Chapter Text
Lexa was in a daze, Clarke had kissed her, the annoying Skai goufa that wore the mountain glasses was groveling at her feet, the trouble making Skaikru were trembling in fear and at her mercy. Life was good. That was until someone tried to pry her precious Skai Prisa out of her arms. She snarled back into focusing noticing the scene around her.
Indra and Luna seemed ready to strike down those that would dare lay a hand on Clarke, Jasper’s sniveling lump included, Octavia and Bellamy had jumped back the moment she had reacted to them trying to get Clarke away from her and the Skaikru in general seemed to be fearful of what she would do next. That was the moment when the cries of mercy from the boy clicked
“-bumps on the head can do strange things and really we should have taught her that just because she has a butt gifted from the gods themselves, she really can’t go around making out with heads of state that command armies bigger than the fucking-“
“Em pleni!” She yelled.
She moved as if to hide Clarke behind her and could practically sense the eye roll she was sure had just graced the features of her precious, but thankfully the girl remained silent. She addressed the other Skai branwadas then, with a special focus on Jasper
“I will escort Clarke back to my cabin where she can rest from her injuries and won’t be disturbed by your tortured screams.”
“Wait what!?” Jasper exclaimed
“Uhhh…” Monty was searching futilely for a way out of this mess even as the group of friends proceeded to back up to the tent entrance
“Wait! No, no, no. Lexa!”
The Skaikru gasped as Clarke boldly addressed the great uniter of the Coalition of the now 13 clans. Raven made to move forward, as if to clamp a hand over the sick girl’s mouth but Lexa’s warning snarl was enough to send her reeling backwards. Still she tried to help the Commander see reason
“Commander, please-“
“Not now Raven, I got this, Lexa-“ Clarke retorted
“Clarke.” Lexa began
“Clarke maybe you shouldn’t-“
“Not now Bellamy, trying to save your asses. Lexa-“
“Clarke-“
“Monty, you too?”
“We’re just concerned about what you may-“
“Monty I think she’s got this.”
“But Miller I-“
“Look guys, leave! Lexa-“
“No stay, have them tied up in the stockade-“
“Lexa!”
It was at this point that Ryder and Linus were trying to assess who they feared most if it came down to the leaders issuing different orders. Lexa couldn’t really blame them for any hesitation, she ordered them to listen to Clarke as if she was Heda. In any case they hoped they’d live to see another day.
“Clarke! Ai hodness beja.” Clarke sighed in exasperation, not only was this conversation going nowhere, but was Lexa really making puppy eyes at her to try to get Clarke to agree to her friends’ possible torture?
“No Lexa,”
“But he physically harmed you and they had you detained for spirits know how long! Then they betrayed my trust by attempting to distract me with the few Skaikru I was beginning to like.”
Somewhere in the background she could hear Octavia mumble something about precious cinnamon rolls for the win, “They compromised your safety and health, as well as the stability of our peace within the Coalition. What if something had happened or an emergency required your assistance as a leader or a healer? They must be punished Klark.”
Clarke nodded resigned, of course they would have to be taught some kind of lesson but at least she could make sure they didn’t receive any permanent physical damage from it.
“Leksa, I agree, but no tying my friends up on a tree, please.” She gazed as deeply into the Commander’s eyes as she could and Indra almost scoffed at the silent interaction
“Very well.” Not trusting her to agree so easily Clarke spoke again
“And no maiming them.” She noted her shoulder slump slightly but it wasn’t enough
“Leksa, the punishment shouldn’t include causing them any kind of bodily harm, directly or indirectly. They’re fragile space born bodies couldn’t handle it.”
The Commander sighed, “Fine hodness. They will not receive bodily harm for assaulting you and then hiding you from us.”
“No, no they will not be bodily harmed for any reason ever, unless like they try to stage a coup or create a sentient life force that threatens to herald back the nuclear age that sent the old world people into space in the first place.”
The only look the Commander was capable of giving in that moment was one of astonishment.
Raven awkwardly asserted, “Oddly specific but I’ll take it.” She subtly threw out a hard drive and stomped on it. The only words drawn on was a crude looking ‘A.I’
Before the situation could dissolve further, raucous yells of “Heda!” were heard from outside the healing tent.
A rigid body stalked through, a familiar stoic mask in place. The burly set of their shoulders screamed of their strength and the way they carry themselves speak of regalia and power.
“What the-?”
Elena is cut off when the beast hurdles towards her and encases her body with his own. Bright green eyes, slightly darker than her own, glitter with amusement.
“Were you saying something little one?”
Only muffled remarks could be heard and Clarke chuckled as El’s scathing glare cut from the man currently giving her what could only be described as a bear hug, to Clarke and Lexa’s unhelpful countenance.
“Ah don’t think you won’t get it good too sestras.” He said gazing up at the Commander and Skai Prisa.
The girls’ eyes widened and Elena smirked, feeling his arms subtly loosen his hold from her right before he pounced.
Somehow he had managed to capture them both into his strong arms. Lexa rolled her eyes as the blonde’s chuckles escalated into full on laughter.
“Are you sure he isn’t secretly Skaikru? Maybe we missed it when he fell from the Sky. Less of an explosion.”
Indra and Luna nodded their heads in assent as the woman behind the new arrival stepped from behind him.
“Hmph, and what are you doing here?” Elena snarked
“Is that anyway to address me Seken?” the woman with the tall cheekbones and accented eyes crossed her arms. Her braided dirty blonde hair, held back the headband around her forehead and sword hung limply at her side.
“Please I haven’t been your Second in years granny. I know your memory can get bad with old age and all but…”
Before the older woman could pounce Lexa had decided she had enough, “Em pleni, Elena,” Nodding she turned her head in greeting, “Onya, Kaiden, what brings you all the way from Polis?”
At that the giant man let go of the two women and clasped hands with Luna, Indra, Ryder, Echo, Lincoln, Octavia and Linus. He only gave a small dip of his head to the others as they seemed very wary of him, even as Octavia asserted his coolness despite being the brother of the woman that wanted to harm them within reason, and the fact that he was quite huggable.
Anya huffed and relaxed her posture, she would refrain from harming Heda’s sister, for now…
“When you called Linus away from his recovery I grew worried. Then I learned those two trouble makers had left ahead of schedule as well.” She said gesturing to Elena and Luna who glared
“The next thing I know, a scout informs me that someone is posturing as me in TonDC, the Skaikru are growing more dangerous in their rituals and the young Sekens believe we must fight the so called BritishKru. Naturally the council grew worried, when they are worried they drive me insane. I decided to remove myself from their presence. Of course this nut came with me.”
Kaiden raised a brow in amusement, very like his sisters and spoke, “When we arrived we were ushered into this tent by Naiko saying the alliance with the Skai people was breaking and that Klark had been gravely injured if Heda’s expression and the later yelling was anything to go by. I am glad to see you in one piece Klark.” Kaiden and Clarke shared a smile
“So am I big guy.”
“So,” Anya drawled resting her hands on her hips, “Care to explain?”
Lexa sheepishly refused to meet her mentor’s eyes, Clarke blushed but otherwise had a smirk on her face and her friends were stealthily trying to sneak out of the large medical tent.
Octavia and Raven had slowly backed up all the way to the tent flaps but suddenly found a warm wall blocking their entrance. A wall in the shape of the Trikru healer, Nyko.
He grunted in response. Without turning away from her former second Anya bit out, “I believe you are all needed in this explanation, Reivon, Okteivia.”
The girls gulped at the barely restrained growl, Jasper still hadn’t dared to move from his kneeling position and was beginning to acutely feel the hard ground digging into his knees. Even the tiniest adjustment he made to his stance made Lexa and Indra snarl in aggression. Lexa stopped at the feel of Clarke’s hand on her lower back but Luna was once again pointing her trident dangerously close to his face. Echo rolled her eyes in exasperation
“Honestly it’s a long story.”
Anya regarded the once Azgeda gona closely, “I have a lot of time and I don’t believe we’ve met,”
“Ekko once Azgeda, now kom Trikru. I was freed from the mountain and granted asylum after the war. To make a long story short, those goufas,” she said gesturing to the sky people, “got drunk one night from a game of Never Have I ever.”
Kaiden guffawed having participated in this game before with Klark and his siblings in Polis. Needless to say they had all gotten extremely, ‘wasted’. A drunk Heda rarely had eyes for anyone besides Klark or had any kind of logic and reasoning skills except pertaining to all things, blonde haired and blue eyed. More than once she had incorrectly identified her guards whilst stumbling back to her home.
Echo kept on after glaring at the interruption, “during which Klark seemed to have let slip that she was seeing someone. Apparently the Skaikru are blind to obvious signs of Trikru courtship, something I have experience with first-hand, and were confused as to who her lover was.”
“Very true, they are blinder than the winged creatures that inhabit the tunnels.” Indra asserted,
“I had thought them smart enough to leave it alone until they decided to find out for themselves. Their various plans included inebriating the Hedas, questioning the warriors by loosening their tongues with their moonshine and most recently kidnapping Klark in hopes that her lover would rescue her.”
“I see, it still does not explain why Luna was supposedly sporting herself around as me.”
Lexa rubbed her neck embarrassedly, “That would be my fault Onya. In the darkened forest and in my apparent state of….drunkenness, I had mistook Luna for you.”
The two similar heighted, braided haired warriors eyed each other, “I am failing to see how Heda.”
The red headed leader of the boat people remarked, her amber eyes meeting her sister’s own. Ryder scoffed but quickly covered it up as a cough when Kaiden nudged him roughly.
“Something to add Ryder?”
The hulking beast shrunk back into the furthest corner of the tent by Linus. “No Onya, no.”
The Commander snorted, “In any case something must be done to this sniveling, idiotic, reckless, cowa-“ Lexa interrupted her own tirade at Clarke’s pointed look, “the branwada will clean out the stables for a month. Indra, assign a warrior to oversee his punishment.”
“Sha Heda.”
“So am I the only one that’s going to address the fact that the woman we all thought died the night we got Clarke back from Mount Weather is really alive?”
Anya ignored Octavia’s outraged cries and turned to her sister and Elena.
“Come Luna, El, less their insolence rubs off on you. Gona, I would know more details of what happened while I was gone.”
“Sha Anya.” Luna readily agreed and Elena followed. Echo shrugged as she trudged behind them obviously bored now that Jasper was not to be tied to the tree.
“You know my sister has a point, she was shot, in critical condition. Jackson had to stay by her until the alliance was finalized just to keep her heart beating before the Trikru took her away.”
“Anya is one of the most stubborn people I know, even more than Klark.”
“…Hey wait a minute, I am not-“
“I think what Heda’s trying to say Griffin, is that Anya’s gonplei ain’t gonna be odon till she says so.” Raven theorized.
The Commander nodded in agreement thankful that at least one of the sky people understood her meaning. She knew there was a reason she had kept the mechanic around despite her random explosions and tests.
“It is best you all leave now before I recall how many of you were involved in what resulted in Klark being hurt.”
They all hastily nodded, Octavia with a, “Sha, Heda.” As they left the two leaders, figuring in Clarke’s injured state the Commander wouldn’t harm her for the unexpected kiss.
--
“Hodness beja, rest. I will transport you to the cabin soon.”
Lexa had noted that the girl had crumpled in on herself well before Anya and Kaiden had arrived. The man in question went to Clarke’s side and gently lifted her into the cot.
“Mochof, Kaiden. I’ll rest Leksa, honestly, I think that kind of too all the energy from me.”
Lexa went to the bedside and kissed her cheek softly.
“I’ll get you some food.”
“No sestra.” Lexa looked up into her adopted brother’s warm eyes, “Allow me, you have had a longer day than I have of travel.”
Instead of arguing she silently communicated her thanks. The man brought them a tray filled with sliced pork, leafy greens and rice before bidding them a good evening and the promise of lunch with them in the morning.
It was endearing in a way. How Lexa would constantly ask if she needed anything and kept refilling her cup with drink and offered to chew her food for her so she wouldn’t have to sit up as much…ok maybe not that last thing that was actually pretty gross to think about.
“Leksa, calm down, I was just a bit dizzy earlier I’m not dying.”
She said after the Commander had called on Nyko to ensure she was able to walk for the fifth time. Lexa had begun to carry her but Clarke insisted she could walk fine on her own. As much as she was loving this side of her Commander she was still capable of certain things. Although feeling those strong arms lift her all the way to their cabin was enticing but no, no, she was focused and determined to not be seen as completely incapable. Especially with Anya around.
That woman was a harsh trainer and had helped Lexa make her stronger while in Polis. In a way she could see why she was such a good mentor, someone people could aspire to and want to impress. It was a wonder she loved teaching so much or else she could have been the leader of the boat people instead of her sister Luna. It was only because their father had died so suddenly while out at sea that the sisters had been called to lead. While young, Luna believed herself ready and Anya agreed despite being older. She had never really wanted that much responsibility. She decided being a high ranking general was enough.
“Klark I only-“
“I know, you’re worried.” She said, soothing Lexa’s furrowed brow with her fingertips, “Come let’s go so I can get a proper rest.”
She said donning a grounder jacket and pants left for her.
She was able to walk at least half the distance before the feeling of inertia hit her again, but Lexa was there, steady by her side with an arm around her waist, tucking her securely into her body.
“You know this kind of makes it harder to walk in a way, slower too.” As they tried to angle their feet to not bump into each other
The brunette hushed her and kissed her hair, “It takes as long as it takes.”
--
The morning brought with it the freshly radiated dew drops on the grass, birds emerged from their nests and the creatures of the forest came alive with a renewed vigor. Almost as if they could sense what the day would bring.
Jasper grumbled all the way from his tent to the stables. Not only did Indra nearly give him hypothermia by dumping ice cold lake water on his sleeping form, she then proceeded to take his clothes off which was a scarring enough experience, I mean yeah low-key she’s pretty hot but he really wasn’t into their whole age gap and plus she looked like she would only want to cremate him on her good days.
“So, uh…what’s up with this weather am I right?”
“Hmph”
To make matters worse the grounders assigned to watch him was…less than talkative. It was really making life bland. Horse shit and no one to appreciate his comedic genius, this was truly torture. Score one Heda.
His day got surprisingly better after a very persistent weight on his bladder became known. “Yo Vyn, Tidey, it’s cool if I go to the little’s boy’s tree right?”
At the immaculately unimpressed raised eyebrow from Tidey the lanky boy tried again, “I gotta ‘relieve myself’ can I…you know.”
He said gesturing to the nearby treeline, “If you must.”
He let out a little whoop before sprinting off to a more private area. He tripped in his haste to relieve himself, causing a cloud of dust to burst from the plants he landed in. Looking up he came face to face with a magnificent creature.
“Oh my goodness gracious me.” He quickly scrambled to his feet and high fived himself, need to pee forgotten.
“I’m going to go down in the history books for this, Jasper Jordan, world explorer and genius proves unicorns exist hah, Monty’s gonna freak!” He took off after the now frightened animal, determined. Maybe by capturing this he could prove his prowess to the Commander and get some time off his punishment too.
--
Lexa woke refreshed as the sun rose. A contented sigh left her as the blonde beside her burrowed impossibly closer on her chest. Clarke was lying on her stomach, a leg between her own and one arm squeezing her closer. Using Lexa’s chest as her pillow.
The tattooed leader was sprawled on her back, one arm stroking patterns in the supple flesh of Clarke’s bare lower back. She only paused when she felt her shiver but the girl remained asleep. She would need much rest for her head injuries.
An irritated grunt left her as sounds of a scuffle came to her ears. She blew out a huff as the sounds escalated and fearing that they’d disturb her prisa, she carefully extracted her limbs and dressed in simple cotton shorts and a long sleeved black shirt.
She was not expecting what greeted her but then with the Skaikru she supposed nothing was ever expected meaning she should always expect everything in any case. Still.
Ryder was detaining a struggling Monroe while a few Sekens were sprawled haphazardly on the ground only feet away from her cabin. Harper seemed to be trying to calm her friend to no avail. At her approach everyone except the braided Skai girl had grown silent. The Seconds quickly stood and tried to mask their pain.
She held up a hand to silence her warriors and gestured to Harper instead, “C-Commander, I apologize in her behalf. When Monroe drinks she tends to either blackout or get violent. I’m afraid you can see which one occurred. When I failed to detain her these warriors tried to intercept her before she could get too close to your cabin and then your guard stepped in.”
Lexa sighed bringing two fingers to press by her eyes, when would the Skaikru moonshine festival end?
“Perhaps tiring her would be in our best interests,” she signaled into the trees where more of her guards were waiting, two warriors appeared, a male wielding a spear and the other one, a female with dual swords, she addressed the higher ranking warrior, “You two get Indra for me, Jude tell her it’s important.”
They bowed and headed out, “How do you think she’ll get Indra to punish her?” Jude questioned her fellow Trikru, “Well she could make her sleep on your beloved couches, there is one of them that was especially wet.”
“Oh yeah, I had a really good heart to heart the other night, tears were flowing, maybe some snot.”
“…I’m never sleeping over by you again.” He said as he hurried his pace
“Aw come on! Lordo wait!”
“Nope Kaiden is my friend, I’m staying with him where everything is clean and snot free!”
Lexa face palmed at the ridiculous interaction. Truly these Skaikru influences were getting to be most…troublesome and far reaching if her most skilled guards were being influenced as well. She knew much about the detested couches, how one could enjoy them she would never know.
It was some time before she convinced Indra to just duel the girl until she tired or lost. It’s was Harper’s suggestion that the loser be tied to a tree in case she wasn’t able to get everything out of her system.
Monroe only agreed provided the loser got to chug a bottle of moonshine in one go. Harper figured she couldn’t get much more hyper and that if she didn’t blackout she would at least be too wobbly on her feet to cause anymore trouble. How were they to know that Indra would lose…
--
Clarke awoke to an empty bed and complete silence. Like complete and utter silence. If she strained her ears she could barely make out the sound of steel meeting steel and soft grunts. Dressing quickly she left the cabin and made her way towards the village only to stop short at the slowly gathering crowd of people. Spotting familiar braided hair she made her way to the Commander’s side to watch what had everyone’s rapt attention.
Standing between Lexa and Elena’s dumfounded expressions she found Monroe and Indra breathing harshly in a full on fight. Was Indra actually tiring? How in the hell was Monroe matching her blow for blow? If she didn’t know better she would think the two women were trying to kill each other. It was soon she realized how her friend was managing to gain an edge on her opponent. Her stumbling legs and awkward stance made her every move basically impossible to predict. She was twirling and leaping around like a fucking ballerina and damn was Indra getting pissed.
The experienced grounder lunged and parried every blow with exceptional speed considering there was no telling where Monroe would strike next. The short haired brunette struck out with her training sword and barely missed grazing her opponent who literally tripped over her feet and fell backwards, twirling to land on her hands and feet with her back in the air unguarded. Seeing her opening Indra made to kick the girl down and end this but the girl rolled onto her back and grabbed the extended limb, pulling Indra off balance. She just had time to reach down and break her fall with her arms. Before they could blink Monroe had brought her blunted sword to Indra’s side and the match was decided.
Roars and cheers erupted applauding the winner. Lexa held up a hand to quiet the excited yells as it was still fairly early in the morning and some members of the village, including the elders, still rested.
“Indra, do you accept your loss?”
She lifted her head from where it hung in defeat, “Sha, Heda.”
Indra had lost and she was exceedingly angered by this fact. Like any honorable warrior she accepted her fate but still growled as Jude approached her with rope to escort her to a tree.
Clarke could only sigh knowing this would do little to improve her friends’ status in the eyes of Indra, Anya and Luna.
“I don’t suppose there’s any way that we could NOT find out what the effects of moonshine will have on Indra after chugging a whole bottle in one go.”
Elena shook her head forlornly as Lexa replied, “She accepted the conditions set forth. As a general, it would be a grave dishonor to not go through with it now.”
“Of course it would.”
Noting the tone in her voice Lexa turned to her, “It is-“
“Our way I know I just, kind of hoped for a peaceful day you know?”
It was true, between the past few days they had both been busy whether in meetings or spending time with Clarke’s well-meaning but at times brainless friends. Monroe was precariously swaying on her feet, about to teeter over.
“I know…” Perhaps she could do something to fix that
They watched from afar as the seconds refused to get near Indra’s mouth with the bottle despite the fact that she was tied up. Elena quickly stepped up smirking, “As the Skaikru say, bottoms up!”
Monroe’s glassy eyes finally seemed to focus, she felt powerful. She had single handedly defeated the great Indra, she was invincible. Today would be a good day for her and no one was going to stop her. Today, would be epic.
--
Said sky people had gathered dejectedly around the tables, food untouched on their plates, though their cups were filled with a clear liquid that Lincoln suspected was not water. A few like Bellamy had sent up a thankful prayer that things hadn’t turned out worse. Harper had joined them soon after the sparring match between Indra and Monroe ended.
“-and you know the worse part about all this? We went through all that trouble, came this fucking close to being tortured and we still have no clue who the heck Clarke has been seeing this whole time!”
Lincoln looked at his love as if she was the one that had sustained the head injuries. Surely she couldn’t still be wondering who Clarke was with. The Skaikru couldn’t be this dense…right? He saw Bellamy bring a palm to his face from across the table before meeting his eyes. They shared a look in solidarity, he knew.
“Don’t you all think it’s time we leave well enough alone? If we don’t know now then until Clarke tells us we may never know.” Miller exclaimed finally fed up
“What if Clarke has told us?”
“Oh come on Monty not-“
“No, hear me out here Miller. What if she wasn’t delusional or sick? What if it wasn’t her head injury talking? What if she really was with the Commander…with Lexa?”
Raven and Octavia erupted in raucous laughter, plucking a few chuckles from Wick and Harper, “Omg Monty, that was a good one.” Raven giggled out
At his serious face they quickly sobered their expressions. Miller looked perplexed but otherwise seemed to agree with the boy’s sentiments, “You can’t be serious? Clarke and-“ Raven could hardly finish her sentence before Octavia spoke up
“No way, you mean the soft glances,”
“the lingering stares...we were right about the heart eyes!,”
“those long ass meetings!”
The girls shared a look
“I mean she has always treated Clarke differently but I always assumed it was because she was our leader, sure she doesn’t treat the Chancellor or Kane that way, but Clarke was the one that lead us when we were first fighting and decimated 300 of her troops. I figured their respect for each other just grew from there after the Alliance was formed.” Harper mulled it over more in her head
“Yes it did grow, but into what is the question.” Monty countered
Octavia looked around the table incredulously, “Aw come on, I think we’d notice sooner if the secret squeeze was actually…”
She trailed off noticing her brother’s slightly guilty face, “The fuck Bell?”
He played with his fingers nervously, “Well earlier yesterday I was looking for Clarke and I couldn’t find her so I went looking for the Commander instead and um…I found Clarke.”
“Woah there, what do you mean you found Clarke?” Raven asked leaning over the table towards him
“I mean I went to the Commander’s cabin, the big guy stopped me and after arguing with him Clarke came out dressed in shorts and a tank top looking like she just woke up.”
“And when exactly were you planning on sharing this information with the group?” Then Octavia caught Lincoln’s eye, “And why the heck do you not look surprised?”
He looked down abashedly, “I am sorry love but Heda expressly forbade me from telling even you. I saw the stares Leksa was giving Klark over the campfire when we attempted to get them both drunk. It was stronger even than the looks she and Costia shared. After seeing that there was no doubt as to who the secret squeeze was.”
Octavia dropped her head to the table and let out a long sigh, “I can’t believe my idiot of a brother,”
“Hey!”
“And my boyfriend knew before me.” Raven sympathized, rubbing a hand up and down her back soothingly
“Wow Clarke and the Commander. That sneaky little motherfucker!”
Harper shook her head, “No I think you mean Commander-fucker.”
Octavia perked up at that, “Hedajoka?”
Raven frowned, “How about Heda fucker? That sneaky Heda fucker!”
Lincoln looked around panicked, hoping none of the Trikru would take their way of speaking as disrespect and attempt to protect Clarke and Lexa’s honor.
Miller guffawed, “It’s true what they say, no one can resist the Griff.” They all shrugged in agreement
“A toast to the magnificently fine powers of the Griffin genes and ass!”
Lincoln watched as they all downed their large cups in one go and in unison threw them down onto the table yelling for “Another!”
This was going to be a looonnggg day if they were going to keep throwing back moonshine like that.
Elena joined them then, looking around in bemusement, “You looked like you had fun forcing Indra to guzzle that drink.”
She inclined her head, not denying it, “I loosened the ropes a bit at least, I’m not all evil.”
“That isn’t water is it?” She asked the gentle giant. He shook his head
“Well then, sign me the fuck up!” She said reaching for a glass.
--
“Mission log, It has been approximately,” he looked up at the sun, “a long time since I have encountered any trace of the unicorn.”
He hoped over a root and pressed an ear to the tree bark next to him, letting nature guide his footsteps
“Food and water has been abysmal since I left camp with neither, the night draws near.”
Finally breaking the tree line he stumbled upon a known landmark, the lake. He was close, to what he couldn’t be sure but he knew what he needed lay just around the river bend. Waiting, just around the river bend. He looked once more beyond its shore before charging into the freezing depths. The unicron was close, he could taste it.
“Sounds of celebration and the smell of smoke has drifted near on more than one occasion but I hold fast. Nothing will deter me from this path.”
The wind picked up bringing with it the smells of life back from the village. Life and songs, dancing and…he looked to the sky, oh a bonfire! Was that bacon?
“Change of plans Mission log, the grounders have bacon I repeat the grounders have bacon, 10-4. This is Jasper signing out.”
He spoke into his radio despite the fact that no one was listening. He started off at a sprint towards the lights of the large fire, hollering at the top of his lungs, “BELLAMY, WICK THERE’D BETTER BE SOME BACON LEFT FOR ME!”
His sprint was firmly halted when he tripped over a fallen body, he spit out the earth that entered his mouth and turned to kneel before the Trikru member, “Yo buddy you ok there?”
He turned the man over to find it was in fact Vyn! One of the warriors that was supposed to ensure he did his punishment today…oh he was going to be pissed. Now he would have to detail why he should not be punished more but instead be rewarded by the golden ambrosia of fried pig bits. Hearing the guy groan he quickly piped up, “Hey Vyn, buddy, look I know I kind of abandoned you back there and didn’t finish the punishment. Hell I did it for like five minutes. Point being you have every right to be mad at me for skipping out BUT, there was a reason.”
Taking his grunt of pain and annoyance he took it as a sign to continue, until the smell of bacon wafted over his nose, “which I will get right back to explaining in a moment.” He jumped up, dropping Vyn’s head back to the ground and ran until he passed the tree line
“GUYS I FOUND A UNICORN, NOW WHERE’S THE BACON!?”
He froze seeing all the eyes of the villagers and warriors turn towards him in unity. Most were shirtless, all had war paint. What he thought was a giant bonfire was actually a bunch of smaller spread out fires.
A loud voice rose from their frenzied faces, “You heard my brother, they hide like cowards in the woods! WE MUST HUNT THE BRITISH UNICORNS!”
Monroe and Indra roared past him on majestic stallions, Monroe waving a red flag with reckless abandon. The warriors behind her began the stampede towards him. He ran until his feet left the ground and he felt himself hurtling upwards.
Looking up he saw Bellamy, one vine in hand as they landed clumsily on a tree branch, “Woah dude that was some amazing Tarzan like-“
“Tar who?” Lincoln questioned
“Nevermind that Linc. Jasper, where’s Octavia?” he demanded grabbing him by his jacket sleeves
“How the heck would I know? I’ve been out hunting unicorns all day!”
“Unicorns? I thought they were only a myth…” Lincoln looked dazed
“Did you truly see one Jasper of the sky people?”
“Yes, I wouldn’t have risked my life for bacon if I hadn’t”
The two other men gave him a pointed look, “…ok maybe I would.
The sound below them alerted them to Wick’s presence, Lincoln hauled him up to their branch, “Ok good news is I found the radio, bad news is…”
He turned it on and the sounds of periodic grunting and moaning that strangely reminded them of Clarke.
“Drill au Hed-“
Lincoln grabbed the offending piece of technology and threw it to the ground, jumping from the tree to stomp on it and then curled up into a ball. He prayed to whatever spirits listened that Heda would forgive his crime and not chop off his ears.
--
Abigail Griffin had just finished cooking brunch and sat down in her private quarters awaiting her guests arrivals. A few days ago Clarke had sent a message saying she and the Commander had something important to discuss. She put emphasis on the fact that this was not a formal meeting and a conversation over food would work fine.
Instead of getting food from the central café area she decided to try a hand at cooking, after all she couldn’t remember the last time Clarke let her cook for her. Which was why she was surprised when Marcus stepped into the room instead of say, her daughter and the Commander.
“Abby we’ve got something you need to look at.”
His tone left no room for argument, this was an official matter. He led her to the gate where Sergeant Miller was trying to calm a panicked Trikru girl, she immediately donned her Chancellor face.
“Sergeant what’s the problem here?”
The elder man breathed in relief, “Abby, this is Camille. She said she would only speak to you.”
The girl in question was wearing a sleeveless top, she had long hair and a paler complexion than most members of the Trikru but she was still tan.
“Chancellor, you must hurry! We must hunt the enemies, the Britishkru, they took the Hedas while we were away from camp!”
“They took Clakre!?”
“Wait, who is the enemy?” Abby didn’t give the girl time to reply to Marcus’ question as she leapt onto the nearest horse and galloped through the gates with the girl.
He shook his head and ordered Sergeant Miller to follow with a team of guards, this was trouble.
After some hard riding Marcus had caught up to the worried mother, the state of TonDC was nearly enough to give her a heart attack.
“Oh my baby! Clarke! Clarke are you here?”
He pulled her away from the burning fires scattered randomly throughout the area and looked upon the slumped bodies, covered in dirt lying motionless on the ground.
“Clarke!”
She was frantic now prancing through the wreckage, “Uughh.” She heard the groan and immediately ran to flip the breathing person over. She was surprised to find none other than Raven
“Raven!” she hugged the mechanic tightly to her chest and let a few tears into her shoulder before she registered that the girl was struggling in her grasp, her mouth being muffled from where it was pressed to Abby’s chest.
“Geez mama Griff, I know you guys are irresistible but please lower the volume.” She said in a quiet mumble
A body moved over revealing none other than Octavia who threw a thumbs up in agreement, the bodies around them came to life steadily agreeing with a vow of silence and returned to their resting states.
“Wait, are you all…” she trailed off and brought her face nearer to Raven’s, then inhaled and moved away in disgust, “Are you all drunk!?”
An echo of “Ssshhhhh” encircled them from the many bodies on the ground
“They’re hungover aren’t they?”
“So you’re telling me that the Commander and Clarke were kidnapped from their drunken hands?”
“Wait what, those two are fine.” Raven shot up only to hold her head and moan, “Shit.”
“Raven’s right, the last I saw them, they were getting pretty cozy.” Octavia rolled over and propped her head on the leg of whoever was passed out beside her. She waggled her eyebrows with a wolfish grin
“What do you mean by cozy? What exactly are you insinuating? That the Commander took advantage of my daughter while she was drunk?!”
The girls exchanged a look, “Do you not know?” Raven asked turning back to the woman
“Not know what?”
“Well you see Abby when a girl loves another g-“
Kane pressed a hand to the brunette warrior’s mouth muffling her snarky remark, he whispered harshly in her ear, “Perhaps we should let Clarke explain for herself.”
Speaking louder he asked, “So Clarke and the Commander aren’t missing?”
“Oh they are. And we need to find them before the ones that took them get too far.”
Abby hadn’t noticed then but Camille had ran off after they arrived to fetch the ones in charge and the more sober sky people, Bellamy, Miller and Harper as well as Echo, Lincoln, and Elena, “Anya, and I’m afraid we haven’t met. Marcus of the sky people and this is Abby the Chancellor.”
Anya clasped their hands and Luna went to do the same, “I am Luna, the leader of the boat people.”
“Oh you’re Luna, Clarke has told us about you, please do you have any idea who could have taken my daughter?”
Anya gave them a grim nod, “At the moment the only one who would dare oppose Heda’s rule with the Ice Nation brought to heel would be the outcast ones in the wasteland.”
“So basically someone dressed like that?” Wick asked, pointing to the outcropping by the edge of the village where two sand covered people were currently climbing down towards the group.
The warriors took up arms and the Sky people raised their guns, Bellamy leveed a shot through the scope before yelling, “Wait! We know them!”
Anya turned to him scowling, “Just because you know them does not absolve them of a possible crime.”
“Trust me on this one,” He turned to Abby, “It’s Jaha and Murphy.”
--
It was a shit day, a shot couple of months honestly. First he had been shipped to earth with 99 other delinquents, then he had been loyal to the alpha of their new ‘society’. He had basically been hung, I mean did he deserve it? Maybe a little he could be a little shit himself, but he’d like to think he wasn’t all bad. After all, the things people did to survive changed them. What desert Moses had done to get them to the alleged City of Light was evidence enough.
Now they were back. He wasn’t exactly expecting a warm welcome, as far as they knew he and Jaha had abandoned their people and stolen some resources. They didn’t know the two had to form a hate filled co-existence to take down a sentient artificial intelligence to stop it from dropping a nuclear bomb on everyone. So no warm welcome was not on the top of his list of expectations, although having hundreds of loaded guns, spears, arrows and swords pointed at him wasn’t exactly high on his list either.
He nimbly stepped behind his ‘fearless’ leader who believed he was brought to the earth for a reason, “That’s all on you man.”
Jaha embraced the welcome and spread his arms, waving. He watched as slowly the weapons began to drop and they continued their approach, “See John, I told you. We aren’t about to die anytime soon. We were meant to survive for a reason and-“
“Yeah, yeah, can we just get back to camp you in silence? That’d be great.”
Kane stepped up with Abby to greet them first, “Theolonious, Mr.Murphy we believed you all to be dead.” He looked back to where they came from, “Are the others still with you or-?”
Jaha looked solemn then, “I’m afraid many didn’t make it back from the City of Light Marcus but we do have quite the story to share.”
He gestured back to John only to find thin air as the boy had already ran to the people he recognized.
Things were tense as he stared at the people who had once sacrificed him in one way or another, but then he had also done worse. Bellamy stepped forward first and they clasped hands, smiling, “Good to see you’re not dead yet Murphy.”
“Surprisingly I agree with that sentiment. It’s uh…good to see you guys again.”
Glares softened and smiles were shared, another of the original 100 was safe and living. They had been through too much to not accept the boy back now.
“I hope blondie is as happy as you guys.” He said referring to their leader
“You don’t have to worry about that, I’m pretty sure even Clarke will welcome you, after we find her of course.” Raven said
“That’s what I was trying to say,” Octavia spoke up, “I saw the two go off on their own to the east of the village. They were fine, looked like they were about to go at it like rabbits, but otherwise fine.”
--
“How much you wanna bet they’ve already descended into a state of chaos without us?” Clarke smirked into Lexa’s shoulder pressing small kisses to it before resuming their earlier activities.
Lexa sighed in content, the press of tree bark under one hand the other securely around Clarke.
“I am sure they are fine. Do you really want to be thinking about our people while we are doing this?”
She emphasized with a hard squeeze into Clarke’s hip.
She saw the blonde bite her lip, “Point taken.”
She pressed her hands into the tree branch under her and gave it a hard shake.
They were rudely interrupted from their ministrations by yelling from below them, “You two decent up there!”
They looked down to find Octavia, Raven, Bellamy, Miller, Monty, Jasper, Murphy, Anya, Luna, Elena, Linus, Kaiden, Echo, Lincoln and Ryder standing with their heads bowed.
“Please say yes so we don’t scar ourselves, or at least attempt to cover up the goods before Leksa attempts to kill us Klark!” Lexa scoffed at her sister’s insinuation
Clarke yelled down from beside her, “We’ll have you know we’re actually fully clothed and inspecting the tree stability. It’s the responsible thing to do after your friends get literally everyone drunk and almost set the forest on fire! Why do you think the village and forest hasn’t burnt down by now?”
They all looked up stunned to see they were in fact dressed and seemed to be testing the weight the branches could hold with their bodies and rocks.
Lexa gave the branch above her another hard shake, steadying herself with Clarke’s body beside her.
It did make sense, assuming the smaller fires were a result of the dwindling of a larger burning flame, someone would have had to run between the river and the village ensuring the cabins and tents and surrounding trees took minimal damage.
The two climbed down safe and sound. Jasper smiled patting Clarke on the back good naturedly despite Lexa’s glare, “Well at least now Abby won’t freak. OH! Look a golden horn! A unicorn horn! Told you I didn’t imagine it!”
Monty gawked “No way!” Not far from the tree a gleaming light sparkled from the beautiful work of the gods that stood stuck into the ground near them.
“Jasper stop!” He froze in a runner’s pose, hands swinging, one leg planted the other lifted off the ground.
“What’s wrong Anya?” Clarke asked startled
“Do you Skaikru know nothing of not angering the spirits? Do you wish to call on the wrath of the gods? Only worthy leaders can wield the sacred sword of the unicorns, or at least that’s what legends say.”
They all looked pointedly at her, “Who me? Why me?” she turned to Lexa
“It is golden love. Like the shine of your hair.” Clarke had to really fight the eye roll she could feel even as the sky people snickered behind the grounder’s backs. She stalked towards the thing like it had offended her and plucked it from the earth.
“There we happy now?” She asked waving it around. They gasped but otherwise remained silent while her friends shook with the effort to contain their laughter. At least they were trying. Her friends came to surround her then and look at it while the Trikru remained a respectable distance away.
“Heda fucker, wielder of the golden uni-sword.” Raven cackled in a low whisper. She brought a hand up smacking Clarke right between her shoulders. A huge mistake considering Clarke was still precariously uneasy on her feet from her concussion which was the head reason why Lexa had to hold her up in the tree. Murphy saw her stumble and reached out to grab her but it was too late.
Clarke fell on it and it splintered into tiny pieces, the grounders with them gasped in outrage and weapons were drawn. The sky people responded in kind taking the safety off their guns. She and Lexa sighed. Clarke’s friends were crazy on a good day and downright unbearable on others, the Trikru were a very composed and stoic group.
Did this create a precarious balance where the two could co-exist that constantly kept Lexa and Clarke on their toes? Yes. But honestly they wouldn’t have it any other way.
What could they say, peace can get boring without a little crazy.
The lovers moved forward in tandem and hid Raven, who was blamed for the incident behind them, wondering how in the world they were going to get their people through this one.