Chapter 7

How We Survive

X

After sending out a group text message to all of her friends explaining that she needed their help, Clarke watched as they all responded within a few minutes of her text message. Lexa watched in amazement as words poured in from several different people. It was instant communication, something that Lexa didn't have in her country. Technology was something that Trigeda didn't use and it was part of the reason they still hadn't won the war against Arkadia. They had stronger fighters and had to use stealthy methods to kill the Arkadians. It was an ongoing battle that neither side was anywhere near winning. Arkadia had better, more advanced weaponry but Trigeda had better strategists and fought with more stealth. It was a draining war between evenly matched countries.

They were sitting on the loveseat next to each other, Clarke as close to Lexa as possible without sitting on her lap. Several positive responses came through asking what Clarke needed help with. Clarke had sent a message to Bellamy, Octavia, Monty, and Jasper but unexpectedly she had also received a message from Raven. The text asked her why she didn't ask her for help as well, like she had forgiven Clarke for Finn's death. Clarke froze as she stared at the text message on her phone. "Clarke, what is it? Why do you look so upset?"

"I got a text message … from Raven. She hasn't contacted me once in the last four years … until today Lexa." Clarke turned to gaze to Lexa and she looked completely shell shocked at first. But she seemed to recover after another moment. "I haven't heard from her in so long and now that she's contacting me … I don't know what to say to her."

"Why don't you start by explaining the situation with your corrupt Chancellor and your plans can come after we see if they are trustworthy Clarke?" The way Clarke nodded her head almost absentmindedly caused a smile to form on Lexa's face. "The things that I am feeling now, I had always thought they were impossible to feel. Things like love and affection beyond friendship and sometimes not even friendship, they were all things I thought a convenient lie to make people feel like love was real. I always thought emotions like loving someone, feeling affection for them was a myth until I met you. I felt an immediate attraction to you even if I didn't show it."

Clarke smiled widely, "why must you be so perfect Lexa? When I first saw you I thought that you were devastatingly gorgeous. One of the first things I noticed when you woke up … was how striking your gaze was and how piercing your green eyes are. Your facial expression might have been stoic but I could see your emotions through your eyes quite clearly Lexa."

"You are just as romantic as I Clarke. You make me swoon."

"Lexa, this is not a competition. Stop flirting so expertly with me. I need to talk to my friends, not feel the urge to show you how much I love you on the first flat surface I find if you keep this up." Lexa smirked at that admission but relented.

"Of course, Clarke. I am compelled to do whatever you desire." Clarke groaned upon hearing that.

"Double entendres like that aren't helping my situation or yours for that matter Lexa."

A genuinely confused expression took over Lexa's face. "I don't understand what I said to get a reaction like that out of you Clarke."

Realization dawned on Clarke. Lexa spoke rather properly so she wouldn't have had any dirty thoughts in mind when she said that. "Sorry Lexa. I just forget sometimes that you aren't quite like other people around here when it comes to sexual jokes and such." Clarke sighed, "when I was still speaking to my friends regularly Octavia and Raven would often make sexual jokes or innuendos every chance they could. Bellamy was always trying to find the next girl he would sleep with until he finally found one who made him settle down. She was good for him. I don't know if they're still together though. It's been so many years since I last saw any of them."

Gently cupping Clarke's face, Lexa leaned in and kissed her in that soft way that made Clarke melt. "Your friends obviously still care about you a great deal or else they would not have responded to you so swiftly, Clarke. You have nothing to worry about ai hodnes (my love.)"

"Mochof ai Heda Tombom Blinka (Thank you, my Commander Heart Eyes)." Clarke said as she leaned in to kiss Lexa, who was momentarily stunned by the nickname Clarke had just called her by. Lexa kissed back absentmindedly as she ran the words over in her head. After a moment Lexa finally managed to respond.

"Commander Heart Eyes? I'm your Commander Heart Eyes? Just how did you figure out how to say that?" Lexa asked, awe obvious in her tone of voice.

Smirking triumphantly, Clarke replied with a cheeky tone. "I have been paying attention to your lessons but mostly … you called me your tombom before, your heart and I figured since mela op, blinka au means 'heads up, eyes open' I could use those key words to call you my Commander Heart Eyes. You can't deny my creativity or my brilliance." Lexa shook her head at Clarke.

"There is no one else like you Clarke." Lexa had that fond smile on her face again but they were both broken away from staring lovingly at each other when Clarke's phone went off in rapid succession. "Must that … cell phone make so much noise Clarke? It is quite distracting and loud."

"Lexa, it needs to be loud enough for me to find it if I ever lose it or forget where I last left it. It's also convenient for me to know when someone has responded to my text messages." Clarke unlocked her phone to find that they were all anxious for a response because she hadn't responded in the last five minutes. Sighing Clarke responded quickly to ask them if they could keep a secret. Not yet responding to Raven's text message, Clarke stared at it. There was so much she could say to her, so much she wanted to ask her too.

"Clarke, you don't have to say anything to Raven. You don't owe her anything after how she treated you but if it helps you more to know, then ask her … talk to her." Clarke looked into Lexa's eyes for strength, for the courage she needed to face Raven again.

"Okay, okay, I will. I need to know why she's decided to contact me after all of this time. I didn't even know that she never changed her number. Kind of assumed that she would have changed her number on the off chance that I would try to contact her." Taking a deep breath Clarke responded by asking her how she was, how her leg and back were doing after all of these years. The simple response was that she doing well enough on her own but then blunt Raven asked again what Clarke needed help with and why she didn't text her as well.

"What are they saying Clarke?" Lexa asked from her right, breaking Clarke out of her thoughts.

"You can read the messages with me Lexa, I don't mind." Clarke smiled at Lexa's thoughtfulness and leaned over to kiss her again. Just as Clarke made to pull away, Lexa reached out and cupped the back of Clarke's neck and held her head in place so she could move forward the few inches separating them to kiss Clarke once more. She deepened the kiss and pushed her tongue into Clarke's open mouth easily, their tongues meeting sensually and causing a moan of approval to leave Clarke's throat before Lexa pulled away, much to Clarke's obvious disappointment.

"Not that I don't enjoy kissing you Clarke, what was that for?" Lexa smiled, pinching Clarke's cheek because she was pouting at her with her so adorably she attempted to dilute the effect by pulling at her cheek. The effect had the opposite intended effect as Clarke became even more adorably pouty instead of less much to Lexa's dismay and inability to deny Clarke.

"Because you were being sweet and respecting my privacy even though you didn't need to … well, more like the few people I've been with have ever been as respectable and honorable as you. I must say that my taste in men has never been as good as my taste in women. No one has ever compared to you, the way I feel about you, or the way you make me feel." Lexa beamed at Clarke's way of describing what they meant to each other. It was something that she wasn't necessarily insecure about but it was just nice having the affirmation as well.

"There are almost no words to describe the way you make me feel Clarke. Utter bliss isn't enough to say how happy I am, happiness, joy, free, glee, delight … none of these words have a strong enough meaning, nothing can compare to these feelings I have whenever I am simply sitting next to you Clarke. You are … more unique than words can say, more special to me than anyone and anything in this life. I wish I had the words to tell you how much I love and cherish you but nothing is enough for me to describe these feelings. You are what words cannot describe." Lexa finished and Clarke was surprised she hadn't interrupted Lexa somewhere after she said that utter bliss wasn't enough by kissing the life out of her. In all honesty, Lexa would be coming undone right now if Clarke hadn't received several text messages startling her into remembering her friends right now.

Groaning Clarke looked down at the vibrating and ringing phone. She was just glad that she had a long enough ringtone playing that she didn't get sick of it as easily as she would if it were only five seconds of the same thing incessantly playing until she acknowledged her phone in one way or another. Well, throwing her phone against a wall was definitely not the way to go because it wouldn't even stop the ringing and constant vibration. "I still have to respond to them but I don't know what to say or rather how to say it. I guess I can start from the beginning with how we met and how I figured out who you were."

Lexa nodded her head. "That would be a good start. The only thing I would caution is whether you can trust them not to say anything to anyone else. Especially to this Chancellor of yours, your leader."

Clarke shook her head. "They wouldn't do that to me. We've been through so much together I can't see any of them betraying me." Lexa reached over and pulled Clarke to sit on her lap as she typed out another response to her friends, telling them that she met someone who was a patient a month and a half ago. She told them that Lexa was a gunshot wound victim and about how she was attracted to her immediately upon meeting her but she found out a lot of things about her that first day after she operated on her. Before revealing Lexa's identity, Clarke asked them what they thought of Pike and his decision to go to war against the neighboring country: Trigeda. It was unanimous they all thought it was ridiculous and a stupid ploy to do something about the lack of resources they had lately. Their land, the soil was rotting because of their own waste as a nation as well as the terrible air being their own fault for adding to the air pollution.

"Your friends are as wise as you are. Perhaps … when this war is over, however it ends, they can come visit my country … I would love to have you become one of my people. I rule not only the army but I am the leader of my people as well. No one outside of Trigeda know this because they would know that all they had to do to get rid of the Commander of the army as well as the leader of the nation would be through killing me alone."

"Does that mean you're always in danger Lexa?" Clarke asked, an uneasy look on her face. Lexa nodded in response. "I don't know how I feel about that. Well, I know I feel worried and anxious now for sure but … it would be so easy to lose you and I don't like that."

"No, Clarke. I have been Heda for six years now, longer than any other. My ascension day, the day I became the Commander, I was the youngest to have ever been called to lead my people. I am now the one who has lead the longest with success. My people were not united before, clan wars breaking out between the 12 separate clans in my country. I was the first to successfully unite all 12 clans and bring us peace for the first time in all of our history. We had our peace until your people attacked under your delusional Chancellor's orders. I believe that it is quite ironic that after we gain our peace it is disrupted by another nation rather than our own clan wars." Lexa shook her head, smiling mirthlessly.

Another set of vibrations interrupted whatever Clarke was about to say. Clarke decided the truth would be okay since they were all against the stupid war they didn't agree with either. She told them about Lexa being from the army from the neighboring country and how she had been shot by one of their people. Despite being shot she walked for miles to make it to the closest neighborhood passed the outlining trees around the border and that was how Clarke came to be her doctor. "I'm not sure if I should tell them about you being the Commander or not. I don't want to endanger them by telling them too much about you Lexa."

"I understand Clarke. You don't need to tell them anything you don't want to. If you think you can trust your friends then by all means, you can reveal my identity to them Clarke. We must do what we can to leave safely, in order for me to end this war between our people. Your friends can help you end this war with whatever your plan is. My people will want to wipe out all of your people … that much I already know because it is how we survive. I will convince them otherwise somehow." Lexa paused, an emotion that Clarke couldn't quite recognize in her eyes before she realized it was vulnerability. "To be with you."

"Lexa, I love you. I want to be with you so much too. Maybe someday … when this war is over … I can live with you in your country." Clarke didn't know what would become of them after they went their separate ways but she knew that she loved Lexa too much to let her go without a fight.

"You know that I would love nothing more than that. My people will have no choice but to agree with my choice … to agree with you being my Hedatu."

The vibration from Clarke's phone distracted them again and Clarke decided that she would need to enlist Raven's help as well and that she would trust her with her plan. They sat in silence as Clarke finally concentrated all of her attention on talking to her friends about what she had planned to take Pike down from power. Nearly half an hour later they had a solid plan in place. They would slowly take away the power of key buildings to cut off supplies for weapons before moving on to taking Pike down from the inside. All they needed to do was decide on who the new Chancellor would be.

"We have to go now that I'm done planning Lexa. Let's bring the food that won't spoil easily in my car and we can put it in my backseat and trunk while we drive to your camp's location. You … uh, you'll have to give me directions and we have to avoid wherever my own people are stationed because my car's headlights will give our location away to them immediately. Not only that but … if they happen to see me they might not shoot but they will certainly question what I'm doing all the way out there close to the border. I don't think it will work if I say we're going camping so we'll have to be really careful."

"Of course Clarke." With that they gathered what they planned to take and left with the last rays of sunlight gleaming behind them.

X

Making it to the camp unseen was difficult because Clarke had to keep her headlights off and had to use what little light was provided by the dim lights from her car being turned on. She almost ran over several trees despite how slowly and carefully she was driving. Clarke's heart was nearly pounding out of its ribcage because she was so nervous and anxious. There was no way she would be able to save Lexa, or even herself for that matter if they got caught in this area.

She finally let out a sigh of relief when she saw what looked like a camp that definitely didn't belong to her own people. She made a slow approach as Lexa brought her radio up to talk into it. "Indra, ai lukot en ai gouthru klir (Indra, my friend and I seek safe passage)."

Crackling before, "Sha, Heda (Yes, Heda)," was heard over the radio, her voice sounded reluctant and annoyed.

As soon as they made it to the edge of the encampment Clarke exited the vehicle while Lexa did the same. She made a move to the backseat of the car when she felt two sets of arms grab her. "Chit dula op splita? (What are you doing outsider?)"

"Breik ai au, gona (Let me go, warrior)." Clarke said in response, annoyed by the woman and man holding her arms.

"Dula chit em biyo, nau Linkon en Eko! (Do as she says, now Lincoln and Echo!)" Lexa yelled angrily. The two backed off immediately and bowed their heads in respect.

"Lexa, it's okay. I'm fine, just startled." Clarke walked over to Lexa to calm her lover down. With a single touch of her hand to Lexa's arm, Lexa relaxed immediately and turned to face Clarke. They looked into each other's eyes and Clarke could see the vulnerability, the emotions playing in her eyes. "Nou get yu daun Leksa (Don't worry Lexa)," Clarke whispered. It always made Lexa smile when Clarke spoke in Trigedasleng to her.

"Okay Clarke. I will address my people, make sure they know that you are not a threat and not only that but that you are also my lover, ai hodnes (my love)." Clarke desperately wanted to do more than just touch Lexa's forearm with her hand but Lexa told her that they couldn't openly show affection to each other often in front of her people. Lexa turned away from Clarke after a moment before addressing her people in a strong voice. "En, Klark kom Arkkru don ai fisa. Nau Klark ai niron. (Everyone, Clarke of the Ark people was my healer. Now Clarke is my lover)." Lexa took a moment to allow her people to understand the implications. "En na spek yo daun gon yo Hedatu nau (Everyone will bow before your Second Commander now.)"

Everyone in the encampment bowed down as Lexa commanded. Clarke, startled by this, said, "gyon op gonakru beja (get up warriors, please)." They rose at her words.

"We have brought food from Clarke's home for everyone to feast on. Come here to gather the food and share. There is not enough for everyone for more than a day but she has brought it so that we can plan the war with full stomachs."

"Mochof Hedatu (Thank you Second Commander)." The warriors responded to Clarke's generosity. Clarke had bought many fruits and vegetables in bulk as well as a few different types of bread for things ready to eat without preparation. There were also several cases of water bottles in her trunk to pass around for all of the warriors and this combined with what they had already hunted made for the most satisfying and fulfilling meal in a long while. If there were any objections before, there certainly weren't as many now.

X

So, chapter 7 here. Please review to help inspire me.

姫宮光る