I kept my eyes trained on Russell as Bellamy spoke with him. He's speaking to the man about our compound we want to build. Turns out, as I had suspected, Josephine Prime had taken over my sister's body. I stood beside Miller with my arms crossed over my chest. I'm still pissed that he murdered Clarke and I'm not letting any of my friends near any of the Primes by themselves. Russell seemed a bit uncomfortable under my gaze as Bellamy spoke.
"So, in exchange for ignoring that you murdered Clarke..." The doors opened revealing Clarke-- I mean Josephine who walked toward us. "You build us a compound."
"What about the mother and child?" Russell asked. "Will they agree? What of her?"
Russell looked at me and I narrowed my eyes at him, clenching my fists. Bellamy glanced at me before speaking.
"I'll handle our people. How long will it take to build?"
I heard Josephine clear her throat, causing Russell to hold his finger up. I felt my anger building until I eventually couldn't handle it. Just as Russell was about to answer Bellamy's question, I spoke.
"I'm gonna leave," I blurted, causing everyone to look at me. "Before I do something I regret."
I kept my fists balled together as I brushed past everyone in the room and walked out. I need to take a breather. I can't be in the same room as Russell without wanting to kill him. He killed Clarke and Bellamy is the only reason he's not dead yet.
I made my way out of the palace toward the tavern. When I got inside, I saw Raven. She furrowed her eyebrows at me, probably noticing my expression.
"Aiden, is everything alright?" She asked worriedly.
"Everything's fine," I answered, stopping in front of her. "Bellamy and Miller are talking to Russell. I just couldn't be in the same room as him."
Raven nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. "Are you okay?"
I only nodded before walking toward the bar counter. Raven sat next to me as I answered her. "I'm fine. I just... Out of everything that's happening, only one thing has been good. Why can't we just have normal lives?"
The raven-haired girl beside me shook her head. "I don't know... Hey, what's the one good thing?"
I couldn't help but let a small smile tug at my lips as I glanced at the girl. "Bellamy-- he, uh... He proposed. And I said yes."
I saw Raven's face light up as a smile made its way onto her lips. "What? Aiden, that's amazing. Congrats."
The girl pulled me into a hug, which I accepted. "Thanks, Raven."
"I better be in the wedding," the girl suddenly said, pulling away from the hug, a serious look on her face.
I chuckled quietly as I nodded, causing her to smile. "You can be my Maid of Honor."
"Cool."
°°°
Raven had gone to Eligius IV with Abby to save Kane. I had stayed in the tavern and everyone else had come, meeting with me.
"Thank God she's still in there," Jackson said, relief in his voice. "It would've destroyed Abby."
"Question is, how do we get Josephine out?" Bellamy asked. Bellamy had found out that Clarke is still alive inside her mind but Josephine is in control.
"We need Raven," Echo blurted. "She'll know what to do."
"Raven's not here."
I turned to look at Madi, speaking. "Hey, we're gonna get her back." The girl nodded.
"When the transport ship lands, we'll be waiting in the field with Josephine. Once we're all back on the mothership, Abby, Raven, and Jackson will go to work," Bellamy continued.
I turned to Miller as he spoke. "What if they don't open the shield and let us out?"
"If they don't, Josephine dies," I said sternly.
"That's why they will."
"What about Delilah?" I heard Jordan ask to my right, causing me to purse my lips. "If Clarke's still alive, then she could be, too... You only care about Clarke."
Bellamy looked at the boy, shaking his head. "That's not true, but worry about Clarke for now. We start asking questions and the Primes figure out why--"
"They can't figure it out if they're dead," Madi interrupted, causing me to look at her confused. Madi looked at Bellamy. "Once we kill the Primes, we take over Sanctum. We save Clarke here in the lab that was built for it."
I narrowed my eyes slightly as I shook my head. "Madi, as much as I want revenge for what they've done, mass murder isn't the way to go."
"Is that your idea or Sheidheda's?" Bellamy asked warily. A past commander, the dark commander has an influence over Madi and it's kind of concerning. Madi's already banished Gaia and she's unpredictable.
Madi gave the man a look. "Who cares if it works? I've been surveilling the one named Miranda. We kill her and let them find the body. They'll think it's the Children of Gabriel and panic, locking themselves inside the palace, probably the great hall, and that's where we'll be waiting to take out the rest."
I looked at Jordan as he shook his head. "We're not killing Delilah."
Madi gave the boy a look. "Delilah's already dead."
"We don't know that for sure."
"You're right, but what we do know is that I'm the commander," Madi spat. No one said anything for a moment before Madi turned to Echo. "Echo thinks it's a good plan, don't you, spy?"
Echo seemed a bit hurt by it but hid it with a humored smile as she spoke. "A Little aggressive for the situation, but it could work if we were willing to kill all of their people along with them when they come after us for killing their Gods."
The young girl let out a sigh, seeming to be thinking before she spoke once again. "We are."
Bellamy immediately shook his head. "No, we're not. Gaia would tell you the same thing if she was here. We have until the ship lands to come up with a quiet way to get Clarke on it."
"What about Murphy and Emori?" Jackson suddenly asked.
"For now, we tell them nothing."
"Emori, too?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
Bellamy nodded. "We have to assume that she's with him. Don't worry. When it's time to go, we're taking them with us, even if we have to do it by force."
°°°
I watched curiously as Emori and Bellamy interacted. Emori asked for one of the shock collars but didn't say why. After a minute or two of speaking, the pair turned and walked toward us, causing me to stand.
"I take it it's go time?" I asked causing Bellamy to nod.
"Yeah. We need a plan to get Clarke now, something other than killing them. Where the hell's Madi?"
I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked around the tavern to see Madi was gone. I let out a small groan of annoyance.
°°°
"Oh, John, I am so sorry it had to be like this," I heard Emori say. We were all waiting in the field. Emori had agreed to help us save Clarke and had led Murphy and Josephine to the edge of the field. Echo had stayed behind with Jackson and Miller to search for Madi.
"Like what?" Murphy asked confused. "Emori, nothing needs to change. We can go back right now. I told them not to tell the guards about any of this."
"That's what we were counting on," Bellamy called out as he and I walked out into the open behind Emori.
"Oh, perfect," Josephine spoke sarcastically and annoyed. "You know, I admire you guys. I really do. If the other Primes had half your balls, we'd be swimming in hosts and none of this would be necessary, but unfortunately, it is, so I'm gonna give you the facts because I really don't think you thought this through. Yes, Clarke's alive, but the brain we now share is dying, so unless one of you is a neurosurgeon, this body will die in hours, not days. My mind will be backed up, and her's won't."
"Actually, our neurosurgeon's on his way," I stated with a small smirk. I saw Murphy's face fall and Josephine gave him a look of confusion.
"Jackson."
Josephine laughed humorlessly. "Okay. Sure. Let's say that he figures it out. He won't, but, just for fun, where are you gonna operate, here in a Joberry field?"
Bellamy crossed his arms over his chest. "Actually, we were thinking about using one of the 14 research outposts marked on the map your father gave us."
Josephine pursed her lips, turning to the radiation shield. "Well, it's too bad you can't get past the radiation shield."
"Oh, that's where the EMP comes in," Bellamy said, smirking. I raised an eyebrow slightly as I crossed my arms over my chest, still smirking.
Bellamy nodded to Emori who walked past Murphy and Josephine. Just as Murphy tried to stop the girl, she dodged him and Josephine grabbed the boy, pressing a blade to his throat.
"I'm sorry, John," Josephine whispered. "Step away from the device."
I watched as Emori set the things in her hand on the ground.
"You think we care about that traitor?" Bellamy asked.
"Uh, Lord knows you shouldn't, but, yeah, you do, which brings us to yet another episode of 'No Good Choices'. Clarke would love this. Either you let Murphy die in a doomed attempt to save her, starting a war with my father or we stay friends and live happily ever after... Take a minute to think it over."
I exchanged a look with Bellamy before looking back at Josephine and Murphy. Just then, an alarm sounded, blaring annoyingly. I looked over my shoulder at Sanctum.
"Huh. That can't be good for you," Josephine commented. "Stand down now, and this never happened."
I looked at Bellamy, shaking my head slightly. "We can't do this without Jackson."
Just as Bellamy was about to speak, Murphy blurted, "You don't need him. Find Gabriel. He was one of them, but then he bailed. Ryker helped him escape."
"Gabriel left 70 years ago," Josephine stated, rolling her eyes. "He'd be 106 by now, also known as dead."
"Why do look so concerned?" I asked just as the sound of motorcycle engines filled my ears causing Josephine to smirk.
"Here they come."
"Set the EMP," I called out to Emori. Just as Emori went to grab the device, I heard Josephine mumble something under her breath before cutting Murphy's leg, causing him to cry out in pain as Josephine let him fall to the ground.
Emori went running to him as Josephine ran at her. I reacted by grabbing Josephine, twisting her arm back. She cried out. Sorry, Clarke. The girl then used her leg to knee me in the gut causing me to groan in pain. I quickly recovered and managed to put cuffs on Josephine's wrists as Bellamy grabbed the girl, holding her back.
"Put it near the pylon!" Emori shouted as I ran toward the EMP. "Plug it in, and press the button. Make sure Clarke is out of the way. You have ten seconds to get out before it reboots."
"You take Clarke," I said to Bellamy, looking at him. He looked at me as I continued. "I'll stay with the others and keep them safe. When the ship gets back, we'll find you."
I ran to the radiation shield, setting up the EMP before looking back at Bellamy. "We got this."
Josephine scoffed, shaking her head. "You so don't."
I turned back to the device in front of me before pressing the button. The shield deactivated.
"It's down. Go now!" I shouted. Bellamy ran with Josephine past the shield. He was practically dragging the girl into the woods because she was struggling so much. Just then, the shield rebooted and I watched as Bellamy forced Josephine to her feet.
The boy looked at me and gave me a nod. "Stay safe."
"Save Clarke."
He nodded before running into the woods. I turned and ran to Emori and Murphy, who was on the ground. "Emori, come on. He's with them now."
The girl looked at me, shaking her head. "No. I'm staying with him. Go find our friends."
I nodded before turning and running through the field back to Sanctum.
°°°
Wow. This was an interesting chapter, wasn't it? We didn't really get any Bellaiden moments, which sucks, but we got a nice moment between Raven and Aiden at the beginning.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you in the next one.
Buh-bye.