A week later.
Clarke has been training with the Nightbloods everyday for the past week. She'd figured gaining some fighting skills wouldn't be a bad idea before going to war. She already knows how to shoot gun, of course, and she's become quite good with the knife, as it was a more versatile item to use to survive in the woods. Her aim still isn't as deathly as Lexa's, but she is able to throw her knife and catch her target most of the times, even from a very long distance. She's always been envious of Octavia's sword fighting skills, though, but she's never had time to ask the girl to teach her. Honestly, when it was about taking down Mount Weather it was better to be able to use a gun, since the enemy was going to fight back with those same fire arms. Now, instead, the enemy they're going to face will fight with swords, knives and spears. The Ice Nation warriors are skilled in hand-to-hand combat and, if she wants to have a chance of surviving and winning this battle, she needs to learn how to fight on their same level. So she spends as much time as she can sparring with either Aden or Lexa, when she's not dealing with her many Commander's duties. She'll never tell the girl, but she actually prefers training with the boy, because one she always has a hard time staying focused when her beautiful girlfriend is standing in front of her covered in sweat and flexing all of her strong muscles and two Aden is a much more patient teacher.
It's still barely past dawn, but she and Aden have been sparring for an hour already. Lexa had to attend an early meeting with some clan leaders to discuss a possible increase of food supplies coming from the capital and Clarke didn't feel like staying in bed alone, so she got up as well and went looking for the boy. All the Nightbloods had been so eager to spend time with the Sky girl, they practically jumped out of their beds to get ready for the training session. Clarke imagines these kids must miss their families and that's why they got so attached to Lexa, first, and her, now. What surprised her most, though, is how quickly she's grown fond of each one of them too. They're like the little brothers and sisters she could've never had on the Ark.
"You're getting much better at this." Aden says earning a snort from the girl under him.
"Says the boy who just pinned me to the ground for the fourth time in a row." The boy shrugs before moving away from on top of her holding his hand out to help her up as well.
"I've been doing this for years. It took me much longer than a week to come as far as you have."
"Guess your teacher wasn't as good as mine." She says with a conspiratorial smirk.
"Lexa might disagree." He chuckles.
"Please. She does nothing but praise you all the time." Clarke gives him a gentle shove on the shoulder.
"That's because I'm her favorite." He shrugs as a small smile appears on both of their faces.
"That's because you deserve it. You'd make a great Heda if her spirit chose you."
"Thank you, Wanheda."
"Clarke's fine." She's been trying to get the Nightbloods to let go of the formalities for a whole week, but it seems as though they really cannot do that.
After that, Clarke and Aden go on sparring for another good couple of hours and she even manages to almost send him to the ground one time and, if it counts as an improvement, not once does the boy manage to floor her again.
She and Aden are standing by the side of the training area drinking some water when Clarke feels a small hand tapping on her back. She turns to be met by two big blue eyes looking up at her. She smiles softly at the little girl before crouching down to be at the same eye level as her.
"Sha, Trish?"
"Can you show us those knife tricks you know again? We'd like to learn some of them?" The kid asks sheepishly, making Clarke smile at how adorable she is.
"Of course. You coming?" She asks Aden as Trish grabs her hand and starts dragging her towards the other Nightbloods.
"I don't know... Is it safe? I think I'd prefer to stay out of harm's way." He jokes sticking his tongue out at Clarke, to which the girl answers with an amused shake of her head and an ironic "Very funny."
The kids stare at her in awe as she shows off her best tricks, making each of them try ever so often. She's teaching the youngest Naitblida to throw a knife at a moving subject when she feels some movement at her back. Startled, she turns quickly to throw the knife at whoever is approaching from behind. It's takes her a second to recognize the person as Octavia, but it's still too late to stop the weapon aiming for her friend's face. Thankfully, Lincoln, who's walking right behind his girlfriend, is fast enough to realize what's happening and get her out the way, so that the knife ends up sticking to a wall behind them.
"Damn Clarke, is this a way to greet your friends?!" Octavia jokes.
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" She rushes to her friends to make sure they're alright as the kids burst out laughing.
"There's nothing funny about this! I was a moment away from getting stabbed!" She pouts only managing to make them laugh even harder.
"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that." Clarke says retrieving the knife from where it's stuck in the wall. Once she's secured the weapon back to its place on her thigh she moves to greet her friends properly. "What are you doing here?" She says as she brings them in for a quick hug.
"We thought it'd be better if we brought the message ourselves: the Ice Nation army is only a couple of days away from Arkadia. We've already talked to Lexa and she's now preparing the Coalition army to march back with us. We're leaving at noon, the sooner we get home the better. I hope you're ready to fight, Wanheda." Home? If only her friends knew where home is for her. Anyway, this is not the time for sentimentalism.
"I've been preparing for this battle for the whole week now. I'm ready." She say surely.
And with that the three of them move back to the tower to get ready for the ride to Arkadia. At a quick pace it will take them at least 48 hours to get there, she just hopes it's enough to anticipate the Ice Nation and position the army.
When they reach the doors of the throne room, Clarke motions for her fiends to wait outside as she goes in to quickly speak to the Commander. Lexa is standing in the middle of the room talking to Titus with her back to the entrance. They must be discussing who's going to take charge in her absence, but Octavia and Lincoln can't make it out from where they're standing. They only see Lexa turning to the sound of Clarke's steps approaching them and smiling at the sight of the girl walking up to her. They see Titus nodding his head at the two Commanders before excusing himself and leaving the room. No words are needed to understand that something is going on between the girls: the way their smiles brighten when they lock eyes with one another speaks louder than anything else. Anyway, if that wasn't enough proof, any doubt Lincoln and Octavia might have had on the nature of their relationship soon disappears when Clarke leans in to place a small peck on Lexa's lips before telling something to the other girl and leaving to go get ready. The couple standing by the doors just follows her to her room, exchanging looks all the way there but never addressing the subject.
At noon, when everyone is ready to leave, they gather in front of the tower to listen to Lexa's speech. When the Commander's done she gives orders to the infantry to start marching followed by the riders, that will cover their backs. The Nightbloods are patiently waiting by the tower entrance to say goodbye to their dear Heda. Lexa quickly makes her farewell by giving each of them a small shake of the hand, but when it's Clarke's turn to do the same, all the kids give her a tight hug instead. It seems as though they've finally given up the formalities after all, the Sky girl thinks as she fights to hold back her tears of emotion.
"Ready to go?" Lexa asks her softly as she fights back tears of her own. When Clarke gives her a small nod, she holds out her hand for the girl to take and together they walk to their horses.
They ride in pairs, Lexa and Lincoln in the front, followed by the other riders, and Clarke and Octavia at the back, so that, as the Commander had reasoned, they could use this time to catch up with their friends.
While Lexa and Lincoln have been talking for hours now, happily chatting about the most disparate things, the two girls have kept quite most of the time. It's Octavia to break the silence after a while, when she notices how she and Clarke have gained some distance from the riders in front of them. She still keeps her voice low so that only her companion can hear.
"Sooo... You and Lexa, eh?" She chuckles at the way her friend stares down at her horse to try and hide the huge blush that appears on her face. "How long have you two been a thing?"
"We are not a thing. We're... I don't even know what we are. She's the Commander and in her people's eyes she's not supposed to fall in love." Clarke says with a loud sigh.
"Wait. So no one knows you're together?" She asks surprised. "And here I thought I was the only one you didn't tell."
"Some people know. They've seen us walking around the streets in Polis holding hands, but we've been trying to be subtle about it. It's not like we had time to make an official announcement yet, you know." Octavia can't help but notice the sad tone in Clarke's voice. She knows what it feels like to be in a relationship your people don't agree with. She knows what it's like to be a Sky girl in love with a grounder, so she doesn't judge the other girl for loving the Commander. Not even if Lexa betrayed them, because she trusts Clarke when she says it won't happen again. Though, she is curious to know more about the real Lexa, the girl behind the Commander, so she asks: "What's she like? I mean the real her."
"Perfect. She's kind and caring and..." Her face lights up as she speaks about the girl she loves. "She's nothing like the heartless and ruthless person everyone knows. It's hard to explain, really. She's just... she's just perfect. I wouldn't know how to say it better."
"I'm glad you guys found each other." Octavia says sincerely.
"You're not mad I fell in love with the girl who betrayed us and left us to die?" Clarke says shocked. She thought her friend was going to react like her mother did, she definitely wasn't expecting her to be understanding and even happy about it.
"I know it was your choice to let that missile kill all those people in TonDC and I know it was your choice to form an alliance with Lexa in order to save our people. I can be mad at you for the wrong choices you made, but I cannot be mad for something you have no control of. Love isn't a choice, it just happens."
"I'm afraid the rest of our people won't see it like that."
"Then make them. Let them see who Lexa really is. Show them all the good things about her that had you fall for her."
"Did that work for you and Lincoln?"
"We're still working on it." She says and they both chuckle lightly at that. Maybe Octavia's right. She just has to keep fighting till all of her people will have understood and accepted their love.
Note: Here we go, late again. I know, I'm a horrible person :P To be honest, I had no idea what to right in this chapter and I just went with the first thing that came to my mind. I hope my imagination did a good job once again.
Spoiler alert! I have something for you. It's a song that I think summarizes best what's going to happen in chapter 7, so if you don't want any spoilers, just ignore what's coming next.
How can I say this without breaking
How can I say this without taking over
How can I put it down into words
When it's almost too much for my soul alone
I loved and I loved and I lost you
I loved and I loved and I lost you
I loved and I loved and I lost you
And it hurts like hell
Yeah it hurts like hell
I don't want them to know the secrets
I don't want them to know the way I loved you
I don't think they'd understand it, no
I don't think they would accept me, no
I loved and I loved and I lost you
I loved and I loved and I lost you
I loved and I loved and I lost you
And it hurts like hell
Yeah it hurts like hell
Dreams fight with machines
Inside my head like adversaries
Come wrestle me free
Clean from the war
Your heart fits like a key
Into the lock on the wall
I turn it over, I turn it over
But I can't escape
I turn it over, I turn it over
I loved and I loved and I lost you
I loved and I loved and I lost you
I loved and I loved and I lost you
And it hurts like hell
So, can you guess what's coming?
Thank you all for sticking around!
P.S. If you want to listen to the song it's "Hurts like hell" by Fleurie
