The Metal Monster

Clarke and Khalen were holding hands as they reached the gates to her people. Khalen was walking by her side for the journey, but now she was returning home Khalen walked slightly behind her. Khalen had never seen such barriers; the metal wirers grew high and buzzed angrily at them. Behind the fence's there was a massive cave of metal. Khalen didn't know how this could be a home to anyone. It looked like it was made for a battle, a bigger battle then any story she had ever heard. A longing for the lakes, and the forests made her body ache. She almost refused to go any further. The darkness of Clarke's clothing made sense in a place like this. Khalen always thought Clarke was ready for battle; her armoured dark clothes, her calculating eyes. But here Khalen felt out of place. She felt innocent and stupid, like if someone was to play a trick on her, she knew she would fail to understand it.

Khalen took a moment to look at Clarke; the girl's eyes fixed steadily at the gates, but her lips trembled a little. Khalen gave her palm a small squeeze. Clarke smiled, still looking at her old home and took a deep breath. Clarke wouldn't let anyone hurt me, Khalen thought, I will keep my eyes open, for me and for her. I will be her warrior if she needs me to be, but I will do it my way.

Clarke teared her eyes away from the gates and took both of Khalen's hands in hers. 'I'm not sure how this is going to go down. I left them. They may not want me back.' She tucked a strand of hair behind Khalen's ear 'Just keep near me. They might seem scary to you, but they are good people. They just might not act like it.' A shadow seemed to fall over Clarke as she said those last words, but she shook it off and carried on their way to the metal monster.

As they got closer to the fence, Khalen could make out people walking beside it holding strange metal spears. But Clarke took no notice of this, instead she carried on her slow cautious walk to the gate.

'Stay where you are and state your name and purpose!' Shouted an angry spear man.

Someone pushed him out of the way, Khalen barely heard him say 'Wait is that Clarke?'

Another man with floppy black/brown hair raced to join them. 'Clarke?' He asked looking at his comrades. He turned to look out of the gates. This is it, this will either be Clarke's death or Clarke's welcome. A smile spread over the Mr Floppy's face 'CLARKE!' he laughed. He ran through the opening gates, his smile escaping into his eyes.

Clarke let out a sob, but she was smiling too. They ran to each other, Mr Floppy picked her up and swung her around. Both of them giggling. Khalen hugged her arm slightly, letting them have their moment. She looked back over to the men who were talking before. The one who first noticed it was Clarke, wasn't like the others. He had his metal armour, but he wore Trikru war paint. The other man was still frowning. He was looking at her and evaluating her, the same as she was doing to him.

'Khalen' Clarke pulled her attention away, with a light tug on her dress 'This is Bellamy, he's a good friend of mine' He gave her a polite nod and a friendly smile 'And this is Khalen, she's been helping me…' She trailed off. Lost in her head.

'It's okay Clarke. I'm just glad you're back! We were so worried!' Bellamy started to walk back to the camp and the girls followed. 'Not everyone is happy that you left though, princess.' Mr Floppy didn't look at them when said his warning.

Khalen held onto Clarke's hand as they passed the metal fence. Princess? She's royalty? Flashes of Clarke's hands on her thighs, her lips on Clarke's neck, came to her. A sly smile worked on her face. She looked at the Bellamy boy and wondered if he was thinking the same thing. If he had similar memories. As Clarke made her way into the camp, she was hugged and called to by many people, warriors and civilians alike, she would stay close to Khalen and Bellamy though. Khalen wasn't sure which one Clarke was standing close to.

A group of people were watching the celebrations from the side-lines. Their arms were crossed and their gaze was fixed. Khalen made a mental note of every face in that group. They looked sturdy and fearsome, but Khalen had her ways. She noticed that Bellamy wasn't even looking at that group. Mr Floppy doesn't know as much about warfare as his costume suggests. Khalen followed his gaze and found that he was looking at a different group of people. These people were older slightly, they had an air of authority about them. Their clothes were cleaner than anyone else's. They might be the Chiefs. Khalen tried to understand their faces, but they all seemed hard to read.

When Clarke finally reached the Chiefs. She looked directly at the blonde woman. 'Mum' she said. Clarke really is a princess!

There was a moment's pause. The whole camp seemed to be holding their breath. The group of side-liners smiled. The Lady Chief took a decided step forward.

'You're home now.' She hugged her daughter, tears in both of the women's faces. The crowd cheered. 'We need to talk.' She whispered into Clarke's ear before grabbing her hand and storming into the metal cave.

Khalen rushed to keep with her them.

'You must stay here.' Said a mud splattered warrior. Khalen started to panic. The shine of metal threatened to blind her. She forgot how to speak. She tried to push the warrior out of the way, but she wasn't strong enough.

'No, I need her' Clarke pulled away from her mother and grabbed hold of Khalen's hand. The guard nodded to Clarke and let go. As a second though, he looked at the Lady Chief in fear, half ready to seize Khalen again.

'So be it' Clarke's mother said to the guard before marching in the metal monster.

Clarke stroke Khalen's hand as they followed. 'I wasn't going to leave you, K' she whispered 'I need you.'