We herded them into the room where everyone who'd woken up gathered. Every gun was still leveled, every eye sharp. My chest was tight, my hands shaking just a little as I kept my focus.

"How many more of you are awake?" Simone asked, voice cold.

"None" Indra replied, but the tension in her shoulders betrayed the lie.

"Are you sure? We'll sweep this ship. Anyone we find dies, and for each of them, so does one of you. Care to amend your answer?" Simone pressed

"No" Indra said, firm.

Simone's lips twitched, almost amused.
"Okay, you're their leader now, so here's the situation. We're setting sail for planet beta. It's a 20 year journey. You can take it with us peacefully in cryo-" Russel starts. Unlocking Madi's cuffs, as I did Madi's.

I leaned closer, whispering to Gaia so only she could hear.
"Save Madi. I'll take care of the rest. Once we're gone, tell everyone I'm still alive" I say

"-or you can die today. We'll give you an hour to decide" Russel finished, shoving Madi toward the group.

"Attack!" Madi yelled.

And chaos erupted. A few lunged- but their courage wasn't enough. Guns barked, and they fell almost immediately. Simone went for her next, gun raised, but I stepped forward, blocking her path.

"No one gives orders here but us." I said, voice sharp, unamused. A quickly hit a pressure point, and Madi crumbled. My hands trembled slightly as I exhaled, forcing myself to walk past the others.

"Ouch. Let them rot. Come on- we have things to discuss." I say

Later, as the primes debated our next moves, the weighty of everything pressed down on me.

"Devotion like that is dangerous. They obeyed her even though they knew they would die." Russel said

"Just wait, planet beta. Russel we don't even know if it's survivable." A man argued

"If it isn't, we go for gamma, then delta, then epsilon. We won't even have to land to find out if it's survivable. Assuming there are no other signal- sucking anomalies, we can access the mind drives of the other teams wirelessly from up here. Come on, we were explorers once weren't we?" Russels grin was easy, but I felt a chill at his words.

"Russel, I love you, and I will go with you across the stars and back, but you're right. That child is a problem." Simone said

"Oh, for Gods sake- she has the blood. In fact, dibs on her as my next host." I muttered, a smirk hiding my nerves.

"Simone, if we kill another one of their leaders, they will never follow us, and we need those people to serve us unless you plan on cleaning latrines." Russel argued

"Fine. We kill her sleeping army then because I promise you they are already talking about how to wake them. We brought enough mind wiping fluid to erase them all in their sleep, where they'll be perfectly preserved until one of us needs a new host." Simone said

"They'll never even have to know." A woman agreed

"Fine, but then it's on to beta agreed? Josie, what do you say?" Russel asks

I smiled.
"Heh, are you kidding? It's brilliant. A little genocide, a long nap. What the hell? Let's be explorers." I say with a dry laugh

When they start preparing the serum, I watched my people asleep, helpless and trusting.

"Heh, I can't believe I'm saying this, but... are we sure? I mean, it is the rest of the human race after all." I muttered, walking over to Simone.

"You sound like your father, Josie. Well it's bigger than the tank on Eligius 3, but this is where it goes. Hand me the serum" Simone said, her voice calm.

I hesitated, watching her closer.
"Wait, are you feeling ok? You look pale. Have you had any nosebleeds? Or memory flashes that aren't familiar?" I ask

"No. What are you talking about?" Simone asks.

"Oh, it's something I saw in Diana's mindspace. Abby had this neuromesh in her head, almost like Diana had. Are you sure she isn't still in there?" I ask, praying that maybe Abby could still be alive.

"She isn't. Jordan had mentioned something about that. I examined her myself. I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice." Russell said, smiling with that same reassurance he always tried to project.

"Josephine. Give it to me." Simone said, reaching for the serum.

But I stepped back.

"No. No, you're not Josie" Russels voice broke as he started to cry. I leveled my gun.

"I won't let you kill my people. Believe it or not, I am sorry for your loss." I said, then ran.

The hallway was tight, the switch my only leverage. The primes and guards rounded the corner.

"Don't move!" A guard shouted

"That's far enough." I said, hand on the switch.
"I set the inner door to stay open if I pull this. So you can put the guns down or you can float." I warn

Then Simone grabbed a weapon from a guard, standing in front of me now. Her gun raised at Russell.

"You heard her. Weapons down now." She said

"Abby?" My throat caught, tears forming.

"Yes, it's me" she nodded, glancing back at me.

"Simone, what are you doing?" A guard asked, but she held her gun up toward them.

"Okay, okay, we're doing it" they nodded, and set the guns down.

"Diana, I've been pretending too. Now let's lock them up and go save Madi. Don't move. Keep your hands where I can see them." Abby said. But I knew. I knew it wasn't her.

"Abby. What's Clarke's father's name?" I ask.

Tears forming in my eyes again.

She glanced over her shoulder. Then spun toward me, her gun raised.

I pulled the switch. They went flying. Simone grabbed me; I clung to the rope, only seeing Abby's face.
"Your fight is over, Abby kom Skikru. May we meet again" I whispered through tears before shoving her off.

I collapsed to the floor, hands over my face, the weight of loss pressing in. She was gone.

I staggered into the room where everyone else waited.

"Diana? How- how did you?" Raven asked

"Shaw's fail safe code.... Where's Madi?" I asked, scanning frantically.

"Russell... took her." Gaia said.

My knees buckled, the world blurred.

"No, no, no, no" I whispered, tears spilling. Clarke and Raven caught me, holding me up.

"We'll get her back" Raven promised

"No, no, you don't understand. I killed his family, and now he's gonna kill mine." I cried

"I won't let that happen" Gaia said firmly

Then the door opened. Russell walked in, Madi at his side, our guards behind her.

"The demon awoke Wonkru" Russell announced

I stepped in front, heart hammering,

"Silence. Kneel if you want to live" Madi said- but all eyes were on me.

I took a steadying breath.
"Listen to her" I commanded

Her voice wavered, but the command held. The same thing had happened to me when I became Haiplana- I knew how fragile that link could be.

"Lexa kom Trikru said you were strong. But you're as weak as her. Your love has made you so" Madi said, and tears ran down my face.

I raised a gun to my head.
"Madi. Madi, I know you're in there. Please, come back to me. We lost Abby today. We can't lose you too... I can't lose you. Please.... I'm gonna pull the trigger, in three, two...-" I start to count, my fingers hovering above the trigger.

Her breath hitched. She was back.
"Take the prime and his men!" Madi ordered

Then she leapt into my arms.
"Mom!" She yelled

"Oh, Madi." I cried, holding her tight.

Then she started to seize.

"Madi. Madi?" I yelled.

"She's seizing. Get her upstairs! Hurry!" Raven shouted. I clutched her as we ran.

I placed her on the table.
"Listen to my voice, Madi. You can do this. You have to fight, fight them off Madi, come on" I whisper

"Gaia, what else can we do?" Raven yelled.

Gaia turned to me.
"You have to go into your mind. Speak with the commanders yourself. Tell them you're removing her from being Haiplana. It's the only way" she said.

I nodded
"What do I say?" I ask

"Close your eyes and repeat after me. My mind is your mind. Let one speak with the other" she said

"My mind is your mind. Let one speak with the other" I echoed

When I opened my eyes, i was face to face with the commanders, especially Shediheda.

"I am here to tell you one thing and one thing only. I am removing Madi from the role of Haiplana. You will no longer torture her with your dreams or plans" I said firmly

"I only show her the true way to lead. The only way to stop me, is to kill me" shediheda said

"Let's get on with it" I spun my sword.

The fight was brutal. He was strong, smarter than most I'd faced. He slammed me down.

"I win. You both die" he hissed

"Never lose sight of the battle until your enemy is dead" I said, swinging my legs to knock him down and plunging my sword into his heart. He faded, and I gasped awake.

Gaia looked at me.
"Did it work?" She asks

"She's no longer Haiplana" I nodded. Kneeling beside Madi, I rubbed her face.

"Madi? I'm here, you're okay" I whisper

"Mom....I'm no longer Haiplana, am I?" She asked

I laughed softly, tears still falling.
"No. But you're Madi, and that's all you need to be" I smile