Atlantis

Chapter Seventeen

It seemed different without Gustus following shortly behind.

"Heda?" Faye asked, wondering if Lexa was willing to talk.

"Faye. What is it?" Lexa stood quickly and resumed a stiff frame.

"I forgot to return this." Faye walked forward and set the dagger with the wooden handle on the table.

Lexa walked forward and picked it up. She looked over the edges before her gaze focused on Faye. She held it out for Faye to take. "You forget, long before all this, it was yours."

Faye looked at Lexa, as if wondering if she should really take it. With hesitant hands, she found her fingers wrapping around the hilt.

"Promise me that if you ever leave again, you will let me know. And this time, you'll leave me with more than a dagger."

"I promise." Even after promising not to be so formal in front of Lexa, Faye still managed a stiff bow. She turned to leave.

Just as she was leaving the flap of the tent, she paused.

"I will only go where you command, Lexa."

"Good." Lexa felt the words growing in her throat, but they didn't make it past her lips.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Faye disarmed Lexa, pushing her to the ground and pressing a knife with a wooden handle against her throat.

"Ah! You've got me." Lexa said, letting her body go limp and dropping her head to the side, pretending to have lost with a gruesome death.

Faye stood and waited for her partner to stand up and pick up her weapon.

"Come on, Lex. It's not funny anymore." Faye said, waiting impatiently.

"Faye, you're so serious. Anya isn't even here." Lexa stood and picked up her sword. She stood with it by her side, watching Faye get ready for another match. "Really?"

"Please, Lexa. We can only get better. And we could get called at any moment to-"

"Faye, you're the best fighter. The only person to come close to standing a chance has run away. And I could never kill you."

"You might have to."

"Girls! It's time to go." Anya came from the village, followed by two men. "You are to head to the Capitol."

Lexa and Faye exchanged nervous looks.

They knew it was to come. They knew that they had to fight, but never knew it was to be this soon.

Neither would know that one would stay and become leader of the greatest army, the one to be known as a warrior. The other would run, leaving only a dagger and her friends life behind.

"I can't Lexa. We both know being the best fighter means nothing if I'm too scared to kill."

But, that is where they both learned to never love someone again. The place where they forgot each other and and slowly faded into different people.

***

I love this chapter, but I'd love it more if it were longer.