"There they are!" Roan shouted. I sat up quick and pushed myself toward the window. On the back of the truck, two of the Azgeda warriors pushed a barrel of hydrazine toward the edge.

"They're trying to blow us up," I realized. "We can't let them waste that fuel."

Roan climbed over the seat, pushing me out of the way. "Get me as close as you can." He opened the hatch and pulled himself up on top of the rover. I watched as he leapt over onto the truck, and then I started up after him.

"Maia, what are you doing?" Bellamy shouted. "Come back!"

I ignored him and climbed on top of the rover. With both grounders distracted, neither of them noticed me. "Roan, move!" I shouted. He jumped out of the way, just in time. I landed on the truck, sword drawn, and stabbed one of the men through the stomach.

Roan dealt with the other man. I grabbed the barrel of hydrazine teetering dangerously close to the edge. The warrior swung at me, I narrowly escaped by ducking behind the barrel. Roan tackled him and I pushed the barrel back to safety.

Roan stabbed the traitor and shoved him from the truck. We came to an abrupt halt, and my feet flew out from underneath me. Roan grabbed me around the waist and kept me from falling to the ground. "That was good," he said. "Reckless, but good."

I shrugged. "What can I say? I had a great trainer."

He laughed and helped me to the ground. "We make a good team."

"We definitely do."

OoOoO

I rode in the rover with Bellamy, while Clarke and Roan took the truck. We made it past the river; from there it wasn't far to the shoreline. Abby was supposed to send a boat to pick us up along with the hydrazine.

"What you did back there scared the shit out of me," Bellamy said. "But I have to admit, Octavia would've been proud."

I laughed quietly. "Yeah, I did feel like skairipa for a moment there. But playing peacemaker is much more up my alley."

"About that, I'm sorry for snapping at you. I know you and Roan are…friends, or whatever."

"We are, I trust him. You have every right to distrust Azgeda, I do too," I admitted. "But Roan is not his mother, and he isn't Echo. He's just doing what's best for his people, same as the rest of us."

"I'm going back to Arkadia, after we drop off the fuel," he said.

"Because of Roan?" I asked with a frown.

"Because of Octavia."

I sighed. "Bellamy-"

"I know, I know," he said, shaking his head. "It's pathetic. She hates me, but I keep going back for more."

"Before we left, she told me to stop apologizing for both of you, and she was right. Just because I've forgiven you, doesn't mean I have the right to force anyone else to. I can't keep telling you that she'll come around, because honestly, she might not. And maybe that's not a bad thing. This back and forth, it's not healthy for either of you. Ever since we got down here, she's blamed you for something. She drags you through hell, and you take it, because she's your sister."

"And I get it, I do. Octavia has always been like a sister to me," I continued. "I want things to go back to the way they were, but that is never going to happen. On the Ark, we lived in a vacuum with no choice but to love each other. Of course things were going to change on the ground."

"It isn't the same. You chose to take care of her; she wasn't your responsibility until you chose for her to be. She's always been my responsibility. Nothing can change that." He sighed. "And if the world is going to end, I can't go out with things like this between us."

He pulled to a stop by the shoreline. I leaned forward on the dash for a moment. "What about us? What if the radiation comes before Abby synthesizes nightblood?"

"You're the one who refused to believe we only had six months left, remember?" He pulled me toward him. "I'd ask you to come back with me, but I want you to be first in line for nightblood when it's ready. I need to know you're safe, no matter what happens to me."

"Bell, I'm not going to take it without you," I protested.

He held my hands tight. "Yes, you will," he insisted. "Promise me you'll do it." He looked so determined. I couldn't help but nod. "If we never see each other again, I want you to be happy."

"I love you," I whispered. He leaned toward me and kissed me softly. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and refused to let go.

"I love you too." He slipped away and opened the door. I sat there for a moment, until I was sure I wasn't going to start crying.

Finally, I opened the door and stepped outside. The sea air was refreshing. "The boat is on its way," Clarke told me.

"We have a problem," Roan called, from the back of the truck. The three of us joined him. He turned one of the barrels toward us. A Trikru arrow stuck out of the bottom. He shoved the barrel off the truck and it landed with an empty clang. Our already short supply had gotten even shorter.

OoOoO

Spirits weren't exactly high when we reached the island. Without the tenth barrel of fuel, Raven couldn't land the rocket. The plan had been a shot in the dark anyway, but we were desperately running out of ideas. With Raven's calculations, the black rain would be arriving any time now.

Murphy and his grounder girlfriend, Emori, met us at the mansion. ALIE had spent her century-long life in style that was sure. Clarke headed down to Becca's lab, while Roan and I stayed to help unload the fuel. I spotted Miller in the garage.

I ran up behind Miller, while he had his back turned and grabbed his shoulders. He jumped and I burst out laughing. He turned around and shook his head. "Just in time to ruin my piece and quiet before the world ends. Perfect."

"Oh please, you know you missed me," I teased. "I may have been seriously out of it the last time you saw me, but don't think I forgot how sappy you got."

Miller shushed me. "We agreed not to take about that, remember?" We both laughed loud, and he pulled me into a hug. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Maybe I did miss you, but just a little bit. How was Polis?"

I glanced at Roan out of the corner of my eye. "Interesting. How's it been here?"

"Pretty damn great, minus the whole world-ending thing," he said. "I mean, you've got to use these showers, they're on a whole other level."

I sighed wistfully. "A shower sounds heavenly."

"I think we can handle things here," he told me. "Go inside, you could seriously use a shower." Miller pretended to fan away the smell. I made a face at him, but headed inside.

Jackson caught up with me, before I could get too far. "Has Clarke told you about Raven?" He asked.

I nodded. "She had a seizure, how did that even happen?"

He sighed. "When you guys zapped her with the EMP to remove ALIE, a piece of the code was left in her brain. That's why she was able to read the City of Light code," he explained. "But she's been working on overdrive, and it's starting to have consequences."

"But it's curable right?" I asked.

Jackson nodded, but he looked stressed. "The only cure is rest, and Raven isn't doing a lot of that right now. We've got her sedated at the moment. Hopefully that will give her some time to recover."

"Can I see her?"

"Not right now, but she'll be awake soon." I knew Raven was strong. She'd already survived so much. What was another near death experience on top of everything else? But, she was my best friend, and I couldn't help but worry about her. Jackson patted my shoulder. "Go upstairs, turn left. The rooms at the end of the hall are free, take whichever one you want."

I nodded and headed toward the stairs. I'd never been anywhere as nice as this mansion. Upstairs, I peeked into the open bedrooms, and finally decided on the one at the end. The furniture was in varying shades of grey and silver. I walked over to the window and pushed back the curtains, the view outside was stunning. I could see all the way out to the water. Below me was a pool. I grinned. If the world was going to end, I was going to spend my last days in that pool.

I turned around and let out a long breath. I started to flop down onto the bed, but remembered how sweaty and gross I was. Instead I headed into the bathroom. Just the bathroom itself was nicer than anything I'd ever seen. I felt like I was in a book, there was no way this was real.

I opened the shower door. There was a control panel and I reached out and tapped it. Half a dozen options popped up, I frowned and started pressing buttons. Three different showerheads shot out water from different directions. "I've died and gone to heaven."

OoOoO

I probably stayed in the shower for much longer than necessary. When I finally did get out, I started opening all the cabinets and drawers. Everything was stocked up, as if someone had been living here a few days ago. I managed to find some clothes in the closet that looked about my size.

I stood in front of the mirror, messing with my damp hair. My eyes traveled down to the arrow wound on my chest. It was ugly and clearly visible over the neckline of the t-shirt. It was on its way to healing. It no longer looked red and irritated; Abby had done a good job stitching it up.

It was obvious I would end up with a scar. A big, ugly scar. I knew it was stupid to worry about it, when there were a million other things that needed my attention. But here I was. I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it to the ground. The scar on my stomach had healed long ago. The light pink line stood out on my brown skin. I'd gotten used to that one eventually, but it was also a lot less obvious.

"My people think scars tell a story," Roan said from the doorway. I jumped. I hadn't even realized I'd left my door open. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"At least your scars are on purpose," I noted. "And they're usually a little more artistic." I frowned as I pressed on the new forming scar tissue. If you squinted it looked a little like a jagged diamond.

Roan stepped toward me and pulled out his knife. "May I?" I shrugged. He closed the distance between us and put one hand on the small of my back. He held the knife up to the scar, sizing it up. "Do you trust me?" I looked at him for a moment before nodding.

He led me over to the bed and sat me down, and then he grabbed my guard jacket from the ottoman. Roan looked between it and me and held up his knife again. "This is going to hurt." I nodded once. He pressed the tip of the knife into my skin, above the scar. It stung, but I didn't make a noise. Roan worked in silence for several minutes. He sat back and looked at me for a moment, and then nodded.

Roan stood and motioned for me to follow him to the mirror. The Chancellor's design was right in the middle of my chest. Not too big, but big enough to obscure my scar. "Now when you look at your scar you won't see a blemish. Instead you'll see your people close to your heart, where they should be."

I smiled. "Thank you."

Roan stayed for a moment, as if he wanted to say something else. Finally he just nodded once and turned to leave. "See you in the morning for training?"

I sighed but it turned into a quiet laugh. "Goodnight, Roan."