A/N: Heyyyy it's a chapter two! No, I haven't abandoned it. I just really want to get this right because there's so many ways I could possibly write this, and it didn't feel right the first few times I tried.

Elyza let out a sigh, wind rippling through her blond curls as she surveyed the ocean through her sunglasses. She sat on a cliff, rocking back and forth while hugging her knees. A sense of deep contentment permeated through her as she relished the peace. Two years, and she still couldn't get over the idea of peace and not having to constantly fight.

After much research in the last half year, she had realized that America was this world's equivalent to the land of the coalition. At first she had visited Washington D.C., stunned to find out this world's version of TonDC. It was so different, even the statue of Lincoln was different. It was well kept, grand in a less haunting way.

Slowly after realizing there wasn't much to do, she'd mapped out place by place where Arkadia, Polis, and other landmarks were in her life. Overall they weren't very interesting. Just small random towns in Virginia and Maryland where people went about their everyday lives. Mount Weather was the weirdest one. It wasn't like she could visit it, or see it, but knowing that it was still standing here was an odd idea in itself.

After a while, she bought a van and traveled as Elyza Lex all over the USA. Part of her was glad for this new identity. Donning all leather, speaking in an Australian accent she had picked up in her time with the Lexes, she was overall badass. The stark difference from Clarke Griffin made it easier for her to live this life.

Elyza shook her head. There was no use in letting her brain clog with things she could never confirm nor control. She pushed herself up onto her feet and dusted off her pants before falling into form, remembering all that she had been taught to protect herself. Elyza went through the stances and exercises that she now knew by memory. She had managed to fit them so well together out of sheer practice, that it almost looked like she was dancing as she practiced on the cliff.

-0-

Lexa was gasping, looking into her eyes. "Ai gonplei ste odon." Panic spiked within her. Lexa never gave up, she never gave in. She was the Commander.

Clarke's heart broke as she heard her repeat what she had once said. "Life is about more than surviving." She wanted to scream, scream that this wasn't what she meant. She'd meant to have fun, to live a little, but not death. Except all she could do was murmur a feeble, "No" and smooth down Lexa's hair. She knew what was coming, she knew every time it plagued her dreams.

Lexa gasping in pain, her labored breath becoming shallower and shallower, trying to put on a brave face for Clarke. She was painfully aware of her heart cracking as she repeated her farewell and Lexa just smiled up at her. Painfully aware that it would be their last kiss (with Lexa alive) when she leaned down to kiss her. Painfully aware of the cold, lifeless eyes that reflected back at her as she pulled away, her heart shattering, shards of it raining to the floor in an irreparable mess.

Lexa was so cold, so lifeless. There was no more fire in her. Just an empty shell. She had reciprocated her feelings too late and now Lexa was dead.

Then Elyza Lex jolts awake in the driver's seat of her van, tears running down her cheek to form twin tracks. The hole in her heart ached and she let out a sob before wiping away the tears from her cheeks. She was Elyza now. Clarke Griffin was as dead as Lexa. There would be no Lexa in this world, and she was stuck here for an eternity. There was no Raven to bring her back and there would be nothing to go back to anyway.

She took a deep breath in and then let it out before looking out the window to take in her surroundings and then Elyza's world froze. In the warm, late afternoon light of fall, shadows fell over her face as skater boys whizzed by her and blocked her from view momentarily. Headphones were stuffed in her ears, a black backpack bouncing on her back with every step she took. It couldn't be.

But when this girl stopped to face a house with a worried face, the Clarke Griffin in Elyza screamed that this couldn't possibly be anybody other than Lexa. She was younger, less battleworn. No warpaint, shorter hair, no braids, no armor, no kohl outlining her eyes. But unmistakably, this girl was either Lexa or possessed Lexa's face. Elyza tried to squash the rising hope in her heart, smash it to pieces before it could even start to bloom with no avail.

Her heart started racing faster than a raging teenager trying to win in mario kart on rainbow road. The world spun around her, a blur of black car around her, the green trees and grass and blue of the sky. Lexa.

-0-

Elyza watches the activity in the house. For one second when the woman was out she caught a glimpse of Lexa or not-Lexa. Not-Lexa had a stubborn look on her face. Then she went back inside, screaming something Elyza couldn't hear. She watched the screen she had installed in the back of her van while keeping an eye on the house.

The news was beyond disturbing. Clarke had defeated messed up as all hell AI's, but somehow dead people coming back to life was even more disturbing. Elyza examined every video and film she could possibly find. If anything, she had learned that being prepared was a good thing. Her hand wandered to the knives hidden in her boots and gun holster on her hips. Looks like she wasn't paranoid after all.

It wasn't until the idiots decided to go into the house next door and risk their lives that Elyza got worried. Slowly she snuck in after them. They were clumsy and inept, and kept arguing to boot.

She wasn't sure whether it hurt her heart or she was relieved to see the difference in Lexa and this girl who they called Alicia. The girl seemed so carefree, her face lacking the harsh seriousness of Lexa's stoic mask. Yet it hurt to see Lexa's face make an expression that was so alien.

It was when they left, that she heard the inhuman groan. Elyza pulled a dagger out of her boot and advanced towards the growling and moaning. Then the door slid open again and she saw a flash of wavy brown hair and bright green eyes. Suppressing a noise of surprise, Elyza quickly ducked behind a doorway. Her heart felt like it wanted to jump out of her heart to run to the girl who had just re-entered. Goddamnit, it wasn't like her to be unable to predict things like that. Then the blood froze in her veins. The monster was still in there.

She hears Alicia discover the zombie and for a second of silence she thinks maybe the girl who is not-Lexa is dead already. Of course, a second later she hears the teen run for it and the walker shuffling after her.

Elyza's mind and heart are conflicted. She knows she would feel better if this girl just disappeared or died. Except she couldn't. The girl looked so much like Lexa. If she died now it would feel like she had let Lexa die all over again.

With that thought in mind, she turns on her heels and runs through the maze of plants in the backyard. Goddamnit, who even plants gardens like this? This girl's footsteps were nothing like Lexa's. Lexa could sneak up on anything, but she could hear this girl's every footstep, and there was no doubt the inhuman thing could as well. Gunshots sounded and shouts echoed through the night air. Elyza put forth another burst of speed and finally burst through the exit of the maze, momentarily pausing, stunned at the scene. The memory of Lexa being hit by the bullet imprinted in her eyeballs, even as she watched the present unfold. Fear that she would be too late and that this world's Lexa would die too, had an iron grip on her.

Alicia was screaming for help at the top of her lungs and a boy was trying to help her. He was too skinny and frail to be able to get her over with Alicia kicking at the monster.

Elyza charged forward and grabbed onto it for leverage before driving her dagger straight into the head. She looked up and saw green eyes widen in a mix of relief and shock. The moment ended quickly when she was finally yanked over the fence and a bunch of people came crowding into the yard.

They crowded the boy and Alicia with the concerned parent act. It was a few minutes before they realized Elyza was standing there, but it was obvious they didn't trust her, didn't like her whatsoever. Their distrusting glares said it all. Some probably blamed her for "killing" their neighbor no doubt. A naive line of thinking. That thing wasn't whoever they knew anymore. The older, hispanic man holding the shotgun eyed her with an odd sense of curiosity.

Elyza put up her hands in surrender. "Put down your knife!" One of them shouted aggressively. She rolled her eyes inwardly and dropped the knife. If she really wanted to pose a threat she would have wiped out three of them already.

"Who are you?" the middle aged man questioned.

"She saved me", Alicia said in a shaky voice. Even though she spoke up for Elyza, her eyes were distrusting, her lips turned down in distaste. Whether it was for the walker or Elyza, there was no telling. There was a pause before she tacked on, "Thank you."

Elyza's response slipped out of her easily. It was too hard to act like Clarke Griffin in front of this person that looked so much like Lexa, but acted so different. It was so hard, that it was easy to act like the exact opposite. She smirked and let the Australian accent she had picked up slip through. "No problem, sweetheart. I always like saving beauties like you."