Loyal

Chapter Eleven

Needless to say, Snow nodded. She knew how it felt to have someone you loved torn away from you. To watch them die helplessly.

To know it was your fault.

And to always wonder what would've happened if it was you instead. If they would have mourned you, or if they would have carried on. To wonder what you should do when people depend on you, and you need to carry on to keep them alive.

"Let her say goodbye," Snow whispered, "Only one person needs to die today." Because Snow died with Frost.

Lexa nodded stiffly, and walked halfway to Finn with Clarke, letting Snow follow the rest of the way, within earshot.

"Hey," Clarke whispered.

"Clarke, I'm scared," Finn mumbled, his voice wavering, but not yet entirely broken. He was strong for a kid who'd spent his whole life pampered in space, always with enough food and everything until the oxygen supply gave out.

But not strong enough to survive death by a thousand cuts, plus fire, and the Commander's blade. She'd never heard of anyone making it past fire.

"It's okay," Clarke said softly, "It's okay."

She pulled him into a hug, and a kiss. Snow saw a flicker of silver in her hands, and leapt over to take the knife and restrain the girl before she could hurt the Commander.

But Lexa wasn't the target.

Blood stained Finn's shirt, and he smiled at Clarke, "Thank you, princess." And then he stopped breathing.

A riot broke out amongst the watching Trikru warriors, shouting, "Jus drein, jus daun."

As usual, Clarke had no idea they were shouting for her blood, minus a fairly good guess. Having a separate language was incredibly helpful when it came to secrecy, but it made death threats less intimidating.

"The blood has been spilled!" Lexa announced to the crowd, "Now, we ally with Skaikru, and we destroy the maunon!" She used the trig word for the mountain men, so that Clarke had absolutely no clue what she said.

So that Clarke shuddered in fear, thinking her life would end too.

Snow stood up, throwing the knife into a nearby tree, startling a couple warriors, who couldn't recognize her past the hood. She then turned to Clarke, extending a hand, "Gyon op." Get up.

"You've served your queen well," Lexa said quietly, "I heard she wanted an alliance."

"She wants her soldier out of the mountain," Snow replied, "If it weren't for the coalition, she'd destroy the Skaikru as soon as they served their purpose."

Lexa nodded, "I am grateful for your help. I need you to oversee the alliance, insure it holds until our people are free from the maunon."

"Yes, Heda," Snow replied, turning to Clarke, "I am to return to your camp with you to insure no one tries to break this alliance."

The girl was too choked up by her tears to answer, but simply nodded and began walking back down the hill.

"You've got some nerve showing your face here after what you did, grounder," someone sneered, smiling and clearly drunk.

"What're you going to do about it?" Now really wasn't the best time to be provoking Skaikru, but she'd had a long day, and she couldn't care less.

The man smiled, "How about you leave?"

Snow raised an eyebrow, "No, I'm good." That was exactly the response that would land her in a fight. She really wanted a fight. It would take her mind off Frost.

"I wasn't asking," the man grabbed her wrist.

"Too bad," Snow only hit him once, but the force of her blow was enough to break a bone in his arm. After a sickening crack, he let her wrist go, "Good choice."

A boy she recognized walked over to her, "Been here five seconds and already wreaking havoc, I see."

"I'm angry. Don't provoke me," she warned, "What do you want?"

"A reason why the alliance hasn't officially been declared yet," Bellamy frowned.

Snow shrugged, "It will begin after Finn's funeral. He will be burned along with the fourteen villagers he killed."

"I guess you're going to go on ranting about how they were kids and elders, and how he doesn't deserve a proper funeral?" Bellamy asked, "Seems to be a common grounder opinion around here."

He pointed over to the grounders at the gates delivering his body. The grown men flinched as they realized they were being watched.

"They're scared of us?" Bellamy asked.

"Don't flatter yourself, they're scared of me," Snow smirked, "It's literally drilled into every kid's mind that if you see a woman with white hair to run along home and hide under the bed."

Bellamy frowned again.

"What? I'm the most lethal and legendary assassin to ever live," Snow said, "Besides, I'm also from the ice nation. Even that scares most people."

"Do you enjoy watching people cower away from you?" He asked.

Snow frowned, "No! I'm not a sociopath."

"Then why-"

"Let's not dive into moral codes," Snow said, "If you do that, you'll realize that should've been me on that tree getting slowly cut to pieces and burned alive. I've killed hundreds of people without remorse. At least he felt bad."

Bellamy sighed, "So you aren't one of the people who believes Finn had it coming?"

"I remember you torturing me to save him. I saw how terrified you were of losing him," Snow said, "And I saw him on that bridge with Lincoln. He wanted peace."

"But?"

Snow shook her head, "Love makes you do strange things you can't control. Finn did it for Clarke. He deserved better."

"You are very strange," Bellamy stated, "For a grounder. And incredibly strong and aggressive for your size."

"You can blame my grandmother for that," Snow said quietly, "I'm pretty sure she threw a sword in my hand as soon as I could walk."

A girl walked over, "What's this? Bellamy Blake has a new girlfriend? How can you be flirting at a time like this!"

Raven Reyes. Of course. Electricity girl.

"Long time no see, Raven," Snow turned around, pulling down her hood.

The girl gasped and growled, "You-"

"Stopped everyone from killing Clarke as well," Snow smiled, "You're welcome."

"It would be better if she was dead," Raven snapped and stormed away as fast as she could with her limp.

Snow smiled as she watched the girl walk away, "She seems friendly."

"To be fair, the two times you met were the two times Finn was dead or dying," Bellamy said solemnly, "I should go check who's going for the funeral."

"Alright," Snow said quietly. This was going to be quite a sad trip.