chapter 36
Clarke felt unsettled by the anger in the woman's voice, but didn't let it show as she said,"Me? What do I have to do with this?"
Darah looked at her and said,"We're more alike than you'd care to admit. We're both willing to sacrifice all we are for the betterment of others even if they don't deserve it. You think you're better than me, but just yesterday you burnt over 90 people to death and the only person who wasn't afraid of you wasn't your friends or fellow delinquents. It was some woman you met a few days ago. "
A loud, metallic groan echoed out from below Clarke's hands and the girl realised she had bent the metal arm of her chair in frustration as she listened to Darah's speech.
"Shut up."
"We aren't meant to be loved by others,"said Darah,"That's not our destiny. "
"Shut up."
"We're doomed to lurk in the shadows so our people can play in the light,"continued Darah as her eyes glazed over,"Hatred and scorn will be the only payment we will receive for saving everyone and once it's all said and done we'll fade away into the shadows never to be seen aga–"
Darah was cut off as Clarke threw her chair into the side of the wall. It impacted with a loud crash and Clarke breathed slowly to control her anger.
"We are not the same,"said Clarke slowly," I don't know what delusions you have, but we never have and never will be the same. I actually care for people. You say these nanobots were humanity's key to survival, but the truth is that humanity would be here with or without your inventions. You say being human is to adapt your surroundings, but you're wrong. Being human is to endure. Being human is to love. Being human is living with your mistakes and trying to repent for them. You don't care that you killed or experimented on hundreds of people. You don't care that you caused an era of living so dark it had to be scrubbed from history. You don't care. That's why we're different and why we'll never be the same."
Clarke took a few breaths to calm herself from her tirade and she relished in the look of shock and annoyance across Darah's face.
"You remind me of someone I used to know,"said Darah finally as she stared off into space,"She was always on about love, penance, self-sacrifice and all of that. I hated her so much sometimes and yet I still loved her more than I've ever loved anyone before."
Clarke was surprised to see a downtrodden expression come into being on Darah's face. She supposed that even people as harsh as her must have had people close to her.
"You know, Clarke,"said Darah finally, "They say that there is inherent darkness in every human, but that's wrong. The world itself is evil and covered in lies, deceit and betrayal. You can try to fight it, but in the end it will swallow you whole and you'll become the very thing you hated the most."
Clarke didn't say anything to indicate that she had heard Darah, but they both knew that she had taken that to heart. There was silence for some time before Darah spoke again.
"Well enough depressing stuff,"said Darah,"You're waking up so we'll have to cut this chit chat short. The last thing I wanted to tell is to stop using your powers."
Clarke raised a brow and said,"Why would I do that?"
Darah sighed and said, "We both know that Novus is damaging your body. You've been hacking up blood for weeks now and sooner or later it's going to be harder to hide. You activated a lot more powers sooner than expected and so the acclimatising process of Novus hasn't fully completed. It should be done within a day at the most, but until then don't use your powers unless it's extremely dire. You can get away with using Instinct, but anything else would be bad for you. Both our lives hang in the balance if you don't need my warning and besides who'll volunteer to be the Commander's slave if you're gone?"
Clarke ignored the jibe and said,"Acclimatising process? Is that what I saw when I used Insight on myself?"
Darah nodded and said,"Yes and it really should have been done a while ago, but you hardly ever rested. Your body should have collapsed days ago from the sheer strain you've been putting it through. You're lucky to be alive that stem cell regeneration capability you stole was able to mitigate the worst of it. "
Clarke raised a brow and said,"Stem cell regeneration?"
Darah nodded and said,"Yes, as you know the Novus improves the capabilities of any power you happen to steal and as you know accelerated healing would be pretty terrible if the chance for imperfections were as prevalent as they are in how humans normally heal. Your cells aren't splitting whenever you injure a part of your body. They're regenerating and the same goes for your tendency to heal other people."
"That's...great,"admitted Clarke as she realised just why her healing was better than those of the Grounders if Tris was to be believed anyways.
Clarke began to fade away and Darah didn't look surprised as she said,"Well Clarke, this was rather enlightening. I only have one piece of advice for you."
Clarke's body had almost fully disappeared, but she still heard Diana's words clearly.
"Sometimes, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. "
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White.
That was the first thing Clarke noticed about the room she was in. She looked around and saw that she was in a medical frock. Her skin felt faintly irritated and Clarke could smell the distinct scent of disinfectant soap coming off of her.
A blinking light in the corner drew her attention and she was surprised to see a camera in the corner of the room. Clarke felt her hackles rise as she recalled the last events before she had fallen unconscious.
The reapers' skeletons surrounding her in the burnt down remains of the camp. Octavia and Raven and all the other delinquents looking horrified at the sight of her...The pieces of the Ark coming down and then Anya's horrified look as she said just one word.
Maunon.
Mountain Men.
There was only one significant mountain in the area around the dropship and so Clarke deduced that she was probably inside Mount Weather. The place they were already supposed to have made their way towards once they had landed if it hadn't been for Mason smashing the monitor inside the dropship.
The sheer horror in Anya's eyes, of all people, let Clarke know that she and all the delinquents were in danger. Clarke rose from her feet and she looked through the window of the door.
The room opposite her was empty and Clarke felt frustration and anger boil inside her. Clarke was about to kick the door off it's hinges, but she hesitated as she remembered Darah's warning. Clarke instead looked up at the camera and shouted,"I know you can hear me. I swear if any of my friends are hurt, I'll –"
Clarke was cut off by the sound of her door opening and she was surprised to see an old man enter the room. It might have been the lighting of the room, but the man seemed to have a rather pale and unhealthy skin tone.
"Hello, Clarke,"said the man with a small smile on his face,"My name is Dante Wallace and I am the President of Mount Weather. "
"How do you know my name?"questioned Clarke as she felt her danger senses ticking.
"Your friends told me," said Dante before adding,"I believe their names were Jasper and Miller. They were rather relieved to hear that you were fine. Don't worry they're all safe. You're safe."
"How long have I been unconscious?"said Clarke as she noted the heavy feeling in her limbs for the first time.
"It has been a day and half since we retrieved you from your camp, but we can talk more about that later,"said Dante before he called for someone outside the room,"Maya, please bring in some clothes for Clarke. You must be feeling rather uncomfortable in that. We'll give you some privacy to change and then we can go have a meal. You must be famished."
A girl around Clarke's age entered the room and she was pushing a miniature wardrobe in. She had black hair and also had the characteristic pallid skin that Dante also had.
Maya smiled at Clarke before she followed Dante out the room. Clarke picked out a pair of blue jeans, a pink shirt and a light blue tracksuit top. She put on a pair of sneakers along with socks and soon she was ready to go.
Clarke spotted a pair of stilettos and she felt tempted to break off the heel, but at the last moment she remembered that she was under surveillance. She closed the wardrobe doors and made her way to the door.
She pushed on it and wasn't surprised to see that it opened now. She saw that Maya was waiting for her and the girl spoke up saying,"I'm here to lead you to lunch. All your friends and President Wallace are waiting for you."
Clarke eyed the other girl, but said nothing as she followed her to a lift. The elevator ride was rather tense and despite still having many questions Clarke kept quiet as she waited for the elevator to finally finish it's trip.
The elevator finally stopped at the correct floor and Clarke followed Maya towards the sounds of laughter and clinking cutlery. Clarke turned the corner and she was surprised to see her fellow delinquents seated at the various tables.
A quick headcount showed that everyone that had been there when the gas canisters had gone off were here and so were Jasper and Monty who had been presumed dead or at the very least caught by the reapers.
A gasp drew Clarke's attention and she turned to the source of the to see Monty looking at her with surprise written all over his face. The boy rose from his feet and ran up to Clarke before sweeping her into a crushing hug.
"Clarke!"said Monty as he lifted her up,"You're alright. I haven't seen you since you left with Finn and Raven. Where's Finn and Bellamy? Maya said that the patrol hadn't pulled anyone in with that name."
Clarke sighed and said,"They wouldn't have. Finn is still with Anya's people and I sent Bellamy after the people that ran away from camp."