-this chapter is dedicated to -finalkru

for always showing up <3 you rock!-

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Only the sound of our footsteps could be heard as we were led by a single guard toward the rooms of our friends.

My eyes scanned the long hallways, trying to take in every little detail that we would need to escape. I knew they weren't going to let us go willingly.

As we arrived at a doorway, the guard stopped and gave us a small nod.

"Now leave." Clarke ordered, shooting them a withering glance as they scurried off down the hall.

The minute the guard was out of sight, we pushed the door open and slowly made our way in. I wasn't sure which room they had taken us to, but I was hoping to see a certain person.

On this day or horridness, one good thing happened when we entered the room to see that it was Octavia sat on the bed, Diyoza off to the side. Echo was no where to be seen.

Octavia had her head down, now out of the guard's uniform and in a set of clothes with the symbol of the planet printed on the shirt. She looked more like herself than she had in years despite what she wore. Blodreina was no longer.

As she looked up at us, I felt my heart break slightly. It broke for my best friend who had been through so much...for my best friend who had just lost her big brother.

I stepped toward her, and within a second she had her arms wrapped tightly around me. I snaked my arms around her, holding onto her with all my might as tears filled my eyes once again. "I'm so sorry, Tavia." I whispered, fully knowing the pain of losing a brother.

She let out a small sniffle as she squeeze me a bit tighter. "I'm sorry, too." She whispered, her fully aware of what it was like to lose the love of your life.

"No guards?" Diyoza wondered as Octavia and pulled apart, Octavia reaching out to hold onto my hand.

"Clarke threatened not to help with the Flame if they got in her way" Raven explained. "Thanks for playing that one cards down by the way." She added, looking to Octavia with a raised brow.

"I thought it was good leverage, knowing you would eventually show up." Octavia's eyes were on Miller as she released the grip she had on my hand. "We're glad you did."

He wouldn't look her in the eye, but that didn't prevent Octavia from taking a few hurried steps toward him before pulling him into an embrace.

Miller was still for a moment. "Just hug me back, Miller." Octavia pleaded, and sure enough, Miller's arms soon wrapped around her.

A small smile came to my face as I watched the exchange...we needed each other.

The moment was quickly cut short as another figure came rushing into the room, causing all of us to react quickly by raising our weapons.

"Wait!" Diyoza ordered. "She's not one of them."

The smile on her face caused all of us to falter in slight confusion as we lowered our guns.

The girl inspected the group of us. "Clarke." she concluded, nodding at Clarke. She looked to me next, and then to Raven. "Avery. Raven." Turning, she wore a small smile. "Miller."

She then looked back to Octavia who wore what looked like a proud smile. "You described them well."

"This is Hope." Diyoza explained. "My daughter."

If I was confused before, I was even more confused now. Hope had to be at least twenty...and last I checked, Diyoza was still pregnant the last time I saw her.

Upon our confused expressions, Diyoza gave us a small smirk. "Time dilation's a bitch." She then addressed her daughter. "How'd you get out?"

"Doesn't matter." Hope dismissed. "Right now, we need to get ourselves to the stone room and get out of Bardo." She gave us all a tightlipped smile. "We can get acquainted later."

"Where's Echo?" I demanded as we followed Hope into the corridor.

"She'll catch up."

Diyoza grabbed onto Hope's arm, causing her to stop. "She will, huh? What's going on?"

When Hope wasn't quick to answer, Diyoza gave her the famous 'mom' look. "Hope."

Hope didn't need to answer, because Octavia did. "She's getting revenge for Bellamy."

My stomach clenched as my heart skipped a beat. She was doing exactly what I should be doing.

Diyoza took another step toward her daughter. "Talk. Now."

Hope gave into her mother's demands. "All I know is that we have..." She trailed off, looking at a watch on her wrist. "45 minutes to get you off this planet."

Miller tilted his head. "What happens in 45 minutes?"

"I don't know."

None of us looked entirely convinced.

"Really." Hope asserted. "Levitt helped her with something, and she didn't tell me what it was because she knew you'd get it out of me and try and stop her."

Octavia's arms were crossed firmly over her chest. "Levitt wouldn't help her. What did she do to him?"

"He's alive, okay?"

Instead of following after Hope, Octavia turned in the other direction. "Let's move."

Hope let out a frustrated groan. "Aunty O., where are you going?"

"To find Levitt."

I jogged to catch up to Octavia. "Who's Levitt?" I wondered, trying to read the expression on her face.

She gave me a sidelong glance. "The only friend we have in this place."

---

It didn't take us long to stop in front of another door. Octavia did a quick scan of the area before hitting the button that sent the door flying open.

She rushed in, and the rest of us followed after. As we rounded the corner, my eyes landed on a man who was tied to a chair, his face completely bloodies as his head lulled forward.

"Levitt." Octavia breathed, instantly dropping down in front of him as she removed the gag from his mouth. "What happened?"

Levitt's droopy eyes looked up at her. "I failed." He whispered. "She killed two people in front of me and...I broke."

Octavia's gave him a sad look before moving to undo the ties that bound him to the chair.

"Wait."Clarke ordered. "Not yet. We need to find out what Echo is planning."

At the sound of her voice, Levitt looked up and it seemed as if his eyes lit up in delight. "Oh thank God...the Key had landed."

"What did Echo make you do?" Octavia wondered, ignoring Levitt's previous comment.

The delight faded from his face. "I helped her get it."

"Get what?" I wondered, causing him to look to me for a brief moment. What appeared to be recognition covered his face when his eyes landed on me.

But as he spoke, he redirected his attention to Octavia. "GEM9."

"GEM9?" Miller questioned.

"Bioweapon." Diyoza explained. "It's the reason the species that was here before they arrive isn't here now." She focused on Levitt. "How's she deploying it?"

"Central humidification system, the machine level. I told her how." He looked up at Octavia. "I'm so sorry."

"So I'm guessing it spread through water." Raven deducted. "Humidification would make it airborne."

Levitt let out a choked chuckle. "Raven Reyes. Of course you'd know that."

"Airborne means it's a suicide mission." Clarke announced.

Raven shook her head. "No. No, not necessarily. It will take time for the compound to go from its entry point to the vents."

I gave a small nod. "So she'll make a run for it."

"Which is what we should do." Hope argued. "She gave me an hour to get you all out. We still got time."

"That means we can still stop her." Levitt pleaded. "Untie me, please, so I can get help."

Octavia seemed to be getting in two directions as Hope spoke again. "Aunty O., they will kill her."

Levitt let out a small whimper. "She'll kill us all."

Octavia bent down in front of Levitt, which seemed to be our cue to leave. Silently, we all turned toward the door to let her make the final decision in peace.

When she emerged seconds later, she was alone.

"This way." She muttered, leading us further from the Stone Room, which could only mean one thing...we were going to stop Echo.

I kept my gun close as we made our way through the corridors toward the machine level. The entire time, all I could think about was what I wanted to do. Sure, I wanted to avenge Bellamy, I wanted that more than I could explain. But what if there were innocent children in here...could I let them die just so I could feel the least bit better about losing him?

By the time we reached the machine room, I had made up my mind.

"Echo, no!" The words had tumbled from my mouth before I had even consciously realized what my decision was.

But as she turned to look at us, her hand hovering over the humidification system, I knew that I wasn't going to let her go through with this.

The door slid open as we approached, allowing the group of us to enter. Echo looked back at us incredulously. "You were supposed to get them out!" She snapped at Hope.

"It's not her fault." Octavia argued. "We weren't going to leave without you, Echo. You don't have to do this." She stepped forward, her voice dropping slightly. "I get it. Everything they took from you, they took from me too."

I once resented Echo for how infatuated she was with Bellamy...but now I could see that she cared about him like family. I no longer cared if Echo harboured hidden feelings for Bellamy, she was hurting all the same.

"There are good people here." Octavia continued.

"Who? Levitt? The man who stole your memories and gave them to the enemy? All of this happened because of him." Venom dripped from Echo's every word. "Way to honour your brother's memory."

Octavia retracted slightly at Echo's harshness. But it was pain hidden within her bitter words.

"Echo, this is not who you are." Clarke declared. "I know you think this is the right thing to do, but--trust me--it's not. There's always another way. Grief is something we can learn to live with, but once you make a choice like this, it stays with you."

Tears had formed in Echo's eyes. "This is nothing like the choices you make, Clarke. You take lives to save the people you love. This is vengeance. Pure and simple."

As she turned back toward the humidification system, Clarke let out a small cry. "Echo, stop! This is not what Bellamy would have wanted."

She turned to look at us with so much fury. "You have no idea what Bellamy would have wanted!" She screamed. "If they had hurt Avery, or you, or Octavia, he would be standing in this exact spot!"

"No." I argued, speaking for the first time since we had entered. "He wouldn't be."

Taking a few steps toward her, I paused only as she held the vial of GEM9 closer to the water. "Stay back!" she snapped.

I pushed the lump down in my throat, forcing myself to speak without crying. "The old Bellamy- the one who massacred a sleeping army sent to protect us- he might be there. But the Bellamy we spent six years with on the Ring, the Bellamy who convinced Madi to spare the lives of the Eligius prisoners, the one who entered Sanctum with the hope of peace...he wouldn't be there."

Echo clenched her jaw. "They killed him, Avery...do you even care?"

"Of course I do!" My voice came out louder than I had expected, causing even me to startle. "I care more than I could ever explain, Echo. But I know what he would have wanted. He would have wanted all of us to get out of here safely, but to do it with as little bloodshed as possible." I took another small step toward her. "Echo, you don't have to do this."

She looked back at me, her body crumbling slightly as she shook her head. "You're wrong."

"I'm not leaving, Echo!" Raven yelled from behind me. "If you drop that, I am staying right here. You will have to kill me, too."

Echo let out a sob as she collapsed to the ground, the GEM9 still gripped in her hands.

I rushed forward, grabbing onto her and pulling her into my arms as she cried. Octavia and I weren't the only ones hurting over the pain of losing Bellamy, and this was a prime example of that.

Raven appeared next to us, wrapping her arms around the two of us as Diyoza quickly took the GEM9 out of Echo's possession.

"Come on." Raven said softly, supporting Echo who was still in a fit of tears. "Let's go home."

"Good choice."

We all spun to see the Disciple from earlier- Anders- making his way toward us, a dark look on his face.

"We had a deal." Clarke snapped. "I told Cadogan if I saw any of you, I wouldn't help him."

"That was before we knew one of you killed three more of us, torturing another just to get him to give you a weapon with which to commit genocide."

"The man makes a good point." Diyoza agreed, holding out the vial of GEM9. "Let's call it even."

"Even?" Anders wondered, taking the vial from her hands. "I just told you three Disciples are dead. You people disgust me. Look at yourselves. Raised in the wild, you're nothing but primal beasts. Utterly in thrall to your feelings, prioritizing the want of self over the needs of all others. You don't deserve the Shepherd's mercy."

I narrowed my eyes, anger washing over me at his words. He didn't know us, what we'd been through, who we were. He could pretend all he wanted, but he didn't know.

Miller rose his gun. "Brave words coming from a man standing alone in front of a pack of armed beasts."

Dioyza reached out and placed a hand on Miller's shoulder, signalling him to back down. "He's not alone."

"Smart girl." Anders mocked, four guards coming into visibility from behind him.

We all jumped, raising our weapons at the newly visible threat.

Diyoza kept an aura of calm around her, and it was clear to tell that motherhood had changed her. "Probably not a good idea to fire lasers in a room with a WMD. Let's get back to the Shepherd's mercy."

Anders raised his chin slightly. "Echo will be sent to penance for 20 years, but she'll be back before you know it. Unless by then the code hasn't been entered to begin the last war, in which case, she dies there." He was looking at Clarke now.

"I have a better idea- you die here."

"Hope, no!"

Diyoza's screams weren't enough to stop her daughter, as within a matter of seconds hope had run a blade across Anders' throat.

Everything seemed to turn to slow motion as the vial of GEM9 slowly fell from Anders' hand and tumbled toward the ground.

My eyes were wide as Hope caught it, instantly turning toward the humidification system.

Diyoza chased after her, all of us turning in shock as Hope lunged out to deposit a single drop of the liquid into the water system.

But before it could fall, Diyoza had stuck her hand out, catching the drop in her palm.

The next series of events happened too fast.

Octavia rushed forward, grabbing onto Hope who was already calling out for her mother.

"Get her out of here!" Diyoza screamed, her hand already being overtaken by what appeared to be a series of crystals.

"No! Mom, no!" Hope cried, her voice causing my heart to break.

The GEM9 continued to crawl up Diyoza's arm, overtaking the better part of her body. "What are you all waiting for, go!"

Miller grabbed my arm, pulling me out of my shocked state as he dragged me toward the door.

"Mom, I'm sorry!" Hope screamed, trying to resist against Octavia's grasp. "Mom!"

"Everybody move!" the guards yelled, they too rushing from the room.

The crystals seemed to be racing across the room, shooting from Diyoza's body.

"I can't leave her!" Hope cried. "Not again!"

Dizoya's entire body had been covered aside from her face. "Don't waste this little one. Be better than me."

And then the door was closing behind us and the only noise that could be heard was Hope's heart wrenching sobs.

I stepped back, shock pooling in my chest as the GEM9 completely overtook the room we had been in moments prior.

We had lost another one of our people...and I was afraid Diyoza would not be the last.

-an-

very excited for the upcoming chapters *evil laugh*

-maddy xoxo