It's Been A Long Time

Chapter 20: Reunions and Broken Hearts

(Reminder- no one knows that Bellamy and Echo broke up except for Bellamy and Echo- that's kinda important. Just wanted to let you know because it's been a MONTH since I last updated....sorry 'bout that. Real A/N at the bottom!)

The world around them shook. Every metal block or sheet vibrated as if struck like a harp chord. This was it, this was the end. Trapped and helpless beneath the earth, screams of terror sounded almost louder than the shaking earth.

Taziana gripped Ethan's arm tightly, grounding them to the spot.

If this is the end, I've lived a good life. Trapped, but good. She thought, and closed her eyes in acceptance.

"No! NO! Tazi!" She could barely hear Ethan's shouting over the shaking, but it was there all the same.

"Don't give up, please! We can't give up!"

She looked into his fearful eyes, hers somber and unchanging. The last two years had been hell for both of them. She could feel herself slipping farther and farther into the madness of Bloodreina and he was trying to pull her back. It was like grabbing at thin, fraying, strands of rope, while dangling over an infinite chasm, and he was the one holding them. At first there were many, but then they broke, and fell away until she was left with only a handful.

"We don't have a choice,"

His eyes sparkled with intensity, and in the one last moment before they were sure they were going to die, he pulled her in and kissed her.

It was hard and passionate, as if his mouth was looking for a last imprint of her to hold onto when he died. His soft lips smashed into hers, hardly giving her time to put two coherent thoughts together. He gave no sign of resolving to a quick kiss, and he deepened it so much she could hardly breathe. Ethan grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her in so that every curve of her body melded with his. Tazi could feel his heart beat through his chest, and she closed her eyes as tight as they could go, refusing to let the smooth flesh of their lips separate. If this was how she was going to die, it wasn't such a bad way to go.

"I love you," He whispered into their fused mouths.

There was so much they should've had time to do, should've said to each other, should have done with each other. So many promises left unkempt, so many things left unshared, but she had mere seconds left in her life so Tazi said the only thing she could while knowing it was the absolute truth.

"I love you, too,"

Tazi caressed his lips with her gentle breath and for a moment all was still.

And then she realized that it really was. The ground had stopped shaking. The walls weren't vibrating. They were alive. They were alive!

A weighted second passed and they remained in their tangled embrace, unsure of whether or not to let go.

Then the sky burst open and sun rays that had not been seen in over six years shone down on the bloodied, bruised, and broken members of Wonkru, like shimmering streams of gold.

"We're saved," Tazi thought, her heart bursting with the fullness of the moment, barely holding herself steady warped in Ethan's arms, "We might actually be saved."

---

The light shown down into darkness. A clash. Of good and bad, of joyous and desolate, of two worlds that were the true meaning of polar opposite.  A hole in the ground was all that would remain of the bunker once the human ants and crawled out from under its skin.

Clarke stood alone  in the empty hallway near the pilot room and stared out the window, down into the gaping mouth of earth. Her heart beat a hundred miles in her chest. Her mother, Octavia, Kane, Indra, Gaia, they were all down there. Waiting.