Lexa felt trapped, caged. Ever since she'd solidified the Coalition she'd been held up on such a high pedestal she was rarely allowed time for herself. And time for herself was grouped with time for her to train. She had no more conquests to lead her people on. Now all she had to do was lead.

Lexa had to think that Clarke was right, all that time ago. It'd been over a year since they'd sat in a rowboat together as enemies. Since Clarke had pointed to the sky and told Lexa the stories of her people and told Lexa that she was a child. Back then, Lexa was a child. She'd barely emerged from her conclave and knew nothing of diplomacy or true combat. The downside of being a night blood was that she was never involved in skirmishes between the clans until she was Commander. Now, as Commander, she had no fighting left to do.

She felt angry, constantly. Every piece of her calling for conflict, for entertainment. She missed the arena back at Hali. Her one fight within the destroyed stadium had been one of the most exciting experiences of her life. She needed to spar with Clarke at least once before the warrior returned to her home. If there would be a home after this coming of Ragnarök. At first, Lexa had not believed Clarke when the warrior had told her of the most integral belief of the Northern clans.

She'd thought it ludicrous up until the moment when the sky started to rain fire and then people emerged from the flames.

Lexa steadied herself. Now was not the time for doubts or fear. Now she was readying the coalition's army for the first time. She would see true war for the first time. It was time for the mountain men to experience the fear they'd made her people feel for generations.

Clarke would deal with Ragnarök, such was the never-ending purpose of her order. Lexa had a different destiny. She would bring down the mountain. The first step of this journey was in the great hall across the hallway. Lexa tightened her armour and grabbed the dark bowl of paint in front of her mirror. She painted on the signature paint of the Commander. Lexa's issues could wait, it was time for the coalition to come first.

Lexa rose, cape trailing behind her. She pushed open the doors out of her bedroom and nodded to her guards. They snapped to attention at the sight of her.

"Is everyone inside?" She asked the guards across the hall. One of them nodded. Lexa pushed open the doors to the meeting to the scene of a disaster. The Boat Clan was supposed to be represented by an ambassador at the meeting because Clarke was away but the ambassador had passed on a rather ferocious hunt recently. The fool chosen instead was the highest ranking merchant within TonDC and the poor fool had questioned the Ice Nation's general.

"Enough," The room stilled at her words. She may not be the fearsome berserker that Clarke was, the leader that Luna was nor the cruel monster Nia had once been, but she was still the Commander. Her words demanded respect both for the spirit in the back of her neck and the coalition she had built. "I called you here to discuss fighting the mountain, not each other."

The Ice Nation general let go of Clarke's chosen representative, "Roan is most pleased that you've welcomed us here. He sends his condolences for having to remain at home but this coming winter looks harsher than normal."

Clarke's ambassador straightened his clothing. He was a much worse warrior than any Lexa had seen from Hali before, "Delightful as this is, I am neither a trained ambassador nor general."

"What are you then? Decoration?" The Ice Nation general turned to him, "I expected to meet our once-queen, not a waste of space."

"Clarke is already organizing the first step of this plan. She will attend this meeting once that has been dealt with. Until a more suitable replacement arrives the decoration will do." Lexa walked up to the edge of the war table. Maps with markers were on the table to represent the mountain's position and the dropship. "Now, let us discuss the war."


Octavia stared at the shoulder of the horse she'd been thrown over. Lincoln, the first grounder to speak to her, had tied up her arms behind her back and then placed her across the front of his horse. Octavia could barely breath, the last one of the 100 these grounders had taken was Jasper, and she'd yet to see him alive since.

Her adrenaline was pumping wildly and she was sweating profusely. Hardly the best look in front of the hunky grounder who's horse she was on.

Clarke was on a horse ahead of her. If Octavia twisted her neck she could just barely see the blonde's braid and the back of the skull mask she wore. She was far more heavily armed than her fellow grounders and she seemed to be the leader. She rode at the front. Her armour was different from the rest too, not just the skull she wore over her face but her armour was pitch black while the others had flashes of green on their clothing.

Not to mention the name, "Bloody Smile" didn't scream warm and inviting no matter what language you spoke. Clarke's horse was not significantly different from the rest but she did have significantly more bags and tarps connected to her saddle. Clarke was either riding a pack mule or she'd come from a lot further away. Octavia assumed that she was probably an expert exterminator brought around just for the 100.

Suddenly, Clarke's horse pulled to a halt and it stalled everyone behind her. Clarke ordered something and Lincoln started to move behind Octavia. Octavia's view was cut off as Lincoln tied a cloth bag over her head. As soon as the bag was secured they kept moving.

Now Octavia was uncomfortable and bored. It was claustrophobic inside of the rough bag but she was used to being trapped underneath the floor on the Ark, a bag was nothing. Yet having her freedom taken again was unpleasant, to say the least. The rock of the horse beneath her was slowly pulling Octavia to sleep. She drifted off.


Octavia woke up with no idea how long she'd been asleep for. She was still tied and the bag was still over her head but now Lincoln's horse had stopped once more. Lincoln got off his horse behind her and she was lifted off the horse gently. She tried to struggle out of grasp, twisting like a fish on land but it was futile. Octavia could hear Clarke ordering more people around until another woman came and then Clarke started conversing with her in their language.

The grounder language sounded quite like English but was very different at the same time. Octavia decided she'd like to learn it if possible, knowing the native language was sure to be beneficial for her future her. Learning how to fight like a grounder would be even better. Anyone who could throw a spear that far across a ravine or spend every day hunting the beasts of this world for food was certainly a good warrior. How good a warrior did you need to be to lead them was the question Octavia needed to answer.

Octavia was carried forward by the grounder. She assumed it was Lincoln as she hadn't heard anyone else walk over. Suddenly her fear started to mount again. The others didn't know where she was or that she'd even left. Who knew how long Bellamy would be gone for and even then he wouldn't be able to save her. Her brother was strong for someone from the Ark but compared to people like Lincoln he was a meat stick.

Octavia felt the cool air as she was carried inside somewhere and then the sound of cloth falling behind her. Octavia wished they would let her walk but with her eyes covered walking was more likely to get her hurt than anything. If her feet hit the ground then she'd start running and never return. Once inside she was gently placed on the ground. She heard Clarke and the other woman as their conversation entered the structure. They'd come in from the other side.

Lincoln unwound the rope that was keeping the bag on and then pulled it from her face. Octavia blinked. The tent was dark compared to the outside but Octavia finally got a good look at the woman who'd captured her. She noticed that Clarke's mask was splattered with something. Her gut dropped as she realized the red liquid was blood. Guess the woman took being called the Bloody Smile seriously. Or the blood was the reason for the title. The woman next to her was older with brown and blond hair. She looked like the rest of the grounders with black paint on her face and similar armour. She stood a few steps back from Clarke.

Clarke walked forwards towards the sky girl and gestured at Lincoln. The grounder nodded at her and left the tent. Clarke and the other woman then took some time circling around Octavia inspecting her. Octavia could only catch a few words such as Heda, skai and gona from the two warriors. They were talking quickly. Both seemed rather impassive, neither giving much away by tone nor actions.

"Here I thought we were going to talk to each other," Octavia commented.

Clarke stopped in front of her and then crouched down in front of the sky girl. She looked Octavia in the eye as she drew one of the two daggers at her waist. It was the dull one, not the elegant and longer dagger on her other hip. Clarke grabbed Octavia. Octavia tried to get away from her. This was when they were going to kill her. They'd been inspecting her before and she hadn't passed. However, the other woman was behind Octavia and blocked her escape. Octavia's arms were suddenly free as the other woman cut the ropes that had kept them secured behind her back. Together the two grounders held her still as Clarke ripped open her shirt sleeve and cut her on her upper arm.

Octavia's blood bubbled to the surface but was soon covered as Clarke bandaged the wound. The two grounders released her and Octavia laid there watching them. Clarke held the blood covered dagger and was gesturing with it at her. The other warrior was nodding.

Octavia was confused.

Clarke wiped off her dagger and sheathed it again. The other warrior said something to her and Clarke nodded.

"Welcome, Octavia of the sky people, to Anya's camp," Clarke gestured at the other woman, "I am sorry for the blood. Anya required proof that you bleed like we do."

"What?" Octavia asked.

"Anya's been watching you. We have some questions for you," Clarke ignored Octavia's question.

Octavia looked back and forth between the two warriors studying her, "How do you know my name?"

"Good ears," said Anya. It was the first thing she'd said in English since Octavia had met her. So Clarke wasn't an exception. The grounders just pretended not to speak English.

"Why did you kill Jasper?" Octavia asked next.

"He still lives," Anya replied.

Clarke interrupted, "Now is not the time for your questions. Tell us, what do you know of the Mountain?" Anya stepped back to the door to the tent as Clarke took over the conversation.

"Mount Weather?" Clarke nodded, "We were supposed to head there when we landed," At Octavia's answer Anya drew one of her blades and started to advance. Octavia started to scramble backwards but Clarke stopped them both.

"The mountain has been the enemy of our people for beyond known memory. They kidnap our people and turn our warriors into monsters," Anya glanced at Clarke at the word monster.

"There are people in there? Wells thought it was abandoned!" Octavia said. She'd leaned forward, eager to learn about these people.

"It is not," Clarke pushed Anya back to her earlier position as she began circling again, "Anya you may leave."

Anya nodded and departed the tent. Now it was just Octavia and the Bloody Smile in the tent together. Octavia smiled up at the grounder leader, "Want me all to yourself?"

"Where did you come from?" Clarke asked as she walked behind Octavia.

"The sky."

"Where in the sky?" Clarke quizzed.

"The Ark. It's 12 space stations… you wouldn't know what those are." Octavia paused, "We're from a building in the sky. It's sealed so nothing gets in or out."

"Except you and your friends. How many of you are there?" Clarke was in front of her again and stopped to look down at her.

"101 on the ground. Thousands in the sky. You don't want to mess with us," Octavia said. She grinned up at the woman in front of her. Hopefully, these grounders would understand respect.

"Thousands?" Clarke hummed, "And you have guns." She did a full circle of Octavia before speaking again, "Do you know who I am?"

"You told me when we met?" Octavia answered and asked at the same time. She shrugged as well, suddenly thankful for the fact that her arms were no longer tied as she was free to pursue the reaction.

"Hmm. So you don't. Tell me, why do your people hate the small boy and the one you call Wells?" Clarke continued her questioning. She'd stopped circling once again, standing before Octavia. Her arms were loose at her sides, ready to react to attack yet casual enough that her readiness slipped past Octavia.

"I've answered enough of your questions!" Octavia braced her hands on the floor and tried to kick out at Clarke's legs. The grounder jumped over the kick and stepped down on Octavia's ankle when she tried to move it. Clarke had Octavia's ankle at quite the uncomfortable angle, any movement would result in serious damage.

Octavia looked back and forth between the blank face of her captor and her pinned ankle. She had no choice it seemed.

"Answer the question, Octavia of the Sky people."

Octavia sighed and held her hands up, a universal sign of surrender. Clarke did not let go of her ankle. "Jake is a second child."

"You would ostracize a child for the actions of the parts? You would endanger the chances of your clan's future progress?" Clarke scoffed and released Octavia's ankle. The sky person no longer truly resembled a threat to her. Plus she was now aware that there was no escape unless Clarke permitted it.

"You people never change. I'd thought you'd get better-" Clarke seemed to realize that her comments had been said aloud. She turned back to look at Octavia who'd suddenly become much more interested in her captor. "What of Wells?"

"He's the son of our leader, just like Jake."

Clarke flinched and looked away. She seemed to take a few deep breaths and Octavia braced herself for the end of her life. Angry grounder normally entailed a dead sky person.

"Jake Jaha. Who is his mother?" Octavia was curious as to how Clarke knew who their leader was. Most likely she'd captured another of the 100. That or… there had been rumours in the skybox. Of a 12-year-old girl sent to the ground alone. They'd vanished as all of the older prisoners got executed and replaced with new ones until only Octavia was left. Octavia had a long memory though, she remembered the girls' name. Clarke Griffin, daughter of Abby Jaha and Jake Griffin.

"Abby Jaha."

Clarke growled. Octavia backed up once again to the edge of the tent. The grounder had drawn her knife and had audibly tightened her grip on the dagger. She was mumbling something under her breath, threats Octavia assumed.

Now it made sense why Clarke was the one to interrogate her. Of course Clarke hadn't been murdered by her Father like the cover-up said. Clarke was a sky person.

Suddenly, Clarke barked out orders in their language. Movement outside of the tent alerted Octavia that they were being helpfully fulfilled by one of her warriors. After barking her orders, Clarke just stood there. Her chest was heaving with every breath. She was a barely contained inferno of fury.

Octavia retracted her earlier statement. Clarke had been a sky person. And now she was a leader, a commander, a general.

"You're Clarke Griffin, aren't you?" Octavia kicked the hornet's nest. She never was the best with sensitivity.

Clarke turned to look at her, suddenly realizing that the sky girl was still there. Her features cooled into their normal blank smile.

"I was, once." Clarke seemed to realize that this girl knew too much of her story already. Octavia came to the same realization. She was not going to be saved and since she knew so much of Clarke there was no way the grounder would let her survive.

Octavia braced herself for the end.

"My people call me Clarke of the Bloody Smile now." Clarke took a deep breath. "A gentle mind can solve all the problems in the world while an angry one can only cause them," Clarke paused once more, "Octavia of the sky people, I would like to make you an offer." Her grounder accent wasn't as thick as it had been at the beginning of their conversation.

"Will you, Octavia of the people that locked you up and have left you for dead, join my people? Will you become a grounder as I have? Will you accept my tutelage in return for your knowledge of your old people?"

Octavia stared at her. This was not the direction she'd expected this conversation to go.


Drew, Digs, Monty and Murphy rushed back into camp with Finn on a stretcher between them. The hunting party had returned with Jasper two days before. Now Wells looked over the wounded boy and waited to see if the grounder's medicine would heal him. Finn was in far worse condition, a grounder had snuck up on them while the group was searching for Octavia who'd vanished 4 days before. The grounder had managed to stab Finn before Bellamy and Dax captured him.

The grounder capture crew hauled the unconscious giant into camp behind them. Wells greeted the group carrying Finn as they arrived at the dropship. He stared at the dagger sticking out of the spacewalker. Nothing in his medical training had prepared him for this.

Wells did know one thing though, that knife had to get out of Finn or else he'd die no matter what. Jasper was stashed in the highest part of the dropship but the boy's wounds had been healing well enough that he would be able to get two guards to transport him to the bottom floor. Finn was not well enough to be carried that far.

They dropped Finn and Wells off on the bottom floor as Bellamy and Dax continued to drag their friend along. The grounder was slowly regaining consciousness but Bellamy hit him over the head once again. They slowly hauled him up the first flight of stairs together before repeating the process once again on the second set. Once on the third floor, they grabbed chains and chained up the grounder. The two sky boys sat together huffing and puffing as they waited for the certainly heavy grounder to awaken.


Jake had watched the return of the search party with disinterest before returning to his new hobby. He'd tried to find what it meant to be his own person but hadn't had any clue who he was to start with. To Wells he was not-Clarke. To the other 100, he was the Chancellor's son. To Octavia… he didn't know who he was to Octavia. They shared a kinship certainly, both being second children from the Ark. Both shouldn't have been born. Except only one of their mothers had died for her mistakes. Only one of their Fathers had as well.

Jake was not oblivious to his privilege. He merely wished he could give it to someone else. His elder brother hated him, abhorred him even. He'd never be anything but a reminder of the death of Wells' best friend. Never represent anything but sadness and doubt.

He was done feeling that, the first step of his journey of becoming truly not-Clarke was realizing who not-Clarke was. He certainly wouldn't be a healer of any sort. He knew that was why Wells had become interested in surgery all of a sudden. He couldn't become an artist of any sort. Abby had shown him a few of Clarke's charcoal paintings in the hope he'd be an artist too. However, there was one thing he knew Clarke would've hated. Fighting. The way Wells and Abby talked about Clarke made her seem a pacifist. Wells was trying to channel Clarke now in his leadership by advocating against war.

This was how Jake arrived at his new hobby. None of the guards liked him enough to teach him how to fight and Octavia, the one delinquent who liked him at all, had been missing ever since their conversation. Jake had decided to become a warrior. A fierce, independent swordsman. Or at least, that's what he told himself as he and Charlotte faced off against each other. The other girl didn't like him at all but she knew he was the only one willing to fight her. So, they held their finely pruned tree branches in hand and bashed them against each other. Sometimes the others would stop their work to watch but often times the two just carried on wailing on each other until one of them was tackled to the ground and they started wrestling. He was distracted briefly by the return of the search party and Charlotte capitalized on his distraction.

The girl tackled him to the ground and straddled him as she started beating his face. The girl didn't have much of any muscle mass yet so the hits were relatively ineffective. Jake pushed her up and off him slightly before rolling away. She huffed and fell to the ground and he heard a faint applause.

"Good job, little man," Octavia chuckled. She'd changed since the last time Jake saw her. Her clothing was the same but fresher than any of the others. The delinquents had failed to truly grasp what hygiene meant on the ground. Her smile was larger than he'd ever seen it and she had a new dagger on her waist. It wasn't made from the same old dropship material as all the rest of their weapons. It looked like real iron. Something forged and not ripped and then sharpened. Octavia had stood there and watched their fight and was impressed that Jake had thrown off the bigger girl. Sometimes Octavia forgot that the kid was only 6. Half the age of Charlotte, the second youngest.

Suddenly Jake realized who was standing in front of him and he rushed forward to hug Octavia. She laughed as the little boy wrapped her in a great big hug. He said something but it was muffled by her clean pants.

"What's up little man?" Octavia asked.

Jake looked up and flashed her a massive grin, "I missed you!"

"I missed you too little man. So, how's your internal quest going?" Octavia ruffled his hair. It was dark and curly, nothing like the hair of the grounder she'd spent the last three days with.

"I tried to figure out how to be not-Clarke. According to Wells she was a pacifist and a healer so I thought why not fight, right?" Jake grinned at her. He'd let go of his bear grip on Octavia to talk with his hands. His head had rested nicely against her stomach and Octavia found herself missing the warmth. The kid gave good hugs.

Octavia openly laughed at that. If only these kids knew. "Why not? I can teach you what I know little man."

"Octavia?"

"Yeah little man?"

"Why are you calling me that?" Jake asked as he looked up at her. He was twisting his hands behind his back nervously. He didn't like questioning his new friend and teacher.

"Because the way I see it, you're a hell of a lot wiser than any of these branwoda," Octavia smiled down at her new student.

"These what?" Octavia realized her mistake. Maybe her time with her new people had changed her more than she thought.

"Idiots. You're smarter than a lot of these idiots Jake. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Octavia ruffled his hair again before walking into the dropship. She had a mission from Clarke and it didn't do to let the Bloody Smile down.

"She likes you," Jake turned around to see Charlotte standing behind him. She had her hands on her hips and was frowning at the little boy, "I can't possibly understand why."

"Again?" Jake asked. Charlotte wasn't the best conversationalist or brawler but she could swing a tree branch like no one else he'd ever fought. Which was no one because she's the only one who'd fight him.

Charlotte grabbed her tree branch and ran at Jake. He lifted his own and blocked her first strike.