Hello everyone! I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, I didn't have any Wi-Fi during summer break and I forgot during the two last weeks. I apologize! However, I have to warn you that, because I go back to school, I don't have as much time as before and I'll probably forget to update every once in a while. I hope I can get everything under control but unfortunably, these aren't my decisions to make. Anyways, here's the chapter! I hope you enjoy it!
Update, a week later: Sorry, I thought I had uploaded the chapter, apparently I did not. Sorry about that.
Also, I wanted to give you a little warning now that I figured out how to make this work, but there is a sort of spoiler in this paragraph so if you don't want to get spoiled, just skip to the story. So, what I wanted to say is that this is a sort of "fix it" fanfiction. Lexa deserved better, and so did a lot of other Grounders. And, since this is my story, I fully entend on giving them the ending they deserve. If you don't like happy ending with sunshine and rainbows, I'm sorry for you, but I need a happy ending and so does a lot of people in the LGBTQ+ community. We've been wronged too many times and I won't carry through other peoples mistakes (I don't know if that makes sense). So, you're warned. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!
Anya was angry.
Cassie knew it was the last thing to do, but she couldn't help but find her incredibly hot. Anya circled around her room like a lion in its cage, muttering insults in a low voice. It was hardly if she remembered the presence of her imposed roommate.
Cassie, very calm, remained silent, sitting on the bed with her hands clasped on her knees. She was still wearing her rope handcuffs, but had added a ribbon to them, as much to 'look pretty' as to make Anya roll her eyes. Her shawl over her hair, she was perfectly still, patiently waiting for Anya to calm down.
She knew perfectly well what had pissed her off, and for good reason, she was present when the scene had taken place. A group of men had targeted Cassie, spitting curses at her and making it clear that she was not welcome. The young woman, busy scanning a meadow to find a rabbit - she had never seen one! - hadn't really paid attention to them, just staring at them in silence. Her silence had been taken for weakness and one of them had had the audacity to throw a stone at her. It had hit Cassie's brow, leaving a wound there, and Anya had come back then screaming at them to get out. They had left without looking back, but Anya saw it as a distrust of her authority, which she was reminded of each time she laid eyes on the young woman's wound.
Anya grabbed a cloth which she dipped in a bowl of water, approaching without stopping grumbling in fury. Cassie squinted at her face, way too close to hers, as she dutifully washed the small wound.
"I told you not to leave my side, and yet, what do you do as soon as my eyes are turned? You run away!"
"I just wanted to see the bunnies," Cassie whispered.
This only made Anya angry even more.
"You ran away to hunt rabbits? Are you joking? What are you, five?"
"I've never seen rabbits."
"Right, I forgot how stupid you are."
Cassie pursed her lips, hurt. Anya sighed, pulling back slightly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. I am furious."
"Yeah, I know, they challenged your authority, I got that. Are you gonna be angry for a long time?"
"Depends," Anya muttered as she put the rag down.
"What do you do when you are angry?"
"I punch people. Preferably the ones that get on my nerves."
"You wanna kick me of the tower? It could make you feel better."
"Don't tempt me, Natshanagada," Anya replied, straightening up.
"Okay, alright. Why don't we go to the training field? You can shoot some arrows and I can ... Stay where I am and not wander off on my own," the young woman proposed.
Anya gave her a suspicious look and Cassie didher best to look as innocent as she could.
"I promise! I don't really want to piss you off any more."
"Fine then. Let's go."
She grabbed her coat, bow and quiver as Cassie hopped to her feet, jogging behind her as they walked down the halls of the tower.
The rain had fallen for several days, and the ground remained wet and muddy in places. The sky was still covered with light gray clouds, the air was cool, almost cold at times. Anya seemed even more annoyed by the weather, but Cassie, who was new to the meaning of the word 'weather', found it all wonderfully fascinating.
As night fell, the training ground was deserted. Cassie sat cross-legged on a tree stump as Anya positioned herself in front of the targets, shooting arrow after arrow, moving in line without ever stopping shooting, hitting the center every time. Chin in hand, Cassie gazed at her peacefully, adding a new movement to her repertoire every time she saw one. She was watching and, unconsciously, she was learning.
Anya almost threw her things at the foot of the bed and fell face down on the mattress, her head buried in a pillow.
"Are you feeling better?" Cassie asked as she sat up on her side to remove her shoes.
"No," Anya replied, her voice muffled by her pillow.
"Why is it still bothering you?" Cassie sighed, putting her shoes off. "You have more authority in you little toe than any of them and you know that. Just let it go."
"I can't," Anya replied, not moving.
"Why? What is different this time?"
Anya didn't answer, resolutely staying silent. Cassie sighed, falling onto her back next to her jailer.
"Do you know what I do when I'm angry?" Asked the young woman.
Anya stole her pillow and buried it on her head.
"If you say 'sex', I'm making you spend the night in a dungeon," she mumbled.
"That's not what I was gonna say, but it's still an option," Cassie replied as she sat up. "No, what I do is say anything in Spanish."
Anya gave her a look from behind her pillow.
"What's Spanish?"
"It's a language. The language of the people from Spain, a country in Europe. But it's spoken all over the world. My Raven, she taught me to speak Spanish. Hahem. Esta, es una oración. Rezo por los imbeciles que fueron lo suficientemente estúpidos para tirarme piedras, rezo por mi amigo el idiota raro que tiene un problema de ira, rezo que el sol decida bajar, por- "
"Okay, okay, stop it. I didn't understand a single word of what you just said."
"That's kinda the point. Also... I recite poems," she explained, standing on the mattress.
"What is a poem?" Anya asked, lifting her pillow to give her a curious look.
"It's a text, a text that conveys emotions, sensations, with a rythm or harmonies. I like poetry. I used to have two full books of poetry. They were very rare, on the Ark. I don't know if you have some here. "
"We don't have books. They are not useful."
"Why?"
Anya shrugged.
"Oh, you can't read?"
"Of course I can read," Anya said angrily. "Books are just not useful in our lives. That's how it is."
Cassie shrugged, rocking from foot to foot, testing the elasticity of the mattress. Anya bounced slightly with each of her movements.
"Because I could not stop for Death -
He kindly stopped for me -
The Carriage held but just Ourselves -
And Immortality.
We slowly drove - He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility -
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess - in the Ring -
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain -
We passed the Setting Sun -
Or rather - He passed Us -
The Dews drew quivering and Chill -
For only Gossamer, my Gown -
My Tippet - only Tulle -
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground -
The Roof was scarcely visible -
The Cornice - in the Ground -
Since then - 'tis Centuries - and yet
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity - "Cassie recited, hopping on the mattress.
Anya had watched her in silence, listening to her every word carefully.
"It is beautiful," she whispered finally.
"It is," Cassie replied. "It was a woman named Emily Dickinson who wrote it. She was very talented."
She cleared her throat.
"When I was a kid, my mom and I used to play a game where we took turns reciting poems."
"So you know them all by heart?" Anya asked.
Cassie smirked.
"You want another one?"
Anya shrugged, looking away, and Cassie chirped happily as she jumped onto the mattress, causing Anya to bounce with each jump.
"Alright, I have another one!
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down ... "