A/N: Not even checked for mistakes yet, just wanted to publish it as soon as I could!

I mostly use the italic for sentences written in English but meant to be in another language, be it Trigedasleng or Italian. And if there are no " " it's someone's thoughts.

Also... I'm looking for a beta to go over the story and help me with a few points and to get new ideas, so if you want to help me, contact me on tumblr my username is justawordunsaid or on twitter Sara_NobodyO

If you like it, please leave a review! Enjoy!


Chapter Seventeen: Family guardians

Abby has been sending out small teams looking for Clarke and now she finds out that it's too late, it's been too late for a while. And it is Lexa who tells her, the same Commander who betrayed them and left Clarke alone to face the Mountain Men, to face death and hunted choices.

The Commander barely stopped at the gate, demanding to see Chancellor Griffin, Indra and another warrior right behind her. Abby went to the gate reluctantly, her mind firmly set on not letting Lexa in. The trikru had let them be after the Mountain, they hadn't attacked, they hadn't moved against the Sky People in any way, but that doesn't mean Abby trusted their leader. Then Lexa told her about Clarke and suddenly she couldn't breath. Kane was sceptical, he said they shouldn't trust the Commander, but somehow Abby knew Lexa was telling the truth. Maybe it was the desperation in her eyes, maybe it was the way she was standing there, perfectly aware that they could decide to shoot her any time and perfectly willing to risk it; maybe it was the anger and pain, regret and rage in every little move of her body. Abby was used to see Lexa standing still, in control, barely moving in her regal posture, instead this Lexa looked restless, her body continuously shifting, her eyes a pool of emotions and chaos. So Abby knew, she knew Lexa was telling the truth, she knew Clarke had been captured.

Now they're sitting in the council room and Lexa is telling her about her scouts' report. Kane tries to reason, they can't be sure it was Clarke, they have no actual way to know for sure she's even in the Ice Nation. But Lexa is having none of it. She stands up, tall and deadly, and tells them that she will move against the Ice Nation with or without them, she will save Clarke no matter what it takes, she tells them she came to ask their help because their weapons could save Clarke way faster than her warriors.

But that's when Indra and Eamon step in, the woman hissing that they can't effort it, the man backing her up in a gentler way, remembering Lexa of the war they're about to face. Abby knows about the war, of course they all do, and she knows that Lexa's people will not take well the Commander going off to save the Sky Princess leaving her people alone. She knows that no matter what Lexa might be feeling toward Clarke, no matter how high that rage in her eyes might burn, she won't be able to save Clarke without their help. But it was never the plan not to help anyway.

Abby interrupts the generals offering her people's help in the war if they can get Clarke back together. The look Lexa gives her couldn't be more grateful.

The Chancellor reasons with the two generals telling them that they could use the Mountain's weapon, which would surely allow them to protect their lands, and she ignores Kane's attempts at stopping her.

Lexa and Abby are coming to an agreement when someone barges into the room.

"What is she doing here?" Bellamy angrily shouts as soon as he sees that the guard at the gate told him the truth about the Commander being in Arkadia.

Abby tries to calm him down, but he's standing right in front of Lexa yelling at her face and ignores the other woman. Lexa does her best to remain calm but she's quickly losing her patience and finally spats at him that Clarke is in danger and he won't help her just screaming like a child. The mention of Clarke finally shuts Bellamy up and it takes him a second before he's asking for explanations.

Kane briefs him on what Lexa came to tell them and on Abby's decision. Bellamy gets angry again at learning that Abby is making a deal with the trikru and tells the Chancellor they can save Clarke on their own, they have guns and missiles, they can get Clarke back without anyone's help, especially the help of someone who already betrayed them once.

But Abby and Lexa are dead set on their decision and no protest from any of the others can change their mind, they'll go and save the girl who matters so much to both of them.

Seeing the two women's resolution the others eventually give up trying to oppose them and Indra begrudgingly asks "What will you tell our people, Heda? How will you justify asking them to die for a stranger who does not belong to our own?"

"I bring to them something that will allow us to win the war. Yes, they may die in our attack to Ice, but the losses that would have come from the war that awaits will be considerably lessened by the Sky People's aid in battle. I bring them a deal that will save many lives, the Sky People's weapons and they're knowledge on how to use the Mountain's weapons will destroy our enemies' attempts at invading our lands. Furthermore if we can destroy the Queen's personal army and kill her, Ice will have no part in this war and the other clans will move without a leader. We could easily win a war that appeared since now fatal to us." Lexa manages to keep her voice firm, rational, even when all she can think about is saving Clarke. She knows Indra and Eamon expect her to at least stay in Polis with the army while sending warriors to Ice and she will wait until they leave to show them otherwise. She can see in Abby's eyes that the same thing will happen here, the Chancellor is not going to stay behind, but she hasn't told Kane yet.

Her answer seems to be enough for her generals, at least for now. Bellamy is still grumbling about how they should do this on their own and she decides to step in before Abby loses her patience. She tells him what kind of fight awaits Arkadia if the trikru were not able to protect their lands, she tells him what kind of forces they're up against and in the end the boy finally shuts up.

Later they discuss a plan, how to move, how many people to take with them, and Bellamy's suggestions and his knowledge about the Sky People's forces eventually turn out to be useful as they consider how to proceed.

Lexa rides off back to Polis that same day – not caring about the sun setting soon –, Eamon at her side, leaving Indra with Abby to help lead the way to the place where they agreed on meeting few days from then, Lexa will be leading a small army, just some troupes, and Abby will bring some of her best shooters and other fighters.

The Chancellor leaves it to Bellamy and Indra, supervised by Kane, to assemble the men who are going to follow them in Ice.

As she watches Lexa ride away she wonders if she made the right choice. Is trusting Lexa the right choice for her people, is it the right choice for Clarke? Bellamy doesn't believe Lexa actually cares about Clarke, he thinks she only wants to win her war and they are her best chance. But somehow, and Abby can't explain it, she feels like Lexa is just as desperate as she is to save Clarke. She believes the Commander about her daughter being captured by the Queen, she doesn't think it could be a lie to have their help, and for some reason she also thinks Lexa will do anything to get Clarke back. It doesn't mean that she forgives the Commander or likes her any better, but she believes they want the same thing for now.

Kane tried to make Bellamy reason once they were alone, he tried to make him see that an alliance with the trikru in this war is what's best for them, and deep down he knows the older man is right. But Clarke is gone, she's in danger, she's broken and he can't help but blame Lexa. He needs to blame Lexa, because otherwise he would blame himself, he let her go away, he didn't look for her soon enough, hard enough, he didn't even know she wasn't in trikru lands anymore, Lexa did. So if he wasn't blaming the Commander, he would be blaming himself, and he can't do that right now, he has to concentrate on keeping his people alive when a war is coming, he needs to focus on saving Clarke, he can't have the weight of it on his shoulders, so he puts it on Lexa and does the best she can to make things right now. He hopes it will be enough to make right of his mistake.

When Clarke left he wanted to stop her, follow her, save her from herself, but he let her go because that's what she wanted, needed. He hasn't stopped cursing himself for it, but he also knows Clarke wouldn't have let anyone stop her from going. And now she's in danger and he's too far away to do anything, he's powerless and hates the feeling.

He keeps his mind on Clarke as he chooses the men with Kane, his eyes avoiding Indra and the memories she brings back, the betrayal that broke Clarke. He chooses the best men they have, desperate to make sure they win this fight.

Abby asks Raven to make radios, they may not work where they're going, but she'll surely give it a try.

They'll leave soon, they'll meet with Lexa and her warriors and they will follow her in the Ice Nation, they will fight their way to Clarke, they will kill the Queen if need to, they will get their Princess back.

Or at least she hopes they will.


...

Meanwhile Nyx, Faith, Wit and Rokh have finally caught up with Clarke and the soldiers.

If they're going to attack, they have to do so that night, the day after will be too late, and so they stop when the soldiers do and they wait. And the wait allows Nyx to think too much.

This is when she makes the ultimate decision. Risk her people to save Clarke, a stranger, or keep her people safe and let a friend go. Let a friend die.

Can she make such a choice? Her people or this girl who's willing to risk anything for them? Her family or this stranger who fell in their lives and gave them a fight to win?

She feels sick thinking that one mistake could lead to the death of so many innocent people, her people. One soldier is enough, if one soldier manages to get away he will report to the Queen and the revenge will be unforgiving, gruesome. They're only four, the soldiers are nine, it's more than two soldiers for each of them, and the woman who leads them doesn't seem to be an easy fight.

And they have to kill them quickly, before any of them can get a hold of Clarke to blackmail them, if the soldiers think they're going to lose they won't hesitate to kill the blonde and everything will have been for nothing. It's going to be hard, they could easily lose the fight, and everything else with it.

She thinks about Faith, she can't let her die, but she knows she can't stop her from fighting now. She'll tell the girl to stay behind and get Clarke as soon as the others attack the Queen's men, but she knows right after that Faith will join the fight and Nyx won't be able to protect her if she's fighting the warrior who bested Rokh. Is this really the right thing to do? Would Clarke want her to do this, to endanger Faith's life, innocents' lives, her friends' lives? Nyx knows that it's not what Clarke would want. So why is she doing this, shouldn't they stop?

Clarke told her to let her go, to protect her people, and maybe, just maybe, Clarke...