Clarke's POV
They found themselves surrounding the radio, yet again. Clarke felt like she was going to puke. Her nerves were making her fidgety, and even though Lexa stood an inch away with a hand on her lower back to try and calm her, it wasn't helping much.
"You need to calm down," Lexa muttered in her ear in Trigedasleng. "Just because Murphy is a minute late, does not mean something bad has happened."
"Doesn't mean I can't worry."
"Guys, stop flirting." Raven muttered, fiddling with one of the antennas. "O's right, it's really gross."
"We weren't-"
"Oh hush, Griffin, I'm just giving you crap." Raven teased. She cleared her throat and looked up. "Speaking of flirting..."
"Oh boy..." Clarke sighed. "What is it?"
"I think I accidentally flirted with one of the guards while I was fixing the radio?" She raised her shoulders. "Whoops?"
"Oh my God..." Clarke covered her face with her hands. "Wait, what happened with you and Finn?"
"I just... found out he wasn't who I thought he was." Raven shrugged. "I'm over it, anyway."
"I'm sorry, Raven." Clarke said.
"Eh," she shrugged again.
"Clarke? Raven?" A voice rang out over the radio. Lexa stiffened beside her, having been surprised by the sudden sound. She'd witnessed the small hand-held radios before, but she'd never seen the large radio Raven seemed to always be working on in action.
"Hello? Murphy?" Raven lifted the radio, holding down the button.
"Yeah. I found Bellamy. He got me to the radio. Here he is."
"Bellamy?" Clarke grabbed the radio from Raven.
"Hey, Princess." Came his shaky response. The channel didn't have the best quality.
"How've you been? What's going on down there? How is everyone?"
"Slow down," he said, laughing. "I'm fine. I've been staying with Maya's dad. But, I'm afraid I have bad news on our part."
"What is it?" Clarke said. She felt Lexa's hand rubbing circles on her back.
"There's a problem with the Sky People." He said. "The Grounders... the Mountain Men seem to just be doing the same things they have been; hanging them up for the blood transfusions. But Sky People have been going missing from inside... I can't find a way to get to them."
"We don't even know where they are to begin with." Murphy's voice joined in.
"Have you talked to anyone in there?" Clarke radioed.
"No." Bellamy said. "Not directly. Maya's given them messages, but we haven't been able to speak to any of them ourselves."
"Dammit." Clarke smacked the table with her free hand, lowering her head. They had to speed up their plans. There was no way they would be able to save everyone at this rate.
"Clarke?" Bellamy said when nothing was spoken back to them after a while. "You still there?"
"Yeah." She lifted her head and spoke into the radio. "I'm going to leave you with Raven to figure out how to shut down the acid. Until then, Lexa and I have some briefing to do." She lifted her finger off the button and looked at Raven. "You know what to do when they turn it off?"
"Yes." Raven nodded.
"Alright." She turned it back on. "Good luck."
"Wait, Clarke." Bellamy said quickly. She paused, waiting for him to continue. "How's O?"
"She's fine, Bellamy." Clarke said, "And I'll make sure she stays that way."
"Okay. Bye, Clarke."
Lexa lead Clarke out of the tent, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." She sighed. "Let's just get to the meeting. We have an army waiting."
---
Lexa's POV
They reached the room ahead of everyone else, Clarke and Lexa standing beside each other. They said nothing, just stood there silently waiting for everyone to arrive. Clarke had her hands gripped firmly in front of her, while Lexa stood more at ease, with her hand resting on her blade.
She moved her hands behind her back when the Skaikru arrived, watching Clarke offer hellos to them. Lexa gave them a curt nod before motioning to Clarke to begin.
"Alright." Clarke nodded once everyone was ready. "We have Murphy inside. He reached Bellamy safely and the two are currently working to get rid of the acid fog."
"What about our people in the mountain?" Abby asked her. "Did you find out how they're doing?"
"They reported that some have gone missing, without explanation." Clarke said. The Sky People immediately broke out into a chorus of complaints. Lexa growled angrily and slammed her fist down onto the table.
"Shouting and arguing at one another over this is not going to get us inside any faster." Lexa said, silencing them. "Now. Let Clarke continue."
"Thank you, Commander." Clarke bows her head in respect. "As I was saying, we aren't sure of the current status of those that are missing. But Maya, one of our helpers, is working to find out with a few of the Sky People.
"Our people," she continued, looking out at the Grounders in the room, "are still as they were before; used as blood bags. There's nothing we can do about that for now... but once we get inside, there shouldn't be a problem getting them out. Any questions?"
"Yes." A Skaikru member spoke up. "How are we getting inside? From what I understand, the acid fog isn't our only obstacle."
"Once they disable the acid fog, it will give us room to approach their door and blow it open. Of course, we also have a plan for that as well, which we'll go over as soon as it is ready to be set in motion."
"What about our people?" A Grounder general spoke up in Trigedasleng. "When we get inside, what is our plan of action to get them out?"
"We won't be getting them out. Bellamy will be, from the inside." Clarke assures him. "There will be escorts in the reaper tunnels."
Lexa only occasionally spoke up during the meeting, but other than her brief lines she didn't do much else. Clarke knew the plan they had sorted out through and through; it was best to let her answer the questions.
When they were done, and all questions were answered, Lexa took Clarke back to her tent for the evening's meal, so they could talk alone.
"What if Bellamy can't do it?" Clarke said, her brows pulling together.
"Bellamy is a warrior." Lexa nodded her head once. "He'll be fine. Stop worrying yourself."
"What if they can't get the acid fog down?" Clarke continued, pushing her food back.
"Then we'll figure out something else." Lexa reached over and placed her hand on Clarke's. "We won't give up."
"What if they kill them all before we get there?"
"What if, what if, what if..." Lexa sighed. "You need to stop thinking about these possibilities. So far, everything is going smoothly. We should be able to pull it off."
"You're right..." Clarke sighed as well. "I just wish I could be there to make sure everything is going the right way."
"We've been over this, Clarke." Lexa stood, beginning to remove her armor and weapons to prepare for bed. "Our people need you here."
"Yeah, yeah." Clarke looked down at her bowl with her brows drawn together, a frown on her face.
"Once Bellamy disables the acid fog, the rest of the plan will fall into place." Lexa lowered herself down onto her bed, resting her head on the pillow and closing her eyes. "You should rest."
"I should." She said, but Lexa didn't hear her make any move to get up and join her in bed. She opened one eye and peered over, seeing Clarke still frowning down at her hands in her lap.
"Clarke."
"I should be there." She said, looking up at Lexa. "In the mountain."
"Clarke."
"I could get Lincoln and leave now." Clarke ignored her, standing from her seat and grabbing her armor. Lexa climbed out of bed quickly, rushing over to Clarke's side and grabbing her arm.
"I know you don't like orders," Lexa said. "But you need to listen to this one. I'm your Commander, Clarke, and right now I'm ordering you to stay here. With me."
"I know you're scared I'll get hurt." Clarke said. "But I'll be fine."
Lexa didn't say anything, just looked at her with a soft expression. Clarke looked back at her, determined. But her expression softened as well and she stepped back, removing her armor and setting it back down. Without a word, she followed Lexa to bed and crawled under with her.
They fell asleep like that; entangled in each other's arms. Lexa barely registered the whisper of, "I love you." As the warmth beside her vanished completely.
---
The next morning when Lexa woke, Clarke was already gone. She figured she'd just gone to breakfast early, but normally they went together. And then after last night...
She dressed in a rush, tossing her cape over her shoulder as she stormed out of her tent. She jogged down the pathway to the meal tent, pushing past the entrance and looking around. She spotted Raven sitting by Octavia, but no blonde hair was visible.
She moved over to their table and set her hands down, leaning onto them and looking between the two. "Where's Clarke?"
"She's not with you?" Octavia asked, looking behind her for Clarke, but finding she wasn't there.
"I haven't seen her." Raven shrugged. "What happened?"
"Nothing, just..." Lexa looked down at herself, then back up at Octavia. "What about Lincoln? Where is he?"
"He left sometime last night; he said it was for a mission you'd sent him on. But you didn't, did you?" Lexa shook her head, "Commander, what's going on?" Octavia asked. "Where are they?"
"I... don't know." Lexa said, defeated. She sat down across from the two, sighing heavily. "I think they went to mount weather."
"Mount weather?" Raven said. "Why?"
"She's stubborn." Lexa put her face in her hands. "And persistent."
"We need her here."
"That's what I tried to tell her." Lexa said, "But she must've left in the middle of the night."
"Look, Commander." Raven started, "I know you're worried, but you're the only person left that's fit to lead. I'll keep you posted on Clarke; if she gets in safely she'll likely find the radio. Until then you need to try and focus."
"I know." But I'm not sure if I can, she thought. "If you hear anything," Lexa said firmly. "Find me immediately."
"Alright." Raven nodded and stood, heading out to go man the radio.
"I can go with her?" Octavia asked. Lexa just nodded, giving her permission to follow Raven.
Lexa lifted herself from her seat and walked out of the tent, looking up at the clear blue sky and muttering to herself, "What are you doing, Clarke?"
---
Clarke's POV
This wasn't what Clarke was expecting at all; she thought they'd mark her as either "server" or "harvest". But the woman had seemed to recognize her, and marked her as an entirely new category. Clarke hadn't heard it, she'd just marked something down on her paper and told two of her men to take Clarke away.
She hadn't thought she would be strapped to a chair in nothing but pants and what appeared to be some kind of bra that covered everything from just below her chest and up. It left her shoulders bare, and kind of reminded her of a tank top, only much shorter.
She tried to pull herself free of the straps, and almost got her wrist out too, before the door opened and a man with a wicked smirk walked in.
"Hello, Clarke." He said.
Clarke would have asked how he knew her name, if it wasn't for the gag in her mouth.
"Sorry about that," he gestured to the gag, "But I heard you have quite the mouth on you. And I really don't have time to listen."
She struggled against the restraints, growling at him.
"So, I'll just go ahead and brief you... we've been watching you since you landed, we know you're not really one of the Savages, and we learned your name from one of the... what are they called... Sky People? We showed them a picture and they recognized you right away." He went on. "As for why you're here, I can't exactly tell you that yet. But don't worry, you're in good hands here." Clarke narrowed her eyes and glanced down at the restraints. Good hands? Was that what this guy thinks this is?
"I have a present for you." The man pulled a needle out of his jacket, flicking it to loosen the red liquid inside. Clarke felt a sharp pang of fear in her gut and started struggling more and more, wanting to get away from this man. "Your friend, who 'snuck' your other friend in here?" Clarke froze; they knew about Murphy. "Yeah, he didn't like this either. But you're not getting the full treatment. This is just to mess with the head of your pretty little girlfriend."
"No," Clarke said through the gag, almost succeeding in pulling an arm free. But then, she felt a stream of pain and what seemed like a jolt of electricity, and arched her back, letting out a scream. When it was done, she collapsed back onto the seat and breathed heavily, unable to move.
"The first dose is the worst."