I do not own The 100. All rights go to Kass Morgan and Jason Rothenburg.

Twisted Steel

Chapter Twelve: Manu forte

Clarkes eyes were wide, she didn't fully understand what Anya meant by 'second' but is sounded really important by how Anya talked about it. Before she said anything, she had to be sure.

"When you say 'second,' do you mean like, apprentice, a student maybe?" she asked.

"Yes. Like tris was. The girl you tried to save" Anya said with a nod. Clarke blew out a long breath. This was the last thing she had ever expected someone like Anya to offer.

"What does that mean? I'm not trying to be insulting, I'm just curious." She said. Anya nodded again and began explaining. "The role of a second is as a student, that is true, but it is also more than that. As my second, you would be an extension of myself and my honor, as well as the reverse. Like I said before, that doesn't mean much as I am presumed dead after failing to deal with your 'hundred' as you call them. I would understand if you said no, especially when I tell you that you could no longer be considered skaikru, as it would create conflict." She finished slowly. Clarke thought about it, taking a seat next to Anya and playing with her fingers. Coming to a decision, she looked at Anya, and smiled.

"I'll do it. I will be your second." She held out her hand, which Anya passed and grabbed onto her wrist.

"This is how warriors greet each other, you are a warrior and my second from now until I can no longer teach you. I hereby accept you into the woods clan, and accept your oath of loyalty." She said. she thought for a moment before looking at Clarkes right hand. "Normally, when a second swear loyalty to a new clan and Fos, they swear it in blood by cutting the palm. It is a symbolic gesture, a promise that they would give up blood for their new clan." Anya explained. Clarke nodded, already coming up with an idea.

"Well, I may not have a palm to offer, but I do have a shoulder, if that would be acceptable." She said. Anya nodded. "It would be unconventional, but due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, I believe it would be acceptable under woods clan law. Stand up. Take my hand." Clarke stood up and faced Anya.

"Do you, Clarke, forsake all bonds to Skaikru?" Anya started

"I do." Came Clarkes response immediately.

"Do you Clarke, swear to uphold the laws of the Trigedakru?"

"I swear."

"Do you swear to fight, live, breath, and die for the Trigedakru?"

"I swear."

"Do you bind yourself in blood to the Trigedakru, to the Commander of clans, to the kongeda?"

"I do."

"Then mark me as your new Fos and spill your blood as a symbol to the promises you have made." Clarkes hidden blade sprang out, and she slowly drew it across the older woman's shoulder. Anya didn't wince once. Looking her in the eyes, Anya nodded at Clarke to repeat the process on her right shoulder as well. Drawing the blade in a quick motion, Clarke winced as her black blooded beaded at the wound and bringing her shoulder to Anya' and binding themselves together as first and second, they separated after a few seconds. Anya put her hands on her new seconds shoulders, she nodded, proud that Clarke had done the her the honor of allowing one such as herself to train a woman whose mind rivalled any general.

Removing her hand from Clarkes shoulders, she absently picked up a white towel and wiped her hands clean of Clarkes blood. Only when they were clean, and Clarkes back was towards her as she went through the med bay looking for 'anti-biotics' did she finally notice the blood on the towel. It was black as night. Quickly whipping her head towards where Clarke moved to in the corner, she forced herself up with a groan, and grabbed a scalpel along the way.

Marching up behind Clarke and turning her around quickly but gently, she looked Clarke in the eye as she held the scalpel tight in her clenched fist. Clarkes eyes widened when she saw it, but Anya reacted first, putting her hands up in front of her face, she looked at Clarke carefully. Trying to convey that she meant no harm, Clarke eventually relaxed.

"Already regretting your decision?" the young blonde asked nervously.

"No, not regretting, just confirming something." She said as she took the scalpel again and looked at Clarke, then her shoulder. Her eyes widened when she saw that the wound had already closed. But she still needed confirmation of her suspicions. Clarke nodded her head, offering her trust to Anya further and cementing the warrior's belief that she made the right choice. Walking closer to the girl, she pressed the scalpel to her human shoulder, and watched as Black blood welled up and started dripping down towards the metal.

"nightblood." She whispered. Clarke heard her, obviously she would, and went wide eyed.

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you." She started. Anya opened her mouth to say something but Clarke cut her off, "Does this mean I cant be your second, or that you're going to kill me." Anya was affronted at the thought. She hurried to stop the blondes rambling.

"First off, do not interrupt me. Second, I'm not going to kill you. There is something that needs to be explained, and some questions I need answered. First off, how are you a nightblood? Were you born like this?" Anya questioned. Clarke looked at her and took a deep breath.

"I was born with red blood in my veins." She started. Looking away she spoke again, "when my…accident happened…my dad built my arms for me by looking through old projects from a woman named Rebecca. She had the blueprints and basic designs for my arms and my dad came up with the rest. It was discovered, that Rebecca couldn't get the arms to work without two things. The nightblood, and a small device that would fuse with my brain and help me control my arms better." She moved them up and down, giving a small chuckle as she did. "The nightblood heals the constant Damage the device in my head does. Why does any of this matter. It's not like It matters. My blood is black, so what." Clarke shrugged.

"I need you to listen carefully. I will continue to train you, but you and I will have to hide your nightblood from other people. Nobody must see it. Ever. Do you understand me?" She asked quickly. "Again, the world you know so little about has gotten in the way of important things. Nightblooded people are sacred in my-our, culture. They are sacred because they are the only people who can become commander and are taken to polis as soon as they are discovered. Polis is our capital city, where the commander and the natblidas stay. Trikru having another nightblood, especially one that has such strong ties to Skaikru and isn't even a natural nightblood threatens the very political structure in which our culture is based. So do you understand better why this must be kept a secret.?" Clarke nodded again. Her very existence as an 'unnatural' nightblood could destroy the grounders.

"Do not worry about these things, Clarke. We will figure something out, I swear this to you Clarke. Now we must gather your people. And explain this to them so that they might be able to protect you." Clarke nodded and walked towards the med-bay doors. Opening them, she was surprised to see only her father there.

"It's late kiddo, so I sent your mother to bed because it feels like we all got an ark landing on us. I just couldn't sleep knowing you were here. I needed to make sure you're okay." He said with a smile. walking into the med-bay, he saw the grounder that his daughter had so vehemently protected.

"My name is Jake Griffin. It's a pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand to Anya. She took it, seeing a bit of his daughter in him. "I am Anya, former chieftan of TonDC. I have heard you were the one behind Clarkes arms." He nodded, confused, Clarke rarely opened up about her arms. Just how much had she changed?

"There are some things we need to discuss about your daughter's future. As the only present figure of her family, you are the only qualified to deal with this right now." He nodded again. What did his daughter have to do with anything?

Several hours later, with Jake having been caught up and sworn to secrecy, he went to bed, but didn't sleep at all. To many thoughts running through his head. Clarke and Anya were much the same way. Both had chosen to stay in the med bay as it was fairly closed off from the rest of the ark.

Anya woke Clarke up early the next morning, saying that it was best to get into the habit of waking up early as much as possible. Though she grumbled at first, Clarke accepted it, knowing that she had wanted this, and got up without very much complaint. Anya told her to sit on the med-bay bed, with her back facing her fos, she felt fingers running through her hair with practiced ease. She quickly realized that Anya was braiding her hair.

"Braids are often a symbol among our culture. Certain styles denote different things. For now though, I am giving you the braids of a second." Clarke nodded her acceptance, and Anya continued to braid. They sat like that for a few minutes as Anya pulled, but never harshly, not really talking about anything important. Occasionally, Anya would brush the scar at the base of her skull. They both understood what they couldn't say.

Abby walked in, awkwardly looking at Clarke and glaring at Anya, like she was some kind of monster. Clarke cleared her throat, jumping to Anya's defense.

"Mom, what did you need?" a little steel to her voice.

"I was coming to ask when you'd be joining us for breakfast." Her mom said, pointedly avoiding looking at Anya.

"Anya and I will be at breakfast in a few more minutes." She said, emphasizing that Anya would be there. Her mother just sighed and left the med-bay.

"your mother does not seem to like me. I believe she thinks I'm threatening you." Anya said, but Clarke could hear the amusement.

"My mother doesn't get to say anything about who I stay with. Or what I even do for that matter." Anya put a hand on her shoulder to calm her second down. "sorry. Sometimes it's hard. I remember she used to always want me around, and then when I had my accident, she refused to be near me, to even touch me until I had amazing control over my arms." A tear slid down her face, and Anya wiped it away.

"Sometimes the people we love do the wrong things for what they believe are the right reasons." Anya said. Clarke nodded at the sage wisdom. Her stomach growled, and she moved to stand up when she felt a pull on her arm.

"If there is anything you ever need to talk about, you can come to me as Clarke, and I will greet you as myself. Not as your fos, but as a friend if you need it." The warrior said, and Clarke wrapped her arms carefully around the older blonde, feeling when Anya shifted and hugged her back. It felt good to have someone hug her back without being tense from fear of being hurt. The only other one that did that was Raven.

Walking out of the med-bay, Clarke was taken by surprise when someone tackled her from before, hugging her tightly and refusing to let go her. twisting around she burst into tears when she saw who it was.

Raven Reyes in the flesh.

Turning around and hugging her very alive best friend, she didn't care if she looked crazy in front of Anya. She didn't think she was ever going to see the Latina again and now that she was here, she couldn't let go.

"How are you here?" Clarke breathed out, the tears staining the shoulder of ravens jacket.

"Bellamy, Finn, murphy, and Wells saved my life. Two of them surprised me by that, three guesses as to who were the shockers." Raven gave a watery laugh. After she woke up and found Clarke gone, she panicked but couldn't move herself, so she laid down and waited for death until the boys led Kane to the dropship and saved her life.

Clarke looked down, seeing the brace around Ravens legs, and quickly teared up. "Raven I-" and the girl cut her off. "It sucks, but I'm dealing with it. Enough about me though." They all started walking towards the mess hall, Anya making sure that people stayed away from the two friends. "Where the hell have you been? And what's up with going grounder?"

Over breakfast, Clarke explained everything that happened. The mountain, her and Anya's escape, the problems they had run into with her arms, staying at the dropship before coming to the ark, the problems inside the gates, and Clarkes acceptance of Anya's offer. Raven seemed the most surprised at that. But smiled. "Its suits you Clarkey. You look really good with the braids. Octavia is going to be so jealous." Raven said, a smug grin on her face.

"where is Octavia actually?" Clarke asked.

"Looking for Lincoln. Last she was hear, she said he had been taken by the reapers. They tried rescuing him but by the time they found a group, it was too late. Lincoln was gone." Raven said. She had liked Lincoln, so had Clarke. Anya said a few words for his spirit.

"We, Anya and I, need to talk to you Raven." Clarke said, looking at Raven. Raven nodded at her to continue. "The nightblood solution that's in me. We can never speak of it with anybody, okay. Nightblood is natural hear on earth, and its sacred to them. Like, religiously sacred." Anya nodded at that. If anybody could become a nightblood, then nobody could ever be commander.

Raven nodded her head. For Clarke, she would keep any secret, especially if it kept her safe. They finished up there long breakfast after their hours of talking and headed to Ravens machine shop. Walking down the halls of the arm again was strange to Clarke, she had become so used to the forest already that the ark felt wrong. "How are you doing?" She asked Anya.

"This is where you lived for nearly eighteen years?" she was looking at everythingthing with a thin veil of disgust. "There is no color anywhere and the walls never change. How did none of you ever go mad?" Clarke looked at her with amusement.

"We were to busy to survive, not really thinking about living." She said simply. "I believe that our people can live together. Really live. Not just survive. I know I'm your second now, and I'm supposed to follow orders, but will you help me do that? Make piece between our peoples?" Clarke asked. It was easy to hear the passion in her voice, and Anya was easily enthralled by it. Raven just kept walking, knowing that Clarke would want to do this eventually. The younger blonde had a good heart and knew when to fight, and when the olive branch was necessary.

Anya nodded. Peace was always a worthy pursuit, as she had learned from the first second she had trained. Another nightblood funnily enough. "Peace is always a worthy goal." Anya said.

Over the next two days, Clarke and Anya trained in secret. Mostly just strength training with a few basic fighting stances. Anya had to adapt her usual training methods so that Clarke could learn with her arms. She also learned that there were more limitations to what here arms could handle. Dirt, if it worked its way in between the plates on her arms, would jam the gears, making her movements sluggish, but still Clarke continued to train. They couldn't train in the mu however, and Anya asked Raven if she could come up with a solution, to which the girl readily agreed. They found themselves late in the afternoon of the second day, away from other people, sore and bruised from training, with Anya teaching the young woman about their language and culture. She was impressed with Clarkes natural ability pick up languages.

"You are a fast learner Clarke." Anya spoke in the language of their people

"I have an excellent teacher." Clarke differed all the credit to her Fos.

They continued the lesson before there was a commotion at the gates. Worried that some of the trikru had been captured, both Anya and Clarke jogged over to the gate when Clarkes eyes widened. She saw Octavia first, then Wells, then Bellamy. Looking to her Anya for permission, who nodded, she ran over Octavia and Bellamy, wrapping them in somewhat tight hug. Octavia reacted immediately and wrapped the blonde in a hug. Bellamy hesitated before finally doing the same. Octavia was the first to take in Clarkes appearance when they all separated.

"What the hell Clarke! Who did your braids like that?! If one of the trikru saw it you could be in serious trouble!" Clarke merely rolled her eyes at the brunette before moving aside and giving them full view of Anya, and Octavias eyes widened and her hand went to the sword on her back.

"What the hell is she doing here?!" Octavia spat. Clarke and Anya looked at her, not intimidated by her display at all.

"She asked if I would become her second two days ago. I said yes." Clarke said.

"I notice that you do not have any warriors' braids Octavia, yet you style your hair like my people." Anya said. How dare this walking personification of aggression insult her second, and by extension herself. Octavia's eyes widened at the implication of Anya's words.

"Lincoln taught me how to do them, told me that it would be better to have my hair out of the way if I was serious about using a sword." She explained quickly. Anya was terrifying honestly. Clarke just laughed, and Octavia glared at the pair of blondes. She walked away in a huff and Anya cracked a smile towards her second. They were broken out of their humor when Bellamy spoke.

"This has been well and good, but now that you've been found, we need to go get Finn and Murphy." He explained. "Where are Finn and Murphy?" Clarke questioned.

"We all thought the grounders took you guys, no offense Anya, and we came back here after sending those two to continue looking for you. Finn was going crazy trying to find all of you. We found one of the stations and it only had one survivor rescued." He said. so that was the girl she saw with the small group.

"My people would not have taken yours. They would have killed them the things you have done." Anya offered. It wasn't much of an explanation so much as a fact.

"Clarke how are you being so chummy with her. She tried to kill you and now your what? Best friends?" he questioned hotly.

"Anya and I have come to…an understanding. There was a lot of bad shit in the mountain Bellamy. And we had to work together to survive." She didn't want to tell him about her new position as Anya's second. She knew that that wouldn't go over very well with her co-leader.

"So that's it huh? You just side with her over our people?" Bellamy questioned her. getting angry, she got in his face.

"Don't you dare question me like that again Bellamy Blake. You have no idea what I went through in that mountain, what Anya and I had to do to escape." She remembered the reapers, and almost drowning. Apparently it showed on her face, as Anya put a hand on her shoulder to draw her out of the past.

Giving Bellamy a pat on the shoulder, she walked away. she didn't want to get into anymore of his shit today. And other things were on her mind that were more important. Like Finn and Murphy out in the trikru land with guns, thinking that her new people were responsible for dozens of deaths.

Walking towards Ravens machine shop, the only place they could talk in private, they both thought about the problems they could face in the future.

Anya was the first to speak, and Clarke remained silent. "I believe it would be wise to head to TonDC. Allowing my people to see that I am alive would probably be best. Also allowing them to know what has happened in the past week, with you as my second, would also be beneficial for you." Clarke understood that. She really did, but she disagreed.

"I don't think that is the best option. I believe going after Finn and Murphy would be our best option. They have guns, and they think that the hundred have been taken by your people-our people." She corrected. It was hard to remember sometimes exactly what she had signed up for. She still didn't regret it, but it was difficult sometimes.

Anya nodded. Understanding what Clarke meant by the danger of unstable people with guns.

"Yes, those two together with guns are worrisome." She agreed.

"It's not the both of them. It's Finn specifically I'm worried about. He had a habit back in camp of just wandering off. Like he did whatever he wanted to do without even thinking of the consequences. He still would do it, even when we were afraid your scouts would kill us if we stepped out of line. If he thinks the trikru will use us as leverage or kill us, he might do something crazy.

"Okay, you've made your point. We will go after the Finn boy." She said. she knew when she took Clarke on as a second that the girl had leadership qualities. She was impressed with the reasoning behind her decisions and ability to think level headed. Protecting the people was more important to this girl than her perceived image among the trikru.

They packed enough food for two days after talking to Raven and convincing Octavia and Bellamy to join them on the hunt for Finn. Anya was especially not happy when Octavia admitted that she told Finn to go towards a small village and see if they could find anything there.

The group snuck out of camp, as Clarkes mother had forbidden them to go in the absence of Kane and citing that the 'grounder' was a liability and disappeared into the early morning forest.