Hi! Two chapters in one night. I guess that's how it's going to be. You'll never know when I'll be posting, I'll never know when I'll be posting... I promise I'll do my best to not abandon this story though. You know what would help on that? Comments! Would be nice to know if anyone's actually reading this thing.
Disclaimer: The creators of the TV series "The 100" have made up a whole cast of amazing characters. I'm not going to say anything about them then killingoff the best characters... but there ya go. I borrow them and put them in my own story.
This chapter includes nudity, mentions of a sexual relationship between two females, some oogling from Raven and some pain and sorrow. Oh, and a dead body. And hints of violence.
Only Clarke in this one. Lexa's stuck in an airplane above the Atlantic.
Clarke sighed contentedly as she let her body submerge in the hot bath, letting the water surround her and soothe her aching muscles. She could think of few things as satisfying as a bath. Unfortunately, water was scarce so she didn´t get many opportunities to indulge, even with the camp being self suficcient with water due to a clever system of collecting and purifying rainwater signed Raven Reyes.
Only on opportunities like this, where they had a surplus they couldn´t do anything else with did the resources allow for such a luxury. On this occasion it was the move to the bush camp. They had already tanked up as much water as they could transport, and Raven had been quite pleased when she read the remaining levels, and immediately went about heating it. Now they were all scattered about camp in makeshift tubs, and Clarke knew she would have a very satisfied and relaxed team come supper time.
Good, she thought. Might make them more lenient towards the whole journalist idea. She knew they probably would still be quite unhappy about it, but maybe the current bliss could help them towards accepting the unevitable.
The water was really warm, and Clarke sat up in the tub to cool off some, her torso now above water and arms hanging out of the tub. She didn't want to end her bath quite yet, and once again she lost herself in thoughts about the journalist, how to cope with her team and the extra logistics.
"Griffin! I just got a call over the sat-phone and….oh!" Raven, having come bursting into the tent excitedly waving a piece of paper about now stood frozen, mouth agape.
"Raven!" Clarke clammered to cover up, resulting in her slipping in the tub and for a moment ending up completely submerged in the bath. Surfacing again, sputtering and rubbing her eyes, she took care to keep everything below her neck securely under water as she compsed herself.
"Raven," she said again, trying to get the attention of her tech who was still looking at her, but seemingly lost in thought. Upon hearing Clarkes voice, Raven seemed to snap back into action, looking at Clarke with a puzzled expression.
"Raven", tird time, "you said something about the sat phone?"
"Y-yeah, right, sat-phone. Indra Woods assistant called. She said to expect Lexa Woods at the Nelspruit airport tomorrow at 4 am."
"Lexa Woods… isn't that the travel journalist you've been obsessing about?" Clarke inquired.
"Well, yeah, I mean, not obsessing… but she is quite amazing. And hot. Ehm…" Raven was rambling, and Clarke decided to be merciful. Thanking Raven for the message, she sent her on her way. Upon exiting the tent Raven still had a slightly clouded gaze.
Clarke leaned back in the water, mulling over Ravens reaction to seeing her naked torso. It wasn't like she had never seen it before. She and Raven had shared a tent forever, and frequently changed clothes in the presence of each other. Yet, that look… Clarke recognised that look. No-one had looked at her like that since… Harper. Sighing, Clarke allowed her mind to wander where she usually denied it. Harper. The blond beauty had been the sixth member of their team, Lincoln's poacher-hunting partner and Clarkes… her what? Lover, certainly. Friend, as she had been to all of them. But more than that. Even though they had bever talked about it, Clarke had known it was about more than sex, for the both of them.
About a year ago, Lincoln had come stubling back into camp in the middle of the night in a really bad state. He and Harper had been gone for a couple of days, following leads on some poachers observed not far from their camp. They hadn't been able to get much out of him, but the following morning, Clarke and Bellamy had taken the helicopter and scanned the area Lincoln and Harper had been working in. After about an hour, Clarke had spotted something on the ground. From there, her memory went cloudy, but Harper's bloody and battered body, and her blonde hair sticking to a grizzly wound on the side of her head would stick in her memory forever.
They had cremated Harper and scattered her ashes from Bellamy's helicopter, across the lands she had protected with her life.
Lincoln never talked much about what happened. He went out with Bellamy the following day, and when they came back they both wore somber expressions, and were covered in blood though none of them appeared hurt. Since then Bellamy had accompanied him on his missions.
Clarke Closed her eyes, allowing one tear to fall from each. She knew there was nothing she could have done. She knew Harper had been perfectly aware of how dangerous what she and Lincoln did was. She knew Harper, like Lincoln and now Bellamy, was a hunter to the bone, was a killer. Even though they never talked about it, she knew Harper paid the price that it ultimately cost to keep the majestic animals they all loved alive.
They had talked about it once. The discussion had been about whether either of them would ever return to "civilisation", find a job, live in a city or even a town and not a tent. Clarke had been unsure. The real subject of the conversation, whether either of them pictured a life together, had been unsaid.
"I don't know, Clarke. I am not even sure I would be able to anymore."
"Don't say that, of course you would. You have so many skills, Harper. And this life… I mean, I love it and it is important, but there are so many more things to life as well. So much more than blood and dirt and the same fight over and over. Don't we deserve more, someday?"
"That's just it Clarke. I am not sure I can ever leave this fight, that it will ever leave me. I don't know that I deserve anything else. The things I've done…"
"Have been necesarry, Harper. They have been keeping us alive, and the animals. And despite it all, you are still here with me like this, still capable of being gentle, and kind, and thats why I… That's why you are so much stronger than this, H."
"I loved you, Harper". Clarke whispered it, eyes still shut, two new tears trickling down her cheeks. Maybe admitting it would finally give her some closure. Arising from the now cold bath, Clarke dried off and put on a fresh set of clothes. Across camp, she could smell supper cooking.