Hey guys, here's the next chapter. I think a lot of you are going to be surprised by what happens in this chapter. I debated a lot about if I wanted to go this way or figure something else out, but I decided I would go with it. I like it and I hope you guys do too. I wrote this chapter kind of fast to make sure I would get it up on time, so if anything is confusing, please let me know and I will try and clear it up for you. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy and please let me know what you think!
Lexa was seated in her throne and Titus and Indra were behind her. The seven clan leaders that were on Lexa's side were all seated in their own seats, their ambassadors beside them and their guards posted behind them. Six seats were empty and they made the room feel bigger than normal.
It was surprising to Lexa that six clans were missing. Azgeda, Blue Cliff, and Podakru were not a surprise, but Shadow Valley, Sankru, and Rock Line allying themselves with Azgeda was a shock. They had always seemed pleased with the coalition and very few times did they ever speak negatively of Lexa or the coalition. Even during the summit meetings they didn't say much. Maybe that should have been a clue. They should have argued more against Azgeda and Nia when she spoke ill of the coalition and Lexa's leadership, but they didn't. They sat back and said nothing. Maybe Lexa should have picked up on it, but there is no point in dwelling on it now.
Clarke was in the room as well, but she didn't feel comfortable sitting in any of the seats. She wasn't speaking on Azgeda's behalf, she wasn't speaking on anyone's behalf. She was Wanheda. She was feared and respected and she had important knowledge about Azgeda and their allies, so she was important for the war planning. She stood to the side of Lexa's throne below the dais as the room continued to talk out their war strategies.
"After everything that Wanheda has told us," Luna said. "I feel like it is safe to say that the first move she is going to make is using the missile at Mount Weather."
"I agree. She will likely move back towards her own territory and then she will launch her attack," Lexa said.
"Using our technology, we were able to connect Gina and Sinclair who are both stationed in Mount Weather and we were able to reach our people back in Arkadia. We warned them of the threat and sent some of our guards to the mountain to help guard it," Marcus said.
"Good," Lexa replied. "I have also sent some guards to protect the mountain and I sent word to the villages surrounding the mountain. They know to keep their eyes open and the mountain should be well protected for now."
"What is our plan for the missile in the mountain?" The Broadleaf Chief Braxton asked.
Lexa turned to Skaikru, knowing they would be able to answer better than she could. "We have Raven and Monty working to try and hack into the mountains missile system. We are trying to find a way to take control of the missile and disable it so Emerson can't use it," Marcus explained.
"And if they can't?"
"We are also trying to get into the self destruct system for the mountain. If they do, it will destroy the mountain and the missile in the process," Marcus answered.
"That is still an if," Braxton said.
"Well we are the only ones who know how to use technology," Marcus countered. "The only other person who can use the missile is Emerson. So if we can't destroy the missile on our own, then we need to destroy Emerson."
The room went back and forth on what do about Emerson. Some wanted to storm Azgeda, others wanted to just wait for him to come to them. There were a lot of debates, but no real plan was made. Without knowing Emerson's location there wasn't much they could do.
Then the conversation turned away from the mountain and on to their opponents. If they wanted to plan a war, they needed to know what their enemies wanted. It was clear what Nia wanted was the throne, but why were the other clans working with her? What was going on?
The Delphi Chief, Joanna, opened up talking about Rock Line. "I don't know what happened," she explained. Delphi and Rock Line had been close allies. Recently, their relations had been strained and it was strange. "Our relations started to plummet after the deaths of Maximus and Daniel. They always had the ear of King Brock and the support of the people, and they were supporters of you and the coalition. After their deaths, Brock grew colder, demanded more from my clan in our trade deals, and our relations strained."
Lexa took in the words and nodded. Then turned to the Trishanakru Captain, Simon, "What of Sankru?"
"I really don't know what to tell you Commander. It is only recently that we have been having problems. After the death of Ambassador Julius, I tried to talk to Chief Gallo but he refused to meet with me. He said he was tired of being taken advantage of by my clan, which makes no sense to me. Our deals have always been more than fair, and there were never any signs or complaints from Sankru that they felt they were being taken advantage of," Simon said.
Lexa took in this information too. It seems that the deaths of some of the people close to the leaders of the clans allying with Nia effected their alliances. She needed to see if it was the same for Shallow Valley. She looked to Braxton, "What of Shallow Valley?"
At this point, Clarke was lost in her own mind. She recognized the names of Maximus, Daniel, and Julius and she was starting connect the dots in her head. A sinking feeling of dread was felt in her stomach and she struggled not to pace the floor as she waited for Braxton's answer.
"When General Seth was killed, Shallow Valley lost their wisest and calmest general. King Zayn is young. He only took power a little while ago. Seth was always the one to keep him calm and help make rational decisions. After Seth's death, he grew more power hungry. We kept our trade arrangements in place, but he was starting to get greedy. We were still in talks about our latest deal and still have not come to an agreement," Braxton answered.
That was not the answer Clarke was hoping for and a sick realization started to take root in her mind. She recognized the names that all the clan leaders were talking about. She was starting to panic, this was all her fault, but she was snapped out of her thoughts when Lexa spoke. "Thank you all for today. I will take all of this information and discuss further with some of my generals. You should do the same. We reconvene tomorrow."
/
Nia paced back and forth inside her tent. She was seething, frustrated beyond anything. She was inside her tent that had been set up on her retreat from Polis to Azgeda. Her plan did not go as planned and she was not happy.
She had made a sound plan. Clarke had forced Lexa's hand allowing her the opportunity to lay down a challenge. They had grown close enough that she knew Lexa would be too weak to kill Clarke. She had provided incentive for Clarke to kill Lexa and she expected it to work.
The whole reason she was able to control Clarke in the first place was because the blonde wanted to protect her people. She followed Nia's every order to keep them safe and out of harm's way. She figured that the promise of Emerson's death and the elimination of the missile would be enough for Clarke to kill the Commander.
Once the Commander was dead she would take control. Thanks to the bonding between her son and Clarke, Nia was allowed to bring in more Azgeda warriors without looking like a threat in Polis. Once Clarke killed the Commander she was going to use her army along with the armies of her allied clans to lay claim on Polis.
She would take out anyone important that would oppose her and in the chaos and confusion, she would take control. By the time everything would have calmed down, it would have been to late. All threats to her would have been dead, Polis would have been under her control, and all the clans would be forced to follow and accept her rule.
She had of course been aware that she may need to be prepared for Clarke to fail. She didn't expect it, but it was possible. If Clarke had died, her men would still attack the Commander. In her grief, after the death of her second love, the kill would be easy.
If the Commander came up with her own plan. If she tried to give a speech to her people or attempt an assassination, as she did, she would be ready. Her people would attack anyway. They would kill the Commander themselves and again in the confusion she would take control. Her plan was sound. She was prepared for multiple scenarios. It should have worked.
She hadn't expected Lexa and Clarke to fight so well together, she hadn't expected the Commander's guards and allies to react as quickly as they had, and she hadn't expected the citizens of Polis to react at all. She had the advantage at the beginning, but she soon realized that she had underestimated the Commander and her people, and that infuriated her.
She had been forced to call a retreat and now here she was, in a makeshift camp hidden in Trikru territory. She had the clan leaders who supported her with her. This is not how she wanted things to go.
She wanted everything to be simple. She should be the Commander already. Lexa should be dead. Now she had to lead six clans in a war against Heda and now Wanheda. It was a huge inconvenience and she was not pleased.
Nia was interrupted from her brooding when her guard announced the other five clan leaders outside. She took her place in front of her war table and called for their entrance.
The five leaders entered and each took their place around the table. "You all failed me today," she growled.
"All due respect Queen Nia, you had the largest army within the gates of Polis and you were the one who was supposed to be in control of Wanheda," King Zayn of the Shallow Valley said.
Nia's eyes narrowed as she glared at the boy. He was young, foolish, and that's why she went for him. He was easy to manipulate and his alliance with her was important. The Shallow Valley had a decent sized army with skilled warriors and their spies were some of the best the coalition had to offer. She needed to keep his alliance, but she didn't have to like him. "You do not want to get on my bad side boy," she sneered.
"I am a King. You will not speak to me in such a way," he fought back. He was naive and arrogant and Nia needed to put him in his place.
"I will do whatever I please," Nia sneered and before Zayn could react, Nia pulled out her dagger and threw it towards his hand that was resting on the table. The blade cut through his hand, pinning it to the table. Zayn cried out in pain as Nia slowly approached and then ripped the dagger from the injured hand.
Zayn recoiled, pulling his hand into his body and whimpered in pain. Nia got into his face and glared at him. "I am in charge here. You will learn your place or you will not like the consequences." Zayn tore his eyes from her cold, dead ones and he nodded his head quickly.
Nia nodded, satisfied that he knew his place, and she returned to her original place around the war table. "Now onto our plan. I don't care if you return to your clans or send a messenger in your place, but I want each of your armies mobilized. I want them ready to move at a moments notice. I will give you each further, separate instructions later. Now go."
The remaining leaders all nodded and left the tent to follow their orders, not wanting to anger Nia and feel her rage as Zayn had.
When her tent had been cleared out, Nia stepped out herself in search of her fastest rider. She had a threat to make good on.
She found him standing by a fire with a small group of warriors. He bowed when she approached, ready to follow whatever order she gave, "My Queen."
"Ride to Emerson. Send him and a small contingent of warriors to Maun-de." Nia ordered with a sick smile. This was what she had promised Clarke would happen with her betrayal, and she would make good on that.
She watched as he bowed and then ran off to follow her orders. She turned to the rest of the warriors that were by the fire pit, "Someone find my son. Send him to me."
/
Lexa was in her throne room. She was speaking to Luna, Indra, and Titus. She had yet to decide his punishment, but she would find time for it soon. His disregard for her orders had allowed Rosco to help Emerson escape, in turn leading to this entire situation. To say she was displeased with him would be a major understatement.
Clarke was in the throne room as well but she out on the balcony by herself. Lexa had noticed the faroff look in her eyes, but she hadn't had the opportunity to speak with the blonde yet.
The opportunity still never arose as Octavia and Raven entered her throne room. "What's up Commander?" Raven said as she entered the room, not caring that Lexa was in the middle of a conversation.
Titus glared at her, Indra rolled her eyes, Luna smirked, and Lexa just looked unimpressed. "Luna you may go check on your people, Indra please check on our people as well and please make sure that the Trikru army is ready to move on my Command. Titus, just leave."
Luna and Indra bowed and left without question. Titus looked ready to argue, but the death glare that was throne his way sent him off.
When they were gone Lexa turned to the two Skaikru, "Did Skaikru not teach respect back in space?"
Raven shrugged, "Not really."
Octavia had to choke back a laugh and Lexa rolled her eyes. "How is it going with the mountain," she questioned, getting to the reason she asked Octavia to find Raven for her.
"Slow. Monty and I are in contact with our guys in the mountain and we're trying our best, but we're not very close to disabling the missile," she answered.
"What do you need to make things work faster?"
"Honestly, I need to be in Mount Weather. There just isn't enough technology here that will be able to help me. If you want me to be able to do this, I need to get into the mountain," she replied.
"Then you will. Prepare to leave. I will speak with the clan leaders again and we will decide who will escort you and what we need to do," Lexa said.
Raven gave a mock salute, "Aye, aye Commander."
"I'm coming with you," Clarke's voice came from the entrance of the balcony. She stepped into the room and down the dais to stand with the others. "I need to be there in case Emerson shows up."
"You're injuries are not healed yet," Lexa brought up.
"I don't care. I need to get out of here. I need to protect my people. I need to make up for what I've done," Clarke whispered.
"You didn't do this," Octavia stated.
Clarke shook her head and looked down to the ground. "But I did. This war, it's all my fault."
"No it's not Clarke," Lexa argued. "It's no one but Nia's."
"No you don't understand," Clarke croaked. She closed her eyes, defeated. That wasn't true. This was all her fault. Images of Julius, Daniel, Maximus, and Seth all popped into her head. All of them dead by her hand. She could picture each scene perfectly, like she was standing above their bodies, dressed in all black, bloody knife in hand. "Daniel kom Boudalan, Maximus kom Boudalan, Julius kom Sankru, Seth kom Louwoda Kilron. The reasons that Rock Line, Sankru, and Shallow Valley follow Queen Nia. I killed them."
"What are you talking about Clarke?" Raven questioned.
"They were all killed by The Shadow," Lexa said, a deep fear building in her gut.
Clarke closed her eyes and her shoulders deflated before she looked up and stared into green. She had to tell them, she had to. They needed to know the truth, know that this war was all her fault. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and she felt nauseous.
She had dreamed of telling her friends and telling Lexa that she was The Shadow and they never ended well. They always called her monster, they looked at her in disgust, with hate in their eyes. Sometimes they called for her death, and they carried out without remorse. She probably deserved it too, but that didn't matter now. They had to know. They deserved the truth and it was foolish for her to keep it secret now. Her abilities would be useful in this war and it would be naive of her to think that Nia would keep her identity a secret. Nia may not tell anyone the truth right away, but once she had the opportunity to tell people who she was and get an explosive response, she would take it. She couldn't risk them finding out her identity from someone else. She had to tell them the truth, even if it meant she would lose the people she loved.
Clarke took a deep breath and steeled herself for the looks of disgust she knew were about to be thrown her way. "I am The Shadow."
"WHAT?" Raven and Octavia both yelled. Lexa was frozen. She only stared into Clarke's eyes, looking for some sign that Clarke was lying, but she saw none. It would explain a lot. Clarke's skill and fighting style, the sad look that never quite left her eyes, the way that she seemed unfazed by death, even the timeline of Clarke's disappearance and time spent training, and then the appearance of The Shadow lined up. Clarke was telling the truth.
"I'm sorry," Clarke rasped, holding back her tears.
"You told us you were trained to be a warrior. That all your time in Azgeda was spent training you for Nia's army. How much of your story was the truth?" Octavia questioned.
"I told you most of the truth," Clarke replied. "I was captured in the woods, I was sent to the Crater, I was tortured for months, and Dak did train me. Only he trained me to be an assassin instead of a warrior," Clarke explained. "You may know him better as Dream Eater."
"You were trained by Dream Eater?" Octavia questioned. She was still struggling to comprehend all that was being told. She had heard stories of the greatest Azgeda assassin, but he had disappeared months ago.
"Who the hell is Dream Eater?" Raven asked.
"He was the best assassin in the coalition. Until he died and The Shadow took his place," Clarke replied.
"I don't understand," Raven said, her head spinning. "Clarke, how could you be an assassin?"
"Queen Nia had Emerson, she threatened Skaikru. She broke me, and I let her, to keep my people safe. To keep you guys safe," she whispered shakily.
Clarke expected hate. She expected her friends to call her weak for falling to Nia, to call her a monster. Instead the two girls wrapped her up in a tight hug, tears leaking from their eyes, "You saved us again," Raven whispered into her neck.
The three disentangled themselves from each other. "You gave up your soul for us. You are the strongest person that I have ever known," Octavia said sincerely.
"I'm not strong," Clarke whispered.
"You are. You sacrificed yourself for us again. You gave yourself up to her, but you never let her beat you. I heard stories of The Shadow. Almost all of your kills were quick and painless, unlike most assassins. You let them go in peace. You showed up in Polis and you were still standing, still going strong, still protecting our people. You never gave up who you are, what you believe. That, is strong," Octavia argued.
Clarke swallowed thickly and a few tears finally fell. She hugged her friends again in thanks before wiping her eyes and facing Lexa. The brunette hadn't said a word so far and Clarke had yet to look in her eyes since she revealed herself. She couldn't. "I'm sorry Lexa, I… I'm so sorry," she choked out.
Lexa didn't say anything still and Clarke calmed herself before continuing. "I want to help end this war, end Nia's reign. I owe it to everyone to do that, and I think The Shadow will provide a great assistance. When it's over, I'll turn myself in."
"No," Lexa replied immediately, speaking for the first time.
"No?" Clarke questioned.
"No, you will not turn yourself in," Lexa said with determination. "No one will know who you are."
"Lexa, I don't think that's a good idea," Clarke replied.
"No Clarke," Lexa cried. "No one will know."
"Lexa, Nia already knows. She'll use it against me, against you. I can't let her do that."
"And I can't lose you," Lexa yelled. "Nia has taken enough from me already. She will not take the woman I love, not again."
Clarke looked up and blue met green for the first time since Clarke's reveal, "You still love me?"
Lexa shook her head, "Of course I still love you. Nothing could ever, ever, make me stop." With that she surged forward and their lips collided in a heated kiss. One that promised Clarke that she was sincere and one that allowed Clarke to feel relief for the first time that day.
They broke apart and stared into each others eyes. Raven and Octavia were standing off to the side, smiling at the exchange. They had never seen Clarke and Lexa together and they were not disappointed with what they saw.
"Okay, we won't tell anyone," Clarke conceded. "What do we do?"
"We work carefully. I need to know who knows about you. I need to know everything you can tell me about Nia, and we need to be careful. Nia could try to reveal you at any point and we need to make sure she doesn't. We work carefully, we work together, and we win this war. I will not lose you, Clarke," Lexa said with determination.
"We're not done," Clarke whispered and she brought her lips to Lexa's again. "I love you," she whispered in between breaths.
"I think we should go," Raven whispered to Octavia from where they were standing. Octavia nodded and the two started their retreat from the throne room.
Clarke must have heard them because she pulled away from Lexa and she spoke, "Thank you guys," she said. The two smiled and nodded before leaving the room.
Clarke turned back to look at Lexa and she was filled with relief. The green eyes that were looking back at he showed no signs of disgust or hate or any other negative emotion. They showed love and Clarke had never felt more relieved or loved in her entire life. "Thank you too. For not looking at me any differently than you did before."
"You're still the same person," Lexa answered. "You're unbelievably strong, infuriatingly stubborn, and the most amazing woman I have ever met. I love you. No matter what happens in the future, no matter what happened in your past. My love for you will never waver, will never change, and will never fail. I will love you in this life and the next." And then their lips collided again in the most passionate kiss they had yet to share.
Yes, there was still a lot they needed to talk about, a lot that they needed to do, but they were together. They were still standing, still fighting, still in love, and for now, that was enough.