Don't expect this one to be updated as often as my other two stories. This one is written down because I had the first chapter stuck in my head. It wasn't so bad but after like 4 hours I was going slightly crazy and by then I had a very clear picture how I wanted this chapter to happen that I could see it as it happened as though I was watching a movie.

I own nothing!

Chapter One

Many things had changed since the death of Lexa and none of them had been for the better. Ontari, the Ice Queens natblida, had taken over the coalition after brutally murdering all of the initiates, going as far to send Aden's head to me. This was the beginning of the end for the people of the Ark as Ontari sent the full might of the United clans at Arkadia. The army was numbered into the thousands as every clan seemed to have sent all of its warriors.

The day she sent the army was the day that almost 500 of our people died, the rest had gotten out when the death of Lexa had reached the compound. The group I led contained almost 400 people, much of the group filled with small children and teenagers. A large number of the grounder army had been taken down by our liberal use of our weapons and the ridiculous amount of explosives that Raven had made. The army was pushed back long enough that large numbers of our people were able to escape. Many joined my group but more joined Pike's army he had made. They had taken most of the weapons and ammo.

Pike managed to escape with his people as well and I was never entirely sure the total he had managed to save before the compound became overrun. The first month much of my group was lost and by the time we were able to take out the parties that had been following us like sheep to slaughter only about 150 people were left. Thankfully the desert came in handy and we were able to lose the army. This did not do my group any better but it was better than being butchered. We managed to make it out of the desert well enough but our supplies were almost completely gone once we returned to the forests.

The first year was not good for any Arker that was found as Ontari had changed the kill order to capture. Many were tortured to death especially those that had been caught fighting back. This was how Kane had been killed, sacrificing himself giving the group of children he had been bringing to the hidden network of caves that had been found, time to get away. My mother was devastated with his death and began to work on projects that would help the group. Her and Monty were able to make different poisons from the plants, giving our weapons the advantage we needed.

At this time, we had the flame that had been given to me by Titus in hopes that I would be able to give it to Luna. I had found her, but she was disappointing and was too much of a coward to become Heda, even her own people did not like her. I was happy to know that she was later dethroned. She was banished from her people and that was when some of the guards in my group found her and brought her before me. As terrible as it sounds my mother took Luna's blood and began to experiment with it. Her thought process was that if one of us was given the black blood then we could take the flame as ours and Ontari would lose the tenuous control she had taken for herself. The ambassadors and generals all assumed she had taken the flame but I and a few others knew better.

My mom was eventually able to get the formula correct but I was captured and tortured before they finally found the Flame hidden in the cave they had captured me in and took the piece back to Ontari. I would have died in my cell that was located outside of the remains of Ton DC but Octavia and Indra rescued me. Indra was poisoned by an arrow that struck her from an Azgeda archer. She later died and after her death, Trikru was destroyed and absorbed by the surrounding clans. Her death and the end of the Trikru destroyed another part of me, knowing that that was the clan that Lexa had come from and her dream of peace was thoroughly destroyed.

When I was returned my mother had been experimenting with the blood and had discovered anyone who had the black blood had increased healing, something due to increasing growth of skin cells and that the white blood cells that were also produced were more effective in fighting off infections than white blood cells found in those with red blood. She only had enough to create two doses of the serum, one was given to me and the other was given to Octavia because she had become my second in command. This allowed me to heal faster after what I had gone through. I was not mentally stable after that for a long time, often I would become overly violent and have flashbacks to my time in the cell. I would usually attack those around me when it happened but after help from those around me, I was able to get better but only had the occasional incident.

Octavia was killed by Echo but had done enough damage that Echo had died as well. I was so devastated that I had ended up killing all of Echo's company, keeping one alive to send Echo's head to Ontari. Echo had been promoted to Ontari's top general after the destruction of Arkadia due to the fact she had found the air duct that allowed warriors to sneak into the walls. This was the first time that I was proud to have been called Wanheda, 'The Commander of Death.' I had taken Octavia's sword from her dead body and grabbed the one that Echo used. These became my weapons for the next few years, wanting something that Octavia had taken great care of and Echo's because I did not want to forget the lesson I had learned.

This had been well into the second year of the war between the rebels that were the 13th clan. By this time Pike's group had been completely wiped out and that had included Bellamy as well. I felt no remorse over his death because he was one of the reasons that any of this had happened to begin with. With the downfall of his faction, the only ones left from Skaikru were now random stragglers and those still left in my group.

This was when I finally accepted that for me to be a true leader I could no longer have any distractions and that was unfortunately what Octavia had become. The death of Lincoln had been just as hard as the loss of Lexa had been for me. We were able to comfort one another, and she was one of the only people left besides my mother, Monty, and Raven that was left alive at the time that I truly knew. The remaining people in my care had just been random people from the Ark, only a few had become decent warriors that went on missions with Octavia and me.

The third year had passed just as quickly but unfortunately, my mother and Monty had both been killed. My mother had been publicly executed by Ontari herself as she gave her Death of 1000 cuts. I hid in the crowd, my hair dyed brown from shoe polish and much of my skin covered in black and white war paint. I could not interfere but watched the entire thing, beginning to end, as I tried to keep myself from charging the stage and slitting Ontari's throat. My mother lasted long into the process before she released her first scream. When she Ontari had turned toward the crowd with Lexa's bloody knife raised overhead as she released her own war cry. The anger I had felt had never been greater than at that moment and I knew that one day soon I would steal that dagger from her and use it to cut off her disgusting head.

My mother suffered for the entire day before she finally died, her eyes somehow finding mine before she closed them for the last time. I quickly left after that killing the guards that surrounded the front gate before leaving quietly into the woods, making the day and a half journey back to where the camp was hidden. I had come back to my group to find that a large contingent of Azgeda warriors had been scouting the woods after reports of my fighters being spotted and had found the group.

The group of warriors had been killed quickly but Monty and Harper had both died from their wounds, along with some of the children and two adults bringing the groups number down to 16 including Raven. Harper had been stabbed in the back as she had thrown herself over a small child that was about to stabbed through by a spear. Monty had been shot by an arrow in his upper thigh that had nicked his femoral artery and he quickly bled out.

My group left the area after that traveling slightly east towards the coast and found another series of underground caves that was close to Mount Whether. I had been able to salvage supplies including thick pieces of metal that we used to jam and trap into the rocks only leaving one entrance into the cave that also had thick wooden doors that had a metal bar that latched into place. When the door was closed, the stone wall looked like just that, only with a bunch of very thick ivy covering half of the wall.

The third-year quickly ended and the fourth began. Raven was able to dig into parts of the rock creating small secret rooms that were just big enough to hide the children that had survived this long. I and the rest of the adults left would hide them and then try and fight off whoever had broken into the underground cave system. The system worked out well and when the end of the fourth year was arriving all the secret rooms had finally been completed just in time as well.

Our small group had been doing very well and was slightly thriving, of course only those of age left the cave system and went foraging for food when everything went to shit. I should have known that we should have moved a lot sooner than we had but with only 4 of the 10 adults who could actually fight with swords. The others mainly only knew how to work a bow and arrow and would go out as hunters, Always with someone who fights though and never by themselves.

Well Wallace was the only one who knew how to do both but even he was subject to the two people per hunt rule, but he didn't listen. He left by himself and was captured and wasn't strong-willed enough to not tell the warriors everything. These warriors then quickly sent word to Ontari who was still somehow Heda but there was no longer a coalition. Azgeda was the main power and if you didn't bow before that nation then whatever clan you were part of was destroyed. The boat people were the first to fall, followed by the desert, and then finally the riders of the planes. After the destruction of those three clans, no one else was brave enough to go against Azgeda.

Ontari knew how many adults we had and the saving grace was that Wallace had not told them anything about the 6 children who were all under the age of 10. The youngest being 4 years old and the oldest being 10. The adults were quick to place each of the children in the hiding spaces before the non-fighters grabbing the only remaining guns we had that had been scavenged from the debris in Arkadia. The thick wooden doors keeping the caves closed off were quickly broken down.

What was thrown in was something I never thought they would use, a grenade. It brought forth the question of where in the world had they found one. Was it found and taken from Pike's group or even from the remains of Arkadia? I was lucky to have even found the things that I had in the debris as the entire place had been set on fire and almost all of the structure had burned down. The grenade exploded taking out the four who were in front with the m-16s. I could hear as more of the metal doors that were in place be knocked down. I was almost tempted to stay and force my way forward till I heard the screams of small children.

"YOUR IN-CHARGE NOW BRYCE!" I screamed after throwing one of my knives into the neck of a warrior that had just entered the cave. He shouted his affirmative before he began to fire at the grounders trying to enter the cave. Thankfully the small entrance kept them coming in at a manageable level so far. I tore the blades off my back before I turned and ran down the tunnel system.

An explosion sounded from ahead of me and smoke rushed down the tunnel. It had come from the same direction as the scream. I finally entered the room ignoring how the smoke burned my throat and eyes. The room was in pieces with blood covering most of the walls. The crying of a small child cut through the room. I rushed forward sheathing my swords before moving a body to the side and tried to push past the ache in my heart at the sight of Raven. I knew she was already gone as most of her back was shredded and she wasn't breathing. The small room hidden behind the chest had been torn out and was opened after causing the explosion. Only Raven would set up a bomb in one of the chests. It looked as though she grabbed the child before the chest had been opened.

Bright green watery eyes latched onto mine and I finally realized that this was the smallest child the 4-year-old Aurora. She had blonde hair like mine and anytime I looked into her eyes it was like looking into Lexa's from how similar the colors were. I had never spent a lot of time with her but knew that she was usually one of the happier children as she had no idea the dangers that lay outside the cave. She jumped from her spot on the floor and threw herself at me. I was quick to catch her small body bringing her close to my chest and then realized this was the closest anyone has gotten to me since Octavia died. My arms tightened before I stood back up and started running down the halls once more, making it my room. The only place that had an available safe room for the child.

The sound of boots was catching up to me and when I slammed the door to my room closed I had heard the mocking voice of Ontari telling me that I should accept my death. I set the small child down and grabbed my chair wedging it under the door handle. Just in time to because as soon as I had a large bang sounded through the door. The young child began to cry once more.

I turned to my dresser that I had dragged through the forest because I was stubborn and didn't want to have my clothes just tossed randomly around the room. I pushed it out of the way revealing a small space that Raven had somehow set up to have a spring attached to the dresser that when pressed moved the dresser. It was ingenious and I was happy she had done it because I knew that I was not living through this.

I picked the child up before placing her in the small hole.

"Listen Aurora. No matter what you hear do not come out. Only come out when you no longer hear noise for a very long time. A very long time. Do you understand little one?" The small child quickly nodded her head as more tears poured down her face. I felt my own eyes water as I stared deep into her green eyes.

I pushed the dresser back over the hole and heard the click letting me know that the spring lever was engaged. Sighing heavily, I rolled my shoulders a couple of times before taking my swords off my back. My knuckles were white from how hard I was holding onto the swords. There was not a lot of space in my room but thankfully all the furniture was all against the walls leaving the middle of the room open.

The door finally fell, the chair sent in my direction. I looked up and met the cold brown eyes of Ontari.

"I see we meet again. You don't deserve to wear that pauldron or have the flame you ripa!" I spit at her.

For some reason, she has no guards behind her and it is just her in front of me. My smile turns feral. She made a mistake and has grown too confident in her time as Commander. I haven't been sitting on my ass for four years. I have become dangerous and have taken out warriors twice her size easily, one even with one of my daggers.

Ontari pulled the sword from the sheath around her waist. My eyes narrowed in anger at that weapon, it was also Lexa's sword but she had taken the smooth edges of the blade and serrated them. Her eyes almost seemed to glow with the satisfaction at my anger. "Do you like my weapon? I know it has been sometime since we have seen each other but surely you recognize this blade. I hope you know that I have killed many of your people with this sword. Their screams were pitiful just like the screams of your bitch mother."

A red haze clouded my vision, as I charged her bringing my left sword high and my right low. Ontari easily caught my left and jumped back narrowly missing my right and at the same time as she jumped used my forward motion against me pushing my left sword down throwing me off balance.

I easily rebalanced and blocked her attack. I threw my right knee forward and managed to hit her in the stomach forcing her back. I pushed forward slashing quickly with my left and right sword causing her to pay attention to my swords before I brought my leg up and kicked her hard in the chest, throwing her hard into my dresser. I was pleased to hear her pained moan as her back hit the hard wood.

I rushed forward stabbing with both swords. She managed to block one, only for the other to dig deep into her left shoulder. She released a hiss of pain, her eyes seemed to almost glow in their anger. I twisted the sword in the wound before releasing the grip and quickly grabbing the knife on my thigh and stabbing her quickly in the stomach.

She released a scream of pain, before finding a hidden strength and forcing me back from her. I lost the grip on my knife the push strong enough for me to lose my footing and fall the floor. I rolled to bring myself back up only to have a sword slash across my chest, my hard leather armor keeping the sword from making it a killing blow. I ground my teeth and swung my right arm out, only to have my sword knocked from my hand.

Ontari harshly kicked my knee out and hearing the snap and the pain that followed knew my knee was now broken. I didn't scream but I did release a loud moan of pain. She was standing in front of me now with a wicked grin on face.

"It seems like you are finally where you belong, on your knees before me," her voice while trying to remain smooth, cracked with the sound of her pain. Her left was holding the dagger in keeping herself from bleeding out. She raised her sword and slowly pushed it into my shoulder but hers sadly did much more damage. My right arm that had clenched in a fist soon lost feeling and I finally looked down and could only watch as black blood poured down my arm.

I slipped my left arm slowly behind as she continued to slowly push the sword further through my arm, leaning her body increasingly closer to me. When she was close enough that I could feel the heat from her breath, my left arm shot out with one of my throwing knives clenched in my first and I lodged it firmly in her throat. She reared back, her sword still tightly in her grasp as she ripped it out of my shoulder. This causing me to let out a scream as the pain was to much as one moment.

The clatter of her sword on the ground caused my eyes to shoot up and actually the look of terror on her face and blood began to gurgle out of her mouth and seep past her fingers. She finally fell to the ground and stared blankly at the wall, her eyes losing any sign of life in them.

I watched her for a minute before realizing that I had done it. I had avenged my people, I finally had my blood but I was going to die. I knew that I was already to injured and that when she had ripped her sword out of my arm looking at it now it was easy to see that my arm was only halfway hanging on. The pain was like fire in veins and made it hard to breath past it. I was satisfied that she was dead now but angry that she was taking me with her.

Green eyes flashed through my mind and I knew the last thing I wanted to do before I died was to try to flame and maybe I could torment Ontari and spend the afterlife with Lexa for the rest of days. Using my left arm I dragged myself to her body and rolled it onto her belly. The infinity symbol was easy to see and the scar let me know where I needed to cut. I reached behind me and grabbed one of my last throwing knives and cut across the old scar.

The flame slowly pushed itself out of the cut on her neck and I grabbed it. I set it gently on the stone floor before picking the knife up once more reaching behind my neck and slowly cut, trying to be careful not to cut too deep.

The knife dropped to floor and then I was able to hear the sounds of boots stomping towards my room. I quickly pick up the flame and place at the entrance of my wound, ignoring how weird it feels to have the feelers dig its way through my neck before righting itself.

I lost control of my body as it seemed to try and right everything wrong with me. My body then felt like it was lit on fire. I started screaming as I clawed at the back of my neck.

This wasn't supposed to happen. My blood was black now! It should have accepted it, then I heard a voice but it wasn't Lexa's or Ontari's. It was a woman's but I have never heard her before, it was warm and kind but it was still not the one voice I longed for.

Calm yourself. All will be well.

'Please all I want is Lexa!'

It was hard to think past the pain in my body. I wanted it out but it seemed like it was to late, cracking my eyes open I was able to see that Ontari's warriors had finally arrived. My vision began to blur and finally I closed me eyes.

You will fix everything.

That was last thing I heard before I was sucked into the void.

Scenes from the past four and a half years began to flash past my eyes. I watched as my fight with Ontari seemed to happen from her eyes and I could hear a voice screaming in her head trying to distract her. It continued to go backwards. I was able to watch as all my choices I made either helped my group or hurt its members.

I watched my mother die once more, as each new cut appeared on her skin, and then her eyes catching mine. The death and then the slaughter of those who killed Octavia. I watched everything again. The hardest thing to revisit was the death of Lexa. To watch as everything I tried to do, did nothing to help her. I felt the coolness of our last kiss as I tried, truly tried to let her know how I felt before she passed. My body ached from the pain of her loss of the woman who I loved to my dying day, the woman I had never been able to tell that I loved her.

I watched as she left me once more on the mountain but this time it did not sting or hurt because she was right. She had made that decision with her head and not her heart. I could now clearly see how her eyes were pained and desperate for me to understand. I did and I know that while I did not accept it then I would have chosen my people over hers. I would have taken the deal if I had been offered it.

Then our first kiss, I could feel her soft lips as they pressed against mine. The smell of forest was strong as well as the leather from her armor. Time skipped back once more and then I was standing in front of her for the first time.

I gasped as time finally stopped and was standing in front of Lexa as she sat on her throne. She was nervous and I could only tell because she was fiddling with her dagger, something she had told me she only does when nervous but it has the added benefit of looking intimidating when she does it due to her beautiful dagger.

"So you are the one who burned 300 of my warriors alive," with her last words she finally looked up and my blue eyes met her green. I could die was my first thought. I had finally seen her one last time.

I waited for time to stop and for me to truly die but I didn't. She continued to stare at me and I could see the anger growing at me silence but I was to stunned to speak. I wanted to cry and I could feel the tears forming as I tried to control myself. I could feel all the love I had for her rushing back and hitting me like a freight train. All of my love that I crammed into this small box and placed on a dark shelf in the back of my mind burst free. My chest ached with the need to touch her again, my ears strained to hear her voice again.

Her stabbing her knife into the wood of her throne forced me to the present once more. "Do you have an answer for me, Clarke, of the Sky People?"

"Ai hodness," slipped past my lips before I could catch myself. She jolted in her throne and her eyes showed how confused she was.

The fire was burning in her eyes as I continued to stare at her in awe. I shook my head and try to ignore everything that I was feeling. Then I realized that if this was what I thought was happening was real then everyone was alive. Everyone and that included my mom. My mother who I make sure wouldn't be murdered in front of hundreds of people. I wouldn't let Kane sacrifice himself and Octavia would still have Lincoln the man she never stopped loving.

Tears were now rolling down my face and I couldn't breathe. I tried to suck in air but nothing was working and then my blood was on fire and I fell to the floor. I began to claw at my chest because the burning seemed to be coming from my heart before I realized that what was happening was the black blood returning. I began clawing my chest and neck ignoring how voices were shouting over me.

Something warm was running out of my nose and running down my face. I could feel the same thing happening to my eyes and my ears.

"Natblida!" someone shouted.

My world was going in and out of focus, making everything hard to focus. When I looked up when someone grabbed my face I met green eyes that were filled with concern and confusion. My body still convulsed but I was able to bring my hand up and cup her cheek. She didn't move but continued to stare in deep concern. I was able to see that she was speaking but I could not hear her words. Then I was able to take one breath but it wasn't enough and I was dragged into the black.