Disclaimer: I do not own The 100. I only own my OC.
Description: Eliana "Elia" Lanoue was considered the Ark's most valuable weapon but after being sent down with the 100, she becomes Earth's most lethal convict.
A/N: Set during Contents Under Pressure. Includes fantasy aspects. Will give different POV's eventually. Please leave a review or hit the follow/favorite button if you enjoyed this chapter
Chapter One
Three Years Ago…
"Focus, Elia."
The reprimanding voice had been echoing through the room for three hours, but it didn't make my task any easier. I still couldn't do it. No matter how hard I tried to focus, no matter how much I wanted to help find an innocent man's murderer. It wasn't that easy anymore. Wanting it and making it happen were two very different things. Unlike some of the council members believed, I couldn't simply think things into existence.
"Are you even trying?"
There was a short pause when I broke my concentration to throw a look at the camera perched on the wall behind me. A loud pop rang through the room and the device started to smoke. I smirked at the second camera.
"That's the third one this week. If you keep this up—"
"What? What would you do? Send me to bed without dinner again?" I asked sarcastically. "I'm doing the best I can but he's hard to read."
"Well, try harder… and hurry up. We don't have all day."
The room fell into silence again and there was no point continuing an argument with an inanimate object. I'd wait until I was able to speak with Kane, face to face.
I returned my attention to the man sitting in front of me. Letting out a deep breath, I closed my eyes and placed my palms against his. The moment our skin touched I was sucked into his past; into another memory that wasn't my own.
With a gasp, I was jolted back into reality a few minutes later. The dim scarlet glow that lit up my palms faded as I put my hands on my lap. I raised my gaze to the camera angled at me.
"He did it. He killed the man." I stood up, causing my chair to fall back. My eyes locked onto the murderer. "Float the bastard."
Present…
My attention was split as I walked through the destroyed camp. I was partially focused on durable barrier of energy I had created to shield us from the storm, but the rest of my attention was set on the girl sprawled over my shoulder. She was unconscious now, thanks to me, but sooner or later she'd wake and most likely have another one of her panic attacks. The same kind of panic attack that nearly got us killed when the storm started. The same attack that also caused her to fall and twist her ankle. None of the 100 juvenile delinquents sent to ground had been expected to survive living here and the universe wasn't doing anything to help make our survival any easier.
By the time I reached camp and was standing in front of the dropship door, the exhaustion pulling at my muscles was so overwhelming that I nearly decided to take a nap in the rain. Instead, I raised my hands and wrapped a stream of red energy around the younger delinquent, lowering her slowly onto the muddy ground several feet away. I was expecting the door to be shut by the time I made it back, but a part of me was hoping I would be wrong. Unfortunately, there was only two ways it would open now. Either someone on the inside could pull the lever or I could force it open myself. The only thing keeping me from opening it myself was that it would definitely unearth the one secret I had worked so hard to keep hidden.
After landing on the Ground I decided that revealing my powers would be too dangerous. If people learned the truth, I'd no longer be just another criminal. Once again I would become a means to an end, a tool that could not be controlled. As much as I had hoped for it, coming to the Ground didn't change the fact that I was a weapon. So, I resorted to becoming invisible. It was easy for me to blend into the shadows, probably because of how I had been forced to live on the Ark. It came like second nature to me.
My plan had been relatively well until the leader of our camp chose me as one of the many delinquents to go searching for food in case the storm lasted longer than expected. I was assigned a younger girl as a partner and given a mediocre map outlining our path. We were supposed to be back before the storm hit us, but then little Nova had a panic attack. It all went downhill from there.
The petite redhead was still in her induced coma as I began hurling rocks at the ship's door, each pebble surrounded by the red mist-like energy that manifested when I used my telekinetic abilities. All I had to do was point from the rocks to the door and the stones followed the path without resistance. Things didn't hesitate to do what I wanted anymore. Little things, anyways. The heavier the object, the harder it was to gain control, but lifting stones was like lifting a feather.
"You think they can hear us?" I glanced at Nova who was still lying limp on the floor, her auburn hair sticking out of her ponytail. After a second of listening to nothing except the symphony of rain and wind hitting the ship, I pursed my lips. "Yeah, probably not."
I returned my gaze to the dropship and let out a heavy sigh. My one backup plan wasn't working, but I didn't have a plan C. I turned on my heels and scanned the camp silently. My eyes skimmed over all the things scattered about, catching on the large, and very heavy boulder sitting by the wall. Throwing it full force at the ship wasn't an option since it would go right through the door. If I could use it to knock on the door so the other delinquents knew we were out in the rain then maybe they'd let us inside. Hopefully, I wouldn't even have to come up with an explanation. I decided to worry about that later though. All I wanted at that moment was to get out of the rain.
So, I focused on the boulder with a little more concentration and the red energy wove through the air towards the boulder. A second later it was suspended a few feet in the air. The rock was sent flying towards the door after I slid my arm in that direction.
A loud bang reached my ears over the storm when the boulder made contact with the ship. Picking Nova in my arms, I carried her closer and placed her down on the ground just as the door began to open. I kneeled beside her and waited until someone appeared on the platform.
Clarke Griffin…
I had become accustomed to the whispers in the back of my mind years ago. It was another aspect of my "gift", which I inherited from my mother's side of my family.
When Clarke stepped through the rain with her jacket hood pulled over her head, I immediately dropped the red shield protecting Nova and I. Thankfully, our clothes were still soaked, which helped make us look like we had walked through a storm.
"You okay?" Clarke called over the wind.
"I'm fine." I looked down at Nova and shook my head. Absentmindedly, one of my hands went to the red pendant around my neck as the other motioned to the young girl at my feet. "But she's not. She fell and was knocked unconscious."
"Let's get her inside." Clarke dropped to her knees on the other side of Nova without looking at me. "She definitely has a concussion."
Correcting her wouldn't help me any so I simply helped her get Nova inside. Once we were, Clarke shut the door behind us.
"What happened?" A dark-haired girl asked as she joined us in the middle of the room.
Raven Reyes…
The whispers still came to me even though I recognized who Raven and Clarke were without them. They were part of the ruling group of delinquents. A group I didn't want to be a part of.
"We were out collecting the berries when the storm started," I responded quickly. I hated talking to people. Lengthy conversations usually only ended one way: exposure.
"You should have just found somewhere to hide out." Raven stood over us, but kept her eyes locked on Nova.
"That's harder said than done when you can barely see your hands in front of your face." I got to my feet with a small push and started backwards to where the ladder was. "You guys can handle this, right?"
"Uh, yeah." Clarke gave a weak nod. "There's not much we can do other than keep an eye on her."
"I'm going to go upstairs and try to get some sleep," I said, gesturing over my shoulder at the ladder. Over the years, I had become almost as good at lying as I was at being invisible. Without another word I turned to my escape route and grabbed onto one of the rungs.
"Wait a second." I swore to myself when I recognized Clarke's voice. I pivoted my hips and met her green eyes. "You look really familiar."
Sucking in a deep breath, my fingers began to toy with the century-old family heirloom around my neck. I tried to shrug off the comment. "I get that a lot."
It was a true statement. Somehow, even years later, people still recognized me from the day I broke out of my confinement. My picture was plastered all over the Ark while an intensive search was launched to find me. Despite the fact that I was just a twelve-year-old girl with nowhere to hide I still tried to escape the council's ironlike grasp.
"What's your name?" Clarke's eyes narrowed as she stepped towards me.
A part of me wanted to lie to Clarke. I could've used a fake name like I had done since we landed on Earth, but something told me she would know that I was lying. While giving her my real name might make her believe me easier, the chances of her realizing who I was would go up extensively. It was another hard decision that could have various outcomes.
I swallowed hard before clearing my throat. "Elia."
"Elia…" She raised an eyebrow.
"Lanoue," I finished without hesitation. My last name was never released to the public due to the fact I was still underage.
"I'm Clarke Griffin." She pointed to herself then at Raven. "And that's Raven Reyes."
"Nice to finally meet you." I forced a weak smile, but hesitated when she stuck out her hand. I knew what would happen if I touched her, but she was just being polite. I released the pendant and reached out my hand, meeting hers halfway. The second our skin touched I was drawn into a different world. A memory.
Clarke ran up to a man. She was crying, but there was only love in his eyes as he looked down at her. He was her father. They embraced for several long seconds. The man was the one to pull away first. He whispered something in her ear. All except three small words got lost in the space between us.
I. Love. You.
I watched as Clarke was forcibly separated from her father. She stumbled back to stand beside a woman a few feet behind her. I recognized the doctor immediately. Abby Griffin was a member of the council. The same council that held me captive for most of my life.
Clarke wept with her mom as her father was escorted into the floating chamber. The moments that followed went by in slow motion. Clarke was crying and her mother was holding her. Her father was attempting to look like his death wasn't seconds away. Then the Chancellor nodded and a button was pushed. Clarke's father was dragged out into the darkness. Clarke broke down, using her mom to keep her from falling to her knees. They were a broken family. Just like mine.
The vision faded away as quickly as it had appeared. I had to focus on not showing any kind of reaction. It was hard to hide my sudden peak in sympathy for the girl standing in front of me or the brief spark of intense hatred I felt for her mother. The council had tried to train me not to feel too much due to the link between my emotions and my powers. For the most part, I managed to negate my emotional responses. Except for when it came to the council. Ignoring the deeply-rooted hatred I held for them was near impossible.
"Clarke, his fever is only getting worse," Raven said, breaking the moment of silence that passed between Clarke and I.
The blonde princess practically ran over to where Raven was standing. That was the first time I realized that there was a fifth person in the room. He was lying still on a table, but his body was covered in a thin layer of sweat and he was visibly injured. I recognized him in an instant and his name echoed through my mind a moment later.
Finn Collins…
"Can you get my mom on the radio?" Clarke looked up at Raven and she nodded before striding over to a small table pushed up against a wall.
"I can try," Raven mumbled as she turned all her attention to some type of electrical device.
I took a couple slow steps towards Clarke and Finn. I was already familiar with Finn, similar to how I had been with Clarke and Raven. However, our first encounter hadn't been on earth. It had been on the Ark, less than a day after he supposedly wasted a month's supply of oxygen to do an illegal spacewalk. I was assigned to do a reading on him and it was one of my more successful runs. I got the information the council would have needed to apprehend the person truly responsible for the spacewalk, but after seeing why Finn had taken the blame I knew it was better if the truth remained a secret. So, instead I lied to the council and even managed manipulate Finn's memory so he would never remember that we met. I always hoped I would never see him again.
"His breathing is really irregular," Clarke muttered as she put her ear next to his mouth. Apparently, she took after her mom in the medicinal department.
"What happened to him again?"
The question rolled off my tongue before I could cork my curiosity. I should have left. I should have taken advantage of the distraction and disappeared back into the shadows. If I had done that, my life would have been put on a completely different path.
"He was stabbed by a Grounder. We removed the knife without causing further damage but he's not getting any better," Clarke explained in a low voice. She ran her fingers along the crooked stitches on Finn's stomach.
He was dying. It should have been obvious to everyone in the room. The guy looked like he had been to hell and back, but he was still breathing. I had to give him a little credit for being able to cling to his life after such a serious injury.
"Clarke, I don't think he's going to make it through the…"
"Is Elia your full name?" Clarke's gaze settled on my green eyes.
I grew wary, my fingers massaging my necklace as I pursed my lips. "Why?"
"You're really familiar. I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."
"Well, we have been on Earth for quite some time now. You've probably seen me around camp or something." It was my last attempt to derail her train of thought.
"No, before that. I think I met you on the Ark." Clarke's eyes hazed over as her thoughts began to wander. If I was more confident in my abilities, I could have tried to manipulate her memory in order to guide her to the wrong conclusion. But playing around in someone's head was always dangerous and the outcome wasn't always favorable. Sometimes it was worth the risk, but this was not one of those times. Instead, I kept a watchful eye on her.
Clarke dropped her voice to a whisper. "Elia Lanoue… Elia Lanoue… Elia…"
"Is this going somewhere or are you just going to keep repeating—" I started to ask her, my eyebrow peaked with interest.
"Eliana Corinne Lanoue." Hearing my name roll of Clarke's lips made my stomach flip. My hands dropped to my sides, my fingers clenching the skirt of my dress. She had remembered me and she would never forget it, I knew. "You're one of the Enhanced."
It was probable that her mother told her about the secret program the council ran even though she wasn't allowed. That didn't stop me from taking the obvious out. "I'm sorry, but you have the wrong person."
I didn't sell it well enough. Clarke leaned over Finn's still body slightly, her voice still hushed. "I knew I remembered you from somewhere. The council had this huge manhunt for you when I was thirteen. They searched every room on the Ark and finally found you hiding in an abandoned loft."
She had recognized my face, remembered my name. There was no way I was talking my way out of this one, but just like every Lanoue that had come before me, I wouldn't give up that easily.
"You have the wrong person, Clarke." I paused and unclenched my fists as I tried to think of my own way out of the situation. "Why would I even be here if I was some weirdo being employed by the council?"
"I think only you can answer that question." Clarke narrowed her eyes slightly.
The seconds ticked by slowly as I held her scrutinizing gaze. All I could see was determination. She was seeking the truth, that much I knew. Except I was more worried about what the princess would do once she found it. My "gift" had been abused all of my life. I wasn't about to let that cycle start over again.
"I think I found a signal," Raven called out suddenly, tearing Clarke's steadfast attention from me.
"Clarke? Are you there?"
The woman's voice was familiar, but a rare occurrence took place. I couldn't put a name to her voice. Clarke, on the other hand, knew exactly who she was talking to. She straightened up, relief seeping into her expression.
"Mom?" My gut twisted when I remembered Dr. Abigail Griffin and everything she had done to help the council keep me contained. I could never forget how she used her education to suppress my inherited abilities enough to keep me prisoner. "I got the knife out, but Finn isn't getting any better."
"It's going to take time for him to begin to heal. He should start recovering soon though." The doctor's voice was soft and calm. It was completely opposite from Clarke's demeanor.
"He's burning up, mom." Clarke rested the back of her hand on Finn's neck then moved up to his forehead. I didn't need to get in either of their heads to know that she was right. His entire body was shivering and the layer of sweat that had built up over his skin seemed to have thickened.
"That's normal. His body is trying to—" the doctor's explanation was cut off by a long stretch of static. Despite how much Clarke needed her, I was glad she was gone.
"Mom? Mom?" Clarke rounded Finn's makeshift bed. "Raven, what happened?"
"It's the storm. It's interfering with the connection." Raven peered over her shoulder for two seconds before returning her concentration to the radio.
That was when I decided that I should say my goodbyes. I could tell them I wouldn't be much help since all I got was basic education on the Ark. It was one of the facts about my life that I was willing to share. I didn't have a mom who taught me about medicine. I didn't have a mentor that guided me through my life. All I had was a bunch of know-it-all doctors, including Dr. Griffin, whose only concern was teaching me how to be the perfect prisoner on the Ark and in my own mind.
I started towards the ladder again, hoping to actually make it out this time.
"Wait! We might need another hand to help out if worse comes to worst," Clarke said to my back. I wanted to help, honestly I did, but there wasn't much I could do if I wanted to conceal my true strength.
"You can do this, Clarke. Just follow your instincts," I called over my shoulder before grabbing onto the ladder and starting my climb.
"He's seizing! Help me get him onto his side!"
I swore under my breath and let go of the ladder, landing on the floor. I ran to Raven's side and followed Clarke's instructions. Finn's body was shaking violently and there was a white foam trickling down his chin. Even I could tell that this wasn't good. He wasn't getting better like Dr. Griffin had said. He was getting worse.
"His lungs are filling with some type of liquid. This isn't supposed to be happening," Clarke muttered as she held a towel to Finn's mouth.
"I thought you said the knife didn't do this much damage." Raven raised her eyes to the blonde, but kept her hands on Finn.
"It didn't." Clarke dug her fingers into her hair as she stepped back from Finn. "Uneven breathing. High fever. Seizing. I've seen this before…"
The princess dropped her gaze to the floor. "Poison. He's been poisoned."
"By what?" I glanced at the stitched wound. It didn't look infected or agitated.
"You sanitized everything, Clarke. I watched you," Raven reminded her in a hasty tone.
The other girl's eyes lit up. "The knife."
She strode to a small table near the door. There were some metal instruments sitting on top, but my eyes were drawn to the large knife lying at the center. Clarke began to reach for the weapon, but the entire drop ship was jerked to the side. Raven and I lost our footing. I managed to catch myself before I could face-plant, but Raven fell hard on her knees. I peered over at Finn. Even though he had stopped shaking his mouth was still full of the white foam.
"Clarke!" Raven voice cut through the room like a knife. I turned on my heels to see that one of the wall panels had fallen to the floor right where Clarke had been standing a moment ago.
Both Raven and I ran to the large metal sheet and placed our hands underneath. We counted to three aloud before giving it our best attempt to pick it up, but we weren't strong enough. The panel was too heavy to move by ourselves. We didn't have enough time to call for help. Yet, I still hesitated to reveal my powers. Some habits were impossible to break.
I held out my opened hand and focused all of my mental capacity on the metal sheet. The red energy weaved through the air from my hands while my fingers stroked the air. I raised my arm towards the ceiling and the mist pushed the panel off Clarke. Once the panel was lifted a couple feet, I caught a glimpse of Clarke's blonde hair. Raven, distracted by what I was doing, was just standing beside me with her jaw open.
"Get Clarke!" I instructed quickly. Losing focus for even a second when lifting something this big could give it a chance to overpower me easily.
Raven lurched forward and grabbed hold of Clarke's arms. She pulled the princess out of the way and I placed the metal sheet back down the second they were both a safe distance's away. I let out the breath I had been holding in and the glowing red mist disappeared from the room.
"Wha-what the hell was that?" Raven stood up straight.
"She's an Enhanced," Clarke mumbled as I dropped to my knees beside her and surveyed her for injuries. I only stood up once I was convinced she wasn't hurt.
"A what?"
"An Enhanced," I repeated quietly. It was the name given to the people who had volunteered to be a part of an experiment conducted on the Ark over seventy years ago. The participants that survived the trials were able to pass on the genetic mutation to their descendants. Not including myself, there was only one other person that I knew of who still carried the gene, but he was locked up on the Ark. If there were more, I never heard about them or met them.
I pursed my lips into a thin line, fiddling with my pendant as I looked back at Clarke. She had no idea that she had just opened Pandora's box. There was nothing I could do to change it. No matter how much I would struggle to find a way, there was no going back.
edited: 8/6/18