Her knees had began to ache, the ground bellow her finally numbing the joints and making her skin throb. Her eyes burned red from the thick smoke that leaked from the wreckage. Black blood seeped from her overly clenched fists, nails cutting far too deep into her skin.
"Lex" a hand came to gently rest on her shoulder "Lexa you've been here for hours. It's getting dark."
Lexa refused to respond. The flames burned brighter in the dimming light, after all.
"Please, come have something to eat. Get some rest. We can look for survivors in the morning and-"
"No" Lexa grumbled. Her voice was thick with emotion, croaky from the smoke, lost- like her people.
"Lexa please just-"
"I said. No." Lexa pushed the hand from her shoulder and stood, legs weak. She took the reigns of her loyal horse which hadn't once dared to move from where she had left it.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Clarke moved to stand in front of her. She clasped a hand over hers to stop her.
"Let go, Clarke"
"Not until you tell me where you're planning on going."
Lexa clenched her jaw and looked up. That anger she had was slowly burning it's way out. She moved to mount her horse but the blonde gripped her arms to stop her. She turned to Clarke.
"Lexa just wait until day, you're upset I know but just stay." Clarke nearby begged. She gently tugged on her arm, "stay"
Lexa drew her sword and lifted it to Clarke's throat, gripping her shirt in her fist with the other and pinning her against the poor horse's side. Clarke's eyes widened with shock... and fear.
"If you don't let me go, Clarke. I will kill you." Lexa whispered "Don't make me kill you. I have to do this. Don't make me kill you."
"Lexa-"
"Clarke. Please!" Her hands shook, tears rolling down her cheeks. Clarke bit her lip, watching the broken women quiver in a fight against rage and fear within herself.
"You know I'd never hurt you. Right?"
Lexa's voice echoed around Clarke's head like a mantra. Green eyes looked wild as they stared back at her, but they were still hers.
"Lex" she whispered, pouring her heart into the one nickname.
She slowly touched Lexa's arm, pushing it gently away from her. The sword retreated from her throat, and dropped to the floor. She wiped the tears from the brunettes eyes and smiled up at her. That was all it took to bring Lexa back to reality.
The commander dropped to her knees for a second time, and let out a loud sob which echoed further than she could ever allow before. Lexa face clashed into Clarke's abdomen and she cried into her shirt. Clarke ran her fingers through the chestnut hair and sighed, closing her eyes.
"I'm sorry" Lexa sniffed against her "I didn't- I didn't mean-"
"I know." Clarke smiled again
"How?"
"You told me you'd never hurt me. I still believe you."
"I won't. I won't."
Clarke noticed eyes peering through the trees which no doubt belonged to Lexa's loyal soldiers. It must be new to see Lexa in such a state, crying instead of remaining stoic and emotionless. But Clarke didn't feel sorry for her. In fact, she felt proud of her for showing her feelings. Because love, sadness and joy still existed in the world, no matter how many times people tried to ignore it.
"I'm not going to stop you from leaving"
Lexa pulled away from Clarke and looked up at her from her knees, waiting for her to continue.
"But I'm going with you."
"No"
"You need someone there with you."
"Wanheda is right." A tall man stepped forward through the trees. His heavily tattooed arms bulged through his thin shirt, large calloused hands holding an even larger battle axe over his shoulder. His dark blue eyes watched them with something Clarke could only label as inspiration. A few other men of similar sizes appeared behind him, as well as several fierce looking women "We will go with you."
Lexa quickly got to her feet, wiping her face with her forearm to make herself more presentable. Clarke ran a hand down her side to provide some form of comfort or support.
"There's no need to be ashamed of crying, heda" He spoke softly for a man his size "My children were in Polis. I have cried also."
"You should go rest. Take time to mourn your losses"
"The dead are gone, the living are hungry." He said "I heard you say that years ago in TonDC. After the first alliance with skaikru."
Lexa gave him a lone nod after a moment of thought, and mounted her horse, leaning down to hold out her hand for Clarke. The blonde swiped up the sword that still rested on the ground and took her hand.
"Hey, where are you going?" Luna questioned as she jogged towards her
"Where do you think?"
"I'm coming with you."
"I'm leaving now."
"I'll catch up"
Lexa huffed and prepared to argue for Luna to stay, but arms wrapped around her waist and blonde hair fell on her shoulder as Clarke leant into her from behind her. She closed her mouth.
"Let's just go. If anyone wants to join us, they can" Clarke said quietly
"I was supposed to go alone"
"Well, you're stuck with us, aren't you?"
"I want whoever stays behind in the rubble as soon as the flames have calmed down to search for survivors" Lexa nudged her horse into a light trot and called over her shoulder "As for you, mount up. Do not fall behind as I will not stop."
With the trampling of heavy hooves behind and below her, galloping in the direction where Pike had disappeared to. She kept an eye on the trail of footprints left behind foolishly by Pike. Clearly, he wasn't as smart as he thought he was. Lexa looked back to the remains of Polis one more time before she disappeared behind the trees.
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"Luna? Hey!" Raven caught Luna's hand "You're not going with them, are you?"
Luna turned to stare at Raven with confusion, as if it was ridiculous for Raven to even think she would stay behind. She gave a heavy shrug.
"We need you here"
"Raven, Pike is out there with Lexa tracking him down. Polis is in ruins and Lexa could be in danger."
"What about all those people inside Polis who are still alive? Are they not in danger too?" Raven gripped her shoulders "Are you going to run away from this mess and leave them, just to kill a man who's probably already dead? Look Pike is a real unique kind of asshole but Lexa has this! Those people need you!" Luna glared back at her, both women taking on a menacing stance. But Raven stood her ground, and Luna gave in.
Luna pushed away Raven's hands from her shoulders and spun on her heels, making her way towards the group of people who sat huddled around a small fire, mumbling quietly to themselves. At the sound of Luna's angered voice, their heads shot up.
"Members of floukru, I want you to weave large water buckets and fill them up at the lake. You'll find it just south of Polis- it's where they find most of their water source." She turned around the campfire, eyes on a mission as she searched the people "Trikru. Make as many stretchers you can with the materials we have. Everyone else, come with me. We're searching the ruins"
"For survivors?"
"And the dead. They all deserve a burial, and their traditions should be respected." Luna said "Find Abby. We will no doubt need her medical expertise very soon"
Monty rushed towards her, eyes wide and strangely ready "Jasper is still in there- I... I... what can I do?"
"What do you suggest?"
"I can... find herbs. Make some burn ointments or something? Harper can help me."
"Good. Bellamy, Echo, come with me. I need as much help as I can find to find as many survivors as I can. Polis is large in area, which means we need as many teams as possible transporting people here and away from the rubble and fire."
"I was going to go regardless of what you were going to tell me" Echo said, stretching her arms. Bellamy smiled warmly at her, squeezing her shoulder gently.
Luna was on a mission as she stormed down the slope of grass and towards Polis. Her hands were clenched into tight fists as she reached the perimeter of the rubble and flames. She could tell which stone had came from the tower, which stone had came from the surrounding buildings. There was nothing left of the wooden village homes apart from small splinters of broken wood. Luna stumbled her away over to the innocent victims.
There were more people than she had ever imagined, sprawled across the floor with their limbs tangled in awkward places from their panic. They were still. Entirely and painfully still. She walked up to a the closest corpse- a tall, slender man whose cheekbones protruded all too far out, and who's ribs could be seen through his shirt. The poor men and women of Polis had been starving over Pike's rule, and it only made Luna more blood thirsty.
She gently gripped his shoulder, as if too much pressure would cause I'm to fade between her fingers, and rolled him on his side. At first, she focused on his face which, even in death, looked terrified and afraid. But then something else. A bundle of blankets rolled from between his arms.
She brushed back fuzzy curls as she ducked her head down to explore the blankets. She carefully threaded her fingers through the folds of the blankets, and was met with warmth. Frowning, she pushed back the stained cloth.
"Holy shit" came Bellamy's whisper
A small baby, with hands and feet still blue from birth, lay motionless on the ground.
"She can't be more than a few days old." Echo said carefully as she got closer, she looked over to the man "he must have spent everything he had to feed her. I suppose he tried to shield her from the blast too."
"Well, he failed to shield her well enough." Luna mumbled quietly to herself.
The way the baby lay still in her arms, eyes closed and still, drew her to anger. She gently lay her back on the blankets.
"What are you doing?" Echo questioned
But Luna ignored her. Instead, she placed trap fingers on the baby's chest and lightly pressed. She repeated it for a few moments.
"Chest compressions." Bellamy explained as he bent down to help.
Luna felt the tears bubbling in her eyes. She told herself she would be fine with seeing the corpses. She had seen many before. But those bodies were on battlefields, and the dead had been her enemy. These people were innocent, people of all ages.
"Come on" Luna whispered with a rugged breath.
A short gasp caught in the baby's throat, followed by a loud roar of crying. Dark brown emerged from behind her eyelashes as wide eyes flew open and stared up at her. Luna sighed heavily and lifted the tiny body into her arms, rubbing her back in small circles.
"It's okay, you're okay." Luna cooed gently into the baby's ear "Everything is going to be okay now, I promise."
The baby's loud cries dissolved into small whimpers just as Luna's shoulder had formed a small patch of tears in her shirt. She took that time of peace and quiet to wrap her back up in the bankers. She looked up at Echo.
"Take her back to Raven. Get her to take care of her until this is all over, and ask Abby to check her over." Luna ordered, handing the baby into a stunned Echoes arms. The other woman fumbled to hold the child properly, earning a small chuckle from Bellamy. Luna wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and lightly closed the dead father's eyes.
"Yu gonplei ste odon" she said sadly before standing, eyes scanning the rest of the people "Search every body, look for anyone alive. This may take a while."
"What are you going to do?" Bellamy asked
"I'm going to go further into the rubble. Try dig around and find people inside."
"You should wait for a team..."
"Every second we wait, another person could die. I'm not waiting." Luna bit back.
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It was far into the late hours of morning by the time Luna returned to their makeshift camp, legs almost giving out from below her as she made her way up the hill. The flames had completely died out now, and nothing but smoke came from the destruction of Polis.
She had spent all night moving back and forth to stretchers on the outskirts of Polis, injured men and women slumped over her shoulders, sometimes even two at a time if she could manage.
Each time she went back, she went back with the same thought- 'just one more'. One more turned into two, two turned into three until she had practically emptied the entirety of the wounded within the ruins. Burns decorated her forearms and shins from reaching into flames to pull out the victims. The grazes on her knees from the many times she stumbled to the ground with the weight of another on her back. Her last rescue was a person that had Monty crying in relief: Jasper. The look on Monty's face made her realise how important one more really was.
"Hey" Raven approached, the baby still in her arms just like Luna had requested "god, at you okay?"
Luna pressed a light kiss to Raven's cheek, despite the ash and suit that was dusted over her face. She let out an exhausted breath as she dropped onto the ground with her back against a tree. She smiled up at the mechanic, and tugged on her hand to pull her down with her.
"I am now" She said with a small smile.
"I should find Abby to look over those burns..."
"Not yet." Luna whispered as she wrapped her arms around Raven, resting her chin on her shoulder "Not now."
Raven relaxed into her arms, leaning back with a content sigh "They found Isaac's little sister, you know? She's safe... Jay would have been relieved about that" there was a pause where Luna nodded and squeezed her lightly in support "Do you know if you got everyone out?"
"As many as I could find. Did Abby take a look at the baby?"
"Yes. She's surprisingly okay. When Abby was checking her over I found a name stitched on her blanket" Raven shifted the baby in her arms to pull the corner of the blanket out and show Luna.
"Natalia" Luna read the detailed font out loud. She smiled and leant over Raven to gently run a thumb over the baby's soft cheek "You look like a Natalia, don't you?"
Curious eyes stared up at the two women, mouth opening and closing to test the movement. "Aaaaah" the baby let out suddenly as she kicked her legs. The two older women laughed quietly.
"I think we should look after her. Just for a little while until we find her mother." Raven whispered.
"I think we should" Luna smiled into Raven's neck.
Her violent thoughts of bringing Pike's life to an end had vanished, instead being replaced with thoughts of rebuilding the future- which definitely included Raven. Luna had done her part, now it was Lexa's turn.
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Hey! I thought I'd try to update a little earlier than usual because I'm really enjoying writing this part of the story! It's been a while since I put up a song so I took it upon my self to put one up now. The song is called Say by Ruel.
What did you guys think of Natalia?
And more importantly, what do you think Lexa's part is?
Let me know what you think! Vote and comment as much as you want (please do it I'm desperate) And let me know if you spot any mistakes!
Obviously you guys, this book will come to an end soon. So I want to know allll of your thoughts. Who will die? Who won't? What will life be like when everything is over and done with?
Thank you everyone who reads this, and I hope you have a wonderful day :)
P.s, I'm not quite sure whether everyone is receiving the notifications for when I update so if you're not then let me know and I'll figure it out.