When we left the church in Shallow Valley almost a week ago, I never expected to be voluntarily returning while it was still under McCreary's control. But sometimes you needed to do whatever necessary to save those you loved.

"Are you both clear on the plan?" I whispered as Raven, Shaw and I hovered in the tree line, watching the church where we were sure Madi was being held. Once quick glance through the church window with the monocular confirmed our suspicions. 

We had watched the camp for a couple of hours, trying to learn the patterns of the guards and scout the area for any immediate roadblocks to our plan.

"Yeah." Raven muttered from next to me. "But what if Clarke's there? There's no way she'll let us take Madi."

I pulled the pistol out of my waistband. "Then I'll shoot her."

Raven's face paled slightly as she shook her head. "You're not going to shoot Clarke."

I wore a blank expression as I shrugged. "I'll do what needs to be done. A bullet to the arm isn't the end of the world."

"And the Sunshine becomes a badass." Raven smirked, finally coming to terms with my plan. 

I rolled my eyes at Bellamy's stupid nickname for me that he had given on our of our first days down here. 

Looking back toward the church, I nodded the two of them to follow. "Let's do this."

We crept as quietly into the church as we did that night when we left. Barely a sound could be heard as the three of us hurried inside, instantly scanning the room to ensure there were no threats. 

Luckily, there were none, but only a sleeping girl on one of the cots. 

I lifted a shaky finger to my lips as we crept toward her, careful to not startle her and cause a commotion. 

Once we were close enough, I bent down next to her cot. Madi's eyes danced beneath her lids, clearly alluding to the fact that she was in the middle of some kind of intense dream. 

Carefully, my hand reached out and clamped a hand over her mouth. 

Madi's eyes shot open as she let out a muffled gasp behind my hand. She looked between Raven, Shaw and I with wide eyes. After a moment, they calmed slightly, as if she recognized us. 

"You're Madi?" I confirmed quietly, still not removing my hand. 

She gave a small nod, and I quickly pulled my hand away. "We're not here to hurt you." I assured, not wanting to scare her away.

"I know why you're here." Madi declared. "You think Wonkru will follow me into that gorge."

Raven and I shared a surprised look. This girl was much more intuitive than could be expected for a 12 year old...guess that's what being the True Commander does to a person. 

Madi registered our shocked looks, and looked between the two of us in expectation. "What are you waiting for?" she questioned as if it were obvious. "Take off the collar before Clarke gets back." 

A sly grin came to Raven's face as she stood up, moving so she could access the control panel. "Safe to say she's not up for mother of the year."

I let out a small laugh as I moved so I was in front of Madi, hopefully shielding her incase someone walked in. 

"Light." Raven ordered, successfully popping off the panel. 

I clicked on the flashlight, giving Madi a small smile as she looked between Raven and I. "You know, it's nice to finally meet you two." she muttered. "You're both kind of awesome."

A grin came to my lips as I nodded. "You're kind of awesome yourself."

The friendly meeting was quickly interrupted as the back door to the church swung open. My hand instantly shot down for my gun, and I had it aimed and pointed in a matter of seconds. 

Clarke slowly made her way toward us, her gun raised at us as well. "Step away from her." she ordered. "And Avery, drop your gun right now."

"Oh, come on Clarke." I mocked with a teasing smile. "We don't even get a hello?"

"Yeah, Clarke. We haven't seen you in 6 years and this is how you greet us?" Raven wondered, her hands still on Madi's collar. 

"Clarke," Madi snapped. "Put down the gun. These are your friends."

"Not so sure about that anymore." I muttered, earning a quick glare from Clarke. 

"Quiet, Madi." she ordered before looking to Raven. "Now, Raven. Back away."

Clarke swung the gun toward Shaw and I. "Both of you, back up and weapons down."

I thought hard about what I wanted to do next. While what I had said to Raven earlier was true, I would indeed shoot Clarke if needed. I really didn't want to, and I especially did not want to create any unnecessary noise. 

So, reluctantly, I lowered my gun and threw it onto the cot. "Do as she says." I muttered to Shaw, my mind now moving to the task of how we were going to get out of this. 

 Once Clarke was sure we weren't going to put up a fight, she reached out and yanked Madi toward her. 

Madi let out a grunt as she crashed into Clarke, her dark eyes meeting mine for a moment...she was planning something. 

She put her plan into motion immediately. "Sorry, Clarke." she declared before promptly driving her elbow into Clarke's jaw. 

The gun went flying from Clarke's hand as she fell to the ground. This gave the rest of us a chance to react. 

I lunged toward Clarke, putting my training from the Ring into action once again.

"I'll get the collar!" Raven announced as Clarke and I battled on the ground. 

I managed to hold her down before she even had a chance to get up, driving my forearm into her throat. "I'm sorry." I muttered, watching as she struggled to throw me off of her. "You left us no choice."

"Done!" Raven yelled, successfully freeing Madi from the collar. 

Looking down at Clarke, who's face was red, I finally pulled my arm away. Honestly, I hated Clarke right now. But that did not mean I wanted her to die. 

She let out a choked cough as she turned herself onto all fours, trying to catch a breath. 

"You're not going anywhere." she gasped out at Madi, her voice holding something malevolent. 

As she shifted, I noticed a red light sticking out from the pocket of her pants. My heart plummeted as I reached for the object, pulling into my hand. "Her mic is open." I announced, throwing the walkie down in anger. "We have to get out of here, right now."

I knew that in a matter of minutes, McCreary's men would be storming in here. 

As I reached for Madi, I gave Clarke a withering glare. "You really are something else."

Turns out those matter of minutes, were really a matter of seconds. We had barely taken two steps toward the exit when the doors at both the front and the back of the church flung open. 

I stumbled backward, gripping onto Madi with one hand, my gun with the other. 

McCreary wore a wicked smile as he and his men stalked toward us. "Weapons down."

My chest heaved in anger as I dropped the gun, my angry eyes looking to Clarke.

"Take our pilot and his girlfriend back to the ship." McCreary ordered, a manic look on his face.

"No." I begged, watching in horror as Raven and Shaw were dragged toward the door. "Damn it!" I snapped, complete frustration overtaking me. 

"Let go!" Raven ordered as two of the men grabbed onto her. "Clarke, how could you do this?" 

McCreary stopped in front of Madi, Clarke and I, his gaze falling on me. "Kill this one." he instructed. 

His words didn't elicit any fear within me, just pure anger. 

"Wait." Clarke begged, motioning for the men to lower the guns that were pointed at my head. "We need to talk to her."

I glanced over at her, my dark eyes practically burning holes into the side of her head. "Oh, now you need me?"

McCreary looked over to me with a look of contemplation, then looking to Madi. "What do they want with her?"

Clarke looked over to Madi and gave a curt shake of her head. "I don't know." she lied, clearly protecting Madi rather than me. She didn't care about my life and that was obvious. "But if you kill Avery, you'll never find out."

McCreary gave a small nod as he pulled out his pistol, quickly examining it for a moment before swinging out and driving it into my head. 

I was unconscious before I hit the ground. 

---

 Everything was groggy as my eyes slowly opened.

A vicious pain assaulted my head as the rest of my body seemed to ache in fatigue. My hands were bound tightly behind my back, by body positioned in a chair. 

Slowly, I lifted my head, only to be met with the steady eyes of Clarke Griffin who watched me closely. 

She gave me small smile, but it wasn't genuine. "How's your head."

I maintained eye contact, not shying away from her. "Just about as good as your conscious." I muttered. "Betraying everyone you ever cared about must hurt a little."

"It does." Clarke confirmed. "But if it means keeping Madi safe, I can live with it."

I let out a dry laugh as I shook my head. "Wanheda." I murmured. "Commander of Death, willing to do whatever it takes to save the people she cares about..." I trailed off, my eyes moving toward Madi. "...Guess it's really only person now."

Clarke leaned forward in her chair, her face hovering near mine. "We all have blood on our hands."

I tilted my head as if to challenge her. "Some more than others."

Her face twitched slightly at my words, but she didn't respond. Instead, she leaned even closer to me. 

Clenching my jaw, I studied her face for any sign of regret. I couldn't find any. 

"I have to wonder, Clarke." I began, my eyes still trained on her face. "How can you betray the people who have stood by your side through everything, even when you didn't deserve it? How could you just leave them to die."

"I didn't want this." Clarke argued. "Any of this. None of this would have happened if Bellamy listened to me."

Anger coursed through my veins. "So this is Bellamy's fault?"

Clarke gritted her teeth as she shook her head. "You're making my dilemma slightly easier at this point." she announced, frustration in her tone. 

"And what dilemma is that?"

She nodded to the two men who sat behind us, watching us with angry eyes. "Those men over my shoulder have orders to kill you as soon as we stop talking. I prefer they didn't do that."

"Why do you care?" I challenged. "You've left me to die before, what's different now?"

Once again, her face twitched slightly at the mention of the past between the two of us. 

"You're my friend, Avery. Even if you don't believe it right now, I care about you." she explained. "And Bellamy loved you. You two were good for each other."

The expression on her face made it obvious that her use of past tense wasn't simply because Bellamy and I had broken up.

"Bellamy's not dead, Clarke." I bit out, the emotions I had been trying to push down clawed to get out. "At least, he wasn't until--"

Clarke was at a loss for words as tears filled her eyes. She shook her head in disbelief.

"He survived your betrayal in Polis." I declared. "Long enough to march right into your betrayal here."

Clarke couldn't meet my eye as she digested the information. I let out a harsh scoff. "So, now you care about what happens to Bellamy?"

"I always cared!"

"That's why you left him to die, right?" I challenged, my voice harsh in anger. 

When Clarke didn't respond, I looked to her with conviction. "Don't worry. If he's still in that gorge, he won't be once McCreary forces Shaw to launch those missiles after he tortures Raven to force him to do it...that's on you."

I pushed down the lump in my throat as I spoke again. "If anything happens to a single person in my family, I will never forgive you, Clarke."

She shook her head as a tear fell down her cheek. "He put the flame in Madi's head."

"He did that to save us all." I fired back. "And she took it willingly. Didn't you, Madi?"

Madi looked over at us from where she sat on one of the cots. Her face showed the immense anger she held toward Clarke. "She knows I did."

Clarke shot up from her seat, marching toward Madi. "Yeah, because you're brave and reckless and because I was in trouble."

I tore my eyes away from them, tuning out their conversation. As angry as I was at Clarke, that was a moment I did not need to be akin to. I respected her enough to give her that privacy. 

Instead, I focused on trying to free my hands from the tie that tightly bound them. 

I knew it was almost no use. Even if I did get my hands free, what was I going to do against two guys with guns. 

But I wasn't just going to give up all hope, not yet. 

For close to five minutes Madi and Clarke engaged in a heated discussion, and that entire time the two men watched me with uncertainty. I knew it was only a matter of time before they killed me. 

That time came sooner than I had hoped. 

"They're done talking." the one announced. "This one's yours."

The larger of the two men stood, grabbing his gun as he made his way toward me. 

I looked to Clarke, hoping that she would remember that we were supposed to be friends, family. 

 She didn't move, and as the man cocked his gun, I clamped my eyes shut. 

I thought of Bellamy and Octavia, hoping that they had survived the massacre. And I thought of Raven and Shaw, hoping whatever they were enduring wasn't too brutal. I also thought of Murphy and Emori, hoping that they had figured out the gun and were ready to fight as hard as they could. 

Finally, I heard a gun ring off throughout the church. 

It took me a moment to realize that I was still alive. I hadn't been hit. 

My eyes flew open to see Clarke standing with her gun pointed in the direct of the large man who now lay on the floor with a hole in his head. 

The other man let out a confused gasp, but before he had anytime to react, Clarke had shot him as well. 

I watched Clarke with a surprised look as she and Madi rushed toward me, Clarke freeing my hands before shoving my gun into my grasp. "Good choice." I breathed, giving her a grateful nod as I stood.

"Come on," Madi advised. "We have to get to the front before the missiles do. We can take the Rover."

"Good." I approved. "Murphy, Echo and Emori have one of the sonic cannons, we need to get to them."

As Madi and I rushed around, grabbing everything we would need before departing, Clarke stood still. 

"Clarke, come on. We don't have time. We have to go." Madi urged.

"No." Clarke argued. "You have to go. I have to stop that transport ship from taking off so you can lead your people through that gorge."

She paused for a moment, reaching into her pocket and pulling something out. "Here. You'll need this to start the engine. Remember where it goes?"

Madi took the piece, looking up to Clarke with worried eyes. "Clarke, please. I need you."

Clarke placed her hands on Madi's shoulders. "You will always have me. I will always protect you, this is how I do that now."

She then looked over at me, giving me a small nod. "Avery will be by your side."

"Every step of the way." I assured. 

I watched with sad eyes as Clarke explained to Madi how special she was, and that it wasn't Clarke keeping Madi alive, but Madi keeping her alive. 

I may have been angered and betrayed beyond belief by Clarke, but the way she cared for Madi was a true reflection of the kind of good person she could be. 

After a teary goodbye between the two, Madi joined me by the door. I protectively grabbed onto her, keeping her close as we prepared to venture out of the church. 

Before I could leave, I turned back toward Clarke who was already watching me with an encouraging look. "Go save him." she ordered. 

I gave a small nod, remaining silent as I turned toward the exit. 

"Avery!" Clarke called, causing me to turn once more. "Be safe."

I gave her a small smile. "You too."

It was time to save my family. 

-an-

this chapter was so long im sorry!! but I could not break it up!

i actually love this chapter because I feel like its the first time avery has really stood up for herself, especially to clarke

the next chapter will be even better...trust me ;)