A The 100 fanfic - Bellarke- The story of Wanheda
Title: The story of Wanheda
Author: Cking1575
Pairings: Clarke/Bellamy, implied Clarke/Lexa, Raven/Shaw, Bellamy/Echo
Timeline: up to season 6/ slight rewrite of events that happened in season 3 and 4
Rating: PG
One shot
Disclaimer: I do not own the 100 nor any of the characters. Thank you, Kass Morgan for your story!
Summary: What really happened to Clarke all those years ago when she left Camp Jaha/Arcadia after Mount Weather? How did she really become Wanheda? How did she save Bellamy from Finn's fate without him even knowing? Why did the grounders really end the Blood for Blood campaign against Skikru?
A/N: This is my very first 100 fanfic, as well as the first fanfic I've written in almost 10 years. Please be kind with your comments, constructive criticism is always welcomed. Also, I just want to put it out there that I wrote this on a tablet not on a laptop like I used to...there will probably be grammar errors that I will come back and fix once I get my laptop. Thanks! I hope you enjoy!
"Radiation levels are pretty high on the surface, I would suggest those going on the scouting mission wear radiation suits." Jordan said to the group but looked at Clarke specifically. He had heard stories about this small woman standing before him. He had grown up with stories about all of them: Clarke, Bellamy, Raven, Octavia, Murphy...the original 100, sent back to a planet that no one knew if it was livable. Sent to scout and possibly die on a world for the benefit of humanity. They were all exactly how he imagined them to be yet, extremely different at the same time. He had expected Bellamy to be paired with Clark, there he stood with his arms wrapped around Echo and Clarke stood off despondently to the side of the group. The waa an open animosity towards her from all of her "friends?" Something was going on in the group, something he was not privy to. He looked over at Madi, Clarke's daughter, just as she took Clarke's hand. He was glad to see that at least one person was standing with her. It was very plain for anyone to see that there was definitely a rift in this group. Clarke and Madi verses the others. He wish he knew what was going on beneath the surface.
"Thank you, Jordan, for letting us know. Come on, Madi and I will go with you to check to see how many working suits we have. When we figure out how many suits we have we can discuss who will be the lucky ones to go down to check out the new planet."
They left without another word being said. The group fractured into even smaller groups once they left waiting on their return.
Somethings never change, Bellamy thought as he read the grim expression on Clarke's face.
"One suit." She said. "That's all we have is one working suit. Which will have to, of course, go to the pilot of the drop ship. So, that stands to reason that only those who have nightblood will be able to go on the scouting trip. Nightbloods and 1 pilot. Shaw, you are the most familiar with the ship, it will have to be you, Madi, and me" This caused an uproar.
"Who do you think you are, Princess?" Murphy sneered. "You don't make decisions for us anymore. We don't follow you. Who said you get to decide who goes on the scouting mission?"
Clarke looked taken back, it was just a habit that she took control of the situation, but Murphy was right, as much as she hated it, her family wasn't her family anymore. The bucket of cold water reality was that only Madi wad her family now. These strangers who were wearing the faces of her loved ones weren't. Clarke could feel the sadness seep out of her heart as she turned to look at Bellamy.
"You're right, Murphy, I overstepped my boundaries again. What would you like to do about this situation?"
"Bellamy?" Murphy asked and had all eyes turned to him. He cleared his throat before he spoke, "Clarke is right, i know you all don't want to hear it, but she is," he gave her a small smile, " however, I don't think that it is necessarily a good idea that Madi goes down to the planet. Just Clarke and Shaw."
"Wait a minute, why Shaw? I know the drop ship just as well as he does?" Raven argued.
"Because he does have more training and experience in flying the drop ship than you do, Raven, you may not like to think he does but its a fact and if we need to make a quick getaway i want someone who knows exactly what he's doing because he was trained to fly that ship. Besides, who's to say that because of the way you are feeling about me right now, that you won't just leave my ass on that planet." Clarke tried to make a joke, others chuckled, but not Raven. She didn't think Raven was ever going yo forgive her for choosing Madi over the group which resulted in one bad decision after the other. The group took that personally, Clarke choosing Madi. It's going to take a long time for them to forgive her. She sighed, knowing that they all had nothing but time but she wasn't going to beg them for forgiveness, it will either come or it won't. She survived 6 years without them, she could do it again if she had to. She would prefer if she didn't but it is what it is. She apologized for her mistakes. She acknowledged she made the wrong choice. She owned her mistake...it was up to them to forgive her for being human.
"Shaw?" Bellamy said to get his attention. "Are you up for this mission with Clarke?"
"Well, she's certainly not my favorite person right now, but I'm sure I could set aside how I feel to go check out the ground."
"Great!" Clarke said with false enthusiasm. As she turned to Madi, Madi wrapped her arms around her waist and held on with a vice grip.
"No, Clarke, you're not leaving me behind...not with them, please, Clarke." She whined a bit panicked with the thought that her mother was leaving her.
Clarke pulled Madi a little closer to the door and away from the group to hopefully give them a little bit of privacy. "You're not going to be alone, Sweetheart. You'll have Gaia and Indra and my mom(who was not at all paying attention to anything going on around her). No one is going to hurt you. This is a perfect opportunity for you to work with Gaia on controlling the Flame. I'll be down and back before you know. I love you, Madi and I will come back to you no matter what, you have my word." Clarke hugged her tightly to her and kissed the top of her head. She pulled back slightly, still holding Madi's arms gave her a quick nod, which Bellamy understood to be asking, "ok?" And he watched Madi return a nod silently telling her mother, "ok". It was the silent communication between them that made Bellamy's heart ache. He, too, used to have silent conversations with Clarke eons ago. It was almost as if she could feel his eyes on them, Clarke turned her head and locked eyes with Bellamy and it was as if time fell away and he could hear her once again. "Protect my girl, Bellamy. Don't let anything happen to her. Don't fuck up again." Her lips twitched as he chuckled quietly, the look between them did NOT go unnoticed by anyone in the room.
"Right," she said as she shook herself from his hold, "Shaw, are you ready?" Shaw nodded and hugged Raven. He whispered something in her ear that made her giggle and then he and Clarke exited the command center of the ship to leave on their mission.
It wasn't very long after Clarke and Shaw landed on the planet that they lost communications with the mothership. Hours had gone by and tensions were high. No one was sure what happened to Clarke and Shaw...what they were sure of was that they were long overdue and maybe it was time to send someone out to look for them. It wasn't very long after that conclusion was drawn that everyone started arguing, so Jordan, not one for drama, left the command center and was trying to repair a couple of the radiation suits. The arguing over who was going to get the suits and go to the planet to find Clarke and Shaw soon turned into a 'bash Clarke while she's not around' session and Madi had had enough. Abby wasn't paying attention, no one was defending Clarke's honor. How can these people keep saying things like this about Clarke? No, she's not perfect and yeah, she made a mistake a time or too, but after all she had done for them, after all she still does for them...they have no right to treat her this way.
"You just have no idea," Madi cried and whipped her sword out, pointing at Murphy's throat, anger pouring from her. "You take it back, what you said about Clarke, you take it back right now!" She said through clenched teeth.
"Why should I take it back, little girl? Just because you heard something you don't like? Are you finally hearing the truth about what a coward, your beloved Clarke really is? Clarke does what she wants to ensure that she survives, everyone else be damned." Murphy practically spit his accusation at Madi. Madi sneered and pressed the blade further into the skin of his throat as Bellemy, Echo, Emori, Octavia, Gia, Indra, and Abby watched too horrified to move, afraid that one movement from her would cause Murphy to lose his head.
"Shut up Murphy," Bellamy whispered from between clenched teeth. He may be still angry with Clarke for some of her choices that she's made here recently, hell, they're all a bit pissed, at her right now, but to call Clarke a coward... that was a blatant lie to hurt this little girl that called Clarke family.
"What? It's true?" Murphy continues to poke, "you know it," he spat at Bellemy. "Don't get too close to Clarke because she'll turn on you as quickly as if she were a snake. She doesn't even know what the meaning of family really is."
"That's enough, Murphy." Bellemy could feel his anger starting to boil.
"Heda, please, this ignorant fool knows nothing. Time has warped his perception of her... put the sword down and come with me," pleaded Gaia. Abby and Raven stood hands up next to Gia as if they were willing Madi to lower her sword, Clarke's sword.
Madi slowly looked around the room, eyes landing on Bellamy, "you really have no idea what Clarke has done for you all, you brush as side the fact that she had in one way or another sacrificed her life so that you could live through primfya, did you never think about what surviving primfya would be like? Did you think it was all sunshine and roses? She burned. Her flesh fell from her bones. Her skin blistered and boiled. Her insides liquefied. She died and was reborn from the ashes of her body...of the whole world. She survived pain, hallucinations, dehydration, starvation...she survived alone for 2 months! I know what she went through because I survived too, terrified and alone until Clarke found me. I was 6 years old! She has literally been my mother for longer than my biological mother had been... that alone should have garnered her forgiveness in your eyes," she pointed her sword at Bellamy, then toward Raven, "but it doesn't does it? You all disgust me." Madi lowered the weapon she held once poised at Murphy's throat and turned swiftly on her heel to retreat away from the heroes of her childhood. Everyone was shocked quiet by her outburst.
As her foot landed just before the entrance way, she turned to look Bellamy in the eye, "out of everyone in this room, Bellamy, I would have thought you of all people would do what it took to find my mom, she would have left no stone unturned looking for you."
Bellamy's face contorted and she could see the raw pain flit across his features before he quickly shielded them once again behind the facade that he carefully placed there 6 years ago.
"That was a long time ago, Madi. Clarke made her choice. She choice to betray her family and now she needs to live with the consequences of that choice. Wherever she is. I will not jeopardise a member of this family for her."
Obviously his words didn't have the finality to them that he wanted because the fuse to Madi's anger was once again lit, she turned so abruptly to face Bellamy and quickly stalked over to him. A move that reminded him very much of a younger version of Clarke. A smile almost creased his face as the memory of the little blonde spitfire stomping around in the mud of the dropship Camp of the original 100.
Madi stopped right in front of Bellamy, looked disdainfully over towards Echo, and very quietly said, "Clarke never betrayed her family. I'm living proof that my mother ALWAYS put me first, as are you," she grounded her finger into his chest, "as are you," she pointed towards Raven and Octavia and Abby and Murphy. "How dare you say that!" She said so quietly that they all leaned in to hear her. Her eyes raged with fire and steel, he watched a war wage in the depths of her eyes. He took a small step back when she finally looked at him with the cold eyes of a commander...eyes he had seen before in the past.
"Indra, Gaia, Echo," she commanded them in a voice of steel.
"Yes, commander," they responded instantly.
"Tell these fools exactly how Clarke saved them after Pike and Bellamy's treachery...tell Bellamy about the death of 319. Tell Bellamy the tale of how Wanheda got her name!" As she ordered the warriors to tell them what had happened a lone tear slid from Madi's eye. She knew this was a story Clarke never wanted told to her people.
The warriors looked stricken. Echo quickly glanced at Bellamy, it was Gaia who spoke to Madi, "Heda, but Heda Lexa forbade us all to ever speak of that time. We are never allowed to tell the story of the birth of Wanheda."
She took her eyes from Bellamy, in a very Lexa move, she slowly turned her head and looked over her shoulder at Gaia and with eyes as hard as daggers, she spared the girl in her gaze, "I am telling you, as Heda, I command you to tell them." Bellamy could almost hear Lexa in Madi...as her eyes turned back to his he could see Lexa in her as well. What did he do to this little girl. Grief and pain at his betrayal of Clarke's wishes seeped through his veneer. He knew without a doubt that Lexa, stood before him in this little girl's body and he was the one responsible for it.
"Heda, please," Echo tried to sway the commander but was stopped with just a look. Bellamy watched the fierce women that stood before him in the guise of this little girl. He realized then that this was not going to be a story he was going to enjoy. He hung his head, sat in the abandoned chair that he vacated when Madi put the blade against Murphy's throat.
"Echo," he said softly, "just tell me." He could help the feeling of betrayal that rose into his throat. The hot bile burning as he swallowed it down. He looked at her, knowing full well that the year and a half of happiness that he had with Echo was over. That she had kept this something so pivotal from him.
"I can't," Echo choked out, "commander please, I can't."
Madi turned and looked at Echo with disgust.
"There was a reason that this 'woman'", she spat, "was banished from every tribe in the alliance and the irony of this whole situation is that it was Clarke who saved her and sent her with you when it was she who tried to destroy everything that Clarke had built." Lexa in Madi's body looked right at Bellamy as she spoke, "It was Echo who was willing to sacrifice Bellamy to the throngs only to have Clarke change his fate." The gasps from Raven, Emori, even Abby echoed in the room. Echo lowered her head in shame realizing that her greatest secret was going to be revealed and life as she knew it was going to be forever changed.
"There was once a time that Bellamy was captured by Echo and brought before the council of 13. Do you remember a time in which I speak, Bellamy?" He nodded his head but had not been aware that it had been Echo who dragged him in front of the council. He remembered that day vividly. It was just after they got back from Mount Weather, he had been out hunting, alone, trying to get Clarke out of his head when he had been hit from behind and knocked out. When he came to, he had a dirty burlap bag over his head and couldn't make out what was happening around him. Voices were muffled low as though the volume rose and set like waves, he couldn't understand anything being said. It was all over before he even realized it and before he knew what was going on he was being dragged from the chamber and handed over to Kane, Abby, and Octavia. They didn't even check him to make sure he was ok, they just left. He never really understood why he was released so abruptly. He asked them and they didn't understand it either but they knew better than to waste time asking why. They were ordered to leave Polis the moment he was returned to them. Apparently, it was time for them to find out now. He looked over to Abby hoping she had some idea about what was going to be said, but by the look on her face he could tell that she, too, was still in the dark about what had happened that day.
Indra started the story there, "the moment he was dragged from the chamber. In his place, standing tall and strong was Clarke. A little dirtier and little more bruised than last time they met but it was Clarke Griffin standing there tall and proud.
Lexa stood from her throne once Bellamy was removed from the chamber. A flicker of sadness crossed her eyes as she gazed down at Clarke, the noble brave princess of the Skikru clan who would do anything for her people. Lexa's eyes hardened as she addressed her former allie.
`Clarke of Skikru, you are aware of the punishment that waites you? Blood must have blood.'
'I am aware of the punishment, Heda. I willing take the place of Bellamy kum Skikru. I stand in for the punishment of my own volition. However, I do make a request.' Lexa smiled, of course Clarke tried to bargain. Even now on the precipice of her death.
'You're request?'
'I wish for this to be the last Blood must have Blood! I wish for our people to live in peace and work together to create a better world. I ask that you take care of my people as if they were your own, Heda. Blood must never have Blood again because we are all one blood.'
"Standing there in the middle of a crowd of her people who had blood lust in their eyes, Clarke stood tall and calm, she met Lexa eye for eye never once breaking contact. Lexa must have seen a kindred spirit within Clarke because she acquiesced.
'You have my word, Clarke kum Skikru. Your people will be my people, and after today Blood will never have Blood again, after today we work to build peace, after today, we work to build a new world and one that will always remember Clarke kum Skikru as the leader who led us out of the darkness, the leader who sacrificed herself so that her people would thrive.' The chamber went quiet, so silent, they watched the two leaders nod at one another and then watched Clarke walked slowly out of the chamber to take her final cleaning before her execution. 'Wanheda,' was softly whispered as she walked past the group of warriors...a legend whispered to children at bedtime about a warrior of light who would bring peace to the land. They watched in awe as her hair shone in the sun as she left the room with he head held high, Because of Wanheda, peace would reign over the land once again.
As Clarke bathed, Lexa charged into the chamber...obviously furious with Clarke for trading places with Bellamy.
'Why, Clarke? What were you thinking? He is just one man. Why would you sacrifice your life for him? He killed over 319 of my warriors sent to protect your people?'
Clarke sighed and stood up from her bath, she quickly put a robe around herself.
'It's Bellamy.' She said simply. Like that would have explained everything. It just made Lexa more infuriated. She quickly strode over to Clarke and grabbed her arms as tightly as she could.
'I don't understand, Clarke? It's not too late to stop this. We can get him back and you…' Clarke shook her head, 'YOU DON'T HAVE TO DIE, CLARKE! You could rule at my side! Please only one has to die. Just Bellamy.'
Clarke broke free of Lexa's grasp. 'NO,' she said firmly, 'Lexa, no. Bellamy lives. He lives a long and happy life. I owe that to him because love is not weakness, loves gives us strength, Lexa. I sent him on a suicide mission because I was too weak to admit that I love him. I love him more than any other human on this goddamn planet. No, Bellamy lives. Promise me.'
'Clarke, please…'
'No, Lexa, Bellamy lives, promise me!' Clarke gripped her biceps, her nailed dug into Lexa' s skin.
'I promise, Clarke kum Skikru that Bellamy Kum Skikru will live his life...his happiness belongs to him. I doubt that once you are gone that happiness will find him until you meet again.' A tear slide from Lexa's eye. She wanted Clarke, that was no secret but she respected Clarke more and was saddened to see a life of leadership and strength and fire being snuffed out because of weakness. Clarke must have heard Lexa's thoughts because she smiled a small smile full of pity.
'Lexa, love is strength. Love is not weakness. Without love I never would have made it this far. I am strong because I love my people, I love this world, I love Bellamy, and because I love myself. Love is not weakness, love is strength and everything good in this world.'
Just before Lexa was about to say something, the door to Clarke's chamber opened and a nervous guard spoke,
'Heda, it is time for Wanheda.'
Lexa nodded and released Clarke. As Clarke dressed she looked as Lexa with curiosity…'Wanheda?' She asked. Lexa smiled and told her of the children's story about the golden warrior who won against death and commanded him to leave her world as a world where there was no war, only peace, love never hate, Wanheda was the warrior to bring peace to the 13 clans.
'13? I thought there only ever was 12?' Clarke asked confused.
'No, there originally was 13, the tribe that Wanheda came from disappeared only to reappear many years later to unite the clans and bring peace to the world.' Clarke pursed her lips and chuckled. Seemed appropriate. She tasted the name on her tongue, 'Wanheda.' She smiled and thought that she would really like to be part of that story.
'I like it,' Clarke said. Then turned to Lexa, 'are they gone?'
'Clarke don't you want your people here? To be with you?'
'I don't want anyone to see this. My people are always with me, here.' She put her hand over her heart. 'They never leave me. They givenme strength when I feel weak. Promise me that no one will ever tell them what happened here today. They must never find out.' Lexa grabbed her knife from the sheath and sliced the palm of her hand then held Clarke's and sliced her palm then meshed their hands together, Lexa' s blood mixed with Clarke's. 'I swear on all that I am, your people, Bellamy especially, will never hear this part of your story from my lips. The birth of Wanheda will be your story to tell.'
'Thank you, Lexa.' Clarke leaned forward and pressed her lips to Lexa's sealing the promise.
'Heda?' The guard opened the door again interrupting them. Lexa bent her forehead to Clarke's and without letting go of her hand lead Clarke to a wooden post in the middle of the square. It was as though time stopped for everyone. The sun seemed to shine for only one person as it reflected off Clarke's newly washed hair. It was Lexa who bound Clarke's wrists to the post. The blood from her vow dripping down her arm. A tear slid from Lexa's eye as she stood back and made an announcement to her people.
'Wanheda there are 319 deaths that you must answer for. If you live or die by the end of this, the debt will be paid by your pain, your suffering, and the gift of your blood to the Earth. You and your people will live in peace with us. Skikru will have the protection as the 13th clan. After today, we will find a more peaceful solution because Blood will no longer have Blood. All life is precious, thank you Wanheda, for your sacrifice so that we can find peace. I hope you find peace in the afterlife. Indra, you were the lone survivor of the massacre, you will take the first swing.' She handed Indra the cat o 9 tails. A weapons made to flay the skin from a person. Each connection of the weapon represented 9 lives. Clarke was to receive 24 lashes from the leaders of the tribes which would equal 216 lives lost. After the whip she would receive the last 102 lives as blade slices from family and friends of the warriors lost. The last cut, the last life, would be given to her by Lexa as Heda it would be up to Lexa to allow Clarke to live or die. Indra took the whip and with a deep breath she swung the tails down to reign hell onto Clarke's back. 1 down 23 stricken to go.
It was at that moment that Bellamy stopped the story.
"Stop, stop please oh god stop. I don't want to hear anymore. How did she survive it?" He asked Madi, knowing full well that he was actually speaking to Lexa. He wasn't the only one who was mortified by the story. Abby was sobbing, Raven looked ill, Murphy look solemn having been tortured by the grounders himself sympathized with Clarke's pain. Echo sobbed not just for Clarke but for her part in the story that she knew was going to devastate her own life.
"Clarke had a strength inside her that I had never seen before. She had love. The love of you and her people kept her alive. It radiated out of her with each strike, with each hit, with each slice of a blade. Ask Echo, she was there, she looked into Clarke's eyes and she sliced into Clarke's skin taking revenge for the life of someone in her clan." Echo had the wherewithal to look ashamed as Bellamy looked at her.
Madi continued, "By the end Clarke's hair was no longer shining in the sun, twilight had fallen and fires had been lit, but it was the blood that colored her deep and dark, red nearly black like the nightbloods. Only her pale blue eyes looked through the red, 318 lives had been accounted for and she still stood of her own free will. Her body covered in blood and opened wounds...her strength bleeding from all her cuts, yet she stood. Pain creased her brow, blood stung her eyes, Wanheda looked at me through the curtain of blood, 318, I was the last, 319. I had to decide if she should live or die. One swipe of my blade across her throat, across her neck, through her heart and her suffering would be over, but I couldn't, I wasn't strong enough to do for her what she had done for the poor boy who loved her... I knew I couldn't. I looked for a spot on her body free of wounds but only found a spot where her heart sat in her chest it was there that I carved a line deep into her. She would carry this scar with her for the rest of her life. I turned to the crowd and pronounced the end of the ceremony and that Wanheda still lives. That was first time that Clarke Griffin died and Wanheda rose from her ashes." Steel eyes met anguished brown ones, "Did you never wonder why Clarke never returned to your side all those years ago? She did return, after she was healed...after months of agonizing pain...she returned to you but you all had moved on without her. We watched from the trees as her loves forgot about her and I watched a little piece of Clarke die again as she watched her people forget her. She left again and returned with me to Polis but she was no longer the Clarke I loved. Sadness grabbed hold of her heart. I watched it happen and as I watch, I tried to stop it but it was all too quick and our fragile peace lay broken just like the fragile heart of Wanheda." Bellamy was openly crying, he didn't care who witnessed his sorrow. He remembered that time. He remembered the confusion of being captured and then of being released...he should have known it was Clarke's doing. He should have known yet, he shut her out when she came back seeking help. He had been so angry at her for leaving him and for not being there with him when everything was falling apart. He should have known that no matter what, Clarke would always be there for her people...for him. God, what a fool he was. Bellamy sank deeper into his chair. His despair twisting his heart, cracking the carefully constructed walls he built.
"Bellamy," Echo was the first to touch his shoulder but he shook her off violently. "No, God Echo, how...how could you...no don't touch me." He looked at her with disgust and shame.
She fell to her knees in front of him. Begging and pleading, "I promised her," she choked out between sobs. "I promised Clarke I would take care of you. When it was my turn for revenge I walked up and wasn't going to cut her...she smiled at me, her mouth full with blood, her teeth pink with it, and told me, it's ok Echo. Do it. Take your peace but bring me some in return. Find my people, find Bellamy and keep them safe, help him find happiness. Make your cut and then find him for me. Never speak of this day again. Swear it to me. I swore to her that I would take care of her people and to bring you happiness. I promised Wanheda I would never tell you. Please Bellamy I swore a vow to never speak of that day again. Please understand."
Bellamy shook his head, everything not processing the way it should. His carefully vaulted heart started pounding at the walls. His hand pressed to his chest as if it could prevent the wall from crumbling. Things that never made sense began to make sense. Scars he caught glimpses of finally he understood what happened. She purposefully kept them all at arms reach now. How many times does one woman have to die and resurrect herself to prove her love? Bellamy put his head into his hands. People around him began to sit, silent tears began to weep from eyes that hadn't shed a tear in decades because they all finally saw the whole picture. What had they done? They sent her again into hell for them just because they felt they deserved to punish her for her betrayal when it was they who betrayed her.
"You don't deserve her," Madi' s voice scathingly spoke but he knew, he could hear Lexa. He looked into her eyes and said, "I know." It wasn't a second later, the door opened and in walked a dirty exhausted Clarke and Shaw, that was all that needed to happen and Lexa's spell on Madi broke as she turned away from Bellamy and the others and flung herself into her mother's arms. Shaw stopped walking over to Raven and just stood transfixed by the drama going on in the room.
"Momma!" She cried into Clarke's shoulder. Instantly, Clarke knew something was wrong because Madi only ever called her momma when she was in distress. Clarke's eyes hardened as she surveyed the room.
"What the fuck is going on?" She said in a quiet dangerous tone. She practically growled at the people in the room.
"Gaia," Clarke snapped. "Tell me now. What happened to Madi?" She looked over the top of her daughter's head to the flame keeper.
"Clarke," Gia started putting her hands up try to pacifying Clarke's fury. Madi interrupted her.
"Clarke, I was so worried about you...I was so scared that something happened to you and Murphy said something which made me snap…" Clarke quickly gave a deadly look to Murphy who slunk down further into his chair. "Everything snowballed so fast, I'm sorry Clarke, please don't be angry, please I know you never wanted me to know the story...I know you never wanted anyone to know...why in all the years that you told me stories of the heroes in your family did you neglect to tell me you were the biggest hero of them all? Why did you ever let me believe that Octavia or Echo were so much more badass than you?
"Madi," Clarke tried to smile, the gnawing in the pit of her stomach getting worse. She prayed her biggest secret had not been exposed. She quickly looked around the room, saw the looks on the faces of her family, locked onto Bellamy's eyes and she knew. She knew they all knew. She gripped Madi tighter, buried her face into her hair by her ear, closed her eyes and whispered to Lexa, who she knew could hear her. "You promised," she breathed, "you swore the story would never leave your lips." Madi pulled back and looked at Clarke, but Clarke knew it was no longer Madi, but it was Lexa. "I promised that the story of Wanheda would not be told from my lips. I have kept my promise." She smirked at Clarke before relinquishing control of the flame back to Madi.
"Son of a bi..." Clarke whispered vehemently.
"Clarke," Bellmy croaked his soulful eyes locking onto hers again. Her eyes began to water as the ice around her heart began to melt. It was all he needed. He was out of the chair, stepped over Echo, and had them both wrapped in his arms faster than any of the others could blink back the tears they were trying to hold in...he buried his face in Clarke's hair. He breathed deeply and her sent surround him. It was the first time in over a century that he felt like he had come home. He opened his eyes and looked at Octavia over Clarke's shoulder and opened his arms to her. Forgiveness freely given if she too came home. She rushed to his arms and enveloped Clarke and Madi too...it didn't take long for all the others to join the group hug. All the others but Indra, Echo, and Gia. Shaw just stood off to the side watching the drama unfold not having a freaking clue as to what's going on. Clarke called their names. "Indra, Echo, Gia, come home," she said with tears and laughter as they all walked over and latched on to the group. They may all still have issues to deal with but that can be dealt with at another time. This time was for family, for home, for peace and for love that never dies. "Wanheda" Madi whispers and the whisper ripples across the room almost as a battle cry to symbolize that their family would make it through these trials and tribulations too. Clarke tried to stifle a laugh but the happiness bubbling inside of her couldn't be contained. They all looked at her expectantly.
"So, does anyone want to know how our mission went or are we going to stand here like this and let a perfectly livable planet go to waste?" They all laughed and began letting go, Bellamy locked eyes with Clarke desperately hoping that she could once again hear his voice silently because he wanted her to know that this conversation between them is far from over. When he felt that she got the message, he stepped back, release her and Madi, looked at Echo then back at Clarke who now had everyone's attention as she and Shaw began to tell the group what they found on the planet below.
Echo knew the moment his eyes met hers. Her time with Bellamy was over, his real happiness was standing 2 feet away from him practically vibrating with excitement over what she and Shaw found on the planet below. Echo knew he was home and that she had fulfilled her vow to Clarke all those years ago. She looked over at the blonde woman and smiled, grateful she had done her part, Echo knew when to let go. But she also knew that no matter what, Wanheda would protect her people and that her people also included Echo. Echo realized that she finally had found home too and it was all due to Clarke Griffin.
The End :)