"Hey, can we talk?" Lexa asked with her hands tucked in her back pockets. She slowly manuevered around the roof vents until she sat next to Demetria. The two sat and stared at the sunset, their legs dangling off the ledge. Demetria had simply wiggled her jaw in an acknowledgement to Lexa's presence, staring at the setting sun. Warm colors melted into each other as the sun stretched it's final rays and dipped into the beyond, resting for another night.
"They branded me." Demetria said, breaking the silence; her voice wavering. Lexa snapped her head to her, a look of pure fury on her face.
"What?" Lexa asked slowly, assuming she had heard the wrong statement.
Demetria lifted her right arm, slowly unraveling the pastel bandage that concealed the burn mark.
Lexa sucked in a sharp breath as the bandage fell off and the mark was revealed.
It was bloodied and scabbed but the mark could still be noticed. Demetria avoided looking at it, her eyes carring unshed tears.
"Yu laik a gona." You're a warrior Lexa said, slowly turning her arm so she could look at the brand in all angles. "It means warrior."
Lexa saw red blisters on the arm, and assumed that Demetira had tried to scratch the mark off. Multiple times.
"It means I belong to them. I'm property." Demetria snapped back, rewrapping the wound.
"They did it to remind you were you come from."
Demetria had opened her palm and deep scars from her fingernails stuck out like a sore thumb.
"That doesn't make it better."
"Where we're from doesn't make us who we are. Someone from the sky and someone from the ground could find the strangest similarity. It's our roots Demetria, not our hearts."
"Everything they taught me is still in my head, I can't get it out."
"Head versus Heart." It always will be the head against the heart.
"It's embedded in my brain Lexa. I get nightmares, that I can't wake up from. I hear things and I-"
"It's called PTSD, you'll get through it. Yu don seingeda, yongon." You have family, child.
Demetria finished wrapping her arms and wiped her tears, smiling a bit as Lexa reminded her of what she had.
"Everyone has had an identity crisis, yours is just ten times more dramatic; you'll be fine." Demetria giggles in response. "Everyone misses the old Demetria so now would be a good time to come back to us." Lexa finished, laughing as the teen rolled her eyes.
"There we go. One more thing-" Lexa started,
"Nomou wochop, beja." No more lessons, please Demetria said hastily as she stood up and walked off back into the house before Lexa could catch her.
***
"Why's everybody so silent?" Lincoln asked in his seat next to Octavia. A friend and family reunion was called for and Clarke being Clarke had prepared a last minute dinner with, of course Clarke not actually making the dinner.
"It feels weird without Luna." Octavia informed him.
"Well I say good riddance." Demetria said, earning a round of agreement as she tucked into her pasta.
"Let's leave this all behind, we can only move forward." Anya stated, watching Raven warily from across the table. Clarke nearly suffocated at the sexual tension and changed the topic before more heated glances could be exchanged.
"So Bellamy, Octavia are you staying?"
"I am. I prefer working with you than watching a bunch of virgins rave about lame frat parties all day."
Lincoln and Bellamy both stopped eating and eyed Octavia, who ignored their looks and continued on with the conversation.
"Bellamy's staying too, apparently Florida sucks." Octavia finished, Bellamy nodded his agreement as he swallowed his food.
The group carried on their mild chatter but out of the corner of her eye, Clarke saw Lexa paste a bit of pasta sauce on Demetria's nose. Demetria giggled as she tried to lick it off with her tongue, but alas, it was too short. Lexa laughed at the failed attempt, and at that the room seemed brighter at the tenfold for Clarke.
Demetria stubborn as ever, nose bumped Lexa on the cheek; and the two sported matching pasta sauce before they wiped it off merrily.
"Clarke?" Raven asked from beside her.
"Hmm?"
"You just invented infatuation."
***
"Clarke Welcome Back!" Harper greeted with coffee and a Manila folder.
"Feels good to be back."
"While you were gone, our sales doubled and your stocks took a spike from the political events." Harper informed curtiously. She carefully placed both items on Clarke's glass desk before dismissing herself out of the office.
Before the rush of a brand new day at the office, Clarke decided to text Lexa about how her first day back.
Mon Amour
Clarke: How's it going?
Lexa: I almost killed half my employees.
Clarke: So, a normal day.
Lexa: Basically.
Clarke laughed and slid her phone back into her purse as her work tablet illuminated with emails and reminders. Back to work.
***
"Why are you driving me again?" Demetria asked, sliding her sunglasses on as they neared the school.
"Well I'm not employed, Clexa are working, Octavia's unpacking, and Raven can't walk." Emori listed concisely.
"Can't walk yet." Raven corrected from the passenger seat.
"Right, not yet."
"Demi, whatever you do, don't get called into the principals office. I'm pretty sure he'll recognize me." Emori says, articulating each word as if she recalled a specific memory.
"You went to the same high school?" Demetria asks, her jaw slightly dropping in shock. Emori nodded as Raven giggled a bit in the back seat. "I- Wait what'd you do?"
"Let's just say the memorial statue of Lincoln in the courtyard originally had two arms."
The car pulled into the parking lot and Demetria slipped out after thanking the two of them.
"Blow something up Denis!" Raven called out of the car window.
"You got it Ralph!" Demetria shouted back.
***
"Funny to find you here."
Demetria spun around to be greeted by Tris, the girl holding her books and wearing a confident grin. Being caught off guard, Demetria shut her open mouth to hide her surprise.
"You didn't visit me at the hospital." She noted, slightly frowning as Demetria's signature emotionless mask blended in a defense mechanism.
"I could say the same about you." Demetria snapped back, smirking as her words slowly returned to her.
Tris opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by a loud and booming voice.
"The glorious soldier returns!"
Demetria looked past Tris' shoulder to see Aden, parading down the hall with Leto and Atom; whom she had learnt the names of previously.
"Tris, this is Aden, Leto and Atom." Demetria introduced, "Aden was born Trikru, Leto born Azgeda and Atom's just Atom."
Atom kindly offered his hand, to which Tris barely glanced down at. Aden and Leto laughed, knowing the customs.
"Of course, what did I expect." Atom mumbled, his smile not faltering.
"Join us for lunch, Leto has a way of swaying the lunch lady for extra brownies." Aden said, smiling as Tris perked up at the mention of brownies.
Demetrias feud with Aden had dissolved overtime, both of them admiring each other's persistence and pride. Now their malicious battles were reduced to pranks or annoyingly timed phone calls. Not everyone is a permanent enemy.
***
"So where have you been Demi-kins?" Aden asked through a mouthful of Mac & Cheese. Demetria kept her calm, even though the question caught her off guard.
"Let's just call it a family vendetta. Also don't call me that." Demetria finished shortly, disregarding the look Tris had sent her.
"So it's not this?" Atom asked, holding up newspapers with headlines reading 'MISSING PEOPLE FOUND' or 'GANG AFFILIATED FAMILY ANNOUNCED INNOCENT'. There were at least four or five of them, each with a clear photo of herself and Raven; some papers even including Lexa and Clarke.
"What's that?" Demetria asked, playing dumb.
Tris put down her apple and curiously grabbed the newspapers from Atom, reading each one carefully.
"Yea that happened too I guess." Demetria gave in, calmly looking straight at Aden from across the table. He felt threatened by his friend's calm demeanor, dropping his act to look at something in the distance instead. Demetria lingered her fingers over Tris' apple, fiddling with it silently.
"What is this?" Tris asked, motioning to the paper as she continued skimming each page.
"It's called a newspaper, it's the internet but limited and on paper." Atom explained, taking apart his sandwich and reconstructing it to his liking.
"Wait what's the internet?" Tris asked with fake curiosity. Atom paused his eating with wide eyes, only to sigh in relief as the others burst out laughing.
"Heyyy it's me!" Tris said gleefully, holding up a paper to show a low quality photo of the mill; Demetria and Tris sat in the corner in a deep discussion, oblivious of the photo being taken.
***
The morning sun peeked through the curtains, slowly waking Clarke. The glowing rays penetrated through the thin sheets which covered her head, and a soft breath on her neck persuaded her to flutter her eyes open. Lexa slept comfortably by her side, gently breathing with one arm around Clarke. At that moment Clarke wished she could freeze time and stay in that bubble forever, finally understanding what the power could grant her. But alas, after a long grateful moment, she slithered out of bed and to the bathroom to prepare herself for a lazy Saturday.
When she gleefully entered the kitchen she saw Demetria sat on the stool with a plate of untouched pancakes, an annoyed look gracing her face pointed towards Raven and Anya; Octavia right next to her in the same situation. The other two were silently working on more pancakes, sending glares to each other every chance they got.
"What's going on?" Clarke asked, slowly walking in the tense room.
"Raven and Anya are having one of their unresolved sexual tension staring matches while they pretend to be mad at eachother." Octavia spewed. "Hey it's the truth." Octavia defended when the latter two sent death glares at the girl.
"I'm out, I'll be peacefully eating my pancakes in the living room if anyone needs me." Demetria grabbed her plate of pancakes and stuck her tongue out playfully at Clarke in greeting, the blonde stole a warm blueberry from the girls plate as she passed by.
"Mm, right behind you." Octavia said, grimacing in disgust when Raven and Anya continued their silent feud. Clarke laughed and grabbed a plate Raven had just finished preparing, sitting on the counter as she began eating.
"Oh Demi, tomorrows trash day. Don't forget, you're on duty." Clarke called.
"I can't believe they dedicated a whole day to Raven." Anya mumbled as she left the kitchen with her own plate, leaving an offended Raven and amused Clarke.
***
"Do I look straight?" Clarke asked, peering over the edge of her car door.
"Not in the slightest." Raven said, not even checking if Clarke was on the line.
"I meant my parking job." Clarke specified, checking her side mirrors after she glared at Raven.
"Oh, yea you're fine then." Raven corrected.
As Clarke hopped out of her car, Lexa pulled up right next to them. Demetria jumped out before the car had stopped completely, with a look almost matching infuriated.
"You left me there to die!" Demetria seethed as Lexa got out the car as well.
"BUT there's a reason..."
(wink wink, nudge nudge)
"Okay what's going on?" Clarke asked, stepping in between the two, she knew how dramatic they could get.
"She forgot to pick me up after school yesterday. Anya had to come get me, you know how embarrassing that was? She's a stripper!"
Clarke resisted the urge to laugh as Lexa rolled her eyes behind Demetria.
"There's nothing wrong with being a stripper." Raven mumbled, walking off as Lexa raised an eyebrow.
"Okay well you'll learn to drive soon enough." Clarke smiled, earning a grin from Demetria.
"Tris is waiting for you, you might want to run." Raven called, pointing to a figure in the distance by a soccer goal. The wind blew her untied strands of her, she squinted her eyes as the afternoon sun glared.
Demetria sent one last look at Lexa before she ran off to the field, dribbling her soccer ball between her feet. Lexa laughed, sending a string of butterflies running through Clarke's abdomen.
"I'll watch them." She said, following Demetria onto the spacious field. Clarke couldn't help but smile as she watched Lexa catch a ball that Tris had kicked and sent it flying to the goal post.
"You know, those Clan girls don't smile but when they do, it's the best feeling in the world." Raven stated, watching the trio as well. The wind almost carried away Raven's words, but Clarke picked them up before they floated away.
"Can't argue with that."
xxx
Have a good day!
-Cassia