Chapter 12:
They arrived at the meeting before the Old Ones. The Ice Queen had insisted on joining so the three of them awkwardly waited with Clarke checking her father's watch repeatedly despite the fact that it didn't work. Each minute they waited was another minute Raven was without the treatment she needed.
When York and Carolina finally arrived, Clarke jumped right in.
"Thank you for meeting with us." She started.
"Thank you for accepting our offer."
"We've accepted no offer." The Ice Queen told Carolina with disdain.
"You called us." York emphasized.
"I know." Clarke told them holding her hand out as if to stop anything that might happen. "We're interested in hearing more about your offer."
"Fine. What do you propose?" Carolina asked.
"I have someone in need of medical attention." I shared and avoided the Ice Queen's glare. "She's a 2-day walk from here, closer to 3. Our doctors can't do anything for her and she's going to die. I propose that I take you to her and you take her to your hospital."
"We can do that." Carolina agreed.
"And I'll come with you."
"Clarke!" Lexa wasn't prepared for that.
"I will come with you and see this place. I'll report back to the other clans what I find and they will decide what, if anything, they accept."
"Okay."
"There will be no obligation for them to accept anything from you regardless of what happens to my friend."
"Understood."
Clarke looked over at Lexa and took her hand.
"And my wife will come with me." Clarke stated, trying to make it sound like a natural expression of those words, which it definitely was not. Lexa looked at her slightly confused and then recalled that with the Ice Queen there, Clarke had to keep up appearances. Clarke also wanted the Old Ones to see a united front. The coalition and between two of its leaders. She was also kind of interested to try out that word since their earlier talk.
"You and your wife are more than welcome."
"And my guards?"
"You may bring as many as you feel you need, but we will bring you no harm. As I've said, we want only to help you."
"We do not need-" The Ice Queen started.
"Thank you." Clarke finished for her.
"How would you like to proceed?"
"You said you have vehicles."
"Yes, about 2 miles away from here." York said and pointed in the direction of the cars.
"There's a clearing we can take."
"It will take us further out, Clarke." Lexa said.
"It won't matter. We're in cars. We'll more than make up for the time." She told her and then looked at York. "Lexa and I will meet you at the cars with our stuff and we'll drive to Raven. How quickly can you get her to your hospital?"
"York is our pilot. I'll send him to the plane to prepare it. I'll drive you and then we'll fly back. We could have her there in hours."
"Good." Clarke stated.
"I am coming as well." It came from the Ice Queen.
Clarke turned to her.
"You want to come, come, but if you get in the way even once, I will not hesitate-"
"You threaten me, Sky Girl?"
"No, the Sky People and Woods Clan threaten you. With our clans united, you wouldn't stand a chance." She paused and looked at Lexa who nodded in agreement. "You can be on the right side of this and save everyone a lot of pain and death or you can be the cause of another war. You decide."
She appeared to be considering her options. She looked over at Lexa and then at their combined hands.
"I will send a general in my stead. It is better to be with my people right now with this alliance still so new."
"Excellent choice." Clarke half-mocked and then the three of them walked briskly back toward the capital breaking off once they arrived at Lexa's house.
"You did not tell me you intended on going with her." Lexa told her as they walked upstairs.
"I can't just let her go alone, Lex."
"You can send your mother. I can send a general as the Ice Queen is doing. They can report back. We do not need to go."
"Speaking of that Ice Queen, I thought you said she moved on."
"She has bonded with another. Two years ago."
"That doesn't mean she's moved on, Lexa. That girl still has feelings for you."
Clarke grabbed her pack. She'd packed it before the meeting. Lexa was in the process of packing a few things.
"It doesn't matter."
"She couldn't even go with us when she saw us holding hands. The idea of seeing us like that…"
"Her feelings do not matter to me. She is a necessary ally. That is all." She finished throwing items into her bag, which was pretty much always packed anyway in case she had to go into battle. "You know you have nothing to worry about. You are all I want and if she acts against you, she acts against me. It's as you said at the meeting. We are stronger than she is."
"I'm not worried about you and I. I'm worried that her feelings might cause problems for the alliance."
"Do not put that on your shoulders too. Tonight, just worry about your friend." She took Clarke's hand and kissed her gently.
Neither Clarke nor Lexa had ever been in a car before. It was what Carolina called an SUV model. They had been extremely popular before the bombs. It was clearly pieced together from multiple cars leading Clarke to believe they hadn't yet mastered car manufacturing. Lexa and Clarke sat in the back row. Two grounder guards were in the middle and one was in the front seat next to Carolina who was driving so fast, Clarke had to take Lexa's hand. This was the fastest she'd ever moved and she'd never been inside something with an engine on the ground.
They arrived and parked the car right outside of the camp. Camp guards were there to meet them. Clarke told Lexa to stay outside the camp for now. She ran inside while Carolina, the grounders and Lexa waited.
"Mom, how's Raven?" She asked running into medical.
"Clarke? How'd you get back so fast?"
"They had a car. I'm going to take her with me. Can she hang on for a few more hours?" Clarke looked down at the girl who had beads of sweat on her forehead. Wick was there. He wiped them away.
"I'm going with you." Wick said.
"There's no room." Clarke told him. "There's barely enough room for her. We're going to lay her across the back seat and-"
"How many people are with you?" Abby asked.
"The woman, Carolina, Lexa, and 3 guards."
"Leave one of the guards because I'm going with you." Wick announced.
"Leave two of them. I'm coming too." Abby said.
"That's not-"
"Clarke, I'm going. End of discussion." Abby said. "Give me 5 minutes to pack."
"Me too." Wick said.
"Fine. Just hurry." Clarke rushed and Abby gave instructions for the others to move Raven.
They all met at the car and loaded Raven into the back seat. Abby held onto the IV and had Raven's legs draped over her. Wick sat in the middle row seat next to the grounder guard and Clarke knelt between those two seats facing Raven so as to keep her from shifting too much with all the bumps on the non-existent road. Lexa sat in the front seat while Carolina drove. The guards they'd left behind would have to walk back to the capital on their own. Lexa gave them instructions to inform Indra of the change in plan.
The drive was bumpier than Clarke remembered, but it could have just been that she was responsible for Raven this trip. Lexa kept turning around to check on them while Abby kept checking vitals as best she could given the circumstances.
"Clarke, you know this might not work, right?" Abby told her after taking Raven's pulse again.
"I know, but we've got to try, mom."
"What kind of equipment do you have at the hospital?" Abby asked Carolina.
"I'm not a doctor, but it's fully functional. We have all the old equipment from before the bombs and we've come up with some new things along the way. Dr. Harker is the Chief over there. I'll refer you to him when we arrive. He's expecting you and has a room ready for your friend."
"You're putting a lot of trust in these people, Clarke." Abby whispered to her.
"What choice do we have?"
Abby had no response for that. They continued until they arrived at a flat, open space where there was a small aircraft waiting for them. Clarke had been on a ship most of her life. She'd been floating in space since birth, but the idea of going up into the air in a tin can suddenly made her nauseous.
They climbed out of the car and York helped load Raven into the plane. There were 10 seats plus a pilot and co-pilot seat. Raven was rested in between the rows of seats with Abby and Wick sitting on either side of her. Carolina took the co-pilot seat even though she told them she's not a pilot. Clarke and Lexa took seats behind them.
"You're not a doctor, you're not a pilot. What do you do, Carolina?"
"She's our head recruiter." York replied and looked over at Carolina while he moved the steering mechanism of the plane and it started moving forward.
"I'm also the president." She illuminated.
"You are the leader of your people?" Lexa asked her.
"For now."
"What does that mean?" Clarke asked.
"It means we use the old ways. That might be why your people call us the Old Ones." She smiled back at Lexa. "We have elections every 10 years. I was elected 6 years ago so I will be replaced with another president in 4 years."
"You are not a leader for life?" Lexa looked confused and turned back to the guard who sat behind Clarke. He looked confused as well.
"No, we had someone like that in the beginning. He proclaimed that he would rule until his death. He was deposed and imprisoned after 15 years when it was discovered he had been siphoning goods and money for himself and bribing other officials." She paused as the plane lifted off the ground. Clarke immediately reached for Lexa's hand. They intertwined their fingers and held on as the plane went above the tree line "Later, a president gave up her title at 12 years because she had aged and felt she could no longer be effective. We voted and decided after that to have a ten year limit for all presidents with no ability to be re-elected." Carolina continued, but no one was really paying attention. Abby and Wick were focused on Raven and the grounder guard, Lexa and Clarke were staring out the small windows into the night.
It didn't take long for lights to start appearing on the horizon. Lexa had fallen asleep and her head was resting on Clarke's shoulder. As Clarke spotted the lights through the window, she nudged Lexa awake.
"Well, we're getting close. We should be landing in about 20 minutes." York told the crowd.
"Good. We need to get her to the hospital immediately." Abby stated.
"How is she?" Clarke turned around and asked her mother.
"She doesn't have long unless we can get her what she needs." She listed off a few medications and some tests she wanted to perform.
"We should be able to make contact with the hospital by now with the radio. Come on up here and tell them what you need." Carolina offered the radio to Abby who handed Wick the IV that was running incredibly low and headed toward the front of the plane.
Clarke followed her with her eyes before looking at Lexa who was staring out the window over her.
"What do you think?" Clarke asked as she took in Lexa's wide eyes.
"Is this what it was like up there?" She asked.
"In the ark? Not exactly. There weren't that many windows and when we did get a chance to look through them, it was just a big ball of white and blue mostly. Not like this." The lights became brighter and they could begin to make out the shapes of tall buildings. As they drew closer, it was clear that some of those buildings were missing top floors. They hadn't gotten around to returning everything to its previous glory.
"This is the tricky part, folks." York exclaimed. Seats belts please."
Lexa looked confused. They hadn't put seat belts on for the takeoff so she didn't know what he was referring too. Clarke helped her put it on.
"Here." She clicked it in for her and then clicked her own in as well. She was hiding her own nervousness since it appeared Lexa needed her to be focused at the moment. She was looking around the plane and then back across Clarke to the window. Her breathing was fast and she was undoubtedly nervous. "Lex, it's okay." She held her face in her hands. "I've got you. Just look at me." Lexa's eyes met Clarke's and as the plane shifted down and even further still, they just stared at one another. There was a rumble and then the sound the tires scraping the earth. "Right at me." Clarke continued to hold Lexa's face and stare into the depth of blue.
When the plane started to slow, Lexa's breath did as well. Clarke let go and took her hand instead.
"Thank you." Lexa offered. "I've never…"
"I know."
"We're on the ground?"
"Yes."
She let out a breath she'd been holding in for a while.
"And we're here?"
"Yes."
"Fast."
"If this works out, imagine Lexa. You'd have access to planes and cars and-" Clarke started thinking about the big picture.
"Let's go." Abby yelled over the loud sounds of a plane shutting down.
"There should be a stretcher waiting for us." York stood and opened the door. "Here it is." He pointed outside the door where two men were waiting with a rolling stretcher to take Raven.
They unloaded her and started walking her toward a large white car.
"Ambulance." Carolina pointed out to Lexa who just looked at her.
"I know what an ambulance is." Lexa shared. "We may appear primitive to your people, but we know the stories of old. We know the ways of the people who came before us. We choose not to live them."
"You didn't choose, Lexa. You had no choice. Your part of the world was decimated by the bombs. It's amazing anyone survived the devastation and radiation. Our part was destroyed, but less so. We reached out time and again. We've been to many parts of the country trying to find people. Some have joined us. Others have refused."
"Why did they refuse?" Lexa asked as Wick and the two men lifted Raven's stretcher into the ambulance. They all climbed in. The guard followed York, Carolina, Lexa and Clarke toward another waiting car.
"The same reason your people have refused over and over. Change is hard."
Clarke watched the ambulance pull away.
"Change isn't hard." Clarke stated. "It's not easy either." She worried after Raven as she opened the door to the car to climb in. "It just is."
They all got into the car and it followed after the ambulance toward the hospital.