I can't believe it's been an entire year since I updated! Honestly I went through a really tough time and I've only recent come out on the other side, so my only way of apology is this chapter. It's super small and not exactly packed, but it will open door for new chapters and hopefully many more of them! I've got my writing hat back on so, hang on in there, give this one last go, I'll see what I can do.
Oh god, okay, a quick edit! I'm stupid and forgot that River's male counterpart is called Abraham (initially his name had been Thorne, but I changed all the documents before uploading) and so I apologise profusely to anyone who read this chapter wondering who the hell Thorne was. It's changed back now, but apologies anyway!
Wulf crunched her jaw down hard on the soldier's shoulder, shaking her head wildly from side to side, letting his still struggling body quite literally smash against the trees with satisfying crunches until his movement ceased.
Just as predicted, Nia sent assassins first. Wulf lost two of her wolves before the first wave of night killers were fought off. They came in the night, making it as far as the Tower before Kel heard the struggle that ended up being guards drawing their final breaths. From then on, the wolves all came inside the Tower. Not all of them were privy to the conversations that had gone on, of course, but River told them at least of Lexa's condition. They would all protect her with their lives, this much River was sure of, because should they fail, she would personally see to their demise.
Days passed, four to be exact, before the next attack, which was where Wulf was just finishing shaking the Azgeda scum by his shoulder.
Lexa, for all intents and purposes, was doing well. Imagine River's shock when Clarke and Abigail stated that a simply bag of water could be administered to Lexa in what they called a "drip" to keep her hydrated. She had been astounded to learn that what had killed most of her fallen brothers and sisters during the Turn was simply that they were malnourished and dehydrated from days of not eating or drinking. Of course, it did make sense, but still, she has amazed at how simple these things seemed with Skaikru's help.
The residents of Polis knew that something was wrong. They had seemed unsure the very second that Indra had announced that Lexa was leaving the city to converse with their allies. So much uncertainty, in fact, that many of them left their homes later that evening to watch their Commander speed away on her horse. The paint, the clothes and the horse, however, was all it took to fool them. Beneath it all, River was the rider of Lexa's horse. Alas, days had passed since then and the city grew restless. Seeing Wulf walking the streets eased their mind, unaware that she had been snuck back in after washing away her disguise.
Naturally, River wanted to spend all of her time with Lexa, but she knew that things needed to have order.
Sighing, she released the body from her jaw and stepped back, looking it over. She could already smell the poison that she'd been quick enough to avoid. Of course, poison was Nia's way of fighting. She liked her enemy to be weakened before she attacked like the coward that she was. It made both the wolf and the woman in River furious.
With a grunt to Yanni, who stood but a few feet away, River turned and began to head back towards Polis. Yanni, following the command, quickly grabbed the body and began to pull it. Much to River's dismay, her wolves weren't ready. Not for war. Of course, the older ones were, but the pups? They would be dead before their paws met the soil. As if Lexa's turning wasn't enough.
There had, of course, been talks between her and Abraham as to what this new information meant for turning other wolves. While on the one hand, turning others had just become a whole lot easier, Lexa's turn was taking longer than anticipated, not to mention the fact that sending new wolves into a war would be suicide for many of them. Giving them all of that power but no way how to harness it was more danger than it was worth.
One thing that River had made abundantly clear was that Lexa was not to be left alone with humans. That was imperative. Of course, Clarke had asked why that was, but River simply stated firmly that wolves were dangerous and confused when they woke. She couldn't risk Lexa hurting or killing someone in that confusion.
"She'll be different, won't she?" Clarke asked later that very evening. She, River and Kel were the only ones awake, giving the others some much needed rest. "When she wakes."
From the small chair beside Lexa's bed, River looking up to where Clarke was lying beside Lexa. Lexa was still flat out, but Clarke lay a little further up the bed, propped up on an elbow in order to brush the sleeping Commander's hair and re-braid it. River nodded, remembering her own transition with a grimace. "Sha, she will be different." River knew this to be true of all wolves, even the sweet ones like Kel. "Lexa will still be in there, but there will be... more."
"More? The wolf?"
Again, River nodded. "For a long time, I fought my wolf. I swore to her that we were not the same, that she was a parasite that lived within me. I tried desperately to remain two pieces. One, River. One, the wolf. Wulf." She looked into the blonde's eyes and found pain to mirror her own. "I will not let Lexa take this same path."
Clarke nodded, looking down at Lexa before looking back up to the older of the two sisters. "What will it do to her?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"Of course." In a funny way, River had to respect the cold determination in Clarke's eyes.
Sighing, River sat a little straighter, thankful that Kel was pretending to be engrossed in a book that she knew he definitely couldn't read. It was in Lexa's shorthand, something that very few could understand. It was also upside down. "For a time, she will be a killer. Anything that moves will be prey. Anything that defies her will be an enemy. Humans will begin to smell like lunch. S-"
"She'll... eat people?" Clarke sounded rightfully horrified as River heard her heart skip a beat.
She shrugged. "She'll eat meat. The human in her won't want it to be people, but the beast won't care." River watched as Clarke's eyes strayed down to where the one they both loved slept. She almost couldn't take it. In fact, she couldn't. "I need to pee." She grumbled, standing and quickly navigating her way in the dark to Lexa's bathroom. She shut the door behind her and braced herself on the sink, breathing in a few ragged breaths. "Pull yourself together." She snarled, at her own reflection in the mirror above the sink.
Quickly, she realised she did actually need to pee, so she set about doing her business. Of course, it didn't take long, but, away from prying eyes, she just wanted a second to be weak. These feelings were bubbling inside her and she wished so deeply that they could wake Lexa, alas, she knew that things took time.
River, despite all of her time among Skaikru, had never heard the phrase "be careful what you wish for", so, in her thoughts of a conscious Lexa, she almost missed how Clarke's heartbeat picked up after seemingly skipping a beat. Almost but not quite.
That was odd.
Thoughts of Lexa paused as River quickly dried her hands and opened the door to come face to face with a scene that made her blood chill. "Clarke." She breathed out, feeling her eye widen as ice tainted her skin. The blonde, however, didn't so much as flinch. She was engrossed in Lexa. Lexa who was, as of now, gently reaching up for Clarke's face, eyes open, mouth agape with an oh-so-very soft snarl coming from it.
Kel, unlike Clarke, looked up, confused. Sadly, that was all it took.
That one movement caught in Lexa's eye and the scene changed. Before River could bolt across the room, Lexa's hands were grabbing at Clarke and she was rolling them quite litterally off the bed. Clarke, panicking, screamed. River could hardly blame her.
Kel was the first to reach Lexa, tearing the pair from the floor by the back of the commander's neck with such force that both their feel left the floor for a second. In that single moment that they were in the air, River saw that Lexa's lips were now drippign with blood. Kel's advance hadn't been enough to distract the new wolf from her easy prey.
"Lexa!" River boomed, throwing herself across the bed and wincing when her body crashed into Lexa's. For the first time, the younger sister held her ground, whipping her head up and baring viciously large fangs at her sister, releasing Clarke and throwing herself at the young alpha. The two sisters hit the floor in a struggle for dominance just as everyone else began to wake. Naturally, River landed on top, but not before Lexa's newly found teeth and claws had made ribbons of the skin on her arms.
Quickly and harshly, River brought her fist down on Lexa's face once, twice, three times before she heard her nose break. Lexa thrashed, finally getting a hand loose long enough to grab a nearby object and smash it against River's head, sending her flying into a wall with a cry of pain.
At last, it was Abraham who managed to stop things. Upon seeing River's head meeting a beautiful chair, he stepped in. With one swift phase and a stamp of his now mighty paw, Lexa was stopped.
The black wolf loomed over the once again unconscious commander, hearing her lover's cries as Clarke thrashed and wailed, trying desperately to free herself of Kel's iron grip.
Grunting, River freed herself from the wall, taking in the faces around her before turning to Clarke and storming over, grabbing the girl's face with no care for how rough she was being. The blonde cried. Good. "What the fuck did I say?" River growled, her claws piercing the skin on the girl's cheek.
"Stop!" Abigail cried, making to grab at River only to have Kel spin and trap her against one of the bed posts, leaving Clarke in River's grip.
"What the fuck did I say?" River roared, shaking Clarke and revelling in the pained yelp. She got no answer, only tears. "I told you that if she so much as breathed out of pattern, you stepped away and told me. This is why, Clarke."
With a huff, River dropped the blonde with an angry snarl. Her blood, no longer icy, was boiling. Had she not been clear? Had she not given Clarke the most simple of instructions?
"Take Lexa to the cells." She barked at Abraham, watching as the black wolf cracked his joints, stepping off the unconscious, bloodied girl and stepping back once more into the feet of a man. He said nothing, simply picking Lexa up and leaving the room.
Clarke as exactly where River had dropped her a few seconds ago. As was Abigail, still pinned to the wall by a snarling Kel, his eyes black as night. "Follow him." As soon as the order left River's lips, he too dropped her, turning and bolting as quickly as he could. River could hear as wolves in nearby rooms shuffled, some going as far as to gather around the doorway.
Abigail was quick to shuffle over to Clarke, grabbing her daughter. They sobbed at one another as Abigail began pressing cloths onto Clarke's wound, though River had a feeling that Clarke wasn't feeling anything but pain in her heart, her body be damned.
Trying desperately to calm down, River stalked over and crouched, grabbing Clarke's face and forcing her head to the side to get a good look at the wound. Shocking her, Abigail quickly shoved the wolf's firm body, but River didn't budge, nor did she retaliate. "She'll be fine. The bite wasn't enough."
"Wasn't enough? There is a chunk missing from my daughter's neck!"
"Would you have preferred us not intervene? By now, she would be but a corpse, meat stripped from her bones. You'd be dead, too. All of you."
"Lexa?" Clarke breathed, tears and blood staining her cheeks.
River watched the blonde for a moment before nodding slightly. "Lexa has woken. All there is for her to do now is let the wolf through. She-"
"It's over? She's going to be okay?"
"Well, we still have a war to fight, but yes. This war is won, if nothing else."
So there we have it... Lexa made it! I'm sure you can guess that hurting Clarke isn't going to be something that she'll take lightly, what do you think she'll do?
Again, I'm sorry that it took me over a year to spit two and a half thousand words at you all, I don't even have many other fics to show for it, but I'm back now and would love love love to hear anyone's thoughts or opinions on the whole thing. Thank y'all for sticking with me! Everyone stay safe during these trying times, stay indoors, read some FanFiction, BE SAFE.
