Hey! So, this is chapter 2!
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Redemption
Chapter 2
"Clarke... Clarke... Time to get up," a voice cooed.
The young blonde could feel a gentle hand running through her tousselled hair, slowly pulling her from her sleep. Her eyes fluttered open to reveal a blurry Abby Griffin. Clarke groaned, wanting nothing more than to curl under her blankets and hide away from the world. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option.
With a huff, she rose from her warm cot, letting her filthy socked feet slip into her boots, preparing for another day of mindless wandering. Her mother had claimed that she was too 'fragile' to gelp out with any construction within the last couple of days, resulting in the blonde silently observing the construction of Arkadia.
"I want you to help out today," Abby spoke out of nowhere as Clarke laced up her abused boots.
The blonde's head snapped to stare at her mother so fast, it was surprising she didn't end up with whiplash.
"What?"
"It'll be good for you. Go out, get your hands dirty."
Clarke smiled quickly at her mother before scurrying from the tent into the open air. People milled around, going about their morning routine and ignoring their surroundings. Some more alert denizens turned, regarding the blonde with looks that burned through her eager mood like wildfire.
"Hey! Clarke!" a chipper voice called loudly.
The blonde spun, her blue eyes finding a rosy cheeked Octavia jogging toward her.
"What're you doing?" the brunette asked, stopping a few paces from Clarke.
"I'm not sure yet," Clarke answered.
Octavia stood awkwardly for a moment, unsure what to say to the blonde. Clarke's eyes scanned the camp, looking for anything she could do. As her blue orbs rolled over the front gate, a woman tripped into camp, lugging two crudely made buckets filled with water.
Clarke sprung into action, her mind working on autopilot as she rushed to the woman's side, grabbing the handle of one of the buckets. The woman looked up to see her helper, jumping back when she saw who it was.
The blonde's eyes widened as a gasp slipped from the woman's lips. She pulled her hands away, taking a step backward as the woman stumbled away, lugging both pails along with her.
"Wh-What?" Clarke stuttered, watching the woman leave.
"Don't worry about it."
Clarke turned to find Octavia standing behind her again.
"They don't get it," Octavia continued.
"Get what?"
"Us. Or why you and Bell did it."
"They're scared of me," Clarke whispered, eyes still on the retreating woman.
"Us, Clarke. A lot of them think we're savages or something."
"That was something else, Octavia. That wasn't her being skeptical. She was scared of me. Because of what I did on Mount Weather."
"No!"
Octavia was quick to correct her, jumping in front of the blonde.
"How do you know?" Clarke asked.
"Because Clarke, you did what you had to do. And Clarke, you weren't alone in that. Bellamy made that decision with you," Octavia grabbed the blonde by the shoulders, forcing her to look into her eyes.
"They don't know that. And plus, you saw how that woman looked at me. Like I'm unpredictable and unhinged. Something to be feared," Clarke argued.
"Listen to me, Clarke Griffin. That's one person. Ignore her, she doesn't understand the situation. They'll get over it soon enough."
Clarke huffed, giving up on the argument as she caught sight of tanned skin and black curls out of the corner of her eye. Octavia, noticing she had lost the older girl's attention, dropped her arms and gave Clarke a little push.
"He's helping build huts, you should go help," Octavia commented before skipping off.
Taking a deep breath and pushing any thought of the whole ordeal with the woman from her mind, Clarke marched over to Bellamy and a group of other kids she recognized from the original 100.
"Hey," she greeted the group lamely. "Can I help?"
"I don't see why not. Boys?" Bellamy looked around at the group of boys. They responded with shrugs and Bellamy smiled at the blonde,
The morning passed quickly, although to Clarke, it felt like eternity with all the strange looks and reactions she kept getting from people passing. She tried to brush it off, like Octavia had told her, but some cut deeper than others.
The worst came wen Clarke walked into the mess hall for lunch with Bellamy. The two were sweaty and covered in dirt, but they didn't seem to mind in the slightest as they took their portions of food and dropped into some chairs at the back of the room, sitting across from each other. They ate in silence, too busy shovelling food into their mouths to hold a conversation.
"You!" a voice suddenly screamed across the room.
The hall went silent and Clarke's head snapped up from her plate to see Jasper standing in the middle of the hall. Fury blazed in his eyes as he glared at the blonde. She was frozen in place as he stalked toward her, stumbling periodically in his drunken state until he was inches from her face.
"You killed her," he said lowly.
"I..." Clarke didn't know how to respond.
"You killed her!"
Suddenly, Jasper was hauled out of Clarke's face and she could see Bellamy restraining the drunken teen as Raven stood between them.
"Jasper! Jasper, calm down!"
Suddenly, like something snapped inside his mind, Jasper stopped struggling, hanging limply from Bellamy's arms. Bellamy untangled his arms from around Jasper's body. Jasper stodf silently for a moment, head hung and hands jammed into his pockets. As Raven stepped to the side, hus lunged, hands tearing from his pockets to reveal a knife.
It all passed in a blur to Clarke. One moment she stood on her feet. The next, she was pinned against a wall, knife to her throat. Fury blazed in the boy's eyes and Clarke could smell the moonshine on his breath.
"You killed her. And now I'm going to kill you," he mumbled, pressing the knife into her neck.
The blonde stood her ground, defermined to look strong in front of the huge crowd. Blood trickled down her neck, soaking into the collar of her shirt. And suddenly, his weight was pulled away, the cool blade canished from her throat. Clarke gasped, frantically pulling air into her lungs and ignoring the slight pull every time she moved her head. She could hear a struggle somewhere in the room, but couldn't care enough to look for it, instead focusing on her breathing and taking a mental inventory if her injuries.
"Clarke?"
The blonde turned to see Raven, concern lacced through her brown irises.
"I'm fine," Clarke answered quickly.
"Let's get you to the med bay," Raven ordered, placing a hand over the cut on the girl's neck, as well as one on her back, leading her out of the hall.
Clarke followed quietly, avoiding the looks and stares she got from the silent crowd. Some seemed sympathetic, giving her reassuring smiles while others seemed to sneer as she passed, like they were glad.
It didn't take long for the pair to reach the med bay; Bellamy had quickly caught up, and the two helped Clarke shuffle through the plastic flaps and into the make-shift medical area.
What greeted them was not somethjng Clarke, or really anyone, thought would ever happen. The blonde's eyes fell on her mother, who had yet to notice the trio. Abby was pinned to the far wall, Marcus Kane's hands wandering up thr doctor's shirt as her own hands were tangled in his dark curls. The pair were locked in a heated kiss, wigh Abby's leg flung carelessly over the councilman's hip. Clarke wished that he could pour rocket fuel into her brain annburn the image from her memory.
Suddenly, something snapped in Clarke's mind and the blonde spun on her heels and bolted out the doorway. She ran without thinking, slipping through the crack in the gate and rushed into the woods. She could hear shouts of her name echoing behind her, but she ignored them.
Of course, because she wasn't paying attention, Clarke caught her foot on a tree root, which sent her tumbling to the ground. Something snapped as she hit the forest floor and the blonde couldn't hold back her scream.
"She's this way!"
The blonde couldn't focus on anything besides the agonizing pain shooting through her leg, so she only noticed that someone was there to rescue her was when the shadow appeared, casting over her body as gentle, calloused hands brushed her tears away.
"We need to get her back to camp," a voice ordered.
Clarke heard someone grunt in approval before she felt herself being lifted into the air, strong, muscular arms supporting her weight.
"You're gonna be okay," a voice murmured.
Clarke shifted closer to the source of the voice befor she drifted if into blissful unconsciousness.