Chapter Text
“Everyone is in place,” Anya said, standing next to Lexa, Tris, and Raven in the shadow of a large concrete warehouse structure. Tristan and Bellamy had headed out to patrol the outer perimeter before returning to the vans to wait for the team. It was deemed safer to keep Bellamy and Anya apart during the mission.
The entire compound was surrounded by unkempt weeds in the middle of a forest, as if the building was an abandoned warehouse. But the Woods knew better. An ideal hideout was one that existed in plain sight. Unfortunately, that meant finding the compound had been twice as hard.
“I hope Luna got it right this time,” Raven grumbled.
“It wasn’t Luna’s fault that the last three warehouses were duds,” Anya responded. “Her intel was from before the attack. There was always a possibility that TCL planned to move compounds after the attack.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me the radio was to communicate with one of your exs.”
“We dated for three months one summer while she was still at Franko’s. She’s a Woods. It was weird.” Anya shrugged.
“Three months more than we have…” Raven muttered. “Maybe if I was pseudo-related to you, I’d get somewhere.”
“What’s that?” Anya said, crossing her arms.
“Linc’s in,” Octavia said, cradling her unconscious boyfriend’s head in her lap. Raven and Anya turned to see Octavia and the rest of the crew ready to go. At this point, it was almost like clockwork. Raven signed, pressing her hands against the building wall and closing her eyes.
“So am I,” Raven said after a moment. A wicked smile erupted on her face, her squabble with Anya temporarily forgotten. ”I’ve never felt tech like this. Not even at the other warehouses.”
“Don’t get too excited, Reyes,” Anya said, smirking. ”We didn’t bring you a change of underwear.”
Raven bit back a dirty refrain.
“Can you access the cameras and the locks?” Lexa asked.
At this point, Raven had pressed her forehead onto the wall. Without opening her eyes, she nodded, tentatively at first, but then firmly. “I got your six.”
“Good. Don’t open anything unless Anya tells you to,” Lexa said. Raven nodded.
It was Anya’s turn to close her eyes. After a few minutes, Anya opened them again and frowned. “I sense three to four omnis, multiple lower level mutants, some nomus, probably researchers or guards, and....”
Lexa held her breath. Raven and Octavia looked up from their positions, hope clearly visible on their faces. It should have been easy for Anya to pinpoint Clarke’s mental signature from a crowd of unknowns, but so far every place they had searched, Anya had come up empty.
“Clarke,” Anya opened her eyes, sharing a tentative smile with Lexa before frowning. “But no Echo…Or at least not that I can tell.” It concerned Lexa to hear uncertainty in Anya’s voice. She'd have to ask her about it later if there was one. At least they seemed to have finally located Clarke. Lexa felt relieved but tried not to show it. There was no point getting excited now. They still needed to get in and extract Clarke and any children they could find.
“Bellamy’s going to be unhappy,” Octavia sighed.
“When is he ever happy?” Anya asked.
“They may have taken her to one of the other compounds,” Lexa said, not entirely convinced of it herself. The timing of the older girl’s disappearance was not lost on them. Instead of dwelling on that mystery, Lexa turned to the shorter girl next to her. They had no time to spare. “Tris.”
Tris nodded, placing her hand on the wall and extending her other one to Lexa, who took it extending her own to Anya. Once connected, Tris began walking right into and through the wall.
“I still think I should have been part of the infiltration team,” Octavia grumbled to herself as she watched the three of them phase through the wall like they were walking through a waterfall.
As the last vestiges of their bodies fully disappeared, Octavia sighed, “Now, we wait,” However Octavia was essentially alone. Raven and Lincoln were too deep into their powers to hear her. Bellamy and Tristan were half a mile away at the vans keeping an eye on the perimeter.
Octavia shuffled out of her black biker jacket, folded it and placed it on the ground next to Lincoln. Gently, Octavia shifted Lincoln’s head from her lap onto the jacket and stood up. She stretched her arms over her head before adopting a fighter's stance and letting her blades slide into place. The only sounds in the night were crickets, Lincoln and Raven’s shallow breathing, and the drip of her blood on grass.
“No one’s getting past me,” Octavia whispered, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.
The City of Light compound was painfully white inside, contrasting sharply with the Woods’ infiltration clothes. Outside in the dark, the black and grey outfits had made sense, now they had no way to camouflage. Everything inside was illuminated by bright medical grade halogen lights. It was also unnecessarily cold, like a refrigerator. There were no signs to tell guests where to go, and there were cameras every six feet, cameras Raven was conveniently playing on a loop to avoid detecting them.
They walked down corridor after corridor in an almost dead silence. The sound of their shoes on sheet vinyl flooring echoed jarringly against the walls. Raven had argued that bringing Maya along would have helped for this very reason, but she was overruled because they already had enough mutants or as Anya had affectionately called them, liabilities.
The girls followed Lincoln’s astral form’s lead. Lincoln phased through each door they encountered in case there were traps on the other side. Every door was locked by some kind of electronic reader lock. So far, each room had been mysteriously devoid of furniture and people. If Anya had not sensed people inside, the group would have guessed the compound was empty.
Anya stopped walking and closed her eyes before saying, “Raven says if there is a children’s dormitory, it is four doors down on the right. I sense six mutants in that room. There might be more. The material in the walls is impeding my power.” Anya shook her head, clearly frustrated by the unwelcome limitation.
Lincoln’s projection nodded, ghosting down the hallway and through the identified door. Tris, Anya and Lexa held their respective breaths. Lincoln had just walked into a literal lion’s den of tween and teen omnis. The chances of one of them having a power that could threaten an astral projection were low but not impossible. The children also could immediately panic and call the City of Light’s security. Which is why Lincoln was the first to go into the room. He had the kind of personality that made you want to trust him.
A few tense moments later, Lincoln’s astral head emerged through the door looking like a hunting trophy and said, “We found them, and they’re willing to hear us out.”
“That’s all we can ask,” Tris said, smiling nervously. She looked up at Lexa who was sharing a non-verbal conversation with Anya. Lexa felt the younger girl’s gaze on her and turned to meet it.
“You know what you need to do, right?” Lexa said, placing her hands on Tris’ slight shoulders.
“You’re not coming?” Tris shook her head.
“We are going to find Clarke and catch up with you,” Lexa said, nodding her head to Anya.
“But...this is the closest we’ve ever come to saving novitiates before their conclave. We were going to go together,” Tris said, disappointment evident in her voice. “They would listen to you as a HEDA.”
“We won’t be far, and we will be quicker in pairs.” Lexa gave Tris a rare smile. “You have one of the best defensive and offensive powers I’ve ever seen. You do not need to be a HEDA to be a leader, Tris.”
“Right, Comma-…” Tris stopped when she saw Anya shake her head behind Lexa. “Lexa, sorry. No. I’m ready. I’ve been waiting for this moment for years.”
“Good,” Lexa nodded. “Call Anya in your head if you run into any trouble.”
“I will.” Tris nodded before running straight through the door to join Lincoln and whoever he had found. As she watched Tris go, Lexa felt doubt creep in causing her to question her decision to split them up to find Clarke. Everything about the City of Light compound was off. It felt too easy, and Anya agreed.
“She’s this way,” Anya whispered, as Lexa trailed behind her. After a few minutes and many hallways later, Anya finally sounded sure of her tracking. For Lexa, every extra minute they spent in the compound felt like a minute closer to a bomb going off. Part of her felt guilty for not telling Tris the plan was to split up. However, Lexa was sure that Tris would realize it was smarter this way. Trying to lead a gaggle of mutant children out of the compound would be hard enough without trying to find Clarke.
Luck, or something, was on their side because they had yet to run into anyone. It was starting to bother Lexa. She was about to voice her concern when Anya hissed, “Guard,” and pressed herself against a wall.
Lexa looked for the nearest door, which happened to be right next to her, and tilted her head in its direction to get Anya’s attention. Anya nodded, sending a quick mental message to Raven. The thud of footsteps could be heard coming from the hallway that intersected with Lexa’s and Anya’s and they were getting closer.
Lexa threw an insistent look to Anya who was only able to shrug back.
Raven’s trying to locate the door.
Step.
If she can’t, you need to open it. Lexa’s voice sounded urgent in Anya’s head.
Step.
Anya shook her head. My powers may set off the alarms in a way Raven’s won’t.
Step.
Lexa glared at Anya. Getting caught by a guard will set off more alarms.
Raven’s got it. Anya crossed her arms.
Step.
The steps were much closer than before. Lexa sighed, clenching her fists. Tendrils of smoke started to rise from Lexa's hands. Anya and Lexa positioned themselves against the wall, ready to jump out at the guard when they made the corner into their hallway.
Just when Lexa thought they would have to kill whoever was going to round the corner, the hotel style electric lock on the door turned green, prompting Lexa and Anya to turn the handle and rush in as quickly and quietly as possible. After a few uneventful minutes in the dark room, Anya found the light switch and flipped it on. Better to know what they were facing than fight in the dark.
“Lexa? Anya? What are you doing here?” Clarke said, sitting up from a twin size bed located at the back of the room. Clarke rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and shook her head. Lexa and Clarke stared at each other with disbelief.
“Clarke,” Lexa’s voice came out in a whisper. So many of her dreams in the last two months had ended at this point, at the point of finding Clarke. “Are you okay?”
From what Lexa could see above the white comforter covering Clarke, she was dressed in a charcoal grey t-shirt with a red infinity logo stitched on the breast. She looked thinner and tired, like she had not slept in days. It was obvious she had not seen the sun in a few weeks. Her hair was an inch longer than that last time Lexa had seen her, four months ago. From Lexa’s vantage point, the red streak of hair Clarke had acquired after reviving Lexa seemed to have spread, taking up a fifth of her hairline on the left side. She had no visible bruises to Lexa’s relief, but the extra red hair concerned her.
Clarke didn’t respond. She looked from her wrist, which sported an old watch, down to her lap, and back to Lexa.
“Why did you come?” Clarke said, pulling the comforter closer to her chest. “You need to leave before they find you.” She sounded angry, which made no sense to Lexa considering the situation.
“That is what we are trying to do,” Anya said dismissively.
“Clarke,” Lexa said, ignoring Anya. “We came to rescue you.”
“I didn’t ask to be rescued,” Clarke said, furrowing her brow. An unintentional scoff escaped Lexa’s mouth as she replayed the last two months spent searching for Clarke. Two months of thinking the worst. two months of questioning every decision she made the night of the attack. Two months of dead-ends, bad leads, and empty warehouses. Two months of arguing with Indra, the acting Headmaster of the school during Becca’s absence, for access to vehicles and medical attention. Two months of multiple mutants pooling their resources, all for this moment, and Clarke did not want to be rescued.
Anya facepalmed herself. “Of course. We should have sent a rescue RSVP.”
“Anya, that is not helpful,” Lexa sighed. Sometimes the taller girl was as much a pain as an ally.
“She’s acting like a child,” Anya said to Lexa before turning to stare reproachfully at Clarke. “No worse than a child! Do you have Stockholm syndrome? Do you know what we are risking just by being here with you?”
“I can imagine,” Clarke said. Her voice was calm, but her hands were turning white from clutching the comforter too tight. “Which is why I’m saying leave while you can.”
“Clarke, we don’t have time for this,” Lexa said, marching over to Clarke’s bedside. “You’re coming with…” The rest of the words got caught in Lexa’s throat when she spied a blue semi-translucent hexagonal shaped chip, no bigger than a thumbnail, hanging from a delicate silver chain around Clarke’s neck. It had not been visible from the door because it rested right below the lip of her shirt collar.
“Where did you get that?” Lexa said, pointing to the chip. Realizing what Lexa was referring to, Clarke closed her naked hand protectively around the chip. Lexa had to blink a few times to wrap her mind around the fact that Clarke was not wearing gloves. Then again, it was night time and Clarke was sleeping, why would she need gloves?
“Alie gave it to me,” Clarke said, opening her hand to hold the little chip in her palm. She traced the little infinity sign imprinted on the chip with her thumb.
“What are you doing with Alie’s key?” Lexa said, shuddering at memories fighting to surface. A chill ran down the back of her neck over the scar she had willingly gained in a different lifetime.
“Her key?” Clarke shook her head. “It's just a chip, like a key card in a hotel. It lets me get around the facility.”
“They implant those in HEDA after they win their conclave, Clarke,” Lexa growled.
“I don’t know what a conclave is, Lexa,” Clarke said, already exhausted by the hostility. “Look whatever you think it is, it’s not.” Clarke dropped the chip, letting it fall back to its place on her chest.
“Then what is it, Clarke? Because you’ve been missing for months. You look awful, and it doesn’t even look like you want to leave.” Lexa’s voice cracked. Clarke had never heard her lose control of her tone like that, and it almost made Clarke regret her choice. Almost.
“Don’t kid yourself saying you’re here for me,” Clarke said angrily, standing up out of bed to face Lexa, forcing Lexa to take a step back. Now standing, Lexa could see that Clarke was wearing a matching set of grey sweatpants and no socks. The clothes looked loose on her.
“Clarke,” Lexa said, subconsciously raising her hand to reach for Clarke until she realized what she was doing and stopped. She withdrew her hand, hoping Clarke had not noticed the moment of weakness. It was a misplaced hope considering each minute spent standing there making her plea was exposing her. It was a weakness Lexa could not afford to keep feeding. They were running out of time.
Clarke looked from Lexa’s withdrawn hand to her face, and bit her lip before saying, “Lexa... I need to be here.” Clarke wrapped her arms around herself.
“What are you talking about?” Lexa said more to herself than to Clarke. ”I’ve never known you to accept anything blindly, Clarke,
“You barely know me, Lexa,” Clarke said as she internally fought the pull of the viridescent fire in Lexa’s gaze, every second they were together melting her resolve. “Look…” Clarke ran her fingers through her partially red hair looking almost apologetic. “I don’t know what they will do to you if they find you here.” Clark closed her eyes tight, as if closing her eyes would make Lexa and Anya disappear.
“Do you hear yourself?” Lexa stepped into Clarke’s space and waited until Clarke opened her eyes. When she did, Lexa could see the struggle in Clarke’s eyes, like a turbulent ocean. She caught the way Clarke shuddered at her proximity, but Lexa refused to back down. “If you are afraid for... us , why stay?”
Clarke shook her head, “They haven’t done anything to me.”
Except take you away from me. Lexa’s urge to continue arguing with Clarke was interrupted by the weight of a hand on her arm. She didn’t need to turn around to know that Anya’s patience had reached its limit.
“Have you seen Echo?” Anya said without a hint of emotion.
“No,” Clarke said, looking confused. “Have you seen Becca?”
“No.” Anya shook her head.
“Clarke, think! It’s not safe. You need to come with us, now,” Lexa pleaded. “I don’t know what Alie has told you, but it's a lie.”
“Not all of it,” Clarke said, crossing her arms.
Anya shook her head, “Let’s go. Blondie obviously doesn’t want to be saved.”
“It’s not like that,” Clarke finally broke, her voice almost a yell.
“Then please help me understand, Clarke,” Lexa said, resisting the urge to take Clarke’s hands. The urge to touch Clarke, to comfort her, to drag her with her was overwhelming.
“Alie...offered me something,” Clarke hugged herself. “Something I didn’t know I needed.” Clarke looked down at her feet.
“Whatever it is, it is not worth being on Alie's team,” Lexa said, her brow furrowing as she processed the little that Clarke had shared.
“That’s for me to decide, Lexa,” Clarke said, looking back up, anger returning. “This is what is best for everyone anyways.” Taking a deep breath, Clarke released her grip on herself and offered Lexa her left hand. Lexa did not flinch or back away from the offer. She merely looked at Clarke in confusion. “Take it.” Clarke said, her voice softer than before.
“Lexa,” Anya’s voice warned that it could be a trap, but Lexa waved her off and grabbed Clarke’s hand in a simple handshake.
Lexa heard Anya’s inhale sharply. Most likely cursing them both out in her head. No energy moved in either direction, only the feeling of Clarke’s hand, soft and warm. Despite her tired appearance, Clarke’s grip was firm. As if trying to prove a point, Clarke tugged at Lexa’s hand, pulling the brunette in close.
Lexa’s breath caught in her throat. She hadn’t been ready to be pulled in and almost stumbled into Clarke. Their faces were close enough for Lexa to feel Clarke’s breath on her lips.
“See,” Clarke growled as she moved to whisper in Lexa’s ear, close enough for Lexa to feel the slight pressure of Clarke's lips on her skin. Almost as if Clarke was doing it to prove a point. Clarke’s breath puffed gently against her hair. “I’m all set. No need for a tutor anymore, teach.”
As Clarke pulled her face back, Lexa's jaw dropped a little before recovering. The chip hanging between Clarke’s clavicle seemed to pulsate a light blue, as if mocking her. Lexa blinked, focusing on the chip, but no light emanated from it.
“I…” Lexa tried to speak, but nothing else came out. Clarke was here and she did not want to be saved. It was never an outcome Lexa had planned for. Before she could formulate her next word, a blaring siren went off like a fire alarm.
“Fuck. They know we’re here, Lexa,” Anya yelled over the incessant alarm.
Lexa looked from Anya back to Clarke who nodded with a sad smile. “Go.” She dropped Lexa’s hand and stepped back. “I can cause a distraction if it helps,” Clarke said, trying to extend an olive branch over their burning bridge of friendship… or whatever it had been.
Anya glared at Clarke with a look that would have killed Clarke if Lexa was not standing there.
You’ve distracted enough . Clarke heard the words in her head. With a sneer, Anya raised her hand, grabbing at the air in front of Clarke and pulling back. It was an odd movement, like Anya was grabbing a fly out of thin air, Clark thought groggily, as her world turned to black.
“That wasn’t necessary, Anya,” Lexa growled protectively, as she guided Clarke’s unconscious form onto her bed. Lexa tried to suppress the anger in her voice. It was not anger against Anya but herself. As soon as Clarke lost consciousness, Lexa had reached for her without thinking. Clarke’s natural vanilla and salt scent filled her senses rendering her incapable of anything other than holding her and aiming for the bed. Clarke’s head fell back against the pillow, Lexa pinned awkwardly on top of her. Keeping her distance from Clarke’s face, which was now harder considering their position, Lexa took a moment to study the blonde. She looked peaceful, more peaceful than Lexa had ever seen her. She felt warm and real underneath Lexa, but somehow still untouchable. Lexa wondered for a moment if Raven would have been more successful.
Wiggling out of the position and standing, Lexa turned to Anya.
Is she being mind controlled?
The chip is interfering with my powers, but I don’t think so.
Lexa looked back at Clarke, fighting between the urges to slap or caress Clarke’s face. She refrained from either. The alarm continued to blare. Lexa counted it had been 20 seconds since the alarm started.
Anya crossed her arms. “We need to go, and if she has control over her powers we cannot afford to fight her.” Anya huffed, “And she becomes a liability if I leave her awake.” Maybe Lexa’s tone had conveyed a message, because Anya was defending her actions, something she rarely did. “And this way, they can’t torture her for information when they find her.” Anya faced away from Lexa.
Despite her dislike of Clarke, and her tough exterior, Anya was not in the habit of hurting people out of spite. She would never admit it openly, and she did not need to with Lexa. Years of surviving brutal training, manipulation, and asylum together had taught Lexa she could trust Anya to be efficient, not cruel.
Lexa caught Anya’s eye and nodded. Thank you.
Thank me by getting the fuck out of here.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Lexa said over the alarm. Anya rolled her eyes, but ran to the door.
When the door opened and Anya left without incident, Lexa turned back to Clarke’s sleeping form. “What does she have on you, Clarke?” Lexa said, brushing a strand of red hair behind Clarke’s ear. Lexa sighed. “If you’re on her side… I can’t have you on mine.” Lexa gave Clark a hard stare, as if Clarke was awake to see it. The only thing that betrayed how Lexa really felt was her voice, now reduced to a watery whisper of a thing.
Lexa grabbed something from her jacket pocket and placed it under Clarke’s pillow before sprinting out of the room without a second glace.
“Is this everyone?” Octavia asked, quickly surveying the small group of teens and tweens streaming out of the compound.
“No,” Anya said with a frown. “Lexa is coming. Tris and I will stay here and wait.” Octavia nodded. She was covered in blood stains and scorch marks on her arms and torso. The high pitched siren inside was even louder outside.
Octavia cursed under her breath and started dragging Lincoln by his arms, as her large boyfriend slowly regained consciousness from using his powers.
“Why are the alarms going? I thought you were handling them?” Anya yelled at Raven as she dodged an incoming laser beam coming from a distance.
“I was until I got shot with a laser in the arm!” Raven yelled, holding her bleeding bicep and limping the best she could.
“Apparently iron can’t deflect laser beams very well,” Octavia grunted as she pulled. “I’M SORRY!”
“I’m here,” Lexa said as she emerged from the wall with Tris’s help. “Tris, link hands and help pass through the beams!” Lexa said, quickly accessing the situation.
“Right!” Tris grabbed one of Lincoln’s arms while Octavia held on to the other. Lexa grabbed onto Tris’ forearm, and the children held on to Lexa in a chain. Anya refused to grab on, instead opting to mentally find whatever was shooting at them.
Whether it be mutants or machines, the rest group did not want to find out and began sprinting towards the direction of the vans hidden in the forest. Raven limped behind, not fast enough to latch onto Tris’s chain.
“Where are Bellamy and Tristan?” Octavia yelped as a laser phased through her torso.
“They should be in the cars,” Lincoln yelled. He had finally regained full use of his limbs and was supporting his own weight to Octavia’s immense relief.
Having had no luck locating a mental source for the lasers being shot their way, Anya started running after the group.
“Where is Clarke?!” Raven said, just barely dodging a laser. Anya waved her hand, lifting Raven off the ground levitating her to the group. Raven yelped in surprise.
“She didn’t want to come,” Anya said, trying to focus on keeping Raven afloat without tripping. Apparently, running and using her powers was not her strong suit.
“What does that mean?” Raven said, aiming her dangling feet towards the ground on a particularly close call.
“It means what it means, Raven,” Lexa yelled behind her.
“You’ve got to be kidding. That ab-hole!” Raven started to struggle in Anya’s psychokinetic grip. “Put me down! I am going back, and I’m not coming out until I have Clarke, so I can kick her ass.”
“That’s not how this works, Reyes,” Anya said, floating Raven’s squirming body onto her shoulders, fireman style. “We don’t waste time on those that don't want to be saved.”
“Let me go!” Raven said, trying to push herself off of Anya’s shoulders. Anya paid her no attention.
The rest of the group arrived at the two vans and started piling in. Tristen sat in the driver seat of one and Bellamy in the other. Both vans had lazer scorch marks as well.
“Get in now!” Bellamy commanded. They had just enough room in the vans for the fifteen of them. Anya threw Raven into a van and jumped in behind her. Both vehicles peeled away.
“Omg. I can’t believe we got out of there,” Octavia said, panting. She was in good shape, but that sprint combined with her new injuries had been brutal. Niko was going to have a field day.
“I agree,” Lexa said as she texted Tris in the other van. “It was too easy.”
“Easy?!” Raven screeched. “Some of us are bleeding!” She held up her lazer scorched arm for proof.
“Exactly. We’re all intact and alive. They didn’t even send mutants after us.” Anya shook her head. “It’s like they didn’t even want to catch us.”
“Why wouldn’t they want to catch us?” Bellamy said, looking at them from the rearview mirror. “Woods?”
Somehow, even though Lincoln, Anya and Lexa were all in the back of the van, Lexa knew Bellamy was talking to her and looked up.
“We didn’t take anything they cared about.” Lexa refused to look away from Bellamy’s questioning gaze.
“We didn’t get Clarke,” Raven said, jamming her seatbelt into the clip.
“What do you mean you didn’t get Clarke?” Bellamy shook his head, trying to keep his eyes on the road. “Did you get Echo?”
“Echo wasn’t there,” Anya said, taking no joy in the way Bellamy’s face fell.
“Dammit!” Bellamy yelled, hitting the steering wheel with his palms. “Dammit! Dammit! Shit!”
Everyone but Lexa looked away from Bellamy as he raged at the wheel. He was the embodiment of everything Lexa could not afford to feel.
After a few moments of tense silence, Bellamy’s voice came back rough from yelling, “But Clarke was there?”
“She was and she did not want to come with us.” Lexa said, her voice never wavering.
“Are you serious?” Bellamy growled. “We put ourselves in danger to rescue her…” Bellamy’s voice lost some of its anger, “and Echo and Doctor F.”
“If we had taken Clarke, it would have been harder to escape,” Lexa said, sighing.
“Wait, what? Did you know this?” Raven eyed up Lexa. “Or was it always the plan to abandon Clarke?”
“No. Of course not,” Lexa shook her head. “If Clarke was there...and willing, Anya and I had a plan to separate from the main group to give you a chance. There was no point quibbling over the odds of success.”
“And why didn’t you say anything?” Octavia said, as her leg bounced. The adrenaline from her injuries was still running through her body. Lincoln placed his hand on Octavia’s thigh, but it did not seem to calm her.
“It wasn’t necessary because you were not part of that plan,” Anya answered before Lexa could.
“What plan was that?” Octavia asked, now turning her glare at Lincoln, because she assumed he was in on it. Lincoln gave Octavia a sympathetic look, but did not respond. Octavia did not repeat her first question, choosing to save it for Lin
“S for stupid?” Raven said. She had been looking angrily out the window in silence until now. “Or L for Lexa leaving behind our friend and lying?” Raven said as she turned her glare to Lexa.
“Raven,” Anya said, shaking her head.
“What? I can’t be the only person mad that she didn’t try harder to get Clarke. We just broke into a secret mutant compound!” Raven said, raising her arms in frustration, only to wince when she moved in a way that stretched her skin across her burn marks. Raven put her arms down but continued her rant. “We planned for weeks. We all had to spend extra time with Bellamy.”
Bellamy gave Raven a dirty look through the rearview mirror, but it did not seem to deter her. “You have been planning for literal years! This was probably our only chance and now we learn that you didn’t share part of the plan? Were we not special enough for your secret plan?”
“Raven,” Anya said, extending her hand to Raven. “Hold my hand.”
“Not right now, Anya.” Raven waved Anya off. “I’m arguing with the Commander,” Raven said, sneering as she said Lexa’s mutant nickname.
Anya grabbed Raven’s hand anyways. In one moment Raven went from animated and angry, to glazed eyes as she slumped into her seat. Her breathing slowed and her mouth hung agape.
“Raven?” Octavia said, starting to get up out of her seat until Lincoln stopped her.
“She’s ok,” Lincoln said, gently guiding Octavia back into her seat. “Anya’s probably transmitting her memory of their encounter with Clarke straight into Raven’s mind. It’s the fastest way to communicate something,” Lincoln said in a whisper.
“Oh,” Raven said, as she blinked out of the memory. She did not let go of Anya’s hand. “But maybe she was under some kind of mind control by Alie?” Raven looked to Anya.
“She wasn’t. I would have been able to sense it,” Anya said, giving Raven’s hand a squeeze before letting go. “Blondie was clean as far as I could tell.
“But you knocked her out. You could have dragged her body…” Raven argued more with herself than anyone in the car.
"We don’t know why she’s acting like this. If she woke up in the van and fought back she could hurt herself or others. They might have a tracker in her,” Anya said, matter-of-factly.
Lexa cleared her throat. “We don’t know a lot of things, but what we do know is that Clarke made her choice, and we made ours,” Lexa said, stone-faced. “Now we live with it.”
Raven opened her mouth to argue, but nothing came out. Octavia scooted closer to Lincoln, letting him hold her. Anya looked straight ahead towards the road. Bellamy fumed at the wheel but kept quiet for once. Lexa concentrated on the darkness of the night through the window, holding back tears.
The rest of the ride back to Franko’s was a somber affair.