Disclaimer:

I do not own the characters associated with this work. It is a work of fanfiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of my imagination (unless otherwise stated) or if real, are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.

Clarke's perspective

As I strode along the path I could only wonder why Lexa had summoned me. I mean really? I thought she saw me as at least being an equal but to be summoned? After her threat to kill Octavia because she knows that we had prior knowledge about the air strike I wasn't in a happy mood.

I walked quickly along the well trodden paths that wove their way through a sea of tents like blood vessels in the body. I always started to think of medical analogies when I needed to keep calm. They kept me focussed; they kept me grounded amidst the cacophony of thoughts racing through my head.

"Sorry," I apologised to a Grounder with more ink than an octopus. I was distracted not only because of the threats on my people, but a seemingly endless line of things. For one, I kept checking and rechecking the plans, making sure we were covering all of our bases, having contingencies for our contingencies that sort of thing.

The clouds rolled across the sky blocking the sunlight, darkening the surrounding area. 'I really hope that isn't an omen, a sign of things to come,' I thought to myself as my gaze was tilted upwards by the gentle incline of the hill as I continued up towards the commander, Lexa's tent.

I was also worried about Bellamy, hoping beyond hope that he succeeds as my plan depended on him in order to work. Without his intervention in Mt Weather, we'd all burn to death from the acid fog and the war would be over before it started. All of our friends would be lost and subjected to the twisted experiments that would go ahead unimpeded.

As I ducked my head and pushed my way into Lexa's tent I also had what she'd said earlier on my mind, about how she said she cared for me. I was finding that a little hard to believe given her frosty exterior. She probably cared enough about me in the sense that I was useful to her.

I spotted her standing beside the table that was set up in her spacious tent holding a scroll whilst looking at another which was laid flat on the table in front of her.

"You sent for me?" I asked her as I begun to walk across the room towards her.

Her head turned to look at me slowly, before an almost imperceptible nod was confirmation enough for my question. I did like the layout of her tent in that she had what could only be described as a throne which she sat on and delivered edicts or passed judgement on Grounder business from.

There was a spacious bed on the opposite side of the tent to which we were standing to the left of her throne and to the right was a weapons rack which contained any number of weapons covering for a variety of situations depending on the wielder's needs. Lexa was looking back down at the table again,

"Octavia has no reason to fear me anymore," she said as she looked up gauging my reaction no doubt.

These were not the words I had been expecting to come out of her mouth, so she had me at a slight disadvantage. This allowed her to press on with whatever she had summoned me here to say,

"I trust you Clarke, so if you trust that she won't say anything then that's good enough for me."

Finding my voice finally I was honestly relieved with what she had just said,

"I know it may seem hard for you but you don't have to be so closed off all the time." I gestured to the side of the tent with a raised arm parallel to the ground,

"What's best for your people is best for mine too." I pointed at her and then gestured to myself, "We're in this together and we can't win this war on our own and it won't do anyone any good if you kill of anyone who looks at you the wrong way."

She stared at me with those pretty brown eyes of hers, the war paint adorning her face as if she was ready to go charging out at any moment, which could be the case if Bellamy pulls through.

"My people are still different from yours Clarke; our ways and our demeanour might seem harsh to you but it has allowed us to survive." She put the scroll she was holding down, "The people," she pointed behind me, "they draw their strength from me and I can't look weak." She turned her head to the side.

I gave her shoulders a slight shake as I drew her attention back to me once again,

"There has to be more to life than that. More to life than just surviving. Don't you want more?"

She stared, really stared into my eyes searching for something, I'm not sure what exactly but maybe it's what prompted her next actions.

"You're right in that we can have more and that I want more. It doesn't change who I am or what feelings I let show unless I want people to see them."

Having my hands on her shoulders had brought us into the zone of entering into another person's personal space. It was this closeness that enabled her to do what she did next. Raising her right hand upwards, she cupped my cheek and pulled my head towards hers, our lips meeting softly.

I didn't even have time to gasp as I felt her lips move against mine. So this was what she meant when she said she cared, my brain delivering me this epiphany as I managed to surprise even myself next.

My lips were seeking hers out as I kissed her back, my left hand sliding down to rest on her lower back, keeping her close to me. This kiss was different to all the others I'd had previously in that I'd never kissed another girl before.

Her lips were softer and had a different texture to Wells and even to Finn's. I'm not sure if it was his name that had flown into my mind as I compared kisses or whether it was the coolness of the air as she pulled back slightly to turn her head and kiss me again that shocked me out of the situation.

I stepped back and tilted my head down slightly so she couldn't try again,

"I'm not ready to be with anyone," I said, as I felt a strong mix of guilt over having kissed another person when I still had some unresolved feelings left about Finn. I also felt guilty because of the brief flash of pain that I saw in her eyes.

"Not yet anyway," I continued, hope now blossoming in her facial features. It was replaced though as quickly as it came by her usual expression of stony indifference. But after what I'd just experienced, I now knew that there was more to Lexa than what meets the eye.

The kiss itself was so sweet and romantic, two qualities I don't anyone, anywhere at anytime has used to describe Lexa. My lips were still tingling afterwards and I felt like I had butterflies in my stomach. Lexa had opened her mouth to say something but was abruptly cut off before she had the chance by a shout from outside the tent.

She moved past me without a backward glance and I hastened to follow her. As I emerged from the tent I immediately noticed two things. The first was Lexa standing on the crest of the hill looking up at the sky. The sun was shining at just the right angle to make the scene in front of me breathtaking.

How it itched to sketch what was in front of me. How the lush green canopy of the forest met the blue hue of the horizon with the sunlight fading but still twinkling in the waning rays of the afternoon. In the middle of all that was the pretty and intriguing commander of the Grounders staring purposefully into the sky.

The second thing I noticed when I followed Lexa's gaze and recognised what had captured her interest and was the reason why we'd been called out of the tent. A red flare had been shot into the sky and was slowly losing its ascent speed. The flare could only mean one thing. Bellamy had succeeded and had notified Raven who in turn released the flare I was looking at now.

"I can see why you have faith in him," Lexa said as she sensed me come to a stop next to her, her eyes never leaving the flare.

She quieted the frenzied activity immediately below us with her hands outstretched. In her foreign tongue she shouted out to the masses, who resoundingly bellowed their approval and delight at her words. She turned her head to me now, my stomach feeling funny under the weight of her gaze.

"We go to war now Clarke."

Lexa's perspective

I'd been keyed up all day. Feeling like I had too much energy to burn. The waiting was definitely the hard part. I couldn't wait for the fighting to begin; the sounds of battle would become white noise when I held a blade in my hand.

As I looked down at the plans Clarke & I had made, the layouts of the Mountain Men's bunker a part of me was unsure whether the boy Clarke had sent into the depths of Mt Weather would actually be able to accomplish the task she had given to him.

It was an awful lot of faith, an awful lot of trust to place in someone and trust wasn't a currency I tended to deal in. Having spent as much more time than anyone lately with Clarke, I could see what made her who she was and what made her people listen to what she had to say.

She possessed that inner confidence, that self-assuredness that all good leaders needed to have. She also wasn't afraid to make the tough decisions, to be ruthless when she needed to be. I often found myself more drawn to her as the days passed, seeking out her counsel on a variety of topics.

She had a different way of looking at the world and she always wore her heart on her sleeve, which is an action that made her people want to follow her but at the same time allowed her emotions to cloud her judgement.

I gripped the table for support and closed my eyes as I took a deep breath. 'Calm down,' I told myself as a wave of emotion surged to engulf me as was the case lately when I found my mind occupied with thoughts of Clarke.

The action of earlier in the day when she was slinging words at me thick and fast, telling me how I actually felt things and felt for my people. Backing me up, getting in my personal space until I had nowhere left to run, nowhere to hide. How I wanted to pull her into my arms there and then!

I tried to keep my mouth closed. I tried to hold back the feelings I had for her. But I couldn't take it when she said I didn't care about all those people. That I'd leave them to die her included just to keep this war going. I had to let her know that I cared for her. Surely she understood that a leaders' responsible was the wellbeing of her people before her own wellbeing.

My breath left me, leaving me feeling like I'd been on the pursuit of a fugitive or on a hunt all day long. I didn't want to see her look at me again with an accusatory glint in her eyes.

"You sent for me?"

As soon as I heard the words out of her mouth, I found my throat dry as I struggled to come up with anything to say. I managed to nod as she crossed the room to stand alongside me next to the table with the war plans on it.

Once I was able to bring my gaze onto her face I didn't want to look anywhere else. It was like looking at a beautiful sunrise or the magnificence that could only be found strolling by moonlight through the glowing forests.

It was a struggle to keep up with the conversation, thankful that I'd rehearsed what I was going to say so I could do it without thinking. When I felt her hands on my shoulders it was too much and despite keeping my expression blank and my emotions in check I couldn't, I wouldn't and I didn't any longer.

Cupping her check in the palm of my right hand, I brought her lips to mine. Pure ecstasy was how I'd describe it as I felt her lips respond to mine. How tiring it was to keep my features schooled the way that I wanted, the way that I needed them to be. My own people only saw what I allowed them to see, but I didn't want Clarke to see some carefully constructed mirage.

I wanted her to see the real me. The girl who was thrust into a position of power at a young age and hardened into what her people needed her to be. But that didn't mean there wasn't a girl inside who wanted to fall in love, who wanted to share the world with someone special.

All too soon the kiss ended and she drew back, saying she wasn't ready for something like this yet. It was amazing how much hope that one word gave me. I vowed there and then that at the very least I'd tell Clarke what she meant to me, what attracted her to me and what made me want to stop pretending around her. My eyes begun to water as I struggled to hold back the emotion that wanted to come out but I managed…for now.

A shout from outside the tent grabbed my attention and I ran past Clarke out into the open, gazing towards the heavens like so many others around me and in front of me. A bright red flare streaked across the sky which meant that Bellamy had managed to disable to acid fog. I felt Clarke standing next to me and my hand ached to grab hers but I didn't want to rush her and push her away.

I yelled out to no one in particular,

"Sound the horn! We go to war!"

The sounds of the horns blowing were met by raucous cheers from on the plain below as it was time that we put an end to the tyranny of those in the Mountain. It was time to stop living in fear. It was time to march to war!

A/N:

Congratulations you've reached the end of the chapter! Liked what you read? Didn't like it? Leave me a review as feedback is encouraged! This was something that I just couldn't keep in my head after watching the latest episode of 'The 100' and I thought I try something a bit different from what I've done in the past.

As always if you did like what you just read, follow or favourite the story or both! I feel there's more to Lexa's story and that's what I'm trying to do by this story as she is a character with a lot of potential.

In the mean time, if you're looking for something else to read, why not give one of my other stories a read, like 'Escaping the Weather'. A story that picks up from Episode 3 Season 2 of 'The 100' and the trials Clarke and her friends go through in trying to stay alive and finding out that there's more to this Earth than just the Grounders and the Mountain Men.

Thanks for reading!