Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 52: Nuclear Families

Lexa looks at Clarke, trying to judge what she's thinking.

"We want to make it clear," Wells adds firmly, "This isn't us pressuring you to tell us anything. I trust both of you, and if you think we shouldn't know about whatever's going on, then I trust your judgement."

"We're just saying that if you had something you wanted to tell us," Raven says, still speaking at double her normal speed, not giving Lexa time to speak. "Even if it sounds completely batshit – well, we're your friends. We'll listen."

"I will follow you as I have always done, Heda," Anya says firmly, "Regardless of whether you -"

Lexa raises a hand slowly in silent command and Anya stops speaking. She's heard enough, and can see in Clarke's face that they have reached the same conclusion.

She thinks this is why she has come to care for them, come to consider them friends. They are not demanding an explanation or pressuring them into saying anything they might not be comfortable sharing. What Anya, Wells, and Raven are telling them is that they are here for them. They are here to support them. They are here if Clarke and Lexa wish to confide in them. She feels a surge of warmth and affection towards them, and she has to fight to keep her expression neutral.

"We moved in time," Lexa says bluntly.

Raven is the first to respond. "You... what?"

"We call it 'the first world', or 'the original world', or 'the other world', when we speak of it," Lexa continues, ignoring Raven's shock. "In the first world, Anya attacked the 100. I stayed in Polis at that time. Events happened differently as a result."

"I remember falling to the earth the first time," Clarke says grimly, "Watching it come closer. Finn undid his seatbelt and floated over to me. Two boys copied him and they died."

"A couple of people went to do that," Wells says slowly. "But when you passed out it distracted everyone, and they didn't."

"A great many things happened in that world that did not happen in this one," Lexa says. "It would take some time to explain them all. And many events no longer matter, now, with what we have changed. This world is so different from the other world."

"That's not possible," Raven says, stress in her voice. She starts to pace back and forth, then stops and throws up her hand. "I mean, time travel? Maybe it was a shared hallucination. Or, I don't know, some kind of... I don't know. I'm a mechanic, this isn't exactly my area!"

"So it was another life," Anya says, relatively unmoved, but still not totally calm. "You have already lived many lives, as Heda. This is merely one more."

"I died before Clarke's actions moved us back to when she first fell," Lexa tells her. "It is due to her we are back, not due to me."

"Right," Raven says, still looking stunned. "In the tent. You guys kept talking about how Lexa died once. I remember that. Most of what you said is a blur, but I do remember that. But this is insane, guys. I mean, how would this even happen?"

"You died?" Anya asks, looking stunned, then thoughtful. "I see. So your spirit refused to move to the next Heda and came back to you instead. That must explain it. What would time mean to a spirit? It could go where it wished."

"You know that is not how the spirit works," Lexa says gently, touching the back of her neck where the spirit sits.

"We do not know how the spirit works, not completely. You have done more than any other Commander," Anya says, stubborn as always. "If the spirit would defy time for anyone, it would be for you."

"Wait, you said 'Clarke's actions'," Wells says, trying to keep up. He looks shocked, but is managing to stay calm anyway. "What did you do? What do you think caused this?"