Torchlight flickered across the fresh snow while Echo and I stood across each other. I was using my staff since she preferred to use a single sword, unlike Anya who used two, but that did not mean I was having an easier time. It was quite the opposite since she had left me black and blue for the past six nights in a row. Then, to add insult to injury, she always managed to twist her blade so that the flat side of her sword was what hit me. It may have been a kindness that she was granting me, but it also meant that she was toying with me. Stubbornly, I had done what I could to not rely on my powers while fighting against her, but like Anya often said, I was not a challenge without them, but tonight would be different.
"Are you ready for me to get serious this time?" I asked with a smile as I put my headphones in.
"I've been waiting for you to take this seriously," Echo replied coldly as she took her usual stance.
"Don't get cocky because I've reduced myself to your level. I can kill you whenever I want," I said with a devilish smile as I gave her taste of what I could do if I was truly serious.
Before she could react, the ground under her swallowed her feet and a stone spear grew out of the ground, stopping less than an inch from her neck. Even if she could avoid the spear, her feet were already locked, so there was no escape from my follow-up attacks.
"So, I can continue at this level of intensity, or I can use my usual level that I use against Anya kom Trikru where we both might learn something... which would you prefer?" I asked, knowing that Trikru and Azgeda had a deep seethed hatred for each other.
Echo squinted her eyes with anger, but begrudgingly agreed, "Fine, I will see what you can offer."
I willed the rock still under my control to change back to dirt and it crumbled around her. While she freed herself from the ground, I split my staff into two batons and smiled back at her as 'Life in the Fast Lane' by the Eagles came on through my headphones. It sparked a strange burst of inspiration that was not related to my own powers, but rather Katye's power of superspeed.
I motioned for Echo to come at me, which she did after a moment of hesitation. As soon as I noticed her body moving, I tried to excite my mana like Lexa had during our fight. It was not like when I used my mana externally to influence the elements around me, so I had to contain that energy somehow and feed it back in my body. The first couple of her attacks I could barely react to, due to the amount of focus that I needed, to contain my mana, but slowly, I was getting the hang of it.
Echo slashed with her sword, but I used my two batons to catch and displace the energy of her attack as I slid around her. With the same skill that she had shown throughout our previous session, she switched her grip on her sword easily to escape my counter and followed me with a cut that would be able to take my forearm if I allowed it to hit. I did not allow it to, of course, and changed my baton into a bracer before it could land. The other I converted into a set of claws for my left hand and, as she tried to severe my arm, I cut across her belly.
"Shit!" I cursed as I realized that my attack had been too effective.
I caught Echo before she could fall to the ground, pressing a glowing hand against her abdomen. Thanks to my daily practice with my healing spell, I could actually see the bits of her skin knit itself back together. Disgusting as it was, it made me wonder if I had practiced my healing more, if I could have saved Lincoln, but then again, it would be doubtful that I would be with Raven.
"It's a good thing that your healing is so strong, or that mistake would have cost one of your friends' their life," Echo taunted with blood staining her lips.
"And what would have been your punishment if you had taken my arm?" I growled.
"Training accidents happen," she chuckled darkly. "It's the responsibility of both people to control themselves well enough to prevent them."
"So, a slap on the wrist in front of me while Nia pats your back behind mine. Whatever," I scoffed as I pulled hand back.
I manipulated the snow around us to gather above my hand and change into a ball of water. I used it to wash away the signs of blood, causing her to hiss at the coldness of it all. There were still four pink streaks across her belly that ran towards her hip where she had a strange tattoo that looked like three black waves that spiraled outwards from a black circle, but otherwise, she was fine.
"I think our sparring sessions are done. Can you walk back inside, or do you need me to carry you?"
Echo pushed herself out of my arms and stood up, shakily.
"Stubborn ass woman," I complained as she walked away.
I stood up as I crumbled the stone bracer and claws then stretched my body, trying to remember exactly how it happened. I could reform my batons into bracers and such quickly, but it would still take a few seconds to achieve it. There had been less than two seconds from when her sword slipped past my guard to when it impacted on my bracer which should have been impossible at my current strength unless I had somehow combined it with Katye's superspeed.
Rapid casting was the dream of every mage where my powers originated from, but typically, only masters could achieve it and only with their most used spells. I had been wanting a speed boost to help me against Echo, but when I realized that she was trying to cripple me, I had unconsciously applied it in a different way. I spent the rest of the night attempting to recreate the quick cast with decent results, stopping only to meditate when my headache got too strong.
"If you are going to kill me, I would recommend that you use an arrow. It will put the shooter in a lot less danger when I lash out," I said, opening my eyes, as I sensed Nia walk up.
"You're not angry?" Nia asked.
"I am, but I have enough sense to understand why people want me dead. You already showed me respect by coming straight at me, instead of my friends, so this can be just another 'training accident'. Besides, that moment of stress allowed me to touch upon Lexa's power of speed," I replied then demonstrated an afterimage with the swing of an arm although it gave me an instant headache since I had only just started getting the hang of it.
"Interesting... you can copy her powers?"
I nodded, "She gave me the idea after she took control of the weapon that I had created. I'm not as proficient as she is with it yet, but practice can solve that problem, I'm sure."
"Well, I have come to assure you that will be the last time," Nia said with a light smile.
"You'll forgive me if I don't trust your words as much as I did," I replied with a chuckle as I stood up.
"What if I changed your sparring partner to my son, Roan? He is more talented than Echo and I hope that you can see my sincerity by having him work closely with you."
My eyebrows raised with genuine surprise because it was a big display of trust... if I did not believe that she would cast him away when he lost his usefulness. Instead, I was trying to figure out what she was truly hoping for by this. Nia never did anything out of the goodness of her heart, so whatever sincerity she had was for her scheme, rather than for me.
"While I do see your sincerity, I should warn you that I won't hold back if he tries the same stunt. I'll heal him, of course, because I do not want to start a fight with you, but this rapport between us will be entirely gone, even if I still respect you as a capable leader of your people," I warned.
She smirked, "You're very brave, Octavia, or very foolish."
"The line between a genius and a madman is no thicker than a hair and often blows in the wind to one side or the other," I replied with a smile before walking away as I added, "The day's patients are beginning to arrive, so if you will excuse me, I should tend to your people."
Nia did not say or do anything to stop me, so I made my way to the other side of the garden where my clinic was arranged. Clarke and Tabar were already settling the first patients when I walked in. Bellamy was stoking one of the fireplaces but stopped when he saw me and followed me outside to my little work area.
"You never came back to the suite last night. Is everything okay?" he asked.
"More or less... I had a breakthrough with learning how to replicate Lexa's speed, so I spent the night focusing on it before I lost the feeling," I replied.
He sighed, "I know these powers of yours are important, O, but we don't know the long-term effects of using them so much. I just don't want anything to happen to you."
I gave him a weak smile as I sat down on the bench and said, "I know, big brother. When things finally calm down, I'd love to find a remote place where Raven and I can settle down and be done with all this madness, but unfortunately, there is still a lot of work ahead of us before we get there."
He sighed again but nodded his head and headed back inside. I leaned back against the armrest of the bench and looked up at the sky which was slowly brightening with the dawn. I hated constantly keeping everyone in the dark, but lying was starting to feel like second nature to me with how I was having to play Nia. Sadly, there was little that I could change until things began resolving, so I had to keep playing my part.
"You doing okay?" Clarke asked as she walked over to my side.
"Yeah... I just wish I was back with Raven and that things were simple," I replied honestly while I straightened up.
"I get that," she said, sitting down next to me, then she handed me a sheet of paper with the information that I needed for the people that I would be treating today.
"Before I forget again, here," I said, reaching into my jacket pocket and pulling out a bracelet with a lion charm on it. "I can sense it if you are in a couple hundred yards of me, but I made the band braided, so if anything does happen and you are taken away, you can pull it apart and leave a trail behind but keep the charm with you because it has about double the energy as the rest of the bracelet, so it's the main beacon."
"Why a lion?" Clarke asked as she picked it up.
"I figured that a raven would be inappropriate," I replied with a chuckle. "Lions were often used to represent ancient leaders, and even if you have taken more of a backseat role this time around, I still think that you are an amazing, caring, and selfless leader... Plus it was Lexa's suggestion."
She played with the charm while I read over my list of patients, but I could tell something else was on her mind.
"Mmm... what is it? I can tell there is something bouncing around in that head of yours," I asked after I grew tired of waiting for her to ask on her own.
"Does Lexa still have those feelings for me?"
I chuckled and teased, "Are things with Finn going that poorly? I don't know... Originally, it was your strength to do what was needed without giving up on the emotion of love despite the pain that it had caused you that made her realize that she was wrong, and she could still love people. I never knew the specifics of your relationship, but you carried the weight of her death with you for the rest of your life, even more so than Finn's. I imagine that the feelings were mutual, but the two of you may have had a month together after everything that happened with Mount Weather before she was killed by accident."
"How was she killed before?"
"Someone close to her, I won't name them as she has forgiven them, was trying to kill you because they thought you were making her weak because you were influencing her into changing 'blood must have blood' to 'blood must not have blood'. She heard the gunshots and came running in to save you but got hit by a stray bullet. You tried to save her, but she died in your arms much like how Lincoln died in mine."
"She doesn't expect..."
"I doubt it, Clarke. I think she'll just be happy if you can be happy in this life. Things may have developed between Raven and I, but that's more a sign of how different this second chance is since we really didn't like each other until the things on Bardo were handled. She'll be there for you if Finn pulls the same crap that he did with Raven, but she respects you enough to not push anything other than a few teasing statements."
She sighed, nodding her head.
"Seriously, though, is everything alright with you?"
"Yeah... it's just crazy to think that we've been here for nearly a month. Since we've been on Earth, things have never felt so peaceful, even if I know that we are still in danger. Things with Finn and me are great, but... is it wrong that I feel like I 'should' be doing more?"
I chuckled, "I must have brought some of your past life with me. You were always the type to take everything on by yourself, constantly trying to take care of everyone else first. Like Bellamy, you're a natural born leader, so no, Clarke, it isn't wrong that you feel like you should be doing more because that's just who you are."
"And you aren't?"
"Oh no, I'm certainly not the type, or things would have been a lot different in the beginning. All I would have had to do once I met Lincoln was show him my powers and ask that he take me to Polis... I could have prevented so many deaths, you and the others never would have been taken by Mount Weather... If I hadn't been the 'reluctant hero' so many things could have better for us," I said honestly. "I still wonder why I got this chance."
"Octavia..." Clarke said softly, concern and sympathy in her voice. "We all make mistakes, that's part of life."
"I know... but they still haunt me all the time," I replied.
I have had a long time to think about my actions and what I could have changed. There was that prompt that fed me Octavia's lines, but I had ignored them in several cases. When it took over my body, it was what had led me into meeting Lincoln aside from a conversation or two with Bellamy. Once I woke up in Lincoln's cave, I could have waited until he came back and gave some kind of story to get me to Polis. Even if Katye had not been Lexa, the real Lexa would have worked with me to take down Mount Weather and pardon the rest of the hundred once I explained how we ended up down there.
"Try to remember the good. You've saved a lot more already," she said, rubbing my shoulder.
I smiled with a weak chuckled and remarked, "Lexa told me the same thing when we were first in Polis. Even if your relationship with her is different this time, I think it's worth you getting to know her when you have the chance."
"Any idea when that would be?"
"That's up to Nia. She knows that she needs me, but she certainly doesn't trust me yet. My guess is that we'll be riding out the winter in style here."
"But you told her that Lexa has powers... maybe she won't try to overthrow Lexa."
"That's the hope, but the reality of it is that she has been ready to move against Lexa for years. My presence has caused a lot of waves, so I'm doing what I can to minimize the effects, but we are in uncharted waters."