#Becca PramHeda | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

justinewt · 2 months

Text

The Two-Horned Beast - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Twenty-Five

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (03/01/2024)

Summary: Raven was saved but the group wasn't out of the woods just yet. They still had to find a way to really put an end to Alie. Thanks to a book written by the hand of the woman that made the AI, they found a new lead, a Grounder named Luna, who might be the key to all this.

Words: 4.8k

Warnings: The 100 season 3 spoilers (episode 12 "Demons"), fluff, some romance, guns, knives, blood, stabbing, attempted & actual murder

The sun had risen in the sky as they drove full speed across a field. They drove all night really, with Bellamy at the wheels. Clarke was at the front with him, and Michelle was sitting at the back with the others as they all began to plan out their next moves to stop Alie and her army of zombies. They had saved Raven from her grip, but the latter was far from being the only one that was being mind controlled. Michelle looked through the windshield, listening to the conversation with one ear, leaning forward on her lap. She was wondering about the situation in Polis. Her father was there, and she hoped he was safe. For the time being, they were headed for Arkadia. It was probably fine to return since Alie and her minions were trying to find them and they were far from the trading post already.

“Becca’s journal is amazing.” Raven exclaimed, carefully flipping the pages of the old notebook. “At 26, she found a pathway to access a human mind. That same year, she had to lock up Alie, because her answer for what was wrong with the world was “too many people”. She was 27 when it launched the bombs.”

“What did she write about the Flame?” Clarke twisted on her seat, turning towards them.

“Alie 2.0. She saw it as a way to atone for her sins. She designed it to not just access a human mind, but to merge with one. It could never wipe us out, because it would be one of us. She put it in herself first. Altered her genes so her body wouldn’t reject the implant.”

“Bekka Pramheda, the first Commander.” Michelle glanced at Clarke. She nodded to herself before looking at the others, crossing the gaze of her best friend before she focused back on Raven. “The gene therapy made her blood black, didn’t it?”

“Yeah.” She said quietly, surprised that she knew this detail without having read the diary. She wasn’t the only one that was surprised.

“How did you know that?” Octavia enquired.

“Nightblood. That’s where it came from. Somehow it became hereditary. Luna has it. That’s why we have to find her. If she can access Alie-2…”

“She can tell us how to stop Alie-1.” Octavia said, concluding Clarke’s statement.

“Get back to the mind pathway.” Monty spoke, taking a closer look at the Flame. “If Alie uses it to upload our minds to the City of Light, then there’s a chance my mo’s still alive.”

“That depends on your definition of “alive”.” Raven’s words must have shattered his hopes, but he shot his mother. The woman’s body wasn’t alive anymore and whatever was left of her in the City of Light, wasn’t her. Seeing him like this made Michelle quite sad and it made her think how if her father happened to take the chip, she wasn’t sure she would have the guts to shoot if he put someone in danger. She hoped she would never have to kill him to save someone else because if her father, her only remaining parent, died by her own hand, she would never survivre it. Losing her mother broke her and she didn’t even see her pass away, so it would be the last straw. She would never recover from it.

“Eyes sharp. Weapons hot. We’re almost home.” Bellamy spoke up as they approached Arkadia’s grounds. He called for Harper and Miller over the radio, telling them they were a couple minutes away from camp, but no one replied. It wasn’t a good sign. Michelle straightened up, stretching her, craning forward to look through the windshield. She couldn’t see Arkadia just yet. They were still too far but once they saw it in the distance, and noticed the gates were wide open and there was no one in sight, they stopped the vehicle. Some of them got out with their weapons, walking alongside the car, Jasper standing up at the back, sticking out through the roof opening and Bellamy had left the wheel to Michelle. She wouldn't have minded coming outside with him, Clarke, Octavia, and Sinclair; she was a pretty good shot, but he had insisted that she stay inside the Rover. Her assumption turned out to be correct though, Alie and her minions had deserted the place, probably since last night. From inside the car, she couldn’t really hear what the others were saying but she heard Jasper note that no one was there to fix the gate. It was like a ghost town as they slowly progressed inside the camp.

“Maybe they saw the open gate and went in for Lincoln’s book.” Jasper added, talking about Miller and Harper. Bellamy was still trying to get a hold of them, but no one was responding. When she looked in the mirrors and saw her peers stopping in their tracks, she slowed the car and turned her head to Raven, sitting in the front seat next to her. She met her gaze and she understood they had stopped by the pool of blood that must have soaked the grounds ever since Lincoln was shot by Pike. She gulped and they continued on their way to get the grounder’s book. It was supposed to guide them to other Grounders that could help them to stop Alie, with all that nightblood stuff. As they approached the hangar, the doors opened and she drove in, opening the window and popping her head through, to hear what Bellamy was saying. He looked at her after telling Jasper to close the roof.

“Turn the Rover around. We may need to get outta here quickly.” She nodded and sat back into the driver’s seat, waiting for the others to get out from around the vehicle to turn the car around. The doors of the hangar closed shut behind them with a thud. As the group looked around the large room, she did as Bellamy asked and then jumped out of the car. Climbing up the small flight of stairs, she, Raven, and Monty joined the others around the table where a bunch of stuff was scattered, decks of cards, half-empty plates and drinks, as if people just got up and walked away, leaving everything behind to rot, without a second thought. “We’re in and out. Pack as much gear as you can into the Rover.”

“I’ll get the map.” Octavia left almost as quickly as she spoke. Jasper went along with her. As she watched them walk away, Michelle was reminded of the fact that her precious jacket was still lying somewhere in Bellamy’s room, and she wanted to get it back before they left camp again. She was about to mention it to Bellamy, parting her lips, turned towards him, when Raven came from behind her and spoke up.

“What’s the rush? They won’t be coming back.”

“How do you know?” Clarke asked.

“Alie’s mission is to chip everyone. It wouldn’t make sense to return to a place she already took.”

“It might make sense if there was someone in that place, you, who could tell us stuff like that.” Raven agreed with Sinclair’s point, and they all went in different directions. Only Michelle went after Bellamy and he looked over his shoulder, hearing her footsteps. She still wanted her jacket, even if she was wearing her father’s ever since the group parted ways with him, Pike, and the Grounders. He nodded at her request, and they walked through the door towards the inside of the Ring, heading for Bellamy’s room. The two of them walked inside the room and Michelle kind of looked around while Bellamy opened a wardrobe next to his bed. He let his gun hang to his side as he took the jacket from a hanger. She took off the large, black guards’ jacket that her father gave her so she wouldn’t be cold and put it down on the desk while he handed her vest to her.

“Thank you.” She said as she took and put it on, one sleeve after the other. Then, she picked up her father’s and put it back on. She noticed Bellamy watching her as she got dressed and she looked at him with a chuckle, the corner of her lip stretching into a smirk. “What?”

“Nothing.” He shook his head, looking away, and she took a step towards him, taking his hand, intertwining their fingers as they locked eyes. His eyes went down to her mouth for half a second and he cupped her face in his free hand, pressing his lips against hers. Their kiss grew more passionate as time went on and he let go of her hand to slip his fingers in her hair, at the back of her head. Her whole body felt like it was lit on fire when they broke their embrace, resting his forehead against her cheekbone. She was catching her breath, as if she had forgotten how to breathe properly and she heard Bellamy chuckle. She smiled, telling him not to laugh, playfully pushing him away, shaking her head and he caught her arms, pulling her back towards him into a hug and she wrapped her arms around him, warm under his jacket. She could feel him breathing in her hair while she rested her chin on his shoulder, closing her eyes. It was the first, real intimate moment that they had shared in many months and damn, how she had missed it. The words I love you, would take a little longer to be spoken out loud though.

“All right let’s go look around. We don’t know know how much time we have right now.” She broke the embrace and he nodded. They left together, exiting the Ring through the front door. She didn’t have a gun, so she remained behind Bellamy as he kicked open the door to the armory, holding his gun up in case he came face-to-face with someone. It was empty. She stepped in after him as he opened a mesh cupboard inside which they could see a bunch of automatic shotguns lined up. He checked the content of the boxes stored underneath. They were filled to the brim with bullets. He grabbed the radio at his belt and contacted the rest of the group still inside the hangar.

“Everyone finish what you’re doing and meet us at the armory.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Clarke was the one to respond.

“You’ll see when you get there. We just got lucky.” While she told them they were on their way, Bellamy picked up a gun, filled a charger with bullets and gave it to Michelle. The latter started walking back and forth outside the door, looking around the camp, alert, and turned to Bellamy while they waited for the others to join them. Her mind was really making her do comparisons between what she now had with Bellamy and what she once had with Murphy. She didn’t want to keep thinking about both the relationships she had ever had but her conclusion was that the two were diametrically opposed. Maybe it was because she had grown since they first landed on the ground, and because Bellamy was a few years older, but their relationship had a much more mature feeling to it. The nature of their feelings for each other was very different from when she was with Murphy. When he left, she realized, even if he did love and care for her, she most likely loved him more than he did. She mentally shrugged, thinking it would have ended at some point but the fact that he just got up and left, with Jaha, it still bothered her. She shook the thought away when Clarke’s voice reached their ears. She was calling out their names weakly, panting and Bellamy caught her before she fell, giving her support so she could stand. “What is it? What’s going on?”

“Emerson.” It was just one word, well a name really, but the three of them were very much aware of what it meant. The guy from Mount Weather, who they thought they had gotten rid of already, was back, harder to kill than a cockroach. The trio then walked into the ring, with Bellamy and Michelle walking in front of Clarke, their heads tilted, eyes glued to the viewfinder lens, guns up, flashlights on.

“Where’s Monty?” Bellamy enquired.

“Emerson took him. Why?” She frowned, trying to understand what Emerson’s motivation was. He grabbed his radio and tried to make contact with his sister, stopping in their tracks.

“Octavia, can you hear me? Come in.”

“Jasper was with her.”

“Jasper, are you there? Say something.” The only answer they got was a static sound crackling on the other end.

“Maybe Emerson got them too.” Michelle said quietly. Clarke looked down, frowning, shaking her head.

“Miller, Harper, Bryan… This is all my fault. I let Emerson live.”

“What are you talking about?” Bellamy looked at Clarke, blinking in confusion before exchanging a glance with Michelle. She had no idea what she was talking about either, but their friend seemed preoccupied. Her eyes went from one to the other.

“In Polis. I had a chance to kill him, but I let him go.”

“Bellamy, what’s wrong?” Raven’s voice came over the radio, interrupting their conversation.

“Raven, are you okay? Where are you?” He immidietaly asked.

“Still in engineering. We’re fine.”

“Raven, listen to me. Emerson is here. Are the others with you?” Clarke spoke up, taking the radio after Bellamy handed it to her. Raven replied in the negative. She was alone with Sinclair. Clarke then gave them instructions to lock down the hangar bay and to not let anybody in but the three of them. They had yet to find their other friends, who were probably held somewhere by Emerson. They ran there but when they came at the door, shouting out the mechanic’s name, banging on the door, no one answered, and the hangar was plunged in the dark. They left, running around the ring to get to the other door. When they reached the large door from the outside, it was just opened slightly, leaving a thin thread of light penetrate inside. Slipping through the opening one after the other, the two childhoos best friends kneeled next to the lifeless body of Sinclair, lying on the ground, a large stain of blood on his t-shirt, and blood running down his mouth. His dead eyes stared right back at them, frozen, and empty. Clarke still went to check his pulse, but it was obviously too late. He was already gone. She closed his eyes. Michelle sighed and got up, her hands on the gun hanging across her shoulders, glancing around the hangar. Raven was nowhere to be seen.

“He took Raven.”

“We’re too late.” Bellamy added, but Clarke somehow disagreed. She turned her head to them.

“He didn’t kill Monty or Raven. He would’ve left their bodies. Michelle is right, he took them somewhere.”

“If you’re right, Octavia and the others are there, too. Where would he be taking them? They could be anywhere. How does he even know his way around?”

“He was here. You were in Mount Weather.” As she talked, Clarke was already thinking, and she came to the conclusion that the man that had them running around the compound looking for their friends, had taken them to the very airlock in which he had been detained before. It only made sense that he would lock them up in there. She snatched the radio from Bellamy’s belt. “Emerson. I know you’re listening. We need to talk.”

“I don’t need to do anything.” They heard grunts in the background, confirming that he did have their friends with him. Clarke had their back to them, facing the hangar’s door and Michelle and Bellamy looked at each other. “You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

“And now you’re here to kill me, is that it?”

“Something like that.”

“Then let my friends go.” She tried to bargain with him, offering to give herself over if he did what she asked. Of course, neither Michelle nor Bellamy wanted this to happen. She turned to them. “I know what I’m doing.” Michelle gave her a firm nod, trusting her, though this whole ordeal worried her.

“Come to the airlock. No weapons. Right now.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Bellamy stopped her as she walked away with a determined step. She was set on saving their friends and they didn’t disagree with this but neither of them wanted her to sacrifice herself.

“Look, when it’s over, take this to Luna. Promise me.” She took the Flame out of her pocket and handed it over to him. Her eyes went to Michelle who didn’t like the way she was talking about all this, as if she was going to die going to the airlock and there was nothing to do about it. She didn’t the decisiveness of this moment. Bellamy slightly squinted his eyes, shaking his head.

“No. You’re outta your mind your mind if you think we’re letting you do this alone.” Though she stayed quiet, used to go along with the flow of whatever Clarke wanted to do, Bellamy didn’t even think about it and included her in his statement, knowing that she was as much against this as he was. And in other circumstances, she would have sketched a smile, because he was right. Clarke glanced at Michelle before putting her gaze back on him.

“This is my fault. I’m not letting anyone else die for my mistake, okay? So take it!” She didn’t raise her voice, but her tone and gesture were strong and direct, urging him to take the flame from her hand.

“Are you through? I don’t know what happened between you and Emerson in Polis. But I do know that letting him kill you here today is a stupid plan.”

“You got a better one?” He pinched his lips and shrugged; his smirk tinged with sadness.

“You distract him, we shoot him.” Clarke let go of her original plan to just surrender herself to the mountain man and nodded to Bellamy’s proposition. She looked down at the flame while Bellamy stepped away. Now, they had to put the plan into motion, and hope it would go smoothly but what Emerson would do, and his reactions were out of their control. Clarke walked a few feet ahead of them, with Bellamy and Michelle with their guns right behind. They stood behind the corner, hidden in the shadows while she held up her hands and approached the airlock.

“I held up my part of the deal. Your turn. Let my friends go.”

“Tell Bellamy to show themselves first.” He must have seen Bellamy’s shadow, or he simply knew the girl would never actually come alone but they were both reminded that even though Michelle knew the man’s name and who he was, he probably didn’t even remember her, other than being that one Asian girl who was Clarke’s friend. She wasn’t even sure he remembered that she was one of those who basically got her thigh drilled into and almost died, if it weren’t for Clarke opened all exits of Mount Weather. The two gunsmen glanced at each other.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about...” She tried to lie, and he knew it. He grunted and Octavia let out a scream, prompting Bellamy to come out of hiding, telling Michelle to stay back with his eyes. She gave him a nod, standing her back to the wall to conceal herself better. He kept his gun ready to fire as he stepped into the hallway.

“Good. Now, take out the clip, throw it down the hall, put the gun down and get inside.”

“Please, you wanted me.” She tried to talk with him, but he wasn’t here to listen to her pleading. Surrending herself in exchange for her friends’ lives being spared, but something was off. He really wanted Bellamy to come into the airlock. The latter gave in, telling him to stop. Michelle didn’t know what Emerson was doing but she guessed that he must have been holding Octavia at gunpoint or something like that, for the young man to be this nervous. He did as order, took out the clip and kneeled, putting down his gun, along with the rest of his weapons, which included the two knives he had. He threw them away, making them slide down the hall and their course stopped right in front of Michelle. If it came down to it and using her gun was too dangerous, she would pick up one of the blades and use it against Emerson. It was clear that Bellamy took advantage of the fact the man was clueless about a third person being there. He then put his hands up in the air and walked towards the airlock, disappearing from Michelle's sight. She heard Emerson’s voice addressing Bellamy followed by Octavia grunting. Michelle was practically glued to the wall, taking deep, quiet breath, ready to step in. She clenched her jaw, hating the fact that she was blind to what was now happening, right around the corner. She listened to Emerson giving orders to Clarke, telling her to get down on her knees and put her hand behind her head. There were footsteps, certainly Emerson, followed by a beeping sound and the airlock door closing.

“No- You can do anything you want with me. Okay? Just let them go.” Hearing him grunt, Michelle peeked. Emerson was his back to her, holding Clarke the collar of her coat and pushing her towards the closed space. He put his arm around her neck, his handgun against her head, pressing her against the glass. Michelle then thought, using her gun would put Clarke’s life at risk, while using a much sneakier weapon such as Bellamy’s knives, would give her a bigger chance of neutralizing Emerson. She let go of her shotgun, letting it hang to her side and picked up both blades to her feet, holding the handles tightly. And she waited for the right opportunity to come out. Not knowing if he had his finger on the trigger didn’t help her determine when to act either and she couldn’t risk Emerson seeing her, it would fuck the whole plan up as well.

“You murdered 381 people. You took the lives of my children, my brother, my friends. Did you really think that I would be happy with just one life in return?” When she heard him step back, dragging Clarke with him, she took another look. The gun was now aimed towards the ceiling. He put his arm back around Clarke, right across her chest and used his free hand to uncover a glowing red button. She came out of hiding as he pressed it. A voice over PA announced that the airlock was being emptied of its oxygen. He looked to asphyxiate their friends. She took advantage of the loud, dull noise covering her steps and she rushed towards him, driving the blades of the daggers right into his skull with a grunt. A gunshot went off as he collapsed, dragging Clarke with him. She broke free from his grip and rushed to the airlock control panel to open the door. Michelle just then processed what she did and though she didn’t feel bad about it, she couldn’t help but stare at Emerson’s face, his empty eyes staring back at her. She realized her fingers were trembling, so she closed her hands into fists. The two knives looking like horns that had grown on the sides of his head. Clarke got up, stretching out her arms to reopen the airlock. Their friends inside weren’t exactly passed out but a little lightheaded from the lack of oxygen, breathing heavily, while the two were getting rid of Emerson. Michelle stepped over the man’s body, helped Clarke up. As she freed one of them, they helped free each other. Michelle went to untie Bellamy from the wall and frowned in frustration since her hands were still a bit shaky. She felt his gaze upon her.

“Are you okay?” He asked quietly.

“You’re the one that’s restrained. I’m fine.” He grabbed her hand and glanced over his shoulder at Emerson. She huffed, following his eyes, and stared at the dead body. The knives sticking out of his heads, a pool of blood all over the floor and trickles having flowed across his face. His eyeballs were hidden, covered with a red layer. It wasn’t the first she had had a deadly weapon in her hands, but it was the very first time that she stabbed someone this violently, in the head, and not just with one knife, but two at that. She didn’t have such a hard time shooting at people with a gun but using bladed weapons did shake her up a little. She didn’t even think, she just did it to save Clarke. Seeing that she was staring at Emerson, he stepped aside, blocking her view, making her look at him.

“You did it to save Clarke.”

“Yes, I know why I did it.” She pinched her lips, not reacting the way she would have wanted to. She answered abruptly when he was only trying to help her. But he understood and only looked at her with concern for her on his face. She locked eyes with Clarke and Octavia, who noticed them holding hands and the latter were surprised to say the least. They obviously didn’t expect to see their siblings together. The group then eventually walked outside, dragging Emerson’s body away. At nightfall, while they were putting things away, they saw Bellamy walk through the gate, carrying a large body wrapped in a body bag, in his arms. Because of the weight of the body, his gait was a bit slowed down, and his steps were heavy, sinking into the mud. He put it on the ground and took a step back while Octavia fell to her knees. She raised her hand to uncover the head and hesitated for a moment before finally doing so. It was Lincoln.

Octavia's sobbing turned into hearbreaking wailing. The rest of them were all silently standing there. Michelle felt her pain, though it was not over the death of the same type of love, she had cried just as hard over her mother. It made her want to cry and she felt a tear had run down her cheek. She swiftly wiped it away. They built a pyre and put both Sinclair and Lincoln’s bodies on it. Raven went forth, saying her goodbyes to her former mentor and stepped back while Octavia lit the pyre, pronouncing words in trigedasleng. Your fight is over. They all repeated those words in unison. While Michelle said it for their two peers, her eyes rose to the starry night sky and her thoughts went to her mother and she stared at the fire, losing her gaze in the dance of flames until Octavia's voice rises above the loud crackling.

“It’s time to go. I’ll get the map.” Bellamy watched her walk away, swallowing harshly. As he turned back towards the fire, he felt a hand hold his and his eyes went down to his hand and then up to Michelle’s face before they both observed the fire for a moment. After a while, they all went to the hangar to put their things into the rover and get ready to leave. Clarke was putting the flame back in its box and Bellamy was carrying boxes of weapons into the back of the car. Michelle was next to her childhood friend. The three exchanged a nod as he walked past them.

“Hey, we’re leaving. Why aren’t you ready?” Bellamy asked Raven and Monty as the two approached.

“We’re not going with you.” She then said, being helped down by Monty. “I can barely walk, and my shoulder is killing me. But my brain’s all kinds of awesome.”

“She remembered that Alie downloaded herself into the Ark mainframe. If the code is still there, we might be able to find a back door.” Monty added.

“I’m guessing once you connect Alie-2 to Luna, we’ll need to access Alie-1 to take her down.”

“Miller.” Bellamy called to the young man in the background, with his boyfriend and Harper. He motioned towards the other two.

“I’ll keep ‘em safe.”

“I’ll keep them safe.” Harper said, repeating his words with a smile.

“How about you? It’s gonna be dangerous.” Bellamy turned his head to Jasper.

“You know me well. I’m in.” On his words, Bellamy walked off while Clarke and Michelle said goodbye to their friends. Octavia went directly inside the car. Clarke went to the front with Bellamy and Michelle joined Octavia, followed by Jasper. The humming noise of the engine starting sounded in the hangar as Raven shut the backdoor and they drove away. Next step was finding this Luna and find a way to get rid of Alie once and for all.

[To be continued…]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (03/01/2024)

Published (02/24/2023) by Andrea

Taglist: @cathrin2405 @kika64 @mirellef2001

3 notes · View notes