The meadow was especially quiet today, the birds didn't sing, the winds had shifted. Something was up but I just couldn't put my finger on it. I was in the middle of soaking some wooden strips to make a new basket when chills ran up and down my spine, static didn't hit me as it used to when there was a God nearby. I wondered who it could be. Probably Lexa once again trying to make amends she'd never be able to make. She started to leave little gifts for me at the base of my cave, a flower, a wreath, jewelry, a pearl, but I would go to the river and throw them in for the naiads. They would squeal so loudly I could hear them over the sounds of water flowing and fish jumping. I wiped my wet hands off on a a cloth nearby and stepped towards the mouth of the cave, I saw her before she could look up at me, and pulled my himation over my head and the veil I was still working on as well. It was dark blue and thin, with small white beads I had made using the granite rocks, the beads formed constellations, but not all of them. Some nights I spent hours with my fingers bleeding as I ground them and heated them to almost glass perfection, it hurt and took forever but it was so worth it.

"Clarke I know you're in there." Her voice rang out, confident and unafraid. I stepped closer, not wanting to turn her into stone as well. I knew Lexa had been immune, but I didn't know if other Gods were as well. I kept my eyes to the ground and stared at her mismatched feet, one bone and flesh with a beautiful golden sandal that snaked its way up her caramel leg, the other bronze, gold, and silver with gears and bolts, twisting into a beautiful design of laurels until they fastened tightly to her mid thigh.

"Raven. What brings you here?" I asked softly. Her emerald stola swished lightly, the metal leg clanked as she walked over to me, she had a slight limp.

"Lexa assured me you can look at me Clarke."

"I don't trust her. I'm sorry, I can't risk it." I replied. Raven sighed but brushed past me into the cave. Her visiting me was making me nervous, even though she had come to my defense at their meeting.

"Monty told me everything. I know you saw the trial. Lincoln saw you there as well." My heart thudded hard against my chest, if he saw me, would he say something to one of them? Would Lincoln do that?

"He didn't tell anyone else but me. Don't worry, we know you've gone through enough." She said, venturing further into my home. Raven's hands touched the tapestries I had hung up, then they drifted to some of my sketches and paintings.

"So why are you here Raven?" I asked. Her eyes met mine, they were dark and full of knowledge no one else could possibly understand. Like she had been through eons of torture and trauma that would never leave her. But it was guiding her, and she hadn't turned to stone like everyone else had. Then again I was wearing the veil over my eyes. I removed it and looked at her again, my snakes were trying to escape the himation, she still didn't turn to stone.

"Because I wanted to apologize to you. You didn't deserve this at all, we both know that."

"And?"

"I've left Finn, I'm working on a punishment for him for straying and taking advantage of innocent girls like yourself. No one should be tricked the way he tricked you."

"It wasn't just him though, sure he started to court me. But Luna sent him to the temple." I said sitting down on my cot, Raven rushed to my side and took my hand.

"What do you mean Luna sent him?" She demanded. I shrugged and looked placed my hands in my lap.

"Exactly what I said. Monty overheard her talking to Finn, he says she wants to start a war with Lexa." Raven rubbed her temples roughly, then stood up and began to pace around my cave.

"She's been wanting this for decades and she's finally got it. Lexa and Luna have butted heads ever since Athens chose its patron Goddess."

"They chose Lexa."

"And Luna was furious. They fought almost every day after that, even when they had the truce they found ways to make each other mad. But it was revealed that Lexa was stealing the figurines Marcus had made. All of them resembled the people of Athens, and all of her handmaidens." Her words felt as if they'd punched me in the gut. So that's why we had all drifted towards her, not because we wanted to, but because she'd forced us. Made us need her more than any other God. That'd why I had prayed for her help, and why so many of us including me felt as if we were missing something in our lives. Why I still felt like something was missing, but my heart couldn't be swayed anymore. I realize now that I can't feel love anymore. After she had turned me into this monster...love had faded into thin air. I had my empathy still, and I felt pain, but I couldn't feel love. It was if she had let all but that emotion out of Pandora's box and left me to my own devices. To let me live a lifetime without love. To rot in my bitterness. The weight in my chest grew to the point where it practically pulled me down to the ground. I fell to my knees and wept again. Raven rushed to my side, her metal leg sounded like it got scratched on the hard rock, she ignored it and stroked my back while avoiding the constant movement of my snakes under the himation. The earth cracked open beneath me, allowing me to fall and shatter into millions of pieces

"Clarke...I will make this right I swear to you." She whispered.

"How?" I sobbed. She embraced me tightly as if to push me back together again. The sobs wracked through my body more than they had when I had turned into this creature. More than when my father was ripped from our home and forced to carry the sky on his shoulders. My free will was ripped from my hands before I could take my first breath. Before I had a chance to even live. She stole my life from me, and for what?

"Why did she do this to me?" I cried. Raven stiffened at my side, her hands stopped soothing me and her breathing grew harsh.

"Get away from her." Lexa's voice snapped. I looked up, my snakes managed to push the cloth covering them off and began to reach for her hissing, fangs dripping with every toxic poison they could muster.

"You." I mumbled, standing up. Raven gripped me tightly, but I still pushed forward screaming and fighting against her hold, my arms thrust in front of me, claws grew out of the tips of my fingers and began to drip with a clear liquid. Venom. Long painful fangs sprouted from my gums and filled my mouth with a bitter, nasty flavor that numbed the rest of my mouth.

"Clarke please. Stop this childish tantrum and listen to me." Lexa said rolling her eyes. Raven scoffed then slowly let me go, knowing what she was allowing me to do, I wound back and spit on Lexa with all the force I could find within myself. She screamed and wiped her face off with her dress, holding it there for a moment, when she pulled back her skin was raised and pink, small trickles of black blood fell from her wounds, nose, and her right eye. Lexa looked shocked, better yet, she looked scared. More than any mortal had been when looking into my eyes. This type of fear motivated me to move closer to her, I ran a sharp clawed finger down her cheek, drawing more blood from her once fair skin.

"You stole our lives. Our free will. You stole us from our futures." I spat.

"Please...Clarke I loved them. I love you." She begged, she fell to her knees and began to pray.

"Marcus won't listen to you anymore Lexa. Not since he found out your dirty little secret." Raven snapped. She turned to me and gave me a malicious smile.

"He has to! I'm still a Goddess!" She cried. Raven limped towards Lexa and bent down to face her continually swelling face. I felt a warmth spread through me as I embraced this darkness moving within me, it wasn't evil but it wasn't good either. It was something else, something powerful that scared me.

"Consider this your revocation. The Goddess of Strategy and Wisdom Lexa is no more." Raven said softly. It cut through the air like a knife.

"I shouldn't...I shouldn't have done this to you Clarke. I'm so sorry." Lexa whimpered, the swelling continued to grow, shutting one of her eyes completely. Her luminescent glow that gave her away as a Goddess faded away, she began to scream in pain as if her power being ripped away from her was agonizing. I could guarantee it wasn't nearly as agonizing as all of us finding out our predestined futures knitted by the furies were torn to shreds because of her. Our future children no longer promised to us, to grow up with a different mother, our husbands and wives to marry other people wondering why they felt unsatisfied in their marriages, it wasn't just my life or the lives of the handmaidens to her that were ruined, it was a chain of people. For centuries she had gotten away with this, and now...now I'd put an end to it.

"I told you. You'd regret coming back here. Now you'll have a reminder to stay away." I hissed at her. I drew my claws and fangs back into my body and the snakes calmed down a bit. Raven put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it, she waved a hand in front of Lexa, who was cradling her face in her hands. With a shower of bronze and silver she was gone.

"I sent her somewhere far off, it'll take years for her to figure out how to get here should she choose to come back. I doubt she will though. Only her status was taken away, she still has powers though." Raven said. I nodded and clenched my jaw tightly.

"How will I return to normal though? I'm still this monster...and I lost control." I said shakily, sitting back down onto my cot. The soft blanket felt comforting, like one I had as a child, I rubbed it on my face, snuggling it.

"I'll figure something out." Raven declared. She gave me another hug, it was like a handshake promising me my future again. I felt something stir in my chest, it weighed me down again, but I tried to fight it off. We'd figure this out. We had to.