prologue; WALK TO DISASTER

one year earlier

"Want to go for a walk?"

Bellamy Blake stared at his younger sister, a smile on his lips and curiosity sparking in his dark eyes as he gently pushed the door open.

A gentle, yet encouraging, smile dawned upon Reese Kane's expression at the look hesitance and excitement that battled across Octavia's features as she slowly edged towards the door she'd never seen be opened and once she reached it, the young girl hesitated, causing to her older brother to grasp her hand in his own and squeeze it assuringly, a soft look in his eye.

"It's okay," Reese told her gently causing Octavia to slowly let go of her Bellamy's hand and take a step over the doorway threshold for the first, and possibly only, time in her life.

Reese and Bellamy walked ahead of the sixteen year old, occasionally glancing back at her awe-filled expression only once stopping their journey when Octavia paused at the largest window on the Ark, gazing at it rather carefully until Bellamy nudged her toward it.

Reese couldn't contain the grin that spread across her face as Octavia walked to the window to watch her first moonrise and she slowly turned her attention away from the awed girl to look at the tall male beside her.

"You're a good brother." She told him causing him to grin down at his best friend.

"Thank you." He replied as he handed her a white mask, "But don't think for a second that I forgot about you."

She smiled brightly up at him in response as she looked down at the lace mask he had given her.

"Thanks, Bell." She responded as she leaned up and quickly pressed her lips to his cheek before she quickly made her way over to Octavia who turned her attention away from the moon rise and was watching some teenagers run passed them, "Are you ready for your first dance?"

Octavia nodded rather eagerly and grasped Reese's hand in her own as the two followed the loud thump of music to the large room where the Masquerade dance was being held.

"Have fun." Reese exclaimed as they reached the middle of the dance floor, "I'll just be over there."

Octavia grabbed her arm before she could turn to leave the spacious floor.

"No." She protested, "Dance with me."

Reese laughed lightly in response to the girl's request, "You know I don't dance."

Octavia stared at her with pleading eyes until Reese surrendered and began to sway to the beat of the music as the brunette beside her danced wildly until she noticed Reese's lack of dance skill and grabbed Reese's arms.

"That is not dancing."

Reese pulled a face causing Octavia to laugh as she begun to dance once more, her grip on Reese's wrists never faltering until had no choice but to start dancing wildly with her.

The twenty year old caught Bellamy's eye and winked at him when he shook his head at her with a smile.

"Nice eyes."

She spun around and grinned when she noticed a boy flirting with Octavia, partly due to how flustered the young girl got but mainly because she knew how protective Bellamy was.

"What station are you from?"

As Octavia began to respond to the boy, the music stopped and a voice began talking over the P.A. system.

"Solar flare alert. An x-class solar flare has begun on the starboard side of The Ark. All citizens must report to the nearest shelter zone immediately. This is not a test. This is a solar flare alert."

Panic gripped Reese like a vice.

She swore under her breath, grabbing Octavia's hand tightly in her own as if to confirm that she had not disappeared, "We have to find Bellamy, now."

Octavia nodded and they quickly pushed through the crowd in search of the oldest Blake sibling until a hand circled around her forearm causing the woman to tense, ready to throw a punch at the person.

"It's me," Bellamy whispered.

"Bell, Reese, I need to get home," Octavia told them urgently, her eyes wide and panicked beneath the mask.

"You will," Bellamy replied firmly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you all know the drill by now. Masks off, I.D. chips out." A guard called out.

"Bell, what do I do?" Octavia asked her older brother desperately.

"Listen to me. Whatever happens, you get back home and get under the floor." Bellamy told her, "You'll be safe there from the flare, like always."

"What are you going to do?" Reese questioned, low enough that Octavia would not hear.

In response, Bellamy pulled out the electric baton from where it rested on his belt..

"Create a distraction." He answered pushing his sister firmly toward the exit, "Go on."

"Bell, how do I get home?" She asked, panic clouding her features.

Horror filled the older Blake's face.

"I'll take her," Reese told him gently.

Before the two girls were able to slip out undetected, a voice stopped them.

"Cadet Blake." Lieutenant Shumway greeted, his eyes flickering to the weapon in his grasp and then to the girl's, "Why is your weapon out? Masks off."

When they didn't move to take off the masks fast enough and Bellamy hadn't answered the officer's question, he reached forward and ripped both the girl's masks from their faces.

"Sir, they're-they're fine." Bellamy stammered out in an attempt to hide his overall fear, "I already scanned them."

Shumway nodded before looking down as if realising something and Reese's heart dropped.

"You don't have a scanner." He pointed out, turning back to face Reese and Octavia, "I.D., please."

Reese purposely fumbled around for her to buy some more time.

"Hurry up, Kane." He snapped, his irritation for the girl showing, "I don't have all day."

"Please, Lieutenant Shumway, I'm begging you, she needs to leave." Bellamy's voice took on a desperate edge before Reese had a chance to respond and get herself into trouble, "As a fellow guardsman just let us walk out of here and I'll do anything you want, anything."

"You're not a guardsman yet, cadet." Shumway turned back to the girls, "I.D. now."

Reese paused in her 'search' for her I.D. and closed her eyes, taking a deep and shaky breath as knew that she would be arrested and floated for her next course of action and without an ounce of hesitation, Reese ripped Bellamy's electric baton from his tight grasp and pressed the button that sent it crackling to life, before promptly jabbing it straight into the Lieutenant's chest, quickly turning to the siblings who stood frozen in shock.

"Go." She ordered Octavia, the sixteen year old only briefly hesitating before she quickly turned on her heel and took off in a dead sprint.

"Stop her." Shumway wheezed out as he fell to his knees clutching his chest as he twitched.

Two guards at the door quickly grabbed Octavia just as she was almost out of the door and home free.

A guard who stood next to them took one look at the state Shumway was in before finding Reese responsible as she still held the baton in her hands, electricity still thrumming through the weapon as she held it, ready to strike again if necessary.

He rushed forward, knocking the threat from her hands, before roughly shoving her arms behind her back and cuffing her hands together.

Panting, Shumway stood and glared darkly at the girl.

"I've been waiting a very long time to arrest you, Kane." He told her, a malicious glint in his twitching eyes.

"Looks like you got your wish." She sneered up at him, her eyes showing the hatred she felt for the man before her.

"Take her away." He ordered.

As the guard shoved her forward none to gently, she found herself glancing back at Bellamy and smiled sadly at the heartbroken expression on his face, accepting her fate and that she would never see him again, drinking in his every feature with urgent eyes.

She was shoved around the corner and he was blocked from her view.

"May we meet again." She whispered to herself.

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i had to take this down for some major editing but it's back now and i'm really happy with the changes.

thanks for reading!

~r