Chapter 9
3RD POV
"What what the hell is going on here," Clarke asked in disbelief.
"She and other members of Skaikru destroyed our village."
Octavia squirmed and tried to talk through the gag.
"Take that gag out," Lexa said. "Let her explain."
"Is this true?"
"No," Octavia stated.
"Lies, she was there."
"I was there, yes. But I was there to warn them. I didn't participate in the destruction of their village."
"Octavia. I want to believe you," Clarke said empathetically. "But you realize, the evidence does point to you."
"Clarke, I didn't do it. Pike sent people to destroy the village, he's he's after the surrounding land. He will stop at nothing to protect Arkadia."
"Then why not come to Polis to inform us," Lexa questioned the girl.
"I wanted to try to save them first. I swear to you, I only went to the village to send them a warning."
"She threatened us," the grounder man said. "She came that morning and spoke lies. Then that night they attacked, our village destroyed, and she was on the hill overlooking us."
"Is this true, Octavia?"
"Yes, but I tried to rally up forces to go against Pike's forces. But by the time we got there, the village had already been attacked."
"Well then," Lexa said. "I'm sorry. But I have no choice but to keep you here as a prisoner."
"Heda," the grounder spoke up. "We demand justice, Skaikru must pay. Not just for this village, but for the fallen warriors that were massacred outside of their camp."
"Justice will be done," Lexa stated, cutting the man a cold look. "But not tonight. We will come back to this matter, but for now, we will take her prisoner."
The man growled, he was clearly frustrated with the commander. Titus watched the man closely, and stayed alert. The grounder began to turn away when suddenly he rushed towards Clarke and the Commander. Lexa drew her dagger, and quickly placed it in the man's side. He dropped his weapon and fell to the floor. The men behind him soon rushed towards the Commander, but they were stopped by Titus who pulled out his dagger and defended the two girls.
Soon the dispute was over as the injured men and Octavia were taken away.
Lexa returned to her chambers with Clarke following close behind.
"Don't kill Octavia."
"I never said that was going to happen."
"But I know you're thinking of it."
"They seek justice."
"They also attempted to kill you."
"He is mad with he change that has occurred. I have already told you and Titus never forgets to remind me. Blood must have blood. It is our way. And trying to change it will not go smoothly."
"So then call it even. He tried to attack you, and he accused Octavia of attacking their village."
"I can't do that. You know I can't Clarke."
Clarke shook her head, "then what are you going to do?"
Lexa shrugged, "I will decide along with the other ambassadors."
"Well I believe Octavia, and you need a unanimous vote to get anything through. And so long as your plans threaten her life, I will stop them."
"Is that a warning?"
"No. It's a promise." And with that Clarke stormed off.
Lexa was meeting with Titus and Anya about what to do with the men and Octavia.
"As far as I am concerned, Heda, they should all be out to death."
"Octavia has been a good warrior Titus, we can't deny that. And I do not believe she destroyed the village."
"Let's not forget how she threatened you and Clarke when you were dealing with the mountain men."
"Would you not do the same had that happened to you? We can't hold anymore anger towards that night. It is done and she has since forgiven us for hiding the events of the missile from them."
"And what of the men who attacked you," Anya asked.
"We are trying to change our ways. Blood must not have blood. If I sentence them to death, it would be against my new platform."
"Normally I would agree, but this is different, they could plan another coup, just as Nia tried."
"Nia failed."
"Just because Nia failed does not mean that people do not agree with her."
"So we banish them."
"They could still come back, and in greater numbers."
"Then we place a blockade around Arkadia and place a kill order on them. The three men, Octavia, and the rest of Skaikru."
"You want to advance the kill order?"
"I can not let anymore of my people come to harm. I will still allow them to bring their leader, Pike. But there will be a kill order."
"And what of Clarke," Titus asked.
"You know she won't like this kill order."
"There's no other choice. If what you both say is true, and that people find this new change to be a weakness, then I must show them that I am not. But I must stay with my original stance. Blood must not have blood."
"Yet," Anya commented.
Lexa nodded, "Skaikru will still have the rest of the 7 days to bring me Pike."
"Then it is done," Titus said. "Would you like me to announce it?"
Lexa nodded again, and Titus left, leaving her alone with her former mentor.
"Advancing this kill order will not please Clarke."
"Indeed it won't. But it is my only choice in order to prevent breaking this coalition."
"And what if she tries to come back? Will you lift the kill order on her?"
Lexa pondered the question and shrugged. Anya nodded, realizing she should give Lexa time to herself. She quickly left and closed the door.
Lexa was meditating when Clarke burst in.
"Advancing the kill order? Are you serious right now Lexa?"
Lexa sighed, "yes. It honors our agreement, but it provides justice for what was done."
"And what about me?"
"The kill order begins tomorrow at noon. Any member of Skaikru will be killed if seen crossing over into our land. Including you."
"Really?"
"However, I would like to invite you to stay here."
"What as you prisoner? No way."
"No, as my guest."
Clarke stood there confused.
"The choice is yours Clarke," Lexa said as she stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must prepare my armies."
That night, Titus and Lexa were discussing the arrangements for the kill order.
"I have the two fastest horses for Octavia and Clarke to get back behind the line before the blockade and kill order is placed."
"Actually I have asked her to stay as my guest."
"Lexa, I beg you to remember my teachings. Love is weakness."
Lexa rolled her eyes and began to walk away, "I will not hear this again."
"Yes you will," Titus insisted. "Your feelings for Clarke put both of you in danger. You must fully enforce this kill order. She must return to Skaikru, that is the only way she remains safe. Don't make her pay the price for your mistakes as Costia did."
"My mistakes?" Lexa hissed. "Azgeda cut off Costia's head and delivered it to my bed. And I still let them into my alliance. I am more than capable of separating feelings from duty!"
"I'm sorry Lexa. I didn't mean to offend you."
"Yes you did. But you mean well. I know that. But the choice is Clarke's, not mine."
Early the next morning, Clarke went into Lexa's chambers to say goodbye. The brunette wasn't in her bed, so Clarke stood in the entryway, then she started down the hallway when the commander walked in. Clarke was about to speak, but it was almost as if Lexa read her mind, "when "when do you leave?"
"Now," Clarke said. She walked closer to the other girl, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Lexa assured her. "They're you're people. That's why I," she paused, knowing this was not the right time. "That's why you're you."
Clarke offered a small smile, "maybe maybe someday we will owe nothing to our people."
"I hope so."
Clarke extended her arm and the two said goodbye, "may may we meet again," Clarke said. She turned to leave when Lexa spoke.
"May we meet again."
Suddenly Clarke felt a rush of emotions. Those four words brought her back to that night on the mountain. And all of her old feelings that she did her best to hide were pushing their way to the surface. She knew she couldn't stay, but she hated to leave. Gently, she leaned in and kissed Lexa. The two girls cried as they kissed goodbye, yet as each tried to pull away, the other continued to linger into the kiss. Things heated up as Clarke slid Lexa's blouse off of her shoulder. She gently led her to the bed, and they had a memorable goodbye.
They were laying in bed afterwards when Clarke spoke up, "If Octavia and I are to make it behind the lines before-"
"Shhh," Lexa hummed.
Clarke smiled and began to trace down Lexa's back, following the outline of the girl's girl's tattoos.
"This is beautiful."
"I got it on my ascension day. A circle for each nightblood who died when the commander chose me."
"I thought you said there were nine novitiates?"
"There were," Lexa muttered.
"What happened to number eight," Clarke questioned. "There's only seven circles."
Lexa turned to face the blonde, "can we talk about something else?"
"We don't have to talk at all," Clarke suggested.
Lexa smiled and kissed Clarke. And as things continued to play as they had before their last goodbye, the two girls made sure that they made it known to the other that this would not be their final goodbye.
Despite leaving late, Clarke and Octavia managed to make it back to Arkadia before the blockade and kill order were officially enacted. They were just behind the line when they slowed their horses.
"So what now," Octavia asked.
"Now," Clarke sighed. "We have a week to overthrow Pike and bring him to Lexa."
"And how do you plan on doing that?"
"We find enough people who disagree with Pike to stand with us."
"And for those who refuse to stand with us?"
"We respect their choice."
"And how will that help us?"
"Those who stand against Lexa will be punished, they will be greeted by the Commander of Death."
Back in Polis, Lexa, Anya, and Titus are holding a meeting to further discuss the details of the blockade.
"Once they overthrow Pike, there will be no need for the blockade," Lexa stated to Titus.
"But Skaikru still voted Pike in control, they allowed for this tyrant to rule, so they still must be punished. They rejected the coalition, we should not welcome them back into the alliance."
"Azgeda allowed someone as horrible as Nia to rule as queen, yet we allowed them to be a part of the alliance," Anya commented.
"Yes, but things have changed. They see Lexa as weak, we need to make an example of them," Titus argued. "Remain at a ceasefire, but do not reinstate them into the coalition."
"Skaikru's previous leaders welcomed the alliance, and now that Clarke is in Arkadia, we have a stronger chance that they will overthrow Pike."
"Heda, you are putting your faith in some girl," Titus growled. "She has no experience leading, only the other kids she came down with."
"And yet look what they have become," the commander stated calmly. "She managed to rally them to defeat 300 of my warriors. She helped us take down Mount Weather, and she will help them overthrow Pike, and bring justice to us and a newfound peace."
"Lexa's right," Anya said. "You underestimate Clarke. And you forget that Lexa once was that young and inexperienced girl, chosen by the commander before her to lead our people."
Titus sighed and faced the younger girl, "so what will it be, commander?"
"We will allow Skaikru to rejoin the coalition, but we will keep the blockade until they are proved trustworthy again. This will allow us to keep an eye on them in case history repeats itself."
Clarke was reunited with her friends and they were all meeting in the med bay to discuss their plans to get rid of Pike.
"I really don't think there's a chance we can overthrow him," Monty said. "He's got everyone terrified of the grounders, my parents included."
"Besides, he's he's got control of the guard, there's no way we stand a chance," Jasper added.
"And Bellamy sides with Pike, without Bellamy, we can't persuade the guard to even think about joining our side," Octavia mentioned.
"No,"Clarke shook her head. "There's another way. Indra said Bellamy was with Pike's men when they attacked the warriors outside of Arkadia. She said he was the only reason she remained alive. Maybe he's starting to see how bad Pike is."
"Well the only way to find out is to send the only person he cares about," Raven said as she looked towards Octavia.
"I'll talk to him, but I make no promises. After I broke Clarke free, he hasn't spoke to me. He arrested Lincoln for standing up for another grounder."
"He's our only chance to getting an inside man, Pike trusts him, if we can persuade him, we will have a better chance at succeeding."
"And then what," Jasper asks. "We just ask him to kindly step down? Like he would ever do that, and even with Bellamy its it's still going to be one hell of a fight."
"Jasper's right, there's there's no point in overthrowing Pike if we take out half of our people while doing it."
"So we take him when no one's looking," Clarke said. If we get enough people on our side, and enough guards to look the other way, then we can take Pike to Polis and end the blockade."
Everyone nods.
"I can probably make something that would knock him out long enough for us to get him on the other side of the blockade," Raven said with a shrug.
"Perfect. Raven, you work on that, Octavia," Clarke said pointing to the girl. "Your job is Bellamy. Monty and Jasper, you guys work on seeing who supports Pike and who doesn't. I'll work on arrangements with my mom and Kane." Clarke sighed. "We have six days to take Pike to the Commander."
"Or prepare for war," Octavia added.
NOTES: Hey guys! Long time no see. College sucks and its a lot of work, plus working to make money. Anyways I'm sorry, I havent updated in like..mm 2 years...but for anyone who is still interested in this, here you go! Also thank you for reading and keeping with this account if you are still following me. Anyways thanks again, and as always, RR much appreciated. PS if you want a life outside of school, dont be a math major (IT SUCKS)