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

Twisted Steel

Chapter fourteen: All Your Hate

So here's a second update because I wont be able to post tomorrow. enjoy

The feast didn't last terribly long, mostly till sundown. All it was, was a way to officially indoctrinate Clarke into the woods clan and welcome Anya back from the dead mostly. There was a lot of food and drink, though Clarke found she wasn't very hungry. She drank lightly though, which proved to be a good thing.

Lexa had offered Clarke and Anya a small hut to sleep in for the night, as Indra had taken over the village leaders hut which used to be Anya. Lexa had actually taken several of Anyas treasured possessions, preserving the memory of her former teacher. Anya had given her the stink eye, and the commander actually looked sheepish. Her Fos stared down the commander until she promised to return the items, and they all had a laugh before Lexa bid them goodnight.

Clarke was just about to fall asleep when she heard Anya's tired voice.

"Don't forget you will be waking up early, before first light, so be awake and ready to go. I will wait for you outside and if you forget, you will be running around this entire village. Twice"

Shit! And this village was huge!

She woke up and was dressed in a worn-out shirt and pants in a rush out the door before she even realized that Anya was only just pulling on her boots. A temporary pair that Lexa had found in the village. They were to be gifted a new set of clothes before they left at mid-day. Walking out into the cold of the early morning, Clarke wished she could warm herself better, as she couldn't exactly create friction with her hands. In fact, she actually had to keep her arms away from her body since they didn't generate very much heat and were pretty cold already. She looked around frantically for Anya, afraid that she had missed her and was about to start heading for the gate before the warrior opened and closed the door, a loose-fitting jacket on her form and a vest in her hand. Chuckling to herself, she threw the vest to the shivering Clarke, and proceeded to walk towards the training grounds. She had an amused smirk as she heard Clarke struggling and getting frustrated with the vest before she remembered the biggest flaw in Clarkes arms.

Her unfeeling fingers. Damnit.

She dragged Clarke aside in between one of the huts and pushed her arms to her sides. Clarke looked at her with a question in her eyes and frustration on her face.

"Take a deep breath," Anya instructed. "Close your eyes, Breath out slowly, and try again. Slowly." Anya said. Clarke did as she ordered, and when she was ready, she slowly brought her hands up to the clasps and buckles of the vest. Anya watched her the entire time, and after a few tries because Anya made her try again every time she failed and got frustrated, she finally got it without any slip-ups. She looked up at Anya with the brightest smile she had given in a long time, and Anya looked back at her with pride.

"Some things take patience, Clarke, and while you seem to have amazing reserves for other people, the patience in yourself is quite lacking. You force yourself expect perfection for some reason or another, and then become frustrated with your perceived failures." Anya said slowly. Clarke knew she was right, and it hurt that there were still times when she needed help because her arms sometimes couldn't do the simplest tasks.

"Thank you." She said quietly. Anya just nodded and took Clarke towards the training grounds again. When they got there, they weren't the only ones, other Fos' and Seconds were there as well. Clarke even saw Indra in the far corner. Anya led her to one of the other secluded training rings, one not used for fighting.

"We've been doing this over the past few days, working on your form and stamina. Now we need to start working on your strength. Your arms are amazing, that is true. But one cannot ignore the other muscles of the body." Anya explained, showing Clarke different muscles as she went. "I have noticed that you favor the use of your left arm while neglecting your right. Your right arm still has the muscle in it, and in its misuse, has been allowed to weaken. We'll work on this first." Anya said. She instructed Clarke into a pushup position, covering the ground in a thin leather roll she had brought so that Clarkes hands wouldn't get any dirt inside of them.

"Now, I know it would be easy to use your left arm to complete these pushups, but I want you to use it as balance only, pushing up with your right arm, feeling the burn in your upper muscles." She said, demonstrating quickly by spreading her legs apart and doing a pushup with only her right hand.

"I want you to do it how I described before you try it like I did." And Clarke got to work quickly. She was embarrassed not even five minutes later when she couldn't even do six. Anya had done fifteen while Clarke struggled.

Over the next three hours, Anya drilled Clarke in the one- handed pushup, squats, and a whole lot of sit-ups. Anya whispered in her ear every now and that that she could just say the word and give up whenever Clarke stopped. Clarke just grit her teeth and kept pushing. Moving back into fighting stances, they practiced for another hour. Looking up, she saw Lexa and Indra, and a few other villagers watching her train. She guessed they were waiting to see if she'd fail. Eventually stopping for breakfast, Clarke trudged out of the training by herself. Her muscles hurt in places she didn't even know muscles existed.

Anya guided her to the communal area where there was food cooking and more water available. There was even alcohol, which Anya told her wouldn't actually do anything unless she drank several dozen mugs. It was nearly impossible for nightbloods to get drunk. Settling down with a bowl full of food that Anya told her to eat, she noticed that many of the villagers gave her and Anya a wide berth. Anya only shrugged her shoulders and went back to eating when Clarke brought it up. Clarke looked around for another second before resuming her breakfast. Feeling a weight sit next to her, she looked up and saw the facial tattoos and then the very neutral expression of Nyko. He didn't talk much, but it made her feel better that at least someone besides Anya sat with her.

Lexa found them after breakfast and accompanied them to the taylor to pick up their clothes. It was amazing that they were ready so quickly. Lexa again walked with them, talking with Anya the entire time as they headed towards their temporary hut, where she left them and returned to her own tent. Anya made Clarke start a fire as she changed into the new clothes that Lexa had apparently paid for.

Anya walked out of her room. She was dressed in a tight pair of leather pants that had a few patches in them and loops of cloth around the legs. Her new sword, an old one that Lexa had taken, was attached at her hip, a dark scabbard holding it secure. She was wearing a grey shirt made of wool, sewn in places and tied with thin leather strips in others. Completing the look was a long black coat, much like the one she had seen on the bridge all those weeks ago. The only difference was that the large fur neck line was no longer black, instead it was actually a deep shade of red. Looking at Clarke, she smirked, and asked

"Like what you see?" Clarke rolled her eyes at that.

"I won't deny that you are an attractive woman, but you're not what I prefer." Clarke said. she had only ever talked about her sexuality with Raven. Yeah she preferred women like, ninety percent of the time, but there was still the rare male that she got small crushes for.

"Oh? And what do you prefer? It wouldn't happen to be your friend would it?" Anya said with a knowing smile. Clarke just rolled her eyes and kept quiet, and Anya stopped looking at her with that shit eating smirk. Putting the final touches on her look, Anya walked over to her second and handed her a pile of clothes. Heading off into her room, Clarke closed the door and set the pile on her bed. Taking off her loose-fitting clothes, she looked at each item before she put them on first.

The breast wrap was honestly the most confusing since she couldn't figure out how to get it to stay at first. After a minute of struggling, she got it to where it was somewhat satisfying and slipped on what she assumed were supposed to be underwear. The pants came next. A black pair, new and shiny like Anya's, hugged her thighs and made her feel sexy, honestly. Struggling for a second with the buttons before she took a breath to calm herself down, she was able to finally get the buttons done. Picking up the shirt, she noticed that it was sleeveless and without buttons. It was also really thick. The wool was somewhat scratchy on her skin, but it was warm, and she loved it. She slipped it on, the wool catching in places on her arm, and she turned back towards the bed

The last piece that she laid out was the black long coat. Looking at it, she saw that it was made entirely of leather. To her right arm it felt heavy, then again everything felt heavy after the workout this morning. Upon closer inspection, she realized that the sleeves were fairly thin and had no fur lining on the inside, but it had blue detailing on the outside. The wrists had two tightening straps at the joint and forearm. The chest and stomach were lined with a soft fur, which she determined by rubbing it against her cheek. There was one stiff shoulder protector on the right side and she decided that it meant someone had paid enough attention to notice that she was unevenly balanced. Slipping it on, she took a minute to study the buckles of it before she attempted to pit it all together. The easiest part was the belt at her waist that held it closed in the area. Looking at the neck area, she couldn't help but sigh as she realized the neither of her arms could really buckle the strap that went across her chest. Taking a deep breath, she walked out of her room.

"Anya." She called out. Walking into the front room, her fos stood up and studied her, before frowning looking at the strap dangling in front of her chest. "My arms can only bend to a certain point, and then they can't go any further." She demonstrated by bringing both her arms to ninety degrees, and then bending them as far as they could go. Around sixty degrees for her left, and fifty-five degrees for her right, since the casing was smoother. Anya moved towards her when she spoke again, "My old arms would've been able to do it, but they would've been more open to the earth and likely would've broken by now if I still had them." She said. Anya nodded and buckled the problematic strap so that it came down from the collar of the jacket towards the chest. Anya had to admit that Clarke looked good, far better than if she were dressed as in her old clothes. Putting on their boots, they looked over the room and made sure they didn't leave anything.

When both blondes were satisfied, the put on their boots and left the hut with their bags of spare clothes over their as they walked out to the front gate, the Commander was waiting for them, as well as Indra, to bid them farewell and good luck.

"We will see you both in two days' time. Anya, I am giving you permission to answer any questions the skai people may have, within reason of course, and begin to teach them about life here if you choose to. Or focus your time training your second, whichever you feel is more painful for both of you." The commander said, she held back a laugh when Clarke held in a groan. Composing herself, she spoke to Clarke.

"Remember, in two days you will stand with me at the skai boys execution. In the meantime, you are to do everything you can to convince the skai people of a truce at the very least, but an alliance if possible. Rescuing our people from the mountain is the priority." Clarke nodded, a determined look set on her face. She wouldn't fail this. She also didn't fail to notice that Lexa had included her when talking about the trikru and alliance. Indra grabbed her good bicep, thankfully, before she could make it out the gates. With a stern look she spoke

"No matter what happens, you are trikru now. You will always have a pace here in TonDC if you wish." She said before walking away. With a sense of purpose and mile long grin, she bowed towards the commander, as did Anya, and they both set off for the ark.

They stopped hiking a few hours into the walk to drink and rest for a few minutes, Anya took the opportunity to show Clarke certain berries. Ones that were poisonous, which was most of them in the area, and ones that weren't. the ones that weren't poisonous were unfortunately bitter, but Anya explained that these were the antidotes to several of these poisons. Clarke asked her about the nuts, and Anya explained that besides visions, they could also be used for healing as a mild sedative. As a challenge, Anya had Clarke try moving through the forest as quietly as possible. Though she wasn't bad, Anya had to correct Clarke a number of times before she was somewhat satisfied. Deciding to move on, Anya had an idea, and started climbing the trees.

Calling Clarke up, she watched the former skai girl struggle up the tree branches before she eventually cave up and just started gripping the bark really hard and climbing up through sheer force. Anya smacked the proud smile right off her face.

"We do not abuse the trees that give us life, foolish girl. We respect them, and give thanks for the shade they provide, the shelter in the rain that large trees provide, the abundance of animals that dwell among the forest. Climbing trees is something our children learn from an early age, you have a lot of catching up to do." She finished admonishing the blonde for her negligence before teaching her the correct way. Clarke couldn't swing like Anya could because the plates in her would dig into the wood, but soon she was able to balance and walk along the thicker branches. A natural among the trees Clarke wasn't, but the effort she put into learning and being better only made Anya surer that she had chosen a good second. She would make Clarke a great warrior, she could already see it.

Several more hours of walking had them in front of Camp Jaha's gates. As soon as the guard on duty had seen them, he asked them to identify themselves, and Clarke just flipped him off with a gleaming metal finger. Walking through the gates was nerve racking considering her mission, and no doubt everyone had heard about how she turned Finn over to the trikru. She saw her parents walking towards her, Octavia and Bellamy behind them. She braced herself for the screaming match when she saw the look on her mother's face. Even the new council was staying away from Abby.

Cowards.

"How dare you let those people take Finn! He's one of us and he should be held for trial here!" she started off. Really? No greeting and asking how she was. Just immediate blame on her and completely ignoring that Finn gunned down over a dozen people. Surprisingly, Anya spoke up.

"Our people would have stormed these gates and taken the boy by force, killing any who harbored him. We have been told what you would've done according to your 'Exodus charter.' You would've imprisoned him or pardoned him. Where would the justice be in that?" her Fos questioned. Octavia wisely saw the anger on both blondes faces. Her eyes widened when she saw the matching braid, signifying a teacher and student, swinging in their hair. By now they had garnered a crowd, most of the people shouting at Anya who remained stoic in the face of a mob. They called her a murderer, a killer, monster, and all other kinds of names. She didn't care however.

"MOM!" she shouted over the crowd, trying to diffuse the situation. "We didn't come here to fight! We came to make peace!" she said. Abby only looked at her like she was crazy. Jake was finally able to get around his wife and he pulled Clarke and Anya away from all the craziness, heading towards the council room. Clarke let out a sigh of relief. Leave it to her dad to save the day. It seemed the peace wouldn't last as everyone from the council plus Octavia and Bellamy had followed them.

Waiting for everyone to get themselves comfortable, Clarke held her hands behind her back as she silently judged all of them. Seriously, how long did it take for someone to get comfy. Just sit your ass down and stay there.

Once everyone was quiet, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Anya and I have been sent by the Commander in order to broker peace. She wanted to chase you off her lands or wipe you all out if you refused, but I managed to convince her that you had some use." They all looked personally insulted at her words. Before she could continue, her mother decided to speak.

"Where have you been? Are they making you do these things?" She turned to Anya "what have you been doing to my daughter." That hit a nerve in Anya, and she tried to calm herself. Then Bellamy had to open his mouth.

"Clarkes abandoned us." She said with a glare.

"That's not at all wha-"she was cut off by Kane. "Can we all just take a breath." He pleaded

"What does he mean, Clarke." Her mother stood up. "Did you choose them over us? Your people? Me and your father?" she accused

"No that's not at all-" she was cut off again. "Whats going to happen to Finn. He was just trying to find you all." Bellamy said. "I know that but he still killed people!" she shouted. "My people would never have accepted his imprisonment or release!" she said, her voice rising. Her hands clenched into fists at hers sides. "So you did choose them over us!" another councilor shouted. "Why should we believe anything you say! You're a traitor!" they shouted. Anya jumped to her defense and all hell broke loose from there. Kane tried to get them to take their seats, but nobody was having it, choosing instead to shout at each other. Clarke finally had enough and snapped.

"ENOUGH!" she bellowed. Slamming her arms down on the table as hard as she could, she didn't notice when the aluminum table gave way under the power of her steel and titanium appendages. Everyone quieted down immediately and looked at her. Her mother cowered slightly behind her father, and that hurt the worst. It felt like a stab in the heart, because she wasn't a monster, and yet her mother looked at her like she was. Her father looked at her with understanding eyes and she stood up.

"I think we've all had enough 'debating' for one night. We'll continue this tomorrow. Goodnight." She turned around and Anya followed her. They walked out to the now empty camp center and she finally stopped when they were at the gate. Anya walked up behind her.

"They all looked at me like I was some kind of monster." She whispered. "They think I've betrayed them, condemned them to die and save myself. All I want is for them and us to work together. Is that so wrong?" she finished, turning towards Anya. The warrior put her hand on the girls shoulder and pulled her into a side hug.

"Sometimes, people see what they want to see, especially in people. And when people no longer fit with the person they have in their minds, they cannot simply change their view. It will take time for them to accept this new you. Do not fret about them if they don't however. They are not worth your time if they refuse to see you for yourself." Anya finished. Pulling the warrior into a slightly tighter hug, she whispered a thank you before turning around and seeing the person she was most nervous to see

"Hey Clarkey." Raven said.