Dear Readers, thank you. I own nothing.
Years passed.
Or maybe it was seconds. Lexa's consciousness could not register the difference between the two as she and Clarke sat quietly on the well-lit train.
They slid through darkness that reflected neither sound nor light as they passed; Lexa half absorbed in maddeningly constant pain, and Clarke offering what little comfort she could as she fingered a knife around her outer thigh. It was clear that she and Lexa were not alone outside of Becca's laboratory, and whether this unknown company was friendly or hostile was yet to be discovered. To Clarke, 100% of the City of Light residents had been hostile. But the unknown wanderer that she had seen had exited FROM the train. Were there other residents in Lexa's world as well?
As she opened her mouth to ask Lexa these questions, light and shapes erupted in the windows of the train. It wasn't a glamorous view of pine trees or buildings of Polis, but grey light revealed a train station platform similar to that of the one they had entered from. Similar to the extent that it was also a train station platform. This platform was dilapidated and nearly crumbling, with creeping moss that required little sunlight growing in patches underneath dripping cracks in the platform's ceiling. This pathetic sight comforted Clarke in a most endearing way, assuring her that they had indeed arrived back to the world that she and Lexa had come from.
The doors to the train opened, and remained politely open as Clarke helped to lift Lexa from her seat and, together, slowly stagger into the damp air of the moldy platform. The train doors closed as they exited, and without adieu it was gone again into the swallowing darkness of the tunnel.
Clarke felt immediately at home again, her senses sharp to the wondrous imperfections that created the beautiful Earth that she had first loved and stepped down onto nearly four months prior. The only light on the platform came from a large set of stairs that led to the surface, where a warm and unforgiving sun sat high in its sky. In the distance, birds and insects were singing. Clarke readjusted her grip around Lexa and with determination on each of their faces, they set off to conquer the stairs.
If Lexa knew of any residents, hostile or friendly; Clarke reasoned, then she would have mentioned them.
At the top of the stairs, the two looked out onto the streets of Polis in all of its glory. The hot sun was indeed high in the clear blue sky, fresh produce and roasting meats scented the pine air, and a cool breeze fluttered musical metal and wooden chimes. If there had been people in the streets, it would seem that it was a festive market day, with carts filled with wares to trade and games to play.
A few blocks away, the capitol's monumental tower stood proudly over its blossoming city.
Clarke nearly smiled at being so close to their goal.
They walked for some minutes at a nearly casual pace. Lexa seemed to drag more slowly here than she had in the City of Light. Clarke, noticing this new pace with exasperation, wondered if Lexa needed to rest. But a glance at the commander's face and the shine in her green eyes revealed a want in her that Clarke could never fill. A desire to see all of her citizen's happy and at peace on a perfect market day like this had been one of Lexa's ultimate goals during her reign. Her legacy was supposed to be peace, and seeing that peace across the land had been a secret wish within her heart. The sadness at having died before accomplishing this task was painted clearly across Lexa's eyes, and if Clarke could say something to ease this regret, she would. But there were no words for the regrets of the dead. So she turned her gaze forward to allow the wounded commander to stare at her perfect capitol as they wound through its dusty streets.
When they reached the base of the tower, Clarke briefly panicked about how they would reach the top floors if there were no grounders to power the elevator.
"Lovely place ya got." A weaselly voice called out from a stall near the tower. Both girls turned. Clarke instinctively reached for the knife around her thigh, but Lexa squeezed her neck in the faintest way so as to give the blonde lioness pause.
A mop of roan red hair nodded at them from the stall. A pale, brown freckled man glanced up at the tower. "Ya let the place go to shit, but at least the weather's betta." He said, leaning over and sniffing at a row mysterious kebabs that were smoking on a grill.
"Heda Barlomew." Lexa said, nodding respectfully once. "What brings you here?"
Barlomew took a kebab from the grill and nibbled at the top, as if to deduce the origin of the mystery meat.
"I was on ma way to meet the new commander." He shrugged. "Didn't last long, didya?" He said snidely, gesturing the kebab in Clarke's direction.
Clarke bristled, but Lexa spoke before her. "I'm afraid there will be no naming ceremony at the time. Many things have changed, and Becca Primeheda is searching for ways to assist the next commander, if you wish to join her."
"An' you, then?" Barlomew asked, chewing on the last bite of his kebab.
Unphased at his rudeness, Lexa responded. "We shall return once I've regained my strength."
"Yea, yea. I heard you was off to do somein with the Old Flame. You didn't lose didya?" Clarke jutted her chin at this annoying man, wondering at what a poor kind of leader he was as commander.
"I did not." Lexa replied calmly. "There are trains that lead directly to Becca now. She will be expecting you, I'm sure." She nodded politely again, and pivoted slightly on her good leg. Clarke took this as a signal to begin walking away.
"Goin to get your old body, then?" Barlomew asked mischeviously. Lexa paused, waiting for him to continue.
"Careful, you'll get everythin back the way it was, then." Lexa glanced back at the easy looking fellow eating at her market's stall. "Hope you an ya girl didna do nothin important your hopin to remember after that, then." He said selecting another kebab from the grill.
Lexa looked down at Clarke for the barest instant. The renewed hope and kisses and l love you's that they had shared since Clarke's arrival in the City of Light passed across their minds. A new fear settled in Clarke's chest. Memories were the only thing that mattered here in this purgatory.
"Thank you, Barlomew." Lexa said, almost pleasantly, interrupting Clarke's thoughts. "We shall see you with Becca and the others, then."
Together Lexa and Clarke made their way into the tower, leaving Barlomew with his kebab. He shrugged and continued eating, an activity he had not been able to enjoy as commander, during the time of wide spread famine throughout the clans.
The elevators worked, thankfully, fueled by the same invisible power that had lit candles inside the tower, and had kept kebabs on the grill, and fresh produce in the market's stalls. Lexa was silent, and Clarke couldn't breath in enough air to break the silence. Barlomew's words filled up the space of the elevator and seemed to suffocate her.
Fixing Lexa was Clarke's first and foremost goal. She'd had none other than that since Lexa had first been shot. But now that they were nearly there, just steps away from rejuvenation, she couldn't help but feel a great sense of what she was about to lose once Lexa became whole again. They had touched and kissed each other freely ever since Lexa had rescued her, and she'd said 'I love you' to her for the first time...
Those memories would always be precious to Clarke, and it seemed they would be precious to her and her alone very soon.
The elevator doors opened and they slowly stepped into the hallway. Clarke's room was at the end of hall and they took even more time walking there than they had walking throughout the city.
Lexa unwrapped her arm from around Clarke's shoulder before they reached the door. She curled painfully even more into herself as she stood alone, but she gestured for Clarke to open the door.
With a slight tremor in her hand, Clarke turned the door handle and opened her door. The inside of her room was filled with warm light and familiar furnishings. Her bed was made and the white fur atop it was pristine and without the slightest hint of black blood among any of its long shaggy hairs.
Clarke stepped aside for Lexa to move through the doorway, but the crippled girl did not move.
"Will you," She whispered, eyes downcast, "be the first thing I see?"
Clarke's eyes brimmed with tears, and it took all of her power not to cry. She carefully reached out and cradled Lexa's cheek in her hand. She leaned forward and kissed her long and sweetly before moving a few steps inside of the door. This room always seemed to devastate her in the worst ways.
"I love you." Clarke said huskily, nodding for Lexa to begin.
Lexa reached out with her good hand to touch the door frame. A low minor note pierced the air and the door frame seemed to light up at her broken presence. The swelling and broken nails of her right hand began to delete and reconfigure themselves into the perfect original shape that they had been the day of Lexa's death. Lexa gasped and retracted her hand. It stayed as whole and healthy as if it were never damaged to begin with. She glanced up at Clarke, surprised, and took a bold step forward with her weaker left leg. Her arm and shoulder crossed the threshold first and she was slowed down, as if she were pressing through a thick tar, rather than clear air. Feeling returned to her entire left arm and she was able clench her fist in anticipation as her head and chest began to pass the door frame. The blood flowing from her ear seemed to disintegrate on contact with the imaginary wall that she was passing through and the ringing in her ear faded at last. Her ribs were set back into place without a single pinch or pang of pain and her skin faded from black, to purple, to red, and finally a healthy pink.
When at last every single physical ailment had been righted, Lexa's speed returned to normal and she nearly staggered forward after pressing so forcefully through the door frame.
Her bright green eyes lifted up and alighted on to the waiting Clarke. Clarke was smiling, and crying. They'd done it.
Lexa took in the beauty of Clarke's happiness and stood up gracefully and took the remaining steps between them and pressed Clarke into a strong kiss. Clarke began laughing through kisses and tears, but Lexa did not release her.
Instead, she deepened the kiss and walked Clarke backwards into a wall. Clarke's hands roamed over Lexa's skin and under her coat. With a quick movement the coat was on the floor, leaving Lexa in her breast bindings and pants. Lexa nearly tore Clarke's jacket and shirt from her skin, their kiss only breaking to remove her weapons from Clarke's back.
"Lexa?" Clarke moaned. Lexa was in no mood for talking, and so she lifted Clarke up onto her hips and had her legs wrap around her waist. They were wild together, lips and tongues and teeth scraping across every exposed bit of flesh.
When at last their pants became too hindering for their activities, Lexa carried them to the bed and threw Clarke onto the white furs. She unbuckled Clarke's knife first, and then her pants, kissing every inch of skin that she unwrapped as if Clarke were a birthday gift. When Clarke lay bare on the bed, she looked down at her handiwork with hooded eyes and parted lips. Clarke was breathtaking.
Clarke sat up and scooted up to the edge of the bed, hooking her hands around the waist of Lexa's pants. She pulled the girl closer and kissed her taunt abdomen, unbuttoning the pants and sliding them down her hips and past her tan legs. Lexa stepped out of her pants and into the space between Clarke's legs. She tipped Clarke's head up and captured her lips once more.
They fell to the bed together, each pressing as much of their body as the could to the other. Hands reached out and squeezed and groped, legs were entwined together, lips locked onto mouths, nipples, and fingers, and cries of extacy rang out through the room and into the open skies of the surrounding the tower.
Hours passed, as evident by the bright firey sunset that slew blinding rays of light through the windows of Clarke's room.
The girls laid comfortably together, Lexa wrapped around Clarke, and their foreheads touching. Their eyes were closed, but neither was asleep.
In the silence and without opening her eyes, Lexa whispered. "I love you too, Clarke."
Clarke opened her eyes and stared at the face of the person she had come the cherish the most. Lexa slowly did the same and smiled. Without hesitation, Clarke rolled on top of Lexa and began kissing every inch of her perfect face, and for the first time in their entire time together, Clarke heard Lexa begin to laugh.
They would not be leaving that bed for the rest of the night.