Disclaimer: Do not own Marvel, DC or The 100 or His Dark Materials
Story inspired by Fireclaw111's daemon fic
Warnings for trauma and child abuse
Caracal
Clarke Griffin honestly hadn't expected for her daemon to settle as a caracal.
Her daemon, Artemis, had indeed settled as a sleek and agile caracal cat.
It was odd. Artemis had shifted throughout her and Clarke's lives together as many things.
As a fox, as an eagle, as a hamster, as a mink, as a small pony, as a dog, as a snake…either way, Clarke hadn't expected her daemon's designated settled form to be a caracal.
Then again, her daemon was considered rather unique among daemons.
Clarke had heard enough of her peers whispering about her having a daemon that was the same sex as her.
There were enough snickers about her that Clarke knew why it was considered such an oddity for someone to have a daemon that was the same sex as its human.
And Clarke knew what that meant people tended to say about her.
But they were wrong. Yes, Clarke sexually was drawn to women, but she was also drawn sexually to men.
She supposed that the reason why her daemon was the same sex as her, was because as she became an adult, she discovered that she was drawn sexually more to women then to men, even if she also was sexually attracted to men.
She supposed that there were degrees. Some people were sexually attracted to the opposite sex. Some people were sexually attracted to the same sex. Some people were sexually attracted to both sexes. Some people were attracted to neither sexes. Some people were sexually attracted to both sexes, but leaned more in one direction than the other, and that was Clarke, she was almost positive.
Clarke had a feeling that that was why "The Magisterium" had collapsed in the way it had.
Because people were finding it harder and harder to fit into the small box that the Magisterium had wanted them to fit in.
People didn't belong in categories, not really.
That was why no one could any longer abide by the Magisterium and why it was all but a bitter memory.
Clarke was happy that the Magisterium had collapsed. Almost all of them were charged with some sort of war crime.
Including Clarke's mother, Abby Griffin.
Clarke was happy for that too, even if she knew that she shouldn't have.
There were plenty others who were part of the Magisterium, who got what they deserved. Including those that were only workhands that were hired by them to abduct children to conduct experiments on them.
Bellamy Blake. Raven Reyes. John Murphy. Octavia Blake. Jasper Jordan. Dax Summers. Nathan Miller. Among many others.
Clarke couldn't say that she felt bad for their deaths.
Sounded like they did it to themselves. That was why when she heard of them having been executed through a firing squad, she had to admit to enjoying the sound of it.
And her mother, Abby Griffin, she also was executed.
For this? Clarke's father, Jake Griffin, had made sure that Clarke hadn't gone near the site of the execution.
What Clarke was afraid of her father ever finding out, was that her mother's execution was the execution that she had looked forward to the most.
Clarke's mother and father were the sharpest contrast against each other that you'd find in any couple of parents.
Abby Griffin was happy to keep the Magisterium's laws, Jake had gone against the Magisterium, but not outright in the open.
Abby never had loved Clarke. Clarke was almost positive that that was obvious.
Anyone who looked closely at Abby, could tell you that Abby never had loved Clarke, and just thought of Clarke as a means to an end. And never failed to remind Clarke how much she was disappointed in Clarke for not working for the Magisterium as she did.
Jake, on the other hand, always had loved Clarke. Would always praise Clarke, whenever Clarke did her best, whether it was in school or in her job at a shop near her and her parents' home.
And when Clarke's daemon settled as a caracal? Jake had praises ready for Clarke.
The last time Clarke had seen Abby? Abby had seen that Clarke's daemon had settled and that was just moments before Abby was arrested for her involvement in the Magisterium's actions, and as Clarke expected?
Abby had a remark of disappointment ready for Clarke.
Abby stared at Clarke, with her caracal daemon, Artemis next to Clarke, and Abby, as she and her golden eagle daemon, Frederick were dragged away, said, "I was hoping for a lioness. But I suppose you can't help but be a failure, can you, Clarke?"
Jake had stared at his wife as the woman he thought he knew was dragged off, his cane Corso daemon, Gioia, watching with great sadness in her big brown eyes.
Clarke had not witnessed her mother's execution.
But she couldn't say that she wasn't happy that her mother was dead.
Personally, she thought that death by a firing squad was far too merciful death than what Abby, Bellamy, Octavia, Raven, Jasper, Miller, Murphy and the others deserved.
Clarke, however, had seen enough of the executions to know how it happened.
The designated persecutor who was to be executed, was bound to a steel pole, a firing squad standing before them, all armed with loaded guns.
And the daemon of the person that was to be executed, was kept in a cage that was big enough to hold whatever the daemon was, and the cage was to be next to the pole where the person designated to be executed, was held captive until the execution was carried out.
After the person was shot and killed, and the daemon turned to dust, the killed human was cut down and given a proper burial.
The daemon was not separated from their human, before the human's execution, so as not to cause grievous and "unnecessary" suffering.
Clarke wasn't sure any mercy should be allowed.
It sounded as if suffering and pain and misery, was what Abby, Bellamy, Raven, Octavia, Jasper, Murphy, Miller and the others deserved.
The two executions that Clarke had witnessed, were those of John Murphy and of Raven Reyes.
Clarke had made sure that both Murphy and Raven saw her, before their executions.
And she made sure to smirk smugly at them, as they were gagged, bound and had terror in their eyes as the firing squad stood in front of them.
Raven's pig daemon, Ben, and Murphy's rat daemon, Emori, both screamed, releasing the pain of their humans, in indignity, as they were shot and killed.
Clarke knew that her father wouldn't approve should she ever tell him this, but she couldn't say that she hadn't enjoyed the sounds of the pig daemon's screams or the rat daemon's screams, not to mention the muffled screams that Raven and Murphy had issued through their gags before they were fired at.
When the rat turned to dust and the pig turned to dust and the dead Raven and the dead Murphy were cut down, Clarke almost thought about protesting the two of them getting proper burials, that the two of them should just be left to decay in the woods.
But she knew better than to say this.
It was two years since the last of the Magisterium's helpers, including Clarke's mother, were buried. And supposedly, all were now safe from the long since disbanded Magisterium.
It was here now, in this bar, where Clarke was staying, trying to empty her head of painful memories, by gulping down one drink after the next, ignoring her daemon advising her that it wasn't wise to do it, that three figures entered the bar.
Clarke glanced at where she heard footsteps enter.
Three women, extremely beautiful entered. One woman with long, chocolate brown hair, another with brown hair past her shoulders and one with red hair past her shoulders, entered the bar.
A rainbow boa was wrapped around the shoulders of the woman with the long, chocolate brown hair, a gray colored great Dane stood next to the other brown-haired woman, and the red-haired woman had a great horned owl atop her left shoulder.
Clarke knew better than to put too much stock in thinking that some stranger having a daemon similar to anyone that she disliked, was an omen.
Just because this red-haired woman had a bird of prey as her daemon, meant nothing.
One of her closest friends, Finn Collins, had a harrier hawk as a daemon.
So Clarke knew that just because someone had a bird of prey as their daemon, didn't mean that they'd be anything like her bitch of a mother, Abby Griffin, who had a golden eagle as her daemon.
And Clarke had a caracal as her daemon, and Octavia Blake, the sister of the worst of the helpers of the Magisterium, besides Clarke's mother, the man who happily grabbed children to take them to be experimented on and was in fact, a pedophile, named Bellamy Blake, had a large cat as her daemon.
Octavia's daemon, Octavius-yes, Octavia was so narcissistic that even if her daemon already had a name when she was born, she renamed her daemon after herself, when she was old enough to have an ego and to be able to articulate that she wanted her daemon to just be a mirror for her supposed "greatness", was a Pallas cat.
The Pallas cat, Octavius, naturally, had turned to dust, as soon as Octavia had died from the bullets shot at her from the firing squad.
Bellamy Blake's daemon, Veronica, if nothing else, was unique in the form that it had settled as.
A leech. A huge leech.
It was very fitting for Bellamy, Clarke supposed. And the leech had turned to dust, as soon as Bellamy died from the bullets.
The three women entered the bar, and slowly made their way over to the bar, and sat down next to Clarke, all three of them smiling at her.
The great horned owl, stepped off of the red-haired woman's shoulder and stepped onto the bar's counter, across from Clarke's daemon, and the great Dane daemon, sat down behind its human counterpart.
"Hello," the red-haired woman said, nodding to Clarke, "May we sit here?"
Clarke shrugged. She said, "You can do what you want."
"We've heard a lot about you, Clarke," the chocolate-haired woman said, "The witches told us a lot about you."
Clarke stiffened at that, at last turning her attention away from her almost finished glass of what she'd been drinking.
The witches. Crap.
The witches liked Clarke a great deal. The truth was? They practically adored Clarke.
As did the armored bears in the north.
The Gyptians weren't all that different.
Clarke had helped all of them quite a lot, during the fall of the Magisterium.
But Clarke knew that for the witches and the bears, it went deeper than that. For the witches and the bears, Clarke was apparently, some sort of communal daughter.
The bears and witches honestly, were far better parents than Clarke's birth mother, Abby, ever had been.
Jake Griffin, Clarke's father, never seemed displeased by that.
If anything, he seemed extremely relieved. He seemed happy that Clarke had all these people here for her.
He was going to be marrying Callie Cartwig soon, and Callie adored Clarke too.
But Clarke knew that Jake was worried that Clarke would need more affection than just from two people.
Clarke hated that she was sure that Jake was right.
"How do you know of the witches?" Clarke asked cautiously.
"Hmm," the chocolate-haired woman said, "I'm sure you're aware that sometimes witches have children with normal people?"
Clarke's eyes widened in realization.
Clarke indeed had met those that were born of both witches and normal human beings.
It appeared that these three were among these "half-breeds."
Clarke would never refer to them as that, but she had heard more than a few people refer to the children of witches and normal humans as such.
"Your mothers are witches?" Clarke asked, surprised.
"That they are," the red-haired woman said, smiling.
"The witches," the brown-haired woman with the great Dane as her daemon, said, "They wish to have an audience with you. They wish to bestow a way of repaying you for your part in helping in the rebellion against the Magisterium."
Clarke almost laughed. Because usually when things like this appeared, it was one of those things that were "too good to be true." Besides, why would the witches do this? They already considered her a daughter. Why add to it?
At Clarke's skeptical expression, the chocolate-haired woman said, "Clarke, we understand why you would be suspicious. But please join us at the witches' cliffs. We all would like to see you."
Clarke hesitated, then turned to her daemon.
Artemis, who was silent until now? Said, her voice quiet, "We won't know unless we go."
Clarke sighed. Yes, Artemis was right about that.
Clarke turned back to the three women.
She asked, "Can I know your names?"
"My name is Natasha Romanoff," The redheaded woman said, and she nodded to her owl daemon, "This is Sofiya."
The owl spoke to Clarke, "Hello, Clarke," the voice sounded extremely feminine.
Clarke's eyes widened. Another daemon that was the same sex as its human?
The chocolate brown-haired woman said, "My name is Wanda Maximoff," and she stroked the head of her rainbow boa's head, "This is Sergei."
The other brown-haired woman said, smiling, "My name is Maria Hill," she turned and gestured to her great Dane daemon at her back, "This is Vivian."
Clarke nodded, and still hesitated, but again, intrigued about all this.
She said quietly, "I guess you'll know when the time comes, if I'll take you up on the witches' offer, if I show up or not."
All three Natasha, Maria and Wanda smiled at this.
"We all hope you'll show up," Maria announced, and Clarke tried to avert her eyes from these three gorgeous faces.
Clarke hadn't had a relationship in a while. Not with any men lately or any women lately.
And the sight of these three practically ethereal beauties, stunned her.
Clarke knew precisely where the witches' cliffs were.
And knew precisely how to get there.
After several hours of talking with these three startling and enchanting women, and after learning when specifically it was Clarke should show up at the witches' cliffs, Clarke and her companions parted ways for the night.
Clarke walked back to her father and Callie's house, Artemis right next to her, moving along.
"What do you think?" Artemis asked as the two of them walked together.
"I don't know," Clarke admitted, "I feel like the witches would have contacted me before if they intended to give me anything. But on the other hand? Even I don't know everything that the witches are thinking."
This was true. One of the things that Clarke had obtained during the rebellion against the Magisterium, was a compass of sorts. What was called an "alethiometer."
For some reason, Clarke didn't know why, but somehow, she was able to read it.
She still had it secured in the lefthand pocket of her pants from when she had put it there this morning.
She never went anywhere without it.
And this meant, that since she could read the compass without additional tools like texts from ancient tomes, she could read if these three women she'd met at the bar, meant her any danger at all.
Still, she always was cautious about using it. Yet, it was one of the few things that had never lied to her, besides her father, her two closest friends, Wells and Finn, her own daemon and the various witches and bears.
If it told her the truth, then shouldn't she trust it?
That was why, as soon as she and Artemis got home, hugged Jake, greeted his daemon, Gioia, hugged Callie and greeted her poodle daemon, Simba, and the two of them headed to their room, Clarke pulled out the compass and started to mentally ask the question if she could trust the three women who were asking her to meet with the witches, and Artemis sat down, waiting.
Clarke's eyes widened.
The compass was telling her that those women at the bar could be trusted, and that they were who they said they were.
Clarke turned to Artemis, but Artemis understood as soon as Clarke met her gaze. Artemis knew what the compass had said, and it had made up the minds of both Clarke and her daemon. They were going to see the witches.
At the cliffs of the witches, many of the witches, all ready and happy to see Clarke again soon, shared smiles with each other, as three of their daughters arrived back at the cliffs with their daemons.
The other children of the witches, Tony, Pepper, Frank, Diana, their daemons and all the others, had waited, as well.
"Do you think she will come?" Maria asked.
Several of the witches gave their answer. Yes, absolutely. They believed it.
And when Clarke arrived, they could tell her the other prophecy that they had found, besides the one that Clarke was destined to help take down the Magisterium.
That Clarke was meant to marry the sons and daughters of the witches, and have those who ruled these cliffs at her beck and call.
Natasha, Wanda, Maria and the other children of the witches shared their smiles, as well.
Well, they looked forward to when Clarke would come here. They hoped Clarke wasn't displeased at the prospect of marrying them. They would not be offended if she didn't say "yes," but they suspected that she would.