Rebuilding Ruin
Disclaimer: I don't own the 100 or its characters
Spoilers: All episodes of Season 1 and 2
Clarke surveyed the ice covered valley that lay before their army, sitting upon Stella she looked to her right to see Lexa speaking to Luna and Tov as they sat on their own horses on the other side of the warrior. The army stood behind them, one last ditch effort to attempt peace with Dara before destroying her and her army. Clarke would demand the woman's surrender to pay for her crimes and the succession of her young daughter as queen. At the highly unlikely chance the woman agreed, the army would be allowed to return home unharmed and peace would exist between the two clans.
They watched as Dara rode onto the field atop her white stallion, her black hair flying in the wind as she looked as regal as she always did. She paused when in the middle of the field and looked up at them as if waiting. Clarke nudged Stella forward and Lexa did the same with Nat, Luna and Tov stayed behind as did the leaders of the Mountain and Desert clans who had arrived the day before with many more warriors.
"Of course you come with the leaders of the other clans, you know you could not face me alone." Dara looked at Lexa, "this is your last chance Lexa, surrender your lands and the Skaikru weapons and I'll let you live."
Lexa steadied her horse as Nat moved slightly, "what you demand will not be given. The land belongs to my people, it is not mine to own and Skaikru weapons belong to Skaikru. We have no right or need for them."
The woman nodded, "perhaps that is true but you have little to offer for me to leave. I will offer you one last chance, the very last. If you do as I demand I will leave these lands and never return, you shall never have to see me again and your people will be safe from any attack. I swear that on my life."
"State your terms." Lexa requested with venom in her teeth. "What do you demand in order to leave these lands?"
Dara turned her attention to Clarke, "your pet, surely one woman is not worth so many lives. There are so many Skaikru, I am sure there is another that could soon warm your bed just as well."
Clarke merely glared down at the woman. "I have a counter offer for you."
"This will amuse me no doubt, do tell me what you have to offer."
"Surrender yourself to pay for your crimes and allow your daughter to take your throne." Clarke stated calmly, after the mountain nothing really scared her and definitely not the Azkru kwin. "Do so and we will allow your army to leave these lands alive, none will be harmed.
That caused laughter to erupt from the cold woman before she pulled on an icy mask. "What care do I have for these men when they fight for me? I tell them to kill and they kill, I tell them to die and they die. They are nothing to me so kill them all if you wish, I will only bring more to fight you."
Clarke nodded, "fine, you want war then you'll have war." She turned her horse around and rode back towards their army, Lexa merely glared at Dara as she followed her wife.
Once back on top of the hill that overlooked the valley did Clarke nod to Luna and Tov, indicating that the battle would go forward because the woman didn't surrender. The soft-eyed leader of the Boat People just shook her head.
"She is a fool."
Tov chuckled slightly, "no she is mad."
"Kwin!" Clarke turned her head to see a young second racing forward on his horse, he held out something in his hand and Clarke took it as he reached her. It was rolled up scroll, sealed with some type of wax and image in the black wax. "From Polis, from Council."
She broke the seal and unrolled the scroll, looking down at the writing. Realizing she couldn't read the writing due to it not being in English, the sky leader handed it to Lexa. "What does it say?"
"They give consent to rally the armies against Dara, the clans have demanded retaliation upon hearing that she wants their queen's head." She looked up at Clarke, "the clans have spoken against the Council, never has that occurred before. All unite against them, demanding war for Dara's own demand of your head."
The leader of the Desert clan leaned forward on his horse. "You are the beloved queen to the clans, all but Azkru. You delivered them safety from the mountain, stood beside Heda when all others are unable and have stood against Azkru Kwin with no fear when she demanded your head. You also were delivered by the gods, that reason alone makes you beloved to them as you were sent to help us learn and thrive."
"Does this help at all?" Clarke indicated to the scroll, "with Dara I mean?"
Luna shook her head, "the demand of your head means death and she will not surrender even at the expense of her people. She will not stop this war, not when she believes her own madness that she will win these lands and you as a prisoner."
"So we just go to war, even with the consent?"
"The Council has no say in these matters, only Heda." Tov turned to the sky leader. "It is a time of war so she leads, only in times of peace does the Council lead. Heda decides on matters such as these during war."
Clarke merely looked at her wife and Lexa pulled her sword from it's sheath to hold it in the air to signal the army behind her. Yelling made her turn her head to see ice warriors running towards their hill and Lexa kept her sword raised before lowering to the side just a foot in front of Clarke's face. She knew her wife would never harm her so she stayed still, waiting to see what would happen. Being aware of all battle strategies and plans was a good thing but Clarke remembered Lexa saying during the war with Mount Weather that plans didn't last long in battle so she'd trust the leader to do what she thought was right.
Explosions were felt and heard at the same time, Clarke watched a line of explosions go off in a matter of seconds. Warriors dropped dead to the ground and those behind them paused, stopping in their tracks. They looked between Lexa and their men before slightly backing up, as if expecting to be harmed as well if they neared the dead men.
Another swipe of her sword had Lexa pointing the blade at the foreign army and their own rushed forward with yells of jus drein jus draun coming from their throats. Lexa turned to three warriors behind her, her eyes bearing into their souls.
"Protect your queen, if I fall then I fall but her life is above my own."
"Sha Heda." They all stated with conviction as Lexa turned to look at Clarke.
"I need your spirit to stay where it is." Those were the only words Clarke spoke before Lexa urged her horse forward, Luna saying beside Clarke while the three others followed Lexa into battle.
Luna turned her horse, "come ai kwin, we return to the camp and wait for their victory."
Clarke turned her horse and rode away, glancing back to see Lexa jumping off her horse to fight one of the ice warriors. Three warriors, one of them Ryder, rode behind her to put a barrier between her and the battle.
As the sun rose high in the sky and fell towards the horizon, warriors slowly trickled back towards the camp. Clarke stood in the healing tent tending to the injured, assisting her mother through surgery as Abby had arrived that morning and set up a temporary surgical room. Ellia assisted her without question, the young second seemed to understand her duties were not the typical of young seconds as she varied from protecting Clarke on a journey, standing outside her tent to assisting where requested.
Lincoln walked in with Bellamy, both supporting Octavia as the girl limped and it was clear there was a knife in her upper thigh. Ellia quickly had her on one of the beds and was getting Clarke from where she stood preparing supplies.
"Octavia has been injured ai kwin." The girl nodded to the bed and Clarke picked up what she needed before heading to the bed where her friend sat.
"What happened?"
Bellamy shook his head, "she took the knife aimed for me."
Clarke examined the wound and nodded, "you're lucky it just caught muscle, a little more inside and you'd bled to death." She put cloths to the wound and pulled the knife out, quickly wrapping it to stop the bleeding. "Once it calms down I'll clean it and put an antibiotic on it."
"Ice warriors are dropping left and right." Bellamy stated as Clarke finished bandaging Octavia's wound. "It's like they don't want to fight anymore, they're afraid of us but they fear their queen more."
"Off surrender and sanctuary." She met Bellamy's eyes, "some of them are innocent, not all and they'll have to be judged one by one but not all deserve to die."
Bellamy gave a nod of understanding, "Lexa got back with us, it looks like she did something to her shoulder."
"Probably dislocated it again, the joint is flexible so she dislocates it often after a fight." Clarke rose and turned to Ellia. "I will tend to Heda, come find me if I am needed."
"Sha Kwin."
Clarke found Lexa standing before her map looking down at it while her arm lay in a sling. Placing a hand to the woman's back, she moved to her side and touched her arm. Lexa looked to the side and Clarke saw her face still covered in war paint and blood.
"Did Nyko fix it or do I need to put it back in place?"
"I trust your hands more than that of Nyko." Lexa let her peel the sling away from her shoulder and start removing the armor. "We won a victory today. Dara retreated, her army decimated by our forces and weapons."
The sky leader put the armor aside and watched her wife's soft face. "I'm giving you that warning you asked for last time."
"I am ready."
Clarke pushed her hand against Lexa's shoulder and held her back with the other, the force pushed the joint back into place. She retied the sling and brushed back Lexa's curls from getting caught in the cloth. After pouring water she wet a cloth and proceeded to wipe the blood and paint off of Lexa's face.
"How many have died of their wounds?"
"Between the efforts of Nyko, myself and my mother we've saved everyone." Clarke moved to rinse the cloth so she could finish the other side of Lexa's face. "My mother set up a small surgical area so she could perform surgery, saving warriors from life-threatening injuries."
"I am grateful for her healing skills." Lexa placed a hand to Clarke's side as the girl started to wash the other side of her face. "I am thankful you did not believe I would give you to Dara to save my people."
Clarke smiled at her, "you wouldn't, not knowing what she could do to me. Dara is different from Mount Weather, you know what she would do and why she does it. I had a chance of survival with the mountain, I wouldn't with her."
"You are my wife Clarke, beloved of the clans and to hand you over even for peace would incite only war." Lexa touched Clarke's face as the girl placed the cloth aside, "your death is my death, without you I am nothing and I desire to only meet you in the next life if you are not beside me in this one."
Swallowing hard, Clarke pulled Lexa closer and met green eyes. "If I die, I want you to live and lead our people. They can survive without me but they'll perish without you."
Lexa nodded and nudged Clarke's nose with her own, "I only demand one thing if you are to die one day before me."
"What's that?"
"Give me a child with your eyes so I do not find myself mourning you, instead watching you live on."
Clarke smiled at her, "we're in the middle of a war, I just turned eighteen and we've only been married three months and we haven't even had sex yet. I think a baby is the last thing we need to be discussing."
"If you wish to discuss death then it is something that must be discussed."
"You're the one who has been discussing death the last few weeks." Clarke turned to the maps but looked over her shoulder. "We'll talk about a baby after the war but it'll have to wait a few years."
"I look forward to the day we talk of our child." She moved to the map and pointed to the small rocky area beyond the trees. "She is there most likely, recovering from her losses and deciding what action to take next."
A/N: Of course the Council would approve war after it begun and of course Lexa would demand a baby in the middle of the war.
Next: When a life hangs in the balance, Clarke finds herself wanting vengeance and makes a move that no one sees coming.
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