Disclaimer: I do not own The 100 or any of its characters.
Author's note: at the end.
WAR ON ICE
An instinct.
As Lexa returned from some light training ahead of the great battle on the mountain, she stumbled upon Clarke in the middle of the camp clearing. The blonde was organizing medical supplies when her eyes rested on the side of Lexa's face, widening. "You're cut!"
"It's nothing," Lexa sighed, moving past Clarke and over to her tent. She wasn't surprised to hear Clarke following, and she felt herself smirk as the two of them entered through the door together. It was becoming a routine, Clarke moving around camp with her like this. It was starting to feel normal. Clarke was always around. And Lexa enjoyed her company-perhaps more than she should.
Titus had warned her about this all those years ago with Costia. Love is weakness. Fondness for other human beings is a distraction. Affection for people detracts from duty. But when it came to Clarke, Lexa couldn't help it. She couldn't help but feel something. She didn't want to, and she tried not to, but it just kept coming back, like waves on the beach.
"Let me take a look at it," Clarke insisted. Lexa was shrugging out of her pale gray armor and simply sighed lightly, nodding her head. She knew Clarke would do it anyway, as she had plenty of times before. She was persistent and took her role as a healer quite seriously, even if she wasn't a healer in the true sense of the word. Clarke picked up a washcloth and dipped it in water before coming to sit with Lexa on her bed, her hand gently grasping the other girl's chin.
"It's not deep," Clarke determined, nodding approvingly. Her hand was soft as it gripped Lexa's chin. Soft yet firm. "I think you'll survive."
Lexa puffed out a laugh, watching as Clarke dipped her cloth into water again and then began to softly dab at Lexa's chin. She could feel Clarke's warm breath against her face. It smelled sweet. Like flowers. It reminded Lexa of a time during her childhood where she ran around outside a clearing filled with rows and rows of big, purple flowers. She didn't remember where it was or even what it really looked like, but she remembered the smell and the feel of the sun shining down on her skin as she frolicked between the rows.
Lexa felt like that now-safe and warm, free and light. She fought back a content hum as Clarke continued to brush at her face, and she wondered what it'd be like after the mountain, and if Clarke would continue to spend time with her and how often they would see one another.
Maybe it was weakness, was Lexa didn't care.
o - o - o - o - o - o
Chapter 9
"Are you sure that's the best course of action?"
Abby was with the rest of the council discussing their next moves. It was four days since Clarke and Lexa had disappeared. They sent a rescue mission out to find them, but it came up short. They'd searched for any signs of activity miles around the camp and found absolutely none. Marcus's plan was to now invade, which Abby thought to be too hasty.
"We can't trust these people," Marcus explained. Others nodded along. "They snuck into our camp in the middle of the night and captured two people. One of our people, along with the leader of all the other clans!"
How did that even happen, Abby wondered? Lexa was a skilled warrior, to say the least. Abby saw her slaughter a man with her bare hands once while they were traveling all together. It was eerie how easily her hands wound around the man's neck and then snapped it away from the rest of his body. Abby knew which parts to disconnect as a medical professional, but she'd never have the strength or the ability to actually do it. Especially not so quickly and mindlessly as Lexa had done.
However it happened, Lexa was captured. Along with Clarke. But they didn't even know if they were together; again, it could have been Lexa and her people who orchestrated the entire affair.
"Indra insists the clans had nothing to do with it." Marcus's tone was curt. "As does Lincoln. Indra is a vengeful woman, but she isn't a liar. And Lincoln is one of Clarke's friends. He'd help us if he knew his people were involved."
Why were they so easily convinced? Abby didn't understand, and she wasn't satisfied. They continued on with the meeting, discussing which generals to send ahead to the Ice Nation and which ones to leave behind and protect the camp. They didn't have that many men, but they were relying on the grounder warriors to go with the patrol to the Ice Nation. Lexa's people had somehow become united with the Sky People yet again, marching forward for a common cause.
Abby didn't agree. Nothing they did would ever be enough to bring Clarke back, as far as she was concerned. But she knew there was nothing she personally could do, for she wasn't a scout, wasn't a warrior, and wasn't even the official leader of their people. All Abby could do was wait, as she had on the Ark and after landing on Earth and during the siege of the mountain. It was upsetting, how familiar waiting had become. Yet darkly expected.
o - o - o - o - o - o
Clarke and Lexa were staring at the sky and the night stars again, like they used to do before fighting the mountain men. They were tied to a tree this time with men glaring at them, but they were still free to look up above them. As free as they could loosely be.
Clarke had lived up there once, she remembered. What did the Ark look like in the sky to all these people? She couldn't remember what it looked like from here on the ground because she'd always known what it was. If she hadn't known it was a major space station, she might have thought it was a nearby star, or maybe even a UFO. It was nonetheless a sight and a feature that she missed: her home in the sky.
"There's Lynx," said Lexa quietly. Jolted from her thoughts, Clarke turned her head to look at her. "Right there, below ursa major." Their hands were bound, but Lexa pointed up with her eyes to the zig-zagged constellation that resembled a leaping panther.
"You remember that?"
It felt like so long ago, the night before Mount Weather. They'd laid outside looking at the stars, both oddly and severely aware that it could be their last night doing so. Clarke had pointed out Lynx to Lexa, but she couldn't see it at first. So then Clarke had showed her.
"Yes." Lexa looked away from the stars to meet Clarke's gaze. It was piercing, the intensity pouring through. "I remember every moment I've spent with you, Clarke."
A rush ran through Clarke's body. She stared back, opening her mouth to speak, but then one of the Ice Nation men rammed the bottom of his spear into her thigh. And it hurt. "Daun ste plenti. Odin her."
Lexa's eyes flashed, trained on the end of the man's spear, and then Clarke was being led away, unable to look back behind her. She didn't know where she was going, or why she was separated from Lexa, but she knew it probably wasn't good.
o - o - o - o - o - o
Costia was told to wait in her hut for a member of Nia's guard to collected her. And wait in her hut was what Costia did.
It was just her in the hut today. Her roommates were out working. A couple of them were on gathering duty, looking for edible herbs and plants in the forests for the healers and cooks to use. The other was working with the cooks in the kitchens, preparing meals for the soldiers after their busy days of training and hunting and drilling for the war that was seemingly so near.
What could Nia possible want with her, Costia wondered? She'd done as she was told. She washed laundry all day, every day for the past week. She talked to no one and ate her meals quietly by herself, avoiding the gossip her roommates like to promote and avoiding any and all people she encountered outside of her hut.
Costia had done everything she was told and everything expected of her. Why was she being punished?
When she was dragged to the queen's throne room and thrown at the base of it, Costia soon learned why.
"Your lover is almost here, Costia," Nia said sweetly, her teeth curving to a devilish smile. "But not for you. With the Sky Girl, Wanheda. Are you ready to meet the reason why your Lexa never came to search for you?"
Author's Note:
Thanks so much for reading! The plot is thickening up, and I've got some good scenes drafted already for coming chapters. What do y'all think of the story so far?!