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chapter forty-eight, Penance

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3 MONTHS EARLIER

"I know you've ony agreed to disciple training to get out of your cells. That's because you're blind to what's really going on. I'm about to open your eyes to the truth of our cause" Anders determines as Nova, Octavia, Theo, Echo, and Diyoza walk behind down the hall. "Care to tell us where we're going? We are fighting with you after all" Nova says as she looks around in the hallway while still following the rest of the group until they stop infront of a door and Anders opens it.

"I realize that taking things on faith is not in your nature, so I'm gonna show you what happens if we lose the last war. Surface" Anders states as he walks into the elevator and gives facial recognition and Nova furrows her eyebrows as she and the rest of the group pile up into the elevator with him
but surprisingly it's quite spacious. "You are pretty brave, taking us yourself" Hope taunts as she looks to Anders who shuts the elevator doors.

"It's not bravery, Hope. You see, this elevator will stay on the surface until I signal for it to be brought down. I take it on faith that you'd rather not die today" Anders states as he looks to Hope who has a defeated look on her face. "Good. Then masks on. The particulate matter in the air is lethal to humans. It'll literally calcify you from the inside" Anders states and Nova sighs before she and the rest of the group put the gas masks on their face like they were told.

"I feel scary like a monster. Rawr!" Theo jokes as he lunges at Nova who doesn't flinch. "Maybe we should've said no to fighting this war" Nova mumbles through her gas mask. The door opens and Nova looks into the room and is shocked at the sight. It's like crystals but they expand into something deadly and she notices people like shapes buried in the crystals. "Gabriel saved us" Octavia states and Nova nods her head as she looks into the room in admiration and concern.

"Gabriel is no longer your concern" Anders states as he overhears Octavia and suddenly thunder rings out from inside the room. "This is what we have to fight?" Theo asks pointing inside the room as he looks to Anders. "No. The Bardoans lost their last war. This is all that is left" Anders answers and Octavia furrows her eyebrows. "Let me get this straight. The 10-foot aliens with superior technology that built this place got genocided and turned to stone by the enemy that we're gonna fight" Octavia states as she looks into the room that sounds of thunder every now and then.

"Precisely. Now you know what you're training for" Anders states as the group continues to look into the room with such shock and not a lot of faith that they'll win. "Maybe wars aren't my thing" Theo determines as he shakes his head slowly.

~~

The group stood in an all white room where Levitt was keeping watch over them while they stretched on a mat ready for whatever training Anders had for them. "Anders took us outside. Why the hell did you try and send us out there?" Diyoza asks as she steps in front of Levitt with animosity in her voice. "It's survivable for an hour or two. I just needed time to figure something out" Levitt argues as Nova stands to her feet and stretches her arms over her chest.

" If he was trying to kill us, he would've found easier ways to do it" Octavia defends. "Yeah, and now he's in here like our trainer when he was just a janitor you punched in the face" Nova argues as she looks around the room. "I'm only involved because of my knowledge of-- from the M-CAP, and clearly, this isn't a normal situation. Anders himself will lead the training, something he never does" Levitt argues as Hope scoffs as she looks away from the weapons on the wall. "Lucky us" Hope states.

"He usually lets others dole out the punishment" Levitt states and Nova scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Oh, what, staying awake for 72 hours, sleeping in a mud pit, eating grass to stay alive? Please. Been there. Done that" Diyoza states doubting that Anders could hurt her more than she's already been. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but-- but they'll mess with your minds, try and amp up your emotions. It's crucial that you keep control" Levitt whispers as the doors open and Anders walks in. Theo stands to his feet along with Octavia and Echo. Along with Anders a couple more students wearing the same training outfits as them walk in behind him.

"These are your new training partners. For the next 12 weeks, you will eat, sleep, and train with them and with no one else. Though you six were not born in the cause, everyone has the ability within them to serve humanity. Give everything to the group. Trust in the process. Trust in each other. For all mankind" Anders explains as he raises his hands and his companions do the same and repeat after him. "We have to fight them?" Theo asks and Anders nods his head. "I trained you. You should do alright" Nova assures as she looks back over at Anders. "We'll start with some simple sparring. Please choose a partner" Anders states and Nova looks across the room at the six other people and goes to stand in front of the a women.

"You may begin" Anders states and Nova and her partner waste no time and go at each other head to head. "Agh!" Nova grunts as she kicks her partner in the stomach and spins around, lifting her leg high enough to kick them right on the side of their face. "Oh, you want more?" Nova questions as her opponent stands to her feet and puts her fist up. "Mm!" Nova shouts as she grabs the womens fist before it can hit her face and elbows the women in her face multiple times before lifting her over her shoulder and slamming her onto the ground, putting her foot gently onto the women's neck.

"I've fought in way worse conditions. Is this the best you got?" Nova breathes out as she steps away from her opponent on the ground. "I won" Theo cheers for himself and Nova smiles and pats his back, happy for him. "Orlando taught you all ver well. It's not surprising. I was his mentor" Anders states secretly cheering himself on. "Hm. It's a shame he had to die" Hope taunts and Nova whips her head in Hope's direction. "It is, a loss to the cause. He was one of our best, but I believe Dev had a hand in your training, as well" Anders states and Hope gets that deadly glare in her eyes as she looks to Anders. "Answer me, trainee. Wasn't Dev your surrogate father?" Anders asks and Nova and Echo lock eyes knowing that's a touchy subject.

"I'm not gonna talk about him with you" Hope states and Anders shrugs his shoulders. "Well, then perhaps you're not ready yet" Anders argues respectfully before Echo steps forward. "Are we here to talk or fight... sir?" Echo questions and the room falls silent for a moment. "Have you made a note of these responses, Mr. Levitt?" Anders asks and Nova furrows her eyebrows and looks over to Levitt. "Yes, sir. May I speak with you, sir? They've given me an idea" Levitt asks and Anders agrees to talk with him so Anders and Levitt leave the room leaving Nova and the rest of the group in the room with their opponents.

~~

"Clarke?" Nova calls out as she looks to Clarke across the room. "She came back" Anders says as he walks in after Clarke and with his disciples behind him. Nova tries to rush to Clarke but notices she's strapped down to a chair. "What? Let me go" Nova begs as she looks to Anders who stands next to Clarke.

"You love her" Anders realizes as he looks into Nova's eyes. "Yes so let me go before I-". "What? Kill us all?" Anders asks as he lets out a mischievous chuckle right after. "Nova, it's okay" Clarke mumbles and Nova looks over at her and watches Anders walk up behind her and slit her throat. "No! Clarke! Please!" Nova screams as she watches Clarke's body drop to the floor.

"What a sacrifice" Anders says as he hands his knife to his disciples and walks out the room. "Ahh!" Nova screams at the top of her lungs before she wakes up in an all white room where she lays in a bed just like Anders. "What the hell!" Nova shouts as she takes the device off her head and looks over to Anders in anger.

"That was a test Nova Bailey and you failed just Diyoza, Octavia, Hope and your brother Theo" Anders says as he sits on the edge of his seat looking to Nova. "I'm confused" Nova states as she sets the device that was on her head onto the bed she was laying on. "You're in love with Clarke to the fullest extent you were willing to die for her. You need to learn to put yourself first or you are gonna die because of her" Anders advises and Nova shakes her head.

"I have no reason to put me first. Not for the things I've done. The people I've hurt and killed. Clarke will always come first. My people will come first. Always" Nova argues and Anders shakes his head in disappointment. "That's gonna be a problem but we'll fix it. For all mankind" Anders says and Levitt repeats after him.

Anders took Nova, Octavia, Theo, Echo, Diyoza and Hope into a room where they keep track of embryos in tank like cases. "No morning sickness. Sign me up" Diyoza jokes as she looks around the room in awe. "This is a baby?" Theo asks and Nova sighs and looks over at him. "Yes, that is a baby" Nova answers and Theo shakes his head in slight disgust. "Is it dying?" Theo asks as she places his hand on the glass tank. "I don't think so..." Nova trails off as she admires the embryos.

"No negative effects on a woman's health in any way, and we can monitor the embryos and the extracorporeal gestational systems for birth defects and correct them before they are born" Anders explains and Nova sighs as she looks around the room. "Please" Levitt calls over the group to a certain tank and the group joins together and looks at it. "She had a heart defect" Levitt says, "But it was surgically corrected 3 weeks ago. Now she's perfect and about ready to be birthed" Levitt explains with such admiration while looking at the embryo.

Levitt goes onto explain how Hope even being born was just as crazy as what they have going on here. "In our method, none of our people are laid up for extended periods of time. Do you want to know how many embryos we have? 25, the same number of disciples that you have murdered" Anders states and Nova can't lie and say she didn't feel bad. She was starting to understand more and more of what these people believed in and what they could do. "If you need as many warrior as possible, then why don't you just hatch a larger army?" Octavia asks as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"Resources. It's a limited world" Anders answers. "And you can only mind-control so many at a time, so--". "And these kids, they don't have and parents to take care of them after they're... deglopped" Diyoza interrupts before Hope took it any farther than she had too. "The team raise the children until they're ready for the creche, and then it's everyone's job" Anders answers. "So they don't form selfish bonds" Diyoza says and Anders smiles while nodding his head. "You're learning" Anders cheers before he takes the group too a classroom with a couple kids in them. He teaches about mountains and control and speaks to them about the Shepherd who they have to worship.

"The shepherd brings us calm. The shepherd bringw us wisdom. The shepherd brings us love for all mankind" The children recite in unison and Nova furrows her eyebrows as she looks over to Theo who also feels this is kind of crazy. "These kids have nothing ahead of them except those white cloaks. These kids are under some control. There being brainwashed" Theo whispers over to Nova who looks down at the kids. "These kids had it better than I ever did" Echo defends.

As the months went on Anders put the group through multiple training routines. He taught them about Bioweapons, how to use them, and how lethal they could be. He went onto teach them about something they call Gem9. Its those crystal like things they saw at the beginning of there training. He stated that the crystal creatures, as Hope calls them can wipe out all of a Bardo if they aren't careful.

"This excerise is about communication and teamwork. It's very simple. The shooter will be firing blindly. They'll have to listen to their spotter to hit the small target behind me. First person who hits it wins. Please... help your partner with the blindfolds" Anders orders and Nova's partner helps her put the blindfolds on over their eyes. "Are these weapons like lethal? Will I die?" Theo asks as he clears his throat and Anders states that the weapons are not harmful and Echo takes that into consideration.

"Is everyone ready? Begin" Anders orders and Nova's partner begins whispering in her ear where the target is so Nova can shoot at it. "Move up a little and towards the right" She whispers and Nova nods her head moving her arm the right way as her partner recites them.

All of a sudden Nova feels a sharp pain in her chest and quickly falls the ground. "Ah!" Nova grunts as she hits the ground. Nova snatches her blindfold off her head and looks to Echo who's the only one standing. "Echo! Are you serious?" Nova questions as she looks to Echo with anger. "I won" Echo states as she shrugs her shoulders. "You didn't give us a chance!" Nova argues as she tosses her blindfold on the ground.

"You don't get chances in a war. You of all people should know that... Keket" Echo taunts and Nova balls her fist up tightly, fighting the urge to fight with Echo. "You broke the spirit of the rules" Levitt argues and Echo turns to face him, "Following rules is also how you don't win a war" Echo defends and Nova scoffs.

~~

"Nova! Nova!" Octavia shouts awakening Nova out of her slumber. Nova groans as she gets out of bed and looks to Octavia. "What the hell are you doing?" Nova asks as she looks Octavia up and down. "I have a plan" Octavia states and Nova furrows her eyebrows. "A plan? I was sleeping" Nova argues and Octavia rolls her eyes. "We need to torch the oxygen farm" Octavia suggests and Nova tilts her head. "No way" Nova waves her off but Octavia insists on getting Nova on her side.

"I already shut down the fire-suppression system. It'll be an inferno. We'll end Bardo today" Octavia states as she walks out of the room with a flamethrower in her hand. "Octavia! Wait!" Nova shouts as she chases after Octavia. "Octavia!" Nova shouts as she meets up with Octavia at the elevator door. "You're just gonna leave Hope and Diyoza?" Nova asks but Octavia is already on the elevator.

"I can't believe I spent most of my life with you" Nova says as she gets on the elevator with Octavia. "The alarms will create chaos. We'll have time to get to them and Theo, and through the confusion, we'll get to the stone room and get off this planet" Octavia states and Nova scoffs as she looks around the elevator that has begun to move. "Maybe- Maybe we haven't thought this through. We need to talk it over as a group" Nova argues and Octavia furrows her eyebrows. "Isn't this what you want? You want Clarke, right? This is how we get her back" Octavia states using Clarke as a ruse to get Nova to join her.

"Besides, Hope and Diyoza will try and stop us. We have to save them from themselves" Octavia states as the elevator door opens behind Nova and she walks right out of it. "Octavia! Can we please talk about this?" Nova asks as she charges after Octavia. "We've already talked" Octavia argues.

"I spent six years with you in that bunker. I guess they got to you, too. I'll just do it myself" Octavia argues as she opens the door to the oxygen farm and walks right in it. "You're just gonna kill everyone!" Nova argues as she rushes to Octavia and she quickly turns around and punches Nova in the face.

"Can you just stop for one second!" Nova shouts as she grabs a tree branch off the ground and throws it right at Octavia before she can fire the flamethrower but it wasn't enough. "I have to save you from yourself, all of you" Octavia declares and Nova grabs a blade from her boot and groans in annoyance.

"I'm sorry. I really am" Nova screams as throws the knife at Octavia hitting her right in the back of the neck. Nova watches Octavia's body falls to the ground and she didn't feel bad about it at all.

Soon after Nova wakes up in the same room when she was with Anders and looks around seeing Levitt above her. "Did I just kill her?" Nova asks and Levitt nods his head as he turns off Nova's device. "Yes. You saved everyone else in Bardo. You passed the final test" Levitt states and Nova nods her head slowly.

"I'm sorry, Hope. You failed" Levitt tells Hope as awakens from her test.

"I won't let you do this" Diyoza shouts as she kills her own daughter to save everyone else on Bardo.

"Nova, your my sister but I'm sorry!" Theo shouts as he throws his blade right into Nova's neck and watches her body drop to the ground but knows he saved many more in Bardo.

"Your fight is over" Octavia mumbles as she stands over Hope's body as she killed her.

~~

"You should all be proud. Each of you has shown commitment to the cause. I'm sure you will serve well in the last war, but sadly, one of you has not been able to grow for the cause" Anders states as Levitt comes around placing symbols on everyone's cheek except for Hope who stands on the side because she failed the test.

"Echo... you have been our star student. You fully intergrated into our culture, so I'm giving you the honor of deciding Hope's fate" Anders states as he steps in front of Echo. "We have to break her spirit, rip apart her bonds. 5 years on Penance" Echo decides and Hope widens her eyes but Nova and not even Diyoza tries to stop it because they know they need to fight this last war. Losing people before battle is something that always happens, Nova thought.

"No. No. No. Echo, what are you doing? What are you doing? Mom, please! No! Please! Stop!" Hope screams and begs but Nova, Octavia, Theo, Echo, or Diyoza does nothing to stop it and they look the other way as Hope is dragged out of the room. "Her penance begins soon. Your celebration begins now. For all mankind" Anders states and Nova raises her hands and repeats after Anders just like everyone else in the room.