The door opened, startling them both. For a moment they were afraid they were caught. Like Lexa had sent someone to come take Bellamy away. Neither one of them could bare the thought of enduring the night without the other. There was too much at stake now that they knew the truth. Clarke looked up to see Aurora standing there with big eyes.
She couldn't help but smile at her nanny, who's eyes glanced towards her son, "Bellamy."
"Mom," he stood up and hugged her tightly.
"Clara," she called Clarke by her given name. While listening to Bellamy's story she had gotten used to Clarke, she didn't like Clara anymore, "I see you've met my son."
Clarke smiled, "actually Aurora, it's Clarke now," she hugged her nanny tightly and felt the pieces fall into place, "Bellamy told me everything."
"And you're still here? Alive and well? How can that be?"
Clarke laughed as Bellamy sighed, "one hundred and fifty years breaks the curse. If we don't fall in love until the clock strikes midnight, Clara stays alive. For good. No more reincarnations, no more waiting eighteen years to see her again. It'll be over, mom. Really over, for good this time."
"Clarke," she corrected him. She didn't even think twice about it. She reached out and laced her fingers through his and smiled at his mother. Their mother in a way. She taught Clarke everything she never knew she needed to know about her future husband. She wasn't sure how she would ever repay the woman who not only cared for her as a nanny, but as the mother she so desperately needed growing up.
Clarke was more than sure of how she felt for Bellamy. Even if there were things she needed to learn about him, she knew deep down in her soul she knew him. He was there for every life she ever lived. When she looked into his eyes, she saw a life she never wanted to lose. She would spend her life with him the moment they were finally free of the curse. She didn't even care if she had to leave the kingdom.
She was ready to finally fall in love.
Aurora looked on the verge of tears, "I'm so glad you finally found each other. I knew this life was different. I knew somehow you'd finally get a happy ending."
Their happy moment didn't last very long. It was ruined by the last people Clarke thought ever cared about her. The door opened and her parents walked in. Aurora's face paled as her dad looked at Bellamy. He looked exactly the same as Bellamy remembered. Except there was nothing more than disgust in his eyes. He hated the boy who always killed his child.
"Get away from her," he said in his authoritative voice.
Bellamy took in a breath as Clarke held his hand tighter, "Jake please. Listen to me. I'm not here to take her away."
"Dad," Clarke looked at him as Bellamy tried to keep them at a distance, "I remember."
Jake's eyes went wide, "you aren't supposed to remember."
Everyone was quiet as father and daughter kept staring at each other. Clarke let go of Bellamy's hand as she took in a breath and smiled as she took a step towards him, "I remember Clarke. The girl I was when this all started. You and mom," she glanced at her mother, "you loved me more than anything in the galaxy. I miss those parents. The ones who wanted me to be happy. The ones who wanted me to be happy with Bellamy."
Abby's voice broke, "we want you to be happy, sweetheart. But not with Bellamy. When he shows up, that means our time with you is gone."
"You haven't even gotten to know me these past eighteen years. How could you possibly need more time with me? I'm your daughter, the princess hidden away in her room. Aurora raised me," Clarke threw the words at her parents, "I'm not Clara. I'll never be someone else."
Jake took a step towards his daughter, but she stepped away at the same moment. Her back hit Bellamy's arm. He put it around her protectively as Jake sighed, "Clara please. Don't listen to him. Don't believe his lies. Because the moment you do, you're as good as dead."
"Clarke," her voice was strong, Bellamy was so proud of how she was handling herself in front of her parents. Usually she let them persuade her into walking away from him, "it's Clarke dad. I won't listen to you. I won't leave him."
Bellamy pushed Clarke behind him when her father tried to grab her arm. His deep voice was pleading with her father as he stood up straighter, "look I know we do this every time, but I promise you this time will be different. Just trust me."
"I don't trust you. You're the reason she dies on her 18th birthday. You're the reason she never gets to have a full life. All because of some stupid love triangle that happened a hundred years ago," Clarke grabbed Bellamy's arm and let out a slow breath, "if you truly love my daughter you'll let her live. You'll let her go and never come back."
"No," Clarke's voice broke as she clung to Bellamy's arm. She couldn't imagine a life without him now that she had him again. She didn't want to live in a world without his beauty, without his love. She knew no matter how hard she tried, she would never find someone to love the way she knew she could love him.
The way they had loved each other in every lifetime before this.
Clarke could feel her heart slipping. She could feel herself finally falling in love with him. Her eyes went to the clock. Fifteen minutes. They had fifteen minutes until midnight. She tried to push her feelings down as her father fought Bellamy. She didn't know how to stop what was happening. She didn't know how to save the only person who looked at her like she was more than just a piece in their kingdom.
"Please. Just listen. Lexa was here. She told us the curse can't hold after a hundred and fifty years. We just need another fourteen minutes," Bellamy was begging. Clarke couldn't remember a time when he ever begged for anything before.
She felt her heart fill up once more.
Her dad drew his sword and Clarke screamed. Bellamy stayed in front of her, "leave this house now. I won't let you take her from me. I'll kill you if I have to. But I won't let you cause her death. Not ever again."
Bellamy shook his head, "this is my punishment. I know it's not fair to any of us, please give us a chance. I love her. I die every single time she does. The worst part is, she gets a clean slate, another chance at a life. I have to wait eighteen years to find her. Eighteen years I wander, dreaming about the woman I just want to settled down and spend the rest of my life with. Please, Jake. You have to understand."
He shook his head, "no. No you have to understand. Losing a child is the worst pain a parent can ever endure."
"So is losing your soulmate," Bellamy whispered as he pushed down his tears. Ten minutes. He let out a slow breath, his eyes glancing from the clock back to her father, "I won't stop loving her. If you send me away, I will love her and that is enough to kill her."
"Not if I run my sword through your heart."
Bellamy laughed, "go ahead and try. I've done it a million times. Lexa made sure my punishment would be spent here on earth. I can't die. Though I've spent a thousand lifetimes wishing I could."
Clarke shook her head, "no," she pulled his face towards hers and kissed him softly in front of everyone, "don't ever wish that again, Bellamy Blake."
His crooked smile was enough to convince her she was strong enough to make the choice for both of them. She let out a slow breath, watching as his smile faded, her hand falling off his arm.
She couldn't handle the thought of losing Bellamy. She knew what would happen when she decided to save him. She remembered the feeling of her fire leaving her body. But she didn't care. Because a life without Bellamy was one she couldn't bare living. She stood up straighter and let go of his arm.
Tears filled Clarke's eyes as she stepped in between Bellamy and her father. The sword was pointed right at her chest. She didn't falter. She kept her voice strong, "no. If you kill him, you kill me. Please dad don't do this. I love him too."
The room fell silent as everyone looked at the couple standing in the middle of the room. Three minutes. But her words were enough to take her down. It happened in slow motion, the way it did every time he lost her. One moment she was fine, the next her body shut down on her. Bellamy turned and caught her as her eyes rolled back. She collapsed into his arms.
Bellamy knew this moment. It was the same moment that happened every single time he found her again. Every time he experienced it, his battered and bruised heart was hit with another notch. It didn't hurt any less a hundred years after the first time. He knew it wouldn't hurt any less the last time either.
"No Clarke, no," tears gathered in his eyes as he ran his hand down her cheek. He cradled her head against his chest, begging her to stay with him. He wasn't sure what would happen now that he didn't have her to hold onto, "don't go. Please Clarke hold on."
She sighed, "I love you Bellamy Blake. I can't pretend I don't anymore."
A tear fell off his cheek as he kissed her softly, "I love you. Forever and always."
"May we meet again," she whispered as she touched his lips and then closed her eyes. He felt as the life leave her, as the breath left her body. He knew it as well as he knew himself.
She was gone, and this time he would never be able to get her back.
—-
18 years later
Bellamy knew he would never see her again. That didn't mean he stopped keeping track. He marked the days just like he used to. Eighteen years and it still hurt just as badly as it did that first time he lost her. Still life went on. It had to when you didn't have an end in sight. The curse might have been broken, but his life was still just starting. He was old enough to know pain, but young enough to have a future staring at him.
One he wouldn't get to spend with the only person who knew him inside and out.
Bellamy thought he could move on. He knew he would never forget her, he didn't even try to. But he thought he could find someone to fill his time, someone who could make him smile the way the stubborn blonde haired, blue eyed girl used to. But there was no one as beautiful and exciting in this world as Clarke Griffin had been. He would never fall in love again. He knew that he would never find someone to replace her.
So after the first year he stopped trying.
He distanced himself from the kingdom. He heard it fell apart a few years ago. Jake and Abby let it crumble when they were unable to have another heir. He felt sorry for them. He hated that he took Clarke away from everyone, including her family and friends. But they didn't know the pain he was going through. Every time he lost her, he lost a piece of himself with her.
He ventured to the new land where they had more modern ways of life. He couldn't handle being reminded of her every day. But no matter how far he ran he was always reminded of Clarke.
The girl he carried in his heart.
Bellamy had a backpack slung over his shoulder. He decided he might as well learn here at the schools they had opened. Still nothing excited him like history. He was fascinated to learn about the people who came before them. He looked for Clarke's face in every old picture he found. After all she had lived a hundred lives before this.
He was stopping at the library for a book when he felt it. That familiar hit to his heart. The one that used to tell him Clarke was close. He rubbed his hand over his chest and sighed. It was just an ache that would never go away now. And ache he had to live with.
Bellamy tried to ignore the ache. His mouth went dry and his hands started to shake. He looked around, wondering if maybe he was getting sick. He hadn't gotten sick in a long time. Not since the curse took effect. He let out a slow breath and closed his eyes. The dizziness left him just as he opened them and looked at the shelf in front of him.
He almost fainted when he caught sight of a girl with blonde curls.
He was standing behind the bookshelf when he saw her. Bellamy thought he was staring at a ghost, or a crazy hallucination his broken mind had created just to hurt him more. She had a head full of blonde curls that fell over her book as she concentrated. He could see the little crease in between her brows as she read, her face as close to the page as it could.
He knew if she lifted her head up those blue eyes would be familiar. The book fell out of his hand as he walked to her table.
Bellamy knew he was crazy. He knew this couldn't be real. But that didn't stop him from staring. That didn't stop his heart from pounding and his hands from shaking. What if by some miracle, the kingdom fell apart because her parents left? It was too good to be true, Lexa made sure the curse was in place to punish him.
She would never even consider offering them a second chance.
Bellamy walked towards the table, preparing himself to be disappointed.
"Clarke?" He whispered her name as he got closer.
The moment she lifted her head and looked at him, his heart stopped. The world stopped and he couldn't believe what was happening. He couldn't hear anything but his pulse running pounding in his ears. She wasn't supposed to be born again. She was gone, for good this time. He lost the air in his lungs as she stood up, giving him the biggest smile she ever had.
She didn't say anything. She ran into his arms. He caught her when his brain caught up to the events that were happening here. He wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he possibly could, holding onto the dream that had somehow come true right in front of him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth against his. He felt his body relax, he felt free from all the pain and the guilt that had been following him.
Clarke pulled away, resting her hand on his cheek. They stood there staring at each other, marveling in the fact that this moment was real. It wasn't a dream they were caught up in. They were there, holding onto the only person they ever truly loved. Bellamy would've pinched himself. Then again maybe he would've just stayed asleep, he was perfectly happy letting this dream consume him completely.
"What took you so long to find me this time, Blake?"
Her voice was the same. Her body, everything was exactly the way he remembered meeting her that very first day.
"This can't be real," he touched her cheek gently, but she didn't disappear.
Her giggle made his heart stop, "someone upstairs really wanted us to be together. Because he offered me one last chance to fall in love with you."
"And you remember," he whispered his hand flat against her cheek. He ran his thumb across the skin below her eye softly. This time it was his turn to be confused, to fight the truth that was staring him in the face.
"I could never forget you," she smiled and kissed him once more. He had never been so happy before in his life.
Bellamy wasn't sure what he had done right in this lifetime to deserve this second chance. But he held her tightly and he knew he would do everything to keep her. This time they would do things right.