two; THE SKYBOX CHANGED HIM

Archer trudged behind the small group, a frown marring his features as he wondered why the hell he came on this trip in the first place.

Oh, that's right, He thought to himself rather bitterly just as he glanced up ahead at the group just as Finn placed a flower behind Octavia's ear causing her to smile up at him, Because you're an idiot.

Archer rolled his eyes as he slammed into Jasper and Monty who had stopped walking to watch the duo. He sent them a dark look before he shoved passed them to continue after Clarke, the only person who hadn't stopped walking to enjoy their surroundings.

"Now, that, my friend, is game." He faintly heard Jasper exclaim as he stormed away from them.

"That, my friend." Monty mocked, "Is poison sumac."

"What!?" The brunette exclaimed, "It is?!"

Archer smirked as he stopped walking and looked over his shoulder to see Octavia brushing the flower out of her hair rather violently.

"The flowers aren't poisonous." Monty assured as the quartet caught up with Archer, "They're medicinal, calming, actually."

"His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the Ark," Jasper explained when he caught both Finn and Archer's blank looks.

"Hey, guys." Clarke called out to them impatiently, "Would you try to keep up?"

"Nope," Archer replied, sending her a toothy grin when he received a death stare that he'd been on the receiving end of one too many times in the past.

"Come on, Clarke." Finn yelled, "How do you block all this out?"

"It's beautiful." Archer murmured inaudibly as his calloused hand grazed across the rough bark of a tree as he slowed to a stop just within listening distance of their small group.

"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." The blonde girl ranted, "Sure is pretty, though. Come on."

Once Clarke had placed a great deal of distance between her and the rest of the group, Octavia turned to them with a small smirk, "Someone should slip her some poison sumac."

Archer chuckled under his breath as the boys next to him made sounds expressing their own amusement before he began following after the blonde girl rather reluctantly.

"I have got to know what you two did to get busted," Finn exclaimed after a few minutes of walking.

"Sumac is not the only herb in the garden if you know what I mean," The Green boy replied rather slyly.

Archer shook his head with a grin as Jasper spoke with a rather pointed look at his best friend, "Someone forgot to replace what we took."

"Someone has apologised, like, a thousand times," Monty replied lightheartedly.

"How about you, Archer?" Finn asked after a moment of hesitation as he glanced over his shoulder at the teen who had been silent throughout the conversation, "What were you arrested for?"

John Mbege had once been stupid enough to ask that very same question of him and ended up having to spend a whole week in the Ark's infirmary. Archer, on the other hand, spent the next four weeks after their exchange in solitary confinement. Since then, many rumours had been spread around the Skybox about what he had done but, after Mbege, everyone was too scared to approach the hothead during meals to ask him what he had really done to deserve being treated the way he did by the guards.

Archer shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged, only allowing two syllables to leave his lips in such a simple response,

"Murder."

He didn't elaborate on the fact that he had been framed nor did he try to explain why he had 'done' it as he would much rather they all be scared of him which, in turn, would make everyone leave him alone to do his own thing and he would be able to leave camp with no issue before the rest of the Ark came down.

Because Jaha was not pardoning his crime as he had initially promised all of the prisoners.

The delinquent quickened his pace so the only person in front of him was Clarke, leaving the others to stare after him in shock and a bit of fear.

"Is he serious?" Octavia asked cautiously.

"I have no idea," Finn murmured.

"How about you, Octavia?" He faintly heard Jasper question in order for the subject to be changed, "What'd they get you for?"

There was a pregnant pause and the silence around them was almost suffocating.

"Being born." She answered bitterly as she jogged away from them, shoving passed Archer as she went and it was then that Archer caught sight of Clarke crouched behind a bush, her gaze focused entirely on something in the distance as Octavia kneeled on the soil beside her.

Clarke made a shushing motion and slowly pointed at something ahead of them.

He followed her finger to see a magnificent stag in the distance, its head bowed, antlers pointing toward the sky as it munched on the grass below him.

"No animals, huh?" He faintly heard Finn direct at Clarke in a smug tone.

Wanting to get a better look at the beautiful creature, the accused murderer slowly moved, one light step at a time, so he wouldn't scare it, but, as he took another step forward, a crunch echoed from underneath his leather-clad boot.

In turn, the stag's head shot up and quickly turned to the teenagers who got a good look at the other half of its head, or rather, other head.

Archer lost his footing and stumbled back in shock at the sight of the second rather decayed looking head gruesomely attached to the creature.

He heard the gasps from the teenagers behind him as they watched the stag gallop away and once his heart rate was steady, he stood up and turned to face the others, his expression of shock mirroring those around him.

✦❀✦

The sun had begun to set in a fiery orange glow, the bright light seeping through the trees when as their shock from seeing the two-headed stag had started to simmer and fade.

It was then that Finn broke the silence.

"Hey, you know what I'd like to know?"

"Not really," Archer replied harshly causing Finn to send him a rather scathing look before he continued as though no one had interrupted him, "Why send us down today after ninety-seven years? What changed?"

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

To emphasise her point, she wrapped her hand around the trunk of a tree and spun around it, grinning flirtatiously at Finn when he walked passed her, her face falling when he didn't give her a second glance.

Archer laughed, causing Octavia to glare at him furiously just as Monty cut in with a suggestion of his own, "Maybe they found something on a satellite. You know, like an old weather satellite or..."

"It wasn't a satellite," Clarke responded from the back of the group, effectively cutting off the male's theories.

Archer glanced over his shoulder, not being able to contain his curiosity, "What was it?"

The blonde took a deep breath before she began speaking.

"The Ark is dying." She informed, "At the current population level, there are roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone."

Archer stared at her in shock as the rest of the small group stopped in their tracks to look at her. He was intelligent enough to know that something was going on by the way a minority of the guards were acting when they brought food to his cell but he didn't think the situation was that bad.

"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" Finn questioned.

"My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw." Clarke revealed sadly, "He thought the people had a right to know. The Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were gonna go public, anyway, when Wells..."

"What, turned in your dad?" Archer asked snidely.

Finn glared at him as Clarke continued speaking as though she hadn't heard his interruption, though her faint flinch proved otherwise.

"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." She concluded, rather bitterly.

"They're gonna kill more people?" Monty asked urgently, "Aren't they?"

"Probably." Archer responded icily, his eyes unable to hide his fury, "But I can assure you that it definitely won't be anyone from Alpha."

"Good." Octavia exclaimed, "After what they did to me, I say, float them all."

Archer smirked at the brunette.

"Me too." He nodded as he followed after her.

"You don't mean that," Jasper called after them.

Archer turned and looked at him, the unmasked fury still present in his eyes.

"Oh, but I do." He spoke coldly, his expression becoming rather harsh.

The Skybox had changed him.

"We have to warn them." He faintly heard Finn say as he turned back around.

"That's what my father said."

"Oh, damn, I love Earth," Jasper whispered.

Archer looked in the direction that they were looking in to see Octavia slipping her pants down her legs, acting as though she didn't know that they were standing feet away.

Archer stared blankly while the others made a few comments as Octavia made her way to the edge of the rocks.

"Octavia, what the hell are you doing?!" Clarke yelled, her eyes expressing her frustration.

The illegal child turned to look at them, her face a mixture of excitement, smugness, and a bit of defiance before she turned around and stepped off the ledge, her body disappearing from sight.

Archer's heart felt as though it had dropped into his stomach before he heard the echoing splash.

While the rest of the delinquents sprinted to the edge, Archer chose to walk over there as Octavia's head popped up from underneath the blanket of blue water.

"Octavia." Monty called, "We can't swim."

"I know, but we can stand." She said as she stood up from what appeared to be a crouched position.

A genuine grin spread across Archer's face that went unnoticed by the small group, except for Octavia who allowed a small smile to spread across her face at the first sight of genuine emotion on the male's face, the first she'd seen.

The next few minutes went by in a blur of Octavia's screams followed by the sounds of Clarke and Finn attempting to come up with a plan to save her from the creature that had grabbed her.

Finally, Archer had enough and quickly pulled his shirt over his head and sprinted towards the lake. Without the slightest hint of his hesitation, he dived into the icy depths and let the water envelop his body. The delinquent felt himself start to sink and almost let it happen before he heard the faint screaming above the water and he began to kick wildly and when his head finally broke the water's surface, he immediately turned towards the screams before a splash echoed from nearby. Octavia's shouts had died down and the brunet male splashed his way over to her.

"Are you okay?" He asked as soon as he was sure that she could hear him.

"I'm fine." She replied as Archer grabbed a hold of her waist in order to keep her head just above the water's surface.

"We need to get back to the shore before it comes back." He told her urgently causing Octavia to nod and they began swimming very sloppily towards the edge of the bank.

"Octavia, Archer! Get to the shore, now!" They barely heard Jasper yell.

"It's coming back." Monty shouted, "It's headed right for you, guys."

Archer pushed Octavia ahead of him.

"Go, go." He urged as he pushed himself to swim faster, "You're almost there."

"Come on. Come on. Keep moving." Jasper encouraged as he jumped into a shallower edge of the lake.

Archer's fingers grazed the rocky edge and he immediately lifted Octavia up into Jasper's waiting arms before heaving himself up, just has the creature grazed the back of his leg causing him to let out a groan of agony as he collapsed atop of the hard rocks.

Clarke immediately ran over and began assessing their injuries.

"I'm fine." Archer spat as he pushed himself away from the concerned blonde.

She frowned at him before turning back to Octavia, knowing full well that Archer wouldn't let her help him, not after what had happened between them.

He glanced over to see Octavia holding onto Jasper tightly as Clarke wrapped a part of Jasper's shirt around the girl's injury.

Octavia tilted her head in order to look over at Archer who lay a few feet away, breathing heavily as he ran his hand through his damp hair, the pain in his ribs twinging as he attempted to slow his breathing.

"Thank you." She gasped faintly.

Archer nodded, acknowledging that he had heard her and she turned to Jasper who was holding her and hugged him tightly, expressing her gratitude.

"You're gonna be okay." Clarke told her before she looked at Archer, "You both are."

"Note to self." Monty suddenly spoke, "Next time, save the girl."

Archer fell back onto the rocks, raising his hand to cover his eyes in order to block the sun from burning his retinas, allowing a rather breathless laugh to escape him as he did so.

✦❀✦

Finn tugged on the vine for the eighth time causing Archer to sigh in annoyance.

"You wanted to go first." Clarke called out to him, "Now quit stalling."

"Mount Weather awaits," Archer said to the older male mockingly as he gestured to the other side of the lake with a dramatic sweep of his arm.

"Just hang onto the apogee." Jasper told him reassuringly, "And you'll be fine."

"The apogee like the Indians, right?" Finn questioned, his head tilted to the side.

"That's apache, dumbass," Archer told him.

Finn sent him a dark look before turning back to Jasper.

"He's right." Jasper stated, "Apogee, not apache."

Leaves rustled behind him so Archer looked over his shoulder to see two bright blue orbs floating amongst the bushes.

Why would there be orbs in the bushes, He asked himself, but when he looked back at the bush, they were gone and Archer shook his head, thinking that he had just imagined it.

"He knows." Clarke yelled, impatience colouring her tone, "Today, Finn."

"Aye, aye, captain." He called down to her with a salute, before looking at Archer and Jasper who both stood on either side of him with a grin, "See you on the other side."

Just as he pulled the vine back, Jasper stopped him rather nervously, "Wait."

Finn looked at him curiously, "What?"

Jasper looked down to where Octavia stood before turning back to Finn.

"Let me." He said confidently, "I can do it."

Finn nodded and handed him the vine.

"Knew there was a badass in there somewhere." He exclaimed with a smirk.

Jasper chuckled nervously before looking at the vine, hesitation and fear clear in his eyes.

"Hey, it's okay to be afraid, Jasper." Finn told him softly, "The trick is not fighting it."

Jasper grinned.

"See you on the other side."

With that, he pulled the rope back and swung himself across the river, cheering wildly as he did so.

Archer felt his eyes widened as the teenager let go of the vine and landed on a pile of logs and he waited with bated breath until Jasper slowly got to his feet and cheered.

"We are apogee!" He screamed, looking quite rather exhilarated as he threw his fist into the air, "Yeah!"

Archer grinned as the others erupted into cheers.

"You did it, Jasper!" Clarke exclaimed.

"Nice job, man," Archer yelled out to him.

"Let's go, Princess." Finn exclaimed before handing the vine to the blonde girl, "You're up."

"Come on, Clarke! You got this!" Jasper shouted, his voice echoing loudly across the lake, "Whoo! Apo-GEE!"

Archer shook his head as he watched Jasper look around him.

"We did it!" He suddenly yelled as he lifted a metal sign into the air, "Mount Weather!"

Archer allowed a smile to slip onto his face as the delinquents around him began cheering for their friend.

Out of nowhere, their ecstatic mood was extinguished as Jasper's body was sent flying back into the trunk of a tree, a long piece of wood protruding from his chest.

Archer, who had been standing between Octavia and Monty, immediately forced them onto the ground and behind a rock as his gaze flew to the treeline.

"J-Jasper." Clarke cried, "Jasper."

"JASPER!" Monty shouted a look of grief etched on his face.

Archer's eyes found Finn's.

"Get her down." He hissed, using his head to gesture at where the blonde girl stood screaming to an unconscious boy who couldn't hear her, let alone reply to her.

"Oh, my god," Octavia whispered, horror prominent in her green eyes.

"Come on. Come on." Finn urged, pushing Clarke to where Archer, Octavia, and Monty were already crouched, "Get down."

Leaves rustled around them and branches cracked under pressure as Archer looked at the forest around him trying to pinpoint the direction that the weapon had come from.

"We're not alone," Clarke announced, terror lacing her tone.

Archer looked over his shoulder at the bush where he had first seen the 'floating orbs' and realisation dawned upon him when he came to the conclusion that they weren't orbs at all.

They were eyes.

══════════════════

archer is so soft yet so harsh and angry and he basically just has my entire heart at this point.

i actually cringed so hard while using the word orbs to first describe the eyes that he saw, but how does a person who has only ever thought that the Earth was uninhabited justify what he saw?

thanks for reading!

~r