Not Everything

They're Gone

The Gen 9 was cold against Echo's hand as she breathed in the pure air that she knew would soon be mercilessly crystalizing her, and everything that surrounded her.

She didn't let herself think of the children, and all of the innocent lives she would be taking. After all, if it was for all mankind, Bardo would just turn those children into more monsters. Monsters like Anders, who dared to put Echo in a simulation where Raven got killed right in front of her 'For all mankind'. Monsters like the man who killed Bellamy, and even monsters as unaware as Levitt, who would risk everything they stood for, for a few days of emotional thrill, as he did with Octavia.

The people in Bardo were not like Skaikru. Echo knew that the reason she grew so close to Raven, Bellamy, and Spacekru as a whole, was because of how different their loyalty was to everything she had ever known. It didn't matter who they were before they got to the ground, they stuck together, they stood up for each other, and did everything to keep each other safe.

But Echo was not like them either. If Echo had been Clarke the day of Praimfaya, she would not be debating whether or not she should end Bardo at that very moment. She would have left her for dead.

That's why it only made sense that she died to honor the man she loved, in the only way she ever knew how.

Vengeance.

Echo's head jerked towards the door when a beeping sound notified her that it was about to slide open.

She felt her heart stop when she saw Hope standing by the door, shockingly pale and blank.

She looked at Echo in a way she never had before.

Like she had nothing to lose.

Echo straightened her back and got the gen9 away from the diffuser.

"What are you doing here?," Echo hissed, and her voice cracked. "I told you to get them out."

Hope looked down, and her eyes shut in what looked like excruciating pain, and she remained silent.

Hope's jaw clenched, and she looked up at Echo, her eyes swollen as they burned with a thirst for revenge Echo knew too well.

"They're gone,"

Echo's chest constricted as the air was squeezed out of her lungs by those two words. They're gone.

She shook her head, and her grip tightened around the bioweapon.

"No," Echo's voice cracked, as the lump in her throat grew tight.

Hope walked towards her with a determination Echo had only seen in herself.

Once she stopped in front of Echo, she reached for the hand that held the gen9, and a shiver went up her arm the moment Hope touched her. Her body stiffened, and as frozen as she was, her blood was boiling.

For a moment, the two women looked at each other, and the pair of brown eyes that had kept Echo grounded throughout all her time in Skyring, were unbearably cold to watch. Echo gazed into Hope's eyes, desperately looking for that fire she knew so well. The person she knew would do anything to keep her family alive and claim what was hers, proudly.

All she found was the empty carcass of a woman who had lost everything she had ever lived for.

"Echo," Hope said, leaning closer to Echo's face, still holding the hand that held the bioweapon. "We're going to make them pay," she hissed.

Echo looked down at the hand Hope held over her own, and slowly shook her head.

"Hope—" She breathed out.

But Hope beat her to it and leaned forward, gently resting her forehead gently against Echo's, a shiver grazing the spy's head and forcing a small gasp out of her lips.

Hope shut her eyes and shook her head, her warm breath grazing Echo's lips, making the older woman shut her eyes as well when she finally felt some warmth emanating from Hope.

It was slightly reassuring.

"They took everything from us," Hope whispered, and Echo could hear the frustration building up in her voice.

Echo shook her head against Hope's.

Not everything.

"They took Bellamy," Hope said, and Echo flinched at the mention of the name because all she was thinking about at that moment was the woman who had trained with her for almost five years to get to a dream they both shared.

"This isn't about Bellamy," Echo said, feeling Hope's burning gaze on her, but keeping her eyes closed, so she didn't have to feel the smothering pain of seeing Hope turn into what she had always feared.

She felt Hope's forehead part from hers, and her eyes opened instantly when she felt Hope's soft hand gently wrapping around the Gen 9.

"Hope," She said calmly, placing her other hand over Hope's, stopping her from taking the container. "This isn't the right way."

Hope's eyes pooled with tears, and her mouth quivered.

"I...have... nothing," she said in between her teeth.

She moved her face closer to Echo's, and Echo felt her own eyes well up, as she looked into Hope's eyes.

Echo took a breath before her body reacted to the decision she had just made.

"Then I," she said coldly, "have nothing."

If Echo couldn't get Hope to leave before the disciples got to them, she knew the torture they would put Hope through would be unbearable. She couldn't let that happen. And she wouldn't let that happen.

Hope was her people.

Hope nodded against Echo's forehead and closed her eyes. Echo let her fingers relax and the Gen 9 slipped gracefully from her hand.

Glass shattered, and the floor under Echo and Hope turned a light shade of green as it crystalized.

Echo didn't take her eyes off Hope, but pulled her forehead away from Hope's, so she could let eyes wander over the younger woman's face one last time, as she felt her legs turn into stone.

She looked at Hope's pale, soft skin, the beautifully spread freckles, and the slight gloss that always brushed her perfectly chiseled lips. Lips she had gotten so close to dozens of times, yet never considered tasting as much as in that very moment, as both of their bodies turned into glass.

Hope's eyes opened, and a slight smile tugged at Echo's lips when she saw the eyes of her Hope look back at her softly, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

Echo's chest burned, as the countless emotions she had been repressing since the moment she let go of the name Ash, surfaced just seconds before her chest itself crystallized. The pain, the anger, the hatred, the thirst for revenge, the regret, the shame, and finally, the almost overwhelming care she felt for the woman in front of her.

"Echo," Hope whispered, and leaned forward, so that their noses were touching, and their lips were only an inch apart.

Echo gasped, and everything went dark.

Hope's breath still hovered over Echo's lips, but it all faded in an instant.

It took a minute for Echo to sense Hope's touch vanish into thin air, and despair grew heavy in her body when she realized where she was sitting.

No.

"Echo?" Levitt's voice had never been so startling.