GRIM REAPER¹, bellamy blake

010 ━━ what it takes to lead

━━━✦━━━

"I SAY we kill all of them- just to be safe," Iona snarls, aggressively sharpening the edge of her blade. "Kill two birds with one stone, yes?"

"And satiate your bloodlust?" Lexa rolls her eyes, tapping her fingers against the padding of her forearm protector. "No, we must act... rationally."

Iona scoffed at the word, the idea so far-fetched to her- and clearly Lexa, considering the way she visibly flinched as she heard herself speak.

Iona leans back, huffing through her nose. "What would you suggest we do? Kill the girl and pretend like nothing happened?" She frowned in disbelief at Lexa's expression, "Hell no! Someone wants you dead, Commander. No one deserves to be spared!"

"We are not savages!"

Lexa's eyes flame with fury and she takes her blade between her hands, letting out a quiet cry as she stabs it through the wooden material of her desk. She pants heavily, burning a hole into Iona's neck with her stare.

"You're kidding," Iona mumbles, grinding her teeth, "You're really mad at me? In a time like this?"

"You aren't the leader," Lexa declares. The words sting slightly, but Iona doesn't show it, merely hardening her stone facade. "I am. I decide what we do- and you do not control me. Do you understand?"

Iona forces a smile, taking a step towards her commander.

"Tell me, Commander," She grips the hilt of Lexa's blade, "is your head clear? Because it seems as if you are distracted; it's clouding your judgment. Do you need to step down?"

Then, Iona pulls the blade from the desk, resting it across the surface with a loud clang.

"Good talk, Lex."

━━━✦━━━

Iona tosses the throwing dagger at the board across from her. The throw is full of rage and pent-up frustration. Unfortunately, she puts a bit too much spin on the blade and it hits against the board before sliding down, falling into the grass.

She sighs, striding over and picking it up. She swings the metal around her finger as she glances back at the village- she'd escaped to catch her breath- not that it mattered; Lexa was far too invested in her own idea of what was right to do.

In Iona's mind, she believed the course of action was simple. Kill them all and ensure no one could pull a surprise attack and assassinate her commander and cousin.

Lexa didn't see it that way. She believed Iona's methods were far from reasonable and just fed into the idea that grounders were incapable of reason and were merely savages- a comment she's received far more times than she cares to admit.

With a quiet hum, Iona tosses the blade against the board, this time with a calmer speed and a more focused accuracy. The knife sticks, bouncing back and forth rapidly, eventually coming to a slow before it's completely still and stuck in the wood.

She leaves it like that, giving it one more glance before heading back to the village, her mind returning to the problem at hand.

Who was the attempted murderer?

━━━✦━━━

"She wants only one," Indra says, falling into step with Iona, much to her surprise.

"So you've heard?"

Indra sighs, shaking her head, "News travels fast. Not to mention several guards overheard your screaming match; the village has taken a side, but the Commander remains set in stone."

Iona scoffs.

Right as the pair begin to turn a corner, Iona reaches an arm out, preventing Indra from walking and further and cutting their walk short.

She drops her voice:

"Do you believe she is becoming weak?"

"Lexa? Weak?" Indra's eyebrows raise in confusion, "No. I do not believe she is capable of weakness. Though I do think her values have changed since her alliance with the Sky People. She is... not the same."

Iona nods, "When Lexa taught me the skills it took to be a leader, she made it very clear that two things came above all else: control and understanding. If you cannot control yourself or your troops, how can you ever hope to control your enemies? And if you cannot understand a situation for what it is, how will you ever succeed in a war?"

"She taught you well," Indra narrows her eyes, "...Though I do not get the feeling you feel the same."

"We are very different, but the same. We both want to keep our people alive. Lexa believes the way to do that is by forging unwanted alliances and valuing their opinions more than our own."

Iona tucks her hands behind her back, gnawing on her bottom lip. She glances at the Commander's tent, eyes narrowed as she watches Lexa scurry out of the space, heading towards a group of guards.

"And you?" Indra questions, "What do you believe?"

Iona hums, "I believe we should kill off every last one of them."

Indra catches Iona's gaze, nodding, "One and the same."

━━━✦━━━