Author's note: So I was wrong with my translation of "seek higher things" in chapter 6, but my idea was correct! If you watched episode 12 you know the Latin phrase used to activate the Flame is "ascende superius". I have updated the last chapter to use that phrase just to maintain consistency with the show. I believe there will only be one more chapter after this, and I hope it proves to be a satisfying end to the girls' adventure. Enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think! :)

"To what point in time do we go back?"

Clarke was quiet for a few moments before she answered with excitement, "Right when the dropship lands! Just think of all the sorrow and bloodshed we could avoid if at that moment the two of us remember everything that happened the first time around. You could send someone to bring me to you, like Indra - or Anya! And we can immediately begin uniting our people." Clarke started to pace as she elaborated. "Then when the rest of the people from the Ark come down, they will be coming to a peaceful land. Just think of all the people who would still be alive - Anya, Gustus, Wells, Finn, Aden, Lincoln... All of your warriors who were burned at the dropship and massacred in the field. TonDC and Mount Weather would still exist! Maybe I could even figure out how to let the Ark know even sooner that we had landed safely, and avoid the Culling. What's more, we could stop Jaha from ever meeting ALIE, and we can work together with the Flame to stop her without most people even knowing of her existence. That's literally more than a thousand lives right there we could save."

Lexa's brows knit together as she contemplated each scenario detailed by her companion. "We would still have the Mountain Men and the Reapers to contend with."

"But I know how to cure the Reapers now. My mom and Jackson will help with that. And my mom will know how we can donate the bone marrow the Mountain Men would need to survive outside Mount Weather. That's several hundred lives that I wouldn't be responsible for taking."

"But what would our lives be like with the Mountain Men alive and free? Will their leaders be easily inclined to change their ways? To join my coalition?"

Clarke shrugged. "I don't know." A playful glimmer showed in her eyes. "But we could avoid the Pauna!"

Lexa tried to hold back a grin. "I'm being serious, Clarke."

"So am I! That thing was terrifying!"

Lexa's expression turned somber and she started shaking her head. "I don't know, Clarke. Going back that far just feels off to me. We'd be leaving so much to chance. Yes, we would remember that alternate timeline, but no one else would. What if you talking to the Ark early on leads to a different set of your people making it to earth? There still wouldn't be enough dropships for them all. What if your mother isn't one of the ones who makes it? Not only will you have lost her, but your whole plan of donating bone marrow is entirely contingent upon her reaching earth. What's more, people will be suspicious of how we know so much, like knowing how to cure Reapers and knowing that your blood and bone marrow is more effective than that of my people to cure the Mountain Men. Nia would still be alive and trying to wreak havoc..." She placed a hand on Clarke's cheek and looked into her eyes. "We would certainly be able to shape the future from that point, but who's to say a worse reality wouldn't replace the one we knew?"

Clarke shrugged. "What could be worse than that reality?"

"One of us could die sooner. Before even reaching the point we were at before."

Clarke's brows furrowed. "I hadn't thought of that." She let out a heavy sigh. "So what do we do?"

Lexa was quiet and contemplative for a moment. "Perhaps we let history run its course right up until the moment I get shot. We'll go back to your room together and face Titus. I'll tell him the spirit of the Commander has given me a vision of the future, and I know he has a gun concealed up his sleeve that he intends to use to kill you because he feels I will never be able to execute my duty if you're alive. Once he hears this, he will be stunned and convinced that I do, in fact, know what I'm doing and that the the spirit of the Commander is aiding me. Besides, it's entirely true; the Flame - the AI - has given us not just a vision but the actual experience of this future time we're in now. And from everything you've told me, this second wave of destruction and terror upon the earth with the walkers is just a further consequence of mistakes that were made in the past. I think that going back to that moment will give us the best chance of making things right. True, we will not have the opportunity to reclaim the lives of thousands that we saw perish before, but perhaps it will be the best path to save the thousands and more who come after."

Clarke carefully weighed each point Lexa made and slowly nodded her head. "Wow, I think you're right. I really do wish we could change more, but so much would be out of our control and we'd have no way of knowing the ripple effect each adjustment would have."

"Okay, then we're in agreement?"

Clarke smiled. "Yes. We should go back to when I go to your room for the last time. Octavia will have just left and we can reorient ourselves before confronting Titus."

"The blockade will still be in effect. I will have just enacted it."

"Ah, that's right." Clarke chuckled. "I hadn't even seen Pike on the ground yet at that point. Man, getting every detail exact is going to be harder than I thought. He'll have Kane, Lincoln, and Sinclair killed not long after we get back if we don't change something there."

Lexa nodded. "So how will we take him out of power before he has your people killed? We might as well at least come up with a plan for that problem before going back; we won't have much time to think of something when we actually get there."

Clarke was quiet for a moment. "We'll use Octavia. She knows that secret passage to get in and out of Arkadia. Pike had our people bugged to learn the traitors' plans, so we'll give them a story they can feed to Pike that will get him to go outside the walls."

"And what story would that be?"

Clarke stroked her chin for a moment as she thought. "Aha - I've got it! They'll talk about this 'secret plan' the Grounders have of using that poisonous tree sap on Arkadia, where your people will have their arrows laced with the sap, light them on fire, and shoot them into our camp."

"That's actually a rather brilliant idea - if we wanted to seriously maim or kill people."

"And that's why Pike will believe it. He thinks you're all just killers anyway."

"And you're sure he'll join the group that will leave the camp in search of these 'murderous' Grounders?"

"Yes - the stakes are too high with literally everyone's life in danger for him to only delegate the job. He'll be out there."

Lexa nodded. "Then our people will have an ambush waiting when Pike reaches the appointed spot."

"Exactly."

"I think it's crazy enough to work."

Clarke laughed. "I think so too."

Silence fell between them for a moment, then Lexa took Clarke's hand and whispered, "So, are you ready?"

"I... I'm kind of scared, honestly."

"To go back?"

"Yeah. We will know so much that no one else will know, and we won't be able to tell anyone."

Lexa squeezed her hand. "We'll have each other, but no singing any 24th century songs if anyone else is around."

Clarke's head fell back as she laughed. "Oh god, I hadn't even thought about that! Nothing from this life can trickle into that one."

"It can when you're with me," Lexa winked. "I'll need someone to quote movies with."

"This is insane. How are we going to become our old selves again?"

Lexa shrugged. "We'll make it work simply because we have to. I honestly think it will be natural to fall into that life again, surrounded by the people and places we once knew. We will be different, but nothing else will."

Clarke laughed. "Until we change everything!"

"Exactly." Lexa grinned. "But no one else will know that."

Clarke's expression sobered. "What about your family?"

"My family here? The Clarks?"

Clarke nodded.

Lexa took a deep breath. "I've been thinking about them this whole time, and it hurts. I won't ever see them again or be able to tell them how much they mean to me. For all I know they won't even exist anymore. I mean, what happens after the life we're going back to? Will we be born again into this time?"

Clarke shrugged. "I have no idea, Lex. I don't know if we were only born here so that we could go back and fix things. Because if it all works out the way I envision, the zombies - these walkers - they won't ever exist. This future time of course will eventually come, but I don't know if we'll be here since we will have done what we were sent here to do. But on the other hand, maybe reincarnation is a real thing and we'll just keep being born into this world - keep finding each other."

Lexa smiled. "I suppose I really couldn't care less if reincarnation is real or not, but I do like the idea of always having you."

Clarke smiled and put a hand behind Lexa's head to pull her in so their foreheads were touching. "I love you, Lexa."

A grin spread across Lexa's face as she wrapped her arms around Clarke's waist. "I love you too. In this life and the last. Forever."

"Forever," Clarke echoed as she brought her lips to Lexa's.

They remained intertwined for a minute before Lexa finally pulled back. "You know I could stay here like this for hours," she said with one last peck to Clarke's cheek, "but I believe we have somewhere else to be, Miss Griffin. Shall we?" She held out a hand and Clarke quickly took it.

"Do we have to be touching for this to work?" Clarke asked curiously.

Lexa gave her a wry smile. "No, I just want to hold your hand."

Clarke laughed. "Good. So now what?"

Lexa closed her eyes. "The Flame knows our decision. Now all it has to do is wake us up at our checkpoint."

"But where exactly-" Clarke's words were cut short as a whooshing sensation flooded her body. She kept her eyes closed and raised a hand to her head where a pounding ache had suddenly formed.

"If you're not there, you're not the person I thought you were."

Clarke's eyes shot open and she turned toward the once-familiar voice. "Octavia?" There was no response as the other woman stormed out of the room. Clarke gasped as she took in her new - yet old - surroundings. She couldn't help the stunned smile that rose to her lips as she walked around the room. The armchairs, all the candles, the window, her bed... Clarke immediately felt nauseated as she looked at the bed where Lexa's dying body had once been. "And where it will be if we don't change things," she muttered to herself. Clarke suddenly panicked as she wondered where Lexa was and quickly left the room, knowing she would have to leave for Titus to come later and set up his scheme. She smirked as she imagined how that encounter would go down this second time. It took all Clarke's willpower to not cry tears of joy just from seeing these old sights again - walking the highest halls of the Polis tower, seeing the guards nod to her in respect as she passed.

Clarke gasped as she recognized the figure walking toward her. "Aden!"

The boy's head jerked up in surprise. "Clarke. Is there anything I can do for you?"

This darling boy was the epitome of gentility, and Clarke tried to suppress the sheer glee she felt from just seeing him here, content and alive. "No, nothing. It's just good to see you. How are you today?"

"Good, thank you. Master Titus actually just ended our training early for the day!"

Clarke's brow arched. "Did he now?" So he can go secretly murder me, that asshole. "Lucky for you! Go enjoy it."

Aden smiled and gave a slight bow as he walked past her.

Clarke's anger left just as quickly as it had come when she arrived at Lexa's room. She smiled as she knocked and opened the door. She scanned the room, but Lexa was nowhere to be seen. She walked in further and froze when she beheld the most beautiful being stride around the corner. This was without a doubt the greatest moment of déjà vu she had ever experienced, but Clarke's stomach lurched for a split-second as she feared she was the only one who remembered.

"Clarke," Lexa whispered reverently as she approached her. "We made it."

Clarke let out a long sigh of relief and wrapped her arms around Lexa in a tight embrace. "You remember, right?" She could feel Lexa smile against her cheek.

"Of course, Elyza. I remember everything."

Clarke laughed as she pulled back to look at the woman in front of her. She let her hands run down Lexa's arms. "Hey, all these muscles are back!"

Lexa grinned. "And your hair!"

Clarke laughed even louder as she tugged at one of her random braids. "Oh god, this hair is awful! I need to give it a proper wash and try to get rid of the last of this red."

Lexa chuckled and shook her head. "I like you just the way you are, and I had forgotten how especially fine you look in that jacket." She took Clarke by surprise as she pulled the front of the jacket until their bodies were pressed together and Lexa kissed her fiercely.

Clarke groaned in pleasure as she wove her fingers throughout the brunette's hair. "Bed. Now."

Lexa laughed and took Clarke's bottom lip between her teeth, tugging playfully. "So demanding," she teased.

"When I know what I want, yes. It's been nearly two hundred years since I've been inside you. I want to feel you again."

Lexa felt herself blush. "Well actually, now that we're back here, you could say we're about to for the first time again."

"God, only the Alicia/Lexa hybrid would give me semantic crap like that. What a buzzkill."

"Am I really a buzzkill?" Lexa teased as she unbuttoned Clarke's pants and pulled her to the bed.

Clarke's breath hitched. "Maybe not..."

Lexa grinned as she lowered herself to the bed, pulling Clarke on top of her. "So we have an hour, right? Let's make the most of it."