Atlantis

Chapter 106

Faye found Gaia outside. She approached her, hoping they could have a moment together.

"The Commander's emblem. The last piece of home." Faye opened her hand and showed the chain with the symbol to Gaia.

"Thats not true." Gaia corrected with a small smile. "We are the last piece of home. You are what's left of the Commanders. You and this." Gaia opened the small case to show the destroyed Flame. The wires stuck out and it was still covered in some blood.

Faye reached out for it, but she didn't touch it. When she pulled away, Gaia closed the casing.

"I lost myself in the Flame. I thought when the nightmares stopped, it meant he was gone. I should have stayed in the bunker with you." Faye admitted.

"The Flame may have been destroyed, but, the time of the Commanders was ending. Maybe now we can start over." Gaia suggested.

Her shoulders fell as she looked back down at the casing.

"Except for the one they still call Heda, and I'm letting them. It makes me wonder, am I doing what I know because I don't know how to do anything else?"

"You're doing what's best for all of Wonkru. But change takes time. We need to ease them into this new life. A life without a Commander."

It pained Faye. She had lost her family, friends, people she loved were always coming and going, but now she had lost herself.

The Flame gave her a purpose, it gave her a reason to keep fighting because it was a reminder of the people who needed her.

Now she was simply burnt out, even after so long, rising from the ashes, she could barely breathe as she buried herself alive.

She couldn't hold onto the past anymore than she could return to it.

"Oso gonplei ste odon." Faye set the emblem in a small hole just below the tree, in a spot surrounded by beautiful flowers.

Gaia made a second spot for the Flame. "Yu gonplei ste odon." She whispered, her voice shaking as she buried her life's work.

"May we meet again." Faye covered the emblem with dirt, and Gaia did the same to the Flame. The moment she said good bye, she wanted it back. Her entire life seemed worthless now that she left behind everything she fought for.

"Preparations must be made." Faye and Gaia both looked up at Indra. "Its time to talk to Russell."

Gaia looked over at Faye, resting her hand on her shoulder.

"I'll get Clarke." Faye nodded, standing and walking away before the tears could be seen.

Faye went into the house. Clarke was leaning against the counter, holding something in her hand.

"Clarke, Indra's waiting. It's time to talk to Russell." Faye said, watching Clarke look up from her hand.

"Okay." Clarke nodded, sucking in a deep breath. She took a necklace with a ring around it and placed it around her neck.

After a frankly boring discussion with Russell, Faye, Clarke, and Indra left the prison to be met with the Children of Gabriel and the Faithful.

- - -

"Good, you're here." Raven said when she saw her friends out of the corner of her eye.

"Shouldn't we be wearing hazmat suits or something?" John questioned as he strutted in behind Emori.

"You are adorable. Those literally do nothing against gamma rays. Eligius 3 knew that, which is why they don't have any. What they did have is Nightblood, and so do you. You're a Prime now, Murphy. Act like one."

"Get to the point." Indra said.

"Here's the deal. The core's overheating. One of the control rods that slows the nuclear reaction down is jammed in the up position and won't drop into the core. Because if that it's getting too hot, and because if that, the coolant pipe has burst in two places. If the core temperature reaches 1,500 degrees, the reactor will melt down, and it's bye-bye Sanctum."

"Obvious question, how do we stop it?" Faye asked.

"We push in the control rods, we plug the cracks, we're good." Raven said.

"Just that simple." Indra said skeptically.

"I like you." Raven smiled. "Someone has to go into primary containment to get the control rods in place. It's a high-radiation environment. Nightblood's not a guarantee, but it will help."

"She'll do it."

"I'll do it." Clarke and John spoke at the same time. Clarke looked over at John, who offered her up to the challenge.

"What? Like that was even a question?"

"Clarke and Faye have their hands full with Russell's execution and commanding Wonkru." Indra said, taking Faye and Clarke away from the problem.

"Okay." They both said.

"Murphy, you're B-Team. Emori will handle the control rods, but she only has 60 seconds. If she doesn't get it done, you take over. Wonkru will handle the pipes."

Fay's and Indra looked at each other. "Emori said radiation was leaking. What kind of danger am I sending my people into?" Faye folded her arms.

"It's the puking for a few days kind. If they're exposed, they'll recover. If the core melts down, we won't." Raven explained.

"Why don't we ask the Eligius crew?" Clarke suggested. "They were minders. They have the skills."

"No offense, but I'm not willing to put the lives of what's left of the human race in the hands of a bunch of murderers and thieves who were torturing me and Shaw and willing to kill the rest of us before destroying Earth. I need a team of 4 from the bunker's maintenance crew."

"You'll have them. 4 Wonkru welders coming right up."

Faye and Indra left.

"Are you feeling all right?" Indra looked back at Faye, who was holding her head.

"Fine." Faye kept walking. As they got closer to the palace, she straightened and put on a stern face.

"I will handle Wonkru. You will go home." Indra stopped her.

"I'm fine. I'm still the Commander to them." Faye insisted to keep walking, but Indra stopped her again.

"And they will listen to you through me. Go home, get some rest, they will need you more during the execution." Indra said, leaving no room in her tone for argument.

***

Sorry this is so late. I haven't had any motivation and i really don't want this book to end. i've also spent so much time trying to rewrite my hotd fic that i totally forgot about this one.