Anya thought she had seen a ghost. Or she thought she had hit her head hard enough that she'd need to see a doctor soon. Regardless of the cause, the vision of Lexa continued to walk towards her slowly, hands outstretched as if she was trying not to startle. Perhaps it lasted a second or two, maybe three or four. But eventually Anya realised that what she saw was no ghost and no apparition.
"Lexa?"
Anya couldn't believe her eyes when Lexa smiled, nodded her head and reached out a hand to help her onto her feet.
"It's me," Lexa said quietly.
And so, as Anya's hand took hold of Lexa's she found whatever uncertainties vanishing as quickly as they had come.
Anya winced as Lexa yanked her onto her feet before she was pulled into a strong embrace. Relief flooded her body and Anya couldn't help but to lean into the other woman as the reality of the situation settled.
"I thought you were dead," Anya said once they pulled away from each other.
"Sorry," Lexa answered with a sheepish shrug. "I didn't have a way of making contact before."
So many thoughts crashed through Anya's head as she stood back, hands resting atop Lexa's shoulders as she took in the woman who stood in front of her. Had they found Lexa alive, Anya had expected to find her beaten, covered in bruises, cuts, gashes and in poor condition. And yet Lexa seemed unharmed save for a scratch or two across her face that could just have easily been through accident or mistimed traipse through the forests. But the thing that really took hold of Anya's attention were the clothes Lexa wore — leathers and furs, things that seemed intricate and strong, sturdy and far different to the things they had had on the Ark.
"Holy shit," Anya didn't mean to say it. "I can't believe you're alive."
Lexa smiled again and Anya could see the relief in Lexa's eyes as she pulled her hands from her shoulders.
"What?" Lexa said with a challenge and a lifting of her chin. "You thought the ground would kill me?"
Anya smiled and shook her head and she found her breathing slowly beginning to even out as the adrenaline of the ambush began to wear off. But then she remembered the others, Octavia, Raven, Monty and Harper.
"They'll be ok," Lexa said as if she had read her mind. "I promise."
"I—" Anya looked around them in search of the others, or in search of the reapers. "I'm missing a lot, aren't I?" Anya prided herself on not being dumb, on being able to read between the lines, find the hidden message in things unsaid or jumbled through faulty relay and wire, sensor and radio. She hadn't become Communications Chief by chance.
"Yeah," Lexa looked a little sheepish as she nodded her head. "You are."
Anya sighed and turned from Lexa for a moment in thought, her hands on her hip and her eyes turned up as if she tried to find hidden meaning in the canopy overhead.
"Go ahead," Anya said. "Fill me in."
"Firstly, everyone will be ok," Lexa said and Anya turned to find her gesturing awkwardly around them. "I promise. I just needed you alone for a moment."
"Good," Anya answered with a nod, arms now crossed and head tilted to the side. She needn't say aloud that she was slightly annoyed at the way things had played out, her posture alone would let Lexa know she needed answers sooner rather than later.
Lexa's eyes rolled a little at that but Anya knew Lexa knew the disproval not deeper than surface level.
"This thing called acid rain separated me from everyone else," Lexa began and Anya nodded her head in understanding. "I thought I was gone but I was dragged to safety by Carl Emerson," again Anya nodded her head. She knew everything so far. "He told us that the reapers were created through radiation, that they were mutated people that had lost higher cognitive function."
"But they're not," Anya guessed and she gestured around them. "The people that just attacked us—"
"—sorry about that."
"They're not reapers, are they?"
"No," Lexa said. "They're not," but this time Lexa paused and Anya knew that they were now approaching dangerous territory that needed to be tread upon lightly. "There's people that survived on Earth's surface after the bombs," Lexa continued. "They've thrived as well as can be expected. I don't know how many there are, thousands, tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands spread out across multiple clans."
Anya couldn't help but to feel her eyebrows raise and the slightest beginnings of wonder fill her mind, "they were who you're working with?"
"Yeah," Lexa answered. "The people from Mount Weather can't survive on the ground, the radiation affects them somehow," Lexa said. "They've been fighting these grounders forever," Lexa paused again and Anya knew she was trying to organise her thoughts. "The reapers," she began again. "They capture these grounders, torture them, somehow turn them into monsters and let them roam freely in the forests."
Anya felt her lip twitch down in disgust at what Lexa said. Part of her didn't believe it simply because it sounded insane, impossible and improbably. Btu she knew Lexa wouldn't tell her what she had without truly believing it herself.
"How did you begin working with them?" Anya asked.
"They kidnapped me and Bellamy," Lexa said.
Anya made a mental note of that, she'd tell Octavia the good news.
"And they convinced you to take their side in this fight," Anya guessed. "How?"
This time Lexa seemed to pause, not because she seemed to be ordering her thoughts, but because she seemed to be trying to conjure the courage to say whatever it was she was next to say. Anya watched as she took in a deep breath before looking her in the eyes.
"What I'm about to say is going to sound crazy," she said. "But there's another species of human on the ground— that somehow evolved after the bombs fell."
Anya's eyebrows rose even further up her forehead and it was safe to say she hadn't expected to hear those words.
"Explain," Anya said.
"I don't think I can," Lexa said. "She rules these grounders. But her blood is black," and Lexa shivered, perhaps at a memory, perhaps at the oddness of the words she said. "She looks like a walking corpse — literally."
Anya didn't know how to react to the words she was hearing.
"But the craziest thing is that her blood heals. She heals. She cut herself in front of me and I watched her skin heal."
It seemed farfetched and part of Anya wanted to slap Lexa in an attempt to break whatever spell had taken hold of her friend. But she didn't think any spell had. In fact she found herself believing what Lexa said, or at least believing the Lexa believed what she was saying.
"They use her blood, her people's blood as some kind of medicine," Lexa continued. "I saw Carl Emerson inject himself with a vial of her blood. I can't be sure, but before he did, maybe for five minutes, ten minutes, I don't know— he seemed to be getting uncomfortable, as if the air was getting too hot for him. Like he was burning."
Anya took a moment to process everything Lexa had told her. if she took it at face value, if she believed the things Lexa had said, then she could put the pieces of the puzzle together, she could organise the hidden meaning in everything that had been laid out for her to decipher.
"The air burns everyone from Mount Weather," Anya said. "This ruler's blood heals, and they use her blood to keep themselves from burning alive on the Earth's surface?" It sounded so crazy once Anya said it aloud. And yet it made sense.
"Yes," Lexa said and Anya could see relief on her face.
"And I'm guessing they don't take this blood willingly?"
"That's where you come in," Lexa said. "I have a plan."
"Go on."
"Clarke— Their ruler," Lexa added quickly. "She wants us to help her stop these people from killing hers, from using her people as slaves and turning them into monsters."
"And you believe her?" Anya asked.
"I need proof," Lexa said quietly. "Everything I've seen and heard makes sense to me in some sick, twisted way, from the reapers that roam the forests, to Clarke's blood healing her and to the vial of black liquid I saw Carl Emerson inject himself with. And," Lexa seemed to take in a breath to compose herself. "They have someone from Mount Weather working for them — Maya. She's aligned herself with Clarke against her own people. And I don't think she's being forced or tortured."
"And you need proof," Anya said. "Because you won't willing sacrifice our people in a war without it."
"Exactly," Lexa said, and again Anya could see relief flood her expression. "I need you to get taken into Mount Weather, with the others if they'll help. If you can find evidence that they are turning the grounders into reapers, if you can find proof that they are chaining up others like Clarke and using them as blood bags, as animals, then we can convince our people to stop them. If we're lucky we might even be able to stop a war before it even starts."
Anya looked Lexa in the eyes throughout the entirety of her speech. She tried to find uncertainty, she tried to find hidden truths or lies. But the longer she searched the more she found herself realising that Lexa believed everything she said.
"You're sure, aren't you," Anya said eventually. "Of everything."
Lexa took in a steadying breath and nodded her head just once.
"I am, Anya."
Anya nodded to herself as she let her mind settle. Part of her couldn't quite believe just how well she had managed to take these revelations. She'd think about it later. And so Anya found herself once more thinking back to when she had doubted Lexa and her decision to be amongst the volunteers sent down to the ground. She had thought about the fact that she had regretted not trusting her friend's decision and she knew what her decision was before she even really had a chance to think.
"I'm in," Anya said with a grim smile. "What do I need to do?"
"First," and Lexa reached out and squeezed her arm in thanks. "I need you to drop a radio and spare batteries somewhere in the forest. We'll have someone watching you and they'll be able to get it to me. Just leave a note with whatever radio frequency you think will work best."
"And then?" Anya asked.
"And then Maya will tell you where to go and what to look for to find answers. Once we've got them we can go to Kane, to the others and show them the truth, whatever it is."
Anya looked away for a moment as she realised just what was at stake. She wasn't so naive as to not have already realised that whatever was discovered would lead their people down a path they couldn't turn back from, good or bad.
"What if what we find contradicts what you've been told?" Anya questioned quietly, this time making sure her voice wouldn't carry far lest those that had attacked them could overhear.
"Then I guess I'm in trouble," Lexa said with a shrug. "But something tells me that Clarke's telling the truth."
"You're sure about this Clarke?" Anya asked.
Lexa paused for a moment and Anya watched as she looked away in thought before answering.
"Yes," she said. "I'm sure."
Anya nodded, perhaps in answer to Lexa's statement, perhaps to herself. But whatever the reason she found that that gesture solidified her decision in her mind and set her resolve. Lexa had clearly made up her mind, and Lexa could be called many things, but stupid and foolish wasn't one of them, no matter how crazy some of the things she had said and done in recents times seemed to be.
And so Anya nodded her head once more before she smiled and reached out and took Lexa in a firm embrace.
"I'm in," Anya said quietly against Lexa's ear. "No matter what happens next, I'm in."
And with that Both women seemed to embrace each other with as much strength as they could muster. Maybe because they hadn't seen each other in days. Maybe because there were things that had been unspoken between them since they had shared that one intimate night.
Or perhaps it was because of the simple fact that they both realised that this could be the last time they would ever touch each other again should things take a turn for the worse.