A/N: Hey guys, loads of lovely reviews last chapter so thank you all so much for that. I am actually really nervous posting this chapter and I hope it goes down well with you guys so please let me know what you think! :D xx

"So..." Clarke called out as she walked into their bedroom, "Do you want to go down to the lake this evening?"

"Clarke!" Lexa smiled happily when she saw her girlfriend walk through the door, "Let me formally introduce you to my good friend, Luna kom Floukru, or of the Boat People in gonasleng. You might recognize her from the tournament."

"Of course." Clarke smiled in greeting, stepping forwards to grasp Luna's offered arm firmly, "My jaw dropped when I heard the two of you taunting each other, Lexa's usually so serious."

Luna's laugh was bright, "The Commander likes to make out that it is her responsibilities that have caused her to act as she does, but in reality she has always been that serious, even as a child. Of course there are exceptions, and I am glad you are forcing her to be more like my best friend again."

Clarke grinned, looking at Lexa with shining eyes, as her girlfriend just sighed and walked over to take a seat on the couch. "I have one friend, and she joins with you to tease."

Clarke laughed before looking back at Luna, "Wait, you knew Lexa as a kid?"

Lexa and Luna exchanged a look that Clarke was unable to work out, before Luna turned back to Clarke and nodded, "We trained together up until our teens from when we were small."

"But night bloods only train with other night bloods don't they?" Clarke asked in confusion, the image slowly coming together in her mind, "So you're...?"

Nodding, Luna pulled up her sleeve, before running a knife down her forearm lightly, just enough to reveal the black blood running through her veins. "I left a long time ago, Titus wanted my head, but Lexa protected me and kept me survival secret. She led the city to believe that I had died, and when I returned years later as Floukru's leader, no one thought twice."

8 Years Earlier

"Lexa this is insane, what if Titus finds out?" Costia called after the headstrong teenager, who was racing through the trees ahead of her.

Lexa span around to grin at her, placing her hands on Costia's shoulders to pull her in for a kiss.

"No!" Costia said firmly, jerking backward before their lips could touch, "I won't let you distract me that easily, we are too close to the next conclave to alienate Titus. If he finds out I went along as well, then he will have more reason to hate me than he already does."

"Titus just doesn't like you because "Love is weakness."" Lexa shot back, deepening her voice in an impression of her teacher, "It's ridiculous, I am the best in my class so why shouldn't I have a girlfriend? He just hates the thought of anyone being happy."

"Best in your class are you?" A voice came from above, before the leaves rustled and another girl dropped from a high branch to land lightly beside them. "You are getting cocky Lexa, we both know I am the superior warrior."

Costia chuckled as she watch Luna and Lexa square up to each other jokingly. They kept walking further from Polis, jostling at each others shoulders playfully, before breaking into a run as they raced to the clearing that the three best friends spent most of their free time in.

When they stopped, after a brief argument over who had been the winner, Lexa wrapped up the other night blood in a hug, "I don't want you to leave."

"Me neither." Costia whispered, as she joined in, wrapping her arms around Luna's back so her hands rested against Lexa's shoulders.

"I have to." She whispered softly, "Heda is close to death, I cannot face you in the Conclave Lexa, it would destroy me."

Lexa's eyes glistened as she fought to hold back tears, "We were raised together, how can they expect me to kill you?"

Costia rubbed her girlfriends back comfortingly as they all pulled away from the hug, joining hands as they stood in a circle facing each other.

"I could go instead, without me you would win and then-" Lexa started, but was cut off by Luna shaking her head sadly.

"You are the next Heda Lexa, I can fight well enough but I can't kill, it's not in me to be the person they want. But you? You will be the leader our people deserve, and I am so proud to call you my friend, my sister."

Lexa's self control broke then, as tears rolled down her cheeks, "It's not fair, when I'm Heda things will be different I promise." She vowed, with a determined edge in her eyes, "One day I will bring you home."

Luna chuckled, "I believe you will, but for now, just make sure Titus doesn't have me hunted down and I will love you till the end of my days." Lexa grinned as she nodded, then Luna turned to Costia, who was watching them say goodbye with her own tears painting her face, "Look after her for me Cos? God knows we're the only two who can make her smile, just make sure she keeps ignoring Titus' insane expectations."

Costia laughed as she stepped forwards and wrapped her arms round Luna once more, "I swear it Luna, I'll keep her smiling, you just focus on keeping yourself safe. And then one day we'll all be together again, here, in our clearing."

"I'll count the days." Luna promised, as she held her hand up to her mouth to whistle, a horse trotting out of the tree line on the command, "I need to go now, I have a lot of ground to cover before morning."

Once she was mounted up, Costia and Lexa both placed a hand on her leg, "You're coming back." Lexa said, echoed by Costia, before they lifted their hands and Luna dug her heels into the horses side.

As they watched her leave, Costia wrapped her arms round Lexa's waist as they sunk to the floor, "It's ok, it's going to be ok." She whispered, as Lexa gave up on any pretense that she wasn't being torn apart by Luna leaving them.

"Please never leave me, I can't lose you both." Lexa said quietly, as she leaned back against Costia's chest, once her tears had dried up and the night was wearing thin, "I need you."

Costia stroked Lexa's hair back from her face as they both stared in the direction Luna had disappeared, "I promise you, I'm not going anywhere Lex."

Clarke's eyes widened as Luna finished telling her the story, "I have never hated the whole idea of the conclave more than I do right now."

Both of them looked over to Lexa, who was visibly attempting to hide her upset at the reminder of a time when she had been happy before the Ice Nation took Costia from her.

Clarke sat next to her quickly, wrapping an arm around Lexa's shoulder, as Luna sat on the other side offering silent support. "You don't have to hold back here with us Lexa, you loved her so it's ok to be upset that she is gone."

"Clarke I-" Lexa started, before pausing, "Clarke I don't know how I am supposed to feel, Costia is dead, she is gone. I love you but I can't help but love her still, I don't want you to feel as thought that has any affect on how I feel for you."

Shaking her head, Clarke smiled at Lexa, "That is just so much like you Lexa, worrying about how other people will feel even when there is no cause too. I know you love me, but there is nothing wrong with still loving her, I am fully aware that your heart is more than big enough to love the both of us."

Lexa smiled, relaxing back into Clarke's arms as Luna grinned and patted her leg, "I can see what you see in her now Lexa, are all Skaikru so wise?"

Clarke laughed and shook her head, "The war they nearly restarted would suggest otherwise."

Nodding her head, Lexa smiled at Luna, "It's true, most Skaikru have little or no brain at all, a sparse number are intelligent and kind but the rest are just lost causes."

"Well that's incredibly rude." Clarke muttered, a smiled twisting up the corners of her lips even as she said it.

"How long are you in the city?" Lexa asked Luna after a moment.

Luna shrugged her shoulder casually, "You called me here, so it's your decision, I made sure that my clan will run smoothly for at least a two weeks before I am required to return."

"Good." Lexa nodded, "Because I am going to keep the promise I made that night, the conclave is changing, and you're going to help me do it."

Lexa and Luna stood side by side, in the exact same spot they had said goodbye eight years previously.

"Of course you buried her here." Luna murmured.

Lexa smiled softly as she looked down at the simple carved headstone at their feet, "This is where she was most happy, it's what she would have wanted."

"I'm sorry I didn't come back when Nia killed her, I wanted to, I really did." Luna said earnestly.

Eyes fixed on Costia's name carved into the stone, Lexa dipped her chin slightly, "I know. People would have put two and two together and realized you were the missing night blood, it wasn't safe."

"She was right," Luna smiled, "We have all come back to our clearing. Not the way we envisioned but we're here now."

Letting out a small humorless laugh, Lexa knelt down to sit in front of the grave, joined mere moments later by Luna.

"Sometimes I feel like I am betraying her."

On Luna's curious look Lexa continued, "Sometimes when I am with Clarke I forget to be sad, just for a moment, but when I remember again it feels like a betrayal because I am happy and she's not here."

Luna shook her head and firmly grasped Lexa's hand, "The one thing in this world that Costia wanted was to make you happy, you were everything to her and she would be so proud of everything you have done in the last seven years. And if Costia ever met Clarke? She would thank her to loving you in the way you deserve to be loved."

Lexa smiled, turning her head to look at her oldest and dearest friend, "You always knew what to say."

"I always tell you the truth Lex, and this is it. It's been seven years, it's time for you to let yourself be happy."

Placing her hand on the patch of earth in front of the stone, Luna uttered the words she had not been there to say seven years before, "Yu gonplei ste odon Costia kom Trikru."

"May we meet again." Lexa added, placing her hand on top of Luna's.

When Lexa walked back into their room, she found Clarke waiting up for her, reading one of the books that Lexa had left lying on their table.

"You didn't have to stay awake." She smiled as she walked in.

Clarke smiled back, noticing how it seemed like a weight had finally been lifted from Lexa's shoulders, one she had been carrying for as long as she could remember. "I wanted to be here when you got back in case you wanted to talk about it."

Lexa grinned, taking hold of Clarke's hand and pulling her into the bed before resting her head on top of Clarke's chest. "I'm tired and what I really want to do right now is fall asleep in the arms of my wonderful girlfriend. However, if it's ok with you, in the next few days could I tell you about Costia?"

Wrapping her arm tighter around Lexa's back, Clarke nodded, tired eyes already starting to close, "I would love that."