Disclaimer: I do not won The 100 or any of its characters.

Author's note: at the end.

WAR ON ICE

A memory.

Even though Kane had warned her, Lexa didn't expect the Sky People's alcohol to be so…addicting.

It was sweet and harsh and unlike anything Lexa had ever tasted before. They had drinks similar to this on the ground, created from fermented berries and saved for the happiest of occasions. Lexa never partook in it much due to her role as the Commander and as a warrior before that, but today was different. The Sky People were different. And this drink was different and superior and enticing.

"Slow down there, slick." Over the rim of her cup, Lexa saw blue eyes blink kindly at her. "You're going to regret that in about fifteen minutes."

"I'm the Commander," Lexa replied, finishing the cup with a quick swig. "I regret nothing."

And she didn't. In exactly fifteen minutes, Lexa felt as light as if she had been up in space with no gravity. Clarke was still there, her hand draped casually on the table next to them as she chatted about The Ark. She kept glancing at Lexa, too, her eyes amused at Lexa's progressing state of intoxication. Lexa couldn't help but smile at her.

She was so beautiful. And it wasn't just because she came from the sky. Her jaw was strong in the way grounder jaws were considered strong, and her body slim yet flush with health. Her eyes were also kind. Those eyes-Lexa could look into them all day, she'd admit. People had blue eyes on the ground, but none like these. There was a certain quality about them that evoked both vulnerability and strength. It wasn't a combination Lexa would have thought possible until Clarke. And it was something that drew her in.

Clarke's eyes met Lexa's, and a shift happened. It was palpable in the air, whatever it was that was happening. Lexa didn't look away, and Clarke blushed slightly. Lexa could see the faint pink under her pale skin.

"What are you looking at?" Clarke finally laughed, addressing it head-on.

"You," said Lexa simply. She didn't mean for it to be abrupt or bold, but she could tell by Clarke's facial expression that it was an unexpected response. The blonde merely grinned and then looked down and away, her face faintly flushing again as she started to play with the food in front of her.

Lexa smiled the tiniest bit wider, turning to find her cup and pour another drink.

o - o - o - o - o - o

Chapter 1

"May we meet again."

Lexa felt Clarkes' eyes follow her well after she'd left Mount Weather's territory, the entirety of her grounder army in line behind her. It burned right between her shoulder blades-sharp and pointed.

Lexa had betrayed her. That's the only way to put it. After all she, Clarke, and their people had been through and after all the planning they'd done to open and then infiltrate that iron door, Lexa told her army to stop. Her imprisoned people slipped through the cracked door, and then it closed-without any of the Sky People.

"Indra," Lexa called. Her warrior ran over to her at once. "Send scouts to monitor Arkadia. And send archers to the trees near the path from Mount Weather. Alert me as soon as they have information."

"Yes, Heda."

Lexa wasn't paying much attention to what was happening around her once they'd safely passed into their lands. The healers were taking care of the released prisoners. The guards and warriors were protecting the healers. The archers swung around them in the trees, some ahead and some behind. They stopped and set up camp to allow their rescued party to rest. As to be expected, their reunited brethren were in horrible condition-skinny, pale, dull, crippled. But at least they were alive.

Were the Sky People still alive?

It was approximately two hours since they'd left Mount Weather. Lexa had been counting the minutes. Clarke's plan had failed-was thwarted-and she'd no doubt insisted to try another way into Mount Weather. Maybe she went through the reaper tunnels, or Bellamy found another way to get them in from the inside. They couldn't have opened the main door again, as there wasn't any other way to open it once the generators came back on. That would have been discussed beforehand during one of Clarke's many meetings to plan and prepare for the attack.

Their last meeting had been a particularly long one, extending well into the early hours of the morning. Clarke needed exact details. She wanted to know how many warriors there were, where they would be stationed, how many guns Arkadia had, who would be handling them, and so forth. Lexa admired that about Clarke. She had a fierce determination to be thorough and successful. She not only cared about these details but gave each and every one careful thought. It was a strong quality, but also a weak one as nothing can ever truly go as planned.

Still, their plan had been set in motion. There was only one way to do it: inside man, uncaged army.

It was very late that night. Well past the time for rest. Lexa had a makeshift bed of a wooden frame, furs, and feathered pillows prepared right there next to the battle map. It was for her, of course, but also for Clarke, if she wanted it.

"You should rest, Clarke," she'd told the blonde after a while, watching with a half-open eye as Clarke paced back and forth, looking down at the plans spread out across the table. She wasn't listening; she was too focused on the attack and the multitude of backup plans she'd wanted to have at their disposal in case they needed them. She'd done this every night the past few nights, her anxiety running rampant. But all for naught, since there was only one way this could work.

Eventually Clarke tired herself and took up the other side of Lexa's bed. The bed was small enough so that Clarke's elbow just grazed Lexa's arm as she settled down under the furs, tucking them around herself neatly and letting out a small sigh. Her body was warm next to Lexa, who was well used to the cold loneliness of her own furs. Who knew a girl from frozen space could radiate the warmth and comfort of fire? Lexa closed her eyes and let herself grow lost in Clarke's presence, listening to her breathing slow and ebb into a steady rhythm. Lexa found herself slipping from consciousness as well, feeling strangely...full.

What would the mountain men do to them, once they caught them? Lexa emerged from her thoughts, sinking her body against the tree she was leaning against and closing her eyes. She imagined Clarke's blonde hair strewn across a medical table as doctors dug into her flesh. Lexa saw her legs thrashing, her nose wrinkling, her mouth screaming, her tears flowing, her blood draining…

But she couldn't go back. That was part of the deal. Lexa couldn't go back and she couldn't help them.

She opened her eyes. Her guards were around but not near. Warriors were focused on scanning their surroundings. Healers were tending to the wounded. Hunters were gathering food. Everything was as it should be.

Everything except Clarke.

It was almost dawn when they arrived at the nearest village big enough to host the grounder army.

"Any word?" she demanded, turning to a passing guard. He shook his head, bowing to her and announcing no reports of any activity near the mountain or Arkadia. Lexa strode over to her tent, kicking off her boots and tossing them against the canvas wall. It was futile to try and keep track of the Sky People in addition to her own people, she realized. They weren't her responsibility. It was futile to even care.

But Lexa did. More than she'd ever admit to anyone. Wasn't there a time where Clarke's people were once her people? How many generations apart did it take for people to un-become someone's people? Didn't that count for something?

As Lexa forced herself to lay down in her soft furs, her mind filled again with hair as golden as the sun, at first so beautiful and radiant but then tainted with screaming and drilling and then stillness and nothingness.

o - o - o - o - o - o

The air was crisp as Clarke strode through the forest and heard something moving in the trees around her.

She paused, pebbles spitting at her feet on the dirt trail. Clarke was by no means a hunter, or a sentry, or a tracker. She wasn't equipped to locate intricate details. Her senses were still sharp enough to realize someone was rustling around in the woods, though. Even if she didn't really care much about being found and getting out alive, after what she'd done.

It was just about one day since Clarke decided to massacre 381 people in Mount Weather, including 26 children. Had it been a day? It felt more like a week. Or maybe even a month. An entire lifetime, actually. Clarke did it to save her own people trapped inside the facility, their bone marrow getting forcibly sucked out of them to give life to the generation trapped inside steel walls for a hundred years. She was left with no choice but to do it, to push that button and expose them all to deadly radiation. And she'd do it again if she had to.

But that doesn't mean she doesn't feel the weight of what she had done.

"Clarke?"

It was just her mother.

Sighing, Clarke turned around and saw Abby approach from behind the thicket, a stack of herbs clutched in her hands.

"I'm still here, Mom."

"I know." Abby tried to downplay it, rambling to Clarke about the herbs she'd found and some of the medicinal properties their tests had revealed about them. But all the while, her gaze kept flickering back to Clarke, as though she'd disappear the next time she looked.

Clarke did almost run away. Right after they got back from the mountain, she considered packing up a bag, slipping out into the woods, and never coming back. She'd let others step up and lead the Sky People, making the difficult decisions Clarke found herself facing more and more frequently. She'd let others learn what it feels like to bear the burden of taking lives to save your own.

But, she didn't, because she could never leave them. Not after all they'd been through to get this far. Not yet.

The sun had only just gone down, and Clarke felt the early chill of night start to seep through her clothes as she and Abby headed back to camp. She'd spent that morning trudging back to Arkadia with her friends, stepping over twigs as easily as she'd pressed that damned button. And now she spent the afternoon and evening searching for medicine to heal them, after they'd been tortured and mutilated.

How much more did she owe to her people? How much more of herself could she give?

When they returned to the camp, the headlights bright in the dark of the sky, Clarke noticed a large crowd gathered near the base of the camp.

"What's going on?" Clarke wondered aloud, finding her pace quicken in step with Abby's. Her mother didn't answer her, and as they approached the group and as people stepped aside, Clarke's stomach dropped and she felt heat rise and boil at her cheeks.

Lexa was standing there in the clearing, her eyes slowly swiveling to meet Clarke's.

Author's note:

Thank you so much for reading! This is a story I started about Clarke and Lexa, as I absolutely love their relationship and was not content with the way it played out in the show. In this story, Clarke did not run off after Mount Weather, Lexa did not keep her distance, and as we'll learn Costia didn't actually die by the Ice Queen's hand (slow burn on this plot development!). More to come! Please let me know what you think :)