Together They Are Complete

Lost Her Other Half

With the effort of the three Grounders, they had finally managed to wrestle Clarke away from the tragic scene but her dread and gut-wrenching panic was still fueling her screams and grunts and ever-moving figure and she fought them every step of the way.

It wasn't even five minutes later that her bound hands managed to twist towards Copper's torso and her fingers wrapped around the dagger tucked into his waistband. She sliced through the ropes around her wrist, barely registering as she cut her forearms at the same time, and then heaved her free arm up, cutting his arm and sinking it into his throat. He fell away, lifeless and her upper body swung down at the sudden loss of muscle keeping her weight aloft. Willowy released her right elbow and reached forward to catch her, but she brought the dagger around and impaled his forearm. His screech tore through her eardrums but she didn't pay attention as she pulled it out of his skin and muscle and, using whatever strength she had left, heaved her body up, plunging the weapon into Tattoos' chest.

They all tumbled to the ground in a tangle of bloody limbs and heaving breaths. Clarke wiggled herself from their weight and rolled away. She leapt to her feet and snatched Tattoos' sword from his belt, swinging it at Willowy's rising figure. He grunted his last breath and fell back to the forest floor.

Clarke didn't seem to register the scene in front of her, the sticky red substance staining the hilt in her left hand, panting hard, trying to catch her breath as her heart rate slowed down, but she didn't want it to. She wanted her heart to keep racing, pumping blood quickly so her adrenaline and energy didn't fade away.

At the sound of crackling leaves and breaking branches she spun around, her grip on the sword tightening, and she moved it into a defensive maneuver she had learned from Lincoln during one of his brief visits. What she found instead was four of the delinquents staring at her and the dead Grounders behind her.

"Oh my God! Clarke!" Miller breathed, slowly moving forward to the pale, shaking figure in front of him. Her blonde waves were matted with dirt and leaves and twigs, there was a dark bruise on her cheek and her mouth was red, probably from coughing up blood and her arms were bleeding freely from long shallow gashes.

"What happened?" The pretty golden-haired Kendra, was asking the older girl.

"I-I wasn't - paying attention." Clarke stuttered. "They came out of nowhere. It-It's my fault!" She tries to swallow but can't get past the lump in her throat. She breathes shallowly trying hard, in the face of her people, to stamp down the grief and agony of her missing half and tell them what happened.

"You took out all three of them?" Conner asks her staring at the huge lifeless forms of the three Grounders and she gives him a short nod.

"Sh-she . . . he's dea-"

Her face crumples and a sob leaves Clarke as she collapses in on herself.

Miller moves to comfort her but surprisingly Murphy gets there first.

His arms come around, supporting her as they kneel on the forest floor together and Miller can't help it as his own heart falls when he realizes what his leader's breakdown means. He quickly looks around at Kendra, knowing her intake of breath is about to form the words of the question they're all dreading the answer to. He shakes his head violently and desperately at the slim sixteen year old and her jaw snaps shut, her eyes widening as she fits the pieces together and Kendra turns to Conner, finding that he's reached the same conclusion, the despair and pain on his face clearly. They embrace, finding solace in each other.

Murphy loosens his hold on Clarke as he realizes what's staining her shirt and his pants. He looks up at Miller and nods towards his pack. Miller lets out a slow breath before he shrugs off his own pack and reaches for some spare bandages and a tiny water-skin of Monty's moonshine that he kept hidden from everyone else. He kneels down next to the blonde and gently pries her white knuckles off herself.