2201
"Lexa, c'mon! We're gunna be late!" Clarke grabbed the taller girl by her gloved hand, dragging her along the gravel pathway, smiling as gleefully as a 15 year old does.
"Clarke, I told you, I'm tired." Lexa deadpanned back, letting herself be dragged by her excitable friend. Clarke was almost jumping with joy, smile plastered on her face, gleeful in every way. For the first time since arriving at the Ark Academy they were finally going to meet Marcus Kane and Thelonius Jaha, the descendants of Professor X and Magneto from 200 years ago, and Clarke had almost jumped on Lexa to wake her up.
"I know, I know. Yesterday was late night training with Anya, I know. But Kane and Jaha are here!" Clarke let go of Lexa's hand, looping arms with the other girl, pulling her along. "We've been here two years now Lexie, and we've heard all these stories about them. I want to meet them! And my mom told me Jaha was bringing his son, Wells. He's gifted like you!"
"I'm not gifted, Clarke. I'm a mutant." Lexa frowned as Clarke jabbed her in the ribs, tutting at the girl.
"Gustus says you're not meant to call yourself that." Clarke opened the door for Lexa, pushing the brunette through it before going through herself. "Even Anya doesn't like that word."
"It's what I am." Lexa turned her head to watch Clarke, who bounded over and linked arms again. "2 years ago you didn't even know what a mutant was. Your mom just bought you here and showed you first hand what freaks look like."
"Lexa! I don't like it when you do that to yourself. You're not a freak." Clarke frowned, real anger in her voice as she looked down at her own shoes.
"That's not what you thought 2 years ago."
2199
"And I'm Bellamy." Bellamy shook Clarke's hand after Jasper let go, smiling at the blonde. "This is my sister, Octavia." He tapped the girl next to him with his elbow, and she nodded to Clarke, not taking the offered hand.
"I'm Raven. And this pile of muscle is my adoptive brother, Lincoln." The girl next to Octavia shook her hand firmly, and pointed her thumb at the boy next to her. In much the same way Octavia had, he just nodded to Clarke.
"So are all of you 13 as well?" Clarke asked, and Bellamy, Raven and Lincoln shook their heads.
"I'm 14. Lincoln's about 15 I think. He doesn't talk much. Jasper, Monty, Harper and Monroe are 13. Octavia's 12. Raven's… how old are you, Raven?" Bellamy asked, turning to glance at Raven.
"Same age as you, dumbass. 14." Raven rolled her eyes, laughing. "And we're meant to be a team."
"Team? So you all are, uh…" Clarke stuttered, trying to find the right words. Octavia stopped her by holding out her hand.
"Mutants. Yeah, we are. Raven means us four are meant to be a team. Like the original Fantastic Four." Octavia explains, looking up to Bellamy, who nodded and draped his arm over her shoulder, holding her close.
"I'd give you a demonstration but my clothes will burn off." Raven laughed, looking around the group. "Why don't we all share, yo? Show and tell, that kind of thing?" Clarke was about to ask Lincoln a question when someone tapped on her shoulder, and she turned to find no-one there. Bellamy laughed and Clarke turned round, just as his arm went back to normal length, his other arm still propped up as if on Octavia's shoulder, where it had been.
"Got ya." Bellamy laughed, and tapped his arm on nothing. On cue, Octavia faded back into view, and Clarke stepped back.
"Should've expected that. Mister Fantastic and Invisible Girl." Clarke turned to Raven and Lincoln, looking between them. "And I guess that makes you Human Torch and you The Thing."
"Like I said blondie, can't exactly show and tell our stuff." She nodded, elbowing Lincoln, who expelled air out of his nose in some sort of agreement? Clarke nodded and moved on, turning to Jasper who was wearing a pair of tinted goggles.
"Oh I can't show and tell either. I'm not allowed. Something about cosmic energy and rifts in my eyes coming out as beams? I don't know, I have a meeting with Mrs. Griffin in a hour." Jasper tapped his goggles, stepping back from the group slightly. Monty waved and Clarke turned to look at him.
"I can't exactly show and tell unless you want me to invent something right now, but I still need time. I can tell you exactly how every single security camera relay system works in a minute, but I feel like that'll bore you." Monty explained, tilting his head to the side. "I'm told that bores people a lot. Forge, the original, was super cool, but people often tell me to shut up."
"I think that's really cool. I read about Forge. I bet you'll be just as cool." Clarke shook his hand, smiling. Monty smiled back, and stepped back up to Jasper.
Harper and Monroe introduced themselves to Clarke too. Harper could morph into anyone, the descendant of Mystique, one of the original X-men. Monroe was the descendant of Mirage, who was supposedly said to be able to see the future and communicate with animals. Monroe admitted that she hadn't be able to do anything but talk to small animals yet, but no matter how much she dulled down herself, Clarke still smiled at the thought of talking to animals.
"And who's that?" Clarke asked, looking over at a brunette girl who was sat over the other side of the Academy's inner lawn, reading a book. She was covered neck to toe in black clothes, and Clarke watched as she struggled to turn a page over with her gloves on.
"I don't know. She's been here a few weeks like the rest of us." Raven shrugged. "She's never come to say hi."
"I heard Marcus and Kane talking about her when she first got here. She's some freak. Different to the rest of us. Rumour is, she's a killer." Clarke gasped and looked back at Bellamy, who was casting a disgusted look over towards the brunette. "I'm glad she hasn't come to say hi. I could punch her from here."
"Bell, shut up." Octavia elbowed him in the ribs, and he took his eyes off the mystery girl, back to the group.
"Why don't we all get lunch?" Clarke smiled at the group.
2201
"Yeah well, Bellamy was an ass. Now come on, I don't want to meet Mr Kane and Mr Jaha alone. I want my best bud with me." Clarke dragged Lexa through the door to her mom's office, coming face to face with her mother.
"Clarke, I was about to come looking for you." Abby smiled at her daughter, looking over to Lexa, smile faltering. "Ah, Miss Polis."
"Can she stay, mom?" Clarke asked, looking over at the 2 men stood by her mom's desk, and a boy her age, Wells, she guessed, who smiled and waved at her.
"This is private matter concerning you, and Miss Polis-"
"Abigail, if the girl wishes for her friend to stay, she can stay." Kane motioned over at Lexa, who started picking at her gloves, looking down at her feet.
"This will be hard on Clarke, and Miss Polis might take it hard as well." Abby reasoned, and Clarke grabbed Lexa's hand, shaking her head.
"Me and Lexa do everything together." She grabbed the brunette's arm with her other hand, holding her close. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Wells' smile fading, but she kept her focus on the adults.
"Fine. Thelonius." Abby motioned to Jaha, who stepped round his son and crouched in front of Clarke, taking her hands in his.
"Clarke. You have a gift as well." Clarke stepped back and looked at Lexa, who in any other situation would have scoffed at the word 'gifted', but instead looked back at Clarke, eyes wider than usual. "You have the same gift your mother has." Clarke shifted her gaze from Lexa to her mother, looking questionably at her mother. Abby stepped forward and looked her daughter in the eye, gaze briefly flicking to Lexa.
"You hold power in your hands, Clarke. As I do. The power of life." Clarke dropped her hands back to her sides, and looked back at Jaha. Lexa stepped back, reaching for the door handle. Before Clarke could turn around to look at Lexa, the brunette had dashed out of the room and closed the door behind her.
"Lexa-" Clarke started towards the door, but Jaha pulled her back.
"Leave her, Clarke. This is about you. We must start your training immediately. Abby will be your teacher." Clarke nodded numbly, mind wondering off, worried about Lexa.
2200
"Hey." Clarke tapped Lexa on the shoulder, making the brunette jump and turn quickly around to face the person who tapped her shoulder. Clarke stepped back as she turned around quickly, and Clarke saw so many emotions swirl through her eyes before she became unreadable.
"Yes?" She asked, and Clarke smiled. This was the first word anyone had heard her talk in year. Bellamy was wrong, she wasn't gruff or angry, and she doubted she was a killer.
"I, uh, just wondered if I could eat with you." Clarke shook her brown paper bag, smiling again. "I don't think anyone should eat alone." She smiled at Lexa, and Lexa found herself almost smiling back. Only Anya smiled to her these days.
"Oh. Yes, you may sit. This place of for everyone." Lexa put down her book, motioning for Clarke to sit down. Clarke moved around the table, hand clutching her food bag as she placed it down in front of her, swinging herself onto the attached bench.
"Yeah, but I wanna sit with you. Not just because I can. I want to." Clarke looked down at the tablet, frowning. "Where's your lunch?" She asked, looking up at Lexa.
"I, I will eat later." Clarke frowned at the response, but nodded and pushed her bag away.
"I can't eat while you're not eating." Clarke held her hand across the table to Lexa. "I'm Clarke." Lexa looked at the offered hand for a few moments, before slipping her gloved hand into Clarke's hand.
"Lexa." She answered shortly, and Clarke smiled widely. All the comments Bellamy spread about Lexa must have been wrong. So the girl was socially awkward, she was still human. And someone Clarke wanted to get to know. Properly.
"Lexa. I have a feeling we're gunna be friends. Maybe even forever!" Clarke laughed, and Lexa cracked a smile.
2201
Lexa slammed the door to her room, twisting the lock. It wouldn't hold anyone out, all the staff had keys, and no doubt one would be on their way for slamming the door. But it would keep Clarke out at least.
Lexa backed up to her bed, collapsing backwards onto it, tears threatening to leak from her eyes as she stared up at her ceiling. Her room was so different to everyone else's. Clarke had posters and pictures of family everywhere, paintings all over her walls, colourful duvets and rugs. Her room was the same as the empty rooms were. The only personal items she had was a picture of her and Anya, and one of her and Clarke. Next to that was a small vase with 12 flowers Clarke had picked from outside and given to her.
Lexa sat up, ripping her gloves off. She grabbed the flowers in her right hand, pulling them out of the vase and holding them in her lap. She didn't care about the water dripping into her lap. All she did was watch the bright yellow from the flowers drain out and become black, as did the stems and leaves, wilting under her touch. Dying. Because that is who she is.
Death.