RED | Bellamy Blake

Ideals Are Not Set In Stone

"You can't be the one to deliver the final blow to Emerson." Clarke says as soon as we leave the throne room and enter mine. 

I find my eyes rolling without my own volition. "Clarke." I sigh, turning around. "I need to do this." I say, imploring her. "I have to kill him." 

"We're not killing him." She says, making my eyebrows furrow. 

"What?" I pull away from her. "We were just on the same page about his guilt and his punishment." My lips curl. 

"I know." She nods, her eyes cast downward away from me. "But killing one man is not going to rid us of the past, Hailey." She walks up to me and tries to take my hand, but I pull away. "I need to give him his worst nightmare." She says, making my eyes furrow even more. 

"If he's not dead, then what nightmare is worse than the pain I'd give him?" I ask, crossing my arms. 

"Living without his wife, his kids." She says, and my lips part in realization. "See, he wants us to kill him, hence the antagonization he's giving us." 

"But, letting him live will be giving him the worst punishment." I finish for her, my lips forming a smirk. "I like the way you think, Blondie." 

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"We come together tonight as we have countless times before to watch a man die." Lexa's loud booming voice sounds throughout the throne room. Her eyes cast to mine, but I look to Clarke, making her hand the knife to her. "Vengeance is yours." She says. 

Clarke walks forward and stands in front of Emerson and before speaking, she looks to me with that crazed calm look in her eyes. "No." She says, looking away from me to Emerson. 

His face dissolves from calm to horrified, making my smirk widen. He glances over at me and sees my smile, causing him to struggle against his chains. 

"I don't know if your death would bring me peace." Clarke speaks, making him stop struggling. "I just know I don't deserve it." My eyebrows furrow at her words. 

Titus shoves past me in an outrage. "This man must die. If Skaikru will not take his life then Heda will!" He screams, pointing at Lexa. 

Lexa stands with a stone cold face before crossing the room to stand in front of Titus. "Heda will speak for herself. Enough, Titus." 

Emerson continues to struggle against his chains, furthering my satisfaction. I guess Clarke was right. "What the hell is this?" He spits at Clarke. 

"I wouldn't be killing you for what you've done." Clarke says, her calm demeanor faltering. "I'd be killing you for what I've done." She turns, facing Lexa. "I give this man his life. Blood must not have blood." 

The rows of people behind us begin to yell and disagree. My eyes flit through the crowd, not recognizing a familiar face. 

"Silence!" Lexa screams, quieting the crowd. "The crimes of the Mountain cannot be answered by one man. Wanheda knows this." She holds Clarke's gaze. "Her actions show us a promise for a new future. A world in which violence does not always answer violence. A world in which our children can flourish without the shadow of death." She walks towards Emerson and stands in front of him. "This prisoner is banished from my land. He will live, but he will live with the ghosts of those he has lost. Haunted until the end of his days by the knowledge that he is the last of his kind." She finishes, looking towards me and her lips lift at the sight of my small, almost imperceivable smile. 

I step forward as Clarke and Lexa step back. I bend down and grasp Emerson's chin with my callused hand. "May you live forever." 

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