Red Lighter ✧ John Murphy

Epilogue

Epilogue

I couldn't handle staying in the throne room anymore. I saw Murphy holding Ontari's heart, Clarke waking up and disoriented, Jaha writhing wildly on the floor, Kane breaking down completely in Abby's arms. Then I looked back at Murphy, and he was staring right at me. His hand was covered in Ontari's blood, and he was quick to wipe it off with a cloth while not taking his eyes off of me.

I looked down at my own hands, feeling the blood that coated them. It belonged to Ontari, and the warriors I had killed that day. Some of it was even my own.

Then I thought about Emori. I hadn't seen her yet. Where was she?

I used that as my excuse to leave, and then stood before walking out of the room, my hands clenched in fists. I didn't want to see the blood on them anymore.

I found the hallway that we had filled with water, and saw the bodies that still lingered there. A few of them hadn't survived the electrocution... And that included Emori.

Her head was slumped up against the wall, but the rest of her body was sprawled out in the water. Her eyes were open and glossed over while she stared at nothing. Part of me was afraid that those eyes would turn to me with rage, telling me how angry she was that I was her murderer.

That fact still lingered in my mind even as I went further down the hallway and went up another set of stairs. I was a murderer. I had been since I was a little girl.

It frightened me that I had begun to accept that fact, instead of being afraid of it.

The wind whipped my hair around, and I didn't bother to move it when it went into my face or blocked my eyesight. It made the undried blood that still lingered on my skin feel cold. It was a mixture of mine, as well as that of Ontari and the many people that I had been forced to kill that day.

Before she died, Lexa had told me that the view from the roof was beautiful. I hadn't believed her, thinking that there was no beauty in the world we lived in now. Now I am here, watching the sun sink below the horizon and paint the sky in shades of pink and orange. There had always been beauty, I just hadn't seen it. The chaos our lives had been thrust into was blocking it from me, but I saw it then. I finally saw it.

I knew that he was there before I turned to look at him. Ever since I saw him again, that was a normality for me. It was as if he was a ghost whose spirit I would always feel. His presence was something that I could never ignore, even if I wanted to.

I almost had to yell over the sound of the wind whistling in our ears.

"I'm sorry," I said, then raised my voice because I didn't think he could hear me. "I didn't mean to kill Emory."

"That doesn't matter."

I turned to look at him, the direction of the wind making it now blow in my face and throw my hair behind me wildly.

"It does matter!" I shouted back at him. "You loved her, and I'm sorry."

Murphy closed the space between us and put his palms on either side of my face, forcing me to look him in the eyes. "Ven, there's a big difference between loving someone and relating to them. I stayed with her because I understood her, but I didn't understand you. I was ready to die that day and you saved me, and I didn't understand why. I didn't understand why you'd put my life above your own and that scared me. I felt like a deadweight on you but with her, I felt like I was helping her. I was holding you down, but I was saving her."

My eyes began to sting, and I wasn't able to decide if it was because of the wind or because of him.

"You didn't need me," he said, his voice beginning to crack. His eyes were glistening.

I laced my hands behind his neck and brought him down to me, kissing him like each movement was a breath entering my lungs. In a way, it was. Every kiss I had from him felt like it was bringing me to life.

I remembered reading in one of the books that Bellamy brought me. Ferdinand Foch had said "The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire". When I was with Murphy, my soul felt like an inferno. He gave me strength, and when I was without him in those days after I left him and Emori around, I was weak. Now, being with him now, I was powerful.

I pulled away, but stayed as close to him as I could without kissing him.

"Murphy, I will always need you."

His hands left my face to rest on my waist, and he wrapped his arms around me completely. His eyes still glistened, but now it was because of happiness. He looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered.

"And you'll always have me."

He held me to him, and I laid my head on his chest while we watched the sun set in its final moments. I could hear his heartbeat, and held him a little tighter. It felt like electricity pumping through me, knowing that that heart belonged to me, and me alone.

Being here was difficult for all of us, but as long as I had Murphy, I would be strong. We would be the King and Queen of a world that wants nothing more than to knock us down, but our strength would not let it.

For when we were together, our power would never fade.

FINIS