Disclaimer: I do not own The 100 or any of its characters.

Author's note: at the end.

WAR ON ICE

A refrain.

It was a couple weeks into their allyship when Clarke burst into Lexa's quarters with a small device in her hand. Lexa hadn't looked up fully (only glancing to see that it was just Clarke), but it was no matter. Clarke practically skipped over to her, thrusting the device close to her.

"Look at this, Lexa!" Clarke was beaming, hardly able to contain herself. That was one of the things Lexa was most fond of-the blonde's excitement and passion for things Lexa had long grown used to. She had an inquisitive nature about life and Earth that could lighten even Lexa's most frustrating mood. This time, however, Clarke was holding something with which Lexa was not familiar.

It was a piece of technology from Before.

"What is it?" Lexa took it from Clarke carefully. She examined the edges of a small black box with a scratched-up screen. It was both well-worn yet preserved. When her finger moved across the middle button, the device lit up. Lexa jerked her head back instinctively, as if being attacked by an enemy.

"Relax, Lexa." Clarke laughed lightly, moving to take the device back. Their fingers touched in the process. "It's not going to hurt you. It plays music."

Music was a special thing in the grounder culture. They had retained some musical knowledge and skills and used them mostly at ceremonies or momentous occasions. The last time Lexa heard music was at a peace signing at one of the ocean villages several months ago. The village displayed their best singer, trained by a traveling group of musicians who had stopped by at some point on their wanderings. Her voice was sweet and smooth as she sang to the beats of the simple drums. Their music was practical, distinguished; elegant, refined.

The music that started playing from the box, however, was something...different.

Words flashed across the screen: Lady Gaga - Heavy Metal Lover. Lexa followed the steady beat of drums, but also heard electronic sounds. Like a buzzing, really-a controlled buzzing that clearly was aligned with the drums and the overall feel of the music. It had a tempo that made Lexa's foot want to tap along. It was fast and upbeat. It was harsh. It was cold. Glancing over at Clarke, Lexa saw that she already was swaying along with rhythm. Her shoulders moved easily, as did her hips. Lexa blushed as Clarke looked over at her, too.

They continued to listen to the song, Lexa balking at some of the crude lyrics while Clarke simply raised her eyebrows and chuckled. Clarke repeated the song once, and then twice, and then more times.

Toward the end, one refrain in particular stood out to Lexa: "I could be your girl, girl, girl, girl, girl girl but will you love me if I rule the world, world, world."

Lexa closed her eyes that night with the words still in her head. "I could be your girl, girl, girl, girl, girl, girl." She saw blonde hair and blue eyes as she started drifting off to sleep. "But will you love me if I rule the world, world, world?"

o - o - o - o - o - o

Chapter 12

When the guard came in to see them, alone with a simple sword and the key to their chains, Lexa made her move.

She was tired of waiting. She was tired of being completely bound from head to toe. She was tired of straining her brain every waking moment to find a way to escape and to keep Clarke safe from Nia's hands. She was simply very, very tired.

But she wasn't bound tight anymore. They'd lightened her restraints, possibly because she'd been so docile up to that moment. When the guard came over to them, bending down to adjust Clarke's shackles, Lexa shot her foot out and kicked him. Hard. He fell to the ground, yelping in pain, and then Lexa took her other foot and put her feet around his waist, dragging him to her. He went for his sword but Lexa intercepted, knocking it out of his hands. It landed near Clarke. As Lexa wrestled with the man and threw her body weight against his, she felt him still.

"Don't move." Clarke had managed to jimmy the sword into her hands so that she could point it at the man's throat. Lexa smiled, adding the trig translation of "kamp der roun" and watching the man's brows furrow.

"You don't want to do that," the man panted in trig, clearly annoyed but also afraid, Lexa could tell. "You know that there are others here. And you don't know where you are, or how many others beyond this group exist out here."

He had a point. Lexa had no idea. They'd successfully drugged and man-handled the two of them hundreds of miles across the ground to the point where Lexa had lost most of her bearings. But if it were true that there were masses of other people who could come to Azgeda's aid, this man wouldn't be sweating. Lexa saw it at the very top of his forehead, beading slowly while his face faked calm. She smiled again, for like she had said days ago, these men were very dull.

"Ai op," Lexa commanded, and the man turned to look at her, perhaps by instinct. It was pathetic, really. She didn't say anything, but her eyes spoke volumes. This man knew he was going to die. Clarke caught on, too, and moved the sword even closer.

"Beja yu daun," the man whimpered. He crouched at Clarke's feet, shaking. "Hop op."

That was easy enough for Clarke to understand. Lexa gazed at her, watching her face. "Klark," she said softly. She seldom ever said Clarke's name in her native tongue, but it felt right in this moment. Clarke looked up at her, waiting, and Lexa merely nodded to her. "Sad yu in. You decide."

The mountain truly changed Clarke. Whereas the Clarke beforehand-during pauna, during meetings, during the siege, during their conversations by the stara-had hesitated, this Clarke nodded, shoved forward, and executed the man in front of them without thinking twice.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Abby and the kids-the delinquents, as they'd once been called on the Ark-moved deeper and deeper into the woods. None of them really knew where they were headed, but it was easy to tell which way was north. The chill of winter started to seep through their clothes to the soles of their shoes. It wouldn't be long until it came in full swing, even further south.

Bellamy and Raven had co-devised a plan of action: capture an Iced Nation guard or warrior to gather more information. There had to be some prowling around out here. They'd be able to tell them where the camp was, where Clarke was, and why the Queen wanted her. It was better than no plan at all, but as they progressed further and further north, they also realized they may soon come across more than they can handle. But they'd worry about that when they got there.

It was the third day that they actually found someone. While they were sleeping around their small campfire, Monty had heard a noise from the nearby woods. He was on watch while everyone slept for the night. There was a scuffle and some muted grunts before Abby was rustled awake by Harper and Raven as a man dressed in heavy winter furs was pushed into the center of the clearing, Monty's gun at his head.

"The Ice Nation," Bellamy said slowly in trig. His grasp of the language was better than Abby's, though she could still understand. "What can you tell us about Clarke and the Commander?"

This would be a long interrogation, Abby realized. She sighed. The man simply spit down at the ground in front of them. She knew the Iced Nation people well enough to know they wouldn't break easily, but they had to try. For Clarke. "Do you still have that bottle of poison, Raven?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"It might have been smart to let him live." Lexa and Clarke were on their own now, sauntering through the woods. The first task was to figure out where they were. The second to figure out how to survive and avoid further capture by the Ice Nation. And the third to spy as much as they could before turning to the safety of Trikru territory. Lexa couldn't help but realize that the man Clarke had just killed could have helped them with the second one. But she also couldn't help but recognize how free she felt to be free, and how relieved that she and Clarke were safe.

The choice was Clarke's, of course. Lexa didn't want to control what she did or micro-manage her decisions. She'd learned that the hard way during the events of the mountain. But this was different; this was high stakes. If only Clarke had been able to see that, and to think strategically about the situation. Things would be so much easier. Clarke didn't know the extent of the danger she was in with her title of Wanheda. And for whatever reason, Lexa didn't want to share that with her just yet.

"I'm not going to sit through another lecture, Lexa." Clarke's voice was sharp as they cut through the thicket. Lexa felt her irritation swirl around them. "What's done is done. We're headed north, right?"

They found their way to a cave eventually, which seemed abandoned and secluded enough. Lexa still didn't recognize where they were and that only meant one thing: they were deep in Ice Nation territory. The air was colder here, and Lexa felt herself shiver in her thin top. Winter was close-closer all the way up here. She'd traveled far and wide but never through Azgeda, as Nia never allowed it. But she knew the deep sink of cold when she felt it.

"Here, let me." Clarke took the rocks from Lexa and clicked them together to get the fire going. She was remarkably impatient. The cave was ventilated enough so that it wouldn't show too much smoke. Lexa sat down on the floor and put her hands to the flames, watching them flicker.

They didn't speak for a long while. They both stared into the fire, as they'd done several times before on their travels through Trikru territory and at TonDC. But it was different. Everything felt different now.

"What now?" Clarke's voice was calm, focused. She was gazing intently at the fire, as if hoping it'd show her an answer. Lexa briefly wondered if Clarke's people had legends of fire keepers like they did on the ground, of ancient flame keepers of sorts who could read messages from fire sent from the gods above. From the stars, where Clarke and her people lived for a hundred years...

"First, we eat." Lexa felt her joints ache in protest as she stretched out her legs, still bare of boots and socks from when the Ice Nation had taken them. They didn't have time to look around or gather any supplies, as they'd heard the other guards in the near distance. "May I borrow your shoes, and your coat?" For whatever reason, they hadn't taken Clarke's clothes.

"Sure," said Clarke, staring at Lexa quizzically, "but we don't have any weapons. How are you going to hunt without a knife or any arrows?"

Lexa flashed her a smile just then, the first since they'd left the cave. "You're never seen me hunt, Clarke. Weapons are not necessary."

Clarke blinked at her with an expression mixed between admiration and surprise.

Lexa returned an hour later, a rather thin rabbit in tow (it was cold in these lands) along with a handful of berries she'd found hidden under a bush. Clarke had found water and kept it near the fire with leaf bowls, a stick for the rabbit already in place.

"Okay, so you got the rabbit, but how are you going to-" Clarke didn't finish her sentence as Lexa stared at her, turned to the rabbit, and began ripping at the fur with her teeth. Clarke shuddered at the act, turning away and stoking the flames instead. She must not have had it this rough during her time on the ground, Lexa thought, to never have resorted to hunting in this way.

There was a lot of things Clarke didn't know or understand. Warfare, for one. Hunting, for another. Diplomacy in the way grounder traditions demanded. These woods, or most of the woods in Trikru territory. The Ice Nation and what they were capable of. How to survive without a gun. How to let things go.

They ate their small meal in silence, neither girl looking at the other. The howling of the wind and their constant fear of getting caught filled the emptiness of the space. Clarke had tended Lexa's wounds as best she could with no supplies, and then they were trying to sleep, their bodies curled around the fire across from one another.

Lexa remembered a time where she and Clarke shared a bed as allies, as friends-as something possibly more that they hadn't really discussed and that hung in the air. Even though they were not sharing furs this time, Lexa felt that similar tension fill the room.

Would it ever get easier, being around Clarke? Lexa had told herself time and time again that she had to stop and that she couldn't get so emotionally involved. But as she listened to Clarke's breaths slow and begin to deepen, another part of her feared that it was already too late; she was already lost.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Costia.

Lexa saw her-standing there, on the outskirts of the village with a small group of people. It looked like they were cleaning clothes, or rather, rags that constituted as clothes. They were huddled around a small campfire. They exchanged words every now and then, but they mostly just focused on their work.

Lexa blinked very slowly, watching. Simply watching. It couldn't be Costia. Lexa had held her head in her arms two years ago, when it was sent to her bed. She'd seen her lifeless eyes and the curve of her jaw deformed by beatings. She saw the hint of the tattoo at her neck, and felt the bones on her slender cheek.

But…could it not have been her? Lexa continued to watch this girl as she dunk her scraps in cold, ice-forming water and scrubbed them roughly with a sponge. She was focused, bent down and working diligently like Costa had done for basically anything she ever did. She moved gracefully yet purposely. Her arm movements were gentle. Her nose twitched up every so often. Her hair fell back from behind her ears as she bent forward.

Lexa felt her bosh still and rush with a certain intensity she couldn't describe. Might it have been a trick all along? Could Costia, Lexa's sweet Costia, be standing right there in front of her?

Lexa crept closer and waited until the girl was alone.

"Costia." It came out as a whisper, but also a question. The girl looked up just then, and her eyes-the most beautiful and familiar green eyes-met hers. And then Lexa saw a deep scar from her nose to her ear, and the bones peaking out from her thin, malnourished body. And then she knew. With all of her being, Lexa knew.

It was her. It was Costia. Lexa had seen those eyes and that face so many nights in her dreams. She'd known them since they were young and from the close proximity of their traveling tents and eventually the grandeur of the Commander's bedchambers in Polis.

Costia. Her Costia. Right there.

"Costia," Lexa rasped again, louder this time. More urgent. She was aware that the Azgeda scouts were patrolling nearby and it was only a matter of moments before she had to leave and head back to their hideout. She gazed at Costia intently before reaching out her hand through the trees, toward her. For her.

But, Costia hesitated. She looked at Lexa, her eyes wide and swimming with something Lexa couldn't place, and then she looked at the nearest tent and around at the trees.

And then it was too late.

The scouts were back. Five of them. Maybe six. Lexa calculated her actions just then. She could take them, she was sure. What were a small group of men compared to her battle skills? But it would be noisy. Others would come. The Queen would know she were there and not back to Polis or some other village after the escape. All of her sneaking would be for naught.

In that moment, Lexa slipped away, staring at Costia as she left. Costia was staring back, green eyes on green, and then all Lexa saw was the wilderness around her.

Author's note:

Thanks for reading, and AHH FINALLY COSTIA! I was so excited to write that initial encounter scene, just thinking about what Lexa would feel and what would happen when it all goes by so quick. I have more written and plotted out, and I hope to update soon!