Plagued
Prelude – She Only Had One Choice
There stood their last barricade, the impenetrable steel door, with its locks blasted open, waiting to be peeled back. As the smell of gun powder, blood, and death invade her senses, Lexa knew she needed to end the barrage of bullets, she needed to give Clarke and her forces an opportunity to open the door, to free their people. Leaving Clarke with the more than capable Lincoln, Lexa gathered her small force and began the climb up the mountain.
Shrouded in darkness, cloaked by the swaying trees, her force quickly ascended the mountain side. She was deafened by the sound of bullets firing from the barrels of the Mountain Men's guns, and yet she continued to climb closer to what seemed to be an inevitable death. With each step the reality of her shortening life sunk in a little more, it made no difference, as the Commander her duty was to her people. She survived the attack on Ton DC, knowingly sacrificing hundreds of her people, so she could lead the attack on the mountain. Her people died to secure the freedom of the hundreds held captive in the mountain, their deaths must not be in vain, the treachery of the Mountain Men must be stopped.
While determined and focused on the survival people, she could not ignore the know in her stomach, growing each minute and tugging at her heart, she needed to stop the plethora of gun fire before a stray bullet found Clarke to be its target. The bursts of fire and random trajectory told her the Mountain Men were mostly firing into the darkness, hoping to hit the space between the door and the Grounder army. They fired with the sole purpose of preventing the door from opening, Lexa knew they would eventually become desperate and would fire in every direction with the slightest hope of crippling the marauding forces. Her head demanded she free her people, her heart demanded she protect and save Clarke.
Her blade glinted in the moonlight as she slashed through the tender flesh of a man lying in the bushes. The firing of his weapon ceased as a crimson stain spread like spilled water on the ground. With a quick and firm swing of her arm, Lexa cut through a charging Mountain Man, his blue jumpsuit offering him no protection from the Commander's sharp blade. A slight warmth invaded Lexa's face, instantly becoming frighteningly cool, her senses invaded with the salty taste of blood, two of her men fell beside her, in front of her stood three Mountain Men; yet one of them stood there with no blue suit, he had been cured, which meant Clarke's people were dying.
"Well, well, you must be the Commander" Emerson sneered.
"Free the prisoners inside the mountain, or you will be eliminated." Lexa responded with confidence and strength.
"The survival of your people is entirely up to you." He replied with an unexplainable level of arrogance.
"You've out lived your usefulness," Lexa spoke calmly as she lifted her blade.
"You may want to hear me out Commander. We have an offer for you, you sound a retreat and we'll give you all of your people back, and spare the lives of all of those outside the door." The smug nature of Emerson's offer, nauseated Lexa, there had to be a catch.
"And what of the Sky People?" Lexa needed to know the catch.
"They are not of your concern. Call your retreat and your people are free." He knew with such certainty how she would respond.
"My loyalty will not be swayed. We already have access to your fortress, we will pull the door open and we will slaughter all of your soldiers and anyone else who resists us." Lexa's attempted counter was flat, she knew she would take the deal, her duty was to her people no one else.
"You think you have an upper hand, what you do not know is I have several snipers fixed on, what I like to call, critical targets. Our former, what is that you call them, as yes Reaper, and the leader of the Sky People, Clarke. Both will be eliminated immediately, if you do not accept this offer.
Lexa's heart raced this man was now threatening Clarke, she had no choice but to accept the offer, she needed to free her people, she needed to protect Clarke, this is the only option that allowed her to accomplish both. The sound of the loading rifle snapped her from her thoughts. "Wait." The single word was all she could manage.
"So Commander, do we have an agreement?" Emerson's ego had become even more unpalatable.
"I sound the retreat, you free my people and remove the sitting snipers. Is there anything else?" Lexa spoke through gritted teeth, she wished nothing more than to slice the throat of this villainous feign.
"When you surround your retreat, all of your people must leave the mountain and never return, my snipers will stay positioned on the Sky People until all of your people leave. You will have mere minutes to complete your evacuation of the mountain before my men start dropping Sky People." Emerson was unwavering in his dialect. He stared sternly at Lexa, there was no question in what he was saying, leave the mountain or Clarke dies.
Lexa's dissent down the mountain was sluggish and agonizing. Covered in the blood of her people, in the blood of the enemy knowing she was walking towards the moment when she would devastate Clarke. She went through the situation in her mind a thousand times over, but when she approached and saw Clarke's hopeful face, her mind went blank, her heart sunk, and all that was left were the cold words every Commander knows by heart.
There was no prolonged goodbye, no offering of an explanation, nothing but commands. For a moment, she glinted from her leadership coma when Lincoln tried to stay. He could not stay, if he stayed Clarke would die.
"Take him" she ordered without hesitation.
The night air was cold, the stare in Clarke's eyes even colder. She had no other choice, and she had no time to explain this to Clarke. She could only hope that one day Clarke would understand.
"I made this decision with my head Clarke not my heart. May we meet again"