Octavia
"Something's wrong," Octavia said, standing over Echo's bed. It was the third night since Bellamy had gone for Clarke, and her third night of barely sleeping. She had come into Echo's room and stared at her for the better part of an hour before deciding to speak.
Echo's eyes opened, but if she was surprised, she didn't show it. "Why do you say that?"
"Because he should be back by now," Octavia answered. "He wouldn't be gone for this long unless something wasn't right. He'd go get Clarke, he'd come back for me, and we'd all be gone by now." She knew it was true, knew exactly what Bellamy would do- and this wasn't it. "He should have been gone for a couple of hours, not a couple of days." Her demands to the guards who brought their food and water had been ignored.
Echo seemed to resign herself to the fact that she was not going to sleep anymore. She sat up and patted the bed next to her; reluctantly, Octavia walked over and took the place next to her. She expected Echo to say something comforting, but instead she just said, "Your brother is the most reckless, impulsive, obstinate, and foolish person I have ever known." After a long pause she added, "But he is also honourable, devoted, and noble. He will not leave you here to die."
"But what if he can't get to us?" Octavia asked. "What if he and Clarke are in trouble? Or what if Clarke isn't even here, and this is all a trap, like Lexa said?"
Letting out a long breath, Echo asked, "Are all Sky People so insistent on worrying about things that are outside their control?"
"I used to be better at it," Octavia allowed. "Indra taught me that a warrior should never worry about what she can't control."
"Then Indra is a wise woman," Echo said with a nod. "You should heed her words."
"I've been trying, but it's been too long, and too much has happened." Octavia stood up, paced to the window. "I'm telling you, something's wrong."
Before Echo could protest further, they heard the latch on the front door slide open, and both women sprung to their feet, hurrying out of Echo's bedroom and into the main living area of their suite.
Four guards stood there, two for each of them, and one said, "The queen will see you now."
"We don't want to see the queen," Octavia snapped. "Where's my brother?"
"Hush," Echo urged her, and she looked scared. Nodding to the guards she said, "Take us to her."
They were led outside, and Octavia breathed in the fresh air gratefully until they were taken into another building. She had become so used to living in tents that being inside walls was strange- even at Camp Jaha, she had mostly avoided the wreckage of the Ark unless she needed to be inside it for some reason.
The guards led the two women through several corridors before reaching a small room. Octavia felt Echo's fear erupt beside her immediately as they looked at the imposing woman in a beautiful gown, standing there with a cold expression on her face. Next to her was Lia, and when Octavia met her eyes she hoped the little girl saw the extent of the hatred she felt for her.
Echo dropped to her knees and said, "Queen Elody… it is an honour." Hastily, Octavia bowed her head, but she wouldn't kneel.
She'd been so distracted by the image of the daunting and striking queen that she didn't even notice another woman, smaller and younger, standing just behind her. Her back was to Octavia, her attention focused on a window there, but Octavia couldn't be sure why, since the curtains were drawn. The girl's blonde hair was done up in elaborate braids, but something about her was very familiar. The more Octavia looked at her, the more she was sure she knew her.
"Clarke?" she asked, finally. Next to her, Echo stood, and when she heard her say that name she looked at the young woman with more curiosity.
The queen smiled and put an arm around the blonde's shoulders, turning her around to face them. It was definitely Clarke, though she looked like a different person- hair, clothes, even her posture was different. Her face was thin an drawn, her eyes red and ringed in dark circles. She looked like hell.
"What is this?" Octavia asked, staring at Clarke, then to the queen, then back to Clarke. "Are you… with her?"
Clarke just shook her head, and she looked like she was barely even present, let alone talkative. She said nothing.
Octavia felt the anger clenching around her heart and she gritted her teeth, advancing on Clarke. "Tell me that isn't true," she said, and she knew she sounded angry and desperate all at once. "Tell me you haven't been safe this whole time… tell me we didn't come here for nothing, Clarke."
Clarke met her eyes and her blue gaze was full of sorrow- but Octavia felt no sympathy for her. "Octavia…" she trailed off.
Her eyes filled with tears that spilled over as she stared at Clarke with horror, her stomach tying itself in knots of rage. "Clarke, Lincoln is dead! He died so we could find you… don't tell me that was for nothing. Please, Clarke. Please."
Tears slipped down Clarke's cheeks too as she squeezed her eyes shut and whispered, "I'm sorry. I-"
"Where's Bellamy?" Octavia cut her off, gritting her teeth, not wanting to hear any false apologies that were too little and far too late.
Again, Clarke hesitated, glancing at the queen. "Octavia…"
The fear grew in Octavia's chest and she turned her attention to Elody, demanding, "Where's my brother? I want to see him- right now."
The queen smiled just a little, but it wasn't a kind smile. "Very well," she said. "You may see him- right now." Next to her, Lia seemed impassive, expressionless, just watching Octavia with an eerie look of fascination.
Elody gestured to the window that Clarke had been standing near before, and Octavia started that way. Her movement seemed to bring something to life within Clarke and she cried out, "No!" She grabbed Octavia, stopping her.
"What the hell is going on?" Octavia demanded, wrenching her arm away from Clarke. Glaring at her she snarled, "What's wrong with you?"
"Octavia, please," Clarke said, and this time her hands came up to grip the younger girl's shoulders. Something about the urgency in her eyes made her listen, but it also made Octavia more afraid for her brother. Was he dead?
"Clarke, what's going on?" Octavia asked urgently. "Where is he?"
"See for yourself," the queen spoke up. "He is behind that curtain." She gestured again to the window. "Clarke will not interfere with you again."
Octavia and Echo exchanged an uncertain glance and then, together, they stepped forward. Sure enough, Clarke didn't stop them, though it was obvious that she wanted to.
At the last second Clarke moved, putting herself between the two of them and the curtain. She looked panicked, raw and frightened, but that only served to make Octavia more scared. "Please," Clarke said. "Octavia, don't. Please don't."
"Stop it," Octavia snapped, shoving her aside with her shoulder. "Just stop!" She charged past her, grabbing the curtain in her hand to pull it back. She imagined Bellamy gravely injured, bruised and bloody maybe hooked up to tubes, half-dead, perhaps comatose and unresponsive.
"Octavia, Bellamy's a Reaper!" Clarke yelled at her.
Just like when Lincoln died, Octavia felt her heart sink into her stomach, felt her whole world collapse. Her knees went weak and she grabbed for the wall, leaning heavily on it for support, as she turned back to Clarke and looked at her in horror. If it was a joke, Clarke wasn't laughing.
Octavia looked to Echo, who appeared as horrified as she felt, and then back to Clarke, whose face was tortured; her eyes were full of remorse, heartache and desperation all at once. Octavia looked to the queen and saw smugness, then to the shadow child and saw that same fascination she'd seen before. Octavia waited for someone to tell her it was a cruel trick, some kind of horrific misunderstanding, but no one said another word.
"That can't be true," she said finally, dragging her eyes back to meet Clarke's.
"I know," she whispered back, her voice breaking. "But it is."
"If you do not believe, then look for yourself," Elody suggested.
With a shaking hand, Octavia reached out and wrenched the curtain back with one swift flick of her wrist. It revealed a glass window, but instead of facing the outside, it allowed her to see into another room, small and dark.
She was so relieved when she didn't see Bellamy, but then, just as fast, she felt anger rise up in her chest. "What's going on?" she snapped.
Clarke shook her head and pointed. "There," she whispered. "In the corner."
Again Octavia looked, and this time she saw a flash of movement near the back of the room, where Clarke had indicated. She flattened her hands against the window, looking, and then she drew in a sharp breath of disbelief as she saw a face that was her brother's but not her brother's, familiar and strange all at once.
Crouched in the corner, clothes, face, and hands covered in blood, Bellamy sat there, knees drawn up, his whole body shuddering. He was staring at the floor, his eyes unfocused, bloodshot, face pale and off-colour. He looked terrifying, wild.
"How do I get in there?" Octavia demanded, whirling on the queen with clenched fists.
Echo was still staring into the window, gaping, and her eyes were fixed on Bellamy with such horror that she seemed rooted to the spot by it.
But Octavia had seen this all before. She ran to Clarke, grabbing her by the shoulders, shoving her backward in to the wall. "Help him!" she screamed. "Help him like you helped Lincoln. Do it now!"
"Don't you think I want to?" Clarke exclaimed. Her eyes were full of desperation and grief, but Octavia didn't care- Clarke's heartache was like a drop in an ocean next to her own. She watched Clarke's eyes flicker to Elody, and then Octavia understood.
"You," she growled, including Lia in her death glare. "And you. You're the ones doing this. He's going to die in there like that!"
"Do you think we care?" the queen asked, her voice cold.
Octavia whirled back to the room and looked for the entrance, calculating how to get in there from where she was now. She started for the exit, but again Clarke tried to hold her back.
"Clarke, just stop!" Octavia yelled, shoving her backward again.
"You can't go in there," Clarke said urgently. "He'll kill you."
For a moment Octavia just stared at her, then she scoffed, "He would never hurt me." But even still, a tiny knot of doubt rose in her stomach as she remembered how Lincoln had attacked her and Bellamy as though he didn't even know them.
"He will," Clarke whispered, and something about her tone drew Octavia's eyes back. She followed Clarke's gaze, down to her own arm, which she was rubbing gently between her thumb and fingers.
Octavia grabbed her sleeve and ripped it off, startling Clarke. But before she could pull away, Octavia saw that her arm was bloody and bandaged. She felt possessed as she ripped those off as well, just needing to see, but nobody stopped her.
Clarke's arm was a mess of blood and ragged, small bits of flesh torn from the skin. Belatedly Octavia recognised the strange, semi-circle wounds as human bite marks, and she remembered how Lincoln had tried to bite her hands when she'd brought him water, before Clarke brought him back.
With horror, she met Clarke's eyes. "Bellamy did this?"
Echo put a hand to her mouth, not saying anything, shaking her head in disbelief.
Before Clarke could even answer her question, Octavia whirled back to the window and put her hands on the glass, staring at her brother. She wanted to tap on the glass, get his attention, but she was afraid of what he might do.
"He can't see you," Elody spoke up. "That window only goes one way." Her voice sounded casual, cruel. "I hope you understand now that this is serious. But as long as Clarke does what I wish, your brother will continue to be given the Red that he needs to survive."
Clenching her jaw, her fists, she stared at Clarke, just shaking her head. "Some leader you are," she snapped, her voice cracking at the end. Softer she said, "We have to do something- fight." When Clarke just shook her head, her anger boiled over again and she yelled, "He'd fight for you!"
Clarke closed her eyes briefly. "I'm doing the best I can," she whispered.
"And I've heard that before," Octavia answered bitterly. Whirling on Elody she said, "Let my brother go- right now. I'm serious."
The queen glared at Octavia. "Show her that we, too, are serious," she said coldly, addressing her guards. She nodded her head toward Echo. The men advanced on her, and Echo tried to run, but it was pointless in that little room with so many people against them. The men wrestled her from the room.
"Stop!" Octavia yelled at Elody. "No, take me, not her!"
"And what would be the point of that?" the queen answered evenly. "I may need you. I do not need her."
Through the window, the door to Bellamy's room opened and Echo was thrown inside. Clarke turned away, refusing to look through the glass, but Octavia went to the window and pressed her hands against it, her heart pounding in her chest.
At first Echo just panicked, trying to open the door, trying to break it down, but it was sealed shut. Octavia watched as she flattened herself against the wall, and then Bellamy rose to his feet. He was still half in shadows but Octavia could see how laboured his breathing was, how tense his body was, how out of it he seemed. She couldn't tear her eyes away.
Echo was crying, speaking, but Octavia couldn't hear she was saying through the glass. She had her hands up as Bellamy just stood there, not doing anything.
Then it happened so quickly, he moved so fast it was uncanny, closing the distance between him and Echo in the time it took Octavia to gasp in surprise. He grabbed her, threw her into the opposite wall, and she hit hard enough to leave a dent as she sank to the floor, curling into a fetal position. But her arms and legs did nothing to protect her, He was on top of her in a second, his hands around her neck, yelling so loud that Octavia could hear it through the wall, and it did not sound like her brother's voice- not really. It was a haunting sound, painful and disgusting all at once.
All Octavia could do was stand there as Echo was murdered at her brother's hands- the hands of a man she'd worked so hard to keep alive, spent day after day nursing back to health, of a man she'd risked everything to lead here.
Only when Bellamy sank his teeth deep into Echo's neck, ripping her throat out, his face covered in blood as he started to chew, did Octavia pulled her eyes away from the window. She sank to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest and dropping her face into her hands.
"Would you still like to see your brother?" Elody asked her, almost conversationally.
"Stop it," Clarke snapped, dropping to her knees beside Octavia. "We're going to figure this out." She raised her hands as if she was going to touch her, but then seemed to think better of it. They just hung there, useless.
Octavia raised her face to look at Clarke, and she knew her eyes were full of rage as the tears slid silently down her cheeks. "You did this to him," she snarled. "And now you're going to fix it."