The gift
Torches were the only light to be seen once the sun had set. The sky was entirely black, yet the streets of Polis were crowded with people. Wardrums had been beating for hours, announcing the arrival of the enemy troops. Children peeked through half-closed windows and warriors stood proudly in front of their houses, heavily armed in case they needed to fight.
No noise was made, the only sound to be heard were quick whispers of the growingly anxious people and the crackling fire of the torches. Then, people started rushing to make way for the incoming committee of their enemies.
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Octavia furrowed her brow. From the entry to the Great Tower she couldn't quite see who were arriving, but she could tell they were a very small group, less than ten warriors, who brought with them a small cart pulled by a single horse. She turned around, inside the tower, Lexa paced apparently calmed, but her shaky hands gave away her nervousness. She clenched her fists and walked out of the tower. She stood imponently, waiting for the warriors to arrive. Raven stood by Octavia's side and leaned in to whisper to her
"Whatever happens, please don't do anything stupid" Octavia was about to answer when Raven spoke again
"Just, please. Don't get killed for nothing." Octavia firmly nodded
"I have a reason not to" Raven flashed the briefest smile before turning around to face the group of warriors that had already arrived.
A figure covered in a cloak took a step forward once the group had stopped. The figure took the hood off, uncovering his face. A tattoo covered the left half of his face, and he hadn't shaved in days. Greasy curled black hair was poorly braided, and neither him nor the rest of the warriors looked like they had showered for the past few days. Or weeks. When he spoke, his voice was low and raspy, almost threatening
"Heda. We come here to offer you a gift." He smiled, the gesture was asymmetrical due to a deep scar on his right cheek.
He growled an order and a short, fierce-looking girl opened the carriage, and helped by another young boy took out a big wooden box. They dragged it all the way to the staircase leading to the tower and then walked back. Indra looked at Lexa, who simply nodded, allowing her to go open the box. It opened, the wooden pannel on the side facing Lexa fell to the ground with a loud noise.
Indra took a step back when a bunch of rags fell towards her.
Then, she saw the person underneath them.
Lexa lost it.
She ran towards the box and pushed Indra aside.
Falling to her knees, she held the body in her hands.
Her guards captured the enemy warriors and the crowd began to yell and draw their swords, anger boiling whenever someone in the foreign group said something.
They screamed every hostage was dead.
That they'd died slowly.
That there'd be more deaths.
That villages were being attacked in that very moment.
Lexa's guards knocked them out, but it was too late to stop the chaos of bloodthirsty warriors that demanded the attack to take place in that very moment and not when it was planned. Then Lexa stood up, still holding the corpse in her hands. She uncovered its face. The crowd hushed immediately.
It was Clarke.
Her face was wrecked, a thin scar crossed it from the left side of her forehead to the right side of her chin, and several open wounds deformed her visage, but she was still recognisable to everyone. For the first time, Lexa showed emotion to her troops. Grief and rage boiled inside her, and she spoke with a shaky, yet hoarse voice.
"We must not lose our temper." She cleared her throat
"We are not ready yet to attack, if we did so, they would annihilate us. We must wait and follow the plan. They've done this to me, to all of us to provoke us, and that is because they know we are an actual threat. We" her voice broke, she took a deep breath and cleared her throat, putting on her usual façade "we must wait and attack just as planned. If we don't, we'll lose everything we've fought so long for."
When Lexa walked inside the tower, tears started streaming down her face uncontrollably. Her closest warriors followed her. Then, she heard Octavia's voice
"Lexa..." She ignored it
"Lexa" she didn't sound angry, or heartbroken, in fact she sounded... happy
"What?" Lexa growled and turned around Octavia smiled widely and pointed at Clarke. Lexa looked at the blonde, expecting to see the lifelessness in her face.
Then she saw Clarke's eyes were open, sad but bright. Lexa's mouth opened in awe and she began to cry even more than before, painfully falling to her knees.
"Lexa" Clarke spoke softly, which only caused Lexa to sob more loudly "it's okay" she tried to sit and hug Lexa, grunting in pain when she did so, but holding on to her
None of the warriors needed to be kicked out to know they should leave the room, Octavia drying Raven's tears and Indra trying not to cry of pure joy as they parted ways. Lexa kept crying and firmly holding Clarke, as if she feared the girl was going to dissapear at any time, until Clarke gasped in pain. Lexa let go of her abruptly.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Clarke cut her off with a soft kiss
"Take me to your chambers"
Lexa nodded and once again lifted Clarke from the ground in a swift motion and took her upstairs. Once in their room, she helped Clarke sit on their bed, took a piece of wet cloth and started cleaning Clarke's dirty face. She then helped her out of her clothes, which she decided she'd burn in the morning.
Another tear fell when she saw the deplorable state Clarke was in, her entire body covered in bruises and wounds as well as new scars. She clenched her jaw and kept cleaning Clarke's dirty skin.
"Lexa, you know you don't have to" Clarke wiped her tear with her thumb, which Lexa kissed before answering
"You should bathe"
Clarke nodded and attempted to stand up, almost falling before Lexa held her by the waist. She rolled her eyes
"Stubborn as ever, aren't we?"
Clarke smiled as they walked towards the bathtub, but grunted in pain once again when she got into it. Lexa tried to resume helping her, but Clarke grabbed her hand to stop her
"Just...Get in here with me"
Lexa did so, once in the bathtub she hugged Clarke from behind as the blonde leaned into her body. They remained that way until the water was too cold for them to stay there comfortably, and when they got back into bed, Clarke saw Lexa's bottom lip quivering.
"Hey" she caressed Lexa's cheek
"I'm here now"
Lexa nodded but couldn't stop herself from crying once again as Clarke hugged her, whispering loving, hopeful words. It took her quite a while to calm down and lay her head on the pillow, facing Clarke for the first time in months.
"You should get some sleep" the blonde said, worried by the dark circles under Lexa's eyes
"I don't want to." She said in a whisper "I'm too scared I might wake up and you'll be gone."
"I will stay by your side, Lexa. Always."