❛ empire now ❜
★ ₊˚. ❪ survivor ❫
˗ˏ⋆ ˎ˗⠀┊ 3x14⠀┊ ⠀❝ xxxiii ❞
▅▅▅ ▅▅▅ ▅▅▅ ▅▅▅

"JOHN..."

Murphy was a survivor. He survived the ark, he's survived being banished and then tortured, he's survived watching his parents die. He is a survivor — a cockroach, but a survivor.

"Will you take the key?" Emori, a young woman he knew from his adventure to the dead zone, had taken the key when Jaha promised that her abnormalities would be forgotten. "John, her pain will stop if you take the key."

The pain; she meant the torture he was watching Marie go through. They believed that to make John break, he needed to watch the girl from his childhood break first. He had watched Marie be stabbed, kicked, punched, beaten until bloody and bruised after she had been taken off the cross. John Murphy knew what the passphrase was, and Marie knew were Daisy was. They were both the key to making a commander, whether or not it was being admitted. 

He was torn between the friendship he and Marie somewhat had, and all that he had to make up to her for. He wanted to be loyal to her, to save her too. But could he just give his mind up, well letting Marie die? He probably couldn't live with himself, but he knew Marie was strong, but this strong was pushing a limit he wasn't sure she could handle.

Through a small window, the golden rays from the sun shined through and made the chip in Emoris hand shimmer and sparkle. The chip, or the key as those under the influence of it called it, held the infinity symbol on it — a symbol of hope maybe, unity or the idea that they would forever remain.

John looked between the extended hand and Marie, who was slouched uncomfortably against the wall. He could see her tired eyes glistening with tears. 

"John, please," Emori urged, her voice calm and controlled. "You can save her. You can save yourself."

John Murphy's mind raced. He knew the chip would bring an end to the immediate suffering — all suffering —but at what cost? Would he lose himself in the process, just like Raven had lost memories she held so close once, like who Finn was? Would he remember his mom and dad?

He took a deep breath, his decision weighing heavily on his shoulders. John's heart pounded heavily in his ears as he reached out, his fingers brushing against the chip. He could feel the weight of Emori's gaze and the silent plea in Marie's eyes to not do it, that she could save herself without him becoming a mind controlled monster.

The room seemed to close in around him, the air thick with tension and the echoes of Marie's grunts and whimpers in pain as she tried to move towards him.

"John, you have to decide," Emori whispered, her voice barely audible over the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears. God, he hated this choice. His mind and freedom, of the life of the girl who gave him a birthday present when no one else did. "If you take the key, you can help her, we can even take her to Abby and fix all her wounds up."

He closed his eyes, trying to block out the images flashing in his head and the screams that kept replaying. If he did this, there was no guarantee that Clarke and Bellamy could save them, but there was the guarantee that he could help Marie right now.

With a deep breath, he opened his eyes and made his decision. He grabbed the key from Emori's hand, feeling its cold texture against his palm. "I'll do it," he said, his voice steady despite the tremble of his hands.

And then he swallowed the chip with an uncanny voice in his gut.

"ANAKIN..."

Breathes out steadily as he kneels, his eyelids closed and his mind still. He was in the city of light, where everything was quiet, yet full of chatter and happiness. It was something he had never really experienced; only pure happiness, no hate nor war.

"Anakin." Jasper Jordan waves kindly with one hand as he hands the man an ice cream cone with the other, something Jasper had only ever heard about from stories of those who lived on earth before the bombs. "Here. It's amazing."

Anakin smiled as he took the ice cream, nothing in his mind but the moment right now. He was happy. He felt no pain. He held no scars. He was just, pure, and happy. "Thank you."

"Of course!" Jasper beamed as he walked away, his own ice cream now in hand. The city of light worked in wonderful ways, Anakin had come to understand that he would never want to know anything other than the life he was currently living.

"John Murphy?" Anakin questioned and his heart grew heavy; he wasn't supposed to feel that. He wasn't supposed to feel any anxiety, any pain — both physical and mental. He shouldn't know that John was supposed to be keeping an eye on Marie and Daisy, he shouldn't know who John, Marie, or Daisy were.

ALIE's programming in Anakin was failing. She was failing. He was breaking her walls?

What. The. Fuck.

"Anakin." ALIE spoke as she placed a hand on his shoulder, his eyes opening and landing on the lady who wore red. "Anakin. They're here."

He knew who she meant. Clarke, Bellamy and anyone else with them.

"Of course," he stood, not noticing the look that she was giving him.

She would have him killed before Clarke could have a chance to use the emp she had.

Anakin walked through the bloodied streets of polis, his mind aching as he did so. He fist was curled around the hilt of his sword, covered in red and ready to be used again. Every time he blinked, an image of who he was before, who he knew before flashed, but he couldn't put it together.

As he approached Clarke and Bellamy in the empty streets, he could hear her voice ringing in his ears. "You have to stop them." They were here to end ALIE's control, to free everyone from the illusion of pain free happiness. "They will destroy everything we've built here."

"Anakin, wait!" Clarke called out, her voice pleading. "You don't have to do this."

For a moment, he hesitated. Why? He waited for Clarke to show him what ALIE wanted, and what he had once wanted so bad. He waited and waited for her to show him what she had, so he knew if he could kill her or not.

"I don't have the flame." Clarke admitted, eyes flashing to something behind Anakin. "He does."

Anakin fell forward as he heard ALIE let out a scream, one that made him realize that Clarke and them were much more smarter than they all realized.