Bellamy paced along the crowded corridors of the Eligius ship. He had lost Echo in the chaos of everyone trying to escape but had seen her run on to here. Now, with everyone collapsed along the walls- several injured, most dumbfounded at the current situation- he picked his way along the corridors looking for her. Hoping desperately that she was ok; he knew how much she hated flying.

The ship had evened out now and was casually orbiting the now, once again, destroyed planet Earth. Bellamy was sure it shouldn't feel this calm, everything felt strange and too easy. No one was at each other's throats, there was the familiar rumble of the ventilation system which was so much a part of every time he had lived in space. It felt like the environment had no respect or understanding of what had just taken the people. This would never leave them.

Bellamy sighed in frustration. Was Echo lost? Or maybe she was helping someone? He knew Gaia and Murphy were in surgery but soon they would be out and in recovery. He had left Emori, Indra, Harper and Monty with them.

Maybe she had gone to help them.

Or maybe…

"Ok, I surrender," Bellamy said, trying to hold back a smile.

"You're getting better," Echo said, as she appeared from a small alcove, "I wasn't even able to tail you for a minute this time."

Bellamy grinned, before pulling Echo into his arms, and holding her tightly, feeling her heart beat against him like a song needing a singer and its backing music. He ran a hand through her soft wavy hair, allowing his fingers to wrap around her braids as she ran her hands up and down his back soothingly.

"I thought-," Bellamy started, tears glistening in his eyes, "There were so many times when-."

"Hush," Echo said, "I'm here now. We're safe. Like I told you, we found each other in a cage, whatever happens I know we'll always find each other again."

Bellamy grinned, "Super romantic, Echo."

Echo jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, "Says the guy who tried to constantly chat me up in his awful grammatically inaccurate Trigedasleng for three years."

Bellamy pouted, "It wasn't that bad."

Echo smiled, "Just be glad I decided to teach you. If Emori had told Murphy he would never have let you live it down."

"True," Bellamy admitted, before taking Echo's hand in his, "So, do you want to explore our new home?"

Echo glanced around her at the people lying against the walls of the corridors. Bellamy smiled, acknowledging her silent message. Even though Echo could easily step up as leader she hated the attention. She needed to be alone a lot, to have quiet. On the Ark that had been easy to achieve but here…

"Hey," Bellamy replied, "Let's go up to the bridge. Make sure Shaw and Raven aren't doing anything you wouldn't approve of."

Echo grinned, "Maybe I should tell Shaw I don't intend to kill him now."

Bellamy smiled, "Might be a good idea. Considering he is a part of spacekru now."

Echo shrugged, "Barely."

"Ko," Bellamy said, rolling his eyes, "He has saved our lives."

Echo sighed, "But Raven…"

"Is more than capable of decapitating him herself if he breaks her heart," Bellamy answered.

"Make sure she knows I'm available if she requires any assistance," Echo said before letting out a giggle. Bellamy loved when she laughed like that, he loved how young she looked, how carefree- how much a distance there was between who she was now and who she was when she was a spy for Azgeda, how far she had come from overcoming the demons that had haunted her all of her life.

Bellamy returned the laugh, "God, I missed you."

Echo gave Bellamy a tear-stained look, "Me too."

Bellamy held Echo tightly as she sobbed, her head buried in the crook of his neck, his hand smoothing her hair as another rubbed her back. He could remember clearly the first time he held her like this. It was the first night they'd slept together, she'd had one of her nightmares and woken up white as ghost, her skin clammy and cold and a look of terror strewn across her face. He had never imagine she could be afraid like that, even in the pod she'd never looked terrified only concerned and confused. He had thought there was something seriously wrong with her and, in a way, there had been. But that had been healed now, he hoped, he hoped he had loved her enough to cure her of her ills.

"Hey," Bellamy said softly, toying with the ends of Echo's hair, "We're safe now."

"Are we really?" Echo asked, her voice barely above a whisper, so timid, so unlike herself.

"Of course, we are," Bellamy replied, sliding his hand down her back so that he could wrap his fingers around hers, "I promise."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Echo?" Raven asked as she sorted through the last of her things. She hadn't been able to take much with her when they'd left the Ark and most of it had been lost or destroyed, however there were a few books on mechanics that she treasured and she stowed them safely away under her pod. Safe from who? No one would mess with them, except for Murphy maybe.

"Hey," Emori said, as she walked past, Murphy following closely behind her, his arm tied up in a loose sling, "Are we still doing bed time stories?"

Murphy grinned, "You girls."

Emori narrowed her eyes at him, "I thought you were trying to get me back?"

Murphy shook his head, "Really, Emori? Really? Ok, anyone know where Bellamy is? And Monty and Harper?"

"Monty and Harper said not to wait up for them," Raven replied, with a heavy sigh, "Yeah, I know, but Monty insisted on being to one to finalise the cryo sequence. Harper wanted to stay with him. Anyway, has anyone seen Echo anywhere?"

"She's probably with Bellamy," Emori replied, winking at Raven cheekily.

"Ten years is a long time," Murphy said, giving Emori a knowing look.

Emori shook her head, just as Shaw entered into the cryo room.

"You invited him?" Emori asked, with a frown.

Raven nodded, "He's spacekru now."

Emori smiled before sitting down next to Raven, Murphy joining her a moment later.

"I couldn't find much," Shaw admitted as he passed them several blankets, "But I did find something other than Greek mythology."

"Raven, this man is awesome," Murphy replied jubilantly, "I give you two my blessing."

Raven frowned, whilst smiling at Shaw, "Erm, thanks."

"Wait, who's getting married?" a familiar voice asked.

"Echo, em pleni!" Raven yelled, jumping in shock, "Remember the rules, if you're going to spy walk give us a two second warning."

"Sorry," Echo said, before patting Raven's shoulder, "I forgot to walk noisily."

Shaw gave Echo an uncertain look as she lowered herself to the floor, Bellamy joining her.

"For the record, I don't want to kill you anymore," Echo announced, earning grins from her Spacekru family and a half-uncertain half-relieved grin from Shaw.

"But if you ever hurt Raven, I'll gut you, I'll use your entrails to make rope and make your skin into parchment, do you understand me?"

Shaw nodded a little timidly as Emori tried not to laugh, and Bellamy gave Shaw an apologetic look.

"You don't need to worry, Echo," Shaw replied, "I'm as loyal to Raven as you are."

Raven smiled as Bellamy draped a blanket over her and Echo's shoulders.

"You still have it?" Bellamy asked as Raven nodded.

"Not here, though," Raven whispered, "Not in front of everyone."

"Ok," Shaw said as he held out a book, "It's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone or The Iliad."

"Harry Potter," Raven voted.

"I second that," Murphy added.

"If Raven and Murphy both say it's good, then I'm in," Emori said.

"Echo, don't you dare betray me!" Bellamy warned, him tickling her slightly, earning quiet giggles from the warrior girl.

"Sorry, Bellamy," Echo replied, "I'll make it up to you in ten years' time."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Most of the others were asleep now. Shaw had just tucked Raven in, Murphy and Emori had argued about who should go first but Murphy had finally conceded (Emori knew more about tech). Octavia would be along soon and Clarke and Madi were getting ready.

Harper and Monty were still at the bridge, no doubt enjoying one last meal of algae whilst Monty checked the codes to make sure they stayed asleep for the next ten years.

Bellamy looked down at Echo, she looked so tiny now that she was inside the cryo pod, and she looked up at him with scared uncertain eyes.

Bellamy placed a blanket carefully around her body, tucking her in tightly just like he used to do on the Ark whenever she had a nightmare, or when she'd caught a cold once.

Bellamy stroked her hair gently, "Hey, it's going to be okay. You won't even know it's been ten years."

"You don't know that," Echo replied with a slightly trembling voice.

Bellamy sighed, "I wish there was some other way too, Echo, but the food wouldn't last long enough…I…"

Echo reached out her hand from under the blanket, and Bellamy took it in both of his, "It isn't your fault. I should be strong enough to control my nightmares."

Bellamy shook his head, "You don't have to fix everything, Echo. You can let us help you."

Echo frowned, before shaking her head, "No one should be burdened with my experiences."

"I know," Bellamy replied, before pulling a small item out of his jacket pocket, "And neither should you."

"What's that?" Echo asked with a frown.

"Me, keeping my promise," Bellamy said, before passing the object to Echo.

She regarded it with confusion, taking in its odd patterning, "But it doesn't look like you, in fact, it looks like… jok of!"

Bellamy laughed, as he looked at the stuff toy panda. He was rather impressed with his had worked on it whilst waiting for Echo to take down the eye in the sky, hoping to give it to her as as a reunion present but they'd never gotten a chance. He'd given it to Raven for safe keeping after they'd gone in to orbit, expecting conflict to erupt soon thereafter. He hadn't planned for cryo sleep.

"Language, Echo," Bellamy replied, moving the panda's arm so that sword it held in its hand was pointed at Echo.

Echo laughed, before tucking the toy panda in beside her, draping the blanket around its body, tucking it under its sword arm.

"Thank you," Echo replied, "I love you, you know that."

"Of course I do," Bellamy replied before Echo rolled her eyes, "I love you too, my ice panda."

Echo gave him a sullen look, before Bellamy began to tickle her, causing her to squirm and she laughed loudly, not caring at all if anyone heard her.

"Bellamy, no fair," Echo complained, "Bellamy, this isn't good chivalrous fighting! Remember what I taught you!"

Bellamy laughed, before taking Echo's hands in his, and leaning to kiss her, she leaning up to kiss him.

"Goodnight Echo," Bellamy said, "I love you more than anything in this universe."

"Goodnight Bellamy," Echo replied, "I love you more than anything in any universe in existence."

"Are we really doing this again?" Bellamy asked with a grin, "Do we really have to do this every time we go to bed?"

Echo smiled, before giving him a stern look, "Yes, it's absolutely necessary."

Bellamy kissed her again, before letting out a sigh, he turned slightly, noticing Octavia entering the room.

"It's ok," Echo reassured him, "I'll be ok."

Bellamy took in a heavy breath, tears blurring his eyes, "Sweet dreams, my Echo."

Echo nodded, hugging the soft toy panda to her side as Bellamy pressed the button to send her into cryo sleep.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Cozy. That was the first word Echo thought of as she began to wake up. It was freezing in here, she knew that, but she had been colder. This was no colder than an Azgeden spring, no colder that an early morning at the training ground with Roan, both of them wrapped up in their furs drinking their hot chocolate, talking about how they were going to smash each other into the thawing snow.

Echo smiled at the memory. What would Roan say if he saw her like this? Stop idling, stop being such a princess, come on we've got work to do, something like that, he'd tease her for being lazy like this, but always good heartedly. He always teased her about being too much of a… workaholic… that's what Raven called it… oh, Roan, you were too good for this world, Echo thought to herself.

Echo opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the light as it hit the white crystal of the pod. Soon she heard the click of the lid and it began to lift away, the platform beneath shifting outward into the corridor behind her. She tensed as it moved. No matter how much she had adapted to space, she always preferred solid ground under her feet.

She blinked forcefully, willing away the last of her sleepiness, noticing Bellamy standing next to the pod. A smile on his face, but his eyes were red.

Echo shifted so that she was sitting up and passed the soft toy panda to him.

Bellamy let out something which sounded like a contorted, ugly, laugh before he reached for Echo, and she pulled him tightly into her arms.

What had happened here?

"They're gone, Ko," Bellamy said, "Harper and Monty they're gone."

"What?" Echo said, in disbelief, shock turning to ice in her veins, "What do you mean they are gone? No, Bellamy, you must be mistaken."

"I wish I was," Bellamy said between sobs, "They didn't go into cryo sleep. It hasn't been ten years… it's been one hundred and twenty five."

Echo pulled herself back from Bellamy, feeling tears glisten in her eyes, hope slipping away, "No, that's not possible. It can't be possible. Bellamy, tell me it's not possible. Tell me!"

Bellamy's face crumbled as he pulled Echo into his arms, and they held on to each other for dear life, sobs tearing through them, angrily and full of vengeance. How dare their family be ripped from them? How dare they be hurt like this? How dare anybody, even inevitable death, touch anybody so pure as Harper and Monty? How could that ever happen in a just universe?

"The others?" Echo asked, as she wiped away her tears with her wrist.

"They're safe," Bellamy reassured her, "They know."

Echo nodded, tears still threatening to escape and shred her to pieces. Bellamy pulled her out of the pod carefully helping her steady herself as her feet touched the ground. She had never been so unbalanced before.

Echo spotted them immediately, collapsed on the ground. Murphy staring off into space, anger and defiance mixed in a way that only Murphy could mix it, daring the world to take his friends from him, threatening silently to tear it apart until he got them back. He had an arm tightly wrapped around Emori who was curled into his side, huge sobs making her shudder every few minutes, interspersed with dammit, every few moments. Raven sat with her head resting on Shaw's shoulder, tears blurring her eyes as she watched something on a tablet screen. Echo made her way shakily towards them, they all stood up then, and before she could comprehend anything they were all hugging, all sobbing, all swearing, all one watery, painful mess.

"I wish I'd stayed," Raven said, "I could have talked them down."

"Hey, we couldn't have known," Shaw told her, stroking her arm, "They said they were right behind us."

Emori sobbed, "They were always so kind, the world was so cruel, but, but, they always managed to be so kind."

Murphy sighed, "God dammit! I should have told him I liked the algae, I should have bloody told him, I should have apologised more for Jasper, I should have, I should."

Murphy crumbled to the floor, hitting it with his bare hands until they became raw and bloody.

Echo quickly moved to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Murphy, please, listen to me," Echo told him, "Murphy, they wouldn't want us to be sad for them."

Murphy sighed, "They're gone, Echo, they're gone forever."

"No, they're not," Echo told him, with a heavy, shaking sigh, "They'll never been gone. They'll always be in our hearts and they'll be with us again, I know."

"If you're going to tell me about your Azgeden reincarnation bull-crap!" Murphy began.

"John," Emori said.

"I'm sorry," Murphy replied, "I'm sorry, Echo."

Echo sighed, "We should say fair well to them. We should have a ceremony."

Bellamy nodded, "Yes, on the Ark, we had ceremonies."

Raven nodded, her eyes shimmering with tears, "The Keepers of the Tree."

Bellamy nodded, "Come on, let's go the bridge."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"And I thought flying cars were strange," Echo remarked as she looked out the window, taking in the two suns and the planet below.

"At least it has an Azgeda," Emori said, pointing to a large white expanse, which was just appearing underneath a mass of swirls of clouds.

"I hope they have snow there," Echo replied, "Just like on Earth. And it hope it falls thickly and fast, so fast that you can go to sleep at night and by morning its up to your knees."

Emori nodded, "I hope there's good beaches too, not like in the dead zone, where there was no water at all."

"Do you think about him much?" Echo asked.

Emori nodded, tears filling her eyes, "I know he's in the Summerlands now. Drinking too much ale, chatting up the type of girls we used to rob. You?"

Echo smiled, "Roan's probably still chasing after Ontari, telling her she can't date this guy or that she can't go skiing wherever she wants. He'll be with Mara too, his younger sister, he'll have an eternity of too much ice cream and elephant rides before bedtime to look forward to."

"Harper and Monty?" Emori asked, as a sob escaped her.

"A farm obviously," Echo replied, "A good one, like they used to make in Trikru lands, with the red roofs made with clay tiles and a stack of wood in the outhouse. The land was good there, you could grow anything, back when Nia was on good terms with Indra's superiors we'd spend our summers there. The fruit was amazing, so rich, and the wine of course…"

Emori smiled, "They'll have a vineyard. Harper will want something other than moonshine."

Echo nodded, before hugging her space-sister.

"Do you still believe in reincarnation?" Emori asked.

Echo sighed, "I don't know. But we have Jordan, we still have them here and one day we will have our own children and we'll teach them all about their aunt and uncle, just like they taught Jordan all about us."

Emori nodded, "Yes, we'll do that."

The girls turned to face the rest of the room. Madi was up now, back in her Heda garb, headpiece and shoulder sash, she looked so far removed from the twelve year old girl that she was. Clarke stood close to her, watching over her intensely, Echo noticed her eyes were still red but she hid it well. As much as she and Clarke disagreed and often found themselves on opposing sides, she'd always had a respect for the girl. How could she not? Knowing how much Clarke loved Bellamy, how she'd pleaded with Roan to save his life. They were both committed to him and their people wholeheartedly, Echo could respect that. Clarke could never completely be her enemy.

She'd help the rest of Spacekru see that too with time.

Echo watched as several other members of Wonkru filled the room. First Miller and Jackson, then Niylah who she'd met before on her mission for Azgeda, just as a source of information and nothing more, they gave each other a respectful nod.

Then Indra who sighed when she saw her but gave her the look of a warrior, a look of compassionate understanding, she knew loss just like Echo did. Then finally Octavia, stripped of war paint, a light waviness in her hair, she looked so much younger, her eyes were red too. She no longer looked like a leader.

Echo moved to make space for her.

"Echo," Octavia began.

"I'm sorry, for what I did before," Echo said, "Both times."

Octavia smiled, "You have nothing to apologise for."

Echo gave Octavia an intrigued look.

"I forgive you," Octavia said, "So long as you don't break Bellamy's heart."

"I'd never do that," Echo promised her sincerely, before giving her the warrior's handshake to seal the promise.

Echo and Octavia turned to face the woman entering the room. Her hair was unusually loose and she gave them a smile, which was odd for her. Octavia returned the smile.

"Madi asked me to be here," Diyoza began, "I didn't know if I should or not but she's the leader now. And I wouldn't dare cross, Clarke."

Octavia smiled, "It was the right choice, joining us. How's Kane?"

"Abby's with him," Diyoza replied, "He's healed well during cryo but he still needs more time. Could say that of all of us I guess?"

Octavia nodded sullenly.

"You two are good leaders, you know," Diyoza said, "You gave me a hell of a time. I was wrong for thinking you were stupid, Echo, you're a good spy, very good."

Echo shrugged, "It was nothing personal."

Diyoza smiled, before passing Echo a book, "Here, I thought you might appreciate this."

"The Art of War?" Echo asked, with a smile.

"It's better than the Iliad," Diyoza said, before walking towards Shaw and Raven.

"So are we her protegees now?" Octavia asked.

"I guess so," Echo said, regarding the book with an intrigued expression, "I'm not sure Monty and Harper would approve though."

Octavia smiled, and then sighed, "We'll do better here, I know it."

Echo nodded, "Yes, I think we will."

Echo looked up as Bellamy approached them, "We have the algae, we're ready."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Sedas, Elders, Councillors and my friends. We are gathered here today to acknowledge the sacrifice of two of our most precious family members, Harper and Monty Green-McIntyre. Without them we would have never found another home, another planet, another fresh start.

"We are forever indebted to them.

"In a few hours we will begin our journey to the ground. And once there we will plant this crop, so that it can grow and multiply and their memory can stay with us forever.

"Their fight is not over. Our fight is not over. From the ashes we will rise.

"May we meet again."

Madi paused looking out across the room.

"May we meet again!" the crowd cheered.

THE END