Elyza was unnerved. She didn't like being without her weapons. Albeit she did have the dirk still tucked in the strap on the inside of her leather jacket. She never went anywhere without it, including time traveling. Nobody else would ever understand. She had never, ever shown anybody else because she hadn't been able to bear pulling it out to use it to begin with. Yes, not even Madi. It was the knife that Lexa had thrown into Quint's arm, Lexa's infamous dagger that she had played with the first time they had met.
The fact that Elyza had moved on didn't mean she couldn't and didn't have a place for Lexa in her heart. Lexa would always have a place. It was just that now, Alicia occupied another newly grown part of her heart.
It is in this antsy state that Elyza wanders over to the living room, following the faint sounds of the TV that is on. She stops short behind the wall when she hears voices other than the old scratchy voices of the film. "What are you watching?"
Alicia's heavenly voice (at least to Elyza it is) replies, "I don't know. It's old. It's recorded. Here."
Elyza hears shuffling and prepares to back away. It's not that she's a creep that doesn't want to get caught. She'd talk about it with Alicia later. Except Chris talks again. "Are you mad at me?"
"I saw what you did." Elyza can hear how hard Alicia is trying to forgive him, how hard she's trying to not make this a big deal within this entire mess that is happening.
"What are you talking about?" He says it so softly, as if he actually doesn't know what he did, but Elyza knows better. She has to clench her fist and jaw to stop herself from storming in there.
Alicia knows his bullshit too. "I know what I saw. Chris you were watching. They were gonna kill her and you were watching!" Alicia cried, temper finally giving out. Elyza was conflicted on the inside. Should she go in? There was no telling what Chris would do, but was it her place? Didn't Alicia deserve to figure this out herself?
"No I swear-"
"You were gonna stand there and let it happen!" Alicia yells, her voice raised. Elyza can see her expression clear as day, because she's seen it so many times. Especially that one time that is etched in her mind.
Her actions show us a promise for a new future! A world in which violence does not answer violence. A world in which our children can flourish without the shadow of death.
Chris speaks back in a hushed tone as if he could possibly still keep this under wraps. "I would never do that. Why- why- why would I ever do that." He sounds so distraught Elyza is sure there is something wrong and broken in that boy. Something beyond fixable now. It is a pity. Chris had potential.
"I don't know, but I'm not gonna pretend like it didn't happen", Alicia answers and Elyza sees her get to the doorway only to be blocked by Chris.
She doesn't like this. They're too close. Elyza steps forward slowly, with practiced, quiet steps, and she knows Alicia sees her behind Chris too. "If you tell everybody this lie, what'll happen to us, what'll happen to our family? You'll blow everything up based on something you think you saw."
"Let me by, Chris", Alicia answers calmly, trying to step past him.
He grabs her by the shoulders and pushes her against the doorway. It isn't hard, but it is harsh enough that Elyza has had enough. Her blood boils and within seconds her hand is on Chris' shoulder, clamping down hard. "Let her go. Or else," Elyza says in a low growl.
Chris looks crazed, like a cornered animal. He loosens his grip on Alicia's arms slightly but doesn't let go. "You can't say anything."
"What if I do?" Alicia answers, her voice and eyes unwaveringly bold as they stare back into Chris' glaring at him in her own show of strength.
There is a second of silence before he says it barely loud enough for Elyza to hear. "I don't want to hurt anyone." With that, Elyza clamps down hard enough on Chris' shoulder to make sure it will create a lasting bruise, yanking him away from Alicia.
"You lay a finger on her and I will kill you, got it?"Elyza hisses in his ear before shoving him out the doorway. He stumbles before regaining his footing and walking out through the yard.
Elyza turns to Alicia. She looks unnerved, as if she just put on a brave face and is not quite sure what to do next. Elyza doesn't hug her, she knows physical contact isn't what she wants or needs right now. "Whatever you choose, I'll stand with you, Alicia."
Alicia's eyes widen a smidgeon. It is the first time Elyza has ever called her by her name. Elyza holds her gaze for a minute more before turning around and heading back from the way she'd wandered in.
-0-
That night, Elyza sleeps next door to Alicia and Madison. When the gunshot rings, the only thing on her mind is that she failed, she failed, she failed. She sprints over to Alicia's room, dagger at the ready to throw, eyes already burning to cry and stops dead in the doorway as Madison turns and climbs off the bed. "What the hell are you doing?"
Alicia looks at Elyza, poised to throw, her Mother, Chris and the dagger that was obviously about to be used to kill them. "Chris get out! Get! Out!"
Surprisingly, he turns with the dagger and slips out the sliding doors of the room. As Madison and Alicia slowly sag back into the bed, exhaustion and disbelief sinking into their limbs, Elyza lowers the dagger and stares at it in her hand. She hasn't pulled it out of it's sheath in the last eight years. She had changed and fashioned the sheath so that it could be attached to her jacket, but not once has she pulled out the blade. Not once in the last eight years has she seen the familiar pattern of the damascus steel. What does it mean that she is willing to pull it out for Alicia? Neither Clarke nor Elyza knows right then.
So when Madison runs off to where the gunshot sounded and Alicia wanders off outside to where the Mexican boy is, Elyza follows silently. It is as if she is a phantom, a ghost, but she is also like a puppy following its owner blindly because it doesn't know any better.
Travis runs up to them. "Have you seen Chris? I can't find him. Help me look for him, I'm gonna check outside."
Elyza grits her teeth, remembering how close the boy had been to killing Alicia and her brain starts to wake up again. Boy was she going to kill that punk when she found him, and she was going to find him. After living so many years with Madi she had developed into quite the skilled tracker.
"Can you just-"
Alicia interrupts both Travis and Elyza's train of thought, "No. Travis, he had a knife. The shot went off, he was in our room standing over me with a knife."
Travis scolds her like a child that isn't entirely different from how Abby used to reprimand Clarke. "Stop. He would never hurt you."
"Do you think I'm lying?" Alicia finally seems to realize that neither son nor father are in their right minds. It is a damned good thing that Travis gives up and walks off with a huff because Elyza really doesn't know what she would've done if he had kept going.
-0-
It isn't until Alicia is wringing her hair dry in the hotel and Elyza steps up behind her, wrapping her arms around her waist that they have a chance to talk, relatively alone. Ofelia is around of course, but Ofelia isn't a nosy person to begin with.
Elyza has already showered and is dressed in a white tank top that is entirely inappropriate for an apocalypse, with her usual leather jacket and tight jeans that showed off her legs. She nuzzles her nose into Alicia's neck affectionately. "Hon', is it just me or do you grow more enticing every day?"
Alicia's lips curl up into a smile at Elyza's antics as she adjusts her collar. She leans back into Elyza's arms. "And you get flirtier every day."
"It's only ever for you and you know it, pumpkin", Elyza answers with a lazy drawl, finally pulling her head up to look into Alicia's eyes through the mirror.
Alicia smirks back, holding up the dagger that she holds… Lexa's dagger. "Even this?" Elyza's heart stops and it feels like a rock is suddenly stuck in her throat. She hadn't even felt Alicia's hand sneak underneath her jacket. Elyza loosens her arms and stands straight, a frown coming to her face.
"How'd you get that? Give that back", Elyza demands, holding out her hand. Then when Alicia raises her eyebrow at the harshness of her tone, Elyza adds, "Please."
"Not until you tell me what it means to you. I've seen how you treat this dagger. You never ever use it. You've never pulled it out before two nights ago", Alicia answers, dancing out of Elyza's reach and twirling it around in her hand playfully as she prances out into the living room.
Elyza follows slowly. She feels naked without the weight hanging on her jacket.
"Ofelia, it's your turn! ...Ofelia?"
Then Elyza walks straight into Alicia's back and looks up to see the undead body plummeting past to the ground.