19; daughter of night and day

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"She had fallen in love with him twice. She loved him now with both loves, so overpowering it was almost unbearable."

― Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone


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PEOPLE CAME STUMBLING OUT OF THE DOORWAY, NOW. Grounders, with bandages and blood pressed to their skin. Blankets had been fit around their frail shoulders. Their skin was a deathly pale, exposing the hollows of their cheeks and skin clinging to bones.

The clearing had fallen silent, soldiers abandoning their offensive stance.

The prisoners escaped? Naomi stepped forward past the crowd, craning to get a look at the friends she hadn't seen in months. More grounders emerged from the doorway: the bled.

The guards had lowered their weapons, Skaikru and Grounders alike. They murmured amongst each other, wondering what was happening.

A cluster of footsteps came from the woods and the grounder army began to turn towards the noise. "Heda!" someone exclaimed. "Heda, Heda!" And Naomi turned behind her to watch Lexa approach.

The crowd parted as the commander's war party returned. Their weapons were stained red. Lexa walked in front of them. She had blood smeared over her face, and was leading along a beaten Emerson. His hands were bound by rope.

"What's this?" said Naomi, stepping up beside Clarke.

"They're surrendering?" Clarke asked.

Emerson shook his head. "Not quite." The mountain man had a slight smile on his face. Noe took an apprehensive step back, unsure at the hard expression on the commander's lips.

Naomi's eyes turned back to the door, where the grounder prisoners were exiting. They were on shaking legs, frightened and injured. Each were in their undergarments, cuts and bruises and scars littering their limbs.

But there were none of her people.

Naomi took a slow step towards, head tilted and eyes narrowed to reveal the pained gaze of disbelief. It couldn't be like this. Her sword hung limp in her fingertips.

"What did you do?" Clarke asked behind her.

Lexa answered with all the strength of a heatless Commander. "What you would have done. Saved my people."

Then, Naomi shook her head slowly. Her body faced the doorway now. The last grounders left the mountain, and no one else with them.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Emerson, now free of his bonds. The man slipped back into the mountain, through the open door. What had Lexa let happen?

There was a brief moment where Naomi wasn't sure what to do. The open door hovered across the clearing, and Ley behind her. The blonde slid her sword back into her fingers. Of course, it was obvious. She'd fight one thousand mountain men to find her friends.

But as she turned to confront Lexa, the door began to close.

Her head snapped towards the scene as the cement door began to slid inwards. "No!" She sprinted towards the entrance. It squealed shut before she reached it, stone doors sealing forever as Naomi cried out. She threw her body against it, sword clattering against stone. Her shoulder jarred into the cement. The girl froze for a moment in despair, fingers hovering above her knees where she'd collapsed against the door. She turned back to Lexa with wild eyes. "What have you done?" she cried. Her fingers gripped the cold cement.

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐑, bellamy blake  ²Where stories live. Discover now