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In the end, Clarke and Bellamy are captured, along with the rest of their people.
Losing to Eligius was not something they thought would happen as they had fought long and hard, through blood and sweat and tears to try and save their people and their home.
It was Octavia, though, who had ultimately sealed their fate at the last moment: sacrificing herself to save her people from death, yet leaving them at the whim of the miners and their terrible, ruthless leaders; who, upon gaining control of what was left of Wonkru, decided to imprison them within their cryo chambers, so their own people could live and thrive in Eden.
Unable to defend themselves, as the shock collars around their necks prevented them from speaking, they leaned on Zeke who talked, reasoned, and campaigned for what felt like hours, slowly lowering their sentencing down from a hundred years to fifty years. He spoke of hope that, by the time their sentence came to an end, Eden will have grown bigger and begun to thrive, leaving enough room for everyone, regardless of who you were or where you came from.
When they heard the final sentencing, Bellamy was still in dismay over the death of his sister, unable to stop his head from hanging long enough to utter a proper retort. And Clarke? She stood there motionless, her mouth open with unspoken terror, fumbling around in her mind for something, any kind of leverage that would prevent her from being separated from her family, her friends, from him again.
But before any of them, now prisoners, could fully process what was in store, they all felt sharp pricks in their necks, arms, or legs - a sedative, Clarke deduced quickly, before she fell into the darkness of her mind.
—
When Clarke awoke with a jolt, she immediately realized that she was strapped down upon a warm slate with a glass dome above her, separating her body from the metallic belly of the ship.
Her first instinct was to shout out for help, but she quickly noticed her voice was empty and lost, a glance up at the glass above her brought into focus a long cable that was sticking out of her neck, stifling the sounds of her heart and attaching her to whatever machine would be her home for the next fifty years.
She turned her head to the side, sending thanks up to the heavens that her head had not been strapped down along with the rest of her body, and immediately locked eyes with the fully awake person in the chamber next to her: Bellamy.
—
When Bellamy’s eyes locked on with Clarke’s he immediately felt relief. Laying here for the last half hour, watching her be completely motionless and pale, had sent his chest ablaze with worry. He knew he couldn’t do anything to stop their sentencing, couldn’t do anything to help her or any one else for that matter, but confirming that she was okay? That she was alive? That had been more than enough to ease his aching heart.
Clarke swallowed and blinked a few times, desperately wanting to speak or say something to him before they were sentenced to the next fifty years of silent darkness. But he slowly shook his head, letting her know that he didn’t need anything in this moment. He just needed her.
Clarke understood immediately, because of course she did, and, instead just leaned her forehead against the glass towards him, straining against her restraints in the process.
Bellamy did the same, feeling the metal of his restraints rub into his wrists as he pressed his forehead to the glass and let out a shallow, long breath.
This was it. This was the closest to a hug, to any kind of touch, they would get for the next fifty years, if they even woke up again, and he clenched his jaw, seething angrily at the distance that always seemed to keep them apart. No matter how hard he tried to fight it.
But before he even had a chance to compose another thought, they were both jolted at the sound of alarms and the flashing of red lights.
It was time.
Bellamy stared at Clarke with wide eyes now, his heart pounding as the main lights within the ship began to dim, spraying the red flashing lights across their faces and casting dark shadows within their chambers. He was instantly thrown into his memories of reading what hell would be like, and at this precise agonizing moment? This was worse than any kind of hell he had imagined because, as he had learned in space all those years, any place without her was hell.
Desperation took hold of him then, against his will, and the second she turned her head to look at him, probably for the last time, he opened his mouth.
'It’s okay. I’ll be here,' his lips spoke to her, although silence was the only thing slithering out of his mouth. She nodded, her bottom lip between her teeth, desperate, he could tell, to say something in return.
At that moment, a slow hiss began in his chamber followed by the presence of a cool air drifting upwards from his toes. Their time was almost up, he knew that now, and he still couldn’t believe this might be the last time he sees her.
He turns his head again, desperate to have her be the last thing that he sees so her face will follow him into his deep sleep, when his eyes catch the tears streaking down her face, pooling on the slab pressed against her cheek.
‘Clarke?’ He mouths, wishing he could wipe the tears from her eyes, his fists clenching as the metal of his restraints break skin. She shakes her head quickly to calm him and stares straight into his eyes as the cool mist begins to fill her chamber completely.
Her lips part and she slowly mouths her last words to him for the next fifty years,
‘I love you.’
As her lips slowly finish shaping the words, her eyes droop and she’s gone, her body disappearing slowly into the mist as it fills up the glass completely, pulling her into the darkness and leaving only a cloudy chamber behind.
His heart breaks in two and a single tear breaks through his eyes as the mist finally overtakes him.
His last thought as his eyes close and he quickly follows her into the dark?
‘I love you too.’