Once again, I'm sorry for the delay. I've been really struggling to find the time to write, and that in turn has increased my fight with writers-block. I feel like I'm on a bit of a roll now (thanks to my little piece called After the World Ended - go check it out) so I just wanted to get this out to you as quick as I could, and now I'm away to work on the next chapter. Enjoy.

Miss Me Princess?

Chapter Twenty-One

Neither of them slept much that night. They lay awake, talking over what Murphy had discovered in tense whispers. After a while they fell into silence, too tired to talk but too preoccupied to sleep, and the cold and dark night seemed to press in around them.

Clarke shivered and shifted next to him. Murphy thought with disappointment that she was going to go to her own bunk to try and get some sleep, he resisted the urge to pull her close and keep her next to him, he was shaken by what he had seen. His life had never been easy, and they had all seen their share of horrors, but as he stood staring at those dangling bodies he realised that the thought of Clarke brought him comfort, the thought that he could get away from that place and go back to her and talk to her about it all. It was a surprising revelation, a luxury that he had never had before – having a source of comfort and solace. But it was all still so new between them, and so unspoken, and his insecurities stopped him from pressing his luck with her. He would take whatever she would offer him and be thankful for it. But to his immense relief, instead of moving away she squirmed around, tugging at the blanket until she could wrench it out from under them, and draped it over the top of them both. She pulled it right up to her neck and curled in closer to him. Murphy tucked the blanket in around her, wrapped his arm around her and rested his chin on top of her head, breathing in deeply until her scent filled his lungs and soothed his nerves.

Still neither of them slept. The hours passed by, and as morning crept in the dorm started to wake up around them, drawing them out of their pensive brooding.

"What are we going to do?" Clarke mumbled dejectedly against Murphy's chest. He lifted his head from where it rested against hers and brushed a kiss against her temple.

"We're going to get the hell out of here." He muttered, his lips brushing her skin as he spoke. Clarke turned in his arms and looked up at him.

"We need to tell the others." She said

"Will they listen?" Murphy questioned sceptically. "Will they believe us?" Clarke didn't answer, her thoughts had already gone racing ahead.

"We need to get out of here. We know some of our people are out there. Maybe the grounders would work with us, help us."

"Will they believe us?" Murphy asked again.

"Maybe. Maybe they already know." Clarke suggested.

"Let's get something to eat." He said. Clarke nodded.

"Most people will come back to the dorm after breakfast, we should talk to them then." Murphy faltered as he climbed out of bed. A wave of doubt washed over him, and he turned away from her looking hesitant. He could feel it deep inside him like a cold lump, the truth that the others wouldn't listen. He could repeat everything that he had told Clarke about the grounders being drained of blood and it being used to treat patients, and still, he knew, they wouldn't hear it. They liked it here, they felt safe. Murphy wanted to warn her, but at the same time didn't want to cause the distress he knew his thoughts would case.

"No one else has been suspicious like we have." He said cautiously. "What if they don't believe me?" He looked back to her. "What if they report us for wanting to leave." Clarke's face crumbled slightly with a sudden sadness. She cast her eyes across the dormitory, her gaze skimming over everyone as she thought. Her fingers absently fidgeted with the bedsheets.

"I have to tell them." Her voice was soft and tight with pain. "I can't do nothing."

"I know." he reached out, his fingers brushing over her arm, as though to sooth her distress. "I just want you to realise…" he trailed off. Suddenly unable to voice the idea that the others wouldn't believe them. The others wouldn't come with them. "If no one else wants to leave, what then?" he asked instead, unsure how far her feelings of responsibility and loyalty would stretch.

"That's their choice." She answered after a moment, surprising him. Although the pained expression told him how much that would hurt her. "We still leave."

He hadn't wanted to be right, but Murphy's cynical prediction of how the forty-nine would react turned out to be painfully accurate. There were scoffs, and chuckles and scowls of annoyance; rippling around the room. It took a lot of restraint for him not to shoot back sneers and angry retorts, but he knew that any contribution from him would only make things worse, if anyone was going to convince them it was their princess. So he stood quietly behind her, showing silent support. But as he suspected, they didn't want to be convinced. Some of the group were dismissive; they were growing bored of Clarke's paranoia, or just didn't want to believe that it was true."You sound like a couple of crazies; do you know that?" They jeered with exasperation. Others were angry; they wanted to believe in Mount Weather and they viewed Clarke as trying to take that away from them, so they got defensive. "Why do you want to screw this up for us?"

"We don't know what this is." Clarke tried to reason with them, "How much do we really know about this place?" But no-one was willing to listen. Even Monty, who had been the most patient with her before, became impatient and dismissive.

"How long do you think they'll let us stay if you keep acting like this?" he asked Clarke with a disapproving frown.

"I'm trying to keep us all safe." Clarke protested. "That's all I've ever done."

"Right now, the biggest threat to us is you!" Jasper spat at her. Her shoulders slumped with resignation. But Murphy realised with surprise that she didn't seem shocked by this reaction. His gaze shot to her expecting desperation or anguish at Jasper's accusation but what he saw instead was a cringe of regret. Like him, she must have been anticipating this outcome from the forty-nine, but her ingrained sense of responsibility kept her continually trying to protect them all.

"Okay." Clarke said with a sigh "I tried." Then she glanced at Murphy and he saw her determination burning strong under the surface of her disappointment. "Murphy and I are leaving." She informed the others. "We don't want to be here." The looks she got in answer to that announcement suggested that the others didn't want them there either. Clarke lowered her eyes and swallowed thickly before she continued. "But we aren't abandoning you. You are our friends. And sooner or later you will all realise that we are right about this place. I understand why you don't want to believe it. I don't want to ruin anything for you. All I've ever wanted is for us to be safe. So we'll leave, we'll find the others who are still out there somewhere. They are out there." She affirmed with a sharp look. "Then we'll make contact with Mount Weather. No threats or demands," she assured them. "Just a message, to open lines of communication. We're leaving tonight and we'll make contact in a weeks' time. If you don't hear anything then it's because Mount Weather won't tell you. And if that's the case, if I really am right, and it's not safe, then we and the others will work with the grounders and get you all out of here. Hopefully before any of you get hurt."

"Of course we'll get your message." Monty sighed wearily.

"Unless the grounders have killed you before then." Jasper added.

"Jasper!" Monty scolded.

"What?" he shot back. Clarke ignored them.

"Once we tell the grounders what's going on in here I'm pretty sure they'll be on our side for once. They'll want their people rescued from here just as much as I will."

"We won't need rescued Clarke." She smiled sadly and nodded, hoping he was right but knowing he was wrong. She just hoped she'd be able to save them before anyone got hurt.

The day trundled by at a frustratingly slow pace. Clarke and Murphy got lots of long and strange looks directed their way as they waited for night to roll round. No-one would talk to them, but it seemed that everyone was talking about them. Nerves began to spark through Murphy's veins and fear licked along Clarke's spine with increasing frequency. They walked aimlessly along corridors to alleviate some of their restlessness. They checked and double checked their planned route; surreptitiously noting the nearest guards to their escape vent of choice and fiddling, when they could, with the rusty old screws, loosening them a little more each time they passed by on their aimless ramble through quiet hallways. Gradually the evening drew in, dinner came and went, and nothing happened - so at least no one had reported them.

It was almost time for lights out, when Clarke and Murphy were ready to leave the dorm and begin their escape; heading for an air shaft in a nearby corridor before the night time shut-down. The atmosphere was heavy and tense as they moved through the dorm heading towards the door, with only the clothes on their back and two makeshift blades hidden in their pockets. Miller nodded sombrely to them from the seating area which drew the attention of some of the others. Jasper and Monty looked up as they passed the couches and Clarke stopped, regarding her friends sadly.

"I know you don't want to believe it because this place seems like a good place to live, but on some level, you know I'm right, because you know that if it was so safe and good here then it would also be free, and we would be able to walk in and out as we pleased." She didn't speak loudly or with any force but everyone in the dorm had fallen silent to listen, watching the departure of the girl they considered their leader. "They might not be able to go outside, but we can." Clarke continued, looking up from Jasper and Monty to caste her gaze around the room, looking at everyone in turn. "Why won't they let us?" she asked them all. Several people looked away. "Murphy and I want to leave, but we can't just say goodbye and walk out the front door - we're going to have to escape. Why do you think that is?"

Clarke didn't wait for anyone to attempt to answer her, she walked out of the dorm without looking back. She didn't want to hear what they thought anymore. It was a parting shot.

Murphy followed her out with a grin, that was the Clarke they all knew, the Princess who had steered them through the trials of earth from the minute the dropship landed. He pitied the others who would now be here without their fierce leader to guide them.

Careful research had helped them select which of the air vents they would need to use for their escape. They had selected their exit point earlier in the day and had loosened off most of the screws, so it only took a few minutes of fiddling before they were able to remove the grate and climb into the vent. Once there they waited for lights out, not wanting to risk moving before then in case someone in the adjacent corridors would hear their movements.

They sat in the vent and waited with an ever-building tension. Then the lights in the corridor outside the vent dimmed, and a beep sounded as the doors locked. Mount Weather was now shut down for the night. Clarkes breath hitched as a sudden thrill zipped along her bones.

"Show time." Murphy whispered with a spark of mischief glinting in his eyes.

"Let's get the hell out of here." She whispered back. They grinned at each other through the darkness and some of the tension eased, chased away by a kick of adrenaline.

Their pace was slow as they went groping along in the dark, slightly stooped and still trying to be as silent as possible. Murphy led the way, along the memorised route that would take them behind the medical ward and into the chamber Murphy had found the night before.

"That's the infirmary there." He stopped at a junction and pointed to the left. "I went through a vent on the far wall, so if we take this turn here it should lead the same way. The torture chamber will be at the end of this passage" he explained pointing to the right.

Murphy had described the chamber as being like the service stairwell they had broken into before. Clarke had reasoned that there must be connecting passageways from the chamber to a stairwell, to allow the guards to get the grounders in and out. The more they had talked it through they had realised that there was no obvious entry or exit points within Mount Weather, only the alarmed doors that they had tried before. Clearly there was only service access to the outside. They could only hope they weren't alarmed too, or that if they were they could get them open and get far enough away before anyone was able to get suited up and follow them.

Clarke came to a halt a few steps from the end of the cramped tunnel and grabbed a hold of Murphy's hand, suddenly very apprehensive.

"Do you think they'll still be there. Hanging." She asked him in a whisper.

"They'll have stopped treating the guy so maybe not." Murphy answered giving her fingers a squeeze. Neither of them mentioned whether those grounders would still be alive or not, both thinking it wasn't likely. What would be worse: seeing someone hanging and seeing the life literally being drained out of them or seeing no-one and knowing that meant they were dead? Murphy drew in a deep breath, tightened his hold on Clarke's hand and pulled her to the end of the tunnel and out into the chamber.

There were no bodies, only empty shackles hanging from pipes on the ceiling, and blood-stained tubes left dropped on the floor, feeding into the wall through to the infirmary. As they moved further into the chamber Clarke and Murphy both realised that, although that meant they were surely dead, they were both relieved they were alone. They both breathed a little easier and took their time to look around. There was machinery lining the walls; pipping, plumbing and wiring running from floor to ceiling and from wall to wall; and a narrow passage way that extended further back at one end. And right next to it was a door.

"There." Clarke breathed out as her heart stuttered in her chest. "That's our way out."

"No alarm." Murphy noted with a grin.

Something creaked.

They both froze.

Another creak. It was coming from the narrow passage at the back of the chamber, next to the door. They shared a glance then silently edged closer to the door.

As they approached details started to appear through the dim light, they could make out a wire mesh in the narrow space. Clarkes stomach clench with trepidation. No, not a wire mesh, a cage. Several cages containing huddled figures. There were rows and rows of stacked cages filled with sedated grounders. Nausea clawed up her throat.

"Come on princess." Murphy gently cajoled "Let's get the hell out of this place."

"Murphy, we have a new plan." She spoke without taking her eyes off the cages.

"What?" he questioned sceptically. She turned to him with a determined expression.

"We need to rescue one of the grounders to take with us, as proof. They will corroborate our story. It's the only way to get our people and their people to work together on the outside to take on Mount Weather."

Murphy cursed.

"As if this plan wasn't risky enough, now we're throwing a damn grounder into the mix." He grumbled darkly under his breath.

Clarke felt a twinge of sympathy knowing his hatred of the grounders. She turned towards him, stepped in close and reached up to cup his face in her hands. Their eyes met.

"You know I'm right."

"I know. Doesn't mean I'm happy about the idea."

That was as close to agreement as she was going to get Clarke knew. She dropped her hand from his cheek and took his hand, giving it a squeeze. She turned to the cages and gazed with pity at the figures huddled inside them. They were weak, thin, pale, and looked like they were either sleeping or unconscious. Movement in a cage on the top row drew Clarkes attention. She looked up and was startled to recognise the woman peering out at her.

"Clarke?" her voice was a weak rattle.

"Anya!" she gasped.

A big 'Thank You' to everyone who is still reading this story. I hope you liked this chapter. Your feedback is always welcomed...