matryoshka; ❛ HOMECOMING ❜
❝ I'm not losing her again ❞

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Gabriella was heading straight to Gabriel. But, frankly, she had no idea which way to go. Those woods were a mystery to her despite Josephine's memories of it. It was all too blurry for her.

"Be careful." Josephine warned over her shoulder. "We're close to the camp now. When Gabriel hears the engines, he'll──"

"Shut up." Gabriella snapped, making her go quiet. Her vision was getting blurry and her head hurt. "I haven't driven this thing in a hundred years. I can't concentrate if you keep talking."

"So, demandi──"

Josephine was cut off by Gabriella crashing the motorcycle into a tree and falling onto the ground. The helmet on her head eased her fall but the lower part of her body still hurt like a bitch.

"I told you I should drive. Now will you give me back control, or do I have to wait until you fall asleep?"

"You are so fucking annoying." Gabriella shook her head. She brushed off her dirty hair from her face and grabbed the radio that fell out of her pocket when she fell. It was broken. Great.

"Yeah. you broke that. too."

Gabriella got up and glared at her. "You're like that annoying voice in my head that can't shut up and keeps whining until you break."

Josephine gasped in fake shock. "You never had a conscience before?"

The sound of an engine was heard behind them, deeper into the forest, causing both women to panic.

"I have to hide." Gabriella muttered while scrambling to her feet.

"Okay, here's the deal." Josephine started. "If we go back to Sanctum, I'll give you your body back." Gabriella gave her a humorous look, not believing her for a second. "Fine! We can just wait for my guards to find us. It shouldn't be long now."

"They don't have to be your people." Gabriella corrected her. "They might be Gabriel's people."

Josephine gave her a look of defeat. "I'll show you a place to hide."

Gabriella nodded and started following her down the road. She was still rightfully hesitant about trusting her. Then again, if she was lying she would get them both killed.

It wasn't like she had much of a choice. She was tired and felt like she was about to faint. Her eyes closed for a second and she stumbled a little.

"Keep your eyes moving all around so I can see." Josephine scolded. "We're looking for..." she stopped next to a fallen tree covered in leaves "this. Clear the leaves. You'll find a hatch."

Gabriella moved the leaves until she found a hatch which she immediately opened. The sound of motorcycles getting closer made her jump inside without a second thought. She closed the hatch behind her just as a woman on a motorcycle stopped in front of it.

"Keep your helmets on and your guns ready." She ordered. "These are the enemy's woods." Josephine's guards.

"I guess these aren't the Children of Gabriela after all, huh?" Josephine mussed next to her. Gabriella ignored her and stepped further inside. "There should be a light or some matches in the supply kit." Josephine added.

"We'll stay here until they leave." Gabriella told her and opened the supply kit on the ground. She grabbed a light and lit up a candle she found. She looked around a place that could only be described at the bunker which she, Clarke, and Bellamy went to a couple of days before Unity Day when they first landed on Earth. "What is this place?"

"An observation blind. We built them all over." Josephine said. "I use them to study species in their natural habitat."

"Smart." Gabriella admitted under her breath. She spotted an empty glass bottle and raised an eyebrow at her. "Studying, huh?"

Josephine rolled her eyes. "Research can get boring." A small smile graced her lips. "Aleksander helped with that."

"What about Gabriel?" Gabriella narrowed her eyes on her. "The three of you obviously have some messed up history. Why does Gabriel want to kill his own brother and the girl he loved? Does it have something to do with him stealing his girl?"

"He doesn't want to kill us." Josephine said softly, shaking her head.

"Death to Primes doesn't make me so convinced."

"It's not literal." She denied. "The Children of Gabriel consider themselves enlightened, freeing minds one at a time. In the seventy years since he left, they've killed exactly no Primes."

Gabriella turned around and gave her a curious look. She was surprised by the vulnerability in her voice and wanted to use a moment of peace to maybe get to know the woman who entrapped her mind and body.

"Why did he leave?"

"He... wanted to be able to die. Aleksander and I didn't. Simple as that." They were silent for a couple of moments before Josephine asked. "Why? What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that he didn't feel like cheating death for the rest of his life. It's inhuman." Gabriella bluntly stated, sitting on the dirty blood. "I'm thinking that he didn't find it endearing that his girlfriend fell for his brother." She squinted. "Do you think he won't destroy your and Aleksander's mind drives the second we take them out? Does he still love you? Because Bellamy's plan might just rely on that love."

Josephine did not get a chance to answer because Gabriella let out a weak cough. She felt blood pour out of her nose and down her lips. Her vision got blurry but she managed to make out Josephine's face as she called out her name.

"Are you all right?" She asked her.

Gabriella's vision went black as she fell onto the floor. Her body shook uncontrollably and Josephine's words fell deaf to her ears.

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When Gabriella woke up, she was back in the tent at the old dropship camp. Great. She sighed. That meant that Josephine had control of her body yet again.

She got up from the bed and saw a bunch of books lying on the floor. Her eyebrows furrowed and she stepped over them to leave her tent.

The man who shot himself in Josephine's memory appeared in front of her and shot himself. Gabriella stared at his body in shock. The second she tried to walk over it, it disappeared. What the fuck?

She picked up one of the books lying in the dirt in front of the tent. She wanted to open it but chose against it when she saw Josephine walking around.

"Josephine!" Gabriella yelled to stop her from walking away. "Why are your memories here?"

"You know why. I told you to give me control." Josephine exclaimed in frustration. "Now it's too late."

"How much time do we have?"

Gabriella got her answer when everything around them started shaking.

"Not much." Josephine deadpanned.

A young blonde girl appeared next to them, crawling on the floor and away from someone.

"Get away from me! Get away from me!" She yelled before disappearing into thin air.

"My second body." Josephine explained with wide eyes. "The barrier between our minds is breaking down."

"No shit." Gabriella sighed.

Josephine turned to face her again. "Look. If we don't think of something fast, you die, and my mind drive is lost forever. So how about we cut the sarcasm and──"

She was cut off by Gabriella pulling a gun out of her pocket and aiming it at her head.

"Or I can try and see what happens when I kill you again."

"Don't." Josephine raised her hands in the air. A part of Gabriella felt sorry for her. Her eyes were wide and full of fear. "Without the door to my side, I don't know where I'd go or if I'd come back. It could be permanent."

Gabriella deadpanned. "Wouldn't that make my life easier?"

"Fine." Josephine put her hands down. She looked pissed but Gabriella could still tell she was terrified. "Pull the trigger. What is it you say? Go float yourself."

Gabriella's eyes flickered to the lit bonfire over Josephine's shoulder and her eyes widened. An idea popped into her head and she lowered the gun down.

"I have a plan." She grabbed a couple of books from the ground and threw them into the bonfire.

Josephine watched them burn in shock.

Gabriella grabbed her wrist. "Help me. We have to burn more. They'll keep bleeding through."

"I don't remember what you took..." Josephine trailed off, looking at her with a lost look in her eyes. "I just... I know that it's gone."

Gabriella gave her a look of sympathy and rubbed her upper arm in an attempt to soothe her for a moment. Then, the ground shook once again.

"Josie, we have to keep going or our brain will die."

"Fine." She swallowed. "But I choose the memories."

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Gabriella and Josephine watched Josephine's first stolen body with Gabriel's first stolen one.

"I couldn't lose you, Gabriel." younger Josephine whispered.

"His first body was already dying from cancer when they brought me back." Josephine explained to Gabriella. "We're about to dance. Watch."

Gabriella did. Josephine seemed much lighter and happier while with Gabriel. And by the look in her eyes, as she watched her old memory, she could tell that the man still meant something to her despite her relationship with Aleksander.

Got the music in you, baby tell me why.

Got the music in you, baby tell me why.

"Josie──"

"Just let me watch a little more." She pleaded quietly, not looking away from the memory for even a second. Gabriella chose not to comment on the tears in her eyes and just let her look at the memory one last time.

"This new body's got some rhythm." Josephine teased Gabriel and kissed him.

"We can't do this forever." He shook his head with a solemn look on his face.

"Why not?" Josephine asked with a small smile. "It's how long I'll love you for."

Gabriella tried to put herself in her shoes. If somebody offered her and Bellamy a chance to become immortal and just shift into different bodies for eternity, would she take it? She honestly didn't believe she would.

She considered growing old and dying just a part of the human experience. Outsmarting death just wouldn't feel right.

The ground shook and Gabriella looked at Josephine. "Okay, you can keep this one. But we have to move quickly."

Josephine closed the book and smiled tearfully. "Thank you."

They got teleported back to the tent and Gabriella tried to soothe her, "He'll find a way to save us both."

"I wasn't always like this." Josephine tried to explain, her voice cracking.

"I understand." Gabriella squeezed her arm. "You know I do. But it's never too late to change. You're in charge of who you are."

She took a step back and carried a couple of books out of the tent and toward the bonfire. The camp was surrounded by people

from Josephine's memories who were wandering around. Josephine followed her out after a couple of moments, an ax and a book in her hand.

"Josephine, this will lead to brain death and it's only getting worse." Gabriella panicked as chaos started building up around them. She could barely hear her own thoughts due to the screams surrounding them. "We have to burn it all. Come on!" She threw a few books into the fire which caused the flames to spread. Her eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

She took a surprise step back when she almost got burned. The fire started to spread and it started burning down two tents closest to it.

"Josephine, we have to get to the dropship, come on." Gabriella yelled and started heading to the dropship while Josephine stared in shock.

A few moments later, Josephine followed but the second she got there, she disappeared into thin air.

Gabriella's eyebrows furrowed and she walked out of the dropship to see the entire camp empty. The fire disappeared and so did the books.

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When Bellamy next saw Gabriella, she was clutching to another man's chest. He was confused, at first, but then he realized that the man was Gabriel and that Josephine was, once again, in control of his girlfriend's body.

Jasper told him that he, Octavia, and Gabriel found her in some sort of underground bunker. She was barely conscious so it was good that he, Clarke, and Aleksander managed to find her and joined them on their way to Gabriel's home.

Gabriel strapped Aleksander and Josephine to two separate tables next to each other. He seemed incredibly uneasy. All the comfort he had disappeared the second he reunited with his brother.

Bellamy couldn't really blame him. He had no idea how to act toward Octavia anymore. She seemed different, though. Lighter and maybe even happier. When he saw the way Jasper inched closer to her, he figured it had something to do with him.

Then again, they weren't apart for that long so how much could actually change?

They have decided to get Josephine out of Gabriella's head first. Wells' condition was not even close to her's.

"Two wavelengths, one brain." Gabriel muttered as he walked over to Josephine who shook with each breath she took. "You mind telling me how Ella and Wells' consciousness survived?"

"There's a neural mesh in her head. Her mind latched onto it during the procedure. I'm guessing the same happened with him." Josephine chuckled. "It's pretty cool, huh?"

A small smile appeared on Gabriel's face but it disappeared the second a pained grunt was heard from Aleksander.

"What can we do?" Bellamy asked him.

"Once I remove her drive, I'll need you to quickly bandage the wound before I restart her heart."

Octavia's frown deepened and she sent him an alarmed look. "You're stopping her heart?"

"Death causes her mind to back up onto the drive." Gabriel explained. "I take it out, start her heart."

"And we get her back?" Clarke questioned.

Josephine looked up at him with a tearful smile. "She was right to depend on you. Believe it or not, we're actually friends."

"That doesn't surprise me." Bellamy let out a heavy sigh and smiled awkwardly. "It scares me but it doesn't surprise me. We'll see how that goes in the real world."

Gabriel looked at him over his shoulder. "Real world?"

He nodded. "Yeah. After I use their mind drives to bargain for peace."

Jasper noticed Gabriel's silence and narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"He knows that means we'll be resurrected again, and he's not sure if he can let them take another innocent life." Josephine explained instead of him.

"Saint Gabriel." Aleksander snorted. "Always the moral one."

Jasper pursed his lips and shrugged. "He's not wrong. It's immortal but we kind of have no other choice."

Gabriel sighed and walked back over to Josephine. He placed an injection on the roof of her skin when she placed a hand on his arm.

"Aye, there's the rub." She started with a smile that made Bellamy think she was drunk. "For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come? But I guess that was okay for you, huh, old man?"

"No." He shook his head. "It wasn't."

"You know that there's another way." Her eyes widened and she tried to sit up. She was pleading for him to help her, to choose his love for her over his morals. "If you let me keep this body, nobody else has to die."

"Just do it." Clarke told Gabriel with a clenched jaw.

Josephine ignored her and kept trying to convince her ex-boyfriend to let her go. "I know that I've done bad things. I don't remember them all, but I do know that you hate me for it."

"I could never hate you." Gabriel admitted, the tears in his eyes clouding his vision.

"I know it." Josephine smiled. "We can still be together, my love. We can take out the drives just like you wanted." The four delinquents rolled their eyes in synchronization while Aleksander shifted uncomfortably. Bellamy was used to Gabriella not knowing when to stop talking but Josephine was something else. "We can grow old together."

"I..." Gabriel let out a shaky breath, "I've loved you for centuries." Josephine let out a light laugh and smiled at him but that smile disappeared after he spoke his following words. "We had our time. I have to let you go now."

He stuck the syringe into her hand and her eyes slowly fluttered closed.

Once she was fully unconscious, they turned her on her side and he quickly but carefully removed the mind drive from the back of her neck.

"All right. Cover the wound."

Clarke covered the wound and then placed her back into a lying position with Bellamy's help.

"We need to restart her heart." Gabriel said and stuck another syringe in her stomach.

The heart monitor remained unmoving for a couple of seconds before Bellamy's panicked eyes met Gabriel's. "Why isn't she waking up?"

"I'm sorry." Gabriel said, his shoulders falling in defeat as he realized. "Her brain can no longer support two minds."

"What are you talking about?" Octavia glared at him. "Do something! They're both still in there."

"Latent neural activity continues for a short time after death, but once the head stops telling the heart to beat, it's over, okay?"

Bellamy stared at Gabriella's unconscious body like a madman. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked like he was ready to follow her right into death if it meant he could stay with her.

He placed his hands above her chest and started doing chest compressions.

Jasper placed his hand over his eyes and started pacing around the room, tears gathering in his eyes as he shook his head. Octavia shook her head and watched her brother try to bring the love of his life back to life. She thought that there was no use and that she was already gone but he was too afraid to admit it. Clarke bit her bottom lip so hard that she drew blood and took a step back to lean against the wall.

"Bell..." Octavia whispered and placed a hand on Bellamy's shoulder.

"No." He shook his head rapidly. "I'm not losing her again. Come on, Gabi. Come on!"

He opened her mouth and placed his on top of hers. He started breathing air into it in a desperate attempt to do mouth-to-mouth. Then, he started doing chest compressions again.

"Gabi, I need you. Your dad needs you. Our family needs you." He cried, pressing harder against her chest. "Now wake up!"

"Bellamy, she's gone..." Octavia tried to get to him again.

He snapped, "No, she's not!" Bellamy turned back to the blonde and yelled, "Wake up, Gabi! Come on! I'm not letting you go. Show me your blues, Gabi." Tears rolled down his cheeks and he pushed against her chest harder and harder. "You can't leave me like this."

Bellamy placed his lips back on top of hers. When he pulled away, Gabriella took in a sharp inhale of air. He gasped and looked down at her to see her staring up at him with half-closed eyes.

"Hey, Freckles." She whispered, out of breath.

"You're okay." He let out a shocked laugh and cupped her cheeks as she sat up and tried to catch her breath. "Just breathe. Just breathe." She let out a weak cough and he observed her every move carefully.

Gabriella squeezed his hand harshly to remind herself she was not dreaming. "You saved me."

She sat up further to wrap her arms around his neck. Bellamy hugged her as close to his body as he could. He was never willing to let go of her again.