Clarke's eyes fluttered open and tried to adjust to the bright light around her. She slightly panicked because the bright white room reminded her of Mount Weather. She quickly realized that she wasn't in any danger and the memories of the events that just happened flooded back to her. Clarke may not have been in danger but she was scared. Yes, the badass Clarke was scared. She would never let it show to anyone else though. Not that there was anyone else to see her be scared. Everyone was either in the bunker underground or in space. That left her with one question that kept running through her mind, why was she alive? She barely made it into the bunker before Praimfaya took over her surroundings. Even though she wasn't caught in it, the radiation already hit her. The memory of the pain was something she could still feel.
Clarke reached her hand up to touch her face and was surprised. Her face was clear and soft. The painful blisters caused by the radiation were gone and there was no evidence of the radiation at all. The only other time this happened was when Luna suffered from acute radiation syndrome. She survived because she was a nightblood. Could it be? Did the treatment work? Was she completely a nightblood now? That was the only explanation. Of course she knew she was a nightblood but she wasn't sure if it would actually protect her from the radiation since she wasn't born with it.
She sat up slowly as her body was still very sore. As she looked around, she noticed that everything was intact and there was no evidence of Praimfaya at all. This relieved her as it not only meant she had somewhere safe to stay but because it meant that the other 1200 people in the bunker underground should be safe as well. She could only hope that was the same for the space crew. She was Clarke. Of course one of her first thoughts after surviving the radiation would be to make sure that everyone else was safe. It was killing her that she couldn't know for sure though. She had to trust that Octavia would be able to take care of wonkru and Bellamy and Raven could take care of skaikru 2.0 aka space crew.
Clarke tilted her head back to rest on the wall behind her and thought about the events that brought her to where she is now. She tried to continue her father's mission of telling everyone that the Ark was dying and got thrown into solitary confinement instead. Then she was sent down to basically die with 100 other people (since Bellamy snuck on as well) and had to keep everyone alive. It was her job to keep everyone safe. Why though? Maybe if she would have only thought about herself, she wouldn't be in this position right now. There is a good chance that if she would have only thought about herself though, she would be dead. It is because she put everyone else before her that she was alive. The others fought for her, to keep her out of trouble. God knows she did not make it easy on Bellamy. He even told her that. Everything she did was for her people. Now all she had to do was keep herself alive so she could see her people again. A tear fell from her left eye as she remembered the pain and heartache of everything she had faced. She quickly wiped the tear away and took a deep breath to compose herself.
There was no sense in dwelling on things in the past. She had to live for today. Clarke had to hope that she would be reunited with everyone again. She carefully got up and walked to the door that kept her safe from the elements of the world. Every step she took made her heart beat faster. Would there even be anything left on earth? Was she opening the door to her death? Sure, her nightblood saved her the first time but was she completely immune from radiation now? There was only one way to find out. Her hand grazed the cold metal lever as she had an internal debate about whether or not she should actually open the door. A shiver went down her spine as she stared at the lever. It was all too familiar to her. A lever had protected her people from 300 grounders and killed quite a few of them as well. A lever wiped out the mountain men. A lever killed the city of light and A.L.I.E. All of these events took a great amount of strength for Clarke to actually bring herself to pull the lever. Now she was faced with the dilemma once more.
Clarke pulled the lever down with slight force and the door cracked open. A bright light peeked through and she caught a glimpse at the new world. She didn't see much as the light was pretty blinding. With greater force, Clarke pushed the heavy metal door open and faced the world she would be living in basically by herself for the next 5 years. She didn't even think about the possibility that it could take longer for everyone to reunite. What she witnessed amazed her. There was green. Except for some trees that were damaged by radiation shortly before Praimfaya, everything was green. She looked out further into the distance and saw that this was not the same everywhere. It was like it just skipped over the area she was in. But she saw the fire coming at her and there was no way that she could have imagined it. This world would always be a complete mystery to her.
She went over to the rover to see if it was also intact. To her relief, it was. At least now she would be able to see if any other area survived the disaster. As she went to get in the driver's seat, she heard the snap of a twig in close proximity to her. Clarke grabbed a riffle and whipped her head around to see where the noise came from. She caught a quick glimpse of something hide behind a tree. Curiosity took over her and she went to find out what it was. With her gun held close for protection, she almost made it to the thing that made the noise. Before she could get there though, it bolted away. It was a child. A little girl. Clarke put her gun down and ran after the girl. She was very young and wasn't able to run very quickly so it wasn't hard for Clarke to catch up to her.
"Stop! Who are you?" Clarke called out to the little girl. The child kept on running until she tripped over a root sticking out of the ground. While on the ground, she flipped over so she was now facing Clarke. She was terrified and was using her small elbows and legs to slide herself backwards away from Clarke.
"Nou laksen ai! (Don't hurt me!)" The little girl cried out in trigedasleng and stopped trying to get away. She winced and turned her head away from Clarke, no doubt expecting to get killed on the spot.
Clarke realized that the child probably didn't understand her language. To make the girl understand she was safe, Clarke reached out her hand and said, "Ai nou laksen yu. Yu klir nau. Chit yu tagon? (I will not hurt you. You are safe now. What is your name?)"
Relief washed over the girls face as she realized that she would not be hurt by the woman in front of her. She took Clarke's hand and said, "Madi."
"Hei Madi. Ai Laik Klarke. Hani yo yu? (Hello Madi. I'm Clarke. How old are you?)" Clarke asks as she helps Madi up.
"sis (6)." Madi replies. Clarke finally got a good look at Madi. She had long wavy brown hair and gorgeous blue grey eyes that already melted Clarke's heart. Madi was frail and would not have been able to survive much longer if Clarke had not found her. Madi clung on to Clarke as if she would immediately die if Clarke let go of her hand. Clarke stared at the tiny hand that still gripped her hand. It was covered in dirt but that wasn't what surprised her. It was so tiny. She looked from the small hand to the big eyes that were staring at her. Madi refused to take her eyes off Clarke as she was the first person she has seen in quite a while.
"Weron yu nomon? (Where is your mother?)" Clarke asked.
"Ai nomon don frag op. (My mother was killed)", Madi replies with her small voice that seemed just as fragile as the rest of her.
"Hakom yu nou stedaun? (How are you not dead?)" Clarke asked her. No one should have been able to survive through the radiation. Unless...
"Natblida (Nightblood)" Madi replied. Clarke was shocked. There was another nightblood that no one knew about and the only thing Clarke could think about is that she had to have been connected to Lexa somehow. Her Lexa.
"Du yu meme yu nomon tagon? (Do you remember your mother's name?)" Clarke asked with hope. Madi replied by slowly shaking her head. Clarke internally kicked herself. She felt like she had to know where Madi came from. There was no chance that Lexa could have had a child that no one knew about, right? Even if she did, why wouldn't she have told her?
It didn't matter who she belonged to now though. Her mother was gone and Clarke felt the responsibility to take care of this child now. She would do everything in her power to protect Madi. "Ai nou teik enti laksen yu Madi. (I won't let anything hurt you Madi)" Clarke reassures her. Madi smiles big and then attacks her in a hug. Clarke wraps her arms around the little girl and felt happier than she has been in a while.
1 YEAR LATER
"Madi! Come on, you need to focus." Clarke says as she is holding her sword in one hand and a tiny training one in the other.
"No Clarke! No more lessons today!" Madi yelled as she ran around laughing.
"You have to Madi. You are going to need these skills one day. Not for a few more years but you will need them." Clarke argues back.
"Ai nou fir raun. Ai don kom au gon dison. (I am not afraid. I was born for this.)" Madi counters.
Madi was a ball of energy that could never stay still. For the past year, Clarke had been teaching Madi everything that she needs to know in order to thrive when everyone reunites. Madi's lessons included the English language, fighting, and medical skills. It was how they passed the time and it benefited both of them. Madi learned everything she needed to know and Clarke had a reason to stay alive.
The hardest part for Clarke was that Madi never wanted to do her lessons because she didn't understand how important they would be for her. At this point, she was only 7 years old. There was no way she could comprehend what the world was like before Praimfaya.
"Fine." Madi reluctantly said and got her practice sword from Clarke. She immediately went into her fighting stance and started to spar with Clarke. The funny part was that Madi was actually very good at everything and she would quickly outgrow Clarke as a teacher within the year. So sometimes Clarke did give in and let Madi take a break every few days.
"Ha! I won again!" Madi shouted triumphantly. She had successfully pinned Clarke to the ground once more. Granted, Clarke was going easy on her. She is only 7 after all but within the next few years, Clarke could tell she would become stronger and will be able to beat her for real.
Clarke flipped Madi over after she dropped her sword and started to attack her with tickles. Madi screamed with laughter as Clarke said, "We are going to have to have Octavia train you when it is safe again. You are getting way too good."
The two of them sat up and let each other catch their breath as Madi replied, "I can't wait to meet her. And Bellamy! Oh and Raven! I just can't wait to meet everyone."
Madi knew about everything that happened. Clarke would tell her stories before she would go to bed at night. They weren't the typical bedtime stories but Madi seemed to enjoy them.
"I know. You will get to one day but until then you are stuck with me kid." Clarke said which made Madi laugh. That laugh always made Clarke smile. Clarke had smiled and laughed more in the past year than she has in her whole life. This little girl seemed to bring out the best in her.
"Did you talk to Bellamy today?" Madi asked.
"I tried to." Clarke said with a frown.
"Do you really think they can hear you?" Madi asked innocently.
"I don't know but I have to have hope." Clarke replied while putting her arm around the little girl.
"I think they can hear you. They just aren't able to respond." Madi reassured Clarke. She was a very optimistic child.
"I hope you are right. It's getting late though so its time for bath and then bed." Clarke said while sounding very motherly. Clarke had taken to being a mother very easily. Even though she wasn't Madi's real mom, she still loved her just the same.
"No!" Madi yelled jokingly. If there was anything Madi hated more than lessons, it was bed time. She hated it when the day was over. Clarke had a secret weapon that always worked on the little girl though.
"I will tell you any story you want tonight." Clarke said to her and Madi immediately got up an started running. "Where are you going?" Clarke yelled after her.
"Bath time! Duh!" Madi replied like it was obvious. Clarke chuckled and ran after the little girl.
"So what story do you want to hear tonight?" Clarke asked Madi who was starting rub her eyes from tiredness.
"Will you finally tell me about Lexa?" Madi asked with hope. Clarke's heart sunk. She had been avoiding the topic of Lexa. Not because she didn't want to tell Madi about their relationship but because she wasn't sure she could talk about her without crying. Lexa meant everything to Clarke and sometimes she really wished the bullet hit her instead. Watching Lexa die was the worst day of her life. She still had nightmares about it.
"Oh Madi, I don't know if-" Clarke tried to say but was cut off by Madi.
"But you said I could pick any story that I wanted." Madi pouted. Clarke was defeated and she knew it.
She took a deep breath and said, "Okay I will tell you about Lexa." Madi couldn't be happier. Lexa was always a mystery to her because Clarke would never say much about her like she would everyone else. It was something that the little girl never understood.
Clarke got Madi out of the bath and ready for bed. Madi got into bed to wait for her story while Clarke finished cleaning up from the bath. When Clarke walked into their room, she couldn't help but smile at the scene in front of her. Madi had already fallen asleep. Clarke was relieved because this meant she wouldn't have to go through the pain of talking about Lexa. Madi would never let it go but the longer she could put it off, the longer her heart had to heal. Clarke didn't think she could love anyone again after Lexa's death and in a way, she hasn't but she knew she loved Madi just as much. Even if it wasn't the same type of love, it made her realize that she would be capable of loving someone again.
Clarke crawled in bed next to Madi and tucked her hair behind her ear. She kissed Madi's forehead and said, "Reshop, ma strikon natblida. (Goodnight, my little nightblood)"
Thank you for reading! I was half way through writing this story when I found out Jason said that Clarke met Madi a year after Praimfaya but I liked my beginning and didn't want to start over. I hope you liked it!