay so this is the last chapter and the ending to this changed so many times but I wrote this when I started this fic so it was always my plan to end this way. Maybe not exactly how it happened but this kind of automatically happened and the next season is all plotted out and planned if you want it let me know. All I'm saying is that I had a choice between ending it and not continuing this particular series or going with my original plan and setting it up for a third series. I went with the third series option because I felt the alternative was just a cop out from why I started writing this fic in the first place and I would only be doing that to please all the viewers. Although I love pleasing you all I also love being unpredictable and fresh with my ideas. All I can say is I hope I don't lose anyone because of how this ends and you all want more.
I'm going take this opportunity to thank everyone for the support and love you've given ALL my fics and me as a writer. I can count more than one occasion when I've had a crap day then gotten an email with a review telling me 'I love your fics' or a PM begging for spoilers, updates or just generally complementing me on my writing. When I started 'But You're Lost On The Road To Misery' a few months ago all I planned on doing was venting my Clexa frustrations and only doing that one fic now look where I am! I love everyone that reads this whether you just read, follow favourite, review or literally review on every single fic and every single update. As Tesco say; Every little helps.
Anyway on with the fic and I hope it doesn't disappoint :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing
"There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater.
But sometimes it doesn't.
Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life."
― Veronica Roth, Allegiant
"LEXA!"
Clarke wants to be sick. She wants to scream, to kick, to grab her gun and go hunt Cage down herself but all she can manage is a small splutter in between the tears as Bellamy holds her back. Her ears are ringing and she doesn't register Bellamy's voice telling her they need to move nor the way his arms tightened around her middle.
Lexa. She just left Lexa there without any help, protection or hope… She had to go back. Clarke struggled against Bellamy's arms and pushed away from him but the elder Blake just held tighter and continued to move back, further away from Lexa, and drag the blonde with him.
"Bellamy let me go" She growled.
"I'm sorry" He spins her around so they're face to face, "But I can't let you go back. What Lexa did was so you could live and she did that to save both our people Clarke so we need to leave now… We can still save our people"
Clarke stared at him for a moment then looked down at the gun in her hand and clenched her fist against it with a vigorous nod, "Okay. Let's go"
Bellamy turned and led the way back through the vents. It stretched on, up, down and throughout the mountain. Bellamy explained that they wouldn't be able to get back into level 5 without contaminating everything but Clarke stayed silent. She wasn't sure she really cared anymore.
Clarke watched him disappear through a clearing and the next second she dropped down into the corridor next to him. Once again she found it was empty of guards.
"I'm going to the control room" She told him with a pointed look she added, "Alone"
"Clarke I can't let you go alone"
She shot him a glare, "I'm going alone because you're going down to the main door and making sure that the grounders get inside. At least then we'll have a chance"
Bellamy looked reluctant but nodded none the less and they parted ways with him heading down and Clarke headed up. She was burning. Something was burning inside her. Something that had been simmering at the surface since her dad was floated, something that had been lit by the sight of Lexa falling and now she would burn. She would burn them all.
Clarke reached the control room quickly and was unsurprised to find it empty. The screens were on and live showing level 5 across the board and her eyes zeroed in on the room with sky people. Raven's mouth was still stretched into a scream that Clarke couldn't hear but she looked exhausted and Clarke wondered fearfully how much longer she could possibly go on for.
She glanced around the control room until her eyes landed on a radio in the corner and she picked it up before watching Cage carefully on the screen.
"Cage…"
His eyes widened and she watched as he leant over to speak into his microphone, "Clarke?"
"You're going to let my people go" She demanded with a quick glance to the controls below her. She could do it, would do it, but Clarke wouldn't doom innocent people for Cage's mistake and he would get this one chance to stop before it went any further, "Or I'm going to shut down the power on level 5 and I can predict that it won't be long until your people are dead"
Cage raised his hand to stop the man drilling into Raven and she could see everyone watching him nervously as a panicked look crossed his face, "You don't want to do that Clarke. They're innocent"
Clarke winced. Of course he would try and plead to her humanity. She shook her head and said bitterly, "Well it's like you said. I've found a way to save my people and I'm going to take it"
It was a sick satisfaction that washed over her at the sight of desperation on Cage's face and she could see his eyes flickering as he mind span quickly thinking of a way out of this situation. He was willing to let her people die for his, he'd forced Clarke and Lexa down into that hole and turned the grounders into reapers. Why should she grant him the mercy he had refrained from showing her?
"Clarke…" He moved away from the group so nobody else could hear him, "My people need a way to survive, this is it, and I know you don't want to kill innocent people"
"I want to save my people more"
Cage seemed to contemplate this for a moment before shaking his head, "I can't… I can't sacrifice the only way for us to survive-"
"You won't have any people to save if you don't let my people go!" She growled back.
Cage glanced over his shoulder at the people there, "It'll take a while before your plan works… I can still save as many as my people as possible"
He dropped the radio and rushed back into the room. Clarke watched him go with a horrified look but didn't even bother to consider it before slamming her down on the controls and shutting down the power on level 5. The control room lit up with an emergency red light and Clarke watched as a number of the cameras came up red alerting her to the shut down on level 5. She grabbed her gun and took the safety off before turning around and leaving the room. She could still save her people.
Clarke was running back down the corridor heading for the stairs to level 5 when she collided with Bellamy. She glanced up, gun at the ready, expecting Emerson but was relieved to see the elder Blake closely followed by Anya, Lincoln and Indra.
"We're heading to level 5"
She carried on the direction she was heading and didn't wait to see if they were following knowing that in Lexa's absence the grounders would follow her. Sure enough the moment she became climbing the metal staircase Clarke could hear their footsteps behind her.
As they broke through the door for level 5 the corridor was dark except for the flashing warning light and alarm ringing in her ears. Clarke came to a stop beside the locked door and aimed her gun at the control panel but Bellamy grasped her arm and pulled her back before she could.
"Stop" He wore a panicked look, "If you do that you'll kill them"
Clarke pushed him away, "I don't care. They're killing our people in there but without the power they'll be dead soon enough anyway Bellamy"
Bellamy shook his head, "Clarke if you do this… There'll be no coming back"
"War involves sacrifice Bellamy"
"Those people are innocent!"
Clarke let out a short laugh in exasperation, "None of us are innocent. Besides, Cage had the choice to save his people and he chose not to"
She turned back around and aimed the gun at the door panel. Bellamy moved away and she didn't wait for him to change his mind as she fired off blasting the panel apart forcing the door open a few inches so the grounders could move forward. Anya and Indra pried it apart so Clarke could slip inside followed closely by the grounders.
It was chaos. People were screaming as they ran desperate to look for a safe haven of find their loved ones in the chaos but at the sight of the grounders that seemed to only make it worse. Clarke pushed through the crowd and turned to Anya.
"Kill the guards" The grounder nodded and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"Kill Cage"
Clarke ran through the crowd back the way Emerson had directed her and Lexa to where the people of the Ark were being kept. She pushed open the door and stopped at the sight of them unchaining themselves from the wall.
Abby looked up at her approach and ran over to pull Clarke into a tight embrace. She accepted it half-heartedly but caught Octavia's eye over her shoulder.
"Where's Cage?"
She was assisting Raven up from the table and nodded to the door Clarke had just entered.
"He left the moment the alarms started blaring. I don't know where he went but he took Emerson and the other guards with him" Raven groaned as Octavia pressed gently against her side.
Clarke nodded and turned to leave but Abby cut off her path. Her hands tightened on the blonde's shoulders as she gazed at her sympathetically, "Clarke let him go, you've won, our people are safe and we can go home"
"Not everyone" She pushed Abby away and tightened her hand on the gun, "Not everyone gets to go home. Wells, Finn, Fox, Harper, Nyko…" Clarke closed her eyes and swallowed, "Lexa"
Abby's eyes widened and she heard Octavia give a short intake of breath from behind her but she just shook her head telling them she didn't want to explain, "People died because of them. I'm not doing this because it's right; I'm doing it because it's just"
She shoved past her mum and left the room to see the corridor in much the same state as before only now people were crying out in pain and already there were some bodies littering the ground at her feet. Clarke closed her eyes and pushed back the nausea before forcing herself on.
Anya appeared ahead of her alongside Lincoln and she stopped to call the two over. She didn't know where Cage was heading but down seemed to be the only option.
"Help me find Cage" She growled.
Anya gave a nod whilst Lincoln was watching her with a strange expression, "Clarke, where's the commander?"
"Reapers" Clarke spat, "I don't know if she's…"
She didn't have to continue because the two seemed to get the main gist of what she meant and that only seemed to cause the determination on Anya's face to set harder.
"Then we follow you Skai Heda"
Clarke nodded and darted out through an emergency exit with the others close behind her. They ran together down the metal staircase to the next level then further down. Clarke reached the ground level and was about to leave through the exit door when she realised that there was another set of stairs.
Lincoln and Anya shared a glance, "What's down there?"
"I don't know" She whispered, "But I might have an idea…"
Clarke's breath hitched. She could leave here and go after Cage or she could carry on down and possible find Lexa… Alive or dead she had to know. Take a life or save a life?
She turned back to the other two, "Go search this floor. I'm going down"
Lincoln looked as though he would protest but a stern look from Anya had him following the woman out through the door leaving Clarke alone. She tightened her grip on the gun and set off down the next set of stairs.
At the bottom she was met with an eerie blackness that set her teeth on edge as she crept through the halls. It was the lowest level, there were no more stairs, but the walls were lined with doors and when she gazed inside each time she was met with the same sight of an empty room. They looked like cells but whatever had been held in here they were long since gone.
She rounded the corner, her gun at the ready, and almost crumbled at the sight. The broken in bars of the cage were exactly how they had been when Bellamy pulled her up but the only difference was that there was no reapers in sight. Clarke inched closer dreading what she would find but gasped at the lack of evidence.
There were signs of a struggle, a reaper body lying in the corner, but Lexa was nowhere to be seen and the lack of blood became apparent. She looked around the space but couldn't find any signs of the commander anywhere. Clarke walked away from the cage and headed down the second corridor, the only way to go that wasn't the way she came, and prepared herself for what she might find.
At the end there sat double doors. She pushed them open and froze at the blinding light covering her face at the sight but when she adjusted to it then lowered her arm Clarke saw she was standing in a large hanger. Opposite her garage doors sat open out into the forest beyond. Tire tracks led out and onto the grass outside.
Oh god. Clarke wanted to collapse… She was exhausted, physically, emotionally and mentally but still it wasn't over. Cage was gone, Emerson with him and Lexa?... Where was she?
Fist fights, long nights
Come home late
Can't sleep, I keep
Me awake
Flip through
The lives on TV
I say, for now
I'm happy
Clarke's eyes widened and she didn't turn around at the sound of footsteps behind her. They slowed down and she glanced to her left to see Octavia, Indra, Anya and Lincoln watching her with open mouths and wide eyes.
"What happened?" Octavia breathed.
She mumbled out, "They're gone…"
Love it when I'm play pretending
When I can take bullets to the heart
Fucking up my happy ending
But I can take bullets to the heart
"But Lexa's not dead"
Breathe in balance and love
I was born on the scene
Now it runs in my blood
Yeah, you know what I mean
When I'm dead and gone
Will they sing about me?
Dead and gone
Will they scream my name?
Scream my name?
Wake up, got up
And I'm bored
Night runs with guns
Too hardcore
Don't dare to care
'Bout someone
I'm dirt, I'm ice
Is that wrong?
Love it when I'm play pretending
When I can take bullets to the heart
Fucking up my happy ending
But I can take bullets to the heart
Cage glanced over his shoulder at the cage in the back and smirked at the brunette glaring at him through half-hooded eyes. Turning back he spotted Emerson watching him in the rear-view mirror.
"She's waking up… Is the next dose ready?"
Breathe in balance and love
I was born on the scene
Now it runs in my blood
Yeah, you know what I mean
When I'm dead and gone
Will they sing about me?
Dead and gone
Will they scream my name?
"It'll be a while before we arrive"
Emerson watched as Dante and Cage broke from their conversation to give him a brief nod. He tightened his hold on the steering wheel and focussed on the track. The sooner they were out of Trikru land the better.
"She will be ready by then" Cage confirmed.
Dante gave his son a nod, "Good"
Breathe in balance and love
I was born on the scene
Now it runs in my blood
Yeah, you know what I mean
When I'm dead and gone
Will they sing about me?
Dead and gone
Will they scream my name?
Scream my name?
Breathe in balance and love
I was born on the scene
Now it runs in my blood
Yeah, you know what I mean
When I'm dead and gone
Will they sing about me?
Dead and gone
Will they scream my name?
Breathing violence and love
I was born on the scene
Now it runs in my blood
Yeah, you know what I mean
When I'm dead and gone
Will they sing about me?
Dead and gone
Will they scream my name?
Scream my name?
Clarke stared outside of the mountain where the sun was just starting to peak over the edge of trees and clenched her hand on the gun. Cage was out there somewhere with Lexa in his grasp, "But I'm going to find her"
I'm sorry but we all need 'Hero Clarke' in our lives.
The song is 'Scream my name' by Tove Lo
So... *Backs away slowly to the door* Just don't hate me too much guys?
Positives! Look at the plus side, at least I didn't kill Lexa... ;) She will be back. I think I said everything that I wanted to at the start but I'm going to say again thank you for the support for this fic and I'd love to hear what you guys think :)