Notes:

Okay! I know it has been a while and I am sorry! But l do have a full time job and I am finishing up my masters degree right now so I couldn't find a ton of time this week to write. But obviously I found enough time over the past few days to finish out this chapter.

So I am completely in love with this chapter. I have little descriptions throughout this chapter that seriously are little pieces of my soul. I love them and I hope you guys love this chapter as much as I loved writing it!

I love the following and momentum that this story seems to be getting and all your comments are very much appreciated! I look forward to reading your comments over the next couple days to see what you guys think :) Well it's been a while since I have updated so I should just probably stop talking and let you guys read this new chapter! lol

Enjoy! I can't wait to hear what you guys think!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)


Chapter 9: The Promise of Something New


As soon as the warriors started crying out about a literal "bringer of death," Clarke looked to the horizon to see a yellow fog making its way towards them. She didn't need to know exactly what Wanheda did to people to understand that whatever 'it' did do, it was bad. She knew that she had to get out of there.

The panic of the warriors had Heda on edge and it gave Clarke just enough time to slip into the forest.

Their fight was over, for now.

She knew she could not go back to the dropship. If she asked Bellamy to open it for her then the warriors would no doubt seek shelter there, resulting in the slaughtering of her people as soon as they entered. No, she would need to find a different place to hide from the fog. Maybe she could hide in the car there group had found the night before buried into the ground, leftover from before the war.

Clarke reached the forest line and turned to see Heda barking out orders to the warriors to get to the caves. If the woman noticed Clarke's lack of presence she did not comment on it. Clarke continued to stand at the forest line, out of sight as she watched the warriors run quickly south of the drop ship. They were moving fast, very fast. Even the large warriors, those who Clarke was certain the radiation soaked planet had something to do with their giant size were moving at a speed that Clarke had to admit was impressive.

Clarke watched as the warriors continued to run towards the tree line, that was until her eyes came to rest on the lone figure in the middle of the stampede of warriors. Even through the dust in the air and the chaos surrounding the figure Clarke knew exactly who it was.

Heda was standing stoic as ever, as she stared out into approaching fog, ignoring the chaos that surrounded her. Clarke watched as the warriors parted around her, much like the story of Moses and how he parted the red sea. Her father told her the legendary story of Moses when she was a child. Clarke could remember the awe she felt at the story, a man with the power to part the sea to save his people was truly something amazing. It was only a story, but it was a powerful one and as Clarke watched the warriors move around the woman at break neck speed, Clarke couldn't help but feel the same awe that she felt as a child filter throughout her body at the sight.

The woman was beautiful, not at all what she was expecting from the Commander of the 12 Clans. When Clarke exited the dropship she expected Heda to be a large woman, covered in scars perhaps? She expected imposing and scary, but instead she found herself standing in front of the most beautiful woman that she had ever seen. And when she stepped out of the dropship and met the gaze of the kneeling woman only 20 yards away, Clarke was certain that it wasn't the shaking ground beneath her feet that almost caused her feet to falter.

Now however, without the fear of imminent death, Clarke could really appreciate the beautiful woman before her. She was standing rigid, sword in hand staring out into the horizon. Her warriors were moving so quickly around her that they were creating a draft of air and dust, causing her full length black coat to billow around her ankles. Clarke let her eyes travel up from the bottom of the black coat to the laced up calf high boots caked with dried and hardened mud, then up the woman's impossibly long legs that were snuggly fit into a pair of black leather pants.

Clarke's eyes continue moving up as pants gave wake to a loose fitting brown shirt that could be barely seen under the coats numerous distressed black leather buckles that were clasped together across her middle, stopping just below her chest. The shirt and coat were open at her chest, allowing smooth caramel skin to shine through. Long brown locks of hair flowed across the woman's chest and then to cascade over her shoulder's, each strand moving gently with the drafts of air that came from the warriors racing around her.

The woman reminded Clarke so much of the Earth.

Since the day Clarke stepped off the drop ship she was amazed by the colors of the Earth as they surrounded her. Earth had a beauty that simply could not be ignored and as Clarke's eyes traced over the dark brown curls of the woman before her she realized why she thought the woman's hair was so beautiful. The color of her hair looked so much like the rich soil below Clarke's feet, but when the sun began to peek out from beneath the clouds Clarke could see the rich browns shine through, much like the color of fallen leaves browned and sleek with the first rain of the coming autumn.

The woman's hair may have reminded Clarke of the Earth, the very thing that Clarke now knew the woman could control, but it seemed the woman herself had little to no control of her thick beautiful hair. Clarke couldn't help but smile as the woman's hair tousled in the wind, breaking through the bands in some spots, or unwind from a braid in others. In a way, it gave her a wild look, like her soul was untamed and Clarke couldn't help but think it suited her.

Her eyes however, eyes the color of deep forest pools were the true reflections of the Earth. Thick black war paint surrounded them but the paint extended further stretching out across her eyes and face, creating a black band. The war paint only seemed to make the spark in the woman's eyes stand out more. There was a sharp gleam to them that reminded Clarke of what the Earth really was, a beautiful but deadly place. Like the Earth the woman's gaze was both wise and dangerous, almost as if it called for respect first but quickly promised pain if the first was not followed. There was a hardness and fierceness to them as well, one you would not expect to find in such a young woman.

Clarke watched as the woman peered out to the approaching fog, and even from this distance Clarke could see that there was something solemn swimming in her eyes. Their stunning, forest green held a pain that her face would not allow to come to light. But what?

The warriors had made it to the tree line now and a shout rang out across the land pulling the woman's gaze from the approaching fog to a warrior woman standing at the tree line. The woman at the tree line was staring at Heda with a look that Clarke quickly determined was desperation.

"Gaan nau Indra!"

(Go now Indra!)

The power in Heda's voice was resolute, and there was a finality to the way she said the order, almost as if the woman thought she was giving her last. Clarke turned from Heda to the warrior woman at the tree line, Indra was what Heda had called her. Indra looked troubled at the order she was given and almost looked as if she were thinking about disobeying the command. But when Heda turned her back to once again face the approaching fog, Indra seemed to lose whatever fight she had in her. Clarke watched as Indra gave her Heda one last passing glance, before turning and running into the forest with the rest of the warriors.

The fog was close now, and Clarke looked out towards it before turning her gaze back to the lone woman. Why wasn't she going with the rest of her army? Why was she just standing there?

The fog was even closer now, to the point in which Clarke could hear a slight hiss in the distance. Clarke turned from the woman to stare into the forest, where she knew the buried car was lying about 30 yards away. If she wanted to make it to the car in time she needed to leave now. Clarke gave one last final glance at the woman before turning and making her way to shelter.

Clarke made it halfway to the shelter before suddenly the ground lurched at her feet, the force of the violent shake took Clarke's legs completely out from under her. Clarke fell to her bottom as she looked around the forest floor in confusion.

What the hell was that?

Her question however was quickly found as she saw a large wall of Earth begin to rise from the ground, directly between her and the fog.

Clarke eyes shot wide as she stared at the giant wall, quickly following it to the through the only explanation for this to be happening. Clarke's eyes quickly found the woman through the clearing. She was on her knee, crouched down with her fist into the ground, and even from this distance Clarke could see that she was shaking.

Clarke heard the hissing of the fog as it crashed into the wall and she turned from the woman to the wall. The sound of the fog as it started climbing the wall had her eyes shooting wide. This fog was relentless.

A pained cry sounded in the clearing and Clarke looked to see the woman gritting her teeth, the shaking in her muscles becoming even more apparent but the wall at Clarke's side began to grow taller, holding the fog at bay. Clarke stumbled to her feet quickly, she could hear the fog as it refused to back down against the wall. It would only be a matter of seconds before it made it to the top again and started its decent towards Clarke.

The woman must have recognized this too because another shout echoed from the clearing and Clarke turned just in time to see the woman smash her other fist into the ground. The ground lurched again at the contact, this time however Clarke was prepared and was able to keep her footing. The wall grew once more, surging up to an even grander height, but Clarke knew it was only a matter of time before the fog climbed it once again.

A thump sounded and Clarke turned to see the woman on her back, staring up at the sky. The only movement was the slight twitch of her arms that lay immobile at her side. Clarke stared at the woman with wide eyes, quickly realizing that the woman was not going to move.

The sound of the hissing of the fog grew stronger and Clarke knew it was only seconds away from breaking over the wall. Clarke froze at the sound, the only movement she seemed capable of making was her eyes as they travel from the passed out woman in the clearing, and then to the shelter she knew she needed to get to. Clarke's eyes traveled back and forth between the two as she fought an internal battle of what she should do.

Her brain told her to get to the shelter, the woman tried to kill her and her people not even ten minutes ago, she did not deserve to be saved. Her heart however was quick to remind Clarke that she should try and save the woman, it was the right thing to do, and it seemed the woman wasn't clearly that horrible, after all she did just sacrifice herself for her people.

The hissing of the fog sounded and Clarke looked to the wall to see small wisps of yellow fog making its way over the wall.

Clarke growled in frustration before making up her mind and quickly sprinting from towards the clearing and towards the woman. Clarke was at the woman's side in a matter of seconds, but unfortunately within those seconds the fog had also started to make its way up and over the wall.

Clarke stared down at the woman on the ground for a few seconds then back up to the yellow fog that was creeping its way closer to them. A small weak chuckle sounded below her and Clarke brought her gaze back down to the woman who was blurry staring at her with a delirious small smile on her face. Clarke wished she had the time to truly take in every detail of that smile, as she doubted she would ever see it again.

Unfortunately however, the hissing at her back and their impending death was all she could really concentrate on at the moment. Clarke looked to the fog to see it was nearly on top of them, and she quickly realized that she was too late. There was nowhere for them to go. The fog had picked up its momentum again and Clarke knew she could not outrun it, especially trying to carry another person.

They were going to die.

Moving forward she moved her body over the woman's, covering her with her own, trying to do her best to shield her from the fog in a last ditch effort to save her. Clarke stared down at the woman below her. The woman was staring up at Clarke, the fire in her eyes was gone, making the once emerald green eyes turn pale.

"I am sorry," choked out Clarke down to the woman, barely able to even hear her own voice over the hissing that was seconds away from being on top of them. Clarke moved forward burying her face in the woman's neck and bringing her arms to cover the woman's face the best she could before closing her eyes and waiting for the death that she knew would come.

Suddenly the humming was back filtering through her body, stronger then Clarke had ever felt before. Clarke barely had time to register what was happening before a surge of energy broke from her body. The energy surge lasted only a matter of seconds but the effects following it were instantaneous.

A heaviness took hold of Clarke's mind and body. The energy it took to just simply lift her head from the woman's neck caused the world to fade around her as dizziness pooled through her mind. The world was a blur, and all she could see was bright blue light shine through the darkness. Confusion blossomed in Clarke's heart as she tried to understand what was happening around her.

The strength to keep her head up however quickly left and Clarke's head dropped back down to tuck into the woman's neck. Clarke's eyes soon followed, shutting tightly as the darkness grew darker and her strength grew weaker.

In the darkness of Clarke's mind she could not understand what was happening around her. Everything was dissolving around her, like Clarke was never there at all.

Yet she knew she was, because while her world faded to blackness all around her Clarke felt the warm skin of the woman neck beneath her press against her face. She felt the hard, yet soft body that even in her clouded mind she recognized, their bodies seemed to fit perfectly together. Almost as if Clarke and the woman below her were two puzzle pieces, neither of them knowing that they were never whole until they were molded together, creating a picture that neither one of them could quite yet understand.

Soon however, even the feeling of the woman's body below her could not stop the blackness that had now almost fully taken hold over Clarke's mind. She was drifting in and out of consciousness and just before her mind was fully consumed a calming aroma surrounded her.

The smell of damp earth and rain invaded her senses. And just before the darkness fully took hold Clarke couldn't help but think that the woman smelled like life. She smelled like the rain, she smelled like the Earth, she smelled like promise of something new.


Lexa rouse from her heavy slumber, as her mind swam with a quickly departing dream.

People fell from the sky. They took Anya from her. Their leader, a beautiful woman with hair like the sun had fought her. Wanheda had then come and she faced the demon and sacrificed herself to save her people.

Opening her eyes slowly, she blurrily stared around her surroundings noting the usual morning light was now hued in blue. Her bed was also firm and lumpy, almost as if someone had slipped rocks into it. The air was also cold, bordering freezing as shivers ran down her spine.

The shiver was like a spark in her mind, pulling her quickly from her sleep induced haze to quickly realize that something was wrong. Lexa's head jolted upward as her eyes grew wider than usual and they take on an almost wild look as she blurrily scanned her surroundings for danger. But what she found when her vision cleared was something that she found she couldn't explain. Her eyes darted around her surroundings as her head struggled to keep up them, but no matter where she looked she found the same thing, ice.

Lexa was surrounded in what looked like a dome of ice.

She moved to sit up but a heavy weight on her chest kept her firmly to the ground. Lexa's eyes moved from the dome of ice and found herself once again surprised at the sight before her. A woman was lying on her chest. Long blond curls fell in long waves as they sprawled out in every direction, covering Lexa's chest and shoulder.

There was only one woman that Lexa knew to have hair that seemed to have the essence of the sun in every strand.

The sky people leader.

A warm breath ghosted across Lexa's neck and she shivered at the feeling. It was a shiver that she knew she could not blame on the cold surrounding them.

Lexa's mind fought against the warmth that seemed to spread throughout her body at the feeling of the beautiful woman on top of her as she struggled with her rapidly moving mind as it tried to understand what exactly happened to lead them to this position.

Why was there ice surrounding them?

Lexa could hear Wanheda even through the thickened ice as it circled around them, trying to find weakness in the ice shelter.

Where did the ice come from?

Lexa's mind traveled back to the sky people's leader as her mind replayed the memory of the beautiful woman with frozen earth crumbles at her feet.

Could this woman control ice?

Lexa's usually trained mind quickly spiraled out of control as she struggled to come up with an explanation to it all. Suddenly however a groan echoed throughout the ice dome and Lexa stiffened at the vibration of the voice on her neck.

"No mom…five more minutes."

The woman's voice was coarse, and broken not at all like the teasing but powerful voice that she had heard just moments before in battle, but somehow it still seemed to have an immediate effect on Lexa's body.

Lexa closed her eyes tightly as her brain and heart seemed to be waging a war in her body, each one battling to take control of her limbs.

Her brain was telling her push this woman off of her, to use her dagger and question her as to what was going on. Her heart however was telling her to bring her hands up tuck the woman's blonde hair back from her face, to feel the warmth of the woman's cheek bone against her fingertips, to perhaps see the bright blue eyes that she knew were hiding beneath closed eyelids.

Lexa would allow neither however. She was the master of her body, she would not allow it to be controlled by emotions…

Suddenly the woman on top of her moved, her movements were slow and clumsy but once they settled Lexa soon found the overwhelming heat throughout her body almost unbearable. The woman above her somehow settled herself deeper into Lexa's body. A leg had found its way between Lexa's, the woman's chest was now perfectly centered with Lexa's, and her head had now buried so deeply into Lexa's neck she could feel the outline of the woman's lips against her skin.

This woman above her was going to break Lexa's resolve.

This was certainly torture, a feeling that Lexa was all too familiar with as she was once taken prisoner by Azgeda warriors before becoming Heda. The pain that was inflicted on her body over the days she was held prisoner were unimaginable. The things that were done to her as they tried to get information about defense strategies of the Wood Clan army still gave Lexa nightmares to this day.

But this was a different type of torture.

Where there should be the smell of blood and sweat in the air, there was only the smell of wildflowers, and beneath that smell there was the smell of autumn leaves. Where there should be shaking muscles and painful twitches, there was only warmth and soft skin. Where there should be anger bursting from her chest in heavy growls at her capturer, there was only the overwhelming urge to wrap her arms around her capturer, bringing her in closer, longing for the torture to continue and never end.

A heavy sigh sounded against Lexa's neck which quickly pulled her from her thoughts. The feeling of the woman's lips grazing her neck was all it took, and Lexa's well trained resolve crumbled within her as her hand came up on its own accord to grasp the woman's arm. The grasp was not firm, nor was it soft but it was the only anchor that Lexa had to keeping herself from acting on her wildly ranging emotions that raged inside her.

The contact had an instantaneous effect on the woman above her, and Lexa felt the tightened muscles beneath her hand and the breath at her neck still. Lexa felt the woman move slowly, her head moving back from the crook of her neck and a few moments later she was greeted with wide crystal blue eyes staring down at her. A look of complete surprise, awe and fear assembled together to take hold on the woman's face.

"Holy shit."


Notes:

Okay so what do you think? Did you like it? Let me know! Comment below and tell me what you think! If you have any questions or concerns comment below as well!