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chapter thirty-eight, Xavier?

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"Where's Clarke?" Nova asks as she sits up and feels a sharp pain in her neck. "Nova.." Clarke calls out as she walks into the tent making Nova stand to her feet. Clarke rushes towards Nova and wraps her arms around Nova tightly while Nova does the same to her. "Is it really you?" Nova asks and Clarke chuckles at her questions and pulls away from the hug and nods her head. "It's me" Clarke answers and Nova grabs the side of Clarke's cheek and leans in, placing her lips onto hers.

Clarke deepens the kiss and Octavia clears her throat quietly and takes a step outside and that's when Bellamy walks in and Nova and Clarke pull away from each other. "So, how do we save everyone that I left behind?" Bellamy asks immediately and Clarke and Nova turn to face him. "What was your plan originally?" Nova wonders. "My plan was to use Josephine and Violet's Mind Drive to bargain for peace, and now there's no mind on the drive" Bellamy states and Nova let's out a sigh not knowing what to do.

"We don't need the Mind Drive. We've got us" Clarke says referring to her and Nova. "What do you mean?" Nova asks. "We impersonate them. Pretend to be them so we can get our people back" Clarke says and Bellamy immediately shakes his head. "No way" Bellamy states. "Bellamy, if we don't give Russell his daughter back-". "Clarke, as soon as he realizes you're not her, which will be the second you walk in the door and he checks the Drive, you're dead. You and Nova are dead!" Bellamy interrupts and Gabriel walks in at the right time.

"So let's put it back in" He suggests and Nova furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "That's not happening. We appreciate what you did for us, but these are our people. We'll take it from here" Bellamy says ignoring Gabriel's offer.

"This isn't just about our people, Bellamy" Clarke states and Bellamy scoffs, "Well, it is for me" Bellamy answers and that's when Octavia walks in looking around at everyone. "So..what's the plan?" she asks.

~~

The day continues in Gabriel's lab and Clarke starts to wonder things about him and Sanctum. "You're a Nightblood. You could walk through the shield at any time and lower it. Why haven't you?" Clarke wonders. "Because he doesn't want to kill the people inside. He wants to save them, and they'll die to protect the Primes" Octavia answers and Nova furrows her eyebrows. "Those people are delusional and they should die for believing in false gods" Nova argues and Gabriel clears his throat looking back at Clarke.

"I don't have the code. I couldn't lower the shield if I tried" Gabriel says answering her question and ignoring the rude comments from others. "What about Ryker? He built it, and he helped you escape. Go to him, you lower the shield, we do the rest" Bellamy offers, trying desperately to get his people back. Echo more than ever. "Ryker won't help us. He left my cell door open to stop Simone from burning me at the stake, but he wouldn't help me stop the resurrections" Gabriel answers and Nova tilts her head. "Burn..." Nova breathes out rethinking what he just said.

"That's what you do to demons. I destroyed the embryos. We landed with a thousand. Genetically engineered with what you call Nightblood to protect against the solar radiation" Gabriel explains and Nova widens her eyes. "That's why hosts are so rare - why Josephine started oblation" Clarke states and Gabriel nods his head slowly. "I didn't think she would take it that far, but-" Gabriel trails off. "So your nonviolent revolution made things worse" Bellamy argues and Nova scoffs. "Bellamy!" Nova calls out and Bellamy rolls his eyes.

"Bellamy, he doesn't want to kill his own people" Octavia argues and Bellamy looks over at her with anger. "Why not? You did. And you" Bellamy says also looking at Nova. "Oh, you really want to go there?" Nova questions but Bellamy doesn't reply. Instead Octavia asks to speak to him outside and even though he didn't want to he decided to go anyway but before he left Gabriel let Bellamy know Octavia was special yet Bellamy didn't believe it. "I'm serious, Bellamy. She went into the Anomaly and came back. No one's ever done that before" Gabriel says and Nova turns her head towards Gabriel.

"The Anomaly?" Clarke asks as her and Nova lock eyes confusingly as a buzzing sound is heard. "That sound you hear, the great mystery of Sanctum. Look, she didn't remember anything, so I gave her Red Sun Toxin to help her see. She chose to look inward instead" Gabriel says and Nova is still confused at his explanation since there was no eclipse. "Uh, Gabriel, your friends are here" Octavia says outside and Bellamy goes outside to see what's going on and there's a Child of Gabriel speaking indistinctly. Octavia is kneeling with her hands in the air, 8 Children of Gabriel surround her with their guns raised. Bellamy points his gun at them.

"Don't shoot. We're on the same side. Bellamy, gun down" Octavia says and Bellamy nods as he removes his finger from the trigger and starts to place it on the ground. "What's going on out there?" Nova asks as she walks past Clarke and walks out of the tent. "It's Violet!" They shouts and Nova widens her eyes as Clarke walks out right after. "Josephine! They're together!" someone screams as the children of Gabriel point their weapons at the girls.

"No, no, no" Bellamy begs. "Take her down!" Someone shouts and Nova groans in annoyance. "Gabriel, we could use a little help" Octavia says and Gabriel slowly approaches outside. "Xavier?" A women says as she removes her mask and rushes towards him while all of the Children of Gabriel take off their masks. "Xavier, baby brother, get out of the way" She urges him. "Layla, it's ok. Nelson, put the weapon down. All of you, weapons down. That's an order" Gabriel states and they all look around confusingly like he doesn't give them orders.

"You don't give orders. Where's the old man? Layla, search the tent" Nelson orders and Gabriel sighs, "The old man is dead. So is Xavier" Gabriel confesses and Nelson orders Gabriel to his knees. "Gabriel kneels with his hands in the air. Nelson walks behind Gabriel and looks at his neck. A faint scar from the Mind Drive is visible on Gabriel's neck. "Gabriel" Nelson realizes and Gabriel nods before Layla punches Gabriel in the face with her gun. "Traitor!" Layla cries out and Nova actually feels bad for her. She was just calling this man her brother just for her to find out he's actually dead and his body was taken over by someone else.

Layla then kicks Gabriel in the stomach making him groan in pain and Nelson hold her back before she causes anymore damage. "Get back! Come on. Layla, easy! Easy" Nelson calms and Layla listens as Gabriel coughs from the pain.

Nova, Clarke, Octavia, Gabriel, and Bellamy are brought back into Gabriel's lab but are practically being held hostage. Layla demands Gabriel to explain his actions on why he chose her brothers body to take and why he hid for so long. Although Nelson didn't like what he did either he still seen Gabriel as his leader. "No. He's a traitor and a Prime. He could've told us the truth, but instead, he let us think we were abandoned. Now, give me back the gun and let me end this once and for all" Layla orders angrily and Nelson knows there's no stopping her so he hands her the gun.

"Ok.. okay wait!" Nova calls out but Layla turns around and hits Nova right in the forehead knocking her down to the ground. "Nova!" Clarke calls out as Nova moves around on the ground. "Wait. If this is what you really want, at least wait until he delivers the bomb" Bellamy says and it's clear that got Layla's attention. "I'm talking about weaponized Red Sun toxin. Gabriel's a Nightblood. He can walk it right through the shield and deploy it. Once it's in the air, he finds our friend Raven. She'll bring the shield down for the rest of us. We use the chaos of the evacuation to rescue our people. You kill the Primes. That's how this ends" Bellamy explains and Layla looks like she wants to take the idea but she also wants to avenge her brother.

"It's a good plan" Nelson says and Layla scoffs, "Come on. You trust them just like that?" Layla asks and Nelson shakes his head as he grips the sword in his holster. "No. But I will...when he kills Josephine and Violet Prime" Nelson states as he holds out his sword for Gabriel. "We're not the primes!" Nova argues as she manages to sit up after being hit. "It's true. They're gone. I took the Mind Drive out myself" Gabriel says trying to protect them but the children of Gabriel see it as an excuse.

"He's protecting her. How much more proof that he's a traitor do we need?" Layla questions and Nelson moves toward Clarke with his sword. "Get away from her!" Nova shouts as she struggles in her restraints. "If you kill her yourself, I won't build you the bomb" Gabriel states and Nelson reluctantly lowers his sword. "Good. First, we gather the toxin. There's a cave on the way to the Anomaly" Gabriel suggests and Nelson scoffs in disbelief. "You're not going anywhere. Neither is your long-lost friends" Nelson says referring to Nova and Clarke who they think is Violet and Josephine. "We can do it. Just tell us what to look for" Octavia offers as she looks up at Nelson.

"A device like this was one of the reasons I left" Gabriel says as he blows into the holes of the bomb containers. Octavia and Bellamy decided to go together and gather whatever the Children of Gabriel needed and Nova and Clarke watched with admiration as Gabriel was making the bombs and soon after Layla enters with a not so happy look on her face.

"Your friends should be at the cave by now. You know, it's too bad they took an antitoxin. That is one sibling relationship that could use a good guided hallucination" Gabriel jokes and Nova let's out a chuckle knowing that's true. "Don't have to tell me twice" Nova mumbles as she looks to Layla and Gabriel and listened in on there conversation as he told her why Sanctum never used these type of bombs on them since they had them as well.

"Josephine and Simone were intrigued by a pattern in the visions of those who survived being caught out in the Eclipse. Despite my best efforts to stop them, they started leaving test subjects outside to study it. What interested the Lightbournes more was that the aggression response of the faithful was almost always aimed at the less devout" Gabriel explains and Nova nods her head slowly. "So believers were killing nonbelievers" Nova mumbles understandingly and Gabriel nods his head indicating she was right. "I swear on my brother's memory, if you betray us, I will kill you" Layla promises before she leaves the tent leaving silence amongst Clarke, Nova and Gabriel.

"Josephine was right. This is Mount Weather all over again. That bomb won't just cause chaos. It'll cause a massacre" Clarke points out and Nova shrugs her shoulders, "Then there has to be a better way than using a massacre as a distraction to get the shield down" Nova says as she looks over at Clarke who begins to think. "if you're worried about your people, they'll be fine. Put in wall restraints to fend for themselves as soon as the early warning system is triggered and evacuation begins" Gabriel says and Nova furrows her eyebrows. "I told you, I'm not just worried about-". "The early warning system?" Nova interrupts as she looks over at Gabriel who nods his head slowly.

"The insects are affected by the toxin first. That's why they're in tanks all over Sanctum" Clarke points out and Nova nudges her shoulder as she starts to make more sense. "I'm aware. It was my idea. What's your point?" Gabriel asks as she wipes the dirt off of his hands. "We use less of the toxin - enough to affect the bugs but not the people. Just enough to trigger the evacuation. Can you do that?" Clarke asks and Gabriel sighs and nods his head.

"Yes. But without the chaos, I won't have time to take the shield down. Your people will still be prisoners, and the Primes will still be Primes" Gabriel says and Clarke shrugs her shoulders, "Then we take down the shield first" She suggests. "First, as in before the evacuation, while everyone's still at home? Look, Clarke, I don't mean to be rude, but-". "I think Josephine and Violet could do it. You think your little minions or.. children can let us go with you?" Nova asks as she crosses her arms over her shoulder.

"It's doubtful. They're not gonna like it. Neither is Bellamy" Gabriel says and Nova scoffs before Clarke was about to talk. "Bellamy doesn't like anything and to be fair I don't care what they think" Nova argues and Gabriel shrugs. "Then I guess we have a deal" Gabriel says.