Author's Note: Finally, another chapter! This one's a longer one, and it could have gone on and on. Sorry for the delay in getting it finished and posted, but I needed a bit of a break from writing for a short time. It happens.
Cover Art for the story is from the LexaRecovery tumblr. Stay strong together.
I do not own the television show "The 100" or make any claims upon it or its characters. Similarly, I do not own Frozen, its characters or any Disney characters or property. All these characters are used under the concept of Fair Use, and I make no profit or income from using any of them.
Our Fight Is Not Over
by Jo K.
Chapter 5: It Was the Best of Worlds
Take me in
No questions asked
Strip away the ugliness that surrounds me
Are you an angel
Am I already that gone
I only hope that I won't disappoint you
When I'm down here on my knees
-Sarah MacLachlan, "Sweet Surrender"
—O—
Despite her own eyes telling her the reality of her situation as she walked down the long, elegantly carpeted hallway, Clarke's mind still reeled at accepting the fact that she was inside a true castle, not some bombed-out ruin, complete with an authentic royal family. Lexa's tower was fantastic and had been by far the most elegant, regal structure she had ever seen with her own eyes, but this... this had an aura, a gravitas that practically sang to her artistic sensibilities.
Nia called herself a queen, but Clarke was sure that whatever passed for her palace would look like a shitty little pile of rocks compared to this.
Her gaze kept drifting upward to look at the landscapes, watercolors and other paintings lining the walls of the hallway as she walked beside Lexa, with their host, the effervescent Anna, on Lexa's other side. Clarke's wife had quietly positioned herself between Clarke and the redhead when she started walking; if her mother or anyone from the Ark had acted similarly, Clarke would have been offended at their presumption that Clarke was incapable of defending herself. Lexa, however, knew quite well that Clarke was capable of protecting herself, especially with her pistol once again holstered at her side, the otherwise bare gunbelt cinched around the blonde's waist, adding even more definition to the curves of her hips and rear in the thin but elegant yellow gown she was wearing. Lexa wanted to protect Clarke because she loved her, not because she thought Clarke was incapable of doing it herself. Lexa had learned better long ago.
"Elsa and I had all the stuffy old portraits taken out of this hallway years ago," Anna said cheerily as they walked, a belt similar to Clarke's but thinner and fashioned from elegantly tooled and colored leather encircling the young woman's waist, her sheathed sword hanging at her left side. "They were sooo boring! We thought the castle needed more color, more life, in it!"
"It's beautiful," Clarke said honestly. Her eyes couldn't move fast enough to take in all the wonders around her, from the elegance of the framed paintings lining the wood-paneled walls, to the softness of the rich burgundy carpet beneath her bare feet, to the color and styling of the pristine clothes and uniforms worn by the guards and servants they had glimpsed so far. The only place she had ever seen anything approaching this level of elegance had been inside Mount Weather, where the dusty stacks of hoarded artifacts had given off more of an air of desperation than of decoration, and that place's labyrinthine confines had evoked emotions much darker than what Clarke had felt from this "Arendelle" so far.
People seemed... happy here.
It was a simple enough concept, but one that had been consistently absent from everyone Clarke had ever met on the ground. Life on the ground was about bare survival, and the cold, brutal efficiency needed to achieve that goal tended to drive the joy out of most activities.
But this place felt different. Everyone that she had seen so far was friendly, smiling and polite despite the language barrier for her and Lexa, and all seemed to adore their queen. Servants were going about their work with bright smiles, and none of those expressions seemed the least bit forced as they met and passed by more and more of them as they walked.
Was there truly a place where people could let themselves be happy for more than a moment or two? Clarke's optimistic spirit had been dimmed by the reality of life on the ground, but there was still a flame of it that refused to go out, still burning low but resolute, hesitant to completely give up hope for a happier life at some point in the future.
Or was the truth altogether more horrible, as she had learned to expect? Did this cheer and happiness hide an underlying savagery kept well-hidden, as Mount Weather had done? Or could things be even worse than that?
Had she and Lexa really frozen to death, and this was just an elaborate hallucination or trick of her mind to spare her the agony of her last dying moments?
"We're so happy that you two are joining us for lunch!" Anna said cheerfully, her smile possibly even more bright and infectious than it had been when Clarke and Lexa had first met the redhead, now about fifteen or twenty minutes ago by Clarke's estimation. "Usually it's just Elsa and me for lunch, because Hilde and Arista are usually busy with their own jobs, and with what's been happening up north over the last few days the two of them have been even busier than usual. We're expecting some company soon to help with all that business, but maybe you two can help us figure out what's going on!"
Forcing more morbid thoughts aside but not completely out of her mind, Clarke looked over to meet Lexa's green eyes, getting a sense of both her wife's burning curiosity as well as quiet mirth at their host's rather exuberant nature in that shared glance between them. Clarke couldn't prevent the smile that stretched across her face at seeing that too familiar expression in Lexa's expressive eyes. "We're happy to tell you what we know about the people we're hunting," Clarke said, turning to look back at Anna while Lexa's eyes shifted forward again, analyzing the guards waiting outside the doorway down the hall. "Maybe they're connected to the issues you're having in your northern territory. And thank you for feeding us, too."
"Oh, it's the least we can do for guests!" Anna said agreeably. "Especially after you nearly froze to death out there in the mountains."
Anna looked forward, meeting the measured gaze of the blonde Arista, who had just stepped outside the smaller dining room that the royal family used for lunch. Usually all five of the Arendelle royals had lunch together, but after a brief discussion between Anna and Arista earlier that morning, it was decided that Kari, the youngest of the royal children, would be eating lunch in her own chambers that day as a security precaution. Erin and Elin were still asleep themselves, after an exhausting night. After they had abruptly slipped out of their room and flown off into the night with Sleet and Snow, their two dragons made from magical ice, the two teenagers had finally returned with the nearly-dead Clarke and Lexa and then collapsed into the large joint bed that the two twins had shared since childhood. They remained asleep nearly fourteen hours later, much to the consternation of the attentive servants waiting to feed them once they awoke.
—O—
Despite the pleasantness of the lunch and the sumptuous food they were enjoying—a roasted bird of some sort, smoked fish, cheeses, breads, potatoes, squash—it had not escaped Lexa's sight that Anna's sword rested in the chair next to her. The redheaded queen had removed the swordbelt and placed it, along with the fascinating shield she had carried earlier, in the nearest empty seat on her left side, opposite where Lexa and Clarke sat at Anna's right hand.
It could have been another test, Lexa surmised as she politely chewed her food, the hot, juicy meat altogether delicious. Or it could have been a tactical error, placing her weapon in such a position as to require their host to turn her back on her and Clarke to retrieve the sword or shield should either become necessary. Then again, Clarke had her pistol, although judging by the lack of electricity and the medieval look of the castle hosting them, it was quite possible none of the Arendellans even knew what a pistol was, much less how lethal it could be.
A gentle but firm grip on her right wrist broke Lexa's tactical analysis. She turned her head to meet Clarke's blue eyes, understanding meeting Lexa's questioning gaze, yes, but also tempered with what Lexa read as a silent chastisement.
A glance at Clarke's lips caught the otherwise silent mouthing of a single word: Behave. After a few moments of consideration, Lexa nodded, then weakly smiled. Clarke already knew her all too well... and it felt surprisingly comforting.
Clarke cleared her throat softly, but it was enough to draw attention from Anna in the otherwise quiet dining room. "Thank you again, Queen Anna," she said politely. "Not only for saving our lives, but for clothing and feeding us as well."
Anna nodded behind her upturned glass, taking a rather deep (and unladylike) drink. "Anna is fine, really," she said as she placed her cup back on the table. "So, where are you from?" she asked curiously. "I mean, you don't speak our language, and you were really far north, according to what Elin and Erin told me last night, much farther north than any visitors would normally be."
Clarke and Lexa looked at each other, wordlessly debating the best way to explain their unusual circumstances of arrival until the opening of a door at the far end of the dining room commanded their attention instead.
"Elsa!" Anna gleefully shouted, standing quickly enough to send her chair scooting backwards across the hard floor. Grinning madly, she sprinted forward, covering the short distance between her and the elegant platinum blonde in a shimmering aquamarine gown who had just entered the dining room in seconds.
Clarke nearly blushed as she watched the two of them kiss intensely, her and Lexa apparently forgotten in the display of passion between the redheaded queen and the fair blonde.
"I was told that our guests had woken up," said Elsa to Anna, smiling as they continued to hold each close after they gently ended the kiss. As Anna rested her head on Elsa's collarbone, Elsa turned her head just enough to regard their visitors, offering a confident smile to the blonde and brunette, who remained seated at the table. "Can you understand me?"
"We can," said Lexa as she stood. "I am Lexa, leader of the Thirteen Clans. And this is my mate, Clarke, leader of the Sky People."
"I'm glad we can understand each other, although I'm at a loss to explain why that is," replied Elsa. "I'm Elsa, Anna's wife and the other Queen of Arendelle," replied the blonde Arendellan. "And thought I hesitate to admit it, I'm afraid I've never heard of either the Thirteen Clans or the Sky People."
"No, I'm sure you haven't," Clarke said, her voice notably subdued. "We come from what's probably very far away," she continued as Elsa walked around the table, finally stopping beside Anna, who pushed the chair with her sword and shield away and tugged another chair into the space thus vacated.
As Elsa and Anna took their seats, Clarke and Lexa did the same. Elsa simply sat patiently, her attention focused on the two visitors as no one resumed eating just yet.
Clarke felt her face heat as she considered her options. How to put the absurd, the impossible into words? "I'll tell you what we know of how we got here," Clarke finally said, trying to push aside the self-consciousness. "But I'm afraid it's going to sound ridiculous."
"Some of Anna's best adventures started out that way," Elsa replied with a soft smirk she directed at the redhead beside her.
"Hey!" Anna exclaimed lightly. "I'll eat your biscuits for that!" She quickly grabbed the basket of freshly baked goods, pulling it to her narrowly before Elsa could grab it herself, leaving the blonde queen's slim fingers grasping at air. "Too slow," Anna offered Elsa with a smirk.
"They were talking, Anna," Elsa said quietly and gently, shifting her blue eyes from Anna's blue-green back toward to the other two women seated at the table with them. "Please continue, now that Anna has taken the bread hostage."
The laugh had bubbled out of Clarke's throat even before she realized it, causing Lexa to turn and look at her with a bemused grin of her own. "To be very honest, we're not entirely sure of where we are," Clarke finally said. "We were pursuing a dangerous group of warriors when we passed through—"
She sighed. There really was no way around it other than just saying it, she finally decided. "Through a... portal, I guess. It was like a pool of shimmering light, standing upright and not touching the ground at all. We saw the people we were pursuing go into the portal, then they were just... gone. When we went into the portal ourselves in pursuit of them, we went from calm weather and the low plains we had been in all morning to steep mountains and that blizzard, just in an instant."
Looking up to take in two very different expressions meeting her gaze, measured calmness from Elsa and wide-eyed curiosity from Anna, Clarke sighed. "Look, I know it sounds ridiculous, but..." she said, trailing off, hardly believing what she was about to say.
"We have no good explanation for how the portal worked," Lexa said, seizing their hosts' attention upon herself before Clarke became any more flustered. "But those we were pursuing stated it was... magic."
"Oh!" Anna said with a quick smile, before reaching to produce a golden biscuit from the basket she was still shielding from Elsa. "Well, that makes sense," she added calmly as she began buttering the biscuit.
Lexa and Clarke briefly turned to look at each other. "Excuse me," Clarke said, looking back at Anna and Elsa, who was taking half of the biscuit Anna had torn apart and offered to her. "Did you say that makes sense?"
"Uh huh," Anna mumbled around a mouthful of warm, flaky goodness. She swallowed, then said, "I mean, what else did you think it could be?"
Lexa leaned closer to Clarke. "I think we're missing something here," she whispered, but Clarke was already leaning forward.
"Um, science?!" Clarke stated in reply to Anna's question, ignoring Lexa's attempt to mitigate her irritation and beginning to lose patience with being teased. "Some secret technology, maybe from before the nuclear strikes?" She narrowed her eyes at the two women, continuing to sit and eat calmly as she raised her voice further. "Or do you honestly expect us to believe that 'magic' really brought us here?!" she finished, sarcasm dripping from her words.
Twin looks of recognition bloomed across both Elsa's fair face and Anna's more visibly freckled one.
"Ooohhhh!" Anna said, leaning back into her chair as understanding began to reveal itself in her visage.
Elsa nodded slowly as a hint of a smile began to bloom across her lips as well. "Yes, I think I see the problem here too, my heart," she said, patting Anna's left hand with her right. She watched their guests carefully as she spoke her next words. "You come from a place without magic. Correct?"
"Yeah," Clarke replied, with more than a touch of snark in her voice, despite Lexa's increasingly firm grip on her thigh. "What other place is there?"
Elsa smiled, while Anna's expression turned downright jubilant. "What place indeed," spoke Elsa softly, as she raised her right hand until it hovered a foot above the table's linen-covered surface. Glittering white sparks of frost appeared between Elsa's hand and the table, increasing in volume and activity as they began to swirl in a tight pattern beneath the blonde's slim hand.
—O—
Clarke had long ago given up on ever being happily surprised again. Surprises, children are told, are good things, unexpected occurrences that make one laugh and smile with heartfelt glee. A birthday cake, complete with a real candle, despite the Ark's restrictions. A gift of a new sketch pad that had somehow been hidden so well that not even a young Clarke had found it despite searching. Being chosen to train as a doctor despite her and her mother's increasingly bitter personal conflicts. Adulthood, on the other hand, teaches a more somber truth.
Surprises are shit.
Surprises are watching a friend of yours fall backward into a river, a spear jutting out of his chest, fear twisting his face as his blood pours out. Surprises are finding the body of another friend lifeless on the ground, the bloodstain on his jacket still warm and sticky from the gash in his throat. Surprises are watching a little girl throw herself off a cliff out of shame and regret and despair, listening to her terrified scream grow fainter and fainter until the nauseating thud of impact brutally cuts it short. Surprises are seeing an old man feebly collapse, dead from a shot that you fired, hand too numb to even register that you had pulled the trigger. Surprises are watching hundreds of people die a painful death, enemies and allies alike, their agonized thrashing and silent screams forever burned into your mind's eye.
Surprises are watching, through your tears, your father being ripped from his feet, mercilessly cast into the lethal vacuum of space. Surprises are watching your mother end your childhood in one messy, gut-wrenching moment. Surprises are suffering, and sorrow, and loss.
So, ironically enough, it's nothing other than surprise that makes Clarke's breath catch in her lungs, that makes her lean forward in clear wonder as she watches ice crystals flow and shape themselves into the form of a fluffy white rabbit, larger than both of her hands put together and so intricately detailed that it looked disturbingly real other than its unnatural stillness.
Then the rabbit's ears twitched and its face moved to look at Clarke.
With a muffled cry, the blonde jerked back from the table, startling Lexa as well. The deceptively strong brunette caught Clarke before she could topple her chair backwards in her flight, saving the chair from falling over as well.
"It's alive, Lexa," Clarke gasped, watching the snow-white creature hop toward them calmly, its motions, direction and pace varying randomly, as a living, thinking creature would and as a mechanical creation most definitely would not. A few snowflakes flew away from its "fur" with each hop, a surprisingly amusing sight as Clarke's wide eyes drank in the details.
Lexa remained silent, but she moved her left hand closer to the small creature, taking its attention away from her mate. As she held her hand over the snowy rabbit, its head tilted to regard the new object, its ears flicking and nose twitching with clear curiosity. As Lexa lowered her hand, the rabbit briefly stood on its hind legs, stretching upward to sniff her skin, its touch a gentle brush against the palm of her hand followed by a brisk chill at the point of contact.
As the creature relaxed and lowered itself onto all fours again, Lexa gently reached down and stroked the small rabbit's fur. It felt exactly like a rabbit should, its snowy pelt soft and velvety although notably cold to the touch, so that Lexa had to withdraw her hand after a few seconds due to the hints of numbness and a twinge of discomfort.
Clarke watched with amazement as Lexa flexed her fingers, then petted and stroked the miniature rabbit for a few more seconds, the peculiar creature shifting and preening into her mate's touch. "How is this possible?" she asked, her voice just above a whisper as she looked up, across the plates and dishes to the two young women watching her and Lexa with amused but friendly smiles on their faces.
"Magic," Elsa replied, her voice unbelievably calm as she flicked her left hand outward, causing a spray of frost and ice crystals to shimmer and fall through the air, vanishing only moments before they hit the table.
"It's real?" Clarke asked, her entire worldview suddenly spinning around her uncontrollably as she felt a surge of nausea wash over her, turning her face pallid.
"Breath, Clarke," whispered Lexa as she took Clarke's hands into her own, the chill lingering on Lexa's left hand from touching the icy rabbit a bracing sensation to Clarke as Lexa gently rubbed her wife's fingers.
This is my foundation, Clarke thought, slowly, laboriously steadying herself by staring into brilliant green eyes that looked at her with endless love. Lexa is my center. I am with the woman I love.
"It was hard for much of Arendelle to accept as well," Anna said gently. "Until, you know, they saw it for themselves. Which is a story all in itself."
Lexa focused on Clarke's eyes, the thin rim of blue nearly swallowed by the vastly dilated blackness of her widened pupils. "Calm, my houmon," she said gently, rubbing Clarke's sweaty hands. "We are in no danger here. These people mean us no harm."
Clarke nodded, her complexion still distressingly ashen. "It's just... It's a lot to take in," she managed to whisper out, her eyes drifting back down to the table, where the white rabbit wiggled its haunches before settling into a seated position, infuriatingly appearing as if it were entirely normal for a creature made of nothing but snow and magic to exist, let alone hop around a formal dining table in a castle out of history books as if it did this every damned day.
Lexa nodded, allowing a knowing (and loving) smile to creep across her lips. "Much as learning that people lived in the sky above us, I imagine," she said, the hint of tease in her tone of voice unmistakable to her partner.
"You don't have to get cute," Clarke said flatly, eying Lexa with a sidewise glance.
Anna turned toward Elsa, not bothering to fully finish chewing the piece of salmon in her mouth before asking, "Do people live in the sky above us?" with a rapt expression on her face.
"Clarke did," Lexa answered simply, drawing the attention of both Arendellans with her words. "Several thousand of her people, in fact, until the Ark which sheltered them began to fail."
Tearing her eyes away from the unnatural—but entirely adorable—ice bunny resting peacefully before her, Clarke looked over at their hosts. "I can't believe I'm asking this, but—"
She stopped and considered for a few moments. "Well, actually, I guess I can believe it. After all, it's no more crazy or absurd than what we've already seen in the last twenty-four hours."
"It can be difficult," said Elsa, her face friendly and warm as she spoke. "To have your entire world turned upside down in a single moment." She reached over and took Anna's left hand with her right; Anna's hand had already begun moving toward Elsa's before Elsa reached for it. "Anna and I are quite familiar with how that can feel." She held Clarke's gaze for a moment being gently asking, "What was it you wished to ask, Clarke?"
Clarke only hesitated a second. "This world, your world... Did it suffer a terrible disaster just over a hundred years ago? A nuclear war? A rain of fire that scorched most life from the planet and nearly exterminated humanity?"
Now the look that was shared when Anna and Elsa turned to regard each other was longer and more intense, more probing as they silently considered the blonde's words. After heavy seconds, they turned back to Clarke and Lexa, their eyes now hesitantly curious. "No," Elsa said calmly. "We suffered no such disaster, nor are we aware of anything of the sort. We have had wars at times over the centuries, but nothing so terrible as you describe."
Clarke nodded, her suspicions confirmed at the blonde monarch's words. "We really have traveled to a different world," she said quietly, turning to look at Lexa. "Or maybe a different time. Or maybe both."
Silence held over the brunch for several uncomfortable seconds, until Anna finished swallowing her latest mouthful of food.
"What's a nuclear war?"
—O—
The clash of metal striking metal and the crisp clack of wood impacting wood were common sounds in the section of Arendelle Castle set aside for the castle guards. A large enclosed sparring area was frequently used by the guards as part of their training, both to teach skills to newer guards as well as to hone and sharpen the abilities of the more experienced guards as well. As such, outside of welcoming a new guard to the ranks by watching him get smacked around in a good-natured way, sparring matches in the castle were generally about as exciting to the castle guards and staff as watching snow fall.
So the presence of over a hundred observers, guards and castle staff alike, watching the two women on the lightly-padded mat battle each other with wooden practice spears was more than a bit out of the ordinary for Arendelle Castle.
Both Anna and Lexa were glistening with sweat that had soaked through their light clothes over the last half-hour, but neither seemed to be slowing down as thrusts and strikes were traded, dodged and returned at frightening speed.
Elsa had summoned a small flurry to cool herself nearly twenty minutes ago after the sight of Anna, lightly clothed, starting to shine with sweat and grinning with excitement had finally overcome Elsa's sense of modesty. It had only taken another five minutes for her to extend the cooling breeze and light dusting of snow to include the flushed Clarke as well; the two blondes were seated next to each other in chairs that had been hastily procured from some unknown source, Elsa fanning herself unconsciously while Clarke leaned forward, elbow perched on her thigh as she rested her chin on her fisted hand, unable to tear her eyes away from Lexa's stunning display of acrobatics and power as she fought the surprisingly capable redheaded queen. Neither combatant was giving an inch to the other, and both participants seemed to enjoy the exercise much more than would be expected.
"God, this is hot," Clarke mumbled, her mouth dry despite her forehead and neck being wet with sweat.
"Agreed," replied Elsa in a ragged voice quite similar to Clarke's, her eyes just as locked onto the nearly evenly-matched combat.
"Should we be so turned on watching them fight like this?" Clarke asked, her head never turning from the action.
Elsa fanned herself a bit harder as Anna blocked a high strike from Lexa, spun away from a follow-up sweep toward her feet, then nearly landed a counter-attack of her own to Lexa's right arm, blocked at the last possible second. "Why, do you plan to stop watching?" she managed to ask, a bit breathlessly.
Clarke grinned hopelessly. They had only known each other a little over two hours, but Clarke had already decided she liked the regal, coy but surprisingly playful Winter Queen, who seemed to understand what loving a fighter truly entailed. "Not a chance," she answered honestly.
Lexa's skill was definitely better than Anna's, Elsa noted, especially after Anna made a point of asking the cold to stop trying to help her early on, when Lexa had slipped on an icy spot that had mysteriously appeared beneath one of her feet, allowing Anna to score a solid blow to her abdomen.
Elsa could tell that Lexa still had fury and power smoldering beneath the surface of her controlled fighting technique that she hadn't tapped yet; after fifteen years of watching Anna train, surreptitiously at first but more openly after the first few years, Elsa had learned a significant amount about melee combat, although she had only lightly tried to embrace fencing herself, and that sparingly.
But Anna was and had been a skilled fighter for some time, having trained now for nearly half her life, first with the castle guards and then with different teachers that had come to Arendelle as paid instructors, sometimes for the guards, sometimes for Anna or Elsa specifically. Her skills with the bow, the sword, the spear and the knife were on par with the best of the castle guard, and Anna was always up for a good challenge.
Lexa was that and more. The first blows Anna had landed on her had been mostly due to Lexa's admittedly arrogant dismissal of Anna's fighting skills based on the knowledge that A) despite being a queen, Anna struck Lexa as more of a princess, an insult she had heard Bellamy Blake and others use referencing a recurring hapless character in old books and stories, forever being captured and locked away for some dashing prince (or rarely princess) to come and rescue since they tended to be incapable of rescuing themselves, and B) because Anna looked to be as young as Clarke and had a cheery disposition altogether the opposite of what Lexa would expect from a serious warrior.
Lexa's right shin and left shoulder were both still stinging from the sharp but controlled blows the redhead had landed before Lexa internally admitted her mistake and started treating her opponent like she would a fellow Trikru warrior. And since then, she had found herself having to work harder and fight more fiercely to keep the skilled redhead from scoring another solid blow.
They had agreed to battle to the best of seven points, with training spears and light padding, and currently the score had been deadlocked at 3-3 for nearly ten minutes straight. Lexa found Anna's flurrying combination of techniques and different styles to be impressively similar to her own fighting technique, combining proven strikes and maneuvers with an unpredictability that often proved to be the defining edge in true fights. The battle between the two had progressed beyond a friendly sparring match into a true competition, but neither woman had crossed any lines of ruthlessness or viciousness.
In truth, Anna appeared to be well more than a worthy match for any of Lexa's warriors. There were a few who could possibly defeat the Arendellan queen in single combat, and luck could always make a fool of anyone on any given day, but none of them would find the young queen to be an easy opponent.
Many of Arendelle's castle guards already had strongly positive attitudes regarding their Summer Queen's fighting skill after years of training her, but the sustained display of prowess between her and her mysterious new friend—whose language none of them could understand, although their queens didn't seem to have that problem—had set several tongues wagging with not-so-quiet admiration. The dark-haired woman with burning green eyes fought like a demon, yet possessed patience and control to go along with skill and strength, and all of the soldiers watching the bout were appreciative of the fact that the woman and her blonde companion seemed to be friends of their queens and not enemies.
Finally Lexa managed to take advantage of a misstep on Anna's part, stepping forward and pinning the redhead's staff to the ground with her own before launching her body forward and tackling Anna to the mat, foregoing her staff to grapple with Anna until Lexa's superior strength had positioned Anna on the ground beneath her, Lexa's left forearm across Anna's throat with her right hand in position to strike at her now-undefended head, maintaining firm pressure across Anna's trachea but without actually choking the redhead. Anna struggled for a few seconds, clawing at Lexa's wiry arm without success before she yielded.
And then the redhead laughed. Long and breathlessly.
Lexa was so surprised by the reaction that her first instinct was to actually strike, to finish the fight before she allowed herself to be distracted by what might be a ploy or a trick. Thankfully, she caught herself before her right arm did more than twitch in preparation for a strike. When she realized the laughter wasn't a trick, she found herself grinning with apparently infectious mirth, finally allowing herself to laugh as well.
—O—
"We've sent two handmaidens to your rooms to help with bathing," Elsa said as she, Anna, Clarke and Lexa walked down the carpeted hallway on the third floor. "Then Anna and I would like to hear more about these 'Ice Clan' people you were pursuing. It's quite possible they could be connected to the unusual deaths that have occurred recently in the north."
"Hopefully our friend will be able to clarify some of the... details of the deaths," Anna added. "Right now, it feels like we're searching for a snowball in an avalanche."
A high-pitched squeal from down the hallway ahead of them instantly made all four of them freeze. The squeal was still in full-force when the figure of a child flew out of a doorway, long coppery hair trailing through the air behind her head as she arced through the air, limbs askew, finally falling with a muffled thump into a pile of what appeared to be cushions piled on the floor and leaning against the wall on the other side of the hallway.
Elsa covered her face with the palm of her hand, shaking her head quietly while trying not to laugh. The girl had dug her way out of the piles of cushions and pillows and was running back across the wide hall when Anna yelled, "KARI ARENDELLE!"
The young girl stopped herself so quickly that her feet hopped once across the soft carpet. She turned to face her mothers, her freckled-dusted face blushing clearly even across the distance between them, then she grinned and waved. "Hi Moms!" she said loudly.
"What are you doing?!" cried Anna, already striding down the hallway, arms swinging stiffly as she went.
"I made a rope swing!" the eight-year-old said gleefully, clenching her fists as she shook with delight.
Now it was Anna's turn to stop abruptly, still a few strides away from their youngest daughter. "A rope swing?" she asked, her curiosity beginning to stir inside her mind.
"Yeah!" Kari said, before she turned and ran back into the room beside her. A second later, Anna was running down the hallway as well.
"No, Anna!" Elsa shouted, kicking her icy flats off and chasing after her wife and youngest daughter. "Anna, you're bigger than Kari!"
Clarke and Lexa continued to stare down the hall as Elsa disappeared into the room as well, then they slowly turned to look at each other.
"Why do I have the oddest feeling you were like that growing up?" Clarke asked calmly.
Lexa held Clarke's gaze for a few seconds, her face completely neutral. "Add a few knives," she finally said.
Clarke grinned. "You don't even try to deny it."
—O—
Later that afternoon, as the sunlight paled and dusk began to loom, Clarke, Lexa, Elsa and Anna were gathered around a table in the castle library. Several sheets of paper covered with markings, some haphazard and jumbled but others neater and more legible, were scattered over the large table's dark wooden surface. Maps of Arendelle and the entire known world were still spread out on a nearby table, where after careful inspection Clarke had finally declared that Arendelle and the coastline of its neighboring countries, including the Southern Isles, seemed to correspond to a region called "Europe" back on her and Lexa's world.
"So I think we've gotten the basics of each other's worlds," Anna said cheerily as she scanned over the most recent list she had been making. "Sure, there are differences, but a lot's the same." She looked up to Clarke, where the blonde was partially leaning over the table looking at more of Anna's writing. "Can you draw us a picture of what the planet looks like?" she asked. "From where you grew up?"
The question made Clarke look up from the information she had been reviewing. "I'd be happy to," she said, giving the redhead a smile. "I know it sounds crazy to you, me growing up hundreds of miles above the planet."
"Oh, we've seen and done quite a few things that most people would consider crazy, until they see it for themselves," Elsa added.
"Your story is truly fascinating," Lexa said. "Tragic for so long, but achieving happiness in the end." The part about the two queens being sisters prior to becoming lovers and spouses was certainly unusual, to put it mildly, but this was quite literally a different world, Lexa reminded herself, and the two of them were quite obviously in love with each other.
"Much the same as what you've told us about your experiences," Elsa replied politely. "And it sounds as if your world is much harsher than ours."
"Clarke and I are trying to change that," said Lexa. "By uniting our peoples and trying to prevent petty wars that could be avoided. And that is why we cannot allow these Azgeda still loyal to Nia to grow their ranks, much less bring Nia back from the dead."
"You know, yesterday I laughed at that idea as ridiculous superstition at best and a trick at worst," Clarke said, looking beside her to her wife. "But today..."
"Especially when speaking with one who has already died and returned," added Lexa, nodding toward Anna.
"But the power of True Love isn't the force at play with these people trying to resurrect their dead queen," Elsa said, reaching for a sketch of Nia that Clarke had done less than an hour ago; the blonde artist had done a fine job capturing the thinly-disguised menace in the Azgeda queen's stern features. "They're dealing with something much darker, much more evil. The murders used for that ritual stand as proof."
Anna moved to stand next to Elsa, the two of them looking at the sketch of Nia for long seconds before Anna spoke again. "We've contacted a friend of ours who's more familiar with this type of magic than we are," Anna said. "Hopefully we'll hear from her in the next day or two. She should be able to give us some idea of what we're dealing with and how to stop it."
"Until then, Anna and I would very much like for the two of you to rest here," Elsa said, looking up and meeting first Clarke's eyes, then Lexa's. Seeing both of their guests open their mouths to protest, Elsa raised her right hand. "We're not keeping you prisoner or confining you to the castle," Elsa said quickly. "You are certainly free to leave if you so choose. But the truth is, the two of you nearly died just a day ago. You're in unfamiliar territory, chasing dangerous people who outnumber you by an order of magnitude—"
"An order of what?" whispered Anna in Elsa's ear.
"—And possess a power about which we know almost nothing," Elsa finished, ignoring Anna's whisper. Seeing frustration war with pragmatism on both Lexa's and Clarke's faces, Elsa softened her tone and her expression. "We understand your need to stop these people. We have the same need to protect our citizens. But we also need to know as much about what we're dealing with as possible."
She reached up and took Anna's left hand, moving it to where she could gently kiss the knuckles. "Anna and I have rushed into these situations before, and we've very nearly paid a steep price more than once. We already have scouts out searching for these raiders, and they will contact us as soon as they find them. And then, once we have learned more about what magic they're capable of wielding, then all four of us together will deal with their threat."
Clarke and Lexa turned to look at each other, their eyes communicating before their words slipped past their lips.
"It would be foolish for the two of us to challenge an unknown number of Azgeda in these weather conditions," Lexa finally said quietly. "It is their natural element."
"Plus this damn sorcerer they're supposed to have," Clarke added, her own voice just as quiet. "Especially since it sounds like he really can wield magic."
The two refugees from another world missed the wince of discomfort that flashed across Elsa's face at the derogatory tone in Clarke's voice when she said the term "sorcerer," but despite her position rendering her incapable of actually seeing that expression, Anna leaned forward and put her arms around Elsa's shoulders and neck, gently hugging her mate in a simple but heartfelt gesture of emotional support.
Elsa swallowed as tears began to form in her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered as she tilted her head forward enough to lightly kiss the freckled skin of Anna's bare arm just in front of her chin.
"Always," Anna replied with a soft whisper before placing a kiss on Elsa's right temple. "I will always be here for you."
A deliberate intake of breath drew both queens' attention back to the two women standing on the other side of the table.
"You're right," Clarke said simply, nodding. "It would be suicide for Lexa and me to try to hunt them down in this blizzard, especially not even knowing where they are or how many warriors are with them. We don't even have any more horses at this point."
"We will barter with you for two horses," Lexa said, surprising Clarke, who turned to look at her wife. "Clarke is an artist of incredible skill, and I will hunt for you if you will let me."
"Lexa..." Clarke said, not exactly with a hiss but not exactly calmly. Why was she saying such a thing now?
"We will need a means to reach them, my wife," Lexa said, turning to look at Clarke. "Once Nia's loyalists are finally found."
Clarke's mouth was already open, in the process of pointing out how dumb her wife was being—politely, of course—about something fairly insignificant at the moment when she realized why Lexa said what she did.
They were stranded in a strange land, alive entirely out of the assistance and goodwill of strangers. Yes, they still had each other, and they still had their weapons and at least some of their supplies, but otherwise everything else was gone.
For Clarke, who had already been dumped unceremoniously into the middle of a foreign world where it seemed everything wanted to kill her and the rest of the 100, asking for help was not a big deal. But for the Commander of the Thirteen Clans, the fearsome absolute ruler of a people who prided themselves on being hardy and self-sufficient, being dependent upon others for anything was an enormous change of circumstance.
Pride played a part of it, of course, but Clarke was beginning to understand Lexa well enough to know that Lexa refused to let pride dictate her actions. The great Heda had no qualms about posing as a beggar, or fleeing certain death, or admitting a mistake when the situation warranted such actions. No, this was about more than just pride. This was about Lexa presenting not just herself but also Clarke as useful, as dignified women worthy of working with and negotiating with, not as down-on-their-luck victims of cruel circumstance desperately in need of assistance... no matter how true that might have been.
Clarke smiled. She smiled at how Lexa was so concerned about her, not just about herself, to offer their services as barter for what would be essential supplies, all for the purpose of preserving their dignity, simply because it was truly about the only thing that Lexa could offer at that moment to the two monarchs who had saved their lives, fed and clothed them, and asked for nothing in return.
"Lexa," Clarke said tenderly, reaching out to lay her fingers on Lexa's right hand, an action which drew her wife's attention to her; the mixture of desperation and determination Clarke saw in those green eyes nearly made her own heart quiver at the realization of just how dire their situation was, for Lexa to be that severe in her conviction. Clarke swallowed, trying to use the contact between them to calm her partner. "I think I have a better option," she was finally able to speak.
Not waiting for a verbal approval from her wife and knowing that she didn't need one, as Lexa herself had reminded her already, Clarke turned to look at Anna and Elsa. "Your Majesties, Lexa, Heda of the Thirteen Clans, and Clarke, Wanheda and Heda of the Sky People, hereby propose an alliance between our two nations."
Seeing the warm smiles on Anna's and Elsa's faces, Clarke knew she had guessed right. "Obviously, the main goal of this alliance would be to find and eliminate the threat posed by the Azgeda and their sorcerer and whomever or whatever is killing people in northern Arendelle," Clarke continued. "And it they happen to be one and the same, so much better."
Elsa stood, with Anna matching her wife's action. "Normally, Anna and I would discuss a potential alliance with the Royal Court before agreeing to such an arrangement," Elsa said, still smiling. "However, given the rather unique qualities of the Thirteen Clans and the Sky People, I think it best if we go ahead and accept this offer of alliance. Do you feel the same, Anna?"
"Yep!" Anna said, nodding as well. "We're agreed. No need for me to have to overrule you, since it is the Summer Queen's half of the year." Grinning even more at the nonplussed look Elsa gave her, Anna added, "Just in case you forgot."
Elsa continued to give Anna a vaguely dirty look. "Do you want to sleep alone tonight?" she asked, her voice serious.
"I could overrule that too."
"You could try."
"Smartypants."
"Brat."
The two queens stared intently at each others for several seconds, their faces tight with tension as Lexa and Clarke both watched with growing concern. Finally the tension was broken when, as one, Anna's and Elsa's expressions both relaxed into smiles.
"I love you," Anna said, just beating Elsa.
"Love you too," Elsa replied as they embraced each other, resting their heads on each other's shoulder. Seeing the looks of trepidation on the visages of their guests, Elsa turned Anna and herself so she could lift her head and address the blonde and the brunette. "Anna and I have a system to decide which of us has final say in the event we disagree on a matter of policy. Half of the year I have the final decision, and the other half of the year Anna has that right."
"And it happens to be my half of the year," Anna added, her voice muffled from her lips' contact against the smooth, warm skin of Elsa's bare neck. "So it's a good thing you agree with me."
Elsa rolled her eyes and sighed, which prompted a sly smile from Lexa and a quick but hastily-muffled snicker from Clarke.
—O—
"We'll take you two into the town tomorrow," Anna said as she, Lexa and Clarke stood just outside the castle's walls that night, the large gates behind them standing open, as was their usual custom since Elsa's initial ascension to the throne over fourteen years ago. "It's beautiful!" Anna added, unable to contain the sense of joy she always felt when she thought about being in the middle of so many people, so many voices and bodies and feelings, all swirling and bustling and alive in a way that the castle simply could never be.
"I can't imagine it could be much more beautiful than this castle," Clarke said, taking in the lights twinkling and flickering in the buildings and houses that unfolded below them. "It looks like Polis at night," Clarke said, turning to look at Lexa, who was likewise scrutinizing the town just outside Arendelle Castle. "Doesn't it?"
Lexa nodded, admiring the soft sounds of voices carrying the distance through the darkness of the night, the movement of bodies in and out of the pools of light spilled from lanterns hung at intervals along the town's streets. It did seem like Polis, in a way, although her usual perspective from atop her tower was admittedly different than the view she currently enjoyed.
Her attention was wrenched from the oddly peaceful observation of the town by a disturbing, almost nauseating sensation. It was over nearly as soon as it swept over Lexa, with only a lingering burning sensation in her solar plexus to indicate the sensation had ever been there at all.
"What's wrong?" asked Clarke, already gently grasping Lexa's right upper arm, her face clearly concerned.
"I—I'm fine," Lexa said, although her voice definitely lacked much conviction. "Just a... queasy feeling that washed over me." She looked up as snow began to fall, going from a few flakes to a more steady precipitation in moments.
"You looked like you were about to throw up," Clarke continued; if anyone was aware of just how far Lexa would go to conceal any signs of weakness, it was definitely her, and something had definitely rattled her lover just then.
"Hello," came an eerie voice from behind them, with almost a stereo quality to it, causing the slightly high-pitched voice to send a shiver up Clarke's spine.
Clarke turned to look behind them, but Lexa's whirling turn nearly pulled Clarke to the ground when she made the mistake of trying to hold onto Lexa. Lexa's arms shot out to grab Clarke's shoulders, arresting the blonde's fall, but Lexa then seemed to freeze, with Clarke not quite back to standing but unable to shake off her partner's strong grip.
"Dammit, Lexa," Clarke swore softly, but as soon as she caught the expression on Lexa's face, Clarke's voice died in her throat. For Lexa's face was pale, ashen almost, and that was a look Clarke was not used to seeing on the face of the Heda of the Thirteen Clans.
Then Clarke's own head turned to regard what had so upset Lexa, and her own heart stuttered a beat. Or two.
—O—
The two young girls standing before them were beautiful, their bodies still small but with limbs and torsos starting to lengthen into the awkwardness of adolescence. Their long, loose hair was pale blonde, and the flickering lights of the torches on either side of the castle gates just behind them turned that blonde into a shining white gold. Their hair blew and tossed lightly on the wind, swirling behind their backs as their thin silver dresses likewise fluttered and blew with the gusts around them.
Clarke and Lexa were wearing coats and gloves, and the bite of the cold surrounding them was still palpable. Anna was wearing a long-sleeved dress, leggings, scarf, boots and not much more, which surprised Clarke but didn't seem to bother Arendelle's Summer Queen. But the dresses the two girls wore were so thin, judging by the way they were blowing in the wind, that they couldn't have provided any practical protection from the elements. But that didn't seem to bother the two blonde girls in the slightest.
They were twins, Clarke was certain, not just identical in physical appearance but also in their posture, in the way they stood, in the way their eyes, bright blue in a way they most certainly should not be, not in a half-silhouette from the torches, seemed to pierce right through Clarke's clothes and skin and peer into her very soul.
"Hello girls," Anna said warmly, getting twin heads to turn just enough to look at her.
"Hello, Mother," the two barely-teenagers said in unison, producing the same eerie doubling quality to their voices as they pronounced each syllable in perfect synchronization.
"I have seen you before," said a voice next to Clarke, and only her turning to see the last words whisper from Lexa's lips could have convinced Clarke that the hesitant voice could have been Lexa's.
"Yes," spoke the blonde girl on the right, as Clarke and Lexa regarded them.
"You have," agreed her twin.
Lexa took a slow, unsteady step forward, moving with a trepidation Clarke hadn't seen since their encounter with the pauana. "Where have I seen you?" Lexa asked, her voice containing a hint of menace that she hoped concealed the uncharacteristic worry beneath it. She had never met these two girls, but she had seen them, in an image burned onto her mind's eye somewhere just out of grasp of her consciousness.
Anna watched carefully, her hand not drifting toward the handle of her sword thanks to years of learned discipline, but she could feel the sword itself twitch in its sheath, ready to spring forth at a moment's notice to defend Anna's family. Anna's curiosity had gone from teased to stoked at this point; neither Elin nor Erin had yet explained to their mothers how they had known Lexa and Clarke even existed, much less that they were in grave danger and exactly where to find them in the middle of the night. And the two teenagers had proven resolute at resisting and evading questions of that nature, particularly when it came from their parents. The fact that the two girls had slipped out of the castle and flown on their ice dragons to personally rescue the two strangers only made the story even more intriguing to Anna.
The blonde girls' eyes shifted to Clarke, meeting the other blonde's surprised gaze for a long second before sliding away again, back to Lexa.
"Something is... wrong with our worlds," Elin finally said.
Erin nodded. "And when our world was injured, yours was affected as well. The blackness connected our worlds, and it does still."
"But the gate closed," Clarke said, suddenly aware of a possibility of them going home. "We saw it close."
Suddenly Lexa felt a twinge in her chest, just below her sternum, and the phantom pain was so abrupt and piercing that she nearly gasped. Her right hand went reflexively to that same spot, shielding it from a wound that had never happened but still ached. "When?" she asked, acutely aware as all eyes slid to her as she spoke hoarsely. "When did this happen?"
Rather than reply, Elin and Erin both turned to look at Anna. "Mother, would you please let us speak to them privately?" spoke Elin, her voice perfectly calm and composed.
No, I most certainly will not, was already on Anna's lips when she caught herself before speaking. There was a pleading look in her oldest daughters' eyes, though it likely would only have been visible to her or Elsa. Whatever Elin and Erin wanted to discuss with Clarke and Lexa, it was very important to them.
Swallowing her initial reaction, Anna nodded. "Alright," she said quietly. "I'll just go wait over there for a few minutes," she said, gesturing in the direction of the nearest guard hut. "Where I can keep watch over you," she added, deliberately leaving vague exactly what combination of people you referenced. Clarke and Lexa were friendly and had been excellent guests, but her daughters' safety was something about which Anna was particularly protective.
The remaining four women watched Anna walk away and make a show of talking to two guards at their post, but all of them noted how she positioned herself to watch them very closely, whether or not she could hear them.
"She seems like a good mom," Clarke said, watching Anna's body language, suggesting a readiness to strike should such action become necessary. Ambivalence toward her own mother made Clarke's words ache slightly as she uttered them.
"Our mothers are wonderful," said one of the two blondes, who took a few steps closer. (It was Erin who spoke, but Clarke and Lexa had no way of knowing that.) They both smiled, trying to defuse some of the tension. "They are protective of us, but they try to let us find our own way through things where possible." She smiled. "I'm Erin."
"A product of their parents being so controlling of them, we're sure, and the resentment that naturally followed. And I'm Elin," added Elin, her voice just as quiet as her sister's. The twins looked at each other for a moment, sharing a look and a knowing smile for a moment before once again turning to regard the two newcomers.
Erin began softly saying, "When the portal between our worlds was opened, the magic that was used was dark, sinister—"
"Corrupted," interjected Elin.
"Yes, corrupted," agreed Erin with a soft smile. "Anyway, that corruption, that maliciousness spilled from what was done in our world into yours."
"And once it was there," Elin smoothly picked up, "we think it was drawn to the brightest, happiest emotions it could sense..."
"So it could try to choke them."
"Exactly."
"To smother them in its hate and destructive power."
The two girls shared another little glance and smile, then they fell silent. Long seconds passed as Clarke and Lexa carefully considered the girls' words, turning them over in their heads, until...
"Wait," Clarke said, shaking her head. "Positive emotions. And happiness."
The pale blonde girls nodded again, frustratingly quiet and calm in their measured response.
Clarke looked to Lexa. The color was beginning to return to her mate's complexion, and now Clarke could see the intense concentration that was Lexa's hallmark when it came to planning.
"When did this darkness bridge our worlds?" Lexa asked, lifting her eyes to fix the two girls with an intense green gaze while her head remained slightly tilted downward.
The twins' fair complexion made the flushing of their faces easy to discern, particularly at the relatively close distance between the two pairs of women. Neither teenager seemed eager to speak first, a fact confirmed when one nudged the other, only to receive a firmer nudge back in return. This in turn was followed by a glower from Erin directed at Elin, who then sighed dramatically.
"Fine," Elin grumbled. She looked back at Clarke and Lexa, and the blush suffusing her cheeks seemed to double. "It happened when you two were... together."
"We didn't mean to pry!" Erin quickly insisted, leaning forward. Elin shook her head vigorously in assent. "We really didn't!"
"But when we could suddenly see your world, your spirits were so bright," added Elin. "Sometimes when we're asleep we..."
"We sort of..."
"See things."
"Yes," Erin said with a quick nod. "And we saw how happy you two were, and that plus the intensity of your spirits drew our attention immediately!"
"But unfortunately it drew something else's attention too."
"Right, El. And that nastiness scared us badly."
"Badly."
"Really badly."
"But it was too focused on the two of you to notice us! And when we saw it try to hurt you—"
"We had to do something!"
"We couldn't let it happen!"
"So we tried to reach you, to warn you, and normally we can't do anything like that, but somehow—"
"Somehow you heard us," finished Elin, her voice growing nearly as soft as a whisper as she finished. The two twins were nearly out of breath from talking so much so quickly and from the adrenaline surging through their young bodies.
Lexa narrowed her eyes, but before she could speak, she suddenly saw a flash of an image from deep in her memory. It was two young blonde girls, dressed in white, gesticulating and silently screaming at her. She closed her eyes to concentrate on the fleeting image, but then the same shooting pain as before lanced through her chest, sending her to her knees.
At the sight of Lexa falling roughly to the ground, Clarke instantly dropped down beside her, clutching Lexa's left hand tightly as Lexa shivered roughly. "Lexa! What's wrong?" Clarke asked hurriedly. "Are you okay?"
Lexa's mouth opened, allowing her to roughly speak. "I—" she began, only to stop short. "I... I think so."
Lexa looked up to see mirrored concern on the faces of the girls standing before them. She watched as the two girls knelt down with her and Clarke, their faces kind but with an otherwordly quality to them at the moment. Maybe it was the flickering torchlight, or the falling snow, or just the accumulation of such many incredible events in the last day, but Lexa shuddered as she scrutinized their faces, much as others had scrutinized hers over the years. Had those people over the years seen something equally uncanny in her face? In her eyes?
"Lexa! Talk to me."
"I am fine, my houmon," Lexa said, covering Clarke's left hand with her free right hand. She turned to look at Clarke and forced herself to smile slightly. "Truly."
Clarke's expression clearly indicated how full of shit she thought Lexa was at the moment, causing Lexa to sigh wearily. "Clarke," Lexa said softly.
"Lexa," Clarke replied, firmly.
Lexa turned away from Clarke but continued to hold Clarke's hand with her own as she looked once again at the two girls. "It was in the tower. When Titus was trying to kill Clarke. Wasn't it?" She swallowed, refusing to cry. "I was running to help Clarke, when I saw a flash of light and felt a sharp pain in my chest," she said slowly.
The twins nodded once, slowly. "Yes," they said in unison once again.
Lexa considered her words carefully for several seconds before she spoke again. A look at Clarke showed that tears of worry had already formed in Clarke's eyes, and they threatened to spill onto her cheeks at any moment. Not wanting to worry her partner any more than she was already, Lexa turned her attention back to the girls. "What... was going to happen to me?" she asked, her voice just above a whisper.
The chin of the twin on the left trembled slightly as her sister replied, just as quietly as Lexa had spoke, "I think you know."
Lexa's own eyes snapped closed, and she immediately devoted all her willpower toward the sole purpose of not crying. Yes, of course she knew what would have happened, regardless of how much she didn't want to even consider it.
Titus, firing a Skaikru gun wildly. Lexa, racing into danger blindly out of concern for Clarke. The sudden, piercing pain in her chest. The bullet passing just over Lexa immediately after she fell to the ground from the phantom pain.
"Tell me what I can do, Lexa," Clarke hissed, her voice tight with worry and frustration at not being able to do anything to stop whatever mental torment Lexa was suffering.
"I..." Lexa gasped, her eyes opened, revealing them to be shot with red as they locked with Clarke's own stinging eyes. "I... was going to die," Lexa whispered, clutching tightly to Clarke's shirt beneath the open coat.
Stunned by the statement, Clarke was helpless to resist when Lexa pulled their bodies together where they knelt, with Lexa burying her face against Clarke's neck. "I was supposed to die," Lexa whispered again.
Ignoring her own tears as they fell down her cheeks, Clarke closed her eyes and lowered her head. "But you didn't," she said roughly. "You're still here. You're still with me."
Clarke's chest burned, the breath in her lungs ragged as she held fast to Lexa, both of them reliving those harrowing moments where two lives hung suspended by a single delicate thread of fate. "We're still fighting, Lexa," Clarke said, her lips against the shoulder of Lexa's coat. "We're still fighting together."
The gossamer feel of arms carefully encircling her made Clarke lift her head, revealing one of the twins kneeling to her right, the other to her left, as the two girls delicately embraced her and Lexa.
—O—
"What are they talking about?" asked Elsa as she stopped behind Anna, wrapping her arms around her wife as the two of them, along with Hilde, watched Erin and Elin shuffle forward to hug the kneeling Clarke and Lexa, who both appeared to be crying and comforting each other.
Anna shook her head slowly and carefully. Cracking heads with Elsa hurt more than would be expected, something Anna was sure had to do with her sister's thick skull. "No idea," she replied, her voice quiet. "El and Er were talking about how something evil had connected our worlds, and Lexa had said that she had somehow seen the girls before."
Elsa considered those words carefully. "Perhaps a dream? Or a vision of some sort?"
"Yeah, that's what I'd think too," replied Anna. "I mean, something woke the girls up in the middle of the night and sent them out into the mountains. And then they come back with two strange women, nearly frozen to death but still clinging tightly to each other."
Elsa sighed. "They are our daughters, my heart."
Anna smiled and nodded. "Yeah, never do anything the easy way, right?"
Elsa kissed Anna's cheek as they watched the small gathering across the courtyard begin to slowly rise to their feet. "I still blame you for that," Elsa said cheerfully.
Rather than protest, Anna simply tilted her head back and smiled happily as she relaxed into Elsa's embrace. "And you still love me for it, too."
"Absolutely," Elsa said tenderly as she kissed Anna's freckled cheek again.
—O—
Author's Afterword: Next chapter we finally get to see just whom Elsa and Anna called for assistance with such a peculiar matter. It's not Rapunzel, by the way. I think you'll like who it turns out to be even more, and I think this particular character (or characters) fits this story quite well. I've been looking forward to this for a while.
And after that? Well, it wouldn't really be fair if only one of our couples got to visit a different world, would it? Still LOTS of story to go in this one. I'm estimating 24 chapters overall, but then I tend to suck at estimating like that, so who knows. We'll also get back to Harper and Monroe in the next chapter or two.
As always, will update when I can. It'll be slow, but the updates will come until the story is finished. See you soon!