The Wanheda's Out of the Bag

[Clarke Griffin]

You wanted the 

Commander of Death?

YOU GOT HER !

"Logic," Clarke replied sharply, her eyes narrowing at Lexa. This was the woman who had told her that emotions should be shoved down and forgotten about in the wake of Finn's death. A death that ultimately meant nothing when the Commander and her troops abandoned them right before they could break down Mt. Weather's doors. Her pale eyes glimmered with anger even though she tried to keep her voice even. "Why should we trust an ally that abandoned us when we needed them most?"

"Why would I ever trust you again?" this was as personal as it was political, and Clarke's slip made that obvious, even if she didn't want to admit it. "The last time our people were united you sold us out to save yourselves. I had to kill someone I loved-" her voice was breaking, thick with a wavering emotion she didn't want right now, but welled out of the broken dam anyway. "-for nothing."

"Your people wanted to fight," Clarke argued, remembering the rush of being in the middle of a chanting crowd with a single goal in mind. War was thrilling in a way she'd never admit, and standing on the same side as the massive army had felt good for a change. Then Lexa had abandoned them, and the sudden loss was felt more sharply. "Following the plan we would have gotten all our people out."

There wasn't much point in arguing something that couldn't be changed, but it was the thing that consumed Clarke's thoughts both waking and sleeping. The demons of that day tormented her constantly. Now, while she was stuck here, she could at least annoy Lexa with that same self-hating spite.

"I didn't have any choice. I don't have any choice. I can't even leave your stupid tower."

Lexa

[Lexa]

War is brewing, Clarke

Lexa let Clarke finish her rant, all of it, listening with a mixture of agitation and compassion. She could read the pain on her and knew that her decision to take the less-violent approach out of the situation had led to all this. It led to an act of desperation on Clarke's part that haunted the beautiful, calculating leader and twisted her to something else. It was only when she was finished, that Lexa began to address everything; what may just be her final argument.

"That night is over," she began, slowly. "Alliances are made and broken, and we must move on and make friends of our enemies when the situation calls for it." It wasn't fair, and it wasn't without risk, but it was necessary to make peace with traitors, and killers, and knowing that the moment a better option came along that alliance could break.

"My people also wanted yours dead," she reminded. "Finn didn't die for nothing. Finn died because he killed villagers and children, committing war crimes that would not be forgiven by my people. The alliance spared the rest of your people from dying, because we were enemies before it was created, with good reason."

It was difficult to remind Clarke of where things stood, of the opposite side, when it was clear Clarke was already feeling the weight of guilt of a genocide. Unfortunately, it wasn't the first death on her conscience. "Your people came to our land, and Trigedakru saw that as an invasion. Conflict engaged, but how many of yours died? How many of mine? You killed three hundred of my soldiers--something I was willing to forgive for our alliance because that's war."

Lexa had to be the one convinced of an alliance first, because Skairkru was different, dangerous, Mountain-like, and they had the higher kill count. The betrayal wouldn't have been an issue, when Lexa was looking to drive them out of the grounder territory, her land, or wipe them out. The only death she insisted upon was Finn's, and that would happen be they friends or foes. "Do you remember how resistant my people were to the idea of allying with yours? I had to kill Gustus because he was willing to sabotage the alliance. We both put to death those who were guilty, except I didn't mercy kill mine."

No one was innocent in this situation. Lexa and Clarke both the opportunity to evacuate Tondc, but neither woman decided it. They didn't start as loyal friends, and never were they truly united. That required Skaikru being considered one in the same as any one of Lexa's clans. It required abolishing this my-people-vs-your-people dialogue that put them at odds, which Lexa was trying to do. "Yes, I was offered a deal that freed my people, and a new alliance. I took it, and I walked away. But where are your people now? They still live on Trigedakru land, and they still have the lowest death-count of us all. For such a betrayal, you managed to walk away from it rather well comparatively."

Or at least, her people did. Clarke had not, as her self-imposed exile proved, as well as her constant exclamations that Lexa just ought to kill her. Her eyes swept Clarke's face. "The person suffering the most is you, and I'm sorry for that. The burden of guilt is difficult to bear, but no one is innocent in this. We all played a part in that night. All of us guilty for the outcome, but we must move forward. Rhetoric of right or wrong won't stop the army that moves to take advantage of the instability caused by our collective actions. I have offered my solution--" she said, which wouldn't be repeated again. This was the last appeal, and Lexa would be done arguing with Clarke. "You decide what's yours."

That was it. Lexa wouldn't press any further. Clarke had every choice in the matter--including. "No one will keep you in the tower against your will anymore. Go if you must. I've warned you as well as I can why it's ill advised, and dangerous. I'll spare a small party to ensure your escort, but Azgeda will target you outside these walls." It was, frankly, a stupid decision, but Clarke always had a choice. Difficult, awful choices, but those were the ones leaders like them had in spades.

WORDS: || TAGGED: Clarke Griffin

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[Clarke Griffin]

You wanted the 

Commander of Death?

YOU GOT HER !

Clarke flinched back at the reminder of why Finn had to die. She'd had trouble believing it had happened then. That the sweet, daring, but peace loving boy who had befriended Lincoln, opposed her and Bellamy bringing guns to camp, and had tried his best to work out an end to the war that started with them crashing here was also a murderer. The Griffin girl would have never, in a million years, imagined Finn could snap like that. And if he could snap, then what evils was she capable of?

That had haunted her. Especially after she and Lexa let hundreds of innocent people die. Especially after she committed the genocide of an entire people. She hadn't snapped, though. Clarke had been in complete control of her actions, and knowing what she was capable of left an icy lump in her gut. "I wouldn't have blamed you," she said hoarsely, hollowly remembering the way Gustus had died, how Raven had almost died, and being glad she'd spared Finn from worse.

There wasn't much point in arguing that she'd known the name of every one of her people killed in that first war with the Grounders. That they'd been whittled down to roughly half of their original number. That, for Clarke, every name - Roma, Diggs, Mgebe, Jones, a ton not important enough to give names to thanks CW - meant more than the numbers of grounders they'd told her she'd killed in their defense. Clarke firmly believed she wouldn't have killed anyone if everyone on the ground hadn't been trying to kill her people first. She'd proven capable of far more evil than she'd ever imagined.

She shook her head.

"I can't-" Clarke started and then cut herself off with a frown. "I don't trust you, but I'll fight against Azgeda with you," it was the best the blonde could offer right now. The enemy she knew was slightly better than the enemy she didn't. Especially considering that only one of them was currently trying to chop her head off and it wasn't Lexa.

"I need to see my people," Clarke insisted, her shoulders relaxing now that she knew she was no longer a prisoner within these walls. "If they can't make it here, then I will go to them."

Lexa