Bedtime Stories

In His Name

Echo wasn't counting the days anymore. She had been putting all her energy into playing the part she needed to play in order for Orlando to think they were worthy. It wasn't hard, and Echo usually had impeccable patience, but she wasn't just loyal to Bellamy. She longed for him in ways she had never longed for anyone, and she didn't know what she would do if, after waiting five years, she didn't get him back.

He was an invisible force that kept her going, and the only reason she even tried to survive.

At least that's what she told herself.

An arrow cut through the air with a hiss and darted in the seemingly never-ending forest.

Hope Diyoza smiled proudly and lowered the bow. The arrow's head had pierced the bulls-eye with impeccable precision. Hope turned around to find a smirking Echo, who nodded slightly in approval.

"Not bad," Echo said as she walked toward the younger woman and reached for the bow.

"Top that, spy," Hope teased and turned away to get the arrow before she could see Echo's smirk vanish.

The unshakeable familiarity of the moment took Echo aback, but before she could get herself to even think about the day she became Echo, a growl, followed by an out of control Gabriel, knocked Echo off her feet. The bow fell out of her hands, and she landed face-down, Gabriel's weight resting heavily on her back.

Hope was about to pull the arrow out of the tree when she heard Gabriel's growl followed by a thud behind her. She groaned and let go of the arrow that was embedded in the tree before she turned around.

"What the hell?" Hope let go of the arrow and turned around to meet an always jarring sight.

Gabriel on top of Echo.

Hope scolded herself for not thinking about doing that earlier. Echo seemed distraught, and it would have been the perfect time to strike her down and make aunty O proud.

"Sorry, Gabriel," she said, more to herself, and charged towards the two of them, her eyes solely focused on Gabriel.

Gabriel, still pinning Echo's wrists against the ground, heard Hope's stride and frowned, confused.

Echo saw Hope running towards them out of the corner of her eye and grinned.

Gabriel looked back, and immediately held his hands in the air when he saw Hope.

"No, no, no, no!" He pleaded, and Echo took the chance to sit up, grab him by the shoulders, push him to the ground, and straddle him.

"No fair," he said, and Echo shrugged.

"Hesitation is--"

She was thrust against the ground once more and wasn't surprised to find fiercely brown eyes staring down at her, once her back hit the ground and Hope Diyoza straddled her torso. Almost the entirety of her body was in contact with Echo's, and no matter how determined Echo was to not let those eyes defeat her again, her core was starting to feel warmer than usual and she was tempted to just let her win.

But Echo knew better than to let Hope win for a moment of weakness.

She saw Hope let her guard down when their eyes met, Echo knew exactly what she had to do.

She started lifting her head as much as she could, being that Hope had immobilized her arms, and Hope let out a silent gasp, growing confused, as the distance between their faces almost turned their wrestle into something else entirely. Echo could sense Hope's breath against her lips, and Hope remained still, frozen as she thought about all the things the spy could do, having her lips so close to her. She thought of all the possibilities, and her mind wandered back to that day in the lake, when they had been in a similar position.