episode one.
•°. *࿐ earthbound.

ARANA IS DEFINITELY SPIRALING. She felt the anger flooding her veins as she stared at Nygel, the woman who didn't give her exactly what was promised. But what was she expecting? Nygel was a con woman, always making empty promises and always making Arana do more work than what it was worth.

But it was worth something. She loves her dad, which is why she was putting herself on the line and doing Nygel's work in the first place.

Arana let out a long sigh, staring down at the two bottles she received after doing an errand from Nygel, where she was promised five bottles and rations, something she didn't even get. She knew to never trust Nygel'a word, but where else would she go for something like this?

Shoving the bottles in her bag, the only way to hide them from the guards, Arana says her goodbyes to Nygel and turns on her heel while doing her best to ignore Nygel's other offers for the night. She has somewhere else to be that was actually worth her time.

With the fluorescent ark lights flickering above her, Arana finds herself walking through the winding halls of the place she calls home. To an outsider, it probably looked like a maze, but after living here and having nothing better to do, Arana knew every once of the ark like the back of her hand. She knew every hiding spot, which airshaft led to where, the shortcuts to get to other sections of the ark quicker.

It was actually kind of sad. Having so much time to memorize every detail of the place she calls home. But at least she will always have the blanket of stars to surround her.

And Bellamy Blake. That was also a plus.

But when Bellamy Blake was involved, so was a turmoil of emotions. Especially since his sister got locked away for being born, something that Arana saw as unfair but her opinion didn't matter to anyone but herself.

With Bellamy's sister, Octavia, being locked away, Arana saw Bellamy around less and less. His job on the guard had been taken away from him, and being demoted to janitor was a big punch to the gut. Not only did he lose his sister, but he lost his job too.

It was only a number of years before Octavia would be floated, so Arana could understand why Bellamy was disappearing for days on end.

He had promised he would meet her today, something she'd been looking forward to since she rolled out of bed this morning. She always enjoyed seeing Bellamy, and although their start was rocky, Arana had formed a connection with him.

Whether it was sitting in silence or talking about their problems, she could always rely on Bellamy.

Which is why she always looked forward to days like these, where he'd slide a note under her quarters door and tell her to meet him at their spot.

It really was their spot too. A little secluded part on the ark in factory station, not too far from her living quarters she shared with her dad.

Which only reminded her that she had to return and give him the bottles from today's work.

She sighs, rounding the corner and finding the familiar window that looked out onto the stars that surrounded her. It was Arana's favorite place to be. It was the moments like these that she most looked forward to, the quiet, nothing but the stars and Bellamy to keep her company.

Bellamy was the only person she'd ever shown this place to.

And just like every time she was here, she finds herself mesmerized by the stars, how some would just blink out and how some were brighter than others.

Walking towards the window, Arana places her bag down beside the wall and stands in front of the window, taking in the amazing view as she waits for Bellamy to make his appearance.

But what caused her to turn so abruptly was the hurried footsteps.

Something was wrong.

There Bellamy was, his steps quickening with each step he takes towards her. Wrong. He slips his fingers through his hair frantically. Wrong. He stops in front of Arana, at a loss for words while panic is etched on his face. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

"Bellamy?" Arana says, her brows furrowing.

It takes Bellamy a minute to respond, he just stares at her as if he's trying to collect his thoughts that just keep overflowing. "I need... I need to do something and I know you probably won't see me for a while."

"Bellamy... what are you talking about?" She clutches her stomach, trying to stop this weird nagging feeling that is currently sitting in the put of her stomach.

"There's this plan, something that needs to be done but I have to do it alone and I'm super scared."

That was one way to say hello.

"Bellamy, what's going on?" Arana felt her heart beating rapidly as she looks at Bellamy. He's scared. Of what? She didn't know. Whatever this plan entailed it must be bad enough to scare Bellamy Blake. "What if I helped you with the plan?"

"Arana, you don't understand," He breathes out, his eyebrows furrowing as he clenches his eyes shut. "You can't help me with this, and I'm only here to say goodbye."

"Goodbye? Bellamy wha..."

"You might never see me again," Bellamy whispers, as if someone is around to hear them. "I just needed to see you before I left."

"Bellamy, where the hell are you going?" Her mind is racing, what the hell is Bellamy even talking about?

Shaking his head Bellamy looks to the floor. "I can't tell you, I need to keep you safe but this is something I have to do and you cannot help me."

"Bellamy.." Arana stares at him, mouth agape and her heart beating rapidly in her chest.

Bellamy shakes his head, giving Arana one last look, his eyes full of so many apologies, before he turns on his heels and walks into the direction he had just come from, leaving Arana to stand in their spot, alone and confused.

She shakes her head, staring at the long corridor that Bellamy was heading down. With her mind racing and her thoughts not quite in check, Arana's grabs her back off the floor, slinging it over her shoulder and she follows Bellamy.

Wherever he was going, he wasn't going alone. Arana would make sure of that.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

ARANA DIDN'T KNOW HOW SHE ENDED UP HERE. One minute she was following Bellamy and now here she was, hiding in yet another vent, peering through the opening and staring down at a line of prisoners.

Her mind is racing with so many thoughts that she can't even think clearly. She was following Bellamy, until he disappeared down another hall, leaving her with all this chaos, not that he knew he was leaving her. The guards surround the area, watching as each prisoner enter a room. At least she thinks it's a room.

She's never seen that door open before.

With the ark's fluorescent lights flickering from below her, she scans the area that she can see. Prisoners. More prisoners. Guards.

She doesn't know how she spots him in the crowd of people. But there he is, walking straight into the room with a guards uniform on. It's hard to miss Bellamy Blake in a guards uniform, especially when it's exactly what he was wearing when she met him.

Arana gasps loudly, pushing open the vent and squirming her way through without even thinking about the consequences, leaving her bag behind in the vent. She'd grab it later.

She lands on her feet quietly, watching as Bellamy slides past the guards and into the mystery room they were sending all the prisoners into.

"Hey!" A guard yells, Arana is met face to face with a very bald man, grabbing her wrist as he shoves her into the line of prisoners. "Someone get me a wristband, one of the delinquents were missed!"

"Sir I'm not a delinquent." Arana argues as another guard brings over a large black box, opening it to reveal some sort of wristband, three empty spaces around it.

"Yeah," he seethes. "I've heard that before."

He takes the wristband out of the box, forcing her right arm into his hand and snapping it on. She winces, feeling little needles dig into her skin.

What the hell was this?

She looks down at her wrist, shaking her head but unable to find the words she was looking for. "Someone get this girl strapped in, I have a feeling she might be a problem." The guard orders. Two other guards find Arana's arms and lead her into the mysterious door, following a blonde in a stretcher.

The room was filled with seats and monitors all around, along with a ladder to other stories of the room. The two guards that had practically dragged Arana in here, threw her down into the closest open seat, strapping her in and leaving her confused.

The lights in here flickered above her and everything was gray and dim, just like every part of the ark. Arana has never seen this room in her life before. She has studied every air vent, room and hall of the ark and she has never once step foot here. She feels very uneasy as she looks to the door, seeing prisoner after prisoner pile in. Her eyes find her wrist, where she can feel the searing pain pulsating from the new wrist bracelet she has on.

The seats around her start to fill and she finds herself searching for the familiar brunette with constellations on his face.

Nowhere in sight.

She shuts her eyes and takes in a deep breath, trying to stop herself from panicking about what she got herself into, she tries to think of the things that make her the most happy. The stars, her bed when her living quarters were quiet with only the machine hum to make her comfortable. The boy who brought more light into her life than the sun ever could.

Not only did he bring the light, he turned up the volume in her life that she would never turn down again. He listens to her, he cares about her and he is one of the most caring people Arana has ever met.

And she found all of that out in only the short year she's known him.

A large jolt broke Arana from her thoughts. Were they... moving?

Her eyes snapping open, she looks around frantically, only to be met with scared looks from the delinquents around her. She grips the handle bars beside her, her heart finding its way to her throat and she's unable to swallow it back down.

Trying to calm herself down, Arana focuses on the small things that surrounded her, the monitors mounted to the walls, the fact that every single other person in this room had the same plain, gray wristband on.

Another large jolt shook Arana's body, her head now dropping to her stomach as all the lights flicker around her, screams filling the air.

This wasn't a room.

The monitor in front of her flashes on, making her jump again, but only to face the chancellor of the only place she's ever called home.

"Prisoners of the ark," he says, the screen fuzzy with lines running across the screen. Arana's hands tighten around the handle bars. "You've been given a second chance, and as your chancellor, it is my hope that you see that as not just a chance for you, but a chance for all of us, indeed for mankind itself."

What was he even talking about?

"We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we would've sent others."

Earth. He was sending them all to earth. Breathing heavily, Arana looks around, no one was as shocked as she was, they all look like they knew this information already and were ignoring every word the chancellor spews out of his mouth.

She left her dad. Alone. Abandoned. For all he knows she could be dead right now. Maybe she would be when they landed.

Not that he would notice anyway.

"Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you expendable." He continues.

"Asshole." A girl beside her yells out, gaining her some cheers in return.

"Your dad's a dick, Wells!" Someone from the other side of what Arana now knows is a drop ship yells.

"And if, however, you do survive, those crimes will be forgiven. Your record wiped clean."

This was why Bellamy came, for Octavia.

He didn't want her to be alone.

"The drop sure has been chosen carefully." Jaha breathes out, seeming to talk so professionally as if he hasn't sent his very own sun down to an earth that has a very high chance to be radioactive. "Before the last war, Mount weather was a military base built within a mountain. It was to be stocked with enough nonperishables to sustain 300 people for up to two years. No one ever made it there."

Arana shakes her head, trying to ignore all the yelling and cheering from the other side of the drop ship and finds herself looking for a familiar face, but coming up empty. No Bellamy. No Octavia. No sight of Monty. She was just stuck with her thoughts.

She was gonna kill Bellamy when they get down there.

"There's enough food, medicine. I cannot stress this enough, Mount Weather is life. You must locate those supplies immediately." Jaha continues speaking in between the jolts and the flickering of lights. Arana tries her best to listen to his words even with all the shouting and cheering that surrounds her. "Your one responsibility is to stay alive."

With a loud machine hum filling the air, Arana glances around the room, the jolting of the ship only getting worse with each second that passes. She felt as if her ribcage was constricting the oxygen flow and even more panic set in.

"Stay in your seats!" She hears a girl yell, Arana looks up to see two men floating from their seats, time seeming to slow down as they hover in the air for only a few seconds before another giant jolt give Arana whiplash.

The two men who were once floating in air were now sent across the room, bursting into pipes right beside her, smoke filling the air and Arana's lungs. With screams filling the air and spark flying, Arana couldn't tell if her screams were audible or if they were as silent as the space that surrounded her back home.

The one question Arana keeps asking herself on repeat was why the hell she thought it was a good idea to get out of that air vent.

The air around her is nonexistent and breathing is becoming harder and harder. Arana's stomach churns as the shaking becomes more violent. She csn even feel her teeth chattering.

She was going to throw up.

The fluorescent lights flickered all around her and the sparks hit her skin with a small sting. Everything is becoming blurry. She can't make out coherent thoughts and her vision begins to blur. And without being able to stop it, her eyes fall shut.

The last thing she hears are screams.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

SOMEONE SLAPS HER CHEEK LIGHTLY. Her eyes open to find a pair of blurry blue eyes staring right back at her.

"Oh thank god!" The girl exhales a deep breath. "She's alive Finn!"

Arana's brows knit together as she notices the man crouching down beside the blonde with blue eyes. His shoulder length hair messy and brown eyes full of so much regret.

Arana's eyes fall on the two dead boys right beside her, the same ones that had went full force into the now broken pipes that were still spewing out air.

"Are you okay?" The girl asks her, not giving Arana the time to answer when someone shouts from down below about a door. "No, we can't just open the doors!"

Arana looks at the boy now, his eyes trained on the two limp bodies beside them. He shakes his head, tears forming in his eyes that he doesn't let fall. "It's my fault they are dead."

Arana unbuckles her seat and slides to the floor beside the boy, bringing a hand to his shoulder, his eyes meeting hers. "I don't know what happened but I can guarantee that you didn't make them take those seat belts off." And with that she stands, giving the boy one last look, one that he doesn't even pay attention to because his eyes are trained on the two boys.

She finds her way to the ladder, ignoring the rush of dizziness that hits her as she climbs down, her feet landing against the metal surface below soundlessly.

The group of prisoners were all whispering quietly as two people up front hug and the blonde from earlier is watching them. "Where's your wristband?"

The girl swings around, giving the blonde a sour look. "Do you mind? I haven't seen my brother in a year."

Bellamy.

Arana pushes through the crowd of people, the dim light in the room making it hard to see their reactions. Finally making it to the front, she bumps into the blonde lightly, eyes falling on who she can only assume is Octavia, Bellamy's sister.

And then her eyes land on him.

His jaw sets into a straight line when he sees her. His eyes filled with fury. He's angry at her for following him. He shakes his head, mouth agape. "Arana..."

"No one has a brother!" A prisoner shouts from the back of the dimly lit room.

"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor!" Another shouts. Octavia goes to pounce on them, but Bellamy finally broke his gaze from Arana, grabbing ahold of her and shouting for her to stop.

"Let's give them something else to remember you by." Bellamy promises, his eyes moving to Arana and then back to his sister.

"Yeah, like what?" Octavia questions.

He gives her a smile. "Like being the first person on the ground in 100 years."

No one could ever convince Arana that Bellamy didn't love his sister. She was his whole life.

Bellamy brings his body around to the giant lever, giving his sister and smile, the smile falling when he sees Arana in his sight again. Shaking his head he turns away from her, pulling down on the lever.

Smoke fills the room as the 100 year old door opens slowly, light flooding in and blinding Arana. With a loud machine him filling the room, the light continues to cast on her body and a breeze moves across her face. Her eyes finally adjust to the new light and colors all around her, the door hitting the ground with a loud clunk.

The trees were just as Arana could've imagined, green and bright, swaying in the wind and the light peaking through each branch. She hears birds, the wind, the leaves falling from the trees. She tastes the fresh air. She smells the grass and the moist dirt. She sees Octavia take her first step onto the platform and inhale the fresh air that is now around all of them.

Octavia walks slowly down the platform, finally jumping to the ground and looking at the world around her. And here, now, Arana can tell what Octavia is thinking. It's so beautiful.

And it is. But she can't help the twists in her stomach at the thought of her father being all alone up in space, with no one to look after him.

Octavia pumps her fists in the air. "We're back bitches!"

Arana can hear that laughs and the cheers all around her, as all of the prisoners rush past her and onto the ground. Running around and celebrating their freedom on earth, leaving Arana in the drop ship with nothing but regret and shame.

Her eyes fall onto Bellamy, who is already looking at her from the ground. "You coming or what?" He shouts, giving her a small smile.

Arana can't help but smile back at him, shaking her head and making her way down the platform. "You're an idiot for coming down here."

Her feet plant into the soil and she looks up at the man she followed, his chocolate brown eyes searching hers. "Well you followed me down here so who's the idiot now?"

"I didn't know what I was getting myself into." Her smile disappears off her face and she looks around, anywhere but his face.

"Do you ever?"

She meets his eyes, shaking her head and poking his chest. "Where the hell did you even get this guard uniform anyway. And how the hell did you know they were being sent here."

"It doesn't matter." He shrugs, scratching the back of his neck. "All that matters is that we are here, free and on earth. Have a little fun, Regan."

Fun? He's acting weird. And Arana can feel it deep in her bones. Something about this whole situation was weird. She knew Bellamy so well, so much to the point that she knew when he was acting strange. Right now just happened to be one of those times.

He's usually always willing to listen and confide in her, and this? This was just strange. But maybe she was just having an off day? After passing out on the way down the earth could probably do that. Right? No. This just didn't feel right.

Craning her neck she shakes her head a Bellamy, giving him a small smile. "I'll try my best, Blake."

With that she gives him a little nudge with a fake smile plastering across her face and she leaves him to bond with his sister after a year apart. A year could definitely change someone, especially if that someone was confined to a jail cell just for the simple crime of being born.

Arana makes her way over to the trees, finding to the right one to climb into and sit in silence. She could do with some quiet after the day she's had.

Finding the perfect spot on a large branch of an oak tree, Arana rests her head against its large trunk, shutting her eyes and letting the sun shine on her face through the leaves, breathing in the nice breeze that is fanning across her.

The guilt sets in once again, feeling a large pain in her chest at the thought of her father being all alone, with nothing but the stars to keep him company. Sure, that was okay with Arana, she enjoys the stars. And Bellamy. But now that she knows the earth is not toxic and she isn't going to croak at any minute, it gives her hope that one day, soon, her father will come down. Just as Jaha said.

But why? Why earth? Why now? It didn't make sense to her, throwing 100 kids plus two down here with no supervision even though the ark is perfectly stable. Something had to have changed for the chancellor to send all these kids down here.

Arana shakes her head, smoothing her hair out of her face and taking a deep breath, the earthy smell bringing peace to her mind.

She's confident her father will come down soon. The ark just needs to know that they've landed and alive and have not yet croaked. And that's exactly what she is going to tell them. The sooner her father came down, the better she'd feel about this decision she impulsively made.

She hops down to the ground, brushing her pants off and eyes training on the drop ship. Her eyes finding Wells Jaha, the chancellors son. If anyone knew how to get back to the ark it'd be him.

The leaves crunch loudly under her feet as she makes her way over to the boy as he hops down from the drop ship ramp to talk to the blonde girl that had slapped her earlier.

"The communication system is dead." Arana stops dead in her tracks, only inches away from Wells. "I went to the roof and a dozen panels are missing, heat fried the wires."

Well that's just great.

Shaking her head, Arana turns to another direction, catching Monty and Jasper in her gaze.

"Monty!" Arana runs over to him, wrapping him into a giant hug before he even has time to tell who she is. "Oh my god I'm so happy to see you."

"Arana?" Monty pushes her away, leaving his hands on her shoulders and giving her the biggest smile. "Why the hell are you here?"

"It's a very long story."

"Arana long time so see!" Jasper throws his fists into the air. "Never thought I'd see you again."

"I see you still have those same goggles as before," she teases, grabbing them and sliding them onto his eyes. "Can't believe they let you keep those."

Sliding his goggles back on his forehead, where they always seem to be, he smiles. "Not only did I get to keep the goggles, I got to keep my game for the ladies."

"Jasper you've never had game." Monty matters, rubbing his temples.

"Just observe." Jasper shrugs, walking backwards and swinging around to the blonde that was with Wells. "Oh cool a map! Do they got a bar in this town I'll buy you a beer."

"That's so bad." Monty shakes his head, burying his face in his hands.

Wells Jaha swings around and grabs his shoulders, shoving Jasper away from the blonde girl. "Do you mind?"

"Hey that's not necessary." Arana says, grabbing Jasper away from Wells, the same time a group comes over.

"Hands off of him. He's with us." One of the guys shouts, stopping in front of Wells with a giant group of teenage boys behind him.

Wells holds his hands up. "Relax, we're just trying to figure out where we are."

"We're on the ground, is that not good enough for you?" Arana swings around at the sound of Bellamy's voice.

Wells makes a face, seeming ti bite back his frustration as he turns and walks toward Bellamy. "We need to find mount weather." He says, the blonde girl following behind him. "You heard my father's message, that has to be our first priority."

"Screw your father." Octavia spits out. "What? You think you're in charge here, you and your little princess?"

The blonde shakes her head in disbelief. "Do you think we care who's in charge? We need to get to Mount Weather. Not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll get and the harder this'll be. How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a 20 mile trek, ok? So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave now."

"I've got a better idea." Bellamy shoves himself into the conversation. "You two go, find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change."

Cheers erupt around the conversation, all in agreement with Bellamy's idea.

"Guys what the hell is happening?" Arana mutters under her breath to Jasper and Monty. Jasper only giving her a shrug.

"Seems to me like the lower class wants the power now." Monty replies softly.

"You're not listening to us! We all need to go." Wells shouts before someone shoves him toward the middle of the circle then slowly forming around this whole conversation.

"Look at the everyone, the chancellor of earth." Chuckles fill the air and the tension starts to build, as the boy who shoved Wells knocks him off his feet, Wells's body hitting the ground either a loud thud.

"Wells!" The blonde tries to run forward but a guy shoves her back into Arana.

This is so stupid.

Wells pushes himself up, sporting a new twisted ankle but ready to stand his ground, raising his fists as the boy who shoved him. The cheers only growing louder.

Finn, the boy from earlier, lands on the ground and faces the boy trying to pick a fight with Wells. "Kids got one leg, why don't you wait til it's a fair fight."

The boy shakes his head, turning around on his heel and shoving his friends away from the crowd. With the crowd dispersing and the tension dying down, Arana shakes her head, unable to comprehend what just happened. It was a stupid argument that seems so simple to her. They are on earth, with no food supply and no water. Absolutely nothing to get them by. It made sense to go to Mount Weather. It's a better chance of survival after all. And hell, Arana could use a walk after the day she's had.

She turns to her friends, ready to ask if they want to help Wells and the blonde with the mission to get food when both of them get grabbed by Finn. "Four of us. Can we go now?"

Arana steps beside Finn, smiling. "I would like to help too."

"Alright so five!" Finn claps his hands together, smiling brightly at the group that has formed.

"Sounds like a party," Arana turns to find Octavia making her way over to the group. "Make it six."

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Bellamy asks, grabbing his sister's arm gently, making her look at him.

"Going for a walk?"

"Hey!" The blonde haired girl says suddenly, grabbing Finn's wrist and staring at the wristband that is clamping around his wrist, the same one Arana and everyone other person has. Only Finn's has scuff marks on it. "Were you trying to take this off?"

"Yeah. So?" Finn replies, a brow raising in question.

"So this wristband transmits your vital signs to the ark. Take it off and they'll think you're dead."

"Should I care?"

"Well I don't know, do you want the people you love to think you're dead?" The blonde asks. "Do you want them to follow you down here in two months? Because they won't if they think we're dying."

Arana smiles. Two months and her dad will be down here. A weight automatically feels as if it's been lifted off her shoulders and she feels like she can actually breathe again. Maybe even have a little bit of that fun Bellamy was talking about earlier.

"Okay, let's go." The blonde nods, the group starting to move and make their way to the forest area, something that none of the 100 have yet to search.

Arana looks back at Bellamy, who's giving his sister the permission to go. She smacks a kiss on his cheek and turns to run after the rest of the group. The worry on his expression makes her heart melt.

"I'll look after her." She says, giving him a smile. "I promise."

Relief floods his features and he gives her a small smile. "Thanks."

With that, she turns and follows the group, leaves crunching under her feet and the musty earth scent growing stronger with every step she takes deeper into the woods.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

ARANA DUCKS UNDER A TREE BRANCH. The steep hill she's going down is overgrown with so many wild things she can't even keep track. She walks between Jasper and Monty, who are bickering back and forth about whether Jasper has game or not. It's been an ongoing conversation since Jasper completely failed at flirting with the blonde who Arana finally knows the name of.

Clarke Griffin, daughter of Abby Griffin, the doctor that would have tried to save her own mother if it wasn't for the fact that Arana came from a poorer section of the ark.

"Dude, I have so much game what are you talking about?" Jasper exclaims, throwing his hands in the air.

"Dude, you literally do not have game, and probably never will."

"Oh please, like you have any game."

"Never said I did, I'm just pointing out that you in fact, do not have game."

With a stick crunching loudly under her foot, Arana rolls her eyes, a small smirk on her lips as she listens to her two friends bicker back and forth. She looks to Octavia, still making sure she's here and not wandering off. She did promise Bellamy she'd look after her, and if anything happens to Octavia, Bellamy will kill her. And honestly, she wouldn't blame him.

Octavia is in fact still tailing along after Finn, who picks a purple flower and turns to face her, brushing the hair from her face and placing it behind her ear with a warm smile.

The three behind them stop in their tracks to observe, while Clarke continues to walk forward."Now that, my friend, is game." Jasper turns to Monty and Arana.

"That, my friend, is poison sumac." Monty grins, resuming walking.

"What!" Octavia shrieks, combing the flower from her hair. "It is?"

"The flowers aren't poisonous," Monty reassures her. "They are medicinal, calming actually."

Finn and Octavia look back at Monty, faced contorting into confusion.

"Oh, his family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the ark." Jasper says.

"Hey guys, would you try to keep up!" Clark shouts from ahead, she's stopped in between two trees with a stoic expression.

"Come on Clarke! How do you manage to block all of this out?"

"Well it's simple, I wonder 'why haven't we seen any animals?' Maybe it's because there are none. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty though, come on." With that, Clarke turns on her heel, the group going deeper into the radiation soaked forest.

"Someone should slip her some poison sumac." Octavia mumbles under her breath, earning a few snorts from Jasper and Finn.

Arana trails behind the group, taking in the view as she follows. Everything about earth so far is beautiful and she can't get over it. The flowers, the trees, the sun shining through the waving leaves. She almost loves it as much as she loves the stars up there on the ark. Almost.

"I got to know what you two did to get busted!" Finn says, taking Arana away from her thoughts.

Monty looks back at Arana before replying. "Sumac isn't the only herb in the garden if you know what I mean."

"Someone forgot to replace what we took." Jasper glares at Monty.

"Someone has apologized like a thousand times."

Finn chuckles, his eyes falling to Arana. "What about you?"

"I wasn't arrested, I actually snuck on the dropship." Arana looks down at her feet, watching them leave marks in the dirt with each step she takes.

"You snuck on?" Finn raises a brow.

"Yeah, well kind of, I was in a vent and then I got out but unfortunately I was caught and they just assumed I was a prisoner." Arana continues, talking fast, her cheeks warming up. "Then they just slapped this wristband on me and here we are."

"Wow." Finn shakes his head, smiling at her. "Pretty badass."

"Yeah Arana is awesome." Monty says, giving her a smile. "I could tell you so many stories about her but then we'd be here for days."

"What about you Octavia?" Jasper chimes in. "What's they get you for?"

She stops in her tracks, practically shriveling up at the question. "Being born." She grits her teeth before running ahead to Clarke, who is crouched down in front of a bush, signaling the group to come over quietly.

"That is so not game." Monty says before Jasper hits him.

"He's right," Arana shoves past the two with a smile. "Not game."

The group pushes forward, all crouching down to Clarke's level and creeping up slowly. Whatever Clarke wants the group to be quiet about, it must be good because it has the girl smiling. Arana steps forward, looking in between Clarke and Finn's heads, almost as if it was a window. She feels the giant smile spread across her face as her eyes land on a deer. An actual deer eating the grass that's through the clearing.

Holy shit. Arana thinks to herself, inhaling a quiet breath.

"No animals huh?" Finn whispers, giving Clarke a look before stepping forward to get a better look. A twig snaps under his foot, causing the deer to jump and face their direction.

Arana can't even believe what she's seeing as she jumps back, staring at what she thought was a normal deer but with two heads due to radiation. She looks to Monty and Jasper, shock written all over their faces as the deer bolts away. Shivers shoot down Arana's spine.

"Let's go guys." Clarke says, pushing herself up off the ground, going down the winding opening. "We have to get somewhat close before dark."

Arana pushes herself up, watching as the group continues on as if a two headed deer didn't just scare them all half to death. She trials after them once again, only this time behind Octavia who keeps looking back at her.

"So, why did you sneak on the dropship?" Octavia asks, stuffing her hands in her pockets and quirking brow at Arana.

"I was actually following your brother." She says, looking back down at her feet. "He's a friend and I wanted to make sure he was safe and not alone."

Octavia takes a minute to reply, she's looking at her own feet now as they hop over a large tree trunk that had fallen. "Well that was nice of you."

Before Arana could reply, she hears Finn speak up from the front as they all decline a steep hill. "You know what I'd like to know? Why send us down today  after 97 years."

"Who cares I'm just glad they did." Octavia runs forward, "I woke up rotting in a cell and now I'm spinning in a forest."

"Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know like one of those old weather satellites or..." Monty starts talking, trying to brainstorm ideas with Finn before he's interrupted.

"It wasn't a satellite." Clarke says, all eyes turning to her. "The ark is dying. At the current population level there's roughly 3 months left of life support, maybe 4 now that we are gone."

Arana's heart starts beating rapidly in her chest, the ark is dying. It makes so much sense why they would send a bunch of juveniles down to earth. And why they would do it now.

"So that's the secret they locked you up to keep? Kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" Finn asks, chasing after Clarke who doesn't stop moving forward.

"My father was the engineer that discovered the flaw. He thought people had a right to know. The council disagreed, my mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic." Clarke takes a long pause, shaking her head. "We were gonna go public anyways, when Wells..."

"What? Turned in your dad?" Monty chimes in, earning himself a light smack on the shoulder from Arana.

"Anyway, the guard showed up before we could, that's why today. That's why it was worth the risk. Even if we all die at least they bought themselves more time."

"Are they gonna kill more people?" Arana asks, rushing to Clarke's side.

"Good." Octavia states, rushing forward past the group. "I say after what they did to me, float them all."

"You don't mean that!" Jasper shouts, running after her.

"We have to warn them." Finn says.

"That's what my father said."

Arana pushes forward, stopping beside Jasper who looks back at her. "I love earth."

Arana follows his eyes, finding Octavia stripping off her pants and walking across a big rock, readying herself to jump over the edge. "Octavia, what are you doing?!" She calls out. Without giving Arana an answer, she looks back with a smile on her face before jumping over the edge with a loud splash.

"Oh my god Bellamy is gonna kill me." She mutters to herself, running her fingers through her hair and jumping over rocks to get to the edge.

"We can't swim!" Monty shouts.

"No, but we can stand." Octavia giggles, standing up so that the waters only waist level.

"There's not supposed to be a river here." Clarkes brows knit together and she looks back at the group.

"Well there is." Finn states. "So take off your damn clothes."

As everyone scatters to take their clothes off, Arana shares a look with Monty, shrugging before removing her coat, letting it fall to the ground. If she was going to be on earth she might as well have some fun.

She stops dead in her tracks, her heart sinking at the sight of ripples moving at a fast speed toward Octavia, something Jasper sees at the same time as Arana. "Octavia get out of the water." He says loudly, panic setting in and tension filling the air around them.

This was bad.

The ripples grew closer and it suddenly became harder to breathe. "Octavia get out of the water!" Jasper shouts again, Octavia turning slightly, eyes wide and a terrifying screaming filling the air before she's pulled under by the river monster.

"Octavia!" Jasper shouts.

"Oh my god!"

"What the hell do we do?"

Her screams return to the surface just as she does and everyone jumps into action, trying to find a way to get that thing away from her.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Monty shouts. "We have to help her!"

"What are we gonna do?"

"We have to save her!" Jasper says, ready to jump in a play hero.

"No!" Clarke cuts him off, throwing her arm over his body to get him to stop in his tracks. "Maybe if we distract it, it'll let her go! Someone help me."

Arana jumps into action, throwing herself to the ground beside Clarke and helping her roll a Juana rock into the river. With the loud splash, the river monster lets her go, the ripples going toward the rock that has now sunk to the bottom of the river.

"Get to the shore now!" Jasper shouts, running toward the steep hill the leads into the water and jumping right in, and wrapping his arms around her, swimming slowly back to shore.

"It's coming back Jasper!" Arana yells. "It's coming right for you guys!"

"Hurry!"

Arana pushes herself off the ground, running towards the shoreline and wrapping her hands around Jaspers shoulder, pulling him up with all that she can.

"Oh thank god!"

"Thank you!" Octavia breathes out deeply, wrapping her arms around Jasper as Clarke comes over, tearing a piece of fabric from Jaspers shirt to make a homemade tourniquet for the giant bite mark of Octavia's thigh.

"Note to self, next time save the girl." Monty claps Jaspers on the shoulder, everyone laughing with relief.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

BY THE TIME NIGHT ROLLS AROUND ARANA CAN'T SLEEP. She hears the soft snores from Monty and Jasper close by. The grounds ungodly uncomfortable and Arana can't stop her thoughts from racing.

The forest was different at night, with all the different kinds of birds who weren't here earlier, being here now, making so many noises. Even the forest glowed at night, something they Arana thinks cannot be good.

But that's not the main thing causing Arana's insomnia.

No. It was her father once again. And the everlasting thought of the ark dying.

Ever since the dropship landed earlier today she's been wracking her brain to try to figure why the hell she got caught and how she could be so stupid. She's so smart when it comes to avoiding the guards and being quiet. How the hell did she let Bellamy bring her guard down so much that she ended up down here, leaving her father on the Ark that was slowly dying.

And what if the privileged decided they need more time? They'd kill off the poorer sections first. It's just what made sense. She could feel her heart in her throat at the thought of her father being floated to make time for the rest of them.

That's why the wristbands were so important, they needed to know that being down here wasn't going to kill them anyway. But what did they think when they saw her vitals up on the board with all the other kids. They knew she wasn't a prisoner, there had to be some sort of files that told them that.

The snores of Monty and Jasper only irritate her more and she sits up, rubbing her face before looking up at the stars.

She wonders if her father is looking at those same stars right now, wondering where she is and if she's okay.

Or maybe he wasn't, he's probably drinking his sorrows, not even noticing her absence.

Shaking her head, she lies back down on the hard ground, giving the stars one last look before she shuts her eyes, praying that she'll get some sleep.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

AFTER A RESTLESS NIGHT OF SLEEP, ARANA FINDS HERSELF BACK ON THE SAME ROCK AS YESTERDAY. The group put together a rope of vines, ready to swing across the river to get to the other side.

How they'd get back? Something that Arana's sure Clarke will figure out.

She looks up, her brown hair blowing in the slight breeze and she smiles as Finn tugs the rope. He volunteered to go first, and now he was making every excuse not to go.

"You wanted to go first, now quit stalling." Clarke teases him, Arana laughs, placing her hands on her hips. "Mount Weather awaits."

"And all the food!" Arana says, clutching her growling stomach.

"Yes! The food." Octavia agrees, nudging Arana with the smile. "We want the food!"

"Just hang on till the apogee and you'll be fine." Jasper mutters to him.

"Apogee... like the Indians right?"

"Apogee, not Apache."

"He knows!" Clarke shouts. "Today, Finn."

"Aye aye captain," He salutes the group, a scared look on his face and he pulls the vines back, ready to swing. "See you on the other side."

"Wait!" Jasper says quickly, looking to Octavia before look back at Finn. "Let me. I can do it."

Finn grins, passing Jasper the vines. "I knew there was a badass in there somewhere."

Jasper looks around, pulling on the vine and looking to Octavia, then Arana. Gulping down his fear he looks to Finn. "It's okay to be scared Jasper, the trick is not fighting it."

"Yeah Jasper you got this!" Arana cheers.

Jasper smiles, pulling on the vine rope some more. "See you on the other side." He swings across, his feet dangling in the air before he lands on the rock that on the other side.

Arana runs up, the group following and she catches the rope, a giant grin on her face as Jasper pushes himself.

"We are Apogee!" He yells so loud that some birds fly away. The group cheers loudly, pumping their fists in the air and grinning at each other.

"You did it Jasper!" Clarke shouts.

"Yeah he did!"

"Alright who's next!" Arana pipes up, offering the rope to anyone willing to take it. "Clarke, do you wanna go?"

"Come on Clarke, you got this! Apogee!"

Clarke grins, taking the rope from Arana. "You got this, Princess." Finn pats her shoulder.

"We did it!" The group turns to see Jasper holding a giant sign in his hand. "Mount Weather!"

His cheers fill the air and everyone looks at each other smiling.

"Yeah!" Monty laughs, snapping his fingers.

"Yeah Jasper!" Clarke grins.

Before anyone can notice what's happening, Jasper is flown back, landing against the rock with a loud thud. The cheering comes to a halt, and the silence becomes deadly. A giant spear is in his chest and Arana's heart sinks.

"Jasper!"

"Jasper no!"

"Oh my god."

The silence.

Jasper.

A spear to the chest.

He's dead. There is no way he survived that.

Someone pulls Arana to the ground and she lands next to Octavia. With leaves crunching all around them, their heads swing in multiple directions.

"We're not alone." Clarke gasps.

Arana's heart sinks even further in her chest. She really should not have followed Bellamy down here.