Chapter 26:
"Had you going, didn't I?"
"What's going on?" Clarke asked.
"He's a great actor. We used to put on plays in town. He was always the male lead." Brooklyn shared.
"He's working with them, Clarke." Lexa risked as the Ice Queen continued to hold the knife to her neck. "He's been on their side the entire time."
"But you killed Carolina." Clarke realized.
"Yeah, because she was a controlling bitch." He announced. "That woman has been trying to run my life since she killed my parents."
"You knew?"
"Of course I knew. Brooklyn told me years ago. I just put up with Carolina until I didn't need too anymore. Then, I took care of her." He answered.
"And for the record, we did give you guys a chance to join us before we called in these guys." Brooklyn referenced the Ice Nation. "When it was clear you wouldn't cooperate and you thought you could just take over running this place, we knew we needed to act. That radio York slipped to this one over here when we met at the capital paid off big time." She nodded her head toward the Ice Queen.
"We were more than willing to help." It was the Ice Queen. She removed the knife from Lexa's neck and took a step in front of her so Clarke could no longer see her face. "Your Commander here thinks that she can run this alliance and we will all fall into place. She thinks I will take her orders when I am a Queen with an entire nation of people behind me." She paused. "She is wrong."
"What did Brooklyn promise you?" Clarke asked.
"The run of the city. Once we've taken care of your warriors outside, no more will arrive. This place will belong to us." She detailed.
Clarke shook her head and laughed.
"You're her army. Nothing more. She needed you to get rid of us, but that's it."
"Nice theory, Clarke, but we'll make sure they're taken care of. You don't need to worry about it anyway." York shared. "You won't be around long enough."
"Part of the deal I made was to kill you in front of Lexa." The Ice Queen shared. "Just to kill her would have been enough, but to kill you in front of her will be so much sweeter. When I took Costia, it was almost a tragedy Lexa had to miss out on what I did to her. This time, she'll have a perfect view." The Ice Queen moved toward Clarke. Clarke could see Lexa shifting in her chair. She'd never seen her look so angry. Bellamy tried to free himself, but was unable. Lincoln and Octavia, Clarke could see, were doing the same. She stood still and waited for the woman to approach. She felt the knife gently touch through her shirt near her belly button. It was dragged up slowly toward her neck while the woman smiled at her. The knife stopped at the base of her neck. Clarke gulped.
"How long have you been waiting to do this?" Clarke asked her.
"Since the moment I met you, Sky Girl."
"It won't change anything." Clarke started. "She'll never choose you. You'll never be by her side… to rule…" She paused and smirked. "In any other way… It will never be you."
"Lexa doesn't matter anymore. After I kill you, I'm going to hang onto her for a while. I thought about killing her right after, but I want to watch her suffer this time. I want to see how losing you at my hand breaks her." She took in a triumphant breath. "And then I'll kill her."
The Queen lunged forward. The knife somehow only nicked Clarke. It fell from her hand as she fell into Clarke temporarily. The two guards holding Clarke released her to try to catch their Queen from falling. When they did, Clarke took a step back and let her fall all the way until they were at her side. Her back had a knife sticking out of it. Clarke looked straight ahead at Lexa, who was standing. She'd gotten herself out of her binds, but her hands looked bloodied. It took a second for everyone to figure out what had happened. By then, Clarke had dropped to the floor and grabbed her gun. Lexa had moved to Brooklyn and knocked her aside to grab her sword, which had been resting against a table. She held it to one of the guards. He let go of Bellamy and Bellamy took his gun back. It was like a game of dominos. One action, the knife in the Queen's back led to every other one. The shift in the room took only a minute, but when it was done, Clarke and Lexa were back in control, the Ice Queen was in pain on the floor and Brooklyn and York were both white as sheets. Clearly, they never thought they'd lose this battle today.
The Queen started to stand with the help of her guards. The knife had hit her shoulder, but it wasn't enough to kill her. Clarke suspected that when Lexa threw it, she'd meant it to go down like this.
"Glacia, you will die for this." Lexa told the room while staring at the Ice Queen. It was then that Clarke realized she'd never gotten her name before. "You will pay for this betrayal with your life."
"We both desire power, Lexa. What is wrong with that?" The knife was pulled out of her shoulder by one of the guards. She winced, but tried to hide it.
"I desire no more power than is necessary to protect my people. You have betrayed not only the other clans in the alliance, but your own people who are suffering at your hand outside and in the capital."
"No one is suffering in the ca-"
"They will be." Lexa pointed out as she walked toward her. Her eyes met Clarke's. She reached for her breastbone and touched her hand gently to the tattoo on her skin and Clarke understood her meaning as she approached Glacia. "Your people will die quickly. I cannot say the same for you. That cut will only be the first of many." She held her sword to the woman's neck. Glacia looked as indignant as ever, but with a hint of fear behind her eyes. Clarke thought about saying something about making Glacia suffer to Lexa, but for one, she made a deal that she wouldn't go against her in front of others and two, she really did want this woman to suffer. She leaned against the first reason for support for feeling the second reason. Her third reason may have been the most important. If Glacia lived, they would never be safe and if Lexa didn't follow the traditions of her people right now, they risked the entire alliance crumbling. "Lincoln, take her to the jail. Offer her no medical aid." She ordered.
"I'll go with him." Octavia stated.
Lincoln and Octavia took Glacia and pushed her out of the room while everyone else kept their eyes on her guards.
"Bellamy, can you-" Clarke started.
"I got it." He knew what she meant. He held his gun in the direction of the guards nearest Clarke. Kane followed suit and they ushered the guards behind Lincoln and Octavia and would lock them all up.
"Be careful out there. We don't know what's going on with-" Clarke started. Before she could finish Indra rushed through the door with blood on her face and armor and her sword high in the air. Her breathing was fast. "Indra, how-"
"We were victorious!" She shared. "Commander, it is good to see you." She said the moment she saw Lexa. Emotion rang through her face. It was clear she cared deeply for her Commander. "We lost men, but not as many as they did. The survivors from the Ice Nation will be executed by your orders."
"Follow the others with them. We will lock them up tonight. We'll prepare for executions."
"What's going on?" Raven asked when she entered with Wick from another door on the side.
"York and-" Clarke started to explain, but looked around and York and Brooklyn were no longer in the room. "What the hell?" She asked and then saw the opened back door. Just as she made it to the doorway, she heard their engine start and watched as they drove away.
"I repeat." Raven started. "What's going on?" She stared out the door along with Clarke.
"Long story." Clarke offered. "I'll fill you in later."
She turned and saw Lexa standing in front of her with sword sheathed and that blood congealed around her neck from the knife. Clarke felt like she could finally breathe again as she walked toward the woman she loved. She wrapped her arms around her neck and pulled her in. Lexa held onto her waist tightly and they breathed each other in.
"Are you really okay?" Clarke asked her.
"I am now." She replied.
"We'll get someone to look at that cut." She told her and pulled back to take a closer look at it. She ran her fingers across it and noticed it wasn't that deep, but she knew an infection was possible so if Lexa argued, she'd insist she see the healer.
"Okay. What are we going to do about Brooklyn and York?" She asked.
"They're on the run right now. We've got time to figure out our next move." Clarke replied. "Let's just get out of here."
Lexa nodded.
"Still waiting on an explanation here." Raven reminded.
Clarke started to fill them in as they walked outside toward what remained of the battle. The Ice Nation battle survivors were being picked up and pushed into the bus by the victors. There seemed to be very few left compared to the number that had arrived. Of course, that number could have been exaggerated. Clarke didn't know what to believe anymore. They'd be taken somewhere though. Indra would see to it that they would remain locked up until their punishments could be dolled out.
Lexa's hand slipped into Clarke's. She watched as the blonde's eyes took in the carnage. She squeezed her hand tightly. Clarke's thoughts returned to the mountain, to the battle before, to Lexa leaving her, to her father being executed, to her mother putting her on the ship to Earth, to every other memory all within a few seconds.
"It's okay." Lexa whispered into her ear. "We will put this behind us soon enough." She encouraged.
Several grounders nodded or bowed to Lexa as they passed by to get to a free car to drive back to the house. Wick got behind the wheel with Raven sitting next to him. Lexa and Clarke took the back seat. For the first few minutes, Clarke stared out the window as the city passed them by. It took a touch on her neck to turn her attention back toward Lexa. They exchanged no words, but their eyes understood the meaning. The fear had lessened, but would always be omnipresent for them both, the anger at York for his betrayal and Brooklyn and Glacia for the same, the joy at seeing one another again after fearing for the worst, everything was conveyed in a glance.
"Oh God, just kiss her already!" Raven had been watching in the rear view mirror.
Clarke laughed and Lexa smiled coyly. She rested her forehead against Clarke's and took a deep breath.
"Ai sonraun laik yu sonraun." My life is your life. "If something would have happened to you-" Clarke started to breathe fast.
"I know." Lexa interrupted. "We're alright. We're here." She gently pressed her lips to Clarke's. It was tentative. It was more about calming the girl in front of her down than a display of affection. "The alliance will be maintained. I will return to the capital and lead the charge against the Ice Nation and-"
"What?" Clarke pulled back. "You're leaving?"
"I must complete what we've started."
"Send someone else." Clarke told her.
"It doesn't work like that and you know it."
"Hey, we're here. You two wanna move this fight inside?" Wick asked.
The moment they were parked, Clarke jumped out of the car. She needed to breathe fresh air. She walked quickly for a few paces before stopping and putting her hands on the back of her head.
"Clarke, stop." Lexa ordered.
"We're just going to…" Raven faded and pointed toward the car. "Go help the others with the prisoners. Maybe try to put together a search for York and Brooklyn." She received no response from the girls staring at one another. "Yeah, okay. Sounds good, Raven. Don't work too hard or anything." She climbed back in the car and Wick drove off slowly at first. He had an issue getting out of reverse and into drive and then they were gone.
"We haven't even finished this battle and you're onto the next one." Clarke expressed. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"I didn't ask for this, Clarke."
"Yeah, I know. You were born for it." She expressed heatedly.
"That's not what I was talking about." Lexa offered and took a step forward. "I meant this battle." She paused and sat on the curb facing the street with Clarke still standing behind her with her hands placed on her hips in frustration. "I wanted this with you, Clarke. I wanted this place. I wanted no more war."
"Then-"
"Do you know how hard that is for someone like me?"
"To not want war?" Clarke was confused.
"To want peace and happiness? To think of myself over my people? I was trained for war. My entire life has been about war. Victory. Tradition. Alliances. Battle. Blood. That is what I was bred for." She turned around and motioned to the giant house behind them. "Not this."
"Did I force this on you?"
"No, but I am a warrior, Clarke. When a battle comes, I must fight. It is who I am." She paused and looked back out at the street noticing a crack in the pavement. "I love you. You almost died today because of that."
"I almost died today because of Brooklyn and York and Glacia thinking they should rule this place. They wanted power and they wanted to kill us to get us. I almost died today because they took you and I had to find you and I would have killed anyone I had to in order to-"
Clarke moved to sit down next to her on the curb.
"Passion." Lexa stated.
"What?"
"There's your passion, your fire. You didn't choose this battle either, but you fought it. We will both fight until it's over. It is who we are. We must stop pretending otherwise. It's dangerous. We let our guards down and look what happened."
"What did happen?" Clarke asked her wanting a moment away from their previous conversation.
"I stood outside for only a second when I felt something hit my neck. I passed out and woke up where you found me, tied to a chair." She started and then touched the puncture point on her neck. "They shot me with a poisoned dart. I fell asleep, but only momentarily. When I noticed they'd used rope to tie me up, I waited until they weren't looking and started working the ropes to untie myself. I wasn't left alone long enough to make any real progress until all attention was on you."
"That's how you freed yourself?" She looked down at Lexa's wrist, still slightly wet and red with blood and burn marks.
"The knife was on the floor." She explained. She reached out for Clarke's face and touched it gently. "I must go to the capital. I must meet with the other leaders and discuss the actions we must take against the Ice Nation."
"You can't kill them all, Lexa." Clarke shared. "It's not their fault."
"We will explore other possibilities, but they are no longer a part of the alliance. That is a necessity. I can take the survivors of the battle with me and get them far from here."
"You don't want to kill them?"
"Not the soldiers. Just Glacia. They were following her orders as my people would have followed mine. I will take them to the capital and have them disperse to their lands."
Clarke nodded and put her hand over Lexa's.
"My mom and the others should be arriving soon. You can head back on their plane. I'll stay here and figure out what we're going to do about York and Brooklyn."
"I will leave tomorrow then." Lexa supplied.
"I just got you back." Clarke said. Her head rested on Lexa's shoulder. "Do you really have to leave so soon?"
"I will never really leave you, Clarke." She took her hand and together, they stood and walked back into the house they shared.