fragile | clexa

chapter sixty eight

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Clarke fell asleep immediately that night. After so much time walking on the market and standing in the kitchen, she was tired to no end and as soon as she was under her blanket she was gone, even before she had gotten her good night kiss from Lexa.

She slept through until noon, which meant enormous tiredness if not even a nightmare managed to sneak itself into her sleep. Lexa had to leave early because the celebrations of the next week needed a lot of preperations still and she had several meetings due, so Clarke woke up to a cold and empty bed. A letter was tucked between the books on Clarke's nightstand though, peeking out just a little too far that Clarke couldn't have overseen it but hidden enough that Clarke's parents wouldn't have noticed if they had woken her.

Unsurprisingly, it was from Lexa, where she apologized for having to leave and not saying goodbye, explaining that Clarke had slept so peacefully and she hadn't wanted to wake her up and telling Clarke just how much she loved her. With a stupid smile on her face, Clarke carefully locked it away in the drawer of her nightstand, before heaving herself into her wheelchair and getting dressed.

Her legs were sore and in pain, but it became less once she had taken her medicine after breakfast. It became less with the hope of taking another stroll over the market with Lexa.

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Lexa did not manage to stop by again for a walk. The next time they met was right before the celebration to the end of such terror, one week after their last night together.

The fesitivities were massive. Polis' entire market place was cleared. There was a stage built up with several tree trunks rising up behind, places where the owners, teachers and other followers of The Chosen of The Light would be executed one by one. The survivors and their families could have an extra cut in the death by a thousand cuts ceremonies and in the meanwhile, there were more pleasant occupations around the rest of the market.

Games, food, dances, music, everything that one could wish for. Everyone had been invited and throughout the week, people from all around had been arriving, the city almost tearing at its seams.

Lexa held a speech to start the celebration officially, talking about the terrible cult, the survivors and the prisoners. And she talked about Clarke, how she had drawn attention to the network and how she had had such courage in the bunker. Clarke (terrifyingly) was supposed to be on stage too, giving her own words, and she'd never heard or seen such a huge crowd cheering so loud. She didn't want to know the shade of her face when they eventually quietened down.

Abby and Jake stood in the crowd too, and they couldn't believe their eyes or ears. Their daughter, standing there with embarrassment and humility but still looking so radiant. Their daughter, who hadn't told them that she had practically saved the world and now treated everything like it wasn't a big deal, like she wasn't supposed to stand there in this golden dress, like being cheered at by so many people wasn't exactly what she deserved.

For the next hours, owners and followers of the cult alike were executed one by one and while Lexa was there throughout it all, Clarke let her family take her to get some food, let them tell her just how proud they all were and gave up trying to control her blush any longer.

Everyone was around the market while the public executions went down one by one, but when the music and activities around the place shut off at once, the focus sharpened again. Clarke had purposefully not watched or participated in the executions throughout the afternoon. She didn't want to see all these men again, didn't want to look at their faces even if they were dead in the end, didn't want to hear the brutal cheering.

The insults were exactly what these people deserved, the punishment too, if not worse. Clarke wasn't insecure about admitting that at all. Actively participating in something she merely wanted to get over and forget, listening to all the thoughts that had plagued her for years and years screamed all over the city? No, she didn't need that.