Chapter Two:

Lexa's POV

Lexa and the grounders are led by Clarke through the murky forest, sidestepping outstretched branches and low-hanging trees. The trek is much too slow for Lexa's liking and patience; she requires quick movement to reach her destination. Clarke must be trying to give her people more time to prepare for their arrival. It matters little, for if Lincoln is still a reaper, she will not hesitate to make the death call for the skai kru.

As they walk, Clarke glances back often, meeting Lexa's green eyes with her sparkling blue ones. There is fear in them, yes, but also a strength to save her people that Lexa finds herself admiring in the blonde girl. For that, she questions her thoughts. She should not be admiring anything Clarke does; they are enemies. Concentration is of the upmost importance right now.

None of the grounders so much as whisper during the trek through the forest, save for Indra stating her issues of mistrust to Lexa. She doesn't try to keep her voice down either; Clarke is meant to hear her every word.

"Heda, is it wise to follow skai gada so blindly? She could be leading us into an ambush!"

This incessant badgering has begun to anger Lexa. How dare Indra question her so? "Do you not trust my intuition, Indra?" she snaps, her patience lessening. "Do you think that I would blindly lead my people to their deaths?"

"No, Heda," Indra retracts, worried that she might have disrespected her Commander. "I simply worry for the sake of—"

"Pleni," says Lexa dismissively. She understands where her second in command is coming for, but Lexa is Commander of the Trigedakru, and will not put the lives of her people at risk without having understood all the stakes.

Indra finally falls silent. Another glance back shows Clarke's surprise, if not a slight amount of awe, for the power Lexa has over her people. This satisfies Lexa to some extent, knowing that Clarke seems to hold a level of admiration for her.

When they close in on the drop ship, Clarke's anxiety seeps off her as she leads them forward, keeping her head down. At first Lexa thinks this is because of Lincoln, but the sight that meets her eyes is something she did not expect. There are hundreds of the burned, fleshless corpses of her people, all strewn about. Mouths wide to expose rotted teeth, the deadened faces are painful to see, and especially for Lexa to know that their spirits are trapped without the proper blessings of her culture.

The grounders say nothing, even as they stare at the bodies of their fallen warriors. Clarke slows down to meet Lexa's eyes, which they are narrow and assessing as she looks all around her before privileging Clark with her hard, green stare.

"Through here," Clarke murmurs, motioning towards the thick tarp that serves as a door. Lexa makes a slight hesitation, but Clarke doesn't wait for her reply. She walks into the drop ship without turning around again and disappears. Lexa beckons for Indra, Gustus, and one other grounder to follow her inside, and commands the rest.

"Ste and stand guard!"

Meanwhile Clarke begins to climb up the ladder that will lead to her friends. But once her head peaks up, Clarke notices immediately that something isn't right. Octavia is silently sobbing over Lincoln's lifeless body while Abby, Bellamy, Finn, and the grounder healer, Nyko, stare down at them. Bellamy catches Clarke's eye and shakes his head no, jaw clenched when he sees those following her up the ladder.

Lexa climbs up the ladder swiftly and scans the room. None of the sky people dare speak while she stares down at Lincoln, noting that he is not breathing. Indra's eyes dart from one person to the next, bent in a fighting stance with her hand on the hilt of her sword. For a moment, there is only silence. Then Lexa meets Clarke's gaze impassively before nodding her head ever so slightly to Indra, who snarls, "Kill them all!"

Everyone is in motion. The grounders all pull out their swords and point them directly at the sky people, while Bellamy lunges for his gun and Abby reaches for her stun rod.

Clarke pleads with Lexa in desperation. "Please, you don't have to do this."

"You lied," she snarls, "and you're out of time."

Hand on her hilt, Lexa makes the move to unsheathe her own weapon, when a shocking event occurs. Abby raises her stun rod high in the air, and, before anyone can do anything, he presses it aggressively down on Lincoln's chest. His body seizes for a second before going slack, so Clarke commands, "Hit him again!"

Abby does it once more, and Lexa doesn't understand why until finally, Lincoln's eyelids flutter and he intakes shaky, desperate breaths of air.

Octavia throws herself down next to him, caressing his face and whispering his name while tears slide down her face. He looks at her through heavy red eyes and croaks, "Octavia."

Lexa and her people are stunned, for Lincoln was indeed dead, and now he is not. People do not come back from the dead, Lexa is certain of this. Her head slowly rises until she looks at Clarke, who also seemed to be slightly shocked.

"How did that happen?" Indra voices Lexa's thoughts, her voice raspy with disbelief.

Abby is the one to respond. "It's called shock therapy," she pants, tossing the stun rod to the ground. "It helps to restart the heart."

"But you cannot restart a heart that has stopped," says Lexa, still staring at Clarke.

"We know how," she emphasizes intently, begging the Commander with her wet eyes not to harm her people.

Once Lexa has worked through her shock, she nods to Clarke and slowly replaces her sword to its original place, with the other grounders following suit.

It is Abby who speaks up. "So—what does this mean?" she asks Lexa, eyeing her with caution.

"Clarke has indeed proved that you can turn reapers back into men," Lexa states, staring back evenly. "I gave my word that we would discuss a truce, and that is what we shall do."

Abby gets to her feet and draws herself up to full measure. "Good. I think we should start with—"

Lexa raises her eyebrows in amusement and shakes her head before Abby could finish. "I will speak only to Clarke about it."

Abby doesn't try to hide her shock as she gives her daughter a look of disbelief. "She is not the Chancellor. It is not for her to discuss these important matters."

The Commander has no idea what a "chancellor" is, but she does know that Clarke is the leader of the Sky People. That much has been clear since they first landed on Earth. She stares intently at the woman who thinks she holds command over her people. "I will speak only to Clark about it," she repeats, "and I will not say it again."

"It's okay, Mom," Clarke assures her mother, who has opened her mouth once more to argue. It would be best if she doesn't; Lexa has very little patience for those who disobey her, whether they be her people or otherwise. "When would you like to talk about it, Commander?" asks Clarke, refocusing her attention back on Lexa.

"I must head back to camp and inform my warriors of the change of plans," she says, nodding for Indra and Gustus to retreat back down the ladder. "You will come with me, and then we will discuss the details of this truce."

Clarke nods her head in agreement. Now that the grounders no longer prove to be an imminent threat, she surprisingly looks forward to spending some time with the Commander.

3