Chapter 12

"Clarke! " Lexa shouted and immediately ran towards Clarke. Brunette had been stunned by what had happened. She had never thought Clarke would step between her and the ripa and take the bullet for her.

Finn was shocked by what had happened. He had shot Clarke. He, who had come here to protect Clarke, had shot Clarke. The gun slipped from his hand fell on the ground with a clang.

He instinctively reached out to Clarke but was stopped by a cutting voice. When he turned he found it was the grounder, he was aiming the gun at.

"Don't touch her." Lexa was glaring at Finn. She had cut the distance between them in seconds. She was instantly clutching Clarke, mindful of the bullet wound. "Back off!" She hissed to Finn.

"I'm ok Lexa." said Clarke in a strained voice. She kicked the gun away from them. Even though she was sure that Finn would not use it now, she did not want to risk it anymore. Her left hand was holding tightly her right shoulder trying to staunch the black blood, which was flowing freely.

"Lid in fisa nau." Bring a healer now. Lexa barked out to her warriors. She was aware her warriors were tailing her so that they could protect her. Not to mention the scouts she had surround the village. She had seen few of her warriors had been about to take action when Clarke had stepped in between the ripa and her.

"Lexa, the bullet just scratched me. Don't worry I'm fine." Clarke looked into Lexa's eyes and saw the deep concern she had for her. She tried to convey as much reassurance she could through their connection. Lexa must have seen that and therefore let out the breath she was holding.

When Lexa turned to glare at Finn, Clarke saw the anger and hatred in her eyes for him.

At the side, Gustus, Anya and Indra, all three of them saw the scene play out before them. They had been alerted to the altercation by one of the scouts and ran outside the village as fast as they could. However, reaching there, all three were surprised. It was not because the Skai skat pulled the trigger but because of the Skaigada's action and their Heda's reaction.

All three understood that something had happened. Something had changed during the time between the meeting that Heda had with the Skaigada and until now.

Gustus had three of his best warriors on the lookout for his Heda. He had done that after the incident in the tent had happened when Heda had asked them to leave. The two of the warriors subdued the Skaiskat as soon as the fayogon was out of his hand. The remaining warrior quickly left to fetch a fisa on the orders of his Heda.

"Are you ok Lexa? You weren't hurt again right?" Clarke slurred out in a desperate whisper. She tried to focus on Lexa trying to find any wounds on her person. But she was failing to do so as she was feeling dizzy from the blood she was losing.

"Clarke, you are losing a lot of blood. Stay with me beja." Lexa said in a whisper while looking at Clarke in concern. She immediately tried to staunch the flow of blood by pressing a cloth to the wound. The wound was deeper than the scratch that Clarke was claiming to be. Lexa did not want to move Clarke in case it worsened her injury.

Nyko came and immediately started checking Clarke's injury. He did the field medic quickly and called for a warrior to take her to the healer's hut to properly dress the wound. Clarke did not want to leave Lexa after what had happened. But she allowed herself to be carried to the hut without any complains after Lexa gave her patent glare which told her to behave and not test her.

After seeing Clarke go with the fisa safely, Lexa turned to Finn with murder in her eyes. If looks could kill, he would have been dead thousand times over in the most painful manner.

Rather than staying and doing something she might not regret later, Lexa with great difficulty turned towards her generals and ordered them to place the boy in prison. She would deal with him later. Lexa then turned left them to sort things out. Gustus tried to follow his Heda but one look from Lexa he stopped. He saw that his Heda was at the end of her rope and it would be not wise to test her.

"Gon we" Lexa ordered everyone out of the healer's tent. Everyone left at the order of their Heda.

Without a word, Lexa sat down on the stool besides Clarke's bed and took her hand in hers. Clarke looked up at the brunette. Both waited for the other to talk.

Clarke decided to break the silence between them, "So what is going to happen now?" She asked tentatively.

Even if Finn did not manage to kill anyone, he did something worse than that. He tried to kill Lexa. He might have not known who she was but Clarke knew there would be repercussions to his actions. Clarke did not want everything she achieved up until this point in past to be useless.

Try as she might Clarke could not bring herself to care about the consequences Finn had to face personally. This is because she has started to resent him. It did not matter to her that Finn just now shot her. However, he tried to kill Lexa. For this reason alone, she was very reluctant to protect him this time around.

Lexa's eyes became guarded at that question. "I know you love that boy." She said crossly. "But please understand that he just now shot you while trying to kill me. He may not have drawn my people's blood but there will be consequences of what he just tried to do. Especially now, when we had just decided to form a truce between our people." Not to mention Lexa was out for that boy's blood. It did not matter how she got it. He hurt Clarke. Now it was time for him to pay.

Clarke froze as the first sentence came out of Lexa's mouth. She did not hear anything else Lexa spoke of. 'Lexa thinks I still love Finn.' She looked at Lexa sharply. 'Is that why she is so off? Does she think that I am still in love with him? Is that why she is so guarded around me?' There were many questions going around in Clarke's head and therefore she remained quiet.

Lexa looked at Clarke after finishing her piece and waited for the blonde's reply. She found that Clarke was in a deep thought about something. The brunette frowned and looked at the blonde closely. Clarke's right hand was in a sling probably so that she wouldn't move her right shoulder and open her wound again. Her eyes softened at that. Clarke was injured and should be resting.

Lexa decided to break the silence between them, "You shouldn't have put yourself in danger Clarke."

Clarke snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Lexa. The blonde squeezed the hand she was holding and replied, "I wasn't going to let him hurt you Lexa. I wasn't going to let that happen again. I wasn't going to let you die again." The blonde closed her eyes as recalled the most painful memory she had. She closed her eyes in exhaustion.

"I almost lost you again. I love you too much to let that happen once more. Even if you hate me because I was the reason you died." Clarke said in such a low voice that almost made Lexa miss what she was saying.

"What?!" Lexa was shocked. Clarke said she loved her. Clarke loved her. Never could she have imagined that Clarke felt like this. Wait a minute. She also said she blamed herself for Lexa's death. That Clarke felt she was the reason Lexa died.

Lexa immediately cradled Clarke's face with the hand she was not holding Clarke's hand. "Look at me Clarke." Lexa said in such a serious voice that made Clarke look at her tentatively.

Lexa's eyes softened at the gesture, "I don't hate you Clarke. You are not responsible for my death. Please don't blame yourself." The brunette said in a fierce voice. She caressed her cheek.

"But earlier you were angry at me." rebutted Clarke. Her voice was cracked and the heartbreak was clear in her tone.

"I apologize to make you think like that but it is not as what you are thinking." Lexa said shaking her head.

Clarke looked back at her with questions in her eyes. Lexa took a few deep breaths to calm and center herself. The brunette wanted to have this conversation with the blonde but not like this while she was injured. But it seemed that she had no choice as Clarke was waiting for an answer, looking at her with wide blue eyes.

"I was thinking that since Fin is now alive, you are able to go back to him now." Lexa said in a small voice while turning her face away from the blonde.

Clarke was speechless at the brunette's response. She might have a feeling that was the case but she had not been fully sure about it.

"Lexa" Clarke called out her name softly. Lexa turned to look at her but did not meet the blue eyes.

"I am not in love with him anymore." Clarke continued in the same tone.

"What?" Lexa was dumbfounded. She not expected this response. She had expected that Clarke would try to convince her to not give any punishment to Finn but not this. More like she had not dared to hope. Hope that she might have a chance with Clarke.

"I said I am not in love with him. I may have loved him before but I am not in love with him anymore. I had moved on from him a while ago. Maybe, even before I had killed him." Clarke said in a monologue. She had a faraway look in her eyes. She was remembering how Finn had hurt not only her but also Raven. She had tried staying away from him after she had learnt the truth but he wouldn't let her. Because of him, she had a strained relationship with Raven and that deteriorated further after she had to kill Finn.

"I had broken up with him before the massacre had occurred. I don't think I would have gone back to him especially after what he did to me and Raven." Clarke said seriously. "And I won't go back to him now because I love you."

Lexa blinked. She had so many questions that she needed answers to but knew that now was not the time to bring all of that up. So instead, she cupped Clarke's face and brought her lips close to Clarke's. She gave the blonde plenty of time to back out but it seemed that Clarke was just as eager to kiss her. So, they closed the distance between them in no time and their lips met in a frantic kiss.

When Lexa pulled back a bit, she whispered "Ai hod yu in seintaim." Clarke could taste the words on her lips.