It was a whirlwind the moment they all landed back to base at Allegiant; even with it being somewhere after one, Eko found an array of soldiers that greeted them. Alongside them was the elite medic team to deal with this sensitive matter; Mya was the only recognizable face amongst the crowd, having looked like she'd woken up; her dominating voice was evident in her instructions to the team before her.

Then the bodies moved in a hurricane around her, and before she knew it, she watched the soldiers disappear on the heel of their Commander. The medical team had escorted the three bodies back to the wing to begin an autopsy, or so she thought she heard them say.

Jasmine was gripping her shoulders suddenly; where did she even come from?

Her mouth was moving, and sky-blue eyes intently watched those fainted cherry-red lips trying to tell her something. It was white noise surrounding her.

Was this shock? She hadn't felt this since she was a kid. Surely this was shock? What else could it be?

"Eko, go to bed," Jasmine's voice suddenly penetrated the silence. "Go. To. Bed!"

Blinking profusely, the petite and shivering brunette nodded, and with a concerned glance, Jasmine's purple hair swayed around her body; even if she didn't want to leave her, she didn't get a choice right now.

With a tight squeeze on her shoulder, it pulled Eko's attention to watch as Jasmine jogged off to join the rest of the soldiers heading to their Headmaster's office to debrief.

Eko didn't know how long she stood in the hangar after everyone left her, but her body was shivering, and the candy bra was extremely uncomfortable at this point. She no doubt had water pooling in the bottom of her heels from the torrential downpour, her hair was matted and in desperate need of a wash, while her subconscious was snapping at her to go to bed, to shut down from everything that just happened, and process it.

Agreeing to that thought, Eko dragged her feet, making her way back to the shared temporary accommodation rooms in which she, Madison, and a few other survivors were located. While it had been temporary, just like everything in her life at this moment was, if she went through with this lie, she could somehow manage to pull off that; the woman they brought back was the Princess. Then she would need to find something more permanent as she began her life over again.

It wasn't so bad, right? She's capable? She's resilient? There was money stashed off-world that would be enough to set both herself and Madison up. She wanted to let go of it all and take down Ezra.

So now that the opportunity was here, why the hell was she freaking out?

Stopping momentarily, her heart sank; she knew exactly why she was freaking out.

Because the next step was telling Madison -well, this was about to turn into a shit show.

Eko knew where Madison wanted them to go, off-world to Mein so they could be safe. But being on Mein meant she would have to admit she was the Princess, which meant a world of responsibilities that she would never be ready for, not when she had seen how her mother handled it all.

Madison was especially going to lose it when she realized that she has just committed to the fact that the woman they found was Seraphina. That she also had started to place certain things into motion because of it.

The decision to that commitment came first, most of all with the knowledge that she wanted to fight her enemy on the battlefield. It was more than what she could ever do for the people of Isadora and her worlds, for the justice of the atrocities that were brought on them by their enemies.

She would do more for them than possible by being chained to that throne. Let someone else deal with the politics; she'll ensure she kept everyone else safe with all the powers in her body.

Entering through the gliding doors, she tip-toed past the temporary beddings until she found the two that herself and Madison were set up on. Sleeping peacefully as though the world was finally content for her cousin, Eko leaned beside her.

"Mads," Eko whispered, touching her shoulder, "Mads?"

"Hmmm ff..." she mumbled, pulling the covers up, "frghhh."

"Mads, I need to tell you something."

"No," she offered groggily, and Eko got some further mumbling with a thrown-in, wait till morning amongst it all.

"It might be too late by then," she offered, and with that simple statement, Madison knew her dumbass cousin had done something.

Eyes peer open against the darkness; there was enough of a glow from the windows to echo in a soft light to make out her body and facial expressions.

"What did you do?" her voice was low, yawning as she anticipated what idiotic move she had made.

"They found a heartbeat at the palace."

Madison shuffled in the blankets, and Eko watched as she propped herself onto her elbows; she had her attention then.

"Sophie was there," she began, "along with some of the soldiers guarding her. She had the bracelet attached still."

"Sera," her voice was dangerous, almost anticipating what would come out.

"They believed it was Seraphina."

"For..." Madison went to swear for the first time in her life, "and you didn't correct them?"

"No."

"Why!" she stressed the hissed word.

"Because I don't want to go back to that."

"You are in no state of mind to make decisions like this. You are the heir to the crown. You are our future Queen, and you are dealing with grief!"

"I don't want it," Eko hissed. "Let someone else more fit be Queen. You do it!"

"I'm not legitimate," Madison scolded, "not by blood and not by law."

"Then pretend to be me!"

Madison exhaled, "I am going back to sleep. We are leaving for Mein in the morning, and at that point, we will tell the King what has happened and form a plan. I will not let you ruin your life over this."

"Mads?" Eko began but was instantly dismissed when the raven-haired girl raised her hand in front of her, telling Sera to stop, refusing to hear anything further of the matter.

"Go train or sleep. I do not care, frankly," falling back to bed, Madison rolled over and pulled the blankets back along her body.

Eko is left rigid, kneeling there beside Madison. This insurmountable grief and anxiety pulled at her body, choked her senseless and left her feeling like her world was pummelling out of control.

Rising from the bed, her feet pulled her from the room and back outside into the light of the hallways of the intensely quiet infirmary. Leaning against the walls, Eko let every feeling she kept bottled at that point fill her bones. This relentless ocean was consuming her, coming at her like waves, ebbing and flowing.

She sometimes found the water was calm; those were the times when there were fleeting moments of peace, and she would see a rare smile on her mother's lips, gathering her chin and telling her as a child that she would forever keep her safe from this world.

Calm was when her enemies were slain at her feet, and she could not hear the war brewing around her. Calm was the stillness of the nights when she had cleaned herself of the blood from those she could not save.

That was when the calm no longer controlled her; it became overwhelming, and she sought out control. That was the only way to temporarily soothe the pain in her lungs and regain her power.

Raising her head, determination set, Eko knew exactly where to find that control. Pushing from the wall, she took off from the infirmary and straight towards the one thing that would rid her senses of this debilitation.

VOTE IF YOU KNOW WHERE SHE'S GOING......ahhhh! EPPP IT'S HAPPENNINNNGGGG