Work Text:
The air on the island felt thick with the scent of damp earth as Edward and Aissa ran towards the den where Sayer of the Law had conducted his preachings, what had once been the heart of the Beast People’s domain. They descended the rickety elevator that led down into the den, anticipation gnawing at them.
Almost immediately, as the clearing opened up to their eyes, Moreau’s grand throne lay overturned, its heavy, carved wood splintered. And then, they saw it - a pair of legs sticking up, resting against the throne’s base. They were unnervingly still.
Aissa let out a small, choked sound, her hand coming up to her mouth. Edward’s heart plummeted as a wave of despair washed over them both. Montgomery’s demise, so sudden and brutal, felt like the death of their last hope. Getting off of this island had become their main priority, and now it felt like a crushing impossibility.
Edward sank to his knees, his legs sliding down easily against the dusty floor. Tears, hot and unexpected, welled in his eyes and escaped down his cheeks.
Just as the weight of everything threatened to crush him completely, a sound, faint and strangled, pierced the silence. “Ed..ward..”
Edward’s head snapped up, along with Aissa’s, their grief and utter shock momentarily forgotten.
Edward stood up, his knees nearly buckling beneath him as he stumbled closer to the throne. He looked down, now seeing Montgomery’s limp body in its entirety. Gunshot wounds were buried into his flesh, blood oozing onto the white cloth of his top. A gasp escaped Edward’s lips, his head quickly turning to gauge Aissa’s reaction. She looked just as bewildered.
Montgomery was alive, somehow. It was so terrifyingly wrong, yet undeniably true. The sound of his name, a dying whisper, had confirmed it.
Panic seized through him with a desperate hope. He scrambled to Montgomery’s side, as close as he could get, his hands clumsy and shaking. “Montgomery?” he choked out, his voice thick with emotion. He tried to shift Montgomery’s body, to pull him free from the cruel embrace of the throne. He needed to see the extent of the damage done. But Montgomery was dead weight, his limbs refusing to cooperate.
Edward strained, his muscles burning, but it was no use. Montgomery was too far gone, too weakened by the wounds. He eased his grip, his own body slumping in defeat. Montgomery’s head lolled back again, his handsome features now contorted in agony. His eyes, once so full of a certain dangerous amusement, were now clouded, staring at something Edward couldn’t see.
“Montgomery, please,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “You have to hold on.”
A faint tremor ran through Montgomery’s body. His lips, tinged with a ghastly pallor, parted. Another rasping sound emerged, quieter this time. “Edward, Aissa.. I’m sorry.” The words, so simple, hung in the air. Edward watched, witnessing first hand as the faint light in Montgomery’s eyes receded.
“Sorry for.. everything.” Montgomery said, his voice a wet, rattling sound. His chest, riddled with bullet holes, barely rose with each agonizing intake. “I.. I shouldn’t have..” the words died on his tongue.
Edward couldn’t speak. He could only reach out, his hand hovering over Montgomery’s. He wanted to offer comfort, but what comfort could he give to a man dying in such a terrible fashion?
“It’s not your fault,” Montgomery managed, his voice a ghost of its former self. “They.. they were always going to.. find their own way.”
Edward finally understood. The Beast People, in their own logic, had turned on their creator, and now their enabler.
“I’m so.. tired.” Montgomery wheezed, his breath growing shallower by the second. His face, now etched with the lines of suffering, seemed to blur before Edward and Aissa’s eyes. His hand, which had been resting limply at his side, twitched.
A final breath escaped his lips, a sigh that seemed to carry away his life. And then, with a stillness more profound than before, Montgomery’s eyes glazed over completely.
Edward remained kneeling, his hand now resting gently on Montgomery’s cooling forehead. The silence that descended was broken only by the distant cry of some unseen creature in the jungle.
Aissa reached out with a cold hand, squeezing Edward’s shoulder, her feline eyes wide with concern. “He’s gone, Edward,” she whispered, her voice laced with sorrow.
Montgomery was gone. The last fragment of hope had been extinguished on this forsaken island, leaving Edward and Aissa completely alone.
They looked down at Montgomery’s lifeless form, and a chilling realization settled deep within them. They were not just stranded; they were hunted. The weight of their situation pressed down on them, heavier than ever.