After they finished breakfast, Clarke got their little satellite dish and the radio out of the Rover. She wanted to try to contact the Ark again like she did every day.
"Why do you still keep doing that?" Madi asked. She'd asked it often and Clarke never really had a satisfying answer for her.
"Honestly, I don't know. Maybe so I won't forget who I am."
"But I know who you are," Madi said. "You're the most badass warrior on earth."
Clarke smiled at the girl, but her words made something in her mind click. That wasn't who she was. It was who she'd become. Who she'd needed to become in order to survive. She had changed so much over the last couple of years. Who she used to be was so far away.
A voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Can I talk to them today?" Madi's theory was that her friends up there were listening, but just hadn't figured out a way to talk back to them yet. Clarke hoped it was the truth.
"I don't see why not," she said and handed the radio to Madi, who was sitting next to her.
She took the device and pushed the button. It wasn't the first time she'd used it, so she knew how it worked. "Madi to the Ark. Can anyone hear me? Okay, that's great. I'm taking over for Clarke this time. So what are you up to today? I know Clarke's probably making me practice gun shooting or sword fighting or something like that. We already caught a beautiful rabbit this morning. It was delicious, although Clarke did let it burn a little."
"Honey, that was you," Clarke interrupted her. "I told you to keep an eye on it while I was collecting some berries."
"Exactly, you told me to keep an eye on it and I did a great job doing that. It didn't run away."
Clarke chuckled and Madi went on talking to the device. "Maybe you should be working on your ship today. It has been safe for you to come down for almost a year now. You don't have to be afraid of me. I mean, Clarke has taught me a lot of things, I'm almost as badass as she is now. But any friend of Clarke is mine after all. Please come down. I would love to meet the heroes of Clarke's stories. I still have hope and I know Clarke has too." She paused for a moment and when she could not think of anything else to say, she ended the 'conversation' like Clarke had taught her. "Out"
She released the button and gave the radio back to the blond-with-read-haired woman. "How was that?"
"Great," Clarke said, taking the radio from Madi. She put it back in the Rover and sat down next to her again. "The rabbit will last for today and breakfast tomorrow, so we won't have to go hunting today."
"So what's today's lesson?"
"I haven't thought about that yet," Clarke admitted. "You can practice gun shooting like you said. I'll make some new arrows. You can help me once you're finished." Although it was easier to hunt with guns, it scared away all the animals that were somewhat near the shooter. A bow and arrow was a lot more quiet.
Madi nodded and carefully took out a gun from the rover. She walked a few meters so she was at the right distance from the tree she always practiced on. Carved in the tree was a cross. It was a little difficult to see due to all the bullet holes that already covered the cross and the area around it. Soon, she would have to pick another tree to practice, but it would do for now.
She loaded the gun and fired her first shot. It hit the tree right in the middle of the cross. The two following shots did exactly the same. She smirked proudly. Three in a row. But she knew it would be a lot more difficult to hit the spot she aimed for once the target was moving. They rarely hunted with guns, but Clarke had let her a few times to practice. It was difficult to get the bullet right through the heart. That wasn't necessary for the animal to die, but it didn't suffer long that way.
One time she had asked Clarke why she even had to learn to use the guns. If they didn't use them for hunting, then what for? "To shoot the people who kept you and your parents captive," was the answer she'd gotten. For her, that was surely worth the effort.
Clarke watched Madi practice for a few minutes and then began making the arrows. She'd already gathered sticks, feathers and stones yesterday, but once she had everything, it was too dark to make them.
She started with sharpening the stones she would use for the tops. She picked up the first stone and began rubbing it against another stone. Once she was satisfied, she repeated the process with the other stones.
It took her some time to do it since stones are stones and would always be hard. At least the ones she could use for weapons. Madi joined her after a little while and told her that almost all the bullets hit the center of the cross or the immediate area around it.
"Do you want to make glue or string?" Clarke asked once she was finished with her last stone.
Madi had just finished hers too and laid it next to the others. "I'll go with the string," she said and got up.
She was already on her way to the woods when Clarke called after her. "Be careful with the knife. I sharpened it yesterday. Don't cut yourself."
"Clarke, how many summers have I seen?" Madi called back.
"Twelve, sorry."
And with that, Madi disappeared in the forest. She was searching for a straight tree with few branches and of course tight bark. Out of the bark, she could make string.
Clarke got up as well and made her way to the pine trees. There were a few about two hundred meters away from their camp. Lots of pine trees didn't survive Praimfaya. For some reason, radiation affected them more than other trees. But they were back now and she somehow had the feeling the glue made out of its resin seemed stronger than before the wave of radiation had hit. But maybe that was just her imagination.
She had just collected enough resin when she heard a scream coming from the forest. Madi, Clarke thought anxiously. She dropped the bucket with resin. It fell on its side and the liquid started leaking, but she didn't even notice it. She had already started running through the woods. To what extent that was possible, at least. What if some dangerous animal had slinked up to Madi without her noticing. Would she be able to defend herself? Or what if she had fallen and broken her leg. She didn't have the equipment to let it heal properly. Maybe she did cut herself with the knife after all. Oh god, she could've cut off her finger. No, Madi knew how to handle a knife. But what if-
She stopped herself from thinking, knowing that it would do nothing good and probably just slowed her down.
She eventually found Madi sitting on the ground at a little distance from the camp. She was looking at her right leg. She had put off her boot and her right pant leg was pulled up a little, revealing her bare ankle. She looked up when she heard Clarke.
"Madi, what's going on? Are you alright?" she asked concerned.
"Em ste non (It's nothing), I just tripped," Madi answered, but Clarke could hear the pain in her voice.
She sat down beside her. "Let me have a look at that."
"It's not that bad, Clarke. Really," she tried to convince her, but Clarke didn't listen. She knew Madi didn't like to show when she was hurt. It reminded her of Lexa. But Lexa knew how important it was to treat injuries right. Madi, on the other hand, stayed stubborn when it came to that.
Her ankle was a little thicker than usually already. Please, don't let it be broken, she thought. "You have to tell me if it hurts too much, okay?"
Madi nodded and Clarke gently pressed on the inside of her ankle, watching Madi's face as she did, not sure she would actually tell her if it hurt. She seemed okay, so Clarke went on. She didn't feel any tenderness, which was a good sign. She went on with the rest of her ankle and her foot as well.
"I don't think it's broken," she said once she was done. "Can you stand?"
Clarke held out her hand to help Madi get up. She carefully put a little weight on her right leg, until she was standing. She let go of Clarke's hand. "Sha," she answered.
Clarke let out a sigh of relief. "Your ankle's probably just sprained. It hurts, but it will heal."
"Great," Madi said sarcastically and tried to walk. She managed to, but she was limping.
"Don't put too much pressure on it," Clarke said. "Put your arm around me. We'll go back to the camp."
Madi did as Clarke told her and they slowly started walking towards the camp. Clarke helped Madi into the Rover once they were there. She wrapped an elastic bandage around Madi's ankle to decrease the swelling. She still had them from Becca's laboratory. She wanted to give her some painkillers too, but there had never been many and after almost six years, they were all used up.
"You'll just need to rest it," Clarke told her. "Don't walk if it isn't necessary today, okay?"
"I won't," Madi said, sitting up a little straighter.
Clarke folded a thick blanket a few times. "And if you want to lay down, make sure to raise your ankle higher than your heart," she said, keeping her hand on the blanket.
"Ai get em in (I know). You taught me about sprained ankles, remember?"
"I do," she answered. "But I didn't know if you did."
"How would I ever forget anything you teach me?" Madi said in a teasing tone.
Clarke was relieved. "At least you're in the mood for joking." She put out another blanket and carefully put it over Madi's bare foot and ankle so she wouldn't be cold.
"I'll be okay Clarke," the brunette said. "You can go finish the arrows."
"You want me to go away or something?" Clarke joked.
Madi smiled. "No, I just want food. No hunting, no food."
Clarke let out a chuckle. She kissed the top of Madi's head and got out of the Rover. She wanted to pick up the work she had ended so abruptly earlier when Madi called her name.
Clarke turned around again. "Sha?"
"Mochof (Thank you)," she said, giving her a smile.
Clarke nodded. "Of course, Madi." As long as she was alive, she would never let anything happen to Madi. That was the promise she'd made to herself once she'd actually realized they were the last two persons on the surface of this earth.
A/N: I was really bored, so I updated. By the way, this story will have about six or seven chapters. The last (two) chapter(s) will mainly be storytelling about Lexa because Clexa is everything!
