Jus Drein Jus Daun
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
AN: Set after "Watch The Throne" This is the aftermath of Bellamy's decision.
"You started a war
that you don't know how
to end."
-Anya kom Trikru.
The horse thunders against the ground, beating its rhythm into the blood soaked soil so that nothing can forget it was there. Warriors liter the field like forgotten, unwanted things, their faces bleeding into her battered soul. Her people did this. Their blood soaked her hands again. This army, meant to protect, was slaughtered on their own land as they tried to do what was right and what was fair. They were meant to prevent a war. Now, this is the start of one.
She takes it in from atop the hill, the Heda beside her, both of them filled with disgust. Below, flies and scavenging birds feast on the dead's flesh. She is the Commander of Death and these fallen warriors are her people, no longer does she find her pace next to the Skaikru; she represents the dead. Senseless death, and more will come. Jus drein jus daun. Blood must have blood.
Foot soldiers wait for her call, and Lexa waits for it to be the right call. Clarke cannot afford to be sentimental, she cannot be weak. She makes this choice for her people, for the Coalition, because if she chooses wrong, all of Arkadia will fall, death will be all that Clarke leads. Wanheda with an army of the dead. She does look at Lexa as she commands the Heda's warriors, they listen to her when she orders them to march against Arkadia. Clarke thinks she'll be the first clan leader with no clan to lead.
They walks slowly amongst the dead, respectful and honoring them as they walk around their resting place on the battlefield. The army behind Clarke begin to collect the dead and build the pyres. Wanheda has instructed for the pyres to be built right outside Arkadia's gates. Clarke will make her people accept responsibility for the senseless death, they will be washed in the ashes of the dead. "Open the gates!" She commands and when no one answers, she nods to her foot soldiers.
Great ropes with metal anchors are swung high in the air and they tears into the walls of the camp. Twenty men pull on each rope, their brute strength tearing down every bit of safety the Sky People thought they had. The walls fall with a thunderous clap and once the front gates hit the ground, the walls surrounding Arkadia fall after it. Guards welcome Clarke, their guns pointed at her like she's the enemy, like she is the guilty. "You will put the guns down or you will be killed. I am Clarke Griffin, ambassador of the Sky People, Wanheda, and you will obey my orders or the Heda's army will lay waste to you all."
They hesitate. A man stands behind them, and when the guards throw down the weapons, he steps to the front. "You do not lead us, Clarke Griffin. I am the Chancellor and I say we are not the 13th Clan. We do not take order from you."
"You are the one that ordered the attack on the army sworn to protect you?" Clarke questions and she wonders why Lexa has not intervened. Why is she making Clarke do this on her own? Why is Lexa making her declare war upon her own people?
They man is enraged, and Clarke recognizes him as one of the soldiers who ambushed the gathering. Pike. "They were not here to protect us! The grounders declared war on us when they attacked Mount Weather! I did what I had to, to protect my people." The crowd is deathly silent behind him as more of Lexa's army make their presence known, gathering close around Clarke and their Heda.
"The attack was by the Ice Nation. The Commander killed their Queen for ordering the attack!" She yells at the ignorant faces below her. "You declared war upon the Heda! Upon the grounders when you killed the army sent here to protect you! We are the thirteenth clan of the Commander Coalition." Her voice is raw, but she still screams. "Who stands with Chancellor Pike now!"
Pike turns toward his people with a cocky smile, but no one steps forward. "I did this for you!" He screams at them, but Clarke's voice is stronger.
"All those who marched against the Heda army will pay with their life. Give them up or you will all perish." Clarke will die with them if her people fail again to do what's right. Jus drein jus duan. Slowly men and women are pushed forward, Bellamy is among them. "Teik emo kamp raun tribau-de." Put them on the log. She orders and one by one the army ties them up to be placed on a log.
"Clarke! Wait!" Abby pleas as she pushes her way through the crowd. "There must be another way!"
Clarke seethes. "There was another way! There was peace! We had peace, we had protection under the Commanders Coalition! And if you want the rest of our people to survive then the guilty must pay!" She screams until she taste blood in her throat. "Let this be a lesson! Those who threaten our peace with the grounders will be punished by death! They are not our enemy, but you have made yourself their enemy." With a harsh tug she turns her horse and trots away toward the tent warriors resurrected before Clarke's arrival.
She leaves Lexa to oversee the Skaikru, they will be punished under her law. A servant takes her horse and she pushes into the tent with all the fury of a thousand colliding suns. The Skaikru want war, then Clarke will show them what war against the Heda, against Wanheda means. Clarke will show them death.
Night falls and a pyres stretch across the field in front of Arkadia, hundreds of grounders circle around to pay their respects to the dead and to see justice play out. The ten guards are strung up, separating Arkadia and the pryes. They face the innocents they've slain. Heda stands before them and Clarke does not stand next to her, she stands next to the lone pyre in front of Bellamy, the only pyre with one body. Lincoln. "Do you understand now!" She questions, pacing before the dead with her sword raised. "You killed them! They were here to give their lives to you! To fight by your sides! They were here to die for you!" She screams and she screams and she screams. All Clarke can hear are screams, screams of the dead, screams of the accused. Bellamy cries upon his log. When he looks away, Clarke forces his head forward. "Look at him Bellamy. Look at the man who saved your sister. Look at the man who chose you over his own people. Look at the man who fought for our people! Look at the man you killed!"
"Jus drein jus duan!" The Heda yells and the warriors start cutting into the guards, but not Bellamy, he is Clarke's general and so she is to deal with him. Screams. The night is filled with screams and when they die, they are put upon the pyres. Justice has been served and now they will be put to rest.
"Bellamy of the Sky People, Second to the Wanheda. You are found guilty of the mass murder of the Heda's army. Speak your peace." Clarke declares as Octavia comes to stand before her brother.
"O! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I was wrong." He cries and even though she must hate him, Octavia wraps her arms around his head and gives him peace. When she steps away Clarke hands her the blade and Octavia makes the first cut over his heart.
"Each of you will cut him. For betraying his people, the Skaikru will give him a death by a thousand cuts." Clarke's word strike like lightning and slowly, one by one they step forward and cut into Bellamy like they were cutting their own skin. Abby and Kane are the last to step forward, Bellamy is barely responsive, but he is alive.
"Clarke, no." Abby cries, but Clarke can only hear the screams.
"You allowed this to happen, you will help put things right." Clarke is desperate to be done with this, but she stands firm, if she doesn't Lexa will have no choice but to declare war upon the Skaikru. Kane cuts quick and hand the blade off the Abby, he is silent and Clarke can see he accepted this end before the battle had even begun. When Abby cuts it barely breaks the skin, but the blade is sharp and draws blood. She forces the blade into Clarke's hands and looses herself in the crowd. Clarke takes her blade and looks him in his eyes. "May we meet again." She whispers, but he is too weak to respond. She pushes the blade into his heart and she watches him die.
The warriors go to work and Clarke lights the pyres alongside Lexa. Clarke doesn't register any of it, but when the ash rises and the smoke chokes her lungs, Clarke feels it. She chokes on the dead and she refuses the servants when they try to wash her clean of blood. She drowns in the death until the ash has settled and the field is nothing but scorched earth covered by a sheet of grey. She is covered in blood and ash when the sun rises and the people of the Ark gather to see the result of their actions. She mounts her horse and sits tall before them.
"No one is exempt from the laws of the coalition. We all follow the Heda. We are all grounders." Clarke speaks her last words and her throat cracks and bleeds from overuse. All she can taste is blood and death, she breathes it, swallows it and lets it fill her. She is Wanheda, Commander of Death. Once again she has righted the wrongs committed by her people. She has avoided another war and she has taken life by her hands. "You will follow Kane in my absence. You will not rebuild your walls until you accept that you are no different than the rest of us."
When night finds Clarke again, she is tucked within her room in Polis. No longer Wanheda, she is a messy sobbing thing pounding bloodied fists into the wall for a boy who was once a friend. She bleeds for her people and the choice they've made. She bleeds with the hope that they can learn and that they may grow to realize that they have peace, they have nothing to fear.
And Clarke lets Lexa find her there in her corner, painted with blood and tears. And she lets the Heda fix her broken pieces and glue her uneven shards back together. And she hopes that she can realize that she has found peace and that the Heda protects her too.
