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The Skyboy and I stood just outside the building, waiting impatiently for the news about Sam in silence until Octavia showed up with a couple of cuts on her arms, asking about her sister. We told her what we knew before she went inside, alone, leaving Indra outside with us but not for long, a furious look in her eyes as she walked down the stairs to stand before us, Indra being the one to question her.
- "This is war."
- "Octavia, no." -her brother pulled her back, a bad idea if you asked me.
- "This is your fault." -she finally exploded, eyes burning with rage- "You brought them here, you said you had it under control!"
- "If Sam had stayed put, this wouldn't have happened!"
- "They were ready to shoot at us and leave way before Sam showed up, did you miss that part? But I guess it's always easier to blame her for your mistakes." -Octavia shook her head, unamused- "She even made a new deal with Diyoza but her men fucked it up and almost killed her. I'm not letting that go unpunished. Not only that, but Kane and Abbie left with them; those traitors..."
And with that, the younger sister left with Indra, who simply nodded at me. After the years in the bunker, the both of us had agreed to at least tolerate the other, even if each of us sided with a different sister; truth was, we didn't need a war down there. The Skyboy sat back down, burying his face on his hands; I could tell he was frustrated, not understanding how both sisters had changed so much. He was lucky he didn't know.
- "What happened down there?" -he rose his head, looking at me- "They are so different."
- "It's not my place to say. If they want to tell you about it, they will do so on their own terms."
- "I should have taken them with me."
- "But you didn't." -I reminded him- "And you cannot change that."
We didn't speak any further, simply standing there, in the stairs to where Jackson was taking care of Sam, waiting for him to come out and give us the news. An 8 was a bad sign, I couldn't picture what exactly had happened for her to feel that pain but I was sure, whatever it was, she'd take it like every other setback she had dealt with since I meet her: raising her chin and putting a strong façade on, even if that meant suffering in silence. The door behind us suddenly opened and closed quickly, revealing Jackson alone.
- "How is she?" -I rose immediately from my spot as the Skyboy followed suit.
- "I've given her some analgesics." -Jackson kept moving his eyes in between us, trying to make us both feel included- "Broken rib."
