o n e ;

She was standing on the bridge of the launch pad that led into the space shuttle named Europa VII. It was ten minutes to lift off and she looked up at the sky with curiosity and a hint of sadness. They would be up in outer space within the next thirty minutes, on their way to Vesta, a part of the asteroid belt for an exploration mission. They needed to collect specimens to bring back to Earth for studying. The mission would last them approximately eight years--four years to travel to their destination and collect the specimens, and four years to travel back to earth. But it wasn't like they had much to come back to anyway.

There was a group of eight explorers who had trained together for most of their childhoods and teenage lives, with two other members joining their specific mission one week prior and two more joining them that morning. That was the way things worked on Earth. The world was divided into Provinces separated by colors. As a Pink, she came from the Province of Flowers, the only place where flowers and trees could grow. No other place on their planet was the ground good enough for flowers. It was merely where they grew and mass produced flowers for fancy government parties. She came from one of the more useless provinces, as the more useful province kids like to call it. But she didn't even have that many memories of her home anyway. 

At four years old, each child was required by law to be taken to The Garden for special intelligence testing. One or two from each province were taken every year and trained for years until they could be ready for their missions in space. Pink had been chosen and her parents were proud of her. But she didn't want to leave their side. They were more than happy to offer her up, since they saw it as their patriotic duty as parents and her patriotic duty to have been selected and represent their province. She didn't even have a name yet when she was selected. Her parents hadn't even gotten to name her because it was customary to name children only after knowing that they hadn't been selected. They wouldn't be needing names in The Garden or in space anyway. She would simply forever be known as Pink. It wasn't until she was about eight years old that she received a name. Someone cared enough to give her something that was solely for her.

She ran a hand through her pastel pink wavy bob hair. It felt different, lighter, since she had gotten her long hair chopped off the previous night, much to her dismay. All members of the crew had to have short hair, and that left her female crew members getting a hair cut the previous night. It just didn't feel right, but that was the way things needed to be in order for her to wear her space suit properly. 

She turned slightly when she heard the slow footsteps of someone approaching her. It was her crew mate and captain of the mission Black. She offered him a warm smile as she looked up to meet his eyes, since he was almost a whole foot taller than her. "Ready for take off, Rosie?" He asked her in a voice that almost had a hint of teasing in it. Rosie was her nickname and it was short for Roseanne, which was the name he had given her. Black, and it was the name her other crewmates called her. Their trainers, and instructors, they didn't bother. They still called her Pink.

She still remembered that sad little four year old boy who was brought into The Garden when he was four years old and she was eight. His tear soaked face made her frown because she remembered how upset she was too, when her parents dropped her off and said their goodbyes for the last time. This was probably the first and last time she would ever see him, since he was a newcomer and she was training with all the other children born in 2994. He was four years younger than her and would be training with the children his age, born in 2998. 

She saw him again the following week. As it turned out, the eight year olds and the four year olds had their play time at the same time and she had been sitting at a bench, reading on her holo-tablet when she saw the 2998 generation boys getting together to play a game with a ball. The little Red boy placed a hand on Black's shoulder and shoved him down to the ground, towering over him. Black was easily the runt of their group. All the other boys there--Red, Blue, Green--were taller and bigger, coming from more powerful provinces. "You can't play with us. Why don't you go play dolls with the girls?" He asked, snickering. The other boys around them laughed. 

Pink rolled her eyes in annoyance and plopped her holo-tablet down next to her. She got back on her feet and marched right up to those four year old boys. "Hey! Leave him alone."

"We don't want to play with him! He's a runt. I don't know why teacher says Black is really smart. He's a dummy." Red replied, and the other boys nodded.

"Then screw you. We don't need this kind of thing here." Pink shot back, blowing them a raspberry. If they weren't going to be reasonable, she was going to stoop down to their childish four year old level. Evidently they were just jealous that Black seemed to be top of their group and that's why they didn't want to play with him. Grabbing Black by the hand and helping him back on his feet, she said to him. "Come on. You can play ball over here with me."

Black only followed her obediently, sniffling.

"Are you okay?" She asked as they both sat down on the bench where she left her holo-tablet. She had been reading a fairy tale about a beautiful princess being saved by a brave and handsome knight. The stories were hundreds of years old, but she still found them fascinating. Now she would have to stop what she was doing to go find a ball to play with him.

He nodded his head slowly. "Yes. I'm Raven by the way. What's your name?"

She couldn't help but eye him with confusion and a hint of surprise. "Your parents named you?"

No one else in The Garden had an actual name. It was customary to wait until after knowing if your child was gifted enough to be taken from you or not. Kids who weren't chosen got names, but also got the shame of knowing they hadn't been picked. Kids who were chosen had parents who boasted about it to their friends back home. But they didn't get a name or a sense of identity. If you name them, you just get attached, one of their teachers had explained to her group when one of the other kids in her class asked. 

He gave a shake of his head and proceeded to explain. "I chose it for myself. Raven's are black and have black eyes like me."

Pink gave a sigh. He really was smart for his age. Top of his class and even had enough thought in his head to name himself without anyone doing it for him. She said, "I don't have a name. My parents never named me, and I was told I'd never need one here. So I just go by Pink." 

"Roseanne." He said immediately as the name popped up in his mind. When he saw once again the confusion on her face, he explained why he chose the name for her. "Your hair and your eyes are pink. Like a pretty pink flower. And you come from the Province of Flowers. A rose is a flower, so I thought of Roseanne."

She smiled at that. "I actually kinda like it."

He was the only person who didn't seem to think she was just some barefoot hippie who spent all of her time high and cultivating flowers. That was the stereotype of her province. But he was only four years old and was probably still innocent to the ways of the world. At eight, she already knew the different stereotypes of the other provinces. But she didn't ever mention them or use them to insult anyone. Pinks were known as the drug crazed hippies, and Blacks were known as the miners who lived in poverty. 

But she liked the name and it stuck with her. From then on, she started going by Roseanne. Soon the other kids in her group liked the idea of getting their own individual names and she named them too. Kids came and went. Some were eliminated from the program and sent back home to a life of shame in their Province, as her instructors put it the dumb ones were weeded out. This was the cream of the crop, and soon kids from the younger generations were put together into a group as they got older and closer to taking off on their mission. 

Of the original eight to join training group 12191, Raven had been sixth to join. Roseanne had been fourth to join. After that first year in the play ground together, she didn't see much of him again since she was older and had break time with the older kids after that. She had been surprised and pleased when they got older and he was placed in her group for the mission. He was older now, taller, and was actually kind of handsome. He had grown out of being the runt of his initial group to one of the taller boys in his new group despite being one of the youngest. He had trained harder than anyone to gain physical strength, and continued to excel in academics.

Despite being younger and from a province that didn't produce many prodigies, he was the favorite of the administration and the instructors alike and was chosen as captain of their mission, with Red and Pink as co-captains for being the oldest in the group. 

When he was chosen as captain, most of the other members who were older and with a longer training time had been resentful of him. They thought someone with more experience would make a better captain. Every one thought Roseanne would be chosen, since she was the oldest in the group at twenty six years old and she had been the favorite before Raven joined the group.

She nodded her head slowly at his question, snapping out of her thoughts of the past. "Yeah. Its just...weird to think that we're going to spend the next eight years in space together. When we come back we'll be in our thirties."

"Yeah." He nodded in agreement as it all fell into perspective for him. He was twenty two years old now, going on an eight year mission. That meant that the next time he came back to Earth, he would be thirty years old. She would be thirty four. Even the youngest in their group, Honey, would be twenty six upon their return. It would most likely be their first and only mission. 

Every child prodigy had their one mission to train for and complete, the lifespan of a human was much too short for them to be able to continue for any other missions. Upon landing they were sent back to their province as heroes, or so he heard from his instructors. They were to be sent back home to a giant house in a nice gated community, and so much money that they'd never have to work another day in their lives. The one thing he didn't want to think about was not being able to see one person after the mission was over. The colors were not allowed to mix and no one who was not Black could follow him into his province, and vice versa. 

But at least he had the next eight years to make the most of their time together.

-

so i got inspiration from the hunger games for the thing about the provinces, like each having their own duties and stuff. i got the inspiration of the colors from another fanfic i once wrote. it was called "of lilies and violets" i think. and i wrote about how the world was divided by social classes based on hair colors, since they evolved into blondes, brunettes, reds, violets, greens, and blues. 

then i got the inspiration about them training as children from an anime i liked called darling in the franxx. 

it is my story and i will deviate from these other ideas. but i have to admit and point out that i did get some inspiration from other stories out there. so please bear with me as i write this story out.

i hope you like it and please have a wonderful day!

-clary