Nia opened her eyes and took in her surrounding. Around her were tall buildings that reached the sky. It was nothing like Nia had ever seen. But the more she looked around the more she noticed how alone she was. Not a person in sight.
She had no idea what to expect but something told her that this wasn't it.
With many people taking the chip and how they all seem to be connected, she thought there should be someone other than her. She even began to wonder about ALIE, the great being that they all communicated with, where was she?
ALIE and Jaha had waited for Nia to appear moments after she had taken the chip but the girl never seem to show. Something was wrong.
"She should've appeared by now." Jaha pointed out wondering what might be wrong.
"I can't locate Nia kom Trikru among the others." ALIE informed as she tried to search for the girl's whereabouts. "This had never happened. We need to locate her quickly."
Not questioning ALIE's intentions every person chipped seem to look over their landscape. They needed to find Nia.
Hurrying down the sidewalks and through courtyards Nia ran trying to find someone, anyone. She stopped in a rather large courtyard and took a deep breath as she grasped what was happening around her.
"Nia." A voice sounded from behind her. The sudden sound of someone calling her had caught her off guard but that's not what made her blood freeze. It was the familiarity of the voice.
Slowly and cautiously she turned around and looked at them. A lump formed in her throat as she saw a person she never thought she'd see again.
"Lexa." She breath out as she stared at the brunette in front of her. "What-how-"
"That's not important. I don't have much time." Lexa expressed moving toward her. "You weren't suppose to take the chip, Nia. You were meant to fight."
"I couldn't do it anymore. I had lost you, Lincoln, and Alec. It hurt too much." Nia replied. "I couldn't fight without any of you there. I can't do this on my own."
"Zhalia." Lexa said softly pulling Nia into a hug. "You are a fighter. You always have been."
"I was losing myself and I had no one to help bring me back." Nia stated.
"You need to fight, Nia, if not for yourself, for those girls. They need you now more than ever, you can't leave them." Lexa persuaded. Nia should've never taken the chip and she should've kept resisting.
Nia sighed at the realization. She had given up quickly and without thinking about all the other consequences. The pain of losing everyone had overcome her senses and now she had taken the chip.
"I have located Nia kom Trikru but her program is different from the others. This has never happened before. All subjects were meant to be placed in the City of Light not taken to the aligning dimension." ALIE informed Jaha about the person they had been awaiting.
"Can we get her back?" Jaha asked confused about what had happened.
"I can I just need a moment to bring her back." ALIE announced before disappearing. What had happened to Nia had not ever happened before so now ALIE needed to locate the problem and ensure that it never happens again. But what she didn't know was that it had been too late for her keep Nia on their side.
"But how can I?" Nia asked. She had already taken the chip which meant ALIE had the upper hand.
"You've been strong since the moment you were born. You just need to take that strength and resist ALIE for a little longer. You can fight her with the chip inside you. It won't be easy but a fight never is. I know you can do this." Lexa explained before taking a glance around her. "ALIE's coming. I have to go."
"No. No, please. Don't leave me alone." Nia begged not wanting to lose her sister for a second time.
"Zhalia, you're never alone. We are all still with you and we will never leave you." Lexa stated before pulling her into a hug.
"I love you." Nia whispered to her trying to take in what might be the last time she'd see her sister.
"I love you too." Lexa spoke before pulling back.
When Nia opened her eyes she was saddened to no longer see Lexa in front of her. Instead ALIE and Jaha. Around them were more people who had taken the chip. This is what she should've seen the first time.
"Nia, welcome. We are sorry about what had happened before but I can assure you that it won't happen again." Jaha tried to reassure her of what had happened. "We have assessed the problem and fixed it. Now you are able to join the City of Light-"
"I don't want to join the City of Light." Nia announced shocking them all.
"I'm afraid that's no longer a choice." Jaha stated not liking how Nia seem to disrupt all they had worked for. She needed to think that there was no point in fighting them. "And even if there was it wouldn't be a pleasant one."
There had only been one person to fight against them after taking the chip and despite the fight she put up, they had managed to get her to submit. They didn't want to take extreme measures but now that ALIE had seen an increase in people taking the chip due to them she felt it might be a definite choice. She would do what she must in order to keep people from rebelling and if Nia wanted to try then she would take matters into her own hand. If they had broken down Raven then they could surely break Nia.
"I should've never submit to you. I am Nia kom Trikru, a healer, a warrior, a fighter. I may have taken the chip but you will not be the one in control of me." Nia stood her ground.
"It will be very painful for you if you try and resist me." ALIE pointed out hoping Nia will not take the chance to mess with her program.
"I have suffered more pain to last a lifetime. There is nothing you can do to me that will make me submit again." Nia was willing to fight further as long as it meant that getting back to the girls and being able to protect them herself.
"You don't want to do this." ALIE tried to steer her from her present course. It would only become a more destructive as time went on.
"I will not accept the chip." Nia finalized. It was like a flip had been switched and she had been pulled from the reality others had accepted.
She was no longer in the City of Light. No longer surrounded by everyone else. Now in front of her was Jaha, Ontari and guards. Her mind went straight for sword and being that ALIE was in her head she saw the advantage first. A guard rushed to the sword while the other two went to grab Nia.
As her intention to fight was to no longer an option for her to do she needed to do something fast. She pushed against the guard to her right before pulling back and getting her arm free. She sent a punch into the other guard getting herself free from their grip. With her free she went to attack the rest of them but ALIE would not allow her to.
Her surrounds fade around her and she was back in the day where her world seemed to crumble around her. The dark sky above her and Arkadia in front. She could see his face as they brought him out. She wanted to turn and run. She didn't want to see this again, to experience it all over again. But there was nothing she could do at all but watch. All the pain and sadness flooded back in as she watched her friend die.
It wasn't till she opened her eyes that she found herself back in her room in Polis. The whole vision had hurt exactly as it did when she saw it.
"You don't have to feel all that pain." ALIE tried to reason with her hoping that would be enough to get her to submit. "All you have to do is give in and you'll never have to see it all again. If not, you'll experience every one of their deaths and even the ones that haunt you. Just give in."
"I won't and if I have to face all my demons, then I will. There is nothing more you could take from me that would hurt worse than losing my family." Nia stated and truly believed that she had suffered the worse but in all reality she hadn't. She still had the girls, her baby, Indra and even Bellamy. They were still with her and if she had to suffer the darkest memories she had to get back to them, then she would.
Her vision was overcome again but instead of seeing any of the recent deaths she saw something different. She found herself back in the forest, back when she was little and still training. She had chosen the time to wonder out to the field but her father suddenly appeared. He was the one who made sure her and Lincoln were always training regardless of what time of day. He wanted them both to be strong warriors like him and this time was no exception.
He had been sending strikes for her to block and having her make her own strikes against him. If she was going to be a warrior she needed to learn to fight someone with more fighting experience. Their fighting session didn't last too long because suddenly a battle cry sounded. Reapers.
Nia was scared in all honesty. She had never faced the Reapers before but heard many stories. They were what her nightmares were made of. Her eyes went around them trying to find where they were coming from until they settled on two of them coming from the front of them. Out of fear, she took a couple steps back and used her father's large size as a shield to hide behind.
"No. No." Her father told her pulling her by her arm to bring her back forward. "You need to protect yourself from this. This is what warriors can face. Warriors fight. Warriors take lives."
She didn't want to do this. She knew she would have to eventually but she didn't want that day to be that. She wanted to go home and see her mom and brother. The thought of taking a life was far too extreme for her.
Seeing her hesitation and the fact that the Reapers were coming closer, her father took action. He defended their blows before being able to disarm them. There were two Reapers in front of them. One larger than the other and the larger one wielded more strength and power. Choosing his option she drove his sword in the larger one before kicking the other back. He had taken the bigger threat out.
He pulled the sword out and made his way to stand behind Nia. He pointed to the sword still in her hands and even the knife on her waist. "Defend yourself."
The Reaper had then gotten to his feet and began to head for them again. Nia waited hoping that her father wouldn't let her take this herself but her made no move. The closer and closer he got the more Nia thought of what she had to do.
She raised her sword and swung it around but the blow on allowed the Reaper to stumble. His attack resumed a second later. She knew what she had to do and she had to do it quick.
Her next attack was quick and thoughtless, she wanted to be all over.
In front of her the Reaper stalled as the sword lodged into his stomach as her father had done moments ago. His eyes going dull as the life drained from him. Her first kill. The kill that would haunt her for years after. The first of many kills after.
The sight fade around her as she came back into reality. It was just her in the room ALIE had taken all the other away but it didn't matter to her. The painful memories were too much. Over a course of time whenever she thought of leaving or fighting others ALIE would replay a memory keeping her in a weak state. She watched each of her families deaths as well as seeing all the lives she had taken. ALIE was breaking her down bit by bit.