THIRTY SIX. I feel your pain in my bones

Tatum held Octavia close as she freaked out, trying to conceal her own confusion and panic. Lincoln was the one who tried saving them from the reapers, and now he was one. It wasn't Lincoln. He would never try to hurt them, but there was somebody out there who wanted to hurt them. "He's a reaper. How's it even possible?" Octavia asked in a hushed voice. "He just looked right through me."

Hearing a clink noise, Tatum held her finger to her lips and froze. Reaper Lincoln came stalking their way peered into the car that they were in, chasing all three of them to freeze. Blood and salvia dripped from his mouth. "Can he see us?" Octavia whispered.

Tatum watched him. The reapers's eyes turned hard and his head titled, and she realized that he wasn't looking at them, but at his reflection. "No, he can't." She whispered back.

When the reaper limped away, Octavia's staggered breathing returned. "Shh, shh, shh. Just listen to me. We'll get him back. I promise." Bellamy told her, glancing at Tatum.

She quickly nodded. "Of course we will." Tatum confirmed and rubbed Octavia's arm. There was a small pause. "How are we gonna do that?"

"Just — Come on." He whispered and quietly opened the car door. He slid out and let the climb out, grabbing into Tatum's hand to help her. "You sure you're ready for this?" He asked his sister.

Sucked in air through her nose, Octavia nodded.

"Okay. Draw him in. I'll do the rest." He looked at Tatum. "If things start to go south, you know what to do?"

She twirled her sword around her hand. "Oh yeah, trust me." She confirmed with a nod.

The pair went around the front of the car. Octavia took out her gun. Tatum listened to her call Lincoln's name. She clutched her sword in her grip and peered around the opposite side of the car.

When Lincoln started to charge toward Octavia, she backed them into a corner, and Bellamy appeared behind him. "Hey!" When Lincoln turned around, he pressed the taser to his neck and the reaper cried out in pain.

Tatum quickly went to Octavia's side and they backed up further. After a minute, Lincoln fell to the ground. "Now what?" Octavia asked with a heavy heart.

"We take him home." Tatum declared and looked at Bellamy, who nodded at her statement. "The acid fog has to be gone by now. Should we head out?"

Yeah." He bent down and observed the now passed out reaper.

Tatum turned to Octavia again and put her hand on her arm, smiling to try and relieve her worry, but she knew it wouldn't work.

The three of them were able to, struggling to do so, take Reaper Lincoln to the drop ship, it being the only safe place in Bellamy's words. They chained him up to restrain him, and Tatum felt sick being back in what used to be their camp. The place where she almost died.

Octavia was sat on the floor staring at Lincoln, who was still passed out. Tatum felt terrible for her, not being able to imagine the pain of seeing the person you love become someone they're not. Bellamy grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. "I'm going to go find Clarke and bring her back." He spoke quietly.

Tatum nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Via and I'll watch him." When she saw him look hesitant, she put her hand on his arm. "Hey, it'll be okay. I won't let anything happen to her. I promise."

The corner of his mouth quirked up. "I know you won't." He brushed his hand against her cheek, letting it linger. "Be safe, okay? I love you."

"I love you." She replied softly and watched him leave, sighing to herself. She turned her head and looked down, seeing Octavia sitting on the floor with her legs pulled up, and she was staring at Lincoln. "Hey." She spoke softly and went to sit down with her. "He's going to be okay."

Octavia shook her head and her eyes began to water. "You don't know that."

"I do—"

"No, you don't!" She raised her voice, and Tatum went quiet. Octavia looked at Lincoln again, her heart twisting so painfully that she felt like she was being stabbed. "I mean. . .how do you come back from this? H-How—I don't understand."

Tatum quickly put her hand on her shoulder. "The strongest of people always find a way to come back." She spoke wisely. "I mean, look at you. Look at me. We've been through hell and back and we're still here, but we're stronger than ever. Lincoln, he loves you so much that he'll do everything in his power to come back to his old self so that you don't have to worry. All you need to do is be here, get through to him, and he'll come back to you."

They weren't sisters, not by blood anyway, but they felt each other's pain as if they were. Tatum understood Octavia's feelings, and she felt them deep in her bones. Tatum loved her like she was half of her.

Octavia nodded and sniffled, wiping her eyes and nose. "Yeah." She whispered and gulped, her throat burning. "You're always right, y'know?"

Tatum half smiled. "I know, it's one of my greatest qualities."

Octavia chuckled and she looked at Lincoln again, her lips turning downward. "I love him."

"I know, Via. I know."

When Bellamy and Clarke came back to the drop ship, Tatum stood up from the floor. The noise called the reaper to growl and fight against the chains, which scared the hell out of Clarke. "Yeah, that was my reaction."

"Don't worry. He's been restrained." Said Bellamy.

"I can't believe we're back here again." Clarke uttered.

"Yeah, said the same thing." Tatum replied and inched further away from the reaper, his red eyes making her skin crawl.

"Can you help him?" Octavia, looking completely defeated, asked from the floor.

Clarke eyed Lincoln as he continued to shriek and growl. "I don't know." She shook her head. "I knew Mount Weather controlled the reapers. I had no idea they were creating them."

"If they can do that to Lincoln, what are they doing to our friends?" Bellamy voiced his thoughts.

"Oh, please don't say that. I might throw up." Tatum muttered and started to feel queasy at the thought of the people in Mount Weather possibly torturing her best friends.

The four of them stood close to each other and Octavia and Bellamy shined their flashlights on Lincoln. He furiously tried fighting sharing the chains to get to them, his snarls and screams echoing off the drop ship walls. Tatum held her sword, ready to take action if he somehow managed to break the chains.

All of sudden, the reaper's screams died down and he stated convulsing. "He's convulsing." Spoke Clarke.

"S-So what does it mean?" Octavia immediately asked.

The blonde noticed blood leaking from his leg. "What happened to his leg?"

Another round of tears filled her eyes. "I shot him." She remembered and a tear slid down her dirty cheek.

"Clarke, he's lost a lot of blood." Bellamy told her.

When Clarke stepped towards Lincoln, he shrieked again and lunged at her. Tatum flinched. "Clarke, be careful." She warned.

Silently, Clarke walked closer, very slowly, to him again. "Can you shine the light on his neck?" She voiced when she observed something.

When Octavia pointed her flashlight to his neck, Tatum leaned over and saw blood on his neck, and needle marks on his skin. "Needles marks?" She voiced.

"You think he's being drugged?" Bellamy questioned.

"Maybe—" the chain broke from the wall and hit Clarke, causing her to stumble into Lincoln and he grabbed a hold of her.

"LINCOLN!" Octavia yelled and tried pulling Clarke away, but the reaper forcefully threw her back into the wall.

Bellamy started punching him, trying to get him to let go of her, but then Lincoln threw Clarke to the ground and started manhandling him. He head butted Bellamy and he fell to the ground. Tatum came up and swung her sword, slicing the reaper's arm in hopes of turning his attention to her.

It worked, and when the reaper turned to her, he snarled and growled and managed to grab a hold of her arm; Lincoln's strength was so severe that he found her to the ground, chasing her to slide and her sword escaped her grasp.

Lincoln tore the chains off of him and he crawled on the ground, trying to grab them but he was still attached to ground. When he turned hushed back, Bellamy grabbed the taser and stood up.

"Bellamy, NO!" Tatum yelled.

Crying out, he ran at the reaper but Lincoln threw him to the ground again. Tatum scrambled to her feet and ran to retrieve her sword. Octavia managed to beat her to it because she grabbed a metal rod. She hit him with it once and when Lincoln looked at her, she swung it again, and he passed out cold.

With her legs shaking, Tatum dropped her sword again, the metal clinking, and she ran to Bellamy's side. "Bell, are you okay?" She quickly asked with her breaths staggered.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." He replied at a fast pace and leaned up from the ground.

The four of them, tired and breathing heavily, eyed the now passed out reaper. "Well now what do we do?"

When they recovered, Bellamy came up with the idea of tying Lincoln to the drop ship floor with the chains. It was a struggle to do so considering he was starting to wake up. "You cut his arm." Clarke observed when she saw the slice on his arm.

"Sorry, I was trying to make sure he didn't rip your head off." Tatum responded sarcastically and latched the chain to the floor panel.

"We need to stop the bleeding and get the bullet out. Hold his leg down."

She held down his injured leg and Octavia screwed the cap off of the water bottle. She held it to his lips. "Shh, shh." She softly said but he jerked his head at her, making her spill the water. Acting like it didn't hurt her to see him this way, she started to stand up. "I'll get some more."

"V—" Tatum started to say but Bellamy beat her to it.

"O, once the drug is out of his system, he'll be okay." He tried convincing her.

"You and Tate can't protect me from this one, big brother." Octavia spoke quietly and walked around him.

Frowning, Bellamy looked down, meeting his girlfriend's eye. "Let her handle it on her own terms. She's strong." Tatum stated while nodding.

After a while of Lincoln's cries of pain and Tatum struggling to hold him down because of how strong he was, Clarke had get the bullet out of the reaper's leg. Tatum tiredly wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Jesus, this brings back memories." She brought up when she thought about all the times Clarke had to save her from nearly dying. "Good job, blondie."

"Thanks." Clarke responded, trying to smile but she couldn't.

"Your mom would be proud." Said Bellamy while watching her wrap his wound.

"My mom would know how to save him."

"Maybe, but you're not too far behind." Tatum encouraged her.

The hatch opened and Octavia came back inside. Tatum's eyes widened when she saw Nyko with her. "Nyko?"

Bellamy immediately reached for his gun and held it up, ready to shoot the grounder.

"Hey, hey, no!" She instantly tried stopping him and put her hand on his arm.

"Bellamy, don't. He's Lincoln's friend and their healer." Octavia explained and stepped in front of Nyko.

Tatum observed Bellamy's death glare. "Hey," she said again and stepped in front of him. "Listen to her. He can help us. Trust me." She tried convincing him.

He tore his velvet eyes away from the ground and looked to her, seeing her nod her head. Bellamy eyed the grounder again, then his sister, and he motioned his head to Lincoln, who started seizing again.

He started foaming at the mouth. "We need to do this now. Come on." Tatum urged the grounder.

The group of them got on their knees around the reaper. Nyko unfolded the vials and took one out. "What is that?" Clarke asked him but she got no response.

Tatum had confidence that he would help. Seeing the grounder again brought back the guilt of what happened in the grounder camp, and there was so much she wanted to say. But then she heard the words he uttered, "Yu gonplei ste odon." Her eyes grew wide and she immediately stopped him from pouring the liquid into Lincoln's mouth. "NO!" your fight is over.

Nyko met her eyes and took out his knife.

Bellamy raised his gun again. "Back off, right now!" He demanded, inching the gun closer to the grounder's head, ready to pull the trigger.

"Why?" Tatum asked the grounder, not afraid of him or his knife.

Octavia shook her head. "Tatum, what are you doing?"

"He's not trying to heal him. He's trying to kill him. Yu gonplei ste odon, it means your fight is over."

The younger Blake siblings looked at the grounder and her face darkened. "Nyko, is it true?"

"Yes." The grounder responded and tore his eyes away from Tatum. "Death is the only way."

"Hold on. There could be a way to bring him back." Clarke insisted.

"None that I've ever seen."

"There had to be another way." Tatum asserted, not giving up.

Finn climbed up the stairs to the drop ship level. "We have to go. The camp's leaving."

Nyko's energy turned deadly upon seeing him. "You!"

"We have to stop—"

"FRAGA!" murderer

More chaos arose and Nyko lunged at Finn. Tatum grabbed her sword and Bellamy held up his gun. "Get off him!"

"You slaughtered my people!"

"Nyko, let him go!" Tatum's voice drowned out.

"Elders. Children—"

"Stop it."

"Innocents."

"Nyko, you're killing him."

"I said let him go!" Tatum yelled louder and pointed her sword at the grounder's neck.

"Blood must have blood!"

"Tatum, put your sword down!" Octavia screamed while simultaneously trying to get Bellamy to put down the gun.

Just before Nyko killed Finn, Clarke zapped him and they fell to the ground. Tatum jolted back in a state of shock, and they all went quiet.

"Lincoln?" Octavia uttered when she saw the reaper not moving. "He's not breathing."

Clarke leaned down and put her finger on his pulse. "He's not breathing. Move!" She demanded and switched places with her.

Tatum put her hand on Bellamy's arm, trying to keep herself steady. She watched the blonde perform CPR on Lincoln and after a few pumps to his chest, he started breathing again, making them all sigh with relief.

"He was dead. How did you do that?" Nyko, now sitting with his back to the wall, asked her.

"You've tried bringing reapers back before?" She asked him, earning a nod. "And they died like this—" another nod.

"What is it?" Bellamy questioned, not understanding.

"I know how to stop the attack." She declared.

While her and Octavia tended to Lincoln, Tatum walked over and held her hand out in front of Nyko. "Tate—" she looked over her shoulder, making Bellamy go quiet. Nyko stared at her with narrow eyes, almost disgusted, until he saw the scar on her palm, which symbolized so much than only the two of them understood. Unwillingly, he grasped her hand and she pulled him up. "I know you don't trust me, and I don't blame you, but I have to ask—" she spoke quietly and her blue eyes turned glossy. "Dominic?"

Nyko was silent for a few minutes, but then he spoke, "He speaks your name all the time." Is what he gave her.

Tatum clenched her jaw and winced. Her gaze directed to the floor and she nodded faintly. The pain of knowing Dominic was still out there and she was here, not knowing if he was okay or not, was excruciating. "Chof." She mumbled. Thank you