The One Who's Fallen

Chapter 135

*** Note: there is gagging this chapter (no not the kinky kind, the nausea kind) also blood and torture***

Lexa, Raven, Octavia, and I make our way to the large dining room that has become a horror show. The smell gets stronger as we get closer and we have to pause once or twice when Octavia nearly throws up again. I don't blame her, all of us are a little nauseous. Even Lexa.

She walks beside me, clutching my hand like its a lifeline while I do the same to her.

Raven has to hack her way into a few doors to get us there, but it barely slows us down. She goes through it mechanically, her eyes glazed over slightly. I hope that seeing Luna and Anya again will do her good.

Seeing all those people affected all of us, but Raven... She's not exposed to that kind of thing. Not that seeing something like that often would help.

The last door slides open with a whoosh and Octavia's gagging intensifies along with the smell. The sterile, white door opens to reveal a bloodbath. There's blood everywhere from the boils popping and bodies littering the ground, some slumped against tables, still sitting in the chairs they died in.

Grounders and Skaikru alike are standing in the room, staring at the bodies with unbridled horror. They look up at us as we walk in.

Lexa's hand tightens around mine and I squeeze back, hoping the reminder of my presence will at least be a little comforting.

Two people push through the crowd and Anya and Luna rush out, practically running over to Raven. Raven's entire body relaxes at the mere sight of them and I pretend not to notice how she chokes back tears when they wrap her in a hug.

Lincoln comes in a couple of moments later, shoving Cage inside the room. Cage stumbles at the force of it, falling to his knees. His eyes widen at the sight of some spattered blood on the floor in his line of sight. His head snaps up and he takes in his fallen people.

He chokes on nothing, his eyes glassy. "Why have you brought me here, savages?" Cage demands. Despite everything, his tone is still full of venom.

"As you may have guessed," Lexa begins. "We will not let you live. Your actions were foolish and selfish and cost many their lives. I would wait until your people can come here to see justice done but that will not be possible for another couple of hours. And you, Cage, do not deserve to live that long."

"Wouldn't life be a worse punishment than death?" Cage questions, his voice a few octaves higher than normal.

"No." Lexa shuts him down immediately. "In our culture, those who have attempted or committed genocide suffer under the pain of a slow death. Perhaps you have heard of it when you had your people spy on us. We call it 'death by a thousand cuts.' "

Cage's eyes get even wider and what little color was left on his face drains quickly.

"Here?" I inquire, keeping my voice quiet so it's mainly Lexa and Cage that can hear me. "What if the people we managed to save want to live in this place? That's a lot of blood that needs to be cleaned up."

Cage pales further, which I didn't think was possible.

"Clarke, there is already a lot of blood on the floor. We can clean up another gallon and a half."

I eye Cage, then turn back to Lexa. "You do realize that's all the blood he has in his entire body, right? If my weight estimate and calculations are correct, at least."

"I am sure they are. And yes, I am aware. Most do not have much blood left in their veins after we are done with them." Lexa's lips twitch up into a smirk when Cage lets out a squeak.

"That's fair." I shrug. "If they want it to last longer, they should avoid cutting places where the skin is the thinnest and closest to the veins, like the wrists."

I chuckle quietly when Cage slumps to the floor, his knees no longer holding him up. Lexa smiles at me for a moment before she schools her expression and gestures for two warriors to come over.

"Tai em op (bind/restrain him)." Lexa orders.

The warriors hurry to comply, one of them pulling out rope. They take him over to the nearest column that reminds me of Roman architecture in the history books and tie him too it.

They do it so he can sit if he is too weak but Cage stands, his hands tied around the other side of the column. The gathered people pull out daggers and swords, glowering at the now cowering man.

Lexa steps forward and gestures to the warriors, who immediately understand what she wants. They cut off his shirt and cut off his pants above the knee to maximize the skin showing.

"Yo na jomp in (you may begin)." Lexa says.

The first person steps forward and starts the process. Despite how it seems almost barbaric, everyone waits their turn patiently. He grits his teeth at first but eventually gives in to letting out pained grunts and groans turn into agonized screams.

It goes on like this until I see a familiar blonde head in the crowd, leading a group of people towards us. Mom pushes through, murmuring apologies along the way. She wraps me in a tight hug when she gets to me and squeezes Lexa's arm instead of hugging her too, which my girlfriend evidently appreciates.

"Mom." I say in surprise as she pulls away. "I thought you, the healers, and volunteers were already down with the people we managed to save."

"We were behind all of the warriors, taking care of the sick and wounded. As soon as we saw them heading in, we started coming too. Where are we going?" Mom questions.

I look over at Lexa, who answers both my mom and my unasked question. "Clarke and I will take you there. This will not be done anytime soon, we can afford to go. Anya, you are in charge while I am gone."

Anya nods seriously before pressing a kiss to the top of Raven's head, who looks a lot calmer now that she's standing between her girlfriends.

"I will have Raven inform you if anything happens." Anya says.

"Good. Mochof (thank you)." Lexa nods to her and then begins leading everyone down the hallways with me by her side.

Next chapter, we get to see the Maunon that survived! And then... Cage's dramatic death scene! Which may or may not be next chapter, we'll see how it goes. Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!