This is the prologue, it is really just scenes from Perverse Instantiation Parts I & II. Feel free to skip if you'd like but these scenes set the story up well. CREDIT for the plot/prompt goes to a_simple_space_nerd who is absolutely amazing, go check out their works! I just loved their OS called "What's Reality?" And I was given permission to run with the story a bit. So I hope you enjoy it! Please, please, please comment! I love all reviews, the good, the bad, the ugly. :)

Without further adieu...

The City of Light:Altered Reality

Clarke stares as Jaha, her former Chancellor and friend, assembles a noose out of thick double-bound rope.

Her attention is taken by her mother, who approaches her with a face void of any emotion.

"Don't be afraid," Abby tells her daughter, sweeping her golden hair behind her ear, "It's not for you."

Confused, Clarke's eyes trail over to where Jaha and Ontari have set the noose several feet above the ground. When Abby then walks to the noose, without hesitation, Clarke understands.

"No," Clarke whispered to herself, then her voice becomes demanding, "Mom. Mom. Stop, listen to me, I know you can hear me. Just stop." But Abigail grabs hold of the rope and hoists herself up onto a barrel.

"You know how to stop this," Abby retorted. She then pulls the rope securely over her head.

"Wait, ALIE," Clarke pleads, "If you kill her, you'll never get what you want." Abby is the one to respond, "ALIE's not killing me, you are." Clarke is crying now, she can feel the hot tears laying tracks on her cheeks.

"Mom, don't do this," Clarke begs, chin quivering, "Please."

"I'm begging you, don't do it. Please."

"What's the passphrase, Clarke?"

"I can't... I..." She stammers back. ALIE steps closer, head tilted, studying Clarke's words and actions.

"She'll break," ALIE announces, "Do it."

"No!" Clarke sobs and Abby kicks the barrel out from under her feet.

A loud CLANK! sounds from the elevator, and ALIE turns to Ontari ignoring Clarke's whimpering and Abby's choked gasps.

"They're here, I can't let them have you," ALIE informs Ontari.

"I understand," Ontari tells her, before picking up a fire-poker slowly.

A momentarily distracted Clarke raises her voice, "What are you doing?"

Ontari bends down on one knee.

"Wait, stop!" Clarke orders. Jaha is the one to receive the fire-poker from Ontari's grasp, "Jaha, don't do this. ALIE stop it. Please, don't do this."

Jaha has already swung the fire-poker through Ontari's skull.

"Damage to her brain is substantial," ALIE announces, "but she is still alive."

At that moment, Bellamy and Murphy slam open the doors, guns in hand.

"Bellamy, stop him!" Clarke cries out, nodding towards Jaha. A gunshot rings out and Jaha grunts, collapsing to the floor. Murphy is already across the room, helping a near passive Abigail out of her noose. Jaha on the ground, Bellamy runs to Clarke, untying each point she is bound.

"Are you okay?" Bellamy asks her, but his words are drowned by Clarke's questions for Murphy.

"Is she alive? Is she breathing?"

"It's okay, she's breathing," Abby is gasping in deep breaths as Murphy calls back. Satisfied with Murphy's words, Clarke turns back to Bellamy.

"Jaha has the flame, get it." As Bellamy goes to Jaha, Clarke runs to kneel by Ontari.

"We cannot let Ontari die, we have to stop the bleeding." Murphy rushes to Ontari's other side.

"I got the flame," Bellamy says, dropping Jaha.

"Her pulse is weak," Clarke apprises.

"At least she's alive."

"Here, hold this to the wound," Clarke hands Murphy cloth.

"Come on, what are you going to do?" Murphy urges her, pressing to Ontari's skull.

Clarke is dumping out her sack, searching: "I need a flashlight."

"First we take out the chip, then we put in the flame," Bellamy instructs, as Clarke waves a flashlight to Ontari's eyes.

"Her pupils are unresponsive," Clarke groans, sitting back.

"What? What does that mean?"

Clarke shakes her head, looking up at Bellamy, "She's brain dead." Murphy feels his blood drain, his face goes pale.

"She can't give us the kill code. It's over," Clarke laments.

"We're trapped here," Murphy adds, frozen on the floor, as is Bellamy.

Clarke goes to her mother's side, and zaps the base of her neck with the EMP, draining the chip from Abby's brain. As she does so, Murphy and Bellamy leave to find Pike.

"Mom, can you hear me? I know you're in there. Come back to me. I need you." Abby's eyes flutter open and Clarke lets out a shaky breath in relief, "Hi."

Clarke pulls Abby to sit beside her and calms her as Abby weeps her apologies. When Bellamy and Murphy return with Pike, Bellamy raises his gun to Abby. Clarke shoves Abby behind her back, informing them that the chip has been drained.

"W-well, what about Ontari?" Murphy asked, "I thought you said we only had one shot with that thing."

Clarke stands to answer, "I told you, Ontari's no longer an option for the flame. She's brain dead. Is the floor secure?"

"For now," Bellamy replies, "Jaja and the guards are tied up in a bedroom."

"We took out the elevator and the ladder as we climbed," Pike adds, "The stairs are collapsed, no one is following us."

Reassured, Clarke purses her lips before speaking, "Good. Then we have time."

"What we don't have is a way down," Murphy quips, but Bellamy interrupts him.

"Time for what?"

"An ascension ceremony." She tells them.

"An ascension?" Murphy repeats, "You just said Ontari wasn't an option, besides, she's still chipped and we no longer have an EMP."

"We're not putting the flame in Ontari's head," Clarke agrees, "we're putting it in mine."

"Clarke," Bellamy walks to her, voice hushed, "that thing killed Emerson in seconds, liquified his brain."

"Emerson wasn't connected to a nightblood." Realization dawns on Bellamy's face joined with a sad look Clarke can't place.

"Transfusion?" Pike asks.

"Not exactly."

"Connected like Mount Weather," Abigail finishes for her daughter.

"Yes. Everything we need is in your tool kit."

"No. It's too dangerous," Abby reasons, "and there are too many variables."

"But no options."

Octavia comes racing around the corner, pulling away Clarke's attention.

"Whatever you're doing, you better do it fast," Octavia insists. Miller and his boyfriend Brian follow behind Octavia.

"Why? What happened?" Bellamy questions her.

"They're climbing," before Octavia finishes the word everyone is rushing to the balcony to see for themselves. It's true, hoards of people sprint to the tower shouting. Others have already begun to precariously scale the side of the building.

This time Abigail doesn't put up a fight, as Clarke and Murphy pull tubes and needles from her toolkit. She helps them hook Clarke to Ontari. The others aside from Bellamy take measure to ensure the safety of the room, such as greasing the balcony. Bellamy doesn't fight her decision either, instead, he takes his stance beside her, supporting her.

Bellamy and Abby watch as Clarke's blood, red and bright, travels to Ontari, and then Ontari's blood, black and menacing, travels to Clarke. Clarke's face is grave, and when she sees the black blood enter her arm her face pales.

"Hey," Bellamy grabs her attention, "try doing that hanging upside down." Clarke gives him a weary look for his attempt to help but turns to her mom.

"This will work."

"And if it doesn't?" Abigail begs. Murphy is the one to answer her in a dead tone.

"If it doesn't work, then she dies. If she doesn't try, then she dies with the rest of us, when the climbers get here." His morbid remarks do nothing to ease Abby's worries. Clarke, on the other hand, relaxes because of Murphy. His words reassure her that she is taking the right course of action. Strange enough, she can see that it has done the same thing for Bellamy. They were going to die. This is the only option, so why not die doing this instead?

A small part of her brain speaks up: because ALIE won't kill you gently- she'll make you suffer.

Clarke dismissed the thought: I am more than willing to bear that burden for my people.

Flame in hand, Murphy leans down beside Clarke and Bellamy, "Lean forward." Clarke drops her head and exhales shakily, reaching for Bellamy's hand with her own. He takes it immediately and squeezes it. She can't see his face but from above her Bellamy swallows. His eyes watch as Murphy moves the hair from Clarke's neck.

"You ready?" Murphy pauses.

"Yeah, do it."

"Ascende Superius," with those soft-spoken words, Murphy lowers the flame and it's glowing tentacles to her neck. She gasps as a sharp pain splits through her spine. Before she can even breathe the sharp pain becomes a burning. It isn't uncomfortable or distressing, it's unimaginable.

A scream rips from her lungs.

Then Clarke's vision goes black.

John knows the process of inserting the flame.

So when Clarke's scream pierces the air he is terrified for her. When she passes out he nervously watches her, but she is still breathing.

"She okay?"

"Her heart's racing," Abby looks John in the eye, "get that thing out of her head." John shakes his head, its minute, but its there. He may be worried about whatever is happening to Clarke right now, but its the only option. It is a survivor's move that drives his decision.

"I said, get that thing out of her head!" Abby screeches. The sound throws him back, this time he considers it. Lucky for him, Clarke has come to.

"No, no," she murmurs opening her eyes, "not yet."

"Are you in any pain?" Abby hold's Clarke's face with her hands.

"No, I'm okay. I know how to stop ALIE," John can see the look of revelation cast over Clarke's face, "I have to take the chip."

"What?" Bellamy's gruff voice asks, up till now he'd been silent in his worry.

"I have to go into the City of Light, and find the kill switch." Clarke's voice is sure, and she is looking past all of them, confidence radiating from her. John cast his eyes down and nods, his lips pursed, "Yeah that sounds like a great idea." He turns and walks away. Fantastic, he thinks, the princess has been driven batshit crazy by ALIE. There is nothing left waiting for us but death. So much for that theory.

But John's sarcastic remark gives Clarke no hesitation or pause. So Abby tries to dissuade her next. "Clarke, listen to me, ALIE wants the flame. If you take the chip you're giving it to her. The second someone sees you, ALIE is going to know that you're there. She'll kill you. If your mind dies, you die." With each word, the panic becomes more and more evident in her voice. But Clarke's eyebrows are furrowed, and she looks earnest as she responds.

"The flame will protect me."

Abby's face falls, but Bellamy gives Clarke a thoughtful look. He steps away from the pair as Clarke tells her mother, "I don't know how I know I just... know."

Bellamy picks up the light ice-blue chip and looks down at it considering it. He turns halfway to Clarke, "I believe you." She meets his gaze, and he steps up to her. Abby breathes in deep, eyes closed before trying once again to convince Clarke not to take the chip.

"Do you even know what you're looking for?"

"I'll know when I find it," Clarke tells her, eyes bright.

With sad eyes, Abby pulls Clarke in close and places a kiss on her forehead, "May we meet again."

"We will."

"We'll keep you safe," Bellamy says and Clarke turns to see him. He holds the chip out to her mouth and she lets him place it on the tip of her tongue. Eyes closed, she swallows.

And waits.