The 100: A New Beginning Part 1: Healing Wounds

"Clarke…?"

"Clarke…?"

Suddenly she felt someone tapping on her shoulder. The tapping soon increased in intensity until a pair of tiny hands began to ruthlessly shake her awake.

"CLARKE!" Madi hissed in her ears.

"Oh, sorry," Clarke apologized as she straightened. "How long did I-?"

"Not for long. But we made some progress," Gaia reported with a confident expression. "We can build on that in the next lesson. Whenever you're ready."

Clarke turned her head from side to side to get rid of the tension that had built up there while she dozed on the sofa.

"Clarke, are you hungry?" Madi asked her, "I'm hungry."

"Oh..." Clarke laughed, "I can get you something."

"Clarke, are you sure? You shouldn't go alone. You're still wounded. Let me get something for us all instead," Gaia interjected worriedly.

"You're injured yourself, Gaia. And at least I didn't get shot in the leg twice," Clarke declined her kind offer. Having just regained her ability to walk, she was eager to go for a walk.

"I have crutches. And there will be someone to help me carry them. And be it Octavia..." Gaia replied steadily.

"Yeah, sure..." Clarke muttered, "No way. I'm much faster. Besides, I need some exercise," she said stubbornly "And right now, my mom is not watching every step I take..."

"You should be grateful that your mother is taking such good care of you. She's not much different from Indra, except that she didn't have you for six years, and then she almost lost you.. You should think from her point of view. Just like you take care of Madi".

"What kind of mother was Indra..." Clarke suddenly interrupted her. Hearing Gaia speak openly about her mother for the first time somehow piqued her genuine interest. 

"You'd be surprised, but she's as loving as your mom. But she never showed it the same way Abby does..." Gaia explained, obviously embarrassed.

"Then I'll come with you," Madi volunteered as she jumped up, ready to go and not wanting to waste any more time as her stomach turned again.

"Fine," Clarke accepted, "then let's go."

"We'll be back in a few minutes," she added as she stood up and rearranged her black jacket. 

Once the door had closed behind them with a soft hiss, Clarke and Madi wasted no time in making their way to the crew's mess. It wasn't too far from Gaia's quarters, and since the walk through the corridor was surprisingly not exhausting, Clarke felt confident enough to walk at a much faster pace. Even the pain was completely gone.

Soon they had made their way through the completely empty corridors. No wandering Bellamy, no stray Octavia. No one was around. It seemed as if everyone had finally accepted the new reality. Peace, as strange as it might have seemed. When they entered, the room was empty except for a single person sitting there, slowly looking up at them. When the person looked directly at them, Clarke could see the grim and dark expression on the person's face. She felt a shiver run down her spine as the person jumped to his feet, and without further hesitation, drew their gun and pulled the trigger.

A loud bang shattered her eardrums. For a split second, Clarke stood there, frozen and paralyzed. Then she looked to her left and saw Madi's body falling lifeless to the ground, a dark pool of blood running down from her head.

"MAAADIIII"

Clarke's eyes shot open. She could feel her heart beating out of her throat. In fact, it was beating so fast that she was beginning to feel sick. In addition, she was wet, sweating from every pore of her body. Confused, but aware of what had just happened, she tried to collect herself. 

"CLARKE!" Madi ran to her screaming and crashed into her arms. There was no doubt that she was having a nightmare, for she could feel Clarke's heart beating fast once she reached for her warm, sweaty hand.

"Sorry. I must have fallen asleep," Clarke gasped in a hoarse, weak voice.

"No, Clarke! You had a nightmare," Madi interjected, not buying her excuse for a split second. She clung tightly to Clarke's hand and refused to let go. The fact that Clarke still dared to lie to her infuriated her to the point that her tight grip actually began to hurt Clarke a little. Madi gritted her teeth and looked her straight in the eye. 

"Jushh ha sy effe," Clarke muttered breathlessly and almost unintelligibly as she finally made eye contact. In addition to her racing heart, her head began to spin violently, even causing her eyes to blur and black out for a split second. Feeling Madi's tight and painful grip, she held on even tighter as the dream replayed before her eyes. 

She just saw her die before her eyes. Falling dead to the ground. But it wasn't real. It was just a dream. She could feel Madi's warm breath and even her heart beating. No, she was definitely alive. But even though it was only a dream, it felt so real. Like a vision or a warning. 

"Here Clarke," Gaia's voice then interrupted their embrace. When Clarke looked up, she saw that Gaia had brought her a full glass of water. 

"Thank you," Clarke met her thoughtfulness and immediately took a strong swig, emptying it almost completely in one gulp. Then, breathing heavily, she placed the glass on the end table of the sofa. To her own surprise, the water helped her much more than any of the medicine she had received in the past hours and days. 

"You should better go and have some rest…" Gaia suggested worriedly, as she took the glass to refill it. 

"You really should, and besides, I think I'm hungry," Madi agreed, looking at her insistently. Hearing this, Clarke's heart dropped from her neck to her feet. Despite her deepest inner prayers, she knew what she had just heard. It sounded more like déjà vu than a simple coincidence. "What's happening here...?"

Her heart was beating out of control again. She felt the cold sweat run down her forehead and back again. 

"We can eat later," Clarke interjected with a nervous smile after taking a moment to focus her thoughts with all the strength she could muster. Deep inside, she was desperate and tense to the point of bursting.

"I can get us something," Gaia offered her help, understanding that Clarke's hesitation might not just be related to side effects from her injuries or some medicine. No, to her observation, she was acting strangely on many levels.

"No, it's okay. I will go then…" Clarke insisted. 

"Clarke, you've been shot" 

"The same as you. But I didn't get shot in the leg".

"Getting shot in the liver doesn't make it better. Especially since you almost-"

"Say it... Come on, say it in front of Madi and she will completely freak out", a dark voice in her head shouted at Gaia, daring her to finish her unfinished sentence.

"I'll come with you," Madi made a small jump and rolled her head, signaling that she was ready to go. 

"No, continue your lesson until I get back," Clarke said, trying her best to keep up her poker face and shallow fake smile. 

"Clarke!" Madi complained angrily.

"Madi... I need to take a little walk. My muscles feel stiff. I will just get some sandwiches for us. I can do that. You and Gaia continue this lesson in the meantime. We won't have time later when we discuss our plan for the valley. Don't make me remind you from now on that you are the commander. You have made this choice, and we have some tasks ahead of us..."

"Fine..." Madi sighed. She had nothing to counter Clarke's valid point, "But if you're not back in ten minutes-"

"Twenty. At least," Clarke tried to negotiate.

"Twenty minutes. And if you're not back then-" Madi said in a warning voice.

"You will search the entire ship. From the cargo bay to the command bridge. Gotcha," Clarke said with a smile, which Madi repeated in the same nervous manner. 

Clarke stood up for the first time since she and Madi had entered Gaia's room. The blood quickly rushed to her lower limbs. Once she was fully upright, she couldn't resist stretching her body carefully until her chest began to throb and hurt. But it was worth it, as it allowed her to release most of the tension in her muscles. She reached for her black leather jacket, which had been through quite a lot by then. 

Once her jacket was fitted, she did a quick inventory of her pockets before smiling at Madi again and leaving the room.

After quietly closing the door behind her, Clarke opened her jacket and searched for the gun Echo had given her earlier. She quickly unloaded the gun and took a quick look at the magazine. It was full. She put the magazine back in the gun and loaded the first bullet into the barrel. At this point, her pain was completely numbed by the adrenaline that was now coursing through her veins. She had been in situations like this too many times and knew the drill, silly as it sounded. 

She took one last deep breath before making her way to the crew mess. The place where Madi had been shot in her dream. As she walked through the ship's corridor, she tried to keep the same pace as in her dream. Her curiosity had finally overwhelmed her caution. She wanted to find out if her dream was real or just a strange manifestation of her tattered mind. 

The closer she got to the mess, the duller the feeling in her stomach. Her left hand instinctively reached for the grip and trigger of the gun she still carried in her pocket. 

Once the entrance was inside, her heart rate slowed and her breathing became much shallower. Her finger squeezed the trigger like a drawn arrow on a bow as she stood directly in front of it. 

"Moment of truth, Clarke," she cheered herself up and opened the door. At first she could see nothing until it shot right into her eye. A person was sitting a few seats away from where Madi's killer sat in her dreams, waiting for them. 

It was a young woman who immediately looked up at her curiously as she entered the room. One of the first things Clarke noticed about her was that her hair looked a lot like Lexa's, though it was a little darker and not braided like hers. Even though Clarke looked at her with cautious and nervous eyes, there was something else that assured her that this soft and beautiful face had no bad intentions. And to her own surprise, she decided to trust that feeling. Now that Madi wasn't here and she wasn't in danger, it seemed worth taking the risk, especially since her fingers were still on the trigger of her weapon. She slowly and cautiously went further into the room. 

"Hello," the young woman greeted her with an almost shy smile. 

"Hey," Clarke greeted her curtly. She walked closer to her until she was only a few feet away, on the other side of the table. 

"What's your name?" Clarke then broke the silence after they looked at each other for a few moments. 

"Zena," she replied in a high and slightly hoarse voice. 

"And you are Wanheda, right?"

"I don't go by that name anymore. And you should stop calling me that name…" Clarke told her in a slightly lecturing tone.

"Sorry. That's what most people call you..."

"I know, and they should stop it"

"You sound bitter" 

"I'm not bitter, just... tired..." Clarke confessed, frustrated.

"Yes, you are. But I'm not in a position to judge you. I actually thought you were dead. Like many others."

"I was... sort of..." Clarke almost whispered in thought. A statement that was true on so many levels.

"You saved my family. Like basically everyone else's..." Zena remarked, but when she saw Clarke's strange face, she added, "We had a lot to talk about in the bunker… It helped us get through the time"

"Great, more rumors about me, just what I needed..." Clarke muttered nervously between her teeth, constantly scanning her surroundings for any possible threat. "Is she perhaps a complice? A decoy? No, don't get crazy Clarke. Just in case you haven't already..."

"I could be worse. You could be in Bloodreina's skin..." Zena quickly tried to change the subject.

"Yeah..." Clarke noted tensely. 

"I know she's your friend…"

"Stop talking about my friends, please," Clarke commented, annoyed and still extremely alert. 

"Oh, okay. Sorry..." Zena apologized when she realized that she had been testing Clarke's patience for the last few sentences, "I didn't mean to provoke you. I just wanted to thank you and..."

"Get to know me?" Clarke finished her sentence, her eyes wandering nervously around the room. 

"Yes. But since you obviously didn't come for me, let me guess that you came for a late lunch".

"Yes," she acknowledged.

"It's a lot easier with you by my side in the kitchen anyway..." Zena commented as she stood up elegantly and waved her over to the entrance of the cooking area. "They have established a certain rationing policy in our kitchen."

"Of course they did..." Clarke sighed, trying to figure out if it was Kane's, Bellamy's, or even Diyoza's work, but either way it was a smart and convenient thought. 

"Then I guess I'm lucky, because the Commander sent me to get her some food..." Clarke smiled hesitantly as she accepted Zena's offer to enter the kitchen first. Her hand clenched around her weapon again, and as soon as she was inside, she turned around to see, much to her relief, that Zena was entering the kitchen with quick steps. So far she wasn't planning anything. "In a few days we were in the valley. Then hopefully we wouldn't have to ration, but I never lived there with hundreds of people..." Clarke explained as Zena continued to examine one of the storage shelves. 

"I can't wait to finally live with trees and lakes around me, to feel the wind and rain on my skin again..." 

"Yes, I know what you mean. I felt the same way when I first came to Earth..."

"Right, you grew up in space..." Zena realized with a curious face, "I never thought it was possible, I thought it was just tales and stories. Until the sky people came."

"I haven't heard that word in a long time. Like Wanheda. They are all part of history... We are Wonkru now..."

"Heard, heard..." Zena toasted as her head disappeared to look into one of the storerooms, "Oh here that must do it. I hope you like sandwich and some snacks..."

"Yeah, that's perfect. Thanks"

"So I'll help you make the sandwiches, and you won't tell anyone about my share," she pointed to two bags of candy and some slices of rye. 

"Sounds fair. I won't bust you"

"So the Commander... Is she your... daughter?" Zena couldn't contain her curiosity as she helped her assemble the sandwiches. 

Daughter... that sounded strange, although it was probably the closest thing to a description of their relationship. But at the same time, Madi was much more than that. For the past six years, she had also been her only friend and... family. Even stranger, when one considered it, she had known Madi for much, much longer than she had known Bellamy and any of her other friends. 

"She is more than that. She's my family. And my closest friend..." Clarke explained to her.

"Then it must have been hard for you to decide to..."

"It wasn't my decision-Arghh" A moment of inattention was all it took for Clarke to cut her hand. 

"Careful..." Zena rushed to examine the damage on her hand, "It's not a deep cut… Wait… You're a nightblood?!"

"I guess not everything has made it around yet," Clarke remarked sarcastically as she covered her hand with a paper towel, " Now I just have to hide this from Madi and everyone else, otherwise they might think I went into another fight." Clarke remarked after treating herself.

"Then I can speak on your behalf" Zena offered her genuine help, but Clarke couldn't help herself but laugh. Then for the first time, Clarke looked at her in detail. The way her hair was braided not only resembled Lexa's style, it was also very much of Grounder's origin. So she couldn't resist asking her a question, "To which tribe did you belong?"

"Podakru, the lake people" Zena said with a nervous smile. 

"That means there aren't many of you left..." Clarke realized, but said her thought out loud instead of keeping it to herself. 

"Just a few. We're like a family... But like you said, we're all part of Wonkru now." Zena told her while packing the rest of the food. "And your 'real' family?" Clarke asked her, now driven by pure curiosity. 

"My mother and my father perished in the fire. It is only me, and my younger brother and sister"

"That must been hard"

"It was. At least in the early stages… Thankfully the other members helped with what they could… But now it's you turn, tell me your story"

"Mine is too long…"

"And that's why you have to tell?" Zena gently tried to dig into Clarke's past..

"Hmhh, maybe later?" 

"Okay, but I'm counting on that" 

"Fine," Clarke finally relented, before checking their combined work of six hand-made sandwiches and a few bags of candy, chocolate and other sweets. 

"Let me help you carry it," Zena offered, not waiting for Clarke's permission. For a split second, Clarke considered declining the generous offer, but as she faced her nightmare once again, it didn't seem so bad to have a helping hand carrying all that food and a free hand for her weapon. Just in case.

"Good, than let's go"