Things are really coming to an end soon. The next chapter will be the last, unfortunately. Don't be too confused, I promise I'll end things well! I hope you enjoy this chapter c:


Nobody's lost. Nobody's won.

This is a draw.

The meaning of battle, suffering, sacrifice and peace have all blurred into one.

Because this is the only way that she can breathe again.

Live again.

This is the only way, the most crucial way – to be her again.


"Today, Emmerson's life will be given up as a trade for our peace." Lexa addresses Clarke's people as if they are her own and it jolts a form of pride in Clarke, even though it is still so foreign – and raw. "I know that some of you are still wounded and contemptuous from the last time we formed an alliance, and rightly so; however there is a bigger threat out there." Her grip on her sword tightens, "The Ice Nation are not the problem, it is their queen that is. Nia has no concern for human life, not her people's and certainly not ours. It is only herself she cares about, anything and anyone beyond that is completely irrelevant."

Sometimes Lexa would tell her short tales of her past encounters with Nia – and none of them were harmless. It seemed as if she always ripped something out of Lexa when she could, always manipulated her and always brought her to a grievous decision. Clarke hoped, till the ends of the earth that this would not happen today.

"This is why," She continues, "You need to be ready." She gives a small look to all the people she sees, arkers who volunteered to help – amongst them Octavia, Lincoln and Miller. "We know what they are capable of, we know what she is capable of – you do not."

"This should be the last time, hopefully for a while – where we have to face our enemies together." Lexa lifts her sword up from the floor and surprisingly; the arkers do the same with their guns. A small grin appears instantly on her face, and Clarke will probably never forget the gleam in her eyes.

Her goodbyes to Abby where short – but sweet. She wanted to hold on to the faith that most of them would come out of this alive, and yet she knew that this would only be the ideal outcome – and they certainly do not live in an idealistic world.

Raven and Monty were taking care of any interference that could occur along the way, and would be in her earpiece if she ever needed them. She did not need a goodbye.

Recruits from Polis travelled after Lexa sent Indra to inform them about their plans. Nyko came along as an extra healer if anything had to happen to Clarke.

Bellamy fought and grovelled to come with them but Clarke put him in his place and told him that they all needed him to stay put. It took some convincing and a couple of angry words but he did understand eventually, or at least – she hoped he did.

Of course then, there was Lexa. Lexa who took the air out of her lungs and not because she was in awe of her, but because she was in awe of everything that she meant to her. In awe of how her absence would affect her in such tremendous ways. It scared her to love someone that much, but what scared her more was what she was capable of doing if someone took her away from her.

She was hoping that she wouldn't get to find out today.


Three days into their journey and they had arrived.

Three small markers of a blue flag were spread out in front of them, giving Clarke an eerie sense of worry and foreboding. Everything she knew and heard about Nia could come true – or it could not. Was it wrong to let fear take over her for a couple of seconds? If so, she was completely in the wrong there and then.

Two warriors with fur coats and war paint came out of nowhere and held out their swords. "What is your business here?" Her voice is sharp and cold and only instils even more fear in Clarke – but she will not let it show.

Lexa gets off her horse and keeps her hand held tightly on the dagger deep inside of her pocket. "I'd recommend you would not speak in such a tone to your heda." It is said with the same hostility that Lexa had shared with Clarke the first time they met each other. "I would like to speak to your kwin, we have unattended business."

The warrior grimaces and holds out her hand, "You and you only may enter. All your warriors must remain outside, any weapons on you must be given to me. If you are found with any hidden weapons, your people will be held accountable for it." She hisses the sentence out of her mouth as if it is a plague to utter just those words and takes a step closer to Lexa.

Calmly, Lexa hands over all her weapons and Clarke almost wonders if she'd gone mad. "Another thing, however." She gestures towards Clarke and keeps her eyes steadily on her. "She must enter with me."

She steals a glance at the other warrior and looks back at Lexa. "Who is she?"

"Clarke kom skaikru." Lexa replies hastily and watches as both warrior's face turn pale in realisation. It is something that Clarke finds disturbingly odd, and not at all gratifying.

Lexa whispers something in Indra's ear quickly and Indra nods gruffly. "A prisoner we captured recently is also coming in with us." Clarke notices, instantly how Lexa says this as a statement rather than a question.

Emmerson is in painful handcuffs and is brought over towards Clarke and Lexa.

"For what reason?" She asks again.

"One that isn't of your concern."

Clarke is removed of all her weapons and along with Lexa and Emmerson – escorted inside.

People watch in awe as they walk towards Nia's tent, and the only thing Clarke can really think about is how poor and under nourished they all seem. Somehow, she had always thought of the Ice Nation as a big scary group of people who would stop at nothing but get what they want – and yet all their civilians seemed utterly terrified.

No plants, or food flourished around them. The air was dense and bleak and it was absolutely nothing like Polis.

Clarke shared a tense look with Lexa as they entered the tent and saw that she indeed was fearful, but she gave her a short reassuring smile and somehow that made her feel instantly better.

As they entered the tent, five other warriors stood beside Nia who was tentatively sitting on some kind of 'throne' stared at them both with beady eyes. She didn't seem to take any notice of Emmerson, who was now face down on the floor with Lexa's foot on his back. The two warriors who escorted them in, were close behind them – breathing down their necks.

Nia was not young. Her eyes although a beautiful kind of blue were concaved in wrinkles, her mouth slightly parted and almost in some kind of mechanical smile. She was tall and gracious – even in her increasingly obvious weakness; and any type of fear was hidden from view.

She was nothing but intimidating.

"Lexa." Nia's voice is neutral and holds very little hostility in it. "I see you've brought her with you." Her beady eyes go over to Clarke almost immediately and it sends a shiver down her spine, but she stands up tall and purses her lips. "The one they call Wanheda."

"Let us not discuss such petty matters, Nia." Lexa narrows her eyes down to her, "We have more important affairs on hand – such as, your reason for your warriors abducting and torturing me?"

She takes her eyes off Clarke hesitantly and stares back at Lexa. "It was necessary for our survival; you had information we needed."

"You failed to obtain it." Lexa breathes in heavily and clenches her jaw, "Was attacking my general necessary too? Did stabbing her in the back with one of your poisons obtain information?" She scoffs, "Nia, you are not one known to hide behind your words and yet you will not admit your treacheries when they are right in front of you. Not a trait of an honest leader, now is it?"

She ignores Lexa's remarks and finally takes note of Emmerson, who now no longer struggled beneath Lexa's foot. "Why have you brought me this obscene thing of a man? What is his presence here worth?"

"A lot more than you think." She inches closer and steps on him harder, receiving a grunt from him. "He is the last of his kind. Maunon."

Nia is no longer subtle with her hostility. Her beady eyes turn grave as she tenses up, "Impossible!" She spits the word out like venom, "They are unable to walk outside without their skin shrivelling up into dust like the weak fools they are."

Lexa remains calm and tilts her head towards Clarke, and it is then that Clarke knows it is her time to speak. "They captured 47 of my people. Used them for their bone marrow – allowing many of them to filter the radiation out of their bodies." She could see that Nia was understanding almost none of this, and instead reached out for Emmerson's arm. "See this?" She points at a slight scar on his arm, "That is where the bone marrow was injected inside him, it allows him to walk amongst us."

She can tell that her argument got them somewhere, she can see that the worry is there – deep inside her, resurfacing. "Even if I were to believe these slanderous comments; how is he still alive? How is he possibly living and breathing?"

"He escaped before I-" She pauses for a second and knows she can't show hesitation. "Killed them all. He is truly the last one, and what you decide to do with him now is your choice."

She furrows her brows, "What I decide to do with him? Explain yourself."

"He is here for you." She exhales, "As a temporary peace treaty between your people and mine." She allows herself a small defiant smile as she says this, "The Tri Ku are also involved in this peace treaty, as we are in a current alliance – and any attack on your behalf towards them will be seen as a threat."

Nia does not budge, does not flinch as she processes all this. "Fair enough." And just as Clarke is going to breathe a sigh of relief and share a look of joy with Lexa – she speaks again. "On one condition."

"That being?"

"You have to be the one to kill him."

The words are a poison in her mind as she utters them out and she can only look at the floor in shock. "You said that he is mine to do with what I please, and this is what would greatly please me."

Weeks ago, she would have agreed – without hesitation – to do it. To take his life away from him just as easily as he almost had done to Lexa; but now she can only be reminded of the mountain men and how they all perished in a matter of seconds at the hand of her 'wrath'.

It is then when she realises exactly what Lexa meant about Nia. She knew your weak points before you even knew them yourself, she dug at them and poked them until you were weak – she was destructive, sadistic and utterly a maniac.

This was the only way.

"That is not a fair de-" Lexa begins to retort but is cut off immediately.

"Okay." Clarke replies. "I'll do it."

Lexa looks at her in bewilderment and she can see the questions and voices screaming loud at her, she knows that she is confused – but she also knows that she will understand.

If this is the price that she will have to pay to keep her people safe, then so be it.

Nia has taken the defiant smile right off Clarke's face and strapped it on to herself. "Give her back her weapon." She tilts her head at Clarke, "You may choose which one you would like to use." She says this as if it some favour but all it reaks is sickness and deceit.

Clarke chooses her dagger and walks towards Emmerson as Lexa walks backwards. He stares at her with a dead look in his eyes and it alarms her that he could await his death in such indifference – in such apathy.

She pulls him up to stand up and holds the dagger to his neck as she stares at Nia. She tries to forget all the blood her hands are already doused in as she swiftly drags the dagger across his neck. He drops to his knees as blood splutters onto the floor and looks away from him as she hands her dagger back to the warrior in front of her, who stares back at her with wide – but calm – eyes.

"Our deal is done." Clarke stares at Nia for the last time. "You'd be wise to follow your end of the bargain."

Nia nods at the warriors and her and Lexa are starting to be escorted out of the tent.

"She is stronger this one, Leksa." Nia's voice is heard again, this time laced in satisfaction. "Less light and innocent than the other one. Scarred and wounded in all the right ways. Perhaps, she truly is the commander of death." There is a pause as she utters the last sentence, "But don't think I won't do what I did to your love struck warrior to her too."