Heavy is the Head that Rests Beneath the Sword of Damocles

CHAPTER 1

There was a girl kneeling in the dirt, arms out, in acceptance of her death while her comrades obviously used the distraction to carry one of the wounded to safety. They weren't moving fast enough to make the sacrifice worth it. As the blaze of the turret illuminated the scene, Madi gasped. The person dying for the others was Blodreina herself. The hero the world needed, but hated. 'Omon gon oson.' Or put another way, 'One for all'.

The car screeched to a stop, Echo shouted at Octavia to get in. Seconds later, they were out of immediate danger.

Indra was trying to keep her daughter from slipping away; Spacekru was pretty calm, except Echo. She seemed to be fidgeting. Madi only needed a brief backwards glance to see why.

Octavia was looking at her, staring at her really. Madi turned back to the road so they didn't crash. Clarke would never let her hear the end of it if she–NO.

Madi shook her head. She couldn't think of her mom right now. Commanders invading her dreams or no, if she allowed herself to think too hard about exactly how unlikely it was that Clarke was gonna make it–STOP IT BRANWADA.

With a huff, Madi returned her attention to the road ahead. There was a bump in the road, jostling Gaia uncomfortably. Madi didn't see it, but the resulting shriek of pain was enough to ease some of Madi's nerves. Gaia was still alive. The silence was beginning to become oppressive after Gaia's brief bout of agony. So naturally, John Murphy casually asked an inappropriate and uncomfortable question, "So, if you've got Lexa in your head, that must've made things a little awkward with Clarke being your mom huh?"

"Awkward?" Madi responded, not entirely paying attention to the Spacekru man. Driving was after all the more important priority.

Emory pinched the bridge of her nose while Octavia's seemingly unwavering gaze was still locked on the little of Madi she could see from her seat.

"You know," Murphy continued, "because they fuc–,"

"If you finish that sentence I'll break your nose, Murphy," Echo growled.

Madi didn't respond for a long moment. Echo was between shooting murderous glances at Murphy, and more softly giving Madi a look the thirteen-year-old a look she wasn't sure what to make of.

"Lexa has been most present of the commanders. She's very loud, and disappointed; especially since Clarke chose the wrong side." Madi confessed. Murphy's comment went entirely unacknowledged.

"Wrong side?" Octavia asked hoarsely. Everyone except Madi turned to look at Octavia. It was the first interaction she'd had with the girl since she ascended. It was the first thing she said since she basically committed suicide for her loved ones not ten minutes ago. And nobody knew how to deal with her now.

"She should've supported you," Madi spoke to Octavia bluntly. Nobody was ready for that. "Everyone says that you were different after the bunker. Clarke physically pulled me aside and warned me that you weren't the Octavia who was my favourite from the years of stories she told me growing up." Octavia shifted uncomfortably. "At first, I believed her. You were still cool and all, but also really scary. But then Bellamy and Gaia put this in my head."

At this point even Indra is paying attention. "Do you regret it?" Bellamy asked. Madi scoffs, but doesn't say anymore until they can see the camp.

As the car starts slowing down, Madi says grimly, "When we entered the control room, Dante said that he bore it, so that his people wouldn't have to. If you can't acknowledge that Octavia's choices are anything but a mirror of the horrors fate have dealt her, than you don't deserve her as your sister."

Before anybody could process the terrifying implications of Madi having Clarke's memories, the car stops. And they spring into action trying to save Gaia.

Everybody stops what they're doing when the would-be Commander and humanity's eagerly hated saviour both exit the car.

Octavia immediately approaches the young Commander. She looks up at the girl barely ten years her senior as she's blocked from approaching. Lexa chooses this moment to remind her to have a little faith, "I said, let her pass," and Octavia approaches.

Madi looks into her eyes, and everything in Octavia just breaks, and so she sinks to her knees, abdicating the responsibility of humanity to a girl who hadn't even menstruated yet.

Madi looked around, the horror of everything nearly caught up to her, but Madi stowed her worries for another day; there was a war to win.

It was daylight, and Gaia had woken up, and despite the pain, she was still willing to do her duty.

Madi closed her eyes as the world raged around her.

Being in the medical tent was horrible. there was whimpering and prayers offered to her as she passed by each bed to go to her Fleimkepa. To think, she would've murdered Gaia given the chance if they had met six years ago.

Gaia laid there, her leg nearly ruined, calmly doing her job. Fleimkepa indeed. If Lexa's death wasn't something she'd felt like she'd literally lived though, she'd be impressed with the institution. But as it was, Gaia's strength and wisdom came from Gaia, and Indra, and in some ways probably Octavia. Not the Order of the Flame who came before her.

Gaia showed her how to directly ask the commanders for help. To call upon their knowledge. It wasn't much, just a keen observation by a commander three generations ago about the exploding sonic weapons, and how they could devastate the enemy's advantage. But it was a start, because as Madi opened her eyes, she felt a warm smile, and knew that Lexa was proud of her.

Gaia handed her Lexa's Helm of Awe. Madi steeled herself for this day as she walked out of the tent, flanked by the Blake siblings and Indra. As she looked out upon her army, the teenager muttered to herself, "So it begins."