The door was still swinging by the time Clarke reached The Bridge. Her gloved fingers closed around it for a moment before she pushed it to the side and stepped into the room. Taking a step back, she used her arm to shield her eyes from the blinding sphere of pure energy hovering in the middle of the room.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” said Cadogan.
She could hear footsteps moving closer to her on her right. Squinting underneath her raised arm, she saw the bottom of his white dress robe brushing the floor, his sandaled feet peeking out.
“Clarke, you cannot stop this.”
“This is for Madi.”
Dropping her hand to her side, her fingers curled around the sharp plastic of the gun and she fired, pulling back the trigger five times. Red tendrils started sprouting immediately from his chest as his body hit the floor with a loud thump. The blood continued to spiral out from his wounds, dripping first onto the floor and then pooling under him. His hand grasped towards the bright sphere, scratching, until it dropped, heavy against the pristine flooring.
Clarke watched his life leave his body for a moment, stepping gently to the side as his blood crawled towards her. It was justice, she reminded herself.
With one last look at Cadogan, she turned, but instead of passing through the door like she intended, she felt a warm ripple against her back and dropped to the floor, barely metres away from Cadogan, staring straight up at the glowing sphere as it pulsed, and moved, and darkened until it was encased with black and red tendrils.
When her eyes reopened, she was standing tall at the front of a balcony, overlooking a sprawling city. The city spread for miles around, decorated with stalls and make-shift shops and worn homes.
Polis was asleep beneath her, all the people tucked away in their homes for the night, safe under the watchful eye of Heda’s tower.
Clarke leaned closer, her heart squeezing, before she turned to face the throne room she knew so well. Her throne was where it always was, sat high on its pedestal, its back to Clarke and the balcony she stood on. It was dark, the shadows creeping in, unchallenged by the dim candles lining the walls.
She stepped forward, running her hand over the arm of the throne, feeling its roughened texture beneath her fingertips. She pulled back immediately as her heart started to pound against her ribcage. She turned away, spinning to face the wall
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair.
All the people she had lost were dangling in front of her on a thread, near enough to see, but far away that she could never reach, no matter how hard she tried.
“You loved her a lot.”
The voice that spoke was low, and warm, gentle in a welcome contrast to the darkened room.
“I did,” she said, eyes roving over the cracks in the wall.
With her fingers curled into the palms of her hands, she turned slowly to face the throne once more.
There, legs crossed, head held high, sat Lexa. Her arms were placed neatly beside her, her hair pulled back, no doubt in the same intricate braid she always wore. Her face was adorned in her war paint, black icicles reaching the bottom of her face. Her normal red sash was missing.
“Clarke Griffin, you have come to take the test for all mankind.”
“No,” she answered, resolutely, placing herself directly in front of the throne. “I’m not here to take any test.”
“Did you not kill Cadogan for the chance to represent your species yourself?”
“No. I killed him because he killed my daughter.”
Lexa moved, pulling her hands together and interlacing them as she stared down Clarke from her pedestal.
“Does your need for vengeance outweigh the need for your species’ transcendence? Have you put your own feelings above their survival?”
“No. Everything I have done has been about their survival. I have borne so much so that they did not have to. This was justice. He did not deserve to represent us.”
“And you do?”
“No,” she repeated.
Lexa stood up from her throne, towering over Clarke for one long moment, before she stood down from her pedestal and approached where she stood. She could almost smell her now, the familiar scent of melted wax and the forest after a heavy rainfall. Her hands curled again, resisting her desire to reach forward and touch this pale imitation.
“And yet here you are, taking the test for your species. A rose by any other name is still… jus drein jus daun.”
“I didn’t ask to take the test. I was leaving. You could have let me walk away. You’re the reason why I’m here, facing you, while you’re wearing her face.”
“The test had already started. With Cadogan dead, there was no other option.”
“You can stop the test. I know you can. But you don’t want because you’d rather see my entire people die. You’re here judging me, but who judges you? Who gave you the power to decide if entire species deserve to die after testing one person? How dare you!”
Lexa turned away, barely a hairbreadth away from Clarke, facing outwards over the balcony. She walked that way, stopping just shy of the edge and stared outwards over a sleeping Polis
Clarke stepped up besides her, her veins still bubbling, but bit her tongue as she, too, stared out over the city. She had never gotten the chance to get to know it well, but that old desire rose within her. I’d wanted to make this my home once, she thought. I’d wanted to walk these streets with Lexa, wanted to stand behind her as she made tough decisions and support her. Instead, my tears had landed on her still form as I cried and raved over her loss.
“I am sorry for all you have been through to protect your people, but if you are humanity, then you have failed the test. Yu gonplei ste odon.”
Lexa turned to face her, her face barely a metre away, before her skin seemed to morph and glow and her form slowly burst into a million small golden spheres that filtered out over the city like a heavenly blanket.
A tear slipped down her cheek as the edges of the city wavered and moved and shrunk inwards, pulling everything in its radius into the abyss until the black edges reached the bottom of the tower and started to crawl upwards. Clarke took a step back, her hand still hovering in mid-air from where she’d reached out to touch what was left of Lexa.
Another tear slipped down as the edges of the room collapsed in on themselves and she fell to her knees, right beside the throne, holding on for dear life.
*****
“I don’t want to be alone.” The words slipped from her, coming out as a choked sob, as the stones dug into her feet from below.
“You’re not.”
She turned her head to the side sharply as Lexa came into view. She moved her head back, watching over the water, letting her hair be a curtain between her and the higher being. She blinked back the hot wall of tears that threatened to slip down her cheeks.
“Are you here to take me with you?”
“Yes. Humanity has passed the test, and therefore all mankind may transcend.”
Clarke spun to face her, her face opening up to the possibility of a second chance with every word.
“And Madi? Is she with you?”
“Yes. She is without pain, as you soon will be. Come. Join us.”
She offered out her hand and Clarke reached out immediately to take it, feeling its warmth in between both of hers. She looked up at Lexa, taking in every detail, remembering her as she was. Another wave of tears built up behind her eyes at the thought of this being the last time was she was able to look upon her.
Her skin started to glow as Lexa’s had in the tower above Polis, moving first with a golden shimmer and then fading away to small golden spheres. Their joint hands melted away into the spheres and they spread into the air.
When she reopened her eyes, she was back standing atop the tower in Polis.
The city was awash was sunlight. People were bustling about below, small as ants, as they went about their daily lives. She stared down at them for a moment, before feeling a warm hand on her shoulder.
It gently turned her, bringing her back face to face with Lexa.
“Why am I back here?” She asked. “The test is over. You said I could transcend.”
“You have transcended, Clarke,” she said, lifting a hand to place gently against her cheek. She leaned into the warmth, her eyes fluttering closed.
“It’s me.”
She stared up at her, noticing the lack of warpaint, the soft details of her skin. Her hair was flowing about her shoulders, loose and free, uncaged from her braids – and she was wearing a black dress, not her usual armour. Her lips turned upwards and she stepped even closer to Clarke.
“We’re here, Clarke.”
Clarke moved forward, her hands moving slowly up to Lexa’s loose hair, the other interlacing their fingers. She leaned her forehead against Lexa’s, before gently bringing their lips together. She kissed her with everything she had held back when they had known each other, with everything she had thought and everything she had never gotten the chance to say.
They pulled back after a moment, resting their foreheads against each other’s again.
“How?” Clarke whispered.
“My mind still lived on in the mind-drive. Only those alive could transcend, and I was alive within the flame.”
“But – I saw it get destroyed.”
“Not completely,” said Lexa, laying another gentle kiss on her lips.
A tear slipped down Clarke’s face.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She smiled, flexing their joint fingers, running her other hand down Lexa’s back. “I’m finally happy.”
She pulled her close, breathing in this moment deeply, even as the knowledge settled in her mind that this was just the first of many.
She moved back again. “What about Madi – and my friends? And everyone?”
Lexa smiled again. “They’re here.” She gestured out the balcony. “They’re all here. Come. I’ll bring you to them, Clarke.”
Face alight with the sound of Lexa saying her name, she allowed Lexa to lead her out of the throne room with their joint hands. She brought them down a few flights of stairs before stopping in front of a door.
“Go on. They’re inside.”
Clarke reached forward, turning the handle down and softly shifting the door open.
Inside, a group of people sat about in various small group, chatting animatedly, easy grins on their faces. Emori and John were sitting close together on one couch, his arm wrapped around her protectively. Indra and Gaia were talking by the window. Gaia was making sweeping gestures with her hand out towards Polis.
Echo, Raven and Hope were sitting across from Jordan and Octavia. They were all wearing grounder clothes, even Hope, as they talked comfortably to one another. Even Miller and Jackson had wide easy smiles on their face.
They all turned to face the door as it swung open to reveal Clarke, and, behind her, Lexa.
“There she is,” said Murphy.
“Clarke!” Madi came barrelling from the other side of the room, where she had been standing beside Indra and Gaia. “You’re here.”
Clarke leaned down, pulling Madi into a deep hug. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”
“Yes! And we’re in Polis. I always wanted to visit Polis.” Before she could continue, she looked behind Clarke to Lexa standing at her shoulder. “Heda.”
“Madi.” Lexa stepped forward, standing beside Clarke. “I am happy we get to meet in person now, instead of in the flame.”
Madi rushed into her arms. “Thank you. Your voice was strongest of all the Hedas. You helped me when I couldn’t fight for myself.”
Clarke stood back, a smile lighting up her face as she watched her two favourite people interact.
Lexa looked over her shoulder at her, holding out her hand to bring Clarke into the hug. Her eyes were full of love and wonder. Clarke looked back at her, smiling, soul light for the first time since she had set foot on the ground. They had each other, and all their friends, and they were happy, finally.
“We’ll always be with each other.”