Alright, I got a part time job during studying, so as I now have the night shift at a museum on Thursday and Friday nights Australian time I will no longer be able to post those nights. Sorry about that but I hope this chapter of over three thousand words helps you to forgive me.
-X-X-X-X-
"Alright, up next is Jasper." Marcus's voice carried over the crowd of Sky People and Grounders sitting in rows of chairs facing the makeshift stage.
Numerous Grounder's stood to their feet, hands on the hilts of their swords awaiting the order to attack the man who had given their Commander false information.
Jasper froze mid stage, box in hand.
"Lexa," Clarke said sternly.
"What?" Lexa asked, almost innocently.
Clarke gave her a pointed look. "You can't just kill people because their pick up line failed and it didn't even really fail."
"Yes I can."
"No you can't."
"Yes I can," but it was defended weaker then before.
"No, Lexa you can't."
Lexa sighed but waved her hand at the Grounder's to lower their weapons. She was almost positive she could hear Octavia behind her make the sound of a cracking whip, she would ask the girl about such notion later, right now she shot a glare at Luna and Lincoln who were laughing quietly with one another.
Lincoln stopped at the glare his Commander gave him.
Luna laughed louder and harder.
Jasper released the breath he was holding as he watched the Grounder's take a seat. Clearing his throat, he stepped up to the cloth covered table and placed the box on it. "Hey, so I'm here to show you magic."
A round of questions floated through the Grounder audience each question pointed to different Sky Person within their vicinity.
Lexa turned to Clarke. "What is magic?"
"It's a trick," Clarke answered. "It's like having an ability to do strange things without it actually being real."
Lexa didn't understand still but in attempt to not seem so clueless when it came to the Sky People, she nodded at the blonde. A few moments passed as the talking grew louder, a few more moments passed and Lexa yelled, "Pleni!"
The crowd went silent Grounder's and Sky People a like and Jasper threw the Commander a look of gratitude.
"I didn't do it for you," Lexa grumbled under her breath, she wasn't doing it to help the boy, she had just wanted to stop the headache forming, honestly.
Clarke heard the mumbled words and placed her hand on top of the Commander's which was laying on the arm rest of her seat between the two of them. She gave a small squeeze and when she had Lexa's attention she offered the girl a thankful smile of her own.
Lexa smiled back and once again heard Octavia make the sound of a cracking whip behind her as well as the sound of Lincoln and Luna now joined by Raven laughing amongst themselves again.
"Alright, well. For the first act of tonight I'll need a volunteer." Jasper waited for a hand to rise. In the front row he caught sight of one of the off duty security guards raising his hand. "You, come up here." He told the man. He waited for him to pull himself up and onto the stage before he handed the man a deck of cards, "Shuffle these and then pull any one of the cards out, show it to the audience and then put it back in the deck."
The man began shuffling and a few moments later he pulled a card free from the bottom of the deck and held it out to the audience. He glanced once more at it, memorizing it before placing it back into a random spot of the deck. He handed the cards back to Jasper who shuffled the deck once more, placed it on the table and blew, the cards were removed one by one, falling of the stage all face down until one fell off face up.
Jasper stood and pointed down at the card on the ground in front of the stage, "Is that your card?"
The guard nodded and the crowd applauded including the Grounders.
Jasper waved the guard back to his seat before returning to his box. He retrieved a tall round hat and removed the box from the table. Clearing his throat again he lifted the hat and tipped it upside down before showing the interior of the hat to the audience. "As you can see there is nothing inside but wait and see."
Lexa watched Jasper as he spun the hat upside down and placed it on the table before retrieving what looked to be a stick colored white and black from the box. She watched as he waved it around the hat a few times, whispered some strange words in a language Lexa didn't know and reached into the hat.
A rabbit came out and the crowd gasped.
"Impossible," Indra muttered.
"Witchcraft!" Luna called, "Behead him."
The Grounder's crowd stood to their feet, hands on the hilts of their swords.
"Wait!" Clarke called jumping to her own feet.
Jasper dropped the rabbit which scattered for the nearest exit.
Clarke looked around her at all the Grounder's she could see. "It's not real." She turned back to Jasper and motioned towards him, "Show them."
Jasper nodded and quickly pulled the cloth cover off the table to reveal a tiny box underneath the table. "S-see, not real."
Luna grunted her displeasure but waved her hand for the Grounder's to all take their seats again.
Clarke took hers again beside Lexa, looked over at the Commander and sarcastically said. "Thanks for the help."
"I believe you had it well under control, Clarke."
Jasper swallowed nervously but continued, the show must go on after all, apparently even under the threat of imminent demise.
Jasper ran his eyes over the crowd before speaking, "For this next trick I require a volunteer."
Another Sky Person raised their hand but Clarke spoke up against it, "Let's give a Grounder a go."
The Sky Person who had raised their hand nodded eagerly at the idea.
"What is the trick?" Luna inquired.
"I will saw someone in half," Jasper answered garnering a look of displeasure from the woman and a rather loud response of displeasure from the rest of the Grounder's. Jasper held his hands up in surrender whilst he watched the Commander pick her nails in disinterest of the happenings, he really should have kept his mouth shut after giving Lexa the pick up line. "It's not real. No blood and no de-"
"Indra will do it," Lexa spoke as she picked her nails clean.
The crowd went quiet.
Indra frowned, "Comman-"
"You will do it, Indra." Lexa told her, "Or would you rather spend time with the children again like you have for the past few days? I hear the babies were enjoyable for you."
Indra grumbled under her breath.
Luna chuckled.
Indra shot her a glare.
Lexa raised a questioning eyebrow at the woman. "What was that?"
"Sha heda." Indra replied, stood to her feet and started towards the stage.
Jasper welcomed her with a nervous distance and very few words. He made his way off stage and returned with a box of sorts. He opened it and told Indra to lay down inside of it, the intimidating glare the woman shot his way almost made him reconsider the act all together...but the show must go on.
Lexa watched as Indra laid back inside the box and Jasper closed the top half over the woman. She watched him spin it a few times before he retrieved a saw from the box on the ground beside the table, he returned beside Indra and lifted the saw into the air.
Jasper called, "Are you ready?"
The Grounder crowd nodded hesitantly while the Sky People cheered eagerly.
Jasper lowered the saw and begun cutting, he pulled back and forth on the saw for what felt like ages. After a while he felt the box give way, placing the saw on the table he pulled the two a part and showed the audience, Indra's head and legs at either end.
The crowd gasped in surprise.
Lexa sat up straighter, she eyed the box wearily and listened to the astonishment coming from her people. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Awesome isn't it?" Clarke asked, smiling at the look on the Commander's face.
Lexa nodded.
Jasper smiled, bowed slightly and quickly made to reattach the General to both halves of herself in case the Commander changed her mind and decided she still wanted to keep her General.
Indra shot out of the box quickly, she patted down her body and over legs before letting out a sigh of relief. She turned a glare on the boy before quickly made her way off stage and back over to the seat beside her Commander.
Jasper held his hands up and spoke. "Alright, my last act of the night requires one more volunteer."
Clarke smirked, "Lexa will do it." The crowd went absolutely silent upon the suggestion. No one moved. No one spoke and Clarke was pretty sure she just heard the rabbit being fried on the electric fence on the other side of camp.
Lexa turned to look at the blonde. "Wh-"
"You'll do it right?" Clarke asked, "For me. Please."
Lexa tried. Honestly she did but she could never say no to Clarke. Ever.
Sighing Lexa stood.
Octavia made the sound of a cracking whip.
Lincoln, Luna and Raven chuckled.
Lexa rolled her shoulders and made her way up to the stage over the hushed whispers of Grounder's who waited for their Commander to refuse to do it. Lexa kept walking, she never could say no to Clarke.
Jasper backed up nervously, he almost considered bolting for the nearest exit much like the rabbit had but once again he convinced his legs to stay where the were, reminding them that the show must go on. Jasper left the stage and quickly returned with a tall rectangular box, he pulled it open and twisted it around to show the audience all sides of the box.
"For this last trick, I will make the Commander disappear."
Lexa scoffed but a look from Clarke silenced her immediately. She remembered the blonde's words from before, when she had tried to convince her to convince the other Grounder's and to go herself and see this show that the Sky People were putting on for anyone wanting to show off any skills of theirs, "try and have fun" Clarke had asked of her, Lexa had promised Clarke that she would attempt to. Thus far the only fun thing she had seen was when one of the Sky People had been propped up on a spinning spiral by a Grounder and had axes thrown at him as a show of skill, the mans utter look of fear was enough to have Lexa laughing out loud...that and Indra being sawn in half.
"Step inside," Jasper told Lexa.
Lexa glared but obeyed for Clarke's benefit.
"Just relax," Jasper told her before enclosing her within the dark box.
Clarke watched, nibbling away at her bottom lip as Jasper spun the box three times in one direction, five in another and seven more in the other direction again before he stopped the box, said his abrakadabra and pulled open the door to the box open.
"Kill him!" Indra called.
"Wait!" Clarke yelled again with slight exasperation, perhaps it wasn't the best idea to have Lexa go in the box. "It's not real remember," she turned to Jasper, "Bring her back Jasper."
Indra didn't sit down much like the rest of the Grounder's but she did obey Clarke's orders on waiting.
Jasper nodded and quickly closed the door to the box and began spinning it again in numerous directions. Stopping the box, he once again said his words of magic and pulled the door open.
The Sky People gasped.
Clarke cringed, this wasn't good.
"He has made the Commander vanish. Kill him!" Luna ordered this time and the Grounder's marched on Jasper.
Jasper backed up as the Grounder's mounted the stage and the Sky People came to his defense.
Clarke stood up and made her way over to her friend. She pushed through the amassed crowd of Grounder's and Sky People, mounted the stage and jumped in between Jasper and Luna. "Wait a moment," Clarke told the woman with a hand extended towards her. "Lexa's not really gone."
"Nou!" Luna yelled to her people. If any of them so much as laid a hand or finger on Clarke, Lexa would kill them. Luna glanced at the empty box which had contained her Commander. Lexa would reappear and then kill them, Luna corrected herself. "We do not wish to harm this Sky Person but I assure you we will if we do not have our Commander back."
Indra stepped up beside Luna and nodded her agreement, "So where is our Commander?"
Clarke glanced over her shoulder at her friend.
Jasper shrugged.
The Grounder's made move to approach.
Clarke pushed back against Luna and Indra.
"Nou!" Luna and Indra called unanimously.
The Grounder's stopped in their tracks immediately but none sheathed their sword.
"She's supposed to be inside the box," Jasper motioned towards it. "She was supposed to go down in this makeshift elevator type thing that Raven created and then come back up when Raven pressed the button again.
"Wait, where is Raven?" Octavia asked.
Clarke and the others scanned the crowd for the mechanic but came up empty. Clarke turned back to Jasper and questioned with slight worry in her voice, "Are you sure that was the plan?"
Jasper nodded furiously.
"hon op heda," Octavia ordered.
Indra squinted her eyes at Jasper but nodded her assent to the rest of the Grounder's who went in search of the Commander. "If we do not find her nor the one called Raven, we will be back."
"Back," Luna said as Indra turned away to join the search for the Commander. Luna backed away herself, "We will be back."
Clarke watched as the East Sea Leader left them and the Sky People standing on the stage.
-X-X-X-X-
Clarke was starting to worry. She had a horde of Grounder's outside which could rival any zombie film ever made and all were searching for the Commander of the Grounder's who had literally disappeared. Not even Raven had been found.
Clarke knew one of two things. One, Raven had managed to convince Lexa to run away with her and hide or two, Lexa was really missing. Clarke prayed it was the prior and not the latter. Least she'd only have to murder Raven and not have to panic over Lexa, kill Jasper and stop a horde of rampaging Grounder's from annihilating her people.
Clarke searched Raven's workplace, turning things upside down and inside out. With no luck and a distraught Wick who she had threatened for the whereabouts of his somewhat girlfriend, she had left and began her path to the sleeping quarters. Worry over Lexa's disappearance and regret at having been the cause of it, for making the girl go in the stupid box in the first place. She'd kill Jasper first before the Grounder's did if she didn't find Lexa shortly.
Abby had at first remained on the outskirts of the camp wide search party but had eventually taken part in it at the sight of worry beginning to creep up on her daughter's face and in her eyes, it had nothing to do with her own worry for Lexa, none at all.
She had searched high and low for the Commander but had come up empty.
Abby was on her way to the med bay when she pulled to a stop as she heard a tiny laugh coming from under the stage. She strained to listen closely over the ruckus of hundreds of people searching for the Commander and Raven.
The sound of laughter erupted again and this time Abby zoned in on the location. She glared at the covered underside of the stage. The only obvious place to look which none had, she hadn't even thought to look there herself. Righting her clothes she marched determinedly towards the underside of the stage. She was going to let them have it if she were right about their location.
Reaching the underside, she pulled up the cloth blocking her view from seeing the inside. The moment the light reached inside the under croft of the stage, two faces panicked and shone with fear.
"H-hey Abby, f-found us." Raven said with an uneasy smile.
"Why is Abby mad?" Lexa asked Raven, "You informed me that this is what Sky People do to make others laugh."
Raven cringed, "Yeah, I may have lied about that, in part."
Abby thumbed over her shoulder, motioning for them to climb out.
Raven obeyed immediately, not wanting to infuriate the woman anymore then she already had apparently.
Lexa remained behind as she hesitantly asked, "Am I in trouble?" She hadn't felt so much like a kid in trouble with their mother than she did now since before she was picked to be Commander at the age of eight.
Abby thumbed once more over her shoulder, "Out."
Lexa shook her head no.
"Don't make me come in there after you." Abby threatened.
Lexa climbed out quickly but hesitantly.
Abby dropped the cloth cover and noticed that none of the Grounder's nor Sky People had noticed the Commander's and Raven's reappearance.
Abby crossed her arms over her chest and started. "Explain?"
Raven shrugged her shoulder's, dug her toe into the dirt a few times before she tried for an explanation. "I just wanted to make Clarke feel even the tiniest bit of what she made Lexa feel." Raven nodded over at Lexa, "I know it's not exactly the same but I just wanted her to worry."
"Worry?" Abby questioned.
"I had no part in this." Lexa told the woman, "I thought we were making others laugh."
"Quiet," Abby instructed her before turning back to Raven. "My daughter is running around like a chicken with it's head cut off."
Lexa laughed along with Raven at the mental image that was conjured up at the woman's words.
Abby glared at the two shutting them both up.
"Lexa!"
Lexa spun to face Clarke as the camp went silent.
"Make it right," Abby whispered to the girl.
Lexa smiled as Clarke crossed the distance between them and enveloped the Commander in a hug. Lexa returned it, regardless of what her people would think of the action.
Clarke pulled back after a time and noticed Raven, suddenly remembering why she was panicking mere moments beforehand. She considered striking out against Lexa's shoulder but decided against that with the numerous Grounder's watching the scene. Instead she turned her glare on the two. "Where the hell were you both?"
Raven shifted uncomfortably but a pointed look from Abby made her speak up. "Under the stage."
"What?"
"Raven informed me that it was a game you and your people play for fun." Lexa told her. "Hide and go seek, I believe is what she said."
Raven glared slightly at the girl but shrugged eventually, knowing that Lexa was telling the truth.
"Seriously?" Clarke sighed, "Le-"
"Are you a magician?"
Clarke paused, gave Lexa a look of disbelief and asked. "Really? Right now Lexa?"
"Because whenever I look at you, everyone else disappears."
Clarke tried. She honestly did try to remain angry but she couldn't help but smile at the line, her girlfriend really was a little bit of a naive idiot sometimes but she honestly meant the best and she was sweet, so she couldn't be mad at her.
Lexa smiled back and quickly ushered Raven away with her.
Abby sighed. She loved her daughter without question but this was ridiculous. It was obvious that Lexa had just found a way to get out of trouble.
Octavia made the sound of cracking whip this time aimed at Clarke.
I just find the idea of Lexa being whipped believable but at the same time Clarke would be whipped as well I believe.
Raven and Lexa how much more trouble could the two get into.
Hope you enjoyed.
