Title: In Another Life
Author: GreysBonesIsles
Pairing: Clarke/Lexa
Rating: T
Disclaimer: All copyrighted material in this story belongs to their respectful owners.

Summary: Death is not the end. The Grounders have always believed in reincarnation but Lexa never imagined it to be like this. Maybe in this new life, in the strange unknown place, she will get a second chance to be truly happy and maybe even a life with Clarke. Modern AU Clexa set after 3x07.

Chapter 1

"You were right, Clarke." Lexa's shaky voice whispers. "Life is about more than just surviving."

Lexa looks up into Clarke's scared eyes, her tears shining in the glow of the candles surrounding them. She can feel her own tears sliding down the sides of her face and onto the blood stained furs under her.

Lexa's not scared of dying, she has faced death many times and won but she knows this time that would not be the case. She has faith that the Commander's spirit will choose a worthy successor and her people will be taken care of after her death. What she is not ready for is leaving Clarke, she has already seen so many of the people she cares for die and now she has to helplessly watch as Lexa bleeds out in front of her.

Clarke's blue eyes are pleading with her to stay, to not leave her but Lexa knows it's too late. There is no coming back from it this time. No matter how loud her heart is yelling at her to stay with her she knows she can't. Her soft smile is telling Clarke that it's okay and it's time to let her go.

She feels Clarke's shaky fingers on her hair as her trembling voice says her goodbye.

"In peace may you leave the shore. In love may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels until our final journey on the ground... May we meet again."

Lexa just keeps looking at Clarke trying to pour all of her love into this last goodbye. The darkness starts to seep into her vision, she fights to keep looking at those scared blue eyes but it's to no avail. Then she feels those soft lips press against her one last time and everything goes black.

There is no more pain, no more tears, no more anything just black.

Green eyes blink open and are blinded by a bright white light as she gasps for air. Her body feels numb and heavy. Over the ringing in her ears she can hear voices all around her but they are too muffled to make out what they are saying. A strong smell fills her nose as she tries to fill her lungs with much needed oxygen. Her head is pounding against her skull making it hard to focus on anything else. She tries to get her body to move and get up but it is not responding.

Finally the fuzziness in her head begins to clear, her vision starts to focus on the swirling shapes moving around her and the ringing in her ears fades. A man's face appears in front of her looking down at her.

"Chon yu bilaik?" Her voice is barely above a whisper.

"We need to get her to CT." She hears someone say to her left.

Slowly her mind starts to analyse what is going on around her. A white room full of people speaking the enemy's language, large machines blinking in bright colours with wires sticking out in every direction and some even connected to her own body. Her heart drops when realisation hits her of where she is or more precisely who has her.

The Mountain Men.

Panic floods her system making her body jolt into action knowing she needs to get out of here and fast. She has heard many tales about what happens inside the mountain.

The adrenaline pumping through her body jumpstarts her limbs forcing herself to get up but the man pushes her back down onto the bed. She starts to fight against his hold, her body telling her she needs to get away.

"Easy there, you need to keep still."

With all of the strength she can master she pushes the man off her making him stumble away giving her the chance to get off the bed. She makes it a couple of steps before two more men grab onto her. A lifetime of training helps her to quickly escape their hold, elbowing one of them on the nose in the process. Her body slumps against the wall exhausted before turning around to face them with the most threatening stance her weak body can accomplish.

"Bak yu op ou ai na frag yu op!" She yells at them with a murderous look in her eyes. Her hand immediately going to her side to grab a hold of her dagger but she doesn't find it strapped to her hip where it always is.

"We need to sedate her, now!"

The men move to grab her again but Lexa starts to fight them off the best she can with her body not at its full strength. Ignoring the pain that shoots through her body, her moves are sloppy and her feet slow but she doesn't give up the fight. She doesn't even register the needle piercing her skin until the world starts to go black again.

Anya is strolling along the woods surrounding Polis enjoying the nice day out of the capital. A sudden battle cry coming from high up in one of the trees makes her grab onto the hilt of her sword. She watches as a small body jumps down out of the trees landing in front of her.

"Surrender or suffer the wrath of your Heda." The 5 year old girl says taking her fighting stance, holding onto a sharpened stick as a sword pointed at the older girl. There are twigs and leafs sticking out of her unruly hair and her face is covered in war paint.

Anya smiles at her second, after Lexa's parents were taken when was just 2 years of age Indra had entrusted Anya with the small Natblida and started her on her training.

Lexa charges at her but Anya easily sidesteps her attack. Lexa spins around swinging the stick at her chest but Anya dodges it with ease again. The young girl's determination has nothing against Anya's years of training and in a quick move she disarms the young warrior, leaving a very confused Lexa looking up at the smirking 17 year old.

"You still have a lot of training to do young one."Anya watches as Lexa's back stiffens and she raises her chin.

"I will train everyday so I may be worthy if the Commander's spirit chooses me."

"I have no doubt that you will." Anya smiles at her handing her back her weapon that she takes eagerly. "You know you are not allowed to be out here alone, there are a lot of dangers out here".

"I am Lexa kom Trikru and I fear none." Anya watches how her brown hair whips around as she uses the stick to fight a nearby tree.

"Oh really?" Lexa gives a sharp nod before striking the tree again. "Not even a pakstoka?" Lexa shakes her head no. "A feisripa?"

"No." Lexa jumps back over to where Anya is waiting for her with an amused smile.

"What about the pauna?" Anya asks pulling a few twigs from her hair.

"The pauna's death will be at my sword." Lexa says confidently.

"Alright then my little Natblida it time to return." Anya starts to walk back in the direction of the city gates, she only gets a few feet before realising that Lexa is not following her. Turning back around she sees the little girl biting her lip with her head bowed. "Lexa?"

"Anya, do you think I can fight the Mountain Men?" She asks lifting her head to look at her mentor. Anya walks closer to her kneeling in front of her so she can look into her sad eyes.

"Lexa you know that the Mountain Men are extremely dangerous, even more so then the pauna. You must never seek them out. Do you understand?" She gives a nod but Anya can see the war waging in those green eyes. She may only be 5 years of age but she has seen how cruel this world can be, living in fear of the Mountain Men who has taken so much from her already.

"Good. But you Lexa are the strongest, bravest warrior I know and there will come a day when no one will be able to stop you. Not even the Mountain Men." Lexa gives her a small smile.

"Here." Anya reaches to her side pulling out her dagger before handing it over to the girl who is gasps when Anya places it in her hands. Lexa carefully examines the beautiful dagger, her first real weapon. "Every Heda needs a trusted dagger." Lexa looks up at Anya in awe, Anya helps her secure the dagger safely onto her tiny body before ruffling her hair affectionately.

"Come on let's get you back to Polis, the last thing we need is to anger Titus… again." Something Lexa seems very good at doing.

Anya bends down and Lexa quickly jumps onto her back and Anya start to walk them back to Polis.

"I do not like Titus." Lexa says playing with Anya's hair.

"Why do you dislike Titus?"

"He has no hair, he can not have any braids." Anya can't help the small chuckle that escapes her at her second's reasoning.

Lexa can still hear the leafs crunching under Anya's boots when she starts to drift back to consciousness. Unlike the previous time there are no people around her when she opens her eyes, the only thing she sees is pale grey walls all around her.

Her panic is back in full force when she remembers exactly where she is. She moves to get out of the bed but stops when she feels something holding her wrists back. Looking to her sides she finds her wrists each tied to a metal frame around her bed. She starts pulling forcefully at them trying to free her arms making the metal frame rattle and clank.

"You need to calm down before you hurt yourself."

Lexa freezes, her eyes snaps up to the doorway seeing a man entering her room and walking over to her bed. She bares her teeth almost growling at him. Her restraint fists clench and her body leans forward as far as she can ignoring the pain burning in her abdomen at the movement.

He places his hand on her shoulder to push her back down but she shakes it off violently her wrist straining against the restraints.

"Gon we o wan op." She hisses at him.

He takes a quick step back away from her bed seeing the warning flashing in her eyes. Even with her restraint he is not going to take any chances.

Lexa watches the man closely, sizing him up. He is average height maybe even on the short side and rather scrawny. He doesn't look like a warrior but then the Mountain Men never do and yet they have killed thousands of her people. However she can't figure out how they are still alive, she knows the mountain was destroyed by Wanheda and the last remaining of their kind was banished from her lands.

"I'm not here to hurt you." He holds up his hands in surrender to show her he means no harm but she doesn't back down.

"Then let me go." She says giving the man a death glare.

He is surprised to hear her speak English, but he quickly schools his face.

"I can't do that." Lexa pulls on the restraints again making him jump.

"You claim you do not wish to harm me yet you keep my tied up like an animal."

"You attacked our doctors we had to restrain you." Lexa just keeps looking at him, she watches as he swallows nervously.

"The Mountain Men bring nothing but death to my people, I will not go down without a fight."

She pulls violently on the restraints again this time, the bed even moves a little. She has to force her face not to show the twitch of pain from the movement. But the man catches the pained look before she can hide it and he looks like he wants to help her but knows getting closer would not be a wise decision.

"Is everything okay in here?" A soft voice asks from the doorway.

Lexa's eyes shoot up at the intruder and a gasp leaves her lips.

"Abby." She whispers seeing the familiar Sky person, all the fight instantly draining from her body.

"It's okay Dr Anderson I'll take it from here." Abby smiles at the man, he doesn't argue and just gives her a nod before almost running out of the room.

Abby walks further into the room looking at the machines next to her. Lexa watch her cautiously, she knows Abby is friendly but it still doesn't explain why she is in the mountain.

A million questions races through her mind - Is she even in the mountain? If Abby is here does that mean that the other people she saw are also from Skaikru? Was Clarke able to bring her to Abby to heal her?

Lexa shakes her head feeling her headache starting to return. Abby is looking at a bag of fluid hanging from a pole. Lexa takes the opportunity to really look at Abby, her clothes are stain free and she has on a long white coat with a metal wire draped around her neck. Her skin is also a lot lighter and she has a soft smile on her face. Lexa doesn't think she has ever seen Abby smile before.

Lexa is pulled out of her thoughts when Abby turns to speak to her.

"I'm Dr Griffin the lead doctor on your case. Can you tell me your name?"

"You do not know my name?" Lexa looks at her confused.

"You didn't have any identification on you when you were brought in." Abby explains.

"Lexa." She says waiting for any sign of recognition from Abby but none came.

"Lexa do you have a last name or is it just Lexa like Madonna?" Lexa frowns, she does not know who this Madonna is but she assumes Abby wants her to identify herself.

"Lexa… kom Trikru?" It's more of a question then a statement but Abby accepts her answer with a nod.

"That's an interesting last name. What is it German, Russian?" Lexa just keeps looking at her but then decides it's time to get some answers of her own.

"Where am I?" She knows Abby will tell her the truth. They may not be very fond of each other but there has always been a sense of mutual respect between them.

Abby walks to stand right next to Lexa's bed placing her hands into the pockets of her white coat.

"You're at Jaha Memorial Hospital. You have been in an accident and were brought here last night." Abby carefully watches Lexa's reaction.

Lexa is relieved that she is not in the mountain but she still has no idea where she is and Abby's strange behaviour towards her isn't helping.

"Sitting up like that must be very painful." Abby says softly not to startle the girl who was clearly deep in thought.

Lexa mindlessly lies back down against the pillows not even realising she is doing it.

"I was in an accident?" She asks after a moment.

"Yes, the paramedics that brought you in said you were hit by a car. Do you remember what happened?"

Lexa remembers being in her room and hearing the loud bang of a gun coming from another room and going to see what was happening, when she found Titus trying to hurt Clarke but then the bullet hit her instead. She remembers Clarke's tears and Titus apologising. She remembers dying.

"I was hit by a car?"

Abby pulls one of the visitors chairs closer to the bed before sitting down, clasping her hands together she looks at Lexa and starts to explain.

"From what the paramedics told us you were hit by a car while you were crossing the road. You were unconscious when you arrived in the ER. You have two cracked ribs on your right side where the car hit you. You also hit your head causing a laceration on the right side of your forehead, the scans didn't show any brain bleeds but it did cause a pretty bad concussion. The accident also resulted in damage to your abdomen causing internal bleeding and a liver perforation that we had to repair during an emergency surgery."

Lexa's head is swimming with an overload of information. She doesn't know some of the words Abby used but from what she can detect her body was in pretty bad shape when she was brought to this hospital place. All those things Abby said happened to her, she can't remember any of that. One thing that caught her attention during Abby's explanation is that she never mentioned a bullet wound.

"I know this is all a lot to take in, is there someone we can call for you to let them know you are here maybe parents, family or friends?"

"I- I..."

Abby watches her closely, they way her eyes nervously look around the room and her muscles are tense as if she is ready to jump into action at any moment.

"How about this, can you tell me what state we are in?" Abby asks going off a hunch. Lexa opens her mouth but nothing comes out, she doesn't have an answer. "Can you tell me who the president is?"

Lexa feels that for some reason she should be able to answer these strange questions but she can't.

"That's okay, you have a concussion and that can lead to temporary memory loss. Don't worry it will all come back to you." Abby smile sympathetically at the girl.

Nothing is making sense and the pounding in her head isn't helping. Lexa lifts her hand to her head but the restraints around her wrists stop her again. She looks at the white material and then up to Abby.

"I'm sorry about the restraints but when you woke up you were confused and disoriented so we had to put those on."

"Can you take them off?" Lexa asks hopefully.

"Since you assaulted a doctor, breaking his nose, I am not allowed to take them off." Abby sees Lexa deflate at that. "But I understand that when you woke up you must have been scared being in a strange place and not knowing what happened. That's why I see that as an act of self-defence rather than aggression. So how about this, I will take off one of them and if you don't go punching any more doctors I can take off the other one?"

"I will not hurt you." Lexa says honestly, she knows she would never intentionally hurt Clarke's mother or any of her people.

Abby places her hand gently on the girl's shoulder and unlike the man Lexa doesn't shake it off.

"I believe you, that's why I'm giving you a chance."

Abby carefully takes the restraint off her right wrist. Once it is free Lexa moves her hand up feeling the little bandage just above her right eyebrow.

"Is your head hurting?"

"Yes, a little."

Abby examines the 2 inch cut and is happy to find that it will heal just fine.

"I will ask the nurse to give you something to help with the pain." Lexa smiles at her gratefully. "But first I need to take a quick look at your incision." Abby motions to her abdomen and Lexa nods.

After lifting up the hospital gown Abby carefully takes off the white bandage to expose the incision, she sighs when she sees that Lexa pulled a couple of stitches. Abby tells Lexa she has to redo the pulled stitches as she quickly cleans the wound before getting a suture kit and applies the local anaesthetic.

Lexa watches as Abby works carefully closing her wound again, her eye catches the purple bruise over her right side. She can't help but let her mind wonder to whatever is happening to her, and how Abby is here looking at her like she is a complete stranger to her. Maybe she is a stranger here?

She was dead and now she is - here.

Her eyes go wide and her heart speeds up as one of Titus's teachings starts echoing through her mind. Death is not the end. All at once things start to click into place for Lexa.

"Am I hurting you?" Abby asks when she sees the look on the girl's face.

Lexa turns her wide eyes to Abby seeing the woman looking at her concerned. Taking a deep breath she gives her the best reassuring smile she can, she opens her mouth to answer but is interrupted by a soft knock on the door, they both look up. Lexa can feel all the air leave her body.

"Hey mom, Dr Jackson said I would find you here. You ready for lunch?"

"Clarke, I'll be with you in a second I'm just finishing up here." Abby smiles at her daughter.

As Abby continue her work Lexa's eyes are glued to Clarke like she is an angel appearing at her door. She closes her eyes and opening them again just to make sure her injured head isn't playing some sort of trick on her. When she opens them again Clarke is still there leaning against the doorframe.

She too looks different to the Clarke Lexa has come to know and love. Her blonde hair is pulled into a messy bun with a few random loose strands around her face. She is wearing a dark grey undershirt and a blue and black button up shirt over it with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and wrists are full of strings of all colours. It's paired with dark skin tight pants and what once was white shoes but now is covered in colourful drawings. But what stole Lexa's breathe was her face, her bright blue eyes sparkling and a smile on those pink lips, there is not a scratch in sight on her flawless skin. Clarke looks genuinely happy.

Ever fibber of Lexa's being wants her to run to the blonde and wrap her in her arms and never let go but she is frozen in place. With her short conversation with Abby Lexa has come to realise that things are not as she remembers it here. Where ever here is.

"Hi, I'm Clarke."

Lexa can't help the stab of disappointment she feels when Clarke doesn't remember her. Lexa doesn't say anything she just keeps looking at her. When she sees Clarke frown and start to shift uncomfortably she realises she needs to introduce herself.

"Lexa."

The blonde gives her a soft smile that makes Lexa's inside melt, and from Abby's diagnoses she is guessing that is not a good thing.

Clarke pushes herself off of the doorframe and makes her way inside and stands next to the bed.

"I hope my mom is taking good care of you?" Lexa nods as her eyes track Clarke's movement. Clarke's eyes moves from where her mother is working to land on the white restraint still securely around Lexa's left wrist. "Why are you cuffed to bed?" She asks with a frown while her finger runs along the material.

Abby sighs, trust her daughter to not beat around the bush but to Abby's surprise Lexa answers her truthfully and unashamed.

"I broke a doctor's nose."

"Seriously?" Clarke looks to her mom on the opposite side of Lexa's bed for conformation.

"Yes, when she woke up she was a little out of it and elbowed Dr Wallace in the face."

"Dr Cage Wallace?" Abby nods. "You broke Nose-Hair Wallace's nose!" Clarke says way too excited.

"Clarke." Abby says sternly.

"Come on mom nobody likes that guy, he's a real ass." Abby gives her a warning look and Clarke just rolls her eyes before she pretends whisper to Lexa. "I think it's awesome and you deserve a pudding cup not a handcuff."

"Are you a doctor too?" Lexa asks genuinely curious seeing as Clarke seems to know this doctor but is not wearing the same clothes as all the other doctors she has met so far.

Clarke lets out a small chuckle before answering. "No, I'm not a doctor."

Now Lexa is confused, something she seems to be a lot today. Clarke is one of her people's healers, she even helped Lexa a time or two when she got injured.

"Clarke is an artist." Abby informs her while tying off the last stitch.

"Art student." Clarke corrects her mother.

"Semantics."

"Hey, there is a difference."

"That being?" Abby stops her work to look at Clarke with a raised eyebrow.

"An artist gets paid to create art. An art student pays to create art."

"Touché." Abby says with a smile before taking a new bandage out to cover the incision. "Sometimes I think you're too smart for your own good."

"I'm the daughter of a surgeon and an engineer it's in my DNA."

Lexa watches the two Griffin women interact and smile at each other. She can't remember ever seeing Clarke this carefree before.

"Don't pay her any mind." Abby says to Lexa as she pulls her hospital gown back down. "Okay you're all patched up again. I'm going to send in a nurse with some painkillers and something to eat so we can get your strength back. I'll be back to check on you during evening rounds." Lexa nods as Abby walks towards the door waiting for her daughter to follow her.

"It was nice to meet you Lexa." Clarke says brightly.

"You too Clarke." Lexa says with a small smile.

"Hopefully we will get to meet again." Lexa's heart clenches at Clarke's words.

"Hopefully you don't." Abby says pulling Clarke out of the room.

"Bye!" A giggling Clarke says over her shoulder as Abby finally gets her out of Lexa's room.

Lexa can hear them laughing as they walk away down the hall leaving Lexa alone in the room. Lexa drops her head back onto the pillow. She takes in a deep much needed breath letting her free right hand run over her face.

"May we meet again." Lexa whispers to herself with a small smile.

Translation:

Chon yu bilaik? - Who are you?

Bak yu op ou ai na frag yu op! - Stay back or I'll kill you!

Gon we o wan op. - Leave or die.

Natblida - Nightblood

Pakstoka - Wolf

Feisripa - Tiger

Pauna - Gorilla