Warpaint | Clexa (Completed)

Chapter 2: Fireworks

"And then there's Raven. You should totally meet her. She's got a boyfriend, Finn, but we all know she loves her explosives waaaay more than him any day," Clarke laughed, as she walked along the trail in the forest with Lexa.

"And why is she a prisoner again?" Lexa asked. She was fascinated and in equal parts wary of, what she heard about the Arkadian culture from Clarke.

"Ka-boom!" Clarke laughed, "Exploded a helium tank in the ops lab when Assbutt was inspecting it. She's in for attempt to murder. She pleaded Not Guilty in front of Jaha and said she wouldn't waste so much helium on Pike."

Lexa smiled at Clarke's enthusiastic depictions of all her friends back in Arkadian. While the Grounders themselves had pretty harsh judicial system, the Arkadians sounded no different. Their system made no differentiation between teens and adults, resulting in several young people of the clan ending up in prison for acting out or rebelling.

Lexa looked at Clarke talking happily about someone called Octavia and her soldier brother Bell. She looked like a carefree young girl out in the woods for a walk, no sign of the 2 years of prison on her. She teased Lexa constantly, without a care in the world, and flirted pretty aggressively with her. And Lexa wondered about the shock she'd get when she'd realise that she was with the Commander herself.

"So you know how it goes. Protective older brother. Beat up O's first boyfriend Atom...He's a little lost, but I think he's a good person at heart. O's arrest got him all messed up."

Clarke paused and looked at Lexa intently listening to every word she said. And suddenly she felt a deep tinge of guilt. Lexa had given her food and shelter, and was taking her all the way to the village, and she wondered if she'd ever be able to tell her the truth or not. She would tell her sorry after all this was over, she resolved to herself.

"What are we doing here, Lexa?" Clarke asked a little exasperatedly. "You've been staring at the ground for fifteen minutes now!"

"I'm tracking Clarke. The hunters from yesterday - I don't think it was just an isolated incident."

"What do you mean?" Clarke asked carefully.

"I mean nothing, Clarke," Lexa replied quietly. "I'm just forming a theory."

"Great! Can we get lunch now?"

"What weapons do you have?"

"Oh let me see... Since I'm an escaped prisoner, Jaha thought I should carry a missile launcher and a couple of AK56s to hunt for food."

Lexa looked a little confused for a few seconds, and then said, "No matter, carry this dagger," and handed Clarke an intricately carved dagger.

"Wow, you guys carry stuff like this around?" Clarke questioned, twirling the dagger between her fingers.
Getting no answer from Lexa, Clarke looked up to see Lexa staring intently between the trees.

"What -" she began.

"Shof op" Lexa growled in a low voice.

Though Clarke did not understand the exact meaning of the ends, she got the message. She immediately fell silent and looked around.

There was a crunch of boots on the forest floor a few metres ahead of them. Before Clarke realised anything, she felt Lexa's cold hands press over her mouth and drag her behind a thick tree trunk.

"Mmrpgh" she struggled against Lexa's strong grip.

"Don't breath." Lexa glared at her, and removed her hands from over Clarke's mouth.

"Excuse me?" Clarke whispered angrily.

The footsteps had gotten closer. They could hear the voices talking.