And So We Begin Again
Clarke squirmed and whimpered in her sleep, quickly drawing Lexa/Alicia to her side. Elyza felt powerless at the distress she felt coming from her mental companion. Clarke jerked awake, her eyes still distant as they met Lexa’s own.
“Clarke…” Lexa began softly.
“I killed them… I killed them all…” Clarke whimpered, trying to move but only succeeding in agitating her wound.
“No. You protected your people Clarke… You saved them and mine.” Lexa soothed as Anya came over.
“I murdered them… Hundreds of them to save less than a hundred of my own…” Clarke gasped, tears filling blue eyes.
“Shh… Clarke the past is gone… The dead are gone, the living are hungry.” Lexa reminded her gently. Lexa held Clarke against her chest and waited for the sobs to stop. When Alicia looked down, the blonde was asleep again.
“What was she talking about?” Anya asked confused.
“She and Lexa marched on a mountain with bad guys inside but Lexa took a deal and abandoned Clarke and her people at the mountain. From what I understand, Clarke killed a lot of people to free her own and it tore her up inside.” Alicia explained as best she could.
“The sky people always seemed soft. But Clarke is strong.” Anya nodded. It took almost two weeks for Clarke’s nightmares to lessen enough, much to the entire party’s relief. Elyza and Alicia had both worried a lot about Clarke, despite Lexa’s assurances that this was simply a part of the process. The bullet wound shared between Clarke and Elyza was healing well too. All that was really left to be dealt with was Finn.
“I say we just throw him in a pit and see how he fairs.” Elyza suggested one night with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest. As no one could come up with a better solution, that’s exactly what they did. The next morning Anya threw the sky boy over her shoulder and descended their perch while Lexa helped Elyza get down.
“Time to find out your worth natrona.” Anya smirked. She cut Finns bindings and tossed him into the pit.
“How do you expect me to fend for myself? I’m unarmed!” Finn shouted up at them. The trio looked at each other before deciding to grant him one weapon. Lexa smirked as she tossed him down a small knife.
“Oh come on!” He shouted in anguish, retrieving the knife as the undead converged on him. There were only about twenty but it became a gruesome sight to behold. Finns screams quickly died down into nothingness as the horde finished their meal.
“Guess we should probably do something about that hmm?” Anya asked, gesturing down to the pit.
“Sha.” Lexa nodded, donning her sword. She and Anya leapt down into the pit with loud battle cries, cutting down their undead opponents left and right.
“We should probably help out.” Elyza sighed, pulling her rifle from her back. She felt a nudge in her psyche and opened fire. As soon as the first shot went off, Clarke froze. Elyza could feel her breathing hitch as a panic attack that wasn’t her own, shook their shared form. The rifle clattered to their feet discarded and they fell to their knees, tumbling off of their safe perch into the pit.
‘Clarke… Clarke! You’re ok… We’re ok! Breathe kid.’ Elyza urged. Clarke shook, her breathing becoming more and more erratic and uncontrolled. Lexa saw Elyza fall and hurried to the blonde, cutting down the Z’s as she went, Anya close on her tail.
“What happened? What’s wrong? Breathe Clarke… Ai niron… Breathe for me.” Lexa soothed, setting aside her sword to pull Clarke close to her chest.
“Lex this is bad.” Anya called behind her as the hoard cornered them. Lexa looked up to see the situation at hand. Anya was right. They were surrounded on three sides by the hoard of undead. Anya was doing her best to fend them off but they just kept coming.
“I-I’m s-s-sorry… I-I c-can’t… L-Lex…” Clarke struggled to say.
“No no no. Shh. No words, just breathe. We’ll get out of this.” Lexa promised firmly. Clarke nodded and Lexa’s brain kicked into gear as she hurried to examine their options. From nowhere, as all seemed lost, more battle cries rang out as three figures leapt into the pit and hacked at the undead.
“Indra!” Anya called out gratefully.
“Octavia? Lincoln?” Lexa asked hesitantly. The last of the undead fell to their feet and their trio of saviors joined them.
“Foolish Heda.” Indra scolded, flicking the blood from her blade.
“That was very foolish Lexa.” Lincoln agreed.
“Clarke!” Octavia exclaimed, rushing to Lexa’s side. She took one of the blondes’ hands and kissed her knuckles.
“O-O… I-I’m s-sorr-” Clarke tried tearing up.
“No. No. You listen to me Princess and you listen well. I’m sorry. I’m sorry how hard I was on you. I’m sorry how horrible I was to you, I didn’t understand but I do now. We’re ok Clarke. We’re ok.” Octavia cut her off firmly.
“Octavia?” Lexa and Indra asked confused.
“I was horrible to Clarke at the mountain and after… I was so angry and I took it out on her and she just took it… I didn’t understand then but I do now. I yelled at her after you died Lexa… I didn’t understand how much she loved you or how much that meant… But things went to hell and then she gave up… Titus let me sit with her as she died in Polis…” Octavia sighed running her hand through her braids. Lincoln put a firm hand on her shoulder and she nodded, understanding the silent message.
“When she died… As she was leaving… She cried… And among the incoherent nonsense of a dying leader were the truths and fears of a young girl… And she was gone but I understood… And I’m so sorry Clarke… Heda too… I’m so sorry...” Octavia continued, her voice trembling.
“I don’t…” Clarke mumbled, weak from her panic attack.
“Titus said you wouldn’t remember. That your spirit would be too busy fighting something else to notice your ramblings as it left. He said your heart would finally stop once it was gone… You were so scared Clarke… You cried for Abby… You wanted to tell her you forgave her… Kane too… Ontari sat with you too. Which was weird… She… She seemed almost like you Lexa for a little while… She kept Clarke’s head in her lap and stroke her hair, murmuring soft things in trig… Like Lincoln does for me with nightmares.” Octavia explained gently.
“That must’ve been the flame… We had wondered if the part of me in the device was swaying Ontari to a degree… I guess now we know.” Lexa nodded.
“You can let me up now.” Elya huffed, pushing to her feet.
“Elyza.” Lexa greeted.
“Friends of yours?” Elyza asked, stretching. The three newcomers looked on confused.
“Clarke and I share bodies with two from this world. Clarke’s counterpart is Elyza, mine is Alicia. We switch controls to keep it fair... They were here first… We don’t know how it happened.” Lexa hurried to clarify.
“Elyza, this is Octavia. She was one of Clarke’s hundred and a good friend. That’s Lincoln, he’s one of my people. He is Octavia’s partner. And that is Indra. She like Anya was one of my generals and one of the few I can call a friend.” Lexa introduced. Elyza nodded, narrowing her eyes at Octavia. She’d seen her in Clarke’s memories. She’d felt the pain the younger girl had caused her companion.
“If you hurt Clarke again I will shoot you dead quicker than you can fucking blink. She’s been through enough.” Elyza growled. Octavia nodded quickly, her eyes wide.
“What happened Elyza?” Alicia asked, sheathing the sword.
“Alicia.” Anya greeted.
“The gun spooked her bad… Like really bad… She got lost in her head space… This might be a problem.” Elyza explained. Alicia nodded.
“We should head back to camp for now… Tomorrow though we might want to start looking for places to relocate to… It’s getting a bit crowded.” Anya suggested. Elyza and Alicia nodded and began to lead the way. Octavia, Lincoln, and Indra followed. Everyone got comfortable after they arrived and Elyza opened cans of soup, cooking them over the fire before handing them out, taking care to make sure everyone got one.
“Tonight we rest. To new faces and old friends.” Anya toasted, raising her can. The others followed in suit before drinking too.
“What happened to you guys?” Clarke asked as they all finished drinking.
“Pike killed Lincoln… And Indra when she tried to save him… After Ontari and I watched you die, she sent me to Arkadia. Pike made Bellamy kill me in a show of loyalty. But he wasn’t going to so I beat him to it.” Octavia explained.
“Pike..? Like the fish..?” Anya asked confused. Indra quickly filled her in as Clarke moved away from the fire.
“You ok?” Lexa asked coming up behind her. She wrapped her arms around Clarke’s hips and pulled her close, resting her head on the blonde’s shoulder.
“I will be.” Clarke nodded staring up at the sky.
“I think it’s time we tap out for a bit. These two have a talk to have.” Lexa suggested. Clarke smirked and nodded and suddenly Alicia and Elyza found themselves thrust back into the front seat.
“I-I have a confession to make…” Elyza began hesitantly.
“Me too…” Alicia agreed.
“On three then?” Elyza suggested. Alicia nodded, pulling away to look Elyza in the eyes.
“One…” Alicia took a deep breath.
“Two.” Elyza did the same.
“Three.” They both paused.
“ITHINKILIKEYOUASMORETHANJUSTASURVIVALBUDDYANDIDON’TKNOWHOWTODOTHAT.” The two exclaimed in unison, eyes closed, fearing the others reaction.
“Wait what?” Elyza asked confused.
“You heard me… And heard you… So what now..?” Alicia asked timidly. Elyza grinned. She moved closer, cupping the back of Alicia’s neck as she pulled the girl into a kiss which was easily reciprocated.
“I… I think we’ll figure it out.” Elyza smiled after the kiss broke. Alicia nodded breathlessly.
“So we’re ok?” She asked softly.
“I think we’re kore than ok love.” Elyza smirked, kissing her again. Both pulled away at the cheers and whooping from their mental companions.
‘We told you two idiots!’ Lexa and Clarke exclaimed in an unaware unison.
“Things will definitely be ok.” Elyza nodded, snaking an arm around Alicia’s waist and looking up at the stars.
“Mhmm.” Alicia hummed in agreement, resting her head on the blonde’s shoulder.
“Those two are branwedas in every life aren’t they?” Indra sighed, watching the pair.
“Of course. But where would we be if they weren’t?” Anya laughed.
“Things are gonna be ok here.” Octavia nodded.
“Things are gonna be ok.” Lincoln agreed, turning his gaze to the sky.