Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 91: First Impressions

Clarke wakes up aching all over and covered in sweat. She realises, with some surprise, that she's actually extremely warm, and starts shedding the blankets around her. Eventually she sits up.

There's a fire crackling nearby, with Gustus tending to it. No doubt that's why the cave is much warmer than it was, although also a bit smoky. "How long have I been asleep?" Clarke croaks, throat scratchy and sore from inhaling ice-cold air. She misses her watch, the one Raven made for her, the one taken from her when Diana's people kidnapped her.

"It is nearly dawn," Gustus says calmly.

Clarke blinks, surprised. "But it was past dawn when we got -" she stops. She's been asleep nearly twenty-four hours? "Why didn't you wake me?"

"The snowstorm worsened," Gustus says simply. "We could not have gone anywhere. It seemed best to allow you to rest."

"Thanks," Clarke says gratefully. She sheds a couple more layers and finds herself staring down at her coat, black and stiff with Ontari's dried blood. She swallows hard and looks up again, fighting back the memory. It's not guilt that makes her uncomfortable about Ontari's death – it's that she almost got herself killed by being too stunned to react when Ontari assaulted her. Normally, she's the one who knows how to react, always. The only times when she hasn't...

Don't think about Lexa's death. Just don't.

She clears her throat. "Is it still going?"

"Skaikrusha wan down nau," Gustus says absently, starting to look for something in the pile of blankets and tools next to him.

"Good," Clarke says, relieved and concerned at the same time. The storm winding down is good news because it means they can get going, and bad news because it means Nia and her gona will be out looking for them.

"Here," Gustus says, finding what he was looking for. He passes her some dried meat wrapped in cloth.

Clarke suddenly realises she's ravenous. She takes the meat and tears into it. Halfway through following her second mouthful, she pauses. "Have you eaten yet?" she asks indistinctly.

Gustus shrugs. "It is your food, Clarke kom Skaikru." He pauses and corrects himself. "Clarke kom Kongeda."

"It's ours," Clarke says firmly. "Eat something." She sees his mulish expression. "I am Lexa's second-in-command and in her absence, I'm in charge. And I'm ordering you to eat something."

"We do not have much," he comments.

"We'll get more," Clarke replies. "I mean, unless you pass out before we can. Then I'll starve or freeze without your help and you'll have gotten us both killed."

His stubborn look slowly fades to a smile and he reaches out to take a strip of meat. "I do not believe anything could kill you, Clarke. You are far too fierce for that."

She smiles back at him. "Yeah, let's hope so." She closes her eyes against the sudden surge of emotion. "I want to go home," she says, her voice sounding dangerously close to a sob. "I want to see Lexa and Wells and Raven and Octavia and my mother and I'm sick of snow ... I want to see Lexa. I really, really want to see Lexa."

Gustus simply watches her, eyes calm and understanding. "I too," is all he says.

Clarke swallows some more meat and takes a few gulps out of a waterskin Gustus passes her, and forces her emotions back down. "Then I guess we should get going, huh. If Nia and her gona were forced to head back inside because of the snow we have a head start."

"Sha," Gustus says, standing as well. "The storm did not become truly bad for some time, however, and the weather has been slowly improving for several hours. I think they must have at least made it to the edge of the lake. Hopefully they will head after Roan instead of leaving the horses behind to go across the ice."