Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 62: Time to Heal

Clarke's exit from the Mountain will become a legend, Lexa knows. Some of her people had understood that the code she had was for a self-destruct, but even to the ones who know, Clarke's calm, unflinching walk towards them is striking. They are already whispering in awe as it happens.

Clarke fixes her eyes on Lexa's face, a small smirk on her lips. She is dramatically bloodstained, her hair in wild braids, her expression fierce and unyielding. She doesn't react to the explosion behind her as the most feared place in the world falls. She strides forward as the night sky is lit up behind her, the blaze of furious light silhouetting her so that she seems more like a living shadow than a person, something inhuman and unfathomable. In that one moment, even Lexa could almost believe that Clarke blew up the Mountain just with the strength of her wrath.

There are no shortage of gona to see it, either. Nearly all have arrived from Arkadia by now. She originally ordered the rest of the gona to follow slowly in order to provide a distraction – a quick-moving group of a hundred people would not be noticeable compared to the far greater, slow-moving gonakru, distracting the Maunon's gaze and making them expect an entirely different style of attack. But the gona have also come in use securing the Maunon and caring for the sick and injured, and it is good that so many are here to witness the end of the Mountain.

Clarke stops in front of Lexa. Blood drips from her eyes. "Let's get out of here," she says, for Lexa's ears only. "We've dealt with my nightmare. Once we've finished sorting this out, we head north, find Nia and deal with yours. Sha?"

"Sha," Lexa says softly, spellbound. She moves back in her seat and reaches out her hand. Clarke stares in confusion for a moment then takes it, and Lexa pulls Clarke up onto the horse in front of her. "Hold on tight, Mountain Slayer." Then she raises her voice. "GONA! TO TONDC!" She wheels the horse around and takes off at a canter. She wants to get Clarke back before her illness makes it difficult for to stay on the horse. It will not do for her people to see Clarke fall now.

Only Anya and Tristan's rangers are able to keep up with them. The night is filled with stars and the hazy smoke of the Mountain's destruction, but Lexa's world narrows to the girl in front of her and the horse beneath her. With her arms around Clarke, she keeps her upright and manages to get her to TonDC, though she can feel the difference in Clarke as they go, the way her energy fades, adrenalin (both natural and injected) starting to dwindle.

Once they arrive she helps Clarke down from the horse, holding her up when Clarke would fall. "Come on, ai hodnes," she says quietly. "Our tent is just here. It is time to rest."

Clarke coughs some blood onto the ground. "You'll be here when I wake up?"

"I could not leave," Lexa says honestly. She helps Clarke undress and get onto the sleep mats and she wraps every blanket around her, cocooning her in warmth. Clarke is starting to become feverish, and Lexa fetches a waterskin and persuades her to drink some of it. Finally she gets a cloth and begins to sponge off the blood on Clarke's face and shoulders as Clarke slips into a restless sleep.

After a while she realises she is not alone in the tent.

"I was wondering when you would notice I was here," Anya says, a little teasingly. "You show your heart in your eyes, yongon. You always have."

"And is that a bad thing, Anya? To feel for her and show that feeling?" Lexa replies softly, still focusing on Clarke. Only a small percentage of people die of the virus, and Clarke has survived it before, but she still worries.

"I do not still object to her, Lexa, if that is what you mean," Anya tells her. "She has more than proven herself to me – to all of us. But that does not mean I do not worry about you." She hesitates. "She is the leader of her people. She cannot continue to accompany you everywhere and she cannot live with you in Polis. Also, you wish the Skaikru to join the alliance – you cannot be with the leader of one of the clans, the other clans will think you are influenced by her."