Persphyni : I am Destruction

27

"The end is coming. Here me as I say it this time. The end is coming, and it's coming soon."

"The end is coming, and it's coming soon." I whispered, knowing the speech already as Jaha played the video for Clarke to watch as I rode shot gun with Bellamy driving.

"I'm actually going mad." I whispered, laughing quietly as I shook my head. "The world is dark and getting darker all the time."

"The world is dark and getting darker all the time." Cadogen continued from the screen as I looked at Bellamy who was staring at me in shock.

"I know." I turned back to face the window as I pulled the small hunting knife Adria had given me. "I've become more abnormal."

"No, it's not that. It's just... were you really able to control them?" I nodded looking back over to Bellamy as he focused his attention on the road.

"I had never dreamed until after I woke up from Alie's minor-coma. It was odd, for the first time ever it wasn't just silence and darkness. There were scenes I never had seen and places I had never been. It was new and I don't like how I have no control over them. But the night of the storm after you interrupted my attempt at sleeping, they stopped." I watched a proud smirk cross his face and I knew I had to smack it away. "But it might have had something to do with exhaustion. We did stay up quite late working with Clarke." I had my own smirk on my lips when I saw his drop slightly. A small laugh on my tongue as I listened back into the video Clarke was playing.

"From the ashes,"

"We will rise." I finished for Cadogen, as the video ended. Accidentally a little too loud as I felt Jaha and Clarke give me a look I simply ignored.

"Please tell me you have more than this." Clarke spoke up after they realized I wasn't going to acknowledge them.

"In the two years before the bombs, Cadogen sold off most of the Second Dawn's real estate holdings, generating tens of millions of dollars, but there was one thing he didn't sell." I heard Jaha tap around on the screen before I saw him pass the tech over to Clarke through the corner of my eye as I watched the road ahead. My hands playing with my silver wrist cuffs.

"I found this in his autobiography. It's his childhood home. His father built a bunker there to save his family. I think Cadogen used the church's money to expand it." My stoic face turned puzzled at the mention of a home, something told me that this wasn't right, and Bellamy saw my confusion.

"He grew up there, maybe he kept it for sentimental value." Bellamy said, giving me a concerned glance.

"His father beat him almost daily in that house. He hated living there." Jaha refuted cryptically. His words stilled my hands as I continued to stare out the windshield.

"Why keep it if you're liquidating everything else?" For revenge, Clarke.

"Because that bunker is there. I can feel it." My gut was twisting, sending signals to my brain which wasn't listening as I stared out at the forest thinking.

"Guy sounds like a religious fanatic to me." Bellamy's voice carried to my ear but he seemed so far away.

"Maybe, or maybe he was just a leader willing to do whatever it took to save his people." A burst of anger shot through me for some unknown reason and I was speaking in a deathly tone before I could catch up to my thoughts.

"Bill Cadogen was a coward who wanted to be admired and followed. He would kill anyone close to opposing him if it meant people followed him even if it was out of fear." The Rover went silent as I spoke. My words venomous as I kept a neutral tone coated in underlying hatred. My face remained stoic even after I had a moment to process my words and wonder what the hell was going on with me.

"I uh, well, um."

"Shut the hell up, Thelonius." And he did.

Silence accompanied the Rover as we continued to drive until Bellamy finally parked in the dead of night. The timing horrid as I was supposed to be leaving for Polis in the morning.

We filed out of the Rover, their weapons and flashlights out as I walked calmly while surveying the area.

"Cadogen learned how to survive from his father. They hunted in these woods." Jaha voice was higher as we walked down through the trees.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a boy crush on Cadogen." I wore a smirk as I mocked the older man. His words falling quiet as I startled him, earning a stifled laugh from Bellamy and an eye roll from Clarke.

"This is it." Jaha finally spoke up as we stopped in front of a clearing. Bellamy's and Clarke's flashlights lighting up on a field. My eyes narrowed as I examined the outside. Whosever memory had been given to me was unfamiliar with this place.

"Well, if anyone's entitled to a lucky break, we are." Bellamy said, glancing over at Clarke and I as we looked ahead of us.

This wasn't it.

"You hear that?" Jaha whispered, "No insects. What?" I let Clarke take care of this as I moved passed them and walked closer to the opened area. Dagger drawn as I kept a sharp eye out.

"Luna said the fish were dying." Clarke responded to Jaha's question.

"What are the things that eat the fish and bugs gonna eat now?" I rolled my eyes at his question, nonetheless turning around to tease him.

"They'll eat tall, muscular, freckled, young men who have curly black hair and save the dazzling brown eyes for a snack." I flipped my dagger in my hand as I finished with a laugh.

"Cute." I rolled my eyes at his deadpanned response though I could see a hint of a smirk.

"You did ask a dumb question, and if a predator comes, it's going after you or Jaha first. My money's on Jaha though, you're a little faster."

"Thanks for the support." This time he rolled his eyes making me smirk.

"It's all you're getting, now let's go." Clarke fell in behind me as I turned and led the way towards the shed.

"Why wasn't I included in that?" Clarke asked in a hushed whisper, still a little nervous cause we never really made up from when she left after the Mountain, risking her life.

"You've survived well enough on your own, I think you could take a panther. Bellamy over here had trouble with that day 2." I felt him bump me as he started walking beside me.

"That's back when I was an asshole who wanted your attention because you were so mysterious." I scoffed and looked up at him.

"The only thing right with that sentence is that you were an asshole." I walked a tiny bit faster as I left him with Clarke, "and you still are." I heard him gasp and I could help but smile.

"Take that back." And the next thing I knew he had me thrown over his shoulder as I stared down at the dark forest ground.