A/N: Hey, guys, I'm really sorry that I haven't updated this story in a month. I was just really busy with the last month of the semester, and I didn't have a lot of time to write. Anyways, school is over now until the fall, so I should have more time to write, and updates should be more frequent. Thank you all for your patience, and I hope that you continue to read this! Enjoy the new chapter! :)
The next day, Lexa awoke with the feeling that there were tiny beings living inside of her head, repeatedly hammering away on the inside of her skull. Clarke explained to her that she had a hangover from drinking so much moonshine, and while Lexa was not familiar with that particular term, she had seen enough of her people go through this to know that it was completely normal. Lexa couldn't remember much from the night before, but she knew enough to know that she had drunk more than her fair share of moonshine at Jasper and Monty's little party. She was sure that she had had plenty of fun at the time, but she couldn't help but regret it now that she was feeling so awful. Luckily, the rest of the people who had participated in the drinking, which was the majority of the camp, didn't feel well either, and so not much was expected of any of them that day. Clarke and Lexa spent most of their time that day huddled under a blanket together, trying their best to block out the sunlight that was filtering in through the material of the tent and hurting their eyes.
When Lexa could finally walk without her cane again, she didn't think that anything had ever felt better. She made sure to chip in around camp during the day, either going out on patrols, helping to prepare meat, or doing any other jobs that would be useful to the Skaikru. Every night, she slept curled up with Clarke, and she didn't think that cuddling had ever felt this good, even with Costia. It was nice to think that she no longer had any responsibilities other than the ones that everyone shared. Clarke didn't even seem to have any lately either. Bellamy was perfectly capable of making sure that all the chores for the day got done, and Lexa's former people didn't seem to be bothering the Skaikru anymore. Maybe they had finally come to the rightful conclusion that the Sky People meant them no harm.
Lexa was slowly getting used to the lazy mornings she spent with Clarke and the leisure time that she now had with her newfound friends. She had rarely ever had time to just spend with friends in Polis, but she had often watched on with a wistful expression while her people had fun, knowing that she needed to be on constant alert to make sure that no harm would come to them. Here, she was allowed to just be another one of the people. The Skaikru were starting to treat her as such, too, even when Clarke wasn't around. Once the initial shock of her becoming one of them had worn away, the Sky People began to treat her the same way they treated the rest of their people, talking to her politely about simple things, and it was all too easy for Lexa to reciprocate. No one looked to her to lead anymore. No one expected her to be anything more than the girl that she was.
She was finally no one other than herself.
She didn't ever want to be anyone else again.
As Lexa spent more and more time with the Skaikru, she began to lose track of the days, as they all seemed to blend into one. Each day wasn't important anymore because she no longer had to plan out the events of each one. She didn't know how much time had passed since the night of the moonshine, but she thought that it had to be getting close to a week.
When she emerged from her tent that morning, she was alone because Clarke had been woken up earlier to treat one of her people, who she thought to have come down with a common cold, whatever that was. While Lexa was picking up on more and more of the Sky People's slang, she certainly hadn't caught on to all of it yet. She had planned to eat a quick breakfast while she waited for the other girl to return, but she had barely even reached the fire when Jasper and Monty were appearing before her with wide grins.
"Come look at our catch, Lexa," Jasper said proudly, the grin never leaving his face.
A mischievous twinkle settled in green eyes as Lexa responded, unable to help a smile of her own from spreading over her face at the sight of her friends. "Only if I can eat some of it."
"Of course," Monty was quick to answer. "You'll love it."
Lexa eagerly followed the two boys into the food tent, and her eyes widened when she saw that they had brought down a buck. She was surprised that the two normally goofy and slightly clumsy boys had had the skill to catch that. Her mouth watered at the sight, and she nodded appreciatively in their direction. "Very nice catch. You did well today."
They glowed under her praise, and she was happy that they had been able to bring down something that they could be so proud of. She happily spent time with the two boys while they waited for the buck to be skinned and roasted by the people that had been given that duty for today. When Jasper and Monty were finally able to grab their plates, getting first selection of the meat since they had brought it down, they brought a plate for Lexa as well, and her stomach growled loudly. If this had happened in front of her people, she would've been extremely embarrassed, but it was funny here, and she laughed along with her friends at the sound. Conversation ceased slightly between the three of them as they all sat down around the fire and dug into their food. Lexa was too focused on the juicy taste of the meat to even try and formulate a sentence for a good few minutes. When the three of them could speak again, the conversation began to flow as easily as it always seemed to, as if the three of them had always been friends. Lexa could only hope that they always would be.
Laughter erupted from Lexa's mouth when Jasper and Monty said that they were going up to get seconds. She wondered where they could possibly fit all that food. She felt plenty full from the portion that she had already eaten, which had been slightly less than theirs, and she didn't think that she could eat another bite. However, the boys seemed as if they were nowhere near full, and she shook her head in amusement. They asked if she wanted more as well, but she declined, saying that she wanted to go see if Clarke was back from the dropship yet.
She poked her head back into her and Clarke's tent and was surprised to see that Clarke wasn't there. She figured that the younger girl must have been put on a patrol, as she hadn't seemed to be worried about the sick boy earlier, so Lexa decided to take a walk around camp. This was something that she often did in her spare time. Even though she could walk perfectly fine again, she still liked to do it as much as she could. That way, her muscles would not weaken again. She knew that they had only become weak from the seriousness of her injuries and that a day without any significant walking would not hurt her at all, but the memory of how weak she had been still haunted her mind, and she wanted to make sure that she was never that way again.
After several minutes of walking, Lexa caught sight of Octavia just outside of the camp walls, and she looked over in curiosity at what the other girl was doing. She appeared to be shooting a bow and arrow at a target that she had carved in the center of a tree, and Lexa immediately perked up at the sight. It had been way too long since she had actually shot a bow and arrow, since she preferred to hunt with a dagger, and it looked like Octavia could use some help with her aim. Lexa would be lying if she said that she didn't miss training sessions with the nightbloods, the one thing about her position that she had actually enjoyed. She knew that Octavia would probably be just as eager to learn, and Lexa didn't feel awkward at all about going out to offer the girl help. She knew that her help would be much appreciated, as the other girl had already hinted at wanting it before.
The guard at the gates easily opened the door for Lexa when she expressed her interest in going out. He didn't regard her with wary eyes or question her on her intended whereabouts. He simply opened the door and let her walk through without a second glance. She easily made her way over to Octavia, and the younger girl turned to her with bright eyes. "Lexa! I'm practicing my shot with this bow and arrow. Think you could give me some tips?"
"Absolutely." Lexa nodded, accepting the weapon that was being offered to her.
Lexa carefully knocked the arrow, setting her feet up just right and focusing her eye on the target. She pulled the string back and released the arrow, satisfied when she noticed it sink into the center of the target with a thunk. Lexa turned back to Octavia to find that her friend's jaw had dropped, hazel eyes fixed on green in clear awe. "How?"
"Many, many years of intense training," Lexa answered. No matter how much she wished that she hadn't been forced to acquire these skills, she couldn't help but feel somewhat proud of them now.
"You normally hunt with your dagger, though," Octavia pointed out, having been on more than one hunting expedition with the older girl by now.
"Yes." Lexa nodded. "That does not mean that I cannot hunt with other weapons, though. I have been trained to use practically everything, with the exception of guns. For hunting, I need to tread lightly in order to be quiet, so my dagger is the easiest thing for me to carry."
"You have perfect aim with both weapons," Octavia noted. "I think that I'd rather hunt with a dagger, too. Maybe then I wouldn't make so much noise, and I might be able to catch something bigger than a rabbit. Could you teach me to throw like you?"
"It took me years to get to where I am now, but I can do the best that I can." Lexa unstrapped the dagger from her thigh and held it out to the other girl.
Octavia got into a shaky stance, and Lexa thought that this might take longer than she had originally imagined. She had to remind herself that Octavia and the others had never had any experience with this kind of stuff before they arrived on the ground, so she would most likely be at the learning level of one of the children of Polis. Lexa circled Octavia for a little while, straightening her back and squaring her shoulders before widening her stance. When she finally backed away to scrutinize her work, she quickly stepped closer again to nudge Octavia's right foot forward before stepping back to look the Sky Girl over once more.
"Move your hand down some on the grip," Lexa instructed, moving on to correct the way that Octavia was holding the dagger. "Your hand should be low enough that your smallest finger always hangs off of the edge."
Octavia adjusted her hold on the dagger, making sure to follow Lexa's instructions exactly. "Okay."
Lexa nodded in satisfaction, giving a few more pointers before Octavia made the throw. "Make sure to remain as relaxed as possible, and you don't need to throw as hard as you can."
Octavia simply nodded, all of her focus so taken up by throwing the dagger that she couldn't seem to utter a verbal response. When Octavia finally released the weapon, Lexa watched as it flew through the air. The younger girl's aim was good, as the dagger hit the target, but it didn't stick, bouncing off because the throw had not hit head on. Octavia's face fell when she saw the knife clatter to the ground instead of embedding itself in the tree trunk. "What happened?"
"You stopped your arm motion too soon," Lexa said, having easily noticed the problem the moment that Octavia had thrown the dagger. "You need to make sure you follow through on your throw. Watch."
Lexa grabbed the dagger off of the ground and moved back to where Octavia was standing, easily getting into her own stance. She focused all of her attention on the target, and then she threw her dagger, which sailed into the center of the target. Octavia nodded at Lexa, looking determined to copy the throw that she had just seen. Lexa could also clearly see a hint of jealousy in hazel eyes, but she didn't comment on it. She simply grabbed the dagger from the trunk of the tree in front of her and handed it back to Octavia. The girl tried her best to get into the stance that Lexa had put her in the first time, and the older girl had to admit that her new pupil was a quick learner. The warrior only had to fix a few minor details before nodding to Octavia to throw it again. This time, the dagger hit the outermost ring of the target, and it stuck. Octavia turned back to Lexa with an overjoyed expression, clearly happy to have hit the target at all. "I did it!"
"You did, indeed," Lexa said with a smile. It was such a relief for her to be able to smile so freely here, rather than having to keep all of her emotions bottled up inside and be the steel-faced Commander like she had to with her people. She thought that she had probably smiled more in her time with the Skaikru than she ever had in her life, and there was nothing better than actually being allowed to feel. "Keep on practicing, and you should be able to hit the center soon."
"The bullseye," Octavia corrected.
Lexa tilted her head to the side in confusion, unsure what Octavia was talking about and hoping that the Sky Girl would elaborate.
"We call the center of the target the bullseye," Octavia explained.
"Why?" Lexa asked, not seeing any sense in that.
Octavia seemed to think about it for a moment before giving up with a shrug. "I actually have no idea. I guess that's just what people called them before the apocalypse. Maybe they were crazy."
Lexa couldn't help but laugh at this, and Octavia laughed along with her. This was what Lexa's days were like now, and she thought that she might never get enough.
After a few hours of dagger practice, Lexa was drawn out of teacher mode by Clarke approaching them from the direction of the camp. The brunette couldn't keep a huge smile off of her face as she accepted a kiss for the girl that she was growing closer to each and every day. Octavia pretended to gag, reminding both of the girls that she was still there. "You two are so cute that it's bordering on disgusting."
Clarke stuck her tongue out at the other girl once she pulled away, and Lexa laughed at the blonde's childish behavior. "How is your patient?"
"Much better. I'll have to give him more medication later, but he should be back to normal in a day or two." Clarke let out a sigh. "Then, I got asked to join a border patrol. With Finn. I got to listen to him whine about how he thinks we're not good together because you're a lying traitor. I'm getting tired of him, to be honest."
Lexa suddenly felt extremely guilty, and the hands that were still on her waist seemed to burn. She wasn't trying to betray Clarke's trust by not telling the blonde that she was the Commander, but she was certainly lying to her. She wanted to tell the other girl everything, but she couldn't. She knew that Clarke would most likely be disappointed in her for leaving her people, but, more importantly, she would probably send her back to them the minute that she found out that Lexa was the Commander. Clarke was so devoted to her own people that she would never understand why Lexa was choosing to leave her own. Things were different here though, better, and Lexa didn't think that she would ever be able to get Clarke to understand that. She didn't want to go back to a life where hardly anyone cared about her when she could stay here with these people who already seemed to like her so much. She didn't want to go back to Titus' teachings that everything she did was weakness either. She was tired of the harsh ways of her own people. Besides, it wasn't like she was actually harming Clarke in any way by keeping the information a secret.
Lexa wrapped her arms around the girl beside her and pulled her into a hug, wanting to feel that this other girl was real. Clarke was a little surprised at first, but she quickly sunk into the gesture, probably thinking that Lexa meant to comfort her after having to deal with Finn. However, Lexa was really trying to comfort herself by reminding herself that she wasn't alone. This wasn't weakness. Allowing herself to be…whatever she and Clarke were was the furthest thing from weakness that Lexa had ever felt. She was not about to ruin whatever they had between them by leaving now.
"Have you already gone out on patrol today, Lexa?" Clarke asked once she had pulled away.
The brunette shook her head, and Octavia spoke up excitedly from behind her. "She's been teaching me to throw a dagger. Watch this, Clarke."
Octavia then got into a perfect stance before demonstrating her throw, the dagger landing really close to the bullseye. Lexa couldn't stop her smile of pride at how far she had gotten with Octavia today, and Clarke whistled in appreciation, clapping her hands together. "Nice throw. Maybe you can teach me sometime."
Lexa nodded easily, and Clarke smiled widely before pinching the brunette's sides in the way that always made her jump. Lexa would hate it if anyone else ever did that to her, but she couldn't say that she minded it as long as it was Clarke. She kissed the blonde's cheek, and Clarke was just about to turn her head to meet Lexa's lips when Octavia thrust the dagger in between them, handle first, to separate them. "Before you guys start some kind of lovefest, I'm going to go back to camp to get something to eat."
"Good idea." Lexa accepted the dagger and strapped it back to her thigh. "Jasper and Monty got a buck earlier today. You should go and see if there's anything left."
Octavia's eyes lit up at the mention of the food, clearly hungry after training for so long, and she hurried off to get some for herself. The moment she was gone, Clarke turned to Lexa with a wide smirk. "I'll race ya to the clearing."
"What clearing?" Lexa asked, although she was pretty sure she already knew which clearing the blonde was referring to.
Clarke playfully rolled her eyes. "You know exactly what clearing I'm talking about."
"But it's not night yet," Lexa said in confusion. "The flowers will not be lit up."
The blonde just shrugged with another eye roll. "So? It's still our clearing. You gonna race me or not?"
"I will," Lexa answered with a smirk. "I hope you are prepared to lose."
"We'll see about that." Lexa did not miss the challenge in blue eyes.
Clarke counted to three, and they both took off running. Lexa was so happy that she could finally run again, the sights of the forest flying by around her beyond comforting. Clarke started out ahead of her, which left her a little bit discouraged, but she knew that it was only because she was out of practice. Running normally came so easy to her, but she was already feeling out of breath now after only a few seconds. She knew that it was only because she had been off of her feet for so long, but it was still slightly frustrating to realize that she had allowed herself to get so out of shape in the time that she had spent recovering. She knew that she didn't need to be so in shape if she was going to remain here, but she couldn't help but want to be prepared.
Clarke stayed ahead of Lexa for quite some time, but Lexa didn't push herself past her limits, knowing that that would make her crash and burn too easily. It seemed that Clarke hadn't had this same thought, though. She had clearly pushed herself too hard at the beginning of the race because Lexa overtook her before they actually reached the clearing. Clarke tried to speed up and reclaim her position, but she only ended up tiring herself more, and Lexa easily reached the clearing first, although Clarke wasn't far behind. The brunette pumped her fist in victory, like she had seen Monty do on occasion.
"I beat you," she declared, even though it was pointless to say.
"And what do I owe you, my queen?" Clarke asked with a playful twinkle in her eyes.
"A kiss," Lexa decided before clarifying, "a good, long kiss. Only I get to decide when it's over."
Clarke suddenly looked slightly nervous, which puzzled Lexa. It wasn't like they hadn't kissed on multiple occasions before. "Just a kiss, right?"
Lexa only nodded. "I would never do anything that you aren't comfortable with Clarke. Besides, I was only teasing. You're allowed to stop me at any time."
Clarke nodded and then crashed her lips to Lexa's in lieu of a verbal response. Lexa wanted a heated kiss for her victory, so she opened her mouth, and Clarke was quick to follow suit, allowing their tongues to dance together. Lexa gripped tightly to the blonde girl's waist, and she turned her head to deepen the kiss, wanting to feel nothing else but this for the rest of her days. They kissed for several long moments. Clarke didn't stop, and Lexa didn't stop either, even when the blonde's grip in her hair became slightly painful.
Lexa began to push Clarke backwards in order to press her into the tree that was a few feet behind her, but she tripped over a tree root as they went. Lexa's mind was slowed considerably in her daze from the kiss, so she didn't react fast enough to catch Sky Girl. Instead, she was pulled down right on top of the blonde. Clarke grunted, and Lexa tried to roll off of her right away, but Clarke kept the brunette's head in place, letting her know that she was fine and wanted to continue the kiss. Lexa easily obliged, having no desire to break the kiss either. She was only further spurned on by the new feeling of Clarke pinned beneath her, and she growled as the kiss turned quicker and sloppier. It was only when Clarke's hands ran underneath Lexa's shirt and clawed slightly at her back that the brunette finally pulled away. "Maybe we shouldn't go any farther out here, or we might end up doing that thing that you didn't seem ready for earlier."
Clarke was still panting from the kiss, lips noticeably swollen. "You're probably right, but I'll have you know that I loved that."
"I'm not too heavy, am I?" Lexa asked with a worried expression.
Clarke shook her head. "You're fine, Lexa. When I first met you, and you had all those muscles, you might have been too heavy, but you can't weight much more than me now. No offense."
"None taken." Lexa smiled at the girl below her. A perk of her muscle loss. Who would have thought?
She had the urge to kiss the girl beneath her again, but she restrained herself, forcing herself to roll off of the blonde, even though she wanted nothing more than to lie there and stare into those beautiful blue eyes for all of eternity. Once she was on her feet again, she extended a hand down to help Clarke to hers as well.
"Race ya back?" Clarke asked the minute that she was up, clearly eager for a chance to redeem herself.
Lexa grimaced slightly, already feeling pretty spent from their run here. She didn't want to disappoint Clarke, but she knew the blonde well enough by now to know that she would understand. "Maybe we shouldn't run anymore today. I've just gotten used to walking again, and running is a bit much for me right now."
"Whatever you need, Lex," Clarke said without hesitation, a small smile on her face.
As the two of them set off in the direction of camp, Clarke took Lexa's hand in hers, and a feeling of warmth spread through the brunette's chest. She had never felt this loved before, not even with Costia, and she wondered if she might be starting to fall for Clarke. She quickly brushed the thought aside, though, knowing that she would have plenty of time to figure it out.
"You just didn't want to race with me because you knew I would win this time, didn't you?" Clarke asked, her eyes narrowed playfully.
Lexa couldn't help but laugh as she nudged Clarke's shoulder with her own. "You wish."
The sun was beginning to sink in the sky when Clarke and Lexa returned to camp, and the blonde excused herself to go check on her patient again. Lexa gave her a chaste kiss before they parted. She thought for a moment about going back to their tent or seeing if there were any more patrols going out this evening that she could tag along on, but then she caught sight of Raven walking around with some machine, holding it up in different positions towards the sky and muttering to herself. The corners of Lexa's lips pulled down in a confused frown, and she wondered what it was that the mechanic could possibly be doing.
"What is that?" Lexa asked when she got within hearing range.
"It's a radio," Raven answered without even turning to see who had spoken, her brows furrowed in concentration. "I'm trying to use it to communicate with the people that are still on the Ark, if there's even anyone left. I thought that being in the dropship was interfering with the radio's signal, but that's not it at all. I made the radio wireless, and I'm still not picking up any signal from the Ark."
Lexa only understood about half of what Raven had said, and her confusion must have been prominent on her face because the mechanic elaborated a moment later. "Right before you came to join us, another dropship came down from our spaceship, but it blew up. We used to be able to communicate with our people using this radio, but we haven't been able to since that ship released. Everyone else has pretty much given up by now, but I'm still trying to see if I can get my radio to connect with them or not."
"So, you cannot be sure if your people are alive or not unless you can speak to them through that?" Lexa pointed at the radio in Raven's hands.
"Yes." Raven nodded in the affirmative.
"Oh." Lexa thought for a moment. "Can I do anything to help?"
"I don't think that anything we do is going to help." Raven sighed in defeat, finally turning her gaze to meet Lexa's. "It's not the radio; it's the Ark. Something must have happened when they sent that dropship down that caused them to lose connection with us."
Lexa opened her mouth to reply, but she immediately forgot what she had been about to say when she saw Murphy snatch the radio out of Raven's hands, his cronies behind him egging him on.
"Radio's still not working?" he sneered, looking it over. "Looks like a piece of junk to me."
"Stop fooling around, Murphy." Raven rolled her eyes. "You know as well as I do that we need that radio to communicate with our people."
"Oh, really? And how has that been working out for you?" Murphy taunted. "Because last I heard, we lost communication with them weeks ago. I might as well just throw it in the river, like Bellamy did with the first one."
"Seriously, stop," Raven said, her voice cool. "It took me a long time to make that, and we don't need to waste the time and parts on making a new one."
"You're right. We don't even need one at all."
Lexa looked around the camp, confused as to why no one was stepping in to help Raven. Shouldn't Murphy be punished for this sort of thing? Lexa knew that he was an asshole, but was everyone here so cowardly that he could just get away with whatever he pleased? Her former people would most definitely be punished for stealing from one another, and an example would be made of the thief. Lexa took a threatening step forward when Murphy made no indication that he intended to back down and leave Raven alone.
"Give her back the radio," Lexa growled. "It doesn't belong to you."
"So, now you've got the Grounder bitch defending you, Raven? Ooh, I'm so scared," Murphy said in mock-fright. "Say, Grounder, what are you going to do about it if I don't?"
"I will give you the punishment that you deserve," she said easily, not breaking eye contact with him. "Your people might be too scared to punish you, but I am not."
Something flickered in his eyes for a moment, but a moment was all that Lexa needed to know that she scared this cowardly boy. He was the weak one, just as Clarke had said, but he still refused to back down. "How do your people punish their thieves?"
"We take them to the city square and beat them while the people watch. That way, everyone sees what happens to those who think that it is alright to steal," Lexa snarled.
The boy was getting on her nerves, and she found herself itching to give him the punishment that he deserved. He had had it out for her since day one, trying to rally his people against her, even once she had become one of their own. He was cruel to her and his own people, and she was tired of watching him get away with it. She wasn't surprised when she realized that she was secretly hoping that he didn't give the radio back so that she might be the one to deliver his punishment.
"Okay then, bitch," he goaded. "I'm a thief, so punish me."
"It's okay, Lexa." Raven put her hand on the other girl's arm. "I can make a new radio if I have to. Don't waste your energy on him. He's not worth it."
Lexa began to nod in agreement, knowing that she could probably steal the radio back from the stupid boy at a later date. That was, until he threw the radio upon the ground and smashed it with his foot. Raven cried out in dismay, and Lexa was upon Murphy in an instant, pounding his face in. She got two punches in before he even thought to take a swing at her, and even then, he missed, his fist connecting with thin air as Lexa easily ducked out of the way. She quickly hooked his feet out from under him before climbing on top of him and hitting him several more times. She wished that she had had the self-control to bring him to the center of the camp so that the other members of the Skaikru might take delight in seeing this boy finally get what was coming to him, but all rational thought had flown out of her head the minute that he had smashed the radio that seemed to be so important to Raven. She took immense joy in his every scream.
She finally heard Raven yelling after several seconds when she felt the other girl's hand on her arm, and she wondered how long the mechanic had been trying to get her attention for. "Lexa, leave him alone! You're going to kill him."
She shook her head to clear it as she looked back down at the boy on the ground, realizing that he was near passing out, but she only shot him a satisfied smirk before springing back to her feet. "That's how 'Grounders' deal with their thieves."
"Like complete savages," Murphy managed to get out, but Lexa wasn't fazed. She had heard the boy refer to her by that term countless times before.
"This is how we deal with Grounders who are out of control," a voice behind her said.
Lexa spun around to face one of Murphy's cronies, she thought his name was Dax, with a smug expression, but it was quickly wiped from her face when her eyes landed on the object that he was holding in his hand. It was one of the vials of liquid that Clarke had injected her with in order to force her to fall asleep. A sedative, she remembered it was called. If Dax was able to stick her with it, then she would be left defenseless, and him and his friends would be able to beat her senseless for what she had done to Murphy. She cursed herself for forgetting about the Skaikru's superior technology, and she turned quickly to Raven, trying her best to hide her panic.
"Lexa, run!" the other brunette shouted.
Lexa took off at a sprint in the other direction, heading for the gates that would take her out of the camp. A voice in the back of her head told her that she should've just run to Clarke, that Clarke would protect her, but it was too late for her to change direction now. She kept running for the gates, knowing that she could run to the clearing with the glowing flowers and wait for Clarke there. She knew that that was the first place that the blonde would check when she heard that Lexa was missing. If only she could make it out of the gate.
She tore through the campgrounds, cursing herself for being so out of shape. She knew that she would've easily been able to outrun any member of the Sky People before the explosion on the bridge, but now she wasn't so sure. She started to gain hope when she saw the gates in sight, and she pushed herself harder, hoping that the guard would open them for her. A small smile graced her lips when he began to pull the door open at the sight of her, and she wanted to cry when she felt strong arms wrap around her waist right before she could make it through. She tried her best to wriggle free from the iron-strong grip, but Dax was taking no chances, sticking her with the needle before she could even get a chance to use her superior fighting skills to get away. She screamed in agony now that she knew what was soon to follow, hoping that someone would find the courage to come and help her.
No one did.
She was already starting to go unconscious; she couldn't move any of her limbs anymore, and the last thing that she heard before the world turned black let her know how serious this situation actually was. "Let's take her to Bellamy. He'll know what to do with her."
Only then did she realize what she had done. She had hurt someone. That was the one thing that Bellamy had said she couldn't do. He had warned Clarke that it was punishable by death, and now Lexa was going to be delivered right to him, completely defenseless, and there was nothing that she could do to stop it.
As she finally allowed her eyes to fall closed, she wondered if she would ever open them again.
When Clarke finally emerged from the dropship, after checking on Ronnie and talking to him for a little while, the first thing that she noticed was Bellamy and some others bringing someone over on a stretcher. In her desire to relax after the day's events, Clarke gave the matter little importance, figuring that someone else must have caught Ronnie's cold. She was already halfway to her tent when she realized that a cold would not call for the use of a stretcher. Only then did she realize that something was seriously wrong, and she hurried off in the direction of the procession towards the dropship, reaching them just before they could enter. Her eyes almost popped out of her head when she realized that the person on the stretcher was Lexa. She was instantly worried sick, even though she could see no visible injuries.
"What the hell happened?" she asked. "What's wrong with Lexa? Is she okay?"
"For now," Bellamy answered gruffly, "but she won't be for much longer."
"Why not?" Clarke demanded. "What is going on?"
"Lexa attacked Murphy today," Bellamy stated, his tone disapproving. "The deal was that she would die if she hurt anyone, and now she has. She'll be sentenced to death tomorrow."
Just like that, Clarke's world shattered around her. She couldn't even begin to process that Lexa, the girl who had become her entire world in the past few weeks, was about to be killed for attacking the biggest asshole in the entire camp. Knowing Murphy, Clarke was almost one hundred percent certain that he had been asking for it.
"Did you ask him what he did to provoke her?" Clarke challenged immediately. "She wouldn't just attack him out of the blue."
"Of course she would. She's a Grounder."
Clarke was about to protest more, knowing that she would do anything to save the girl that she was falling harder for each and every day, but Raven hurried over before she could even open her mouth, clearly having heard their argument. "He did provoke her. I was trying to reestablish contact with the Ark by making the radio wireless and getting it out of the dropship. He stole it from me, and he kept goading Lexa to punish him for it. You and I both know that he isn't Lexa's number one fan. He did it on purpose because he knew what would happen if she attacked him."
The hard look on Bellamy's face didn't change. "A deal is a deal."
"Listen, Bellamy, she didn't understand," Raven continued, her voice taking on a pleading tone, and Clarke hadn't fully realized until now how much Lexa had come to mean to her friends. "She said that's how thieves are punished where she came from, and she probably thought that things were no different here. She thought she was doing us a favor. She couldn't have possibly known that that's not the way that we deal with things because nothing like this has ever happened in front of her before."
"Which is exactly why she should stop pretending to be one of us," Bellamy growled, clearly starting to lose his patience.
Clarke was about ready to burst from Bellamy's stupidity. "Enough! When your sister was about to get attacked by a panther not even two weeks ago, who saved her?" Everyone was silent, so Clarke rolled her eyes and answered for them. "It was Lexa. Without her, your precious little sister would be dead, and I say that you owe her one for that."
Something in Bellamy seemed to shift in that moment, the hard glint dropping away from his eyes, and Clarke couldn't help a sigh of relief from escaping her lips before he responded. "Fine. She clearly shouldn't have to die, but I can't let her go without punishment." Bellamy must have sensed that Clarke was about to argue because he opened his mouth to elaborate before she could open hers. "Anyone else would be punished in this situation as well. I can't have everyone in the camp thinking that they can beat people up with no consequences." He turned to the people beside him before Clarke even had a chance to think it over. "Tie her up in the dropship. We'll keep her in there for five days, and maybe then she will learn her lesson, but make sure that whoever stands guard by her knows that no one is to harm her."
Clarke wished that there was something more that she could do to stop this from happening, but the rest of the people around her seemed to agree with Bellamy. She supposed that it might be fair to keep Lexa in there for a day, but five seemed extremely excessive. She wanted to argue more, but she decided to just let it go for the night, knowing that Lexa was probably lucky to be escaping Bellamy's originally proposed death sentence. Clarke was about to hurry inside the dropship after the people that were taking Lexa inside when she felt a hand on her arm pulling her to a stop.
"You're not going inside." It was Bellamy.
"Why not?" Clarke challenged immediately. She had already had enough of the boy for one day, and she had barely spoken to him for five minutes.
"Because it's getting late," he said in a calm voice. "You need to get back to your tent and get some rest."
"I'm sleeping in there with her," Clarke said, rolling her eyes for good measure. She would have thought that would have been obvious by now.
"Clarke, I've already agreed to let her live, and I've even assured you that she won't be hurt, but she needs to be punished. You can bring her meals to her each day, but you're not spending your nights with her as well."
The challenge dropped out of blue eyes instantly as sorrow washed over her, and she couldn't help it as tears started to prick at the corners of her eyes. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't blink them away, and this suddenly seemed like the worst possible thing that could happen to her. Her voice broke as she spoke. "I can't sleep without her."
"I'm sorry, but I think I've done enough for you today," Bellamy said, his tone holding no real remorse.
Bellamy was clearly going to remain unwavering tonight, and Clarke's shoulders slumped when she realized that there was nothing else she could do. She was going to have to spend her first night sleeping without Lexa in a month, and she knew that it was going to kill her. More importantly, she knew that Lexa was going to be so disoriented when she woke up alone in the dropship with her hands bound above her head. Clarke knew that it would have been much easier for the warrior if she were there with her, and she felt terrible that she couldn't be. However, she didn't want to push Bellamy any more today than she already had. She didn't want him to change his mind about allowing Lexa to live.
Clarke hadn't even noticed the tear that was rolling down her cheek until Raven was wiping it away, her other hand going to rub up and down Clarke's arm in what was meant to be a comforting manner. "It'll be okay. She's only gonna be in there for five days."
"That's a long time, Raven," Clarke sniffled. "She's gonna be so confused when she wakes up."
"She'll be fine." Raven hesitated before continuing to speak. "Look, I know that this probably isn't what you want to hear, but maybe this is what's best for her. I saw her when she was wailing on Murphy, and the look in her eyes was…wild. I've never seen her look that way before. I think she would've killed him if I hadn't stopped her."
Clarke's eyes instantly hardened, a little put off by her friend's words. "Please, don't you start, too. I thought that Lexa was your friend."
"She is," Raven was quick to reassure the blonde, "but you have to admit that she's different than us. She grew up in a completely different culture."
Clarke shook her head in anger, tears clouding her vision again. "She's not different with me."
The blonde didn't even give Raven a chance to respond before she spun on her heel and stomped off in the direction of her tent. What she needed was a chance to just curl up in her bed and let all of the emotions of the past few minutes out. Maybe, she could even take comfort in Lexa's scent that she was sure still clung to the pillow. She had to stop herself from groaning aloud when Finn stepped into her way to stop her before she could get there.
"I'm sorry about what happened with Lexa," he said, not sounding sorry at all. He even had a pleased smile on his face. "It must be hard to find out that she's just a crazy savage like I've been trying to tell you all along, but I want you to know that I'm here for you."
Clarke just scoffed at him. "She's not a savage. I know that you're just jealous of her because you're in love with me, but I could never love someone as selfish as you. I love Lexa, and there's nothing that anyone can do to change that. Now, get out of my way."
His eyes widened when he heard the wards that came out of her mouth, as did her own, and she wondered if it was possible that she meant them. Was she actually in love with Lexa, or had she just blurted the words out in the heat of the moment to keep Finn off her tail? Either way, the words did the trick. A scowl settled over Finn's face as he slinked away, and Clarke sighed in relief as she walked the rest of the way to her tent. She didn't think about the words that she had said anymore that night, brushing them aside as she sank down into her bed, too tired to contemplate whether or not they were true.
Despite her utter exhaustion, though, Clarke could not seem to ever fully fall asleep that night. She tossed and turned until the sun came up, never quite able to get comfortable without Lexa lying beside her.
