We were headed back home- or what was left of it.

Raven had revealed to us that the reason ALIE had wanted Raven to kill herself, was because she knew why ALIE wanted the second A.I. so bad-it was the only way to stop her.

Therefore, we needed to regroup in Arkadia, find out once and for all how to stop all of this, how to stop ALIE. Our first objective was to find Lincoln's book, which would hopefully lead us to the next Commander. Once she had the Flame, she could stop ALIE.

We hadn't been driving long, but it seemed like everyone in the back of the Rover had fallen asleep.

I sat up front, next to Bellamy who was behind the wheel. My eyes scanned the landscape ahead of us, looking for any sign of danger.

"You look exhausted." Bellamy commented, startling me from my thoughts. He was looking between the road and me, a look of concern on his face.

I shrugged, "I'm okay." I lied, not wanting to reveal the truth. That truth being that I was completely and utterly exhausted.

Ever since I had stopped sleeping in the same bed as Bellamy, I had barely slept. When I did manage to fall asleep, I was plagued with constant nightmares. Without Bellamy there to calm me back to sleep, I often found myself only able to sleep a handful of hours a night.

It truly made me realize how much I relied on Bellamy, how much I needed him.

"You should rest." he advised, not believing the lie that I was okay. "Just close your eyes for a bit."

I shifted in my seat, "No, you need someone awake with you." I muttered, keeping my eyes locked on the road ahead.

Bellamy shook his head. "I'll be okay." he promised, "I'll wake Jasper if I need someone to keep me company."

I looked over to him with the smallest of grins. "You'd prefer Jasper's company over mine?"

"I can hear you." Jasper grumbled from the back, still half asleep it seemed.

I stifled a laugh as Bellamy chuckled beside me. "Go to sleep, Avery." he ordered, "You need it."

I let out a shaky sigh as I rested my head against the window. Bellamy was right, I really did need it.

---

"Becca's journal is amazing." Raven announced, her eyes quickly scanning the pages of the leather faced book in her hands.

It was early morning at this point, the sun just beginning to peak out from beyond the horizon.

Everyone was awake now, and at some point during the night Clarke and I had switched seats. I wasn't exactly sure when, and I assumed I was half asleep when the switch took place.

But now as I sat in the back crammed between Octavia and Raven, I felt more awake than ever. My nerves on edge the closer we got to Arkadia.

"At 26, she found a pathway to access the human mind." Raven flipped the page, lightly running her hand across it. "That same year she had to lock up ALIE because her answer for what was wrong with the world was too many people." She noted the distressed looks on all of our faces as she continued. "She was 27 when it launched the bombs."

Clarke spun around, now intrigued in the conversation. "What did she write about the Flame?"

"ALIE 2.0." Raven answered, "She saw it as a way to atone for her sins. She designed it to not just access human mind, but to merge with it. It couldn't wipe us out because it would be one of us." she explained. "She tried it on herself first, altered her genes so her body wouldn't reject it."

"Bekka Pramheda, the first commander." Clarke confirmed before pausing for a moment. "The gene therapy made her blood black didn't it?"

Raven looked down at the book before nodding. "Yeah." she affirmed.

"How did you know that?" I questioned, looking between the book and Clarke.

"Nightblood." Clarke answered. "That's where it came from. Somehow, it became hereditary." she noticed the slightly confused look on my face. "Luna has it." she explained. "That's why we have to find her. If she can access ALIE 2-"

"-She can tell us how to stop ALIE 1." Octavia concluded.

"Bekka Pramheda gets her second shot at atonement." Sinclair observed.

Monty, who was tinkering with the Flame in his hand, spoke for the first time in a while. "Get back to the mind pathway." he ordered. "If ALIE 1 uses it to upload our minds to the City of Light, then there's a chance my mom's still alive."

Raven wore a slightly uncomfortable look. "That depends on your definition of alive."

I glanced over at Monty, giving him a sympathetic smile as Bellamy called back to us. "Eyes sharp!" he ordered. "Weapons hot, we're almost home."

He then pulled the walkie to his mouth, calling in for both Harper and Miller who we had left behind at the cave.

When no response came from either of them, I leaned forward, my eyes meeting with Bellamy's, "That's not a good sign." I pointed out.

Jasper let out a humourless laugh. "Yeah. Great start."

---

Twenty minutes later, we were back on the road to Arkadia. We had arrived at the cave, like agreed upon, to pick up Miller, Harper and Bryan, but they were no where to be seen.

The feeling of worry among all of us was evident as we continued toward what was left of the Ark, hoping to potentially find them there.

We were close to the forest line when Bellamy pressed on the brake, shoving the gear into park. "Monty, you take over the wheel. Octavia, Sinclair, Clarke and Avery, you're with me." he ordered, then looking to Raven and Jasper. "Jasper, man the turret."

Raven didn't let him finish, instead she sat up, pulling herself into the front seat that Clarke had just vacated. "I'll keep lookout." she announced, not wanting to be told to just relax.

I reached over, grabbing the hand gun that I found myself so often using. At this point, I may as well call it my gun.

As I hopped out of the Rover, Monty began rolling forward slowly, the rest of us following beside, our guns raised.

Soon enough, we emerged from beyond the trees, and the structure of what was once home came into view.

"We've been gone for 2 days." Clarke announced, her eyes scanning the scene in front of us. "Why haven't they fixed the gate yet?"

Jasper looked down at her from where he was standing through the hole in the top of the Rover.
"Maybe because there's no one here to fix it." he offered.

I felt myself shudder. "It looks abandoned." I observed, my eyes flickering over the place which was once so full of life, now absolutely silent.

"Miller." Bellamy snapped, speaking into the radio once again. "Where the hell are you?" He then lowered the radio, focusing on raising his gun once again. "I don't like this."

"That makes two of us." I muttered, my hands trembling ever so slightly as I gripped onto my gun.

"Maybe they got chipped." Jasper suggested.

Bellamy shook his head slightly. "If they got chipped, they would have been waiting for us at the cave."

Jasper threw out another pessimistic comment. "Maybe they saw the open gate and went for Lincoln's book." A.k.a the exact thing we were here to retrieve.

"Maybe you should stop saying 'maybe.'" Octavia muttered, causing Jasper to scowl at her.

"If they are chipped," Clarke announced, "Then ALIE already knows we're coming."

"Which means we're as good as dead." I concluded, meeting Clarke's eyes. She let out a small sigh, not wanting to confirm what we all already knew.

With my nerves higher than ever, I almost didn't notice that Octavia had stopped walking. But when I almost ran into the back of Bellamy, I noticed he had frozen as well.

My eyes travelled to my best friend before following her line of sight. Her eyes were locked on the ground in front of us, and it didn't take me long to realize that was the exact spot Lincoln had knelt just days earlier. That was the spot he had been murdered by Pike.

I felt sadness consumed me as my eyes focused on the blood stained ground. Bellamy watched his sister with sad eyes, guilt entangled within them.

Octavia clenched her jaw as she spoke. "Let's get his book and get the hell out of here."

"Now that is a plan I can get on board with." Jasper mumbled, tearing his eyes away from Octavia and back toward the Ark.

As Octavia marched off toward the entrance of the structure, Clarke looked to Bellamy and I in confusion.

"Lincoln." Bellamy whispered, not needing to say anything else. I watched Clarke's face fall as we started walking again.

My chest was heavy as we made our way toward the hangar bay. I wasn't sure what we were going to find when we opened those doors, but I was afraid it wasn't going to be anything good.