SHIVER

SUMMARY:
Before there was a Sky Princess, there was the Ice Queen.
Kwin Astrid is a notorious leader; fearless, ruthless, and willing to do anything to protect her people. After the bombing of TonDC, many of the twelve Grounder clans were left without leadership and so joined the Ice Nation. With an army bigger than ever, Astrid kom Azgeda decides that it is now time to review her rocky allegiance with the Trikru, and to finally meet the Sky People.

Clarke / Bellamy / OCs

DISCLAIMER:
I do not own The 100, it's characters or storylines.

Chapter 10

ASTRID:
When the entire camp had been called to the clearing, Astrid had fallen into a sort of trance state. They had brought the remains of the Mountain folk down from the mountain, and Lexa had insisted on a burning ceremony to destroy what was left of them.
Unfortunately for Astrid, she hated ceremonies.
She stifled a yawn, she respected tradition- what was left of it anyway, but ceremonies were… brutal.
She recalled drifting off at her own coronation, and it had been years and years since she'd attended anything of this sort.
She shifted in her seat.
"You're squirming already," Ress said under his breath.
"How long will this be?" she asked, and pinched his arm.

"This evening," Lexa shouted from the front of the large group, "we celebrate the defeat of the Mountain, of the monsters who lived there…"
A weight pressed against Astrid's eyelids. She'd woken up so early, and after her sparring session with Bellamy Blake she was unable to stop herself, she wandered into the land of sleep.

"Get up!" Ress snarled into her ear, "now."
She sat up with a jolt, the world bright and foggy. Several guards laughed silently.
She gave Ress, and then Clarke an apologetic look, and turned her gaze to Lexa who was regarding her with a thunderous scowl.
"How long was I asleep?" she whispered to Ress, watching as the last of the bodies were flung onto the large bonfire on the hill.
When Ress didn't respond she nudged him and asked again, before noticing a hint of red in his cheeks.
"You were asleep too?" she half chuckled.
"Untill you began drooling on my shoulder," he replied, "now, pay attention."

CLARKE:
Something about the barbaric way Lexa conducted herself was equally as fascinating as it was terrifying. It reminded her of Finn's execution, and when Bellamy nudged her and directed her attention to the dozing pair behind them, she found herself grateful for a reason to pull her eyes away.
Bellamy half chuckled, which caused a small frown to appear on Clarke's forehead, it had been a long time since he'd even come close to laughter. In fact, that morning she had sworn he had even been enjoying himself while he sparred with Astrid.
Eventually, Clarke broke the silence and turned to him, muttering under her breath so Lexa wouldn't notice, "Do you like her?"
"Of course not," he replied easily, also returning his gaze to the mass of burning bodies being thrown onto the fire by Lexa's guards, "why would I?"
"She talks with you easily, she fought with you today," she shrugged.
"I just enjoy teasing her Princess, just like you."
"It's not a crime if you consider her to be beautiful. I'll admit I judged her all wrong; I thought she was pompous, a selfish, spoiled idiot. But she's actually not so bad."
Bellamy rolled his eyes, "It's nothing."
"She takes a great interest in you," Clarke pressed.
"I don't give myself over to the first person who takes an interest in me," he replied maliciously, "that's how you get hurt.."
He paused for a moment, before nodding to the front at Lexa, "Or worse.. betrayed."

BELLAMY:
After the ceremony, Astrid had found him and invited him for a walk, and in spite of himself, Bellamy had agreed. He borrowed a fur lined coat, which Clarke had given him a few days earlier to keep the frigid air from freezing him, and the queen had on a light leather jacket- also a gift from Clarke. He couldn't imagine how she didn't react to the temperatures down by the lake.
The bodies from the mountain, some he had recognised from his dreams, most of them he had not. He shivered, and winced as a gust of icy wind blew back his hood and froze his ears. When he pulled it back, he saw her watching him with amusement.
"What to do now?" he asked, "we've walked six times up and down this shoreline, don't you have some Queenly duties to attend to?"

ASTRID:
Astrid walked down to the freezing shore, and couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. With each day she felt the barriers melting. She let them melt, because of Bellamy's rare genuine laugh, because she caught him one afternoon sleeping with his face in the middle of a book, because she knew that he would support her.
He was a warrior, a murderer, a foreigner, and yet.. and yet he was just a boy. Send down from the skies as a punishment.
It made her sick every time she thought about it.
She had been negotiating battles of her own, but he had been sent down to earth as part of a death mission- and survived.

She nodded, and kicked her boot at the ground, sending rocks flying everywhere.
"I want you to take me into the Mountain," she finally spoke, "I want to see it from the inside."
"I-" he began but she didn't wait for him to finish, which annoyed him.
"The bodies are gone now, it's not a place to fear anymore, it's a place to utilise," she insisted.
"Why not Clarke, or the guards, or any number of other people," he protested, but he knew that it was useless. Astrid had the same glint in her golden eyes that Clarke had when she had made her mind up about something.
"Because unlike them, you need to go back there," she shrugged, "you need to face your demons."

RESS:
That evening, Ress watched the two walk by the large lake.
He should be down there, a foot behind, watching Bellamy, making sure nothing happened. Logic and years of experience screamed at him to be with them, even though six guards were posted along the edge of the lake itself.
He had learned more about Bellamy, he knew what had happened in the mountain- Lincoln had told him. He knew that Bellamy was deceitful, cunning, and yet he couldn't make his feet move.
While it terrified him to see her down there, with Bellamy Blake a hands breadth away from her unprotected throat, what terrified him more was that she trusted herself with him- the Queen who didn't trust anything to anybody- and Ress didn't know what that meant about her.