When We Meet Again (The 100 Season 6 Clexa fanfic)

Chapter 4: To Those We've Lost

For a city smothered in flashing lights, the structure Clarke and Sierra travelled through was a pit of darkness.

Underground, deep below the city's surface, the air grew still and thin.

Once they had descended the stairs, Sierra had turned into a tunnel, narrow and low. The walls and floors were a stark white, almost glowing under the few lights hanging overhead. It was the only thing Clarke could actually see in the darkness. 

Clarke ran her fingers over the A.I. in her hand again and again and again. The touch stabilised her, made her feel less alone.

Soon, Clarke promised--to herself and to her love.

The last time she saw Lexa had been in the City of Light, where, despite everything going to hell, Lexa had seemed the most herself Clarke had ever witnessed. Perhaps it was the fact that she no longer had the burden of being commander to suppress her feelings, or maybe it was just emotions overwhelming her, but Lexa had looked at Clarke with no reservations or hesitations, only unconditional love.

Then she had been taken away from Clarke. Again.

It would not happen a third time.

A click sounded, followed by the opening of a door that revealed a room beyond.

The first thing Clarke saw was the blinding fluorescent lights shining from the rooftop--an extreme change from the dim hallway from which they had emerged. Once her eyes adapted, she was able to make out the simple details of the room.

Simple was an understatement. For what lay in front of her, she had never seen anything like before.

"I take it this is the lab?" Clarke asked, too distracted by the screens lining the walls, the array of medicine cabinets stationed throughout the room, to look at Sierra. It reminded her of Becca's lab in a way, only this was far more advanced.

Rather than answer, Sierra strutted up to a screen on the farthest wall and raised her hand. With that mild move, the device seemed to recognise her, like it was alive.

Slow, wary steps brought Clarke to stand beside the girl, where she turned her gaze on a single blip in the centre of the screen. Gradually, it turned into a column of text accompanied by a photograph of a young woman--Sierra.

Luckily, this was also familiar. The words contained biographical information, and for a moment Clarke felt as though she was back on the Eligius ship, reading her daughter's own chart before sending her into cryo sleep.

Sierra lowered her hand only to extend it to the right of the lab, where a glass door lead to yet another darkened room. For a city seemingly bright with life and colour, the lab was almost dull, Clarke thought.

"Through that door is the tech we'll need to design a host if this is to work," Sierra stated matter-of-factly.

"A...host?"

Turning toward Clarke, Sierra looked almost apologetic, like she had forgotten that Clarke wasn't familiar with their world, their terminology. "A human body. Think of it like...drawing a picture," Sierra drawled. "You get to pick and choose what you want the person to look like. Gender, height, eye colour--anything. Then, with our tech, we are able to grow the body at an accelerated rate. As a general rule, it usually takes a minute per year. For example, if we were to grow someone who was twelve years old, it would most likely take about twelve minutes."

Clarke couldn't help herself from wincing. "You say these are people, so what about the person inside the body? Their souls?"

A small, gentle smile. "Unfortunately that is where our technology falls short. We are yet to be able to find a way to create a person, just bodies. Empty vessels."