Work Text:
Do not think of the child.
Breathe.
Anything else.
The child-
Jellyfish. There are fourteen recipes for jellyfish that she’s learned in the last ten years-
Too much information. Try to think of nothing. A wall. Clear the mind.
“We’ve been at this for eleven days. Please just let me in.”
Levitt will get nothing. She owes him nothing, even if he’ll end up getting in trouble with his superiors. Even if he looks at her with some semblance of sympathy.
The M-CAP room is too sterile. It reminds her of Mount Weather. Or at least, what she remembers of it. Blinding lights, ones so bright that she can see them even as her eyes are closed. It smells like disinfectant. She won't be surprised if they regularly mop up blood from the floor. She wants trees, an endless sky, and rain.
She’s tired. Just send her back to Skyring. She won't complain anymore. Not about the lack of food variety, not about the lack of human contact. She won't try to reach out to Bellamy again. She'll give anything for just one more moment with...
“Hope, get back here.”
"Come and get me!”
No. Think of anything else.
“There was a child with you. Who is she?”
No.
“A daughter?”
She might as well have been. Levitt’s asking too many questions. About the girl, about the planet. Penance.
“We call it Skyring.” Hope is no prisoner. Penance? There are no crimes that the child needs absolution from.
“You know, in the time you’ve been here, years have passed for her.”
It can’t be true. She’s been hoping, praying, that maybe the time on this godforsaken planet is the same as Skyring. How old is Hope now? A teenager? Twenty? Her own age? Panic is setting in.
“You have to let me go, please. I need to get back to her. I’m begging you.” Ten years were all they got. She doesn't even know if Hope is alive, if Diyoza is out, and with her-
“I have my orders. If I could, I would. I’m sorry."
“I’ll cooperate. Leave her out of your reports and let me go back to her. I'll show you everything. I promise. Please."
There it is. That look of sympathy again.
She lets him in. It's painful. The Ark. The dropship. Lincoln, Arkadia, Trikru, Mount Weather, the oil rig, A.L.I.E, Pike...
Is he... enjoying this? He's watching the screens intently, seemingly unfazed as he watches her murder the earth skills teacher. She thinks she can see awe when he turns around. Why? She's a killer. It's not like anyone else has let her forget it. He hasn't even seen Bloodreina yet.
But something inside her makes her hope that maybe he's different.