Rupture | Bellamy Blake ² [Discontinued]

❉| chapter twenty-nine

WARNING: since fallon is a nurse, she helps abby with ontari's open heart surgery. the visuals are a little graphic and my own chest is actually hurting while writing it, so you can skip it if it gets to be too much.

❝the battle was a sore one, and the victory anything but secure.❞

-nathaniel hawthorne, author

♛

RAVEN HAD TOLD US that the EMP will only work once. Originally, we were going to use it on Ontari, but since the only thing that's alive is her body and not her mind, we decide to help the next best person: Abby.

Clarke cradles her mother's head in her lap, gently brushing a strand of brunette hair away from her face as I carefully connect the last of the wires to her body. I give her a nod before flicking the switch that turns the battery on. Immediately, Abby begins to seize, pained cries bursting out of her mouth and causing me to wince. Clarke carefully draws the remnants of the chip out of her system with a device Raven and Caleb had created.

Abby falls silent and still. Clarke hesitantly whispers, "Mom? Can you hear me? I know you're in there. Come back to me. I need you."

My heart aches at the desperation in her voice as she sniffles and blinks tears from her eyes. I reach over, grasping onto Clarke's free hand and squeezing in support while we both wait for a response. The seconds tick by unbearably slowly.

A relieved gasp bursts out of me when Abby's eyelids flutter open and she struggles to comprehend her surroundings. Relief spreads through me like a tidal wave. Thank God that Clarke and I didn't lose our mother— even though things still seem hopeless, at least we have her back.

"Hi," Clarke greets with a small laugh, the smile on her face bringing me hope despite our circumstances.

"Clarke?" Abby whispers in a hoarse croak. Her eyes flicker between the two of us rapidly. "Fallon?"

"You're okay," I say in a soft voice, helping Clarke ease her into a sitting position. The bruises on her throat are dark and ugly. They form a purple and blue ring around her neck, appearing grotesque and making my gut twist that she even tried to hang herself. I don't know how long she was hanging, but it's a miracle she can speak at all.

Clarke's sobs are happy ones, tears streaming down her face as a sign of her relief. I feel my own eyes sting as well. The grin hasn't left my face, my lips starting to ache.

But as Abby looks at her daughter's face, her own twists in agony as she recalls what she'd done. "I'm sorry."

"No," the blonde protests firmly.

"I'm so sorry." Abby reaches out to touch her face, then ultimately decides against it and instead buries her face into her hands in shame. Her shoulders rack with sobs that break my heart

"Hey, stop," Clarke teases lightheartedly. She lifts her mother's head and looks her in the eye, asserting, "It wasn't you."

Abby's tear-filled eyes meet mine once again and only seem to make her guilt worse. Her lips tremble as she looks at me, her brown eyes filled with both emotional and physical pain. "Oh, Fallon. I—"