Every night, for a week, Clarke goes back to the City of Light. She keeps her promise and never lets Lexa have to star gaze all alone on that roof again. Well, at least not for seven days, because on the eighth Clarke is too busy packing her staff to even bother getting some sleep at all. It had been decided that, after the week of celebrations in honor of the new Heda, Abby, Clarke and Marcus would go back to Arkadia just like any other clan leader would go back to their lands. Why did Clarke have to go as well, you're wondering? It's not like she had to and she would've much preferred staying in Polis by Aden's side, but both him and Lexa had convinced her that she should've taken the opportunity to go visit her friends and her people for a while. So, here she is now: packing her things to go back "home" for a few days. To be honest, she feels more like she's getting ready to leave for hell rather than the place where she used to belong. Anyway, she's choosing to see this trip as a chance to ask Jaha for more chips so that, when she comes back to Polis, she can get the Nightbloods to see Lexa as well. She'll never forget the way Aden's face lit up when she told him about her plan to get him and the kids the keys to the City of Light so they could meet their beloved Commander again. That was the moment Clarke promised herself not to come back home empty-handed, because she could never stand disappointing the boy's expectations.

"Honey, you ready?" Abby says without even bothering to knock on the door before entering her daughter's room.

"Yeah, let me just... I just need..."

"Hey... Clarke, you don't have to come with us if you don't want to... Marcus and I understand if you want to stay here with the kids."

"No, no, I... I have to do this now, otherwise, I'm afraid I'll never be able to leave this place again. Just give me a moment. There's only one last thing I'm missing and then I'm all ready." She accompanies the last part with a reassuring smile, hoping to convince her mother that she'll be ok.

"Ok. We'll be by the entrance, then." She waits for Clarke's nod before turning and leaving the room.

As soon as Abby's out, the Sky girl takes her two bags and exits her room as well. What she needs is in Lexa's- No, not Lexa's, not anymore... Aden's room. What she needs is in Aden's room, so that's where she's headed. She's been trying to avoid that room as much as possible because, every time she even just stands in front of its door, all of her and Lexa's memories together come back to haunt her and she feels like she can't breathe. Gathering all her strength, she steps forward and, with a deep breath, she moves to knock on the door waiting for Aden's permission to enter. There's no response, though. She imagines it's because Aden must be in the throne room or outside training, so she just let's herself in, despite the hard stare the two guards standing by the door are giving her. Clarke knows what she needs and she knows where to find it, but, the moment the door closes behind her back, she finds herself stuck. She can't move, she can't breathe and she's not even sure her heart is still beating.

"I guess you must be here to get this, right?" Clarke jumps startled by the sudden voice coming from in front of her.

"Woah, hey, it's just me. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Aden raises his free hand trying to calm Clarke down.

"When... how...?"

"I entered right after you. I saw you from the corridor and I imagined you came looking for Lexa's armor, so I thought I might come and check if you needed any help."

When he's done explaining he offers once again the armor to the Sky girl and this is when he notices Clarke hasn't moved a bit from her spot by the door, if not to try, failingly, to wipe away the few tears running down her cheeks.

He knows the feeling all too well, every damn time he enters the room he has to fight back the tears and that happens often since this are his quarters now. Slowly, he leaves the armor on his bed and then moves to stand beside Clarke reaching down to grab her hand. After a gentle squeeze, he turns his face to stare into the space around them just like the girl.

"This place doesn't feel the same without her."

"Yeah... many things don't feel the same without her." She whispers as she leans her head to rest on the boy's shoulder.

They stay like that for a minute, but then Clarke remembers her mom and Kane are waiting for her and so she moves away from Aden to go and put on Lexa's armor. Now she's ready to go. Looking back she's met by two smiling eyes and she can't help but allow a small smile to appear on her face as well.

"Try and behave while I'm gone, Heda" she jokes as she leaves a quick kiss on Aden's cheek before opening the door to exit the room.

"I'm not the one known for misbehaving, Wanheda. Try not to get yourself in too many troubles, will ya?" he mocks gaining a fake laughter from Clarke.

"Ah, ah. Very funny, young man."

"Clarke..." his voice stops her one more time. She hums in question and Aden continues. "I mean it. Don't do anything stupid. Please. I couldn't stand it if I lost someone else."

The amused smile leaves her face and she leans forward to give his hand a reassuring squeeze. With one small nod she agrees before leaving the room for good.


Clarke didn't even have time to go say hi to her friends, because as soon as they got to Arkadia a Council meeting was called, one that she was asked to take part in too. So, here they are gathered around a table with all the representatives of the various stations to talk about the new leader of the Coalition. Marcus, as the designated leader of Skaikru, is the first to speak to give an accurate account of everything that had happened in Polis ever since the Conclave.

"We are happy to announce that the new Commander is well-disposed and, just like Lexa, he wants his legacy to be nothing but peace." Kane barely has time to conclude his speech before Pike starts shouting his objections.

"Please, Lexa's legacy was never peace! That's what she wanted us to believe! But we all know the truth: the grounders are savages and the only way we can survive on this Earth is by taking control!" some members of the Council start cheering at the sound of those words, but their exultation is soon interrupted by the sound of another loud voice.

"That's crazy! Do you really think you can take command of the whole territory?!" Clarke shouts back just as fiercely while her mother tries worthlessly to stop her.

"Clarke..."

"No, mom!" she stops her, not giving Abby the time to tell her to calm down. There's no way she'll keep quiet as Pike talks shit about Lexa and Aden! Plus what he's saying is completely crazy, she has to try and talk some sense into these dickheads. "You wanna throw yourselves into a fight you cannot win! The grounders know these lands like the back of their hands, whereas we've only been down here for what? A few months? There's no way we could make it out of that war alive!"

"So, what do you suggest, kiddo?" If Pike's intention is to get the girl any angrier, that's definitively working. "We should just do as they want and become their allies, in the hope that this new Commander won't betray us like the last one?" This time, at least, he's not yelling.

"We already are their allies. Or did you forget what happened in the last war against the Ice Nation? Isn't that enough proof of their loyalty?" Clarke asks trying her best to keep her tone on a lower lever this time.

"Loyalty?" Pike accompanies these words with an amused laughter. "And to who exactly? They can't even stay loyal to their own people, how can you expect them to be loyal to us?"

"Ok, let's make one thing clear: Azgeda made the first step against us, against Skaikru, a member of the Coalition. So it was them to betray their own people, not Lexa."

"The Ice Nation... Lexa... They're all grounders. They're all the same. Savages who don't care about anything other than their own survival!" And here he goes again with the yelling, only Clarke this time doesn't give him the satisfaction of having her losing control.

"And do you think we, the Sky People, are any different?" She asks calmly, making sure to make eye contact with everyone in the room, because she wants them all to see the truth. "You just said you want to take control, because you believe that to be our only chance at surviving." She finishes staring straight into Pike's eyes.

"We might've been different when we were up in space, but, ever since landing, we've become just as savages as they are in order to survive." Clarke is glad to hear Kane jumping in to support her.

"And without those savages, as you like to call them, we wouldn't have made it out alive against Nia's army." Abby's support, on the other hand, takes her a bit off guard, but in a good way. Mother and daughter smile at each other for a moment as Clarke silently nods her gratitude. The silence is soon broke by Pike's voice, though.

"Almost all of my people were killed inside Mount Weather by the grounders, I won't-"

"Ok, let me stop you right there! Again, it was the Ice Nation, not the whole Coalition. You can't punish them all for something only one clan had to do with. The blame is on Nia and justice has been made. She's dead. It's over." Man, his attitude is really getting on Clarke's nerves.

"Oh, I have just begun to make justice for my people. But don't worry, little girl." Pike mocks her once again, making her want to wipe away that smile from his face with one fierce slap, but she lets him finish, obeying to Kane and Abby's silent request. "I have no intention of hurting innocent people. I'll just kill this Commander. And the next. And the one after that. Just like I did with that grounder girlfriend of yours." He says this last part directly at the girl, but Clarke is too shocked to react. All she can do is acknowledge the fact that everyone in the room is now glancing at her. Seeing as the blonde is still elaborating the new information he's just thrown out at her, Pike uses the opportunity to conclude. "Without a leader keeping them together, the clans will destroy themselves and I won't have to do a thing to take control of all of those people."

"You... You killed her?!" By the time he's done Clarke has come to her senses again and she jumps forward clearly with the intention to throw herself at him, but she's held back by her mother and Kane.

"Clarke..." Abby tries as she's struggling to keep a hold on her daughter.

"You son of a bitch! How could you?! She was here fighting for our people! She was protecting us!" She's yells so hard it's a miracle she doesn't tear her vocal cords apart.

"Guards! Arrest this traitor!" Kane orders as Clarke keeps screaming and shouting furiously. "Abby, please, get her out of here." Marcus sees how much she's struggling just to keep her daughter still so he asks another guard to go and help her.

"No! Let go of me! I'm not going anywhere!" Clarke tries to fight against those two strong arms forcing her out of the room, but the man is way stronger than she is and all she can do is yell at Pike one last promise as he's being taken out of the room as well. "You might be safe now, behind bars, but I will come for you. I will kill you! Blood will have blood!"

While Pike is put in isolation in a cell, Clarke is taken to "her room". Tough Abby would much prefer staying with her daughter to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid, the girl practically kicks her out of the room with a "Leave me alone! Get out!", so she agrees to give her some time and space. It's a good thing her mother left so she doesn't have to witness the girl losing it for good. Clarke is fuming and anything within her reach becomes the object of her outburst. She literally pours out her anger all over the room, throwing and destroying everything around her and, when there's nothing more to crash, she finally lets herself fall on her knees in the middle of the room. Her sobs are so heart wrenching even a heart of stone would break at that sight. They're angry tears, tho. She's angry because Lexa was there to protect her people and one of them killed her. She's angry because it was all her fault: she was the reason Lexa chose to protect Skaikru in the first place. She's angry because had she paid more attention maybe she could've seen it coming and she could've stopped Pike before he could do anything. She's angry because how is that fair that he gets to love and Lexa doesn't? She's angry. She's just so angry with everything and everyone.


No one comes to disturb her until the next morning. Clarke is still curled up in bed when she hears someone unlocking the door. Of course she'd been locked in. She was so upset the day before she didn't even notice her mother had locked her door, surely to keep her from going out and doing something stupid like killing Pike.

She doesn't move when her mother walks in and she only opens her eyes to meet her gaze when the woman sits on the bed beside her. She's grateful when Abby doesn't ask about the mess that her room has been turned in and she just stays there as her mother tries to tidy the place up as best she can. They both keep silent for about five minutes, Clarke sitting up in her bed and following her mother's movements with her eyes. When everything is back in its place and all the fragments of the smashed objects have been put by a side, Abby goes to sit in a chair beside Clarke's bed.

"There was supposed to be a Council meeting this morning to decide Pike's fate. Marcus and I suggested it should be you to choose what to with him, though." Abby says slowly as she's afraid she knows what her daughter's choice will be.

"I said I would kill him. I meant it, mom. He killed Lexa." Her voice cracks when she says this last part.

"There are many ways for him to pay for what he did, Clarke."

"Jus drein jus daun."

"That's one option. But... Is it really the one you wanna go for?" Abby moves to sit on the bed and she gently takes hold of Clarke's hand before continuing. "If you kill him, it'll only make you as bad as he is. And the pain won't go away."

"Maybe I don't wanna be better than him..."

"Clarke..."

"I've tried to be the good guy, mom. Ever since we got here, I've always been the one to consider death and murder as the last option. And every single time I ended up paying the price for my benevolence. What's the point of being good and merciful if it only brings you pain and loss?" She's not even sure whether the question is for her mother or for herself.

"And what's the point of vengeance? Don't you think it only brings around pain and loss too? It won't bring you peace, that's for sure." Abby pauses a moment waiting for Clarke to meet her eyes again before continuing. "Killing Pike won't bring Lexa back. And you'd only be adding one more person to the list of the people who've died because of you."

"But at least he deserves it! Lexa's dead, mom! She's dead because of him! How is it fair that he gets to live and she doesn't?!"

"That's the problem with life, honey. It doesn't care about fair. Things happen, people die... Good and innocent people happen to die more often than bad ones. But life also gives us a choice: we can stay good or we can become just as bad as the ones who've wronged us." Abby can tell her daughter is still not fully convinced so she tries with the one thing she knows will get to her for sure. "Look, why don't you ask Lexa?" As she was hoping, Lexa's name seems to do the trick and she can see the girl is now giving her words full attention. "You can still go to the City of Light, right? Then why don't you ask Lexa what she wants us to do with Pike? She's the one Pike killed. You wanted fair? Well, I think it's more than fair for her to be the one to tell how he's supposed to pay for his crime."

Clarke hesitates a moment, but her mother can tell she's considering this option in her head and she sees the decision in her eyes before the girl even voices it out loud. "Okay. I'll talk to her."