Work Text:
The most beautiful smile she had ever seen. What a curious thought to pop into her head, whilst hoping against hope that the door in front of her, the door that she had so crudely tried to barricade with a metal pipe she had found lying on the floor, wouldn’t burst off of it’s hinges and reveal the bloodthirsty faces of the Reapers. But then again, if it would help distract her from the position she was in, she didn’t care where it came from - or why.
The most beautiful smile…
A few options flashed by in her head, her tired brain instantly reaching for the easy choices.
Bellamy? Finn?
What she came up with were no more than fleeting and distorted images of the expressions and their holders, which disappeared as quickly as they had appeared in the first place.
She sighed, ready to give up, when an image finally stuck, one she saw as clear as if she was sitting right next to her at this moment. One that took her focus away, if only for a moment, from the hopeless situation she couldn’t see any way out of.
Lexa…
~*~
Everything had gone to shit after Bellamy had left. Or three days after that, to be more precise.
The Grounders were already agitated, having been preparing for the oncoming assault against the Mountain Men ever since they were made aware of the prisoners held within the mountain. It hadn’t taken them long to prepare, both mentally and physically. War was an integral part of their life, and thus they excelled at it - the bloodlust clearly visible in each warrior’s eyes.
Therefore the current plan, the one Clarke had proposed, which included waiting for Bellamy to disable the mountain’s defences before any further action was taken, wasn’t received well.
Despite their clear protests on following any sort of plan that included so much waiting, especially a plan that the leader of the Sky People had come up with, they calmed down eventually - all thanks to Lexa’s iron grip on her people. She truly was a great leader, well respected amongst everyone in the Woods Clan. However, as Lexa had explained to Clarke after two days had passed with the radio silence unbroken, that respect only went so far.
And that is why the decision to attack the mountain on the first light of the third day was made, no matter how many times Clarke pleaded with the Commander for a few more hours of time. The pressure to act was getting too strong and the Grounders were growing restless. Time was a luxury they couldn’t afford anymore.
The plan was quite simple since their options were very limited. The mines were the easiest way into the mountain, so that’s where the majority of their combined armies went. The Ark offered every man and woman they could spare, however since they were low on ammunition and their hand-to-hand combat skills were laughable at best, the army mostly consisted of Grounders. Few smaller patrols were sent elsewhere around the mountain, but their purpose was mostly to be prepared for any sort of retaliation from the Mountain Men. A contingency plan they hoped they wouldn’t need.
~*~
They got to the mines surprisingly easy - the acid fog was nowhere to be seen. This had given Clarke hope that Bellamy had succeeded in infiltrating the base, but for all she knew it could’ve just been a glitch in their system, or an oversight. The persisting radio silence was slowly eating away at her sanity. She wanted to have faith in her friend, but it was getting harder by the second.
Whatever confidence their forces had accumulated during their safe march vanished when the Reapers showed up from the depths of the mines. Never in her wildest nightmares had Clarke imagined just how many there would be. She had made guesses while they had discussed tactics earlier that morning with Lexa and her generals based on her brief visit to the mine, but boy had she been wrong. So, very wrong.
They kept appearing out of the tunnels and shortly after, the woods. Dozens of them, a flow that never seemed to end.
There was a second before the battle, a single quiet second where both armies just stared at each other menacingly, hands reaching for their weapons. And suddenly that small moment was over and all hell broke loose. Deafening war cries were released from both sides, blades and bows were drawn, and blood started to spill.
So much blood.
~*~
As the battle raged on, Clarke slowly realized that she was no longer surrounded by neither the Grounders nor her own people. The entrances to the mines were not visible to her anymore; all she saw was an endless sea of trees - and bodies.
She was being chased by at least two Reapers, maybe more and she knew she couldn’t fight them. She was running out of ammo and her last knife was stuck in some Reaper’s throat somewhere in the woods. So she ran. She ran like hell.
Through a stroke of luck, or some divine intervention, she noticed a heavy looking door in the side of the mountain, hidden between a few dying trees. An old world bunker hopefully, she thought, as she headed towards it. She thought she had lost the Reapers a few miles back, but didn’t feel like looking back and confirming that.
Please be open, please be open.
Her silent prayers were answered, and she slipped through the overgrown iron door, slamming it shut behind her and barricading herself in with the first solid object she got her hand on - a piece of metal pipe blasted from what she assumed was a ventilation system of sorts.
She walked across the surprisingly small bunker, her eyes slowly adjusting to the lack of light. She reached the wall opposite the door, turning around and slowly falling to the floor with her gun trained on the door. The adrenaline started to wear off and she started shaking, her tired muscles unable to keep up with the constant strain anymore. Her lungs were burning, doing their best to take in the stale air of the bunker.
The sudden silence was eerie, the thick concrete walls of the bunker filtering out the noise of the ongoing battle, leaving Clarke with nothing but the sound of her own labored breathing.
Seconds turned into minutes, but the silence remained. She was straining her ears, trying desperately to pick up anything that could help her assess the situation, but there was nothing. She finally dropped her gun and allowed her eyes to close, trying to reel in her thoughts. The loud thud of the gun hitting the floor echoed around the bunker for a while, but after that she was surrounded by silence once again.
She had no idea where any of her friends, or the people she cared about would be, and if they would be okay. Though if she was being realistic, given the circumstances they were most likely already dead.
There were so many Reapers. Too many.. Am I the only one left?
She thought of her mother, who would be pacing around the command room back at the Ark, worried sick of her. She thought about Raven, sitting next to the radio, listening for any signs from Bellamy.
Bellamy.
Bellamy, who was most likely locked up in some cage, deep inside Mount Weather, waiting. Planning for an escape that right now seemed impossible.
And finally, after everyone else had crossed her mind, she finally allowed herself to think of her. Of Lexa.
~*~
The most beautiful smile...
Her’s was nothing short of incredible. Not the grin she had on her face when Clarke did or said something embarrassing. Not the sneer when Indra said something to her in Trigedasleng while the Sky People were practising with the Grounder warriors. Not the grimace when Clarke had adjusted her shoulder after the gorilla attack. The real smile, the smile that reached all the way to her eyes, the smile that only showed itself during times she was alone with Clarke, when she felt most relaxed and could let her guard down. The smile that revealed that she was happy, and felt safe enough to show it. Lexa didn’t smile like that often, but when she did, it was almost magical.
That’s what was stuck in Clarke’s mind now, and what had been stuck in there ever since it had first made its appearance. She had shown Lexa her sketchbook, the one that held every single drawing and crude painting she had found time for after the landing. Reaching all the way from the plant life in the area, to different animals and landscapes she had seen, to even a few portraits of the Commander herself.
That smile had plagued her thoughts by day, and haunted her dreams at night ever since. Every time she saw it, her stomach was instantly filled with what felt like a million butterflies, her cheeks felt like she’d been sitting in the Sun for hours on end, and her mind felt as blank as the last few pages of her sketchbook. It was the only thing keeping her together when the faces of her friends, some dead and some alive, kept swirling around in her head.
~*~
A sudden crashing sound from the door brought Clarke back to the reality. Her body tensed and she quickly grabbed for her gun, pointing it at the door.
“Love is weakness.”
Her mind went blank, except for that one phrase. The phrase she had repeated in her head like a mantra, ever since Lexa had first said it. Every time she had seen that divine smile that made her go crazy, she went back to it, repeating it over and over in her head to steel herself. Leaders were not supposed to be weak.
“Love is weakness.”
Another crash from behind the door. The pipe wouldn’t last for long. Seemed like the Reapers had finally found her, most likely having dealt with everyone else already.
“Love is weakness.”
She couldn’t take them all out. After a quick check she realized that the clip was empty. She only had the one bullet left in the chamber. Anything would be better than ending up as the Reapers meal. Another crash and the pipe broke in half.
“Love is weakness.”
At that moment Clarke decided she didn’t care anymore. What did it matter anymore anyway. She was only human, leader of the Sky People or not. And if love meant that she was weak, she would gladly be the weakest of them all.
With the intoxicating smile etched into her mind, she calmly raised the gun on her temple and closed her eyes. With another loud crash, the door finally burst open.
They say that life flashes before your eyes the moment before you die. Clarke didn’t remember where she had heard or read it, but she had never really understood it. If she was honest with herself, she had secretly hoped to never find out.
~*~
Before she could pull the trigger, the gun was jerked out of her hand and she felt hands cup her face. Rough hands, the hands of a warrior, yet the touch was soft and warm, unlike the cold dead hands she imagined the Reapers to have.
Her mind was racing a mile a minute, trying to process all the information it was being bombarded with. She felt tears, rolling freely down her face. She tasted salt, and the coppery taste of blood. She heard a voice, but her head was swimming and she couldn’t make anything of it. But the hands on her face, they felt familiar.
Slowly she began to make sense of the sounds, realizing that her name was among them. She finally dared to open her eyes, albeit slowly.
Never in a million years had she expected to open them and see Lexa, the proud Commander of her people, crouched in front of her and trying to rouse her. But she did. It took her mind a second to catch up, her hands instantly locking onto Lexa’s, that were still on her face.
“L-Lexa? W-What are you…?”
There it was again, that smile. Even in her confused state, Clarke’s stomach did a backflip, while Lexa’s hands on her face made her cheeks feel like they were on fire.
“You’re okay.”
It was like a whisper, so quiet that even Clarke had trouble hearing it, but Lexa had definitely said it. Clarke’s stomach did another flip.
“Clarke, it’s over. We won.”
Lexa’s face seemed to be permanently locked into that smile that had been so rare and short-lived before. Clarke’s brain had trouble focusing on anything but that, though eventually the message got through.
“W-We won? But I don’t… How?”
“I’ll explain everything later Princess, first we have to get you out of here. Come on.”
The playful nickname went unnoticed, usually eliciting a rise from the blonde. Lexa rose from the floor, offering Clarke her hand. Clarke’s cheeks still felt like the surface of the Sun, yet she missed the contact already. After a few moments, she grabbed the offered hand, standing up slowly, taking a few deep breaths and trying to make sense of the situation. They had won. The Mountain Men were dead. Their people were free again.
She felt a small tug and realized that Lexa had never let go of her hand. She looked up, seeing traces of that previously elusive smile on Lexa’s face. Responding with a small smile of her own, she let the Commander lead her out of the musty old bunker, into the fresh air of the woods.
Maybe everything would be okay after all, she thought as she felt Lexa squeeze her hand while they walked, flanked on both sides by two Grounders she had failed to notice so far.
Yeah, everything would be okay.