"So you know Octavia and her brother..." Zena asked her as they left the crew mess and began to walk across the corridor towards Gaia's quarters.
"Bellamy..." Clarke immediately interrupted her new companion. Although she felt much less tense than a few minutes ago, the uneasy feeling still refused to leave her completely. Every inch of her body was still on alert and refused to leave that state.
"Yeah, right... I know their story... Thanks to Kane telling it to some of the kids once..." Zena continued when she found the thread again. She smiled shyly, almost nervously, when she mentioned Marcus Kane. "How is he, by the way? I haven't seen him since I joined the ship's crew?"
"He's okay. My mom and Niylah stitched him up pretty good..."
"Marcus Kane is wise. He's a much better leader than Bloodreina ever was. He should have led us through the last years instead. But to be honest, anyone would have been better than her..."
"You know, he himself is a changed man. He wasn't like that when we were on the ark. He was just the opposite. Kane put the law relentlessly and ruthlessly above everyone and everything. I know it sounds strange, if not horrible, but when you see both sides, you realize that many people like him, Octavia... even Lexa... they all had to make unthinkable decisions. Especially her. And Kane... he was among those who were involved when it came to enforcing the law and floating Octavia's and Bellamy's mother..."
"That still doesn't excuse what she did..." She remarked tensely, though her voice tried its best to hide it. For the first time, Clarke saw a bitter expression on her otherwise warm and sweet-tempered face. "What she did is... unforgivable..." Zena muttered between her teeth, noticing her concerned but speechless expression. Clarke wanted to say something, but her mind was torn between opinions. Between anger and disappointment and genuine signs of understanding for what had led Octavia to her tragic and bloody path as leader of Wonkru.
"Don't judge a book by its cover. Everything is easy to say until it is not. Octavia wasn't meant to lead Wonkru alone. It was Bellamy and I who should have been at her side. And the others who advised her failed her. She's as much a victim as you are. Even though it's hard to believe. Even for me..."
"Remember when Praimfaya came and each clan only wanted to save their own. Not Octavia. She wanted to share the bunker. Even more than I did." Clarke suddenly stopped explaining as feelings of guilt and remorse overcame her. She didn't even bother to look at Zena's face, not that her reaction or opinion seemed to matter. Instead, she looked down at her feet as they walked slowly down the empty main hallway. "I'm not as perfect as you thought. I locked the bunker doors during the Conclave..."
For a few moments there was an awkward silence between the two before Zena finally broke it, "It's not the same. Like you said. You did what anyone would have done, including me…"
Then she was abruptly halted by the bark of a familiar voice echoing across the hall.
"COME ON… DO IT YOU COWARD!"
"Speak of the devil," Clarke sighed inwardly, before she thought again about the words she had just heard. And then she began to sprint. As fast as her condition would allow. Not only did she drop her part of the delivery, but she also left an irritated Zena behind when she decided to investigate, which could only mean one thing: Trouble, if not worse.
Although she didn't seem to come from too far away, her rather small steps made it seem like she was hundreds and hundreds of meters away. Much longer than the total length of the Eligius 4, probably.
Turning another corner, she saw the full extent of the dilemma that had unfolded in her absence. Echo was unconscious on the floor, while Octavia was being held at gunpoint by another person, completely covered in a dark cloth. From their appearance alone, she could tell that this was a member of the Wonkru, not an escaped prisoner of the Eligius.
Octavia's eyes looked at hers. They sparkled in the ceiling lights, showing no sign of relief or joy at seeing her. She didn't seem to mind that a gun was being held to her chest. She even made another provocative step towards the aggressor.
"Come on. Why so hesitant all of a sudden? Kill or be killed... Be Wonkru or be Wonkru's enemy. Decide."
"You are no longer our leader..." The person snapped back at her in a tense and trembling voice.
Before Clarke could think clearly, she moved slightly to the side, drew her gun and slammed her finger on the trigger. Three shots rang out from the gun, each hitting its target with deadly force. The person in front of her began to stumble before crashing to the ground. A few pained whimpers and faint screams could be heard before they all faded away. A few twitches and jerks of the limbs accompanied these last sounds before the person remained motionless on the ground.
When the scene replayed in her head, it was as if something in her brain had suddenly gone into automatic mode. Everything followed a well-maintained and executed protocol.
"Thank you," Octavia appreciated her quick thinking with an uncomfortable smile. "Here, just in case he had friends," Clarke handed her the gun. as she walked over, before she went to check on Echo.
Octavia noted with a silent nod as she took the gun and made sure it was ready to fire again if needed, while also taking Clarke's spare magazine.
"How is she?" She asked worriedly as Clarke lowered herself without hesitation to her knees. Her chest hurt badly, but it had to be done. For Echo.
"That bastard surprised us from behind," she said, gritting her teeth as they both noticed to their surprise that Echo was already regaining consciousness and trying to get up. She only saw Clarke's face in a blur, and her head hurt quite a bit as her mind tried to piece together what had just happened.
"Hey..." Clarke greeted her with a soft voice, "Careful, you got hit in the head."
"Clarke?" She mumbled incredulously. "Wwww... What are you doing here?"
"She saved our asses. Especially mine, I guess," Octavia took no time to answer her question. Then Echo's eyes scanned her surroundings and immediately spotted the mess Clarke had just made.
"Oh, I hate cowards like that, how did he even... Ahh," she groaned as she pulled herself up from the floor with Octavia's help and took a stumbling step forward, rolling her head from side to side.
"Careful. Let me see..." Clarke approached her and looked deep into her eyes, trying to find something unusual. But both of Echo's pupils tried to avoid her eager and focused gaze at all costs, trying to run away from her darting eyes.
"I'm fine, Clarke. I really am. Thank you," she smiled softly, trying to reassure her as best she could. Though she couldn't deny that she had taken quite a blow to the head, "I've been through much worse..."
"Let me still have a look at it..." Clarke insisted and began another quick examination before Echo gently shook her off. "But thank you anyway. If it wasn't for you…"
Meanwhile, Octavia slowly approached the assassin's lifeless body, then quickly knelt down to remove the hood from the man's face.
"Killian..." She snarled angrily.
"You know him?" Echo asked, fighting her dizziness.
"I know all my people..." She remarked curtly as she looked at the dead man in disgust. "But in the end, he chose not to be one of them. Be Wonkru or be the enemy of Wonkru... That rule is still in place..."
"You are no longer the commander. It's Madi's decision now," Echo reminded her with a tense expression.
"At least now we know who our stowaway was," Clarke said as she stared at the Killian, trying to nip the discussion in the bud. The blood in her veins nearly froze as she met the man's vacant, open eyes. She began to remember. Despite the slight differences from her fever dream, the resemblance was frightening. The man, who appeared to be in his mid-thirties, not only had the same short, dark brown hair and stubbled beard, but even his half-open eyes were the same dark blue as in her dream. Or had it been a vision to warn her?
"We still have to keep our eyes open... Ahhh," Echo said between the waves of pain coming straight from her head.
"This is what you get when you give second chances..." Octavia muttered angrily as she looked around. "Where did he hide anyway? We searched everywhere."
"Apparently not... or..." Echo chimed in, but Octavia was quicker with her objection.
"...he had a friend. An Allie…"
"We don't know that-" Echo interjected. Then she noticed that Clarke was still staring at the dead man. Frozen and apathetic. "CLARKE!" Echo almost shouted at her, snapping her out of her stupor.
"Yeah?!" Clarke asked before looking around and catching Echo's worried gaze.
"Is everything okay?" Octavia asked concerned and once again quicker than Echo.
"Yeah... I'm just suffering from the side effects... Nothing at all"
"Then you are the one who should go back to rest," Echo suggested, and Octavia agreed with a firm nod.
"No. Let me instead take care of your head once we cleared this mess up," Clarke stubbornly refused. The shock was still in her bones and she tried her best to hide it. Especially from Echo, who scanned her with her eyes like an x-ray.
"I'm fine, Clarke," Echo repeated, but this time much more energetically.
"You should let me take a look anyway," Clarke tried to persuade her, "if you have a concussion, you should probably rest for a few days..."
"You sound like Abby. If not worse..." Echo remarked before she and Clarke burst out laughing, and even Octavia joined in with a brief smile. "But thanks for not listening to her," Echo smiled at her and gave her a quick hug.
"So... what know?" Octavia asked as she looked around, pretending to ignore the newfound friendship between the two. But before Echo and Clarke could respond, something else immediately caught their attention.
"Clarke?!" A voice suddenly rang out from far away on the corridor. It was Zena, who had finally managed to find her.
"Someone you know?" Echo looked at Clarke in confusion as the fully dressed young woman approached them.
"More like my lunch companion," Clarke remarked with an embarrassed smile, "Octavia, Echo, this is Zena. I meet her in the crew mess while gathering some food for Gaia and Madi"
"Nice to meet you," Zena greeted them shyly and nervously before she fully realized that she was actually standing in front of Octavia again.
"Same,' Echo replied, while Octavia gave her a quick nod. After a moment of careful scrutiny, Octavia spoke as well. "I know you… You're Owans and Sila's older sister."
But Zena just looked at her confused and frozen, partly out of anger and partly out of shock. There she was: Bloodreina. Right in front of her. But then she saw the lifeless person on the ground and started to put the pieces together.
"That's Clarke's gun, isn't it" Zena remarked, half bravely, as she saw Octavia carrying it lowered, her finger pressed tightly against the grip.
"It's okay. I gave it to her so I could check on Echo," Clarke reassured her with a tired smile.
"And he? Is he…?"
"Yep. Pretty much. Thanks to Clarke. She came at just the right time... as always..." Octavia confirmed, while focussing at her with her bright green eyes, "So anyway. What's up with you?"
"As I said. She helped me bring food to Madi while she is training with Gaia." Clarke explained.
"Wait, you allowed her to?" Echo asked surprised, "I thought you were against it?"
"I am. But for now, I agreed. We made a deal. It's better for her to learn how to use the flame while she's connected to it," Clarke explained cryptically, not finding the details worth sharing.
"So Madi is with Gaia?" Octavia asked curiously, "Then we'll come with you,"
"And what about him?" Clarke asked, pointing at the manifestation of her fever dream.
"I call Bellamy. He'll take care of it." Echo explained, but her approach was stopped by Octavia.
"No, I can do it," she interjected firmly before finally admitting, "Please. I need to be with him."
"And what if someone else tries to go after you?"
"Thanks to Clarke I'm now armed. And aware. Here take his gun" She said as she already proceeded to loot Killians body for his gun and his ammunition.
"Okay. We'll bring Madi her snack and then I'll take Echo to the med bay." Clarke summarized, "And don't argue with me, Echo. Or I'll tell Bellamy about this," Clarke ordered her in a strict voice, much to her own surprise.