All is Fair in Love and War (Clexa Au)

The Hunt

Clarke awoke with a groan. She felt stiff all over as she usually did after a transformation. She stretched her whole body at once before standing and getting dressed. It was hard for her to not feel just a little awkward. Clothes don't stand a chance against a transformation, so most choose to not wear them on the night of the full moon at all. Either way, she woke completely naked. But one saved more resources. She finger combed through her tresses before making her way out to the busy camp.

The pack had managed to build an impressive wall and gate around where they had pitched their first tents. There was still plenty of room where her people had built sitting areas, fire pits, and even a place to store food for the winter. Octavia stood doing her work within the hut that was built for hanging and drying the various meats the people had managed to gather. It wasn't what Clarke had grown up eating, but that didn't matter. Nothing from the past was worth focusing on.

The blonde made her way to the hut of stored food to collect her first ration of the day. Octavia greeted her with a warm and friendly smile before slicing off some of what appeared to be rabbit onto her makeshift plate. She scooped up some berries and placed them into a small hand carved bowl before handing it to her leader. Clarke smiled in return and headed over to the fire. She sat on one of the logs surrounding it and allowed herself to venture into her mind while she ate.

She looked around, very proud of what a group of run aways were able to put up. She was still in shock about the kill order placed on her kind. It just didn't make sense to her. Why would they want to kill off such a large portion of the population? If only they had invested just a bit more into the rehabilitation of their kind before so many unspeakable things happened. Before she had—

"Good morning." Bellamy sat himself beside Clarke on the log. He had his own rations in hand and hungrily tore into his cut of meat. He stared into the fire and Clarke could see a different fire glowing in his eyes. "We have to do something, Clarke."

"I know," she responded solemnly. "But I don't think that violence is the answer. If we fight back, we just encourage the hatred. I want to arrange a truce."

"Like that went well last time," Bellamy retorted. He looked over to Clarke with bitter laughter in his eyes. "When will you give it up, Princess? They don't want peace. They want war. So let's give it to them."

"Because a war would only hurt us both and most likely wipe out our numbers. In case you haven't noticed, they seem to have an endless amount of warriors at their Alpha's beck and call."

"Well we still have rifles. I doubt they have those out here."

Clarke felt disgusted at the thought of shooting down one of her kind. Especially when she wanted so badly to know more about them. And even further, she was afraid of the threat such brash behavior would pose to her people.

"We aren't shooting the Trikru wolves." Clarke asserted herself. Out of the two Alphas, she had more respect from the people. Especially after she put an end to Bellamy's power trip at the beginning of their settlement here. "They have a lot to offer us. If you and your goons hadn't have fucked up and attacked one of their people while hunting I bet we wouldn't even be in this situation. You can't just attack people because you don't like them. You can't just try to kill people because you don't like them."

And with that, Clarke stood from her seat and walked to put her empty dishes in the appropriate bin. She went back to one the service tent and sat on a chopped log stool at one of the makeshift desks. She pulled out one of the wired notebooks and began scribbling down notes. She went around to each "station" to check on the progress and take note of what needed to be done. It was her daily errand and it only took her about a half hour.

She was grateful for the busy schedule of her every day life. It distracted her from thinking too much. It kept her thoughts away from the other pack and the darkness of her past.

After finished up her duties with planning and assigning new tasks for the next day, Clarke sat back at the makeshift desk once more. This time she used a block of wood and began carving a cup out of it. She had figured that if each camper was instructed to make one dish a day for two weeks, they would have plenty for if any got damaged over the next six months. She had included herself and Bellamy in the chore.

This was her least favorite part of the day. She would usually be a fan of such mind-numbing activities. But unlike art, this one didn't require you to think of the various components of it. You didn't have to think about shapes, fluidity, naturalness, and the intent behind each stroke. So instead of being an escape, it turned into a trap for her to fall into. All she could do was think.

She couldn't help but think back to her mother. She was worried about her to say the least. She loved her mom. Even if she did have to leave her. Clarke almost wished she had written more in her note to her mother. She wrote what felt important at the time, but so much had changed, including what felt important. At least she had thought to say that she had loved her mom and that she would be alright. Looking back, it wasn't only her physical safety she should've worried about. With each passing day, Clarke stacked a new unbearable weight onto herself. It seemed as if she just couldn't heal from her past either. She wanted so badly for it to go away.

Clarke could feel tears pushing at the back of her throat. She sipped some water from the flask on the desk and stood. She gathered a group of her most skilled betas and arranged for hunt in an hour. She alerted Bellamy and he gathered some of his trusted companions as well.

Clarke put a robe over herself before walking out of camp. There, she dropped it on the floor before transforming. She figured that a brief moment of nudity before her pack mates was better than ruining another set of clothes. She was pleased to see that the others had done the same. It took quite a while to fashion clothes from furs, at least much longer than sewing with man made fabrics. However, they would need furs to wear for winter.

Once all of the ten had dropped down to their canine forms, they began to silently stalk through the forest. The adrenaline soon went pumping through the blonde's blood. She felt as if all of her being was on fire. She was lit from within with all of the sights, smells, and sounds galore. It was clear that she wasn't the only one either. Many of the wolves had to fight themselves to not wag their tails in excitement. The hunts had been happening less and less since Trikru declared war on the Campers and it was clear that they had missed the thrill.

The group soon broke off into two groups of five to cover more ground. It wasn't long before Clarke and her group had found a decent sized boar. That was easily the most exciting prey of the night. It took a group effort. The betas attacker first allowing Clarke to get a clean kill. The taste of the beast in her teeth made the she-wolf's mouth water. The group decided to drag this back to camp pronto. It would take a group effort and they weren't sure they could easily move much more than this massive beast with only five wolves on hand.

The wall back to camp wasn't a long one. They approached the gate and it opened without any hesitation. Octavia came out to drag the boar to the hut where it would be skinned and then later dried. The blonde shifted back into her human form and covered herself in her robe once more. She used the back of her wrist to wipe away the half fried blood on her lips.

Clarke went back to one of the residential tents where she changed back into clothing. She took a second to try to calm the racing in her heart. Every beat reminded her of how much she yearned for the freedom of the hunt to never end. The wolf inside of her was demanding for another kill, but she suppressed its cries and headed out to enjoy her evening before the night was over.

She was almost over to Octavia's station in the meat hut before she heard a chorus of barks and excited yips near the gate. They weren't merely greetings. They were excited—no thrilled yips and barks. But this was much more of a celebration than was usual of an after hunt chorus of howls or barks. Something wasn't right. Clarke turned to investigate and felt her breath catch in her throat. She almost didn't believe her eyes, but there was no denying what was before them.

The group had returned, but not with prey. They brought back a Trikru girl.