Bloody War Paint {"The100" Clexa} *COMPLETED*

Chapter Three

Lexa was sitting up straight next to Clarke, who was curled up beside the tree, that they spent the night at and calmly breathed in the cool air. Her eyes were closed, and her lips slightly parted. All night long had Lexa kept an eye on her, trying to convince herself of the fact that she found Clarke and she was alive. Hurt but alive.

The sun started to slowly show herself as Clarke opened up her eyes. Her lips were dry and her limbs ached from the cold that had invaded her body at night. She noticed Lexa sitting not far from her, whose eyes lingered on her like the war paint lingered on Lexa's skin.

"We should get going." Lexa said, inspecting Clarke from head to toe. To Lexa's surprise Clarke turned sideways and looked her in the eyes. Something had changed. Lexa's eyes snapped back and forth from Clarke's left eye to her right eye, unsure of what she was looking for. She knitted her eyebrows together and wondered what was missing in Clarke's expression.

After a while of staring at each other in silence, Clarke nodded lightly and said "Yes, Commander."

Lexa froze. She didn't expect Clarke to address her by Commander. Lexa's fingers interlocked in each other and she looked down in shock as she discovered what she was searching for.

Even though Lexa saw Clarke, who she had planned a war with, the one who she had kissed and argued with, sitting right in front of her, she had the feeling they were complete strangers. Her eyes were usually flooded with emotions. That's what made Clarke the leader that she was that day.

But her expression was blank and her eyes as cold as a freezing winter night. It was like her eyes were the ocean and the Ice nation Queen froze every single drop of it through her cold touch.

The Queen was a monster. She destroyed everything she touched, Lexa knew that. She had done it before to Costia, and she almost destroyed Lexa, but Lexa wasn't going to let her do it again.

There was still a little bit of Clarke left, and that little bit, Lexa would protect like everything she ever loved.

Clarke got up and mounted her horse. She knew Lexa was shocked by her calling her Commander, but Clarke needed to get distance between them. Maybe not in the physical, but in the emotional way.

Even though Clarke didn't hate Lexa, she wasn't naïve enough to trust her again. She had lowered her defenses before and all she got out of it were broken bones and an aching heart.

Sometimes she tried to convince herself that she never cared about Lexa and that the betrayal didn't hurt so much. But she knew the thing about betrayal is that it never comes from strangers, it comes from the people you care about.

Clarke got snapped out of her thoughts by Lexa's harsh voice "We're not far from the sky people." She paused and looked Echo deadly in the eye "And remember we're not against them."

Echo inhaled sharply and responded "Sha, Heda." {Yes, Commander}

As they rode along a small path, between trees that had lost all their leaves, Clarke looked over to the grounder girl from the woods clan, who Lexa brought with her. She looked a little older than Lexa, who was maybe three or four years younger than her, but age didn't matter on earth.

Nothing mattered on earth except strength and loyalty. Lexa was strong, so was Clarke. They were both strong in very different ways.

"Trisha" Lexa's voice sounded. The grounder girl turned to look at Lexa and answered "Heda?"

Lexa's eyes snapped to Echo and back to Trisha. Trisha nodded, signaling Lexa that she would keep an eye on Echo. The distrust between her and Lexa lingered constantly in the air.