1 + 2 | EMBERS TO FIRESTORM | THE 100 | JOHN MURPHY

TWENTY

T W E N T Y

"Charlotte," Althea whispers, opening her eyes once more and letting the night settle within her irises. Inky darkness settling within, claiming her as its own to love and to behold. It crept across her skin as she rose to her feet, ardently running its lips against her silky skin, weathered by the years of agony.

"Bellamy," Murphy tries, the regret apparent across his expression. But Althea made no sound, numb to the sight of Bellamy tackling Murphy to the ground and punching him with all his built up anger and pain and utter hatred.

Althea did not call out, nor did she feel the familiar sensation of pain. Whether that was because she thought he deserved to die, or because finally she was broken. Her shoulders fallen in, tried of carrying the burden which she had been cursed. The inability to save even a single, youthful life was the final push that send her tumbling over. Forcing herself to watch, she feels the cold seeping through herself.

"Bellamy, you'll kill him!" Clarke calls out, emotions running high.

No more lives deserved to be taken and gifted to the open arms of death tonight.

Finn is the one to pull Bellamy off, causing him to cry out. "Get off me; he deserves to die!" Nonetheless, he stands away from Murphy and turns to Clarke with fire in his eyes.

Clarke is not one to back down. "No, we don't decide who lives and dies, not down here," She bites back, her voice straining and her eyes burning with the same eternally passionate fire.

Finally, Althea allows her eyes to fall to Murphy. Now she felt it. Now her heart ached for him. Her hands yearned to wipe away the blood, to tell him he was going to be alright because he was a survivor, he'd told her that himself.

How she would hold him, how she would tell him he was a fool and a tyrant for wanting to hang a child who knew no better. She would take his cheeks in her palms and look into his eyes, making him promise her that this would be the final time his anger took control of him, even though she knew he would lie to her.

But sometimes a lie is enough to ease the heart and soul of such.

"So what then? We just take him back and pretend like it never happened?" Bellamy asks, appalled at Clarke's decision to not make him pay for what he had done. A crime in its own right.

"No." Clarke meets his eyes, her mind made up. "We banish him."

Suppressing a whimper of defeat, Althea's lips press thin and her eyes water once more, burning her darkened irises.

Bellamy sighs heavily before storming back over to Murphy. He grabs him, pulling him up. "Get up," He snarls, disgusted by the man before him. Althea's lungs cave in as Bellamy holds him over the cliff's edge. The threat alone silenced Murphy, let alone what he had done or caused. "If I ever catch you near camp we'll be back here, understand?" He threatens, soul blazing fiercely.

The short, shameful nod from Murphy was all he needed to throw him back onto the safety of the ground.

"As for the four of you, you can come back and follow me, or you can go with him to die. Your choice," He announces, striding away with the majority following him.

Now only Althea, Murphy and Finn remained. Taking one, analytical look at Althea, Finn produces a knife from his pocket and throws it beside Murphy before looking to her. "You're coming back, right?" He asks, questioning her intent.

"Yes," She answers simply before deciding to elaborate. "I'll be there soon, I just need a moment. Thank you, Finn." He gives her a small, knowing nod of the head before leaving the pair to themselves.

Murphy rises to his feet, his hand curling around the knife and slipping it into his pocket. Not bearing to look at Althea, knowing her eyes would tell him everything he didn't want to hear.

Althea watches him for a moment before she speaks. "What were you thinking? She was just a kid, Murphy," She says softly, her voice lacking the anger he thought he would witness. "And now she's dead." Her heart aches as she looks at him. "I wanted to help you, but there's no saving someone so determined to end themselves in a blaze of glory, is there?" The raw emotion and power in her voice was like nothing he had seen within her before. "Are you even listening?"

"Yes, I know." Is all he says, finally lifting his head to meet her crying eyes. Once more, she was beautifully sad. Under the glow of the moonlight, her eyes shone and her skin sparkled as they collected tears. "And now I'm paying for it."

"At least you have a chance to survive," She tells him wishfully. "Promise me you'll try to survive?" Her hands slip around his as if it were the most natural thing for her to do, as if it would force him to comply.

"I promise," He breathes, pulling her into his arms because in his heart he knew it was the last time he would hold her like this. The last time he would hear the elegance in her voice, listen to her wishes as if they were his own. The final time he would feel her warmth against him. "I told you, I'm a survivor."

"I know you did," She laughs sadly as she pulls herself slightly out of the goodbye embrace to peer up at him. His hands release her, slipping around her waist. "But you broke the last promise you made to me."

"This time, I mean it," He promises, one hand moving to her cheek to brush away the familiar tears from her cheek. His fingers linger, she leans into his touch and stares into his eyes as if searching for the lie.

She watches as one single tear slides down his cheek, capturing all the agony within it.

In that moment, it felt as if all the pain within Althea drove her towards him as she lurched up to capture his lips with her own. Her hands pressed against his chest as his soft lips moved against hers, reacting to the urgency in her.

It wasn't a farewell kiss, far from it. It was a passionate movement of the heart, fueled by anger and built up agony all being released at once. He was rough, his wait to feel her lips against his own finally over and now it was the moment, and he didn't want it to end.

She was just as fueled. Her hands gripping tightly into his shirt, her fingers curling around the material as she kissed him as if she were drowning.

His fingers tighten around her waist, pulling her into him as they match together like the perfect puzzle pieces. Forever destined to come together.

Althea's lips tasted of salt as his tongue slipped across her lips. They were painted in her tears, doused in her pain. Whimpering into him as her senses were bombarded with the fulfilment she had been seeking all her life. She was wanted. The sound alone sends shivers up his spine which claw into him with sharpened talons.

Raggedly breathing, she pulls her swollen lips from his and rests her forehead upon his. "May we meet again, John Murphy," She whispers between breaths, slowly releasing him from her desperate grasp.

"May we meet again."

END OF PART ONE

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1286 words

im thinking of doing a q&a for this book to answer what people want to know about althea and where she is possibly going/ where she came from, etc. let me know if this would be a good idea <3

also! finally they kissed!