Forever Us

Travel

Bellamy

We left an hour before dawn.  We didn't dare stay longer and leave at dawn.  If the village found the body before we left, it would give too much chance of notice getting to the base.

"So what do you think they meant?" I could hear Raven ask Luna.

The question was one that the whole group had been asking after we got a more detailed account of Raven's encounter with the Loyalists.

Why did he say they'd reach break dawn at dawn?

The most likely answer, we'd settled on, was that the base's name was Break Dawn or Breaking Dawn and that's why.

I glanced over at Echo.  I didn't know how well everyone else saw it, but I could tell how anxious she was.

I didn't know too much about her past, especially when it came to Ontari, but I knew that at one point or another they were close and I knew that they cared about each other as family, even before we all ended up like a family.

I hadn't pressed Echo for more answers about Ontari's part in her past, I trusted her, but I did worry about her - about both of them really.

The now-familiar blast of determination coursed through me.  We'd get Ontari back.  We had to.

Roan was leading with Clarke and Lexa riding almost even with him, probably talking.  Murphy and Emori rode behind them, followed by Echo and I.  Behind us Luna and Raven, then Lincoln and Octavia.  As usual, Indra had taken up the rear.

"Echo, you good?" I know the answer is no, but I ask anyways.

She glanced at me, "I will be." She responded softly.

I nodded, "How far do you think we are?"

"A day and a half, maybe two days, from where Roan is planning on camping out while we devise our battle plan.  From there it's about a mile to the entrance to the base and he thinks we'll be able to spy pretty easily from a vantage point he thinks he knows." She offered.

"How far from actually attacking?"

Echo shook her head, "I honestly don't know Bellamy.  It depends how long we have to study them to come up with a good strategy and how long before we can actually attack."

I nodded, letting us fall back into silence.

----------------------------

We had just made camp.  Roan expected us to get to our planning site sometime tomorrow.

I settled by Echo, the two of us having volunteered for first watch.

"So I've never asked, how did you meet Ontari?" I decided to ask.

Echo let out a breath, "As I'm sure you know, Nia had Ontari since she was a baby.  Roan met her years before I did, though by the time he met her I was already working for Nia - a spy, usually.  As Roan got older though, his mother grew to trust him less and less and the risks for him getting near Ontari higher and higher - for both of them." Echo paused, gaze on the fire in front of us.

"By that time I was a general under Nia, one of her most trusted and I followed her almost blindly.  Roan reached out to me, trusting me not to turn him in.  I had seen the cruelty Ontari endured under Nia, and I hated it - though I didn't think I could do anything.  I started helping him to help Ontari and we got to know each other.  When Roan was banished for the first time, I made sure to stay by her in the ways I could.  I helped treat her injuries in the ways I could, brought food and water, anything to help her survive." Echo let out a shaky breath.

"At some point Nia allowed Roan back, though it was brief and I never found out why.  After the Maunon fell, I was the one who captured Emerson and Nia instantly took a liking to him." She shrugged slightly, "I guess you know the rest."

I nodded, "So through caring for Ontari you two became like family." I wasn't really asking but Echo nodded all the same.

"Sha."

I smiled, "Ontari is strong Echo.  She'll be alright."

Echo smiled slightly, "I hope you're right Bellamy."

I scooted closer, pressing us together, "We're in this together Echo.  We'll get her back, if we have to fight and kill to do it." I chose to ignore the fact that if we fight, there's a chance we die and try to focus on how we could possibly win.

Echo nodded slowly, resting her head on my shoulder.