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BLOODLINES
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THE SHADOWS OF the dropship are overwhelmed with ghosts of the past. Darkness blurs the edges of the memories, but Lyra still remembers enough ━━ the good ol' days, even if she hadn't known it at the time.
"You got it?"
Eyes snapping from the molten shadows, Lyra glances up to see Monty looming at the threshold. There's a flashlight in his hand that illuminates the first level in an almost ghostly glow. His features are soft but Lyra grimaces anyway. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she takes the bulky electromagnet in hand. Careful not to jolt the microprocessor, she slides it into Monty's pack. He slings it over his shoulders and she rises up from her crouch.
"Yeah," she mumbles. She wipes the grease from her hands on her cargo pants. "Let's get out of here."
"That's the best idea I've heard all night," Monty responds. He raises his flashlight and then starts for the tattered cloth overhang. "Octavia! We had a hell of a time prying open the sub-assembly, but we got it!"
The darkness is visceral. Lyra cannot see the stars or the moon. Dead leaves crunch beneath her boots as her fingers rap anxiously against one another. After. . . after whatever the hell had taken place between her and Octavia, Lyra had gone into the dropship to help Monty with the sub-assembly. Octavia had stayed outside and at first Lyra had thought it was to keep watch, but now that there's no response from her. . .
Something rustles in the foliage. Monty lifts the flashlight beam towards the woods, but there's nothing there.
"Octavia!" He shouts.
No one answers.
The rover shudders. Lyra whirls around in alarm as a blurred silhouette emerges from the vehicle, bracken snapping beneath their boots. Sidling around the hood of the rover, the silhouette slowly but surely creeps towards them, wreathed by the shadows. Lyra's heart starts to beat a little faster. And then the figure emerges into the blinding white beams of the rover and she is almost crippled by disappointment; it's not Octavia.
"Monty!" Hannah cries out, running towards them. "Thank god!"
He is bewildered as she hugs him. "Mom?"
Lyra steps back uneasily. Hannah had been the one to convince Pike to lie to her about her dad being captured. This woman wanted her dead just twenty-four hours ago. But now she seems to hardly notice Lyra at all. She's much more concerned with her son, smoothing down his hair, running her hands along his face.
"Pretty sure I lost them in the woods," she says breathlessly. "Did you see anyone? They're everywhere."
Monty steps forwards, shining the flashlight into the darkness again. "You got away?"
"I had to find you."
"I heard what you did. You tried to kill Lyra," Monty says, his voice tight with pain. "And then what you told Pike. . . how could you turn me in?"
Hannah's brow furrows. "I would never do that."
Unnerved, Lyra takes another step backwards. "Monty — "
He hardly seems to notice her. Not that it matters. From the way he faces his mom, his back rigid and his jaw set, she's pretty sure he's come to the same conclusion.
"Mom, what was dad's favorite color?"
She stares at him blankly, then shakes her head. "We don't have time for this. We can't stay. Everyone knows to look for you two here."
"Mom, you said it reminded him of your eyes," utters Monty slowly as his mom grips him by the arms. He starts to stumble back. "But you don't remember that, do you?"
Hannah freezes. Her eyes shift back and forth almost unseeingly. She's gone stiff, as if listening to someone.
"Alie," Lyra realizes out-loud. She holds a hand out placatingly as if Hannah's a wild animal that needs to be calmed. Taking a small step back, she takes another, then another. Her voice is low. "Come on, Monty. We need to get out of here before something bad happens — "
Before she can even finish her sentence, Hannah attacks them.
She charges at Lyra first, nailing her in the stomach. All the air is knocked from her lungs. Staggering backwards, Lyra splutters for air while trying not to lose her footing. Somehow she manages to lift her eyes and finds, much to her horror, that Hannah has thrown herself upon her son. He's shouting for his mom to let him go as she slams him against the hood of the car. Overwhelmed with adrenaline and fear, Lyra barrels into Hannah, knocking her to the ground.
Hannah does not stay down for long. She sweeps her legs beneath Lyra's and Lyra's knees buckle. Then Hannah throws an arm behind her neck, twisting Lyra so that she's thrust backwards against her. Swallowing air as she writhes, Lyra tries to wrestle herself from Hannah's grip, but she cannot fight her off.
"Mom, stop!" Monty's disembodied voice cries out from somewhere.
"I'll stop when you take the chip!" Hannah exclaims. Her grip on Lyra's neck tightens and then she shoves a familiar blue object into her view. "Take it, Monty, Lyra!"
Yet before Lyra can say anything, Hannah's suddenly wrenched back.
"Never!" Monty yells.
Hannah kicks Lyra furiously in the gut once more just as Monty's scrambling forwards, clawing at her in an attempt to get his mother to stand down. Hannah vaults him over his head and he tumbles to the ground, somehow taking Lyra with him. Breathless, Lyra rolls flat onto her back and tries to make out what's happening in the chaotic cluster of fighting as a silhouette streaks from the trees and then shoots straight for them. She stiffens in alarm. Her and Monty are already struggling enough. They can't fight two chipped people at once.
But it's not one of Jaha's cult members. It's Octavia.
"Monty, Lyra, are you OK?" Octavia yells as Hannah is sent reeling across the dirt.
Monty's lip is split, blood trickling down his chin. Slumped against the ground, he manages to lift his head to Octavia. "She's chipped!"
Hannah charges at Octavia. Octavia kicks her squarely in the chest, sending the chipped woman staggering backwards. But she recovers all to quickly and Lyra remembers what Jaha had told her about the the chip ━━ There is no pain in the City of Light. Hannah charges Octavia again but Octavia ducks beneath her punch, twisting her arm unnaturally. She only has the upper hand for a heartbeat, though, because Hannah's arm rises and she strikes Octavia across the jaw. Octavia is sent staggering backwards and her hand goes for the sword sheathed across her back.
"Octavia, don't!" Monty screams.
Distracted by his shout, Octavia fumbles with the weapon. Hannah uses it to her advantage and drives her elbow into Octavia's abdomen once, twice, then three times, manipulating her further and further away. Caught off guard, Octavia doesn't have the time to steady herself. With a sharp shriek of pain, she tries to slam her fist into Hannah's jaw, but Hannah locks one hand around Octavia's wrist and wrenches it backwards. The raven-haired girl yelps again in agony before going sprawling across the dead leaves.
Adrenaline explodes through Lyra's veins. Vaulting off from the hood of the rover, she sprints forwards. Slamming all of her weight into Hannah, the chipped woman is sent reeling backwards. But Lyra's victory is brief. Hannah's fist catches her in the eye. The sheer force of the strike is enough to send Lyra stumbling back. Then Hannah swipes her legs beneath Lyra's and Lyra can keep her balance no longer; she is sent tumbling to the jagged earth, palms scraping against rocks and thorns, rolling ungracefully into a crumpled heap.
Lyra manages to lift her head. She is eagle-spread upon her back, her entire body quivering with pain. Her heart is beating erratically. She is gasping for breath when Hannah strides into her line of sight, looming dangerously overhead.
Hannah stamps on her ribs once, then twice. Kicking Lyra in the back, she sends her rolling backwards until she's right by Octavia. Octavia is also flat on her back but now she starts to rise, only it's too late.
Hannah pounces on her like a starved animal. Somehow she has managed to grab Octavia's sword and she forces the blade towards her throat. Entire body quivering, Octavia grasps it by the hilt, fighting to keep it from cutting into her neck. She grunts furiously as she tries to push it off from her, but it's in vain. Hannah pushes the blade closer and closer and closer.
"No!" Lyra shrieks, rolling painfully onto her side. But Hannah slides the hilt sideways, slamming it into her cheek, and she is sent sprawling against the earth again. Blood salts her mouth.
"Mom, what're you doing?" Monty screams from somewhere very, very close.
Heart beating erratically, Lyra shudders. Managing to thrust herself to her stomach, she watches as Monty's features contorts with fear. Clumsily he reaches for the firearm in his waistband.
"Please stop it!" Monty cries out. Despair claws at every word as he levels the gun. "Mom! Don't make me do this!"
Hannah only drives the sword deeper. It hovers dangerously close to Octavia's throat now. Just one more heartbeat and it would slice clean through it ━━
Monty cries out fiercely. The gun fires. Hannah doesn't even flinch as the bullet embeds itself into her shoulder with a sickening thunk. There is no pain in the City of Light ━━ she didn't feel it. The tip of the sword catches Lyra in the cheek, slicing easily through the flesh and she lets out a terrified shriek.
The gun fires twice more. Somewhere above the roar of the bullet and Octavia's cries of pain, Lyra can hear Monty screaming again and again.
Hannah slowly lifts her head. Her eyes are an empty, bleak black. Frighteningly hollow.
She slumps back. She does not move again.
"Monty," Lyra croaks. Her voice is strained, an ache spreading throughout her chest, a bruise blooming across her jaw. The vision in her right eye is blurred and each blink is torturous. "Monty. . . "
He doesn't seem to hear her. The gun is slack in his hands. He stares at Hannah's body as if what he has just done is completely unfathomable.
As if unable to comprehend he'd just killed his mom.
͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙
"THAT WASN'T REALLY her."
Monty's wobbling voice breaks through the thick silence that's engulfed the rover for what's felt like eons as it rumbles through the forest. He's in the drivers seat with Octavia in the passengers, leaving Lyra to herself in the back. Up until now, she's been laying on the bench, the chilled metal gnawing through her thin fabrics, the roar of the rover's engine trembling against her stomach. But now she sits up.
None of them have spoken since the dropship.
In response to his words, Octavia shakes her head vehemently. But she too seems robbed of speech.
"It was Alie," insists Monty quietly. His knuckles are bone-white as he grips the steering wheel. "My mom was already gone."
Octavia turns to him slowly. "Monty — "
"It wasn't her," Monty interrupts. He's shaking. "It wasn't her."
In the rearview mirror, Lyra can make out his face. Bloodied and bruised almost beyond the point of recognition, though Octavia is the same and she honestly doubts that she herself looks any better right now. His split mouth quivers violently, eyes wide and glistening. He seems to be begging for some sort of confirmation. As if he needs someone else to help convince him, to tell him that it wasn't his fault.
Lyra thinks of Wells. She thinks of Mount Weather.
"It wasn't her," she whispers. Monty catches her gaze, heartbroken. "You did what you had to do."
He says nothing. Just keeps driving.
Her knees shake as she hugs them tightly to her chest. The pain pulsing in her side is unceasing. It's almost dizzying. Swallowing a mouthful of blood, she rakes her grimy fingers through her hair. She tries to even her breath. Tightens her ponytail.
Eventually, the rover lurches to a halt.
Strings of sweaty dark hair plastered to her face, Lyra starts to unfold herself. She struggles uneasily, painfully to her feet. A grimace crawls across her features. Jumping down from the back of the rover, she unsteadily staggers behind Octavia and Monty as they make for the entrance to the trading post. Thin plumes of smoke twist upwards as the small fires burn. Bellamy and Jasper stand there, waiting for them.
Wordlessly, Monty shoves past them.
"What happened?" Bellamy asks. His voice is hoarse and Lyra glances up at him; the dropship clearly wasn't the only place where things had gone to shit. His eyes are downcast and sullen.
Overcome with a surge of pain, Lyra's eyes silently drift to Octavia's, who just stares back at her. She cannot think of any explanation that would sound anything other than hollow and empty. Because how do you say that the boy whose already lost so much has just been forced to kill his own mother?
There are no words at all.
Octavia mutely walks into the trading post. Jasper's shoulders are slumped as if he's somehow guessed what had happened just from the looks on their faces, and then he hurries behind them. This leaves Lyra alone with Bellamy and she uneasily recalls the fight she'd had with Octavia. It already feels as if it was years ago, which doesn't make any sense. It couldn't have even been two hours since they yelled at each other.
She swallows thickly. "What'd we miss?"
"Became Raven's punching bag," he admits vaguely. "You were right. Alie really does know how to get under your skin."
Bellamy does not offer anything else. Lyra does not ask. Instead they both turn and continue quietly down the dirt path and then back into the trading post.
"Everyone let's go!" Sinclair calls, striding across the wooden floorboards. In his arms is the device he'd built, the electromagnet haphazardly stuck to the end. "All we have to do is connect her and activate the electromagnet."
Brushing past the tattered cloth overhang, Lyra enters the back room where Raven is first. The girl is unusually silent as she lays there, still fettered to the bedposts. The white gauze wrapped around her wrists are stained with what looks like fresh blood, but there's no time to ask what happened to her. Sinclair sets the device at the edge of the mattress and Lyra adjusts the electromagnet quickly. Raven raises her head to face her and the look in her dark eyes is absolutely murderous.
"OK, it's gonna work," Lyra says, fixing the wires.
Jasper snorts. "Don't you ever get bored of being happy and positive? This thing could kill Raven."
"Yeah," she agrees. "But if it wasn't going to do anything, I don't think Raven would be looking at me like she wants to kill me."
Jasper mutters something under his breath that sounds like, Can't really blame her.
Fortunately ━━ or unfortunately, really ━━ Lyra is saved from having to respond. Just as Monty is untying Raven's left arm so that they can put the wristband on her, Raven jerks her fist into his gut. He falls back against the wall as she starts to cry out fiercely.
"Hold it still!" Sinclair orders Lyra as the bed begins to shake. She fights to keep the EMP from jostling.
"Raven, stop it!" Clarke yells.
Much to their collective horror, Raven begins to bash her skull against the bed-frame over and over. Using a pair of pliers to cut an excessive wire from the EMP, Lyra bites down on her lip hard enough that she tastes blood.
"She's trying to kill herself," mutters Bellamy, his face ashen. "Raven, stop!"
Raven lets out another enraged cry as Octavia fists her hair and shoves her head back, trying to hold her still. Her entire body writhes inhumanly as she screams.
"Stop and I'll give you this!"
Raven stops fighting at once. With her no longer thrashing around, Lyra had the time to look up and follow her gaze to the updated version of the chip Clarke holds between her fingertips. It's enough of a distraction for Bellamy to clamp the wristband over her wrists and Raven howls.
"No! You lied! You lied!" Raven screams. Sinclair's holding Raven's wrist down and Lyra takes the wiring from the EMP, shoving it into the ports of the wristband. Tears start to well in Raven's eyes. "No, please, don't! The EMP will give me brain damage! Lyra, you're smarter than them! The chip's integrated with my mind! You know it'll fry my brain!"
"Don't listen to her!" Octavia exclaims, fighting to hold Raven's left shoulder down.
"Please!" Raven begs. Tears are streaming down her face. "You know it will. Lyra, Sinclair, stop! Sinclair, no!"
Please let her be lying, Lyra finds herself begging silently, fingers fumbling as she readjusts the wiring one last time. There is already so much blood on her hands. She does not know what she'll do if she ends up killing Raven, too.
"We've only got one shot at this!" Sinclair shouts above Raven's cries. "The EMP will fry the wristbands, too!"
"It's ready," Lyra tells him, her voice wobbly with panic. Please don't let this kill Raven.
"Got it!" Monty shouts over the chaos. "Go!"
He slams his hand onto the trigger. The EMP jolts, but there is no volt of electricity. Lyra's face falls and she jams her finger onto the trigger once. Then twice. Then a third time.
"What's happening?" Jasper demands.
"The battery's not strong enough," Lyra breathes. She's fully panicking now. "We need more power!"
"Well, then get one that is!" Clarke cries out.
Monty's eyes widen. "The rover."
"I've got it!" Lyra exclaims. "Hold Raven down!"
She bolts out of the room, leaving Raven's wails behind her. Bellamy shouts something about it not being safe outside now that Alie knows they're here ━━ how Alie figured it out is beyond Lyra; it must've happened while she was at the dropship ━━ and then she hears him yelling for Sinclair to take his place where he'd been holding Raven down and races after Lyra.
Twigs snap beneath her boots as she sprints across the dirt. Thanks to the massive all-terrain wheels of the rover, it's hard for her to get a proper grip on the hood and she has to stand on her tippy-toes. Bellamy moves to the opposite end, helping her prop the hood open.
It takes her a moment to get her bearings as she stares at it. There's the sparking plug, then the cylinder head, pistons, a pushrod, a fan. . . where's the electromagnet supposed to be, again?
She should've stayed at Arkadia for the three months. Then she'd know. Stupid — stupid — stupid —
"Drone!" Bellamy shouts abruptly.
Fists already half-tangled in the wiring, Lyra jerks around. Sure enough there's a real-life drone spindling through the air and her eyes widen. There's only one person who'd have access to that kind of technology on the ground ━━ Alie.
"She's here!"
There's the sound of the rifle reloading, then a gunshot cracks through the air. It hits the drone and the machine goes spiraling downwards before disappearing into the underbrush. For a moment she forgets to be terrified and instead glances at Bellamy, impressed. He's gotten insanely good at shooting.
"Not anymore," he says grimly. Though his eyes scan the skies wearily for anymore threats, he manages to nudge her. "Get the damn battery. Hurry!"
Lyra's hands push through the engine parts. Her knee begins to bounce with jumpiness. There's the commutator. . . then the motor coil, or the rotor. Next is the stator coil, bronze wires wound around a silvery spoke and then. . . the electromagnet!
Exhaling sharply in relief, she unwinds the coils as fast as she can. At long last, she retrieves the electromagnet.
"Got it!" She exclaims. "Let's go!"
They sprint back through the trading post and into the back room where Raven continues to scream as if she's possessed. Spittle flies from her mouth as she bucks up and down erratically, her eyes gleaming wildly. Stumbling under the weight of the electromagnet ━━ even though it is much, much lighter than the one taken from the PI thrusters of the Ark ━━ Lyra makes a bee-line for the EMP at the bed. Bellamy lingers at the threshold, glancing behind them frantically, clearly waiting for the next threat.
"Guys, we have to move!" He barks over the furore. "Move!"
Since Sinclair's occupied with holding Raven down, Lyra grabs the pliers. Seizing the coils intertwined with the dropship electromagnet, Lyra takes the iron piece and tightens the coil of insulated wire around it. The battery looks fine, but Lyra isn't entirely sure. . .
But there's no time to waste. She attaches the battery and hopes she hasn't fucked up. Raven could die or, even worse, Lyra could fry the wristband and Alie would be stuck in Raven's head permanently.
"Finished!" Lyra says. Her hands are clammy. "Go!"
Sinclair flips the switch.
Electricity jolts through the wiring and into the wristband. It pulsates furiously. A violent scream is torn from Raven's throat as her entire body jerks upwards and then. . . all noise dies in her throat. She collapses against the bed, completely limp. A deadly silence echoes.
"Fuck," Lyra whispers, terrified. Was Alie telling the truth? Did she, Lyra, actually kill Raven?
Clarke shoves two fingers onto Raven's neck, glancing haphazardly at the rest of them. "She's breathing — Raven? Come on, Raven. Hey! Come on, Raven, wake up. Wake up!"
"Raven," Octavia says, grabbing her shoulders. "Raven!"
Clarke grabs Raven by the face, but her head just lolls backwards as soon as she lets go. "Raven! Wake up!"
"Raven, please," Lyra begs, her throat clogged with panic. She's killed so many people already. Raven can't be the next. She just can't.
"You killed her," Jasper whispers from somewhere behind her. "Alie warned us."
"What're you doing?" Clarke cries out suddenly.
Eyes already glassy, Lyra jerks around just in time to see Jasper crossing the room in two great strides. He's aiming for a half-rotten wooden table shoved into the corner. There's a metal bar in his hands and his fists coil around it so tightly that it looks as if his knuckles might break.
"Alie did that to Raven! She's never gonna get this!"
"No, you can't!" Clarke shrieks. Her voice becomes shrill with desperation as she throws herself forwards. "No, give it back! Stop! It's Lexa!"
Jasper freezes. Lyra stares at Clarke; the admission seems to have broken her.
"Part of her is still in there!" Clarke half-sobs. Her entire countenance is quivering. "I saw them cut it out of her head, I'm not. . . I'm not. . . "
She starts to trail off, but it's not out of misery. Her eyes seem calculating now.
"What is it?" Bellamy asks gruffly.
"Both AI's were made by the same person. Both tap into human consciousness," says Clarke quietly. She turns to look at Lyra. "They must work similarly, right?"
"That's a big maybe. If we're basing this off the idea that the wakefulness pathway runs from the brain stem to thalamus context, then we can assume they both go through the pathway most critical for maintaining consciousness, which runs from the brain stem through the hypothalamus and basal forebrain into the cortex. Since the chip inhibits certain neural pathways — "
"Lyra!" Bellamy interrupts, looking torn between amusement and impatience. "English, please."
She flushes. She'd said that all very quickly, in a single breath. Bellamy, Octavia, Clarke, and Jasper are all staring at her blankly.
"Hypothetically, there's only one viable path to consciousness," she says. "Hypothetically."
"What does this have to do with anything?" Octavia demands.
"I've seen an AI get removed before," says Clarke. She must have decided that Lyra's hypothetically is good enough for her, because she strides back towards Raven with a new confidence. "Help me get her on her side!"
"OK," Octavia braces Raven as Bellamy and Lyra come to help. "One, two, three!"
They heave Raven onto her side. Lyra tries to bite back her panic; Raven's wrists fall limply and her body has gone very, very cold.
"Get that med-kit from my bag!" Clarke orders.
A beat later, Monty is shoving a cloth bag into Clarke's hand. She rifles through it frantically before grabbing a sort of silvery instrument. It flashes malevolently in the firelight and Lyra realizes that it's a scalpel. Faintly alarmed, she watches as Clarke aims it towards the nape of Raven's neck.
"Woah, woah, woah," Sinclair says anxiously. "What. . . ?"
"It's OK," Clarke assures him. Before anyone else can protest, she is driving the blade through Raven's skin. Dark crimson begins to dribble down her tan skin and Clarke begins to look anxious. "This has to work."
She wipes the trail of blood with a ragged cloth. Suddenly, a sticky, almost silvery goop, begins to gush from the wound in rivulets.
Bellamy's brow furrows in disgust. "What is that?"
"Must be whatever's left of the chip," Lyra murmurs. Bizarrely enough, she's very fascinated.
Before Lyra can reach out and touch it ━━ even though she knows she absolutely should not ━━ Raven splutters back to life. She rolls onto her back with an agonized Ow as she reaches back to touch her neck. Her eyelids flutter and she coughs weakly.
"Hey," says Sinclair softly. He looks as if a great weight's been lifted from his shoulders. "Get her up. Come on."
He and Octavia grab Raven by the shoulders, gently starting to haul her upwards. Octavia gives a tense smile. "Never thought I'd be so happy to see someone in pain."
Tipping her head back, Raven's laugh is right with pain. But she manages a grin. "Ow."
Hardly relieved, Clarke walks towards Jasper. His eyes flicker over her, shadowed with something like regret. He mutters something too quiet for Lyra to make out, then shoves something into Clarke's hands. Whatever he'd said must've hurt because Clarke looks distraught as he turns away from her.
But Lyra's attention is quickly drawn as a horrified look comes over Monty's face.
"I could've saved my mom. . . "
Lyra wishes she could say something that'd make him feel better. But deliverance comes at a cost and this time, she is unable to bear it. This is Monty's burden and she knows that her forgiveness will not be enough.
Jasper ambles towards him with a soft, "Hey. . . "
Monty flinches away from him as if he's been struck. His eyes flash malevolently. "Get the hell away from me!"
Not giving Jasper, or anyone else for that matter, a chance to comfort him, Monty whirls around and then storms from the room. Jasper watches him go with his shoulders slumped. For the first time, Lyra is stricken at how very alone Jasper looks.
She realizes that Jasper's very lonely. Lonelier than he lets on; he's spent so long pushing them all away.
Maybe he's even lonelier than he realizes.
"Alie knows we're here," Bellamy says lowly. He doesn't seem to want to speak up at all after that. "We've got to move."
And about ten minutes later, they're just about ready to go. Sinclair had taken Raven straight to the rover where Monty's been waiting and, after a moment's hesitation, Jasper follows. Octavia had taken it upon herself to change and Lyra, upon realizing that she smelled pretty much like blood and sweat and depression, did the same. While Octavia had taken a ribbed sort of tank top, Lyra 'borrows' a loose, almost jumper, top. It's a bit oversized and the sleeves go past her wrists, but she doesn't mind. She's about to leave an IOU note, but then Octavia gives Niylah the lantern and tells her, in Trigadasleng, that it's for the clothes. Niylah gives them a tight nod.
Clarke's lingering in the threshold and it's clear she wants to speak privately, so the other two girls head outside. Octavia walks towards the rover. Meanwhile Lyra trails somewhere behind and then stops; Bellamy is standing by the edge of the path, watching for any other sight of Alie, her drones, or her chipped army. Or all three of them.
His knuckles are bruised. Before she can stop herself, Lyra is reaching towards them tentatively.
Her fingers graze his split skin. "You'll be OK."
"Will I?" He asks, voice tight with pain. "I lost her, Lyra."
"She's your sister. She'll forgive you," Lyra assures him. Even if Bellamy doesn't see it, even if Octavia doesn't see it, she knows they'll be all right.
He doesn't look convinced.
"She will," Lyra promises. She becomes more hesitant as her lower lip rolls between her teeth. "But I think you need to forgive yourself first, Bellamy."
"Yeah." He looks bemused by the very idea. "Forgiveness is hard for us, isn't it?"
Her voice is a whisper. "Yeah."
"I was so angry at you for leaving," Bellamy admits quietly. His shoulders slump weakly and then his eyes shift, dark and weary, before finding her own. "I don't want to feel that way anymore."
"Then don't," she says, but she knows it's easier said than done. "You'll be OK."
"The thing is, I don't know if I will be," Bellamy responds lowly. Something inside him seems to wither as his voice darkens. "What do you when you realize. . . you might actually be the monster?"
Lyra swallows thickly. "I'm starting to think monsters and heroes aren't so different after all."
There's a heaviness in Bellamy's gaze that Lyra has never seen there before.
"Back it up!"
Jerking in alarm, Lyra remembers suddenly that the world isn't just her and Bellamy. She whirls around from him to find Sinclair gesturing for the rover to drive backwards and she finds that Sinclair, Octavia, Raven, and Jasper are all gathered just a dozen feet away from them. Clarke comes out of the trading post, looking vaguely crestfallen. Lyra's cheeks heat up and her insides squirm. Something about that conversation had been insanely vulnerable and she prays to the stars above that none of them had heard any of it.
Jasper and Sinclair help Raven into the back of the rover. She grimaces in pain as she settles down in the back. Monty ambles around from the front of the rover, hands shoved deep into his pockets. His head is hung and Lyra cannot see his expression.
"Hey. There's one thing I don't understand," Clarke says to Raven quietly. "Why did Alie want you to kill yourself?"
"Because I know why she wants the second AI."
"Why?" Bellamy asks.
"It's the only thing that can stop her," Raven answers solemnly.
"Then let's stop her," Octavia says after a tense beat. She looks at each of them slowly in turn, her gaze lingering on Lyra. Somehow Lyra knows that this means all is well between them. "We survive together."
Monty's eyes flicker upwards slowly, then, his expression unreadable, he gives a nod.
"Wait," says Raven suddenly. "That's not all."
"Of course it's not," Jasper mutters.
"She wants Lyra."
Lyra's heart freezes. She looks at Raven with wide eyes, almost unsure if she'd even heard her right. Behind her, Bellamy visibly tenses.
"Me?" Lyra asks.
"You're a direct descendant of Becca Pramheda, the first Commander," Raven tells her grimly. "But I don't have much. Alie only ever kept one secret from me, and this was it. All I know is one thing. . . "
"Which is?" Bellamy demands.
Raven faces him evenly. "Lyra is the key to everything."
͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙
i am so excited for the rest of this season, oh my god. . . y'all better buckle up. it's finna be GOOD 😈
anyways,,, lyra thinking she escaped being the main character by leaving for 3 months only for me to shove her back into the main plot
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