They were so close to the gate that Lexa could practically feel it. A sense of anticipation and dread filled her, but she couldn't stop now. Once they reached the gate, she'll have to say goodbye to Clarke once again, this time probably for good. She was scared. Something she hadn't feel in years, but she knew that there was no other choice. Clarke will cross the gate to exit the City of Light and she will stay behind to see it collapse. What would happen to her after the City of Light was destroyed? She didn't know, but Clarke would be safe, and that was the only thing that matter.
"Ahg!" Clarke gasped in pain doubling down to the ground once again. Lexa was right at her side in a second holding her.
"It's ok Clarke, we are almost there. You'll be fine, I promise." Lexa reassured the tired blonde. Clarke was under a lot of pain. Something in the City of Light was slowly killing her. Clarke looked at her with heavy breathing and pained eyes. For a brief moment they stared deeply into each other's eyes until Clarke give Lexa a small smile and whispered:
"Ai gomplei ste odon." Lexa couldn't even recall how many times she heard those words, and even how many times she had said them while thinking her faith had been written, but never such words had scared her so.
"No! You can't give up! We are so close Clarke." Lexa shook her head in denial diverting her eyes from the resignation she could see in the blue eyes she once saw full of life and will to live.
"No Lexa... it's over." Clarke said in a soft voice willing the warrior to understand, but Lexa couldn't give up so easily.
"No." She repeated this time full of determination. She hooked her right arm under Clarke's knees and her left on her back, and with a swift motion she picked up the blonde in her arms. As soon as Clarke found herself on Lexa's arms she started protesting, but the grounder ignored her requests and started running once again towards the gate.
"Lexa! Put me down!" Clarke commanded, but Lexa didn't stop. She couldn't let Clarke die, no matter if Clarke was ready to give up, she was not going to allow it. She needed Clarke to live. Her life was the only thing that made Lexa's own death bearable. She couldn't understand. Clarke was the strongest person she knew. Why was she giving up now?
"Lexa, I said put me down!"
"I'm not going to let you die Clarke."
"Lexa!" Clarke struggled to free herself from her hold, but Lexa wouldn't let go. They were entering the building where the gate to finally escape the City of Light reside, but she couldn't let Lexa to drag her there by force. "Lexa, if you love me, put me down right now!"
Lexa stopped in her tracks almost immediately. Clarke was being cruel and she knew it, but she still felt a surge of happiness struck her chest when reluctantly the previous commander of the twelve clans bend down to put her down in the ground. They had never had the chance to confess their feelings verbally. Even when they had made love that dreadful day, the feelings both were harboring were never spoken at loud; they were only shown in sweet kisses and passionate touches. Clarke sat down leaning against the entrance of the building waiting for Lexa to look up at her. When the green orbs finally found her blue ones she almost gasped from the amount of adoration she found in them. Nevertheless, behind that Clarke could also see resentment. Those expressive eyes were screaming at her 'why would you ask that of me?' and Clarke instead of feeling guilty she felt happy because the woman before her loved her. Lexa truly loved her and her actions proved it.
"Please my love." Lexa begged. Clarke had only seen this vulnerability in the commander when she first kissed her that day and it broke her heart knowing that this time she wouldn't be able to reassure her lover's fears.
"I made up my mind Lexa, please respect that." Clarke said reaching her hand to cup Lexa's cheek.
"You are basically asking me to kill you Clarke." Lexa's eyes were filling up with unshed tears.
"No. I'm already dying Lexa. I'm asking you to respect my wishes and allow me to release my spirit when I want to."
"But..."
"Clarke? Clarke is that you?" Suddenly, a third voice came out of nowhere surprising the two women. Clarke frowned in recognition of the voice and looked around looking for the source of it.
"Raven?"
"Clarke, you need to get out of there right now! The City of Light will collapse at any moment now." Raven stood in front of a panel not far away from where Clarke's sleeping body lied. She had been trying for what felt like hours to establish a line of communication between the City of Light and the real world, and she could almost cried in relief when she heard Clarke's voice responding to her incessant calling
"Please Clarke..." Lexa begged once again, ignoring Raven and focusing completely in the dying woman before her.
"What the...? Who is there with you?" Raven voice asked, but once again she was ignored, this time by the tired blonde.
"I am so tired Lexa..."
"Lexa?" Raven voice questioned in the background.
"I know Clarke, but you have to keep fighting!" Lexa encouraged squeezing the blonde's hand between hers in reassurance.
"Do you know what waits for me outside?" Clarke said looking at Lexa with pain in her blue deep eyes. "A war. Even if we get rid of Alie, another war waits for us soon. The coalition is broken. My people broke it and they won't do much to try to solve the issues peacefully. Pike might be gone, but Bellamy..." Clarke swallowed hard remembering the field of dead grounders. She remembered how she had managed to convince Lexa of 'blood must not have blood' and that without Lexa or the nighbloods as commanders the new law would not apply; therefore, the clans will ask for retribution, and in all honesty after all that has happened since, Clarke agrees. Her people need to pay for the consequences of their actions, and they will have to do it by themselves. "Blood must have blood will be the law applied from now on, and Bellamy won't take responsibility for his actions or anyone else. They would rather fight against the twelve clans, and I... I won't do that."
"Clarke, you know that in war you must make difficult decisions."
"Lexa, I would be going to war against your people." Clarke said not believing Lexa's words. She couldn't believe Lexa was encouraging going to war against her own people.
"If you have to kill my people to survive then do it Clarke." Lexa said with conviction, but with a slight quiver in her voice. "I would understand. You do what you have to do for your people." Lexa said trying to reassure Clarke, but the blonde vehemently shook her head in denial.
"No! I can't and I won't! You fought so hard to bring peace to your people! You risk your life fighting Roan to assure peace, to honor my people and we repaid you by killing yours without reason. I can see it now." Clarke closed her eyes going further back to the moment the hundred launched the flares to the sky resulting in the burning of a grounder village. From the moment of their arrival, her people had been the ones at fault, by chance, but still the cause of pain and death for so many people that were finally seeing peace after years of war. Peace that Lexa had built even with the threat of Mount Weather around. Her people had altered that peace. Her people keep killing grounders. She keeps making sacrifices and her people are selfish and ungrateful. "It is not fair! Your people are not the ones at wrong here Lexa, mine are, and I refuse to go to war with them because for every grounder I kill I would be killing you." Her voice strained with pain remembering the woman before her dyig on her arms. "I would be killing Aiden, Lincon, Roan, Indra, Niko, Gustus, Costia..." She said in defeat. They were all good people. Different, but ultimately good people, and all of them had died unfairly. "I would be killing the people you loved and you wanted to protect. I can't because at some point, your people became my people as well Lexa, just like I know mine was yours as well."
"Clarke..."
"Your legacy was peace... mine will be hope... I'll destroy Allie, and hopefully my death will teach my people how I didn't die only for them, but for the twelve clans as well. Because I fell in love for the commander and she fell in love with me. It will teach them that we are not so different and maybe, just maybe our people will thrive for a second chance at peace instead of a new war." Lexa couldn't hold it anymore. She leaned down capturing Clarke's lips on her own. The kiss searing and sweet as ever, transmitting the sole most important thing Lexa had learned from Clarke since she met her: love was strength. Her bottom lip quivered in emotion when she pulled back gazing languidly within Clarke mesmerizing eyes. She was sure she wouldn't be able to convince Clarke to leave no matter how hard she tried; nevertheless, she still shivered in fear at the idea of the City of Light collapsing with Clarke still inside of it. She didn't care what will happen to her, but Clarke... she still had a chance to survive this... to move forward.
"I don't know what will happen, Clarke. With the City of Light destroyed... I don't know what will be before that." Lexa said voicing her insecurities.
"We'll find out together." Clarke said leaning forward to rest her forward against Lexa's. She was not scared of death, not if Lexa remained at her side.
"Clarke." The invisible witness to their conversation spoke up. Raven voice was hesitant and emotional and Clarke smiled knowing that her usually unbreakable friend might be crying right now.
"Raven...please tell my mom that I love her and that I'll miss her."
"Clarke, please you don't have to do this."
"She is strong, but she doesn't have the spirit of a leader." Clarke said looking at Lexa's eyes and smiling while ignoring Raven's rebuttals. "Please, do not follow Bellamy either. He has good intentions, but his mind is weak, and he can't lead our people. His mistakes are proof of that." Clarke said feeling bad for talking about the boy that way, but she knew that he didn't have the heart to be a leader and end war. His idea of ending a war was killing the enemy and she was looking for peace. "Octavia... she understands the grounders, but stays loyal to the arkers. She knows what it is to sacrifice and lose something you love in war, but not let herself be guided by revenge and hate. She would be a good leader. She has the spirit of a fighter, but the heart of a lover." Clarke said lifting her hand to caress Lexa's cheek with her thumb. In all honesty, Lexa and Octavia were very similar. That's why she knew the young warrior would do well when guiding their people.
"Seriously Clarke, we can't do this without you! We tried and we screwed everything up!"
"And it is not my duty to solve your mistakes... not anymore. I left for a reason and you all judge me for leaving, but I was right when I decided to go after Mount Weather. You needed to learn to stand on your own. You still do. I can't keep carrying you all on my shoulders. You started this war... you end it." Her voice was cold and stern, but Lexa could see beyond Clarke's cruelty. She was worried and concerned, but she wouldn't be the one to end the war that Pike and the others started.
"Raven." Lexa speak up making Clarke look up at her in confusion. "There is a village near the coast at East of Arkadia. It is two days away on horse. If you and your friends go there and ask refugee they will receive you without question if you tell them Alexandria sent you." Lexa informed, but Clarke's hands cupping both her cheeks and drawing her eyes back to hers stopped her from saying anything else.
"Alexandria?" Clarke said the name with amazement and awe. "Is that your name?"
"I became Lexa when I became commander. Alexandria was my name before accepting the flame." Lexa explained with a small smile.
"It's beautiful. It suits you."
"Thank you Clarke."
Suddenly, an alarm started ringing and the two lovers heard Raven's voice cursing in the background.
"Clarke, please there is no much time!" Raven begged, but Clarke didn't move, instead she pulled Lexa towards her and wrapped herself around her searching for comfort and security.
"Thank you for everything Raven, please take care. I love you my friend. Tell the others I love them as well." Clarke said burying her nose against Lexa's neck. She could smell her, but she smelled slightly different than what she smelled in the real world.
"Clarke!"
"May we meet again."
"Clarke!"
And suddenly, everything was darkness. For what felt like an eternity she didn't feel anything, and then she felt warmth. Her body ached, but not in a painful way. She stirs a little noticing that her skin felt warm as if she was out under the sun. She narrowed her eyes fighting against the bright light against her eyes.
"It's ok, take it easy." She heard a familiar voice close to her that made her heart skip a beat. She moved her arms to push herself in a sitting position opening her eyes just to gasp in surprise when recognizing the person sitting in the ground next to her.
"Hello Clarke."
"D-Dad?" Clarke stuttered looking at her father with wide wet eyes in disbelief. "Dad?"
"We meet again, sweetie." In a second she threw herself at her father's arms relinquishing the moment with all her soul. She had missed his warmth, his smell, his strength. He was really there.
"How?" Clarke asked between sobs. She couldn't stop the tears of overwhelming joy.
"That's a tricky question, Clarke." Someone said next to her, she lifted her head away from her father's chest and found Finn looking at her with an amused smile.
"Finn?"
"Don't listen to him Clarke, it is not so hard to explain really." Another voice at her other side. She turned to see Wells smiling at her with his usual caring smile. Behind him she could see other people she immediately recognized as the friends she had lost from the 100 and even before that. Until that moment she realized she was standing in a meadow full of flowers with a bright blue sky above her. Her friends, they were all smiling at her, as if greeting her back from a long trip away from home. She smiled happily still within her father's hug while she looked around at her once lost friends. In a quick moment, she realized something was missing. She looked around frantically waiting to see that familiar eyes she loved so much, but she couldn't find them anywhere.
"She is nearby." Jake said with a smile noticing the sudden nervousness and stiffness on his daughter's posture." She had plenty of people waiting for her as well. Clarke looked at him with watery eyes and he laughed at loud grasping Clarke by her shoulders and pushing her away to start walking. "I didn't expect you so soon, sweetheart." He said with a watery smile and Clarke looked over her shoulder to look at him with trepidation. "I'm so proud of you Clarke." Clarke turned around and threw her arms around her father once again.
"Daddy." Clarke said crying felling as she was a small girl all over again.
"I'll also have to admit I like her, but I'll have to have a talk with her later." Jake said separating from his daughter again. "Go, I'll be here waiting for you to introduce me to her." Once again Jake turned her around, but this time Clarke noticed a group of people congregated not far away from her. She stepped forward recognizing someone standing in between the two groups of people.
"Lincoln." Clarke said before hugging the man she had learned to respect and love. "Is that?" Clarke said looking at the group of people close to her. She could tell that the amount of people was bigger than hers and she also noticed that they were all wearing grounder's clothes.
"There were plenty of people waiting for her." Lincoln said moving aside for Clarke to move closer. She saw a couple of children and tears started falling when she recognized Aiden and the other nightbloods, all of them with tears on their eyes. Someone put a hand over her shoulder and she turned to find Anya looking at her with what looked like respect and acceptance. Next to her stood Gustus that simply give her a nod before looking towards the person standing in the center of the group.
A couple stood at each side of the woman, and Clarke couldn't help but think they were probably her parents. They looked up at her and the woman gave her a soft smile before placing a calming hand over the shoulder of the woman that stood before her. Clarke noticed a familiar main of hair with her face buried in the shoulder of a beautiful woman with dark skin. The other woman noticed her first and Clarke gasped at the young beauty looking at her with teary eyes.
"She is here." The woman said pushing the braided main away from her. Clarke gave a small sob when she finally could see her face. It was her. She was there with her, and it was the only thing that mattered.
"Costia?" Lexa asked looking at the darker woman with confused eyes. The young beauty tilted her head to her side and Lexa followed the gesture until her eyes landed on Clarke. Almost immediately Lexa gasped and let go completely of Costia turning towards Clarke, but before she moved towards Clarke she stopped and looked at Costia with pained eyes.
"Costia I..."
"I know my love. I know you loved me, but now you love someone else." Costia said with a smile. She stood in her tip toes and placed a loving kiss on Lexa's cheek. "Go." Lexa gave her a weak smile before turning towards Clarke. She step forward and Clarke did the same. Their hands found each other sliding to their elbows holding each other in a half embrace.
"Where are we?" Clarke asked looking deep into Lexa's eyes. "Is this real?"
"I don't know..." Lexa answered honestly looking around to see many familiar faces she thought she would never see again. "But... does it really matter?" She said with half a smile. "We found each other."Clarke smiled happily because Lexa was right. They had meet again after all this time. Finally, they were together again.
"Always." Clarke said leaning forward to rest her forehead against Lexa's.
"I love you, Clarke."
"Ai hod you in, Leksa." Clarke said with a smile. A smile full of hope and love. "Always."