Someone was following her.
Clarke kept walking. Deeper and deeper into the forest. No direction. No company. Tears, long dried, had left tracks painted onto stained cheeks. Her blonde hair was matted and caked in mud. Her clothes were suctioned onto her skin. Her feet ached. Her leg muscles strained with every step. Her body felt numb.
And Clarke embraced it.
It had crept slowly, replacing the swarms of emotion that haunted her, filling their place.
The further she walked, the further she distanced herself from Camp Jaha and all the smiling faces of people she traded for innocents. Further from her mothers haunting looks of disapproval. Further from everything and everyone. Further from feelings and traitors and betrayals. Her feelings slipped away and she found comfort in numbness.
She didn't have to deal with the faces or the constant reminder of her actions.
She couldn't go back.
Not yet.
So she walked until her days blurred together. She grew accustomed to the quiet and quickly grew to learn the sound of her body. Like the way her breaths came in spurts when she trekked uphill or how her right foot followed her left and the hum of her blood pumping through her veins. She could detect which sound came from her movements and which sounds did not. Which was how Clarke stumbled upon the sudden realization this morning.
She was no longer alone.
She was being followed.
Clarke cut right through a tangle of low hanging branches then climbed up and trekked between a jutting boulder and still she felt the presence of her follower. They had kept their distance. The new person had joined her when the sun was barely peeking above the shortest trees.
She didn't mind the presence, once she figured out they weren't trying to harm her. As long as they didn't interfere with her space.
Clarke trudged deeper through the woods, the trees growing in thickness and height, and she listened to the comforting rhythm her body made accompanied by the rustling leaves and the swift follower. Her thoughts of death and destruction subdued, pushed down into the trapdoor of her mind. She focused solely on the rhythmic sound, a familiar tune on repeat. Until her ears picked up something different, something new and zoned onto the sound of a running stream. She quickened her pace in the direction of the flowing sound and all but dove into the water when it finally appeared in her line of sight.
Her body thanked her as she swallowed gulpfulls of the sweet stream and she bathed until she felt fresh again.
She didn't care who was watching.
Clarke glanced up and noticed the sun hung lower in the sky, night was going to fall in a few hours. The bank by the stream would be a good spot to rest up for the night.
She unhooked her belt and checked the safety on her gun before placing it back in the holder. She was in the middle of inspecting her knife as well when she heard the sound of a twig breaking a few paces away. Clarke sighed as she turned in the direction of the noise, twirling the knife in her hand and called out, "Show yourself."
Her voice sounded harsh, eager to escape after days of being trapped inside. She glanced around the clearing and waited patiently.
Perhaps it was a lone grounder and she had stumbled upon their territory while traveling. Yet, she had been walking for days and there was no sign of any other inhabitants in the area.
"I know you're there!" She shouted into the silence. Whoever it was, she assumed they weren't there to harm her, for they had not interrupted her once. If it had been a warrior sent to kill her, they would have long ago attacked already.
Movement caught Clarke's eyes. The leaves crunched and out from behind the trees, clad in armor, appeared the last person Clarke ever expected to see.
She was dressed in uniform. The Commander had her unruly hair twisted back in braids. She wore tight pants and a long flowing top strapped by armour covered her torso. Clarke had never felt such intense hatred for someone and yet her stomach betrayed her and flipped while her mind refused to process the other girls presence.
"Klark," the traitor hesitated.
Clarke's brain had short-circuited. She was envisioning things, she silently reasoned.
"Klark...I-"
Her tongue lashed out, momentarily disconnected from her brain, acting purely on instinct and spat with acidity, "Lex-" She squared her shoulders refusing to finish her name. Instead she tightened the grip on her knife and growled, "What are you doing here?"
Lexa froze, an act most would have surely missed, yet Clarke's eyes stayed trained on her movements and she caught the slip of the mask.
"Did you come to finish the job of the Mountain Men?" Clarke's anger rolled off in waves and Lexa gulped, "Are you here to kill me? Is that it?"
Silence engulfed the two, except the sound of heavy breathing emanating from the blonde before she spoke up again, "Answer me."
"Klarke," Lexa took a step towards the Sky Girl raising her hands, "You must understand..."
"There is nothing to understand." Clarke gripped her knife and green eyes locked in on the movement.
The wind picked up, shattering the silence as it whistled through the towering trees.
"I did what I had to do." Lexa's voice dropped, "I had to save my people."
"Your people," Clarke snorted a laugh and shook her head, "What about my people?"
"I made a strategic move in warfare. It took sacrifice, strength-"
Clarke let out a low rumbling laugh that echoed through the clearing. Lexa's eyes widened.
"Strength?" The blond gaped, "Strength?! You walked away from battle! Do you know what I had to do? Do you?" Clarke stormed forward and grit her teeth, raising her knife and bringing the blade inches away from the brunette's throat, "I killed everyone inside that mountain," The blonde's voice rumbled as she pierced her eyes into green, "Everyone...I kill. It's what I do."
The brunette didn't falter. She slowly tilted her head to the side and exposed her neck, "Then do it," The Commander ordered, her voice dropping dangerously into a low growl.
Clarke's eyes bulged and darted quickly between the blade and that stoic face. Her breathing quickly escalated.
"The kill is yours Klark." The brunette didn't waver as she stared the blonde down.
Clarke roared. She threw her blade onto the forest floor and shoved the leader of twelve clans hard.
Lexa's brows wrinkled together for only a moment, before she smoothed them over once more. She stumbled back yet remained calm as Clarke pushed into her once more, waiting for a reaction.
"Fight back, Commander!"
"You did what you had to do Klark." The Commander stood with her back rigid, shoulders pulled back and chin high, "As leaders, we are forced to make difficult decisions. We must take action and we alone must live with the repercussions."
Clarke ran her hands through her hair, "Is that what you tell yourself, Heda?"
Lexa had been called Heda for years. Out of respect. Power. Strength. Fear. Never before had the term hurt her the way it did in that moment coming out of the blonde's mouth. She refused to let it show. "You and I, we are the same Klark."
Clarke shoved past her, determined to place as much distance between them as humanly possible.
"You would have done the same...," Lexa swallowed, "to save your people."
The blonde stopped mid-step and swung around to face the Commander, not wanting to hear the dry, rehearsed excuses that were coming out of her mouth. Her words were dancing around the truth. Her words were shallow.
"You left my people to die!"
Silence.
And then the Commander clad in armour moved her lips to speak.
"Don't." The blonde's voice reverberated around the trees as she stormed over to the stoic Heda, invading her personal space, fists clenching.
Lexa stood her ground, remaining perfectly still, her demeanor seemingly unscathed.
Steel blue and emerald green locked onto each other.
Clarke's body trembled and she ground her teeth, "We had a deal. You broke it. You left." She raised her hands one more time and curled her fists, "You left my people to die." Still, Lexa remained utterly unmoved, all but her eyes, which roamed over Clarke's.
They stood in the middle of the clearing, blonde and brunette, toe to toe, chests heaving.
Clarke fought to maintain her resolve and cursed herself for allowing her voice to crack as she breathed out again through gritted teeth, her rage slowly evaporating, "You left me."
She watched the Heda's mask slip and vanish as emerald green eyes swam.
Lexa took a step forward, hating the way her stomach bottomed out as the blonde took a step back, when a sudden whoosh pierced the air.
The arrow flew between the two leaders, barely missing the brunette, before it sunk with a loud thud into the bark of a tree.
The two whipped their heads in the direction the arrow flew from and Lexa hissed with pure hatred, "Azgeda." On instinct the Heda unsheathed her sword and took her battle stance, dropping into position, placing her body in front of Clarke's as another arrow whizzed by.
"Look out!" Clarke roughly grabbed the Commander by her shoulders and shoved them both out of the way.
All at once they were surrounded.
There were two warriors sprinting towards Clarke, spears outstretched and two archers with raised bows headed in Lexa's direction. Their backs touched and Clarke felt Lexa flinch at the contact.
There was no time to waste, no time to process the prickling of flesh. The blonde swung forward as a grounder reached her, the clashing of metal filled the surrounding patch of trees.
Clarke met a roar with a roar of her own and blocked her face from the grounders rocklike fists. He swung again, his dagger glinting and slicing a sliver of cloth from Clarke's sleeve. She swung her leg and delivered a powerful kick to his gut, momentarily stunning him. She ducked in time to avoid a second blow and sunk her knife into the neck of the grounder. He staggered forward, Clarke heaved and pulled out her weapon. She felt bile rise up into her throat.
Death.
It was constant death.
A piercing cry sounded behind her and the force of the blow knocked her off her feet and onto her back. This grounder was twice the size of the last.
Lexa moved swiftly, her experience in warfare showcasing as her body dipped and arched. She quickly gained an upper hand with the first attacker. Stunning him permanently as she sunk her spear into his chest, growling with ferocity. She spotted the blonde on the ground and in two strides, struck her blade out, clashing with the grounder's before it could reach Clarke.
The Sky Princess rolled out from under them and picked up the spear of the fallen grounder. She could feel the cool metal barrel pressing firmly into her back but she refused to use her gun.
Lexa was struck from behind and whipped around to face her attacker.
"Heda, it will be my pleasure to deliver your corpse to my people," He hissed in their native tongue.
Lexa smirked, eyes stone cold as they circled each other.
He attacked first. Blow after blow, the match was even. She could see a whirl of blonde on her side and knew Clarke was managing with her own attacker. There were only two left. Or so she thought, when an arrow from behind the trees sunk it's way into her shoulder. She let out a cry just as she heard the unmistakable sound of gunshots firing in different directions.
Blood splattered when a bullet hit the grounder standing above her. A ringing filled her ears. With her attacker distracted, Lexa plunged her spear into his chest, "Yu gonplei ste odon." He dropped to the floor beside her, and she glanced up to see Clarke, blade in her hand, finishing off the lone archer that had remained in the tree line.
"Scouts," Lexa wheezed as she fell back against a tree and slid to the ground.
Clarke ran over and sank next to her. An arrow protruded out of Lexa's shoulder. It was embedded deep into the skin. The pale color and sheets of sweat rolling down the Commander meant poison was already coursing it's way through her bloodstream. Clarke checked her over for any more wounds.
"They were scouts," The brunette repeated.
For the first time, Clarke realized how young Lexa truly was. She prodded her shoulder to asses the damage and Lexa stifled a yell, swallowing the pain. She shifted away from the Sky Princesse's touch.
"More are coming. They are never alone. Go, Klark. You must go back and warn your people."
Clarke's eyes roamed over emerald green before standing. She strode over to the fallen scouts, visibly seething with every word spewing out of the Commander.
"The Ice Nation will attack. Jus drain Jus da un."
Clarke picked up one of their weapons and screamed as she plunged it into the back of the fallen warrior that lay drowning in his own blood.
This silenced The Commander for only a moment. Her breathing grew even more labored but she managed to wheeze out again, "If you leave now you can make it back on time."
Clarke ran her hands through her hair and wiped the sweat that was forming on her brow, averting her eyes from falling onto the Heda.
Lexa leaned into the tree and grunted as she attempted to sit up straighter. With her leg she pushed the weapon of the other fallen scout closer and reached with her good arm. With gritted teeth she gripped the spear and rested the weapon against her.
Clarke walked over to the third fallen attacker and grabbed the arrows. She swung the harness over her and tied it securely around her shoulder. She stood once more and inhaled deeply. She could feel the emerald green boring into her back.
She squared her shoulders and turned to meet the pair of eyes.
Lexa's limp form sagged. The Heda nodded, face fighting to emit strength. She tightened her hold on the spear as she breathed out words in her native tongue, "Ste Yuj Skai Prisa. My fight is almost over."
She watched as Clarke's lips formed into a thin line, her chin jutting out, as she began breathing hard through her nose.
The striking blonde ripped the bottom half of her shirt, exposing her midriff, exposing the intricate pattern of purple bruises that were quickly forming, and revealed a steady stream of crimson blood that had appeared to be pooling on her side.
Lexa was wracking her brain. She knit her brows together and struggled to get up, "You are injured Klark."
"You were wrong," Clarke wrapped the cloth around her hand tightly and sunk low besides emerald green eyes as she spat, "I'm nothing like you."
Pain .
White hot blinding pain erupted as a blood curdling yell ripped through her body.
The last thing Lexa saw was a dazzling face contorted with so much emotion, watery blue eyes spilling over, a curtain of blonde waves cascading, before the face morphed and blinding pain shot through her shoulder, her entire world faded and gave way as darkness took it's place.
AN: Please let me know what you think. This is My first ever 100 fic. Also, I've never written a story before where the lovers are both girls. I only hope I give the dynamic of this "ship" justice... I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Thank you!