✧】v. angry earth people【✧

[ earth kills ]

four years ago

AMERY'S BREATH CAME out short and shallow, shadows of tangible paranoia flickering in her peripherals as she pressed the device firmly into the bottom of the table. A small, blinking green light indicated its activation. On. Off. On. Off. The flicker seemed to match the pounding of her heart. Gripping the edge of the table from underneath, Amery slid herself off the floor and darted to the door. She pressed an ear against the metal, met only with silence and the cool sensation of steel against skin, and casually walked into the hall.

The air of false confidence she forced herself to emanate upon her departure became useful only moments later, when only five feet from the Council Chamber's doors she was met with the hard, calculating gaze of Marcus Kane.

"Hello," he said casually, almost amused at the sight of the scrawny mechanic in the halls of Alpha Station. "I don't believe we've met."

Amery shook her head, fighting to keep the nerves out of Kane's sight. You're not nervous, she told herself silently, willing her hands to stay still. You're supposed to be here.

"Mr. Kane," she greeted, keeping her voice level, though she felt like crying. Kane looked at her expectantly, and she realized she was supposed to introduce herself.

The truth? A lie?

"Amery," she stuck out a hand and gave Kane's a firm shake. "I'm from Mecha. Faulty waterline over here- today's mission," she cracked a grin. Kane nodded distractedly, eyes drifting past the shorter girl and to the source of the heavy footsteps behind her.

"Chancellor," Kane said, and Amery spun around with wide eyes.

"Uh, Chancellor Jaha, sir," she stammered, nervously eyeing the tall, stoic man with a guarded expression. She cursed herself for allowing her façade to crumble, but tried to play it off as a measly Mecha resident astounded to come face-to-face with the head of the Ark.

"Miss Ekker," Jaha greeted without enthusiasm.

Jaha knew her dad. They could even be considered friends, really. Could have been. But Jaha didn't seem to care that Lewis Ekker was scheduled for execution.

Just because Amery had been hungry.

"Well, if you'll excuse us, Amery, we have a meeting to attend to," Kane announced, patting the girl on the shoulder and strolling down the hall. His broad frame disappeared into the same doors Amery had emerged from only minutes before, and she sagged in relief, turning to make her way back to Mecha Station.

It was time to eavesdrop on the Council.

✧✧✧

Amery isn't sure if it's another one of Jasper's agonized screams or the nervous and impatient buzz of energy around the dropship's first floor that wakes her, but as she sits up and rubs her eyes, processing the noise, she's shocked she was able to fall asleep at all. The disruption comes as a blessing, ending another of her repeating nightmarish recollections of the day it all went wrong.

"That kid's driving me nuts," someone mutters, rolling over on the dropship ground with her hands over her ears.

"Can't take this much longer," another groans, and uncomfortable shifting across the room seems to echo the sentiment.

"Someone needs to shut that kid up," someone else whines, and Amery feels her temper flare beneath her skin.

"Someone needs to shut you up," she mutters, low enough for only Keaton to hear. He snorts, which startles Amery, because she hadn't known he was already awake, too.

Monty is no longer at her side. His blankets aren't warm, so she's not sure how long he's been pacing around with a cup of what she hopes is clean water, pausing every few seconds to look up at the ceiling in concern.

"Louder for the people in the back," Keaton mutters, and Amery snorts, rolling onto her back to stare at the nondescript ceiling of the dropship's interior.

She sits up at the sound of Murphy's gruff, dry voice carrying across the room. His feet hit the floor with a thud and he mutters, "That's it. I'm ending this." The words are casual, flowing off a sigh, as if he's talking about his latest minor inconvenience, not someone's life.

Amery hadn't known Murphy was awake, either. Maybe nobody on this ship can really sleep with Jasper's agonized screams bouncing off the walls.

"Murphy-" She's on her feet in seconds, pulling Keaton up with her and hesitantly stepping toward the boy.

"I heard Bellamy gave him till tomorrow," a girl wrapped in a blanket says groggily, lifting her head to glance questioningly at Murphy.

"Yeah, well, Bellamy isn't here, is he?" Murphy asks, daring anyone to argue. "The kid's dying anyway. I'm just getting it over with."

"Hey!" Amery is disgusted at the lack of response from everyone else- well, everyone except Monty, who's up the ladder and shouting to Octavia before Amery can even blink.

"Murphy's going to kill Jasper!" he shouts urgently, scrambling through the hatch and barely escaping Murphy's grasp. For a moment, Amery just blinks, mind and body still catching up as Monty displays an urgent energy she couldn't fathom mimicking at the moment. She brushes off the sleep with a yawn and a quick shake of the head, forcing herself to pay attention to the scene before her, to do something. Murphy fights to get through the hatch, preventing Monty from closing it as Octavia frantically kicks at him from the second floor. The lock is on the bottom of the hatch and Amery's heartbeat spikes, wondering how long Monty and Octavia can keep it closed.

"Murphy, what the hell?" Amery shouts, making to run toward him, but Keaton is faster. He crosses the floor to the ladder in two quick strides and grabs Murphy around the waist, yanking him down and falling into a pile of thrashing limbs on the floor with him.

"I'm gonna kill him, Sinclair, get off me!" Murphy shouts, rolling so that Keaton is underneath him and delivering a hard punch to his jaw.

"Keaton!" Amery cries in alarm, but her voice is lost in the clang of the hatch as Monty secures it from the other side with a muffled shout.

"Get the hell off me, John," Keaton growls, and Murphy's ears tinge pink. Oh, god.

"Keaton!" Amery repeats, running over and dragging him out of the fight. "Dude, c'mere. Not now," she murmurs lowly, even though there's nothing Amery herself would rather do than strangle John Murphy with her bare hands. She pulls Keaton over to the wall, scanning his face in the dim light and sitting down next to him. No blood, just a potential bruise.

"Monty!" Murphy shouts, then slams a fist into the wall in a fit of anger. After a long moment of no response, the boy sags in frustration and slides down the ladder, eyes still on the hatch.

"This isn't over," he spits, stalking back over to his hammock and flopping into it angrily.

Amery lets out a breath, eyes drifting to the ceiling. Jasper will be safe up there, at least for a while, but she hopes Clarke and the others get back soon.

Back in her pile of blankets, Harper and Zoe splayed at her feet- they hadn't so much as stirred during the whole incident, and Amery has no idea how- and Keaton sitting against the wall with a resigned expression, Amery expects sleep to evade her. She wants it to- she can't face the reality of what she did again. But it comes quickly, and she's thrust back into the memory of the worst day of her life.

"Next order of business," Jaha's gruff voice said through the radio, a hint of exhaustion tinging his voice. "Lewis Ekker. Ordered for execution for bribing his way into additional rations."

Amery's breath caught in her throat. This was it. Once she knew, there was no going back.

"Two days' time, midday, Dock B," Kane's voice said. He spit the statistics out like it was a simple business exchange. Like the life of Amery's only living family member was a matter of least importance in the extremely important and respectable life of Marcus Kane. Amery scoffed.

"Expecting resistance from the daughter?" a feminine voice pipes up, less of a question than a statement of irritated expectation. Amery's lip curls up in a snarl at the comment, at the way she's brushed off as the daughter, the resistance, just another possible hitch in their plan. A hum of agreement tells Amery that the other Council members must be nodding, resignedly moving on to the next order of business.

Amery's father wasn't even worth more than three sentences in a Council meeting.

Bastards.

Dock B. Two days' time.

Two days to figure out how to cause a believable system malfunction to occur at the time of her father's floating. It wouldn't be believable if she wasn't present. She would have to schedule the hardwiring of the doors to activate only moments before.

If she failed, her father would die.

Amery knew it was a bad idea somewhere in the back of her mind. Even if she did manage to pull this off, what happened after? She couldn't keep rewiring doors every time they fixed them.

But desperation seeped into her vision like an obscure sort of mist, clouding her judgment and casting her rationale away. In the back of her mind, Amery hoped maybe her father could be the one to fix the doors, and then Jaha would have a dramatic realization of his value as an engineer, maybe pardon him. Or just put him in prison. Something temporary. Something with a spark of hope left in it. Something that wasn't death.

Her mother had died giving birth to her. Her father was arrested getting food for her. She could not have both of her parents' deaths be her fault.

She couldn't live the rest of her life an orphan.

"Mer?" a voice called from the other room, the slam of a door announcing Keaton's arrival in Amery's quarters. In a panic, she flicked the radio off and shoved it under her pillow, leaning back against her wall in a display of false relaxation. Keaton poked his head in from her bedroom door. "Mer. We're gonna be late," he said urgently, eyes nearly bugging out of his head as he gestured wildly at the door. "Dad's gonna make me fix bulbs all day if I'm late again." Amery sighed, grabbing her workbag and letting Keaton ramble as she followed him out the door, glancing back at the lump under her pillow as she exited.

Two days.

When Amery's eyes flutter open next, moonlight has started to filter through the dropship vents and door. She's not sure when they'd been reopened, but whatever had been making the air burn must've faded away a while ago, as most of the others have left the dropship. A steady buzz of noise comes from outside despite the late hours.

In the middle of deciding whether to fall back asleep, go upstairs, or join the commotion outside, movement at the dropship's entrance catches Amery's attention.

A young girl slips through the fabric with wide, watery eyes, nervously glancing around the dropship in a mixture of confusion and something deeply disturbed, something scared.

Amery thought Fox was a kid. No. This is a kid. How do they put people this tiny in the Skybox and still sleep at night?

Amery frantically pokes Keaton in the shoulder, pointing at the girl. She lets a little of the tension leave her shoulders when his eyes snap open without hesitation, indicating that he'd already been awake.

"What?" he asks, raising an eyebrow dubiously. Amery just stares at him.

"It's a kid," she hisses lowly, and Keaton snorts as he takes in the sight of the girl wandering along the edge of the ship's interior.

"Yes, Mer, it's a kid. I'm so glad you know your nouns," he responds.

"What's she doing?" Amery whispers, pressing her back against the wall and shifting her gaze between Keaton and the girl in alarm.

"I don't know. Standing, breathing, blinking," Keaton drawls, completely uninterested.

"Keaton, look at her," Amery protests, slapping him on the knee with the back of her hand. "She looks freaked out."

"Go ask her what's wrong, then," Keaton suggests, holding back his laughter.

"I don't know how those work!" Amery cries, drawing the attention of a few irritated kids trying to sleep on the floor. Keaton stifles a laugh with his palm, eyes glittering with amusement as he tilts his head and stares at Amery, entirely unimpressed.

"Mer, I know you suck at talking to small children, but look, she's not even that small," Keaton reasons, gesturing vaguely in the girl's direction. "She has to be at least thirteen. And she'll be less intimidated by another girl than me."

"What if I break her?" Amery asks, and this time Keaton does laugh.

"Oh my god," he gasps, laughing. "She's not a machine." Amery just stares at him desperately, and he finally casts his eyes upward as he relents. "Fine. I'm going."

He pushes off the wall and makes his way over to the girl, kneeling down to be level with her. Two long braids run down her back over a puffy jacket, and her eyes are wide as Keaton speaks to her in gentle tones. He asks her a question and she shakes her head nervously, then nods a few moments later.

Keaton rises and places a hand on her shoulder, guiding her toward... Amery. Amery's eyes widen in alarm. Keaton is not bringing a child to her right now.

Keaton is absolutely bringing a child to her right now.

"Amery, this is Charlotte," Keaton smiles, patting his blankets on the floor. A bell rings in the back of Amery's mind. Clarke's nightmare kid.

"Uh. Hi," Amery says dumbly, staring at the girl awkwardly.

"You can chill here," Keaton tells her gently, then grabs Amery's hand. His voice is level and strong, but Amery gets the idea that it's only for Charlotte, because his eyes are wide with concern. "She followed Bellamy and the hunting crew out yesterday. They sent her back. She said... she... come on. They should be here in a minute."

Charlotte hesitantly kneels on one of Keaton's blankets, leaning back against the wall and giving the boy a small nod of appreciation. It's an oddly professional gesture for someone so young, but Amery brushes the girl off and turns to face her friend.

Keaton's shoulders are tense as he pulls Amery off the floor and out of the dropship, the latter stumbling over her feet and shielding her eyes against the light of the several fires across the campgrounds and the persistent beams of moonlight scattered cross the dirt.

"Keaton-"

"Just... he's gotta..." Keaton mutters something incomprehensible under his breath, head turning frantically as he surveys the gates, waiting for the hunters to appear. The chill of what must be midnight makes Amery pull her jacket tight around her shoulders, squinting to see further in the dim light as a light breeze sends flyaway hairs into her line of vision.

The quiet patpatpat of Keaton's fingers tapping nervously against his thighs draws Amery's attention as he shifts his weight from foot to foot, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth anxiously. For a moment, Amery elects not to comment, sharing the same inability to sit still herself, always needing her hands to be moving, fixing, working. But that's her, not Keaton, who's supposed to be calm and collected and reasonable. How could a conversation with a little girl shake him on this deep of a level? His reaction certainly isn't doing much to help Amery's impression of kids.

"Keaton," she finally says, voice firm. "What's wrong? What the hell did she say to you?"

Keaton takes a deep breath, still bouncing on his heels, eyes darting all over the place as he panics about whatever Charlotte said to make him so upset.

"They sent her back because one of them died, Amery," he whispers, choking on his words.

It finally clicks, and Amery's eyes widen as she drops her hands from Keaton's shoulders.

"She... she said tall, dark- dark hair-"

"Cash," Amery whispers, and she can feel the blood drain from her face. Another thought barrels into her not even seconds later. "Wells."

"Not Wells," Keaton manages, running his hands through his hair nervously. "He wasn't with the hunting party."

Cash.

Amery's mind goes into overdrive, like a switch flicked and sent an engine roaring directly in her ears. Every worst case scenario floods her consciousness at once, and then Amery realizes she doesn't even know what the worst case scenario is, doesn't know what the hell is in that forest. The tickle in the back of her throat and itch in her nose barely even bother her. She'd rather be allergic to the whole damn forest than let anything happen to Cash.

"She said they- they sent almost everyone back with her," Keaton mutters through gritted teeth. "He should be here." Amery scans the camp, seeing a few others roaming around, but she isn't sure who else went on the hunting trip. "But I don't- he would have- I don't know where he is," Keaton rambles, and Amery is about to ask if it's plausible that Cash is just sitting in his tent, about to suggest they go check, but her question dies on the tip of her tongue as the camp gate swings open.

Amery and Keaton turn toward it in unison. Finn, Wells, and Clarke appear first, Clarke with a determined expression on her face as she enters.

"We've gotta get to Jasper. I'll need boiled water to make the medicine," Clarke says, already kicking into gear. Amery can't even allow herself to be relieved at the sight of Wells, because Cash is nowhere to be found and her heart is doing backflips while her stomach ties itself into a thousand twisting knots.

Bellamy follows, holding one end of a makeshift gurney. Amery thinks she's going to be sick. Keaton stumbles a little to the left, and Amery grabs him to steady him, though her hands are shaking, too. Cash. Where's Cash?

"Oh, god," Keaton mutters, running a hand through his hair tensely. "Oh, god. Where is he? Where is he?"

Amery takes a deep breath, trying to steady her shaking hands for Keaton's sake, if nothing else. A lot of these guys are tall with dark hair, she thinks to herself. It could have been any of them. But she doesn't feel any better. She sniffs and wipes the back of her hand across her nose, unsure what to attribute to the outdoors and what to attribute to emotion.

It takes a moment for Amery to register that the load Bellamy is carrying is a body. Her breath catches in her throat and her hand falls limply to her side, leaving Keaton to stare desperately at the gate.

And then Cash appears holding the other end of the load, and she cries out in relief as he and Bellamy set it in the dirt. He looks exhausted and shaken, stumbling over his feet and blinking like he's disoriented, but he's there. Alive.

"Cash!" Keaton shouts, sprinting across the camp and nearly tackling the other boy with the sudden weight. Amery is hot on his heels, relieved tears stinging her eyes.

"Woah, hey," Cash sighs, hugging Keaton back tightly. "Jesus. I kind of thought the angry Earth people would be the problem, not flesh-eating fog."

"Flesh-eating- oh, right," Keaton mutters, pulling back to hold Cash at arm's length. "Shit, Cash. I was- we were so worried about you. You alright?"

Cash sighs and runs a hand down his face, groaning. His hair is disheveled and dried dirt paints streaks across his skin.

"Tired. Kind of disturbed. But otherwise, just peachy," Cash says with a halfhearted smile. Keaton lets go, seemingly torn between bringing Cash into another crushing embrace and slapping him, so Amery jumps into Cash's arms and initiates the hug on her own terms this time.

"You ever do that again, I'll electrocute you with a toaster," she mutters into his shoulder, and Cash laughs, the sound making his chest vibrate against Amery's shirt.

"Does Earth have toasters? That's news to me," Cash says into her hair, and she can feel his smile.

"Where did you go?" Keaton asks, and Cash cracks his neck with a wince as he sets Amery back on the ground.

"Found some caves with Jones and the other guys. Slept like shit," he mutters, and Amery just smiles. She knows the feeling.

Before she can stop it, Amery sneezes, her eyes welling up against her will for a moment. She rubs them irritatedly, and when she flickers them open again, she's met with Cash's lopsided grin.

"No need to get emotional over me, Ginger Ale," he teases, and Amery snorts.

"You wish," she retorts, despite having been on the verge of tears just moments ago. When did Cash become so important to her? She's only known him a few days.

"Wait," she breathes, looking up at him with wide eyes. "If you're... then who..." Her eyes flicker to the carefully covered body on the ground.

"Atom," Cash says, voice hollow, eyes sad.

"Shit," Keaton breathes softly, but he keeps looking at Cash, like he needs to drink in the fact that he's alive and here and in one piece. A pang of guilt rings from Amery's chest, because she's almost relieved that it was Atom. I'm horrible, she thinks, but she's just so glad it wasn't Cash. She doesn't know what Keaton would have done. She doesn't know what she would have done, and she's not nearly as close to the boy as Keaton is.

Cash's eyes flicker from the body to Keaton and back again. "Oh," he whispers, making eye contact with the other boy. "You... you thought it was me."

Keaton nods, barely managing to hold back the tears of relief pooling in his eyes.

"Hey," Cash murmurs, pulling him into another hug and clapping him tightly on the back. "No. I'm right here. I'm way too hard to kill. Like, I'm a whole different class of badass," he rambles, and Keaton laughs into his shirt. "There are levels, you know. Like, there's Amery, sure, but then there's me, like, ten levels above her at least."

Keaton is laughing now, but Amery's jaw drops as she marches forward and slaps Cash on the shoulder.

"You are a whole different class of ass," she declares with a glare, but there's no harshness behind it. Cash puts a hand over his heart.

"Right where it hurts," he hisses, a sparkle of humor in his eyes.

Clarke and Finn rush off to get Jasper the medicine while Bellamy offhandedly mutters to a passing curly-haired girl, "Get Clarke whatever she needs."

Amery turns to where Wells stands solemnly a few feet away, offering him a halfhearted smile.

"I'm glad you're okay," she says, closing the distance between them in a few steps and squeezing him on the shoulder reassuringly. Wells nods, but his eyes are distant, his focus somewhere else.

"I better go get this grave dug," he murmurs dejectedly, turning away.

Amery frowns, watching Wells walk away, an invisible weight making him slouch in a way that makes him appear permanently defeated. When did he designate himself the camp's resident grave digger? It doesn't seem fair, but Amery thinks she might understand.

Wells feels like the deaths his father imposed on the Ark are on him, too. He feels like this is his penance.

Amery opens her mouth to call out to him, but Keaton is faster.

"I got it," he murmurs, pounding Cash on the back and grinning before taking off after Wells, putting a hand on his shoulder and drawing him closer as they continue into the woods.

Amery turns back to Cash with a resigned smile on her face. "Hey," she says, cocking a brow at him. "Thanks for not dying, asshole."

"I do my best," Cash smirks.

"It's about time," Octavia's voice rings out, and suddenly she's in front of Clarke, the worry creasing her brows evident. "They're gonna kill Jasper. Did you get the medicine?" Amery winces as Octavia says kill. She has no doubts that Murphy would actually do it, given the chance.

"Yeah. I... I got it. Come on. Let's go talk," Clarke says softly, placing herself intentionally between Octavia and her brother. Amery's eyes widen as she realizes that Octavia hasn't seen Atom's body yet. She recalls the way Atom had smirked at her as he freed the girl from the second floor of the dropship. Amery had called him a babysitter. She wonders now if it might've been more than that.

Clarke tries to pull Octavia to the dropship, placing an arm across her chest, but the younger girl is already heading for Bellamy.

"Octavia, just stay there. Please, stay back," Bellamy pleads, and he looks so utterly dejected that Amery actually feels bad for him.

"Why?" Octavia demands, and Bellamy moves to block her path.

The two scuffle, Octavia muttering "stop" frustratedly and batting at her brother's chest before she shoves his arm away and runs up to the body on the ground. She hesitates, then pulls the jacket back and goes still. Her jaw goes slack as she inhales sharply, Amery's gut twisting at the scene.

"Atom," Octavia murmurs, voice soft and low and disbelieving and angry. The boy's face is half covered in blood and festering welts, his eyes closed, unmoving... dead. Amery forces herself to turn away, pressing a hand to her mouth to avoid being sick at the sight.

"There's nothing I could do," Bellamy says frantically, trying to justify himself, trying to apologize without saying the words, taking a step toward his sister.

"Don't," Octavia says through gritted teeth, eyes on fire with blades littering her tone. She covers Atom back up with the jacket, letting tears escape the corners of her eyes, and stands to storm away.

"O... O, please," Bellamy pleads, but Octavia stands and jerks away from him, breathing sharply.

"Don't," she whispers, and Amery didn't know that a whisper could hold that much anger and pain until now. Octavia beelines for the dropship, leaving her brother to stare after her helplessly.

After a moment, Amery's nose twitches in irritation. The outdoors really have it out for her, it seems, giving her a cue to return to the ship. She glances back at Cash.

"Coming?"

Cash shakes his head. "I need to... just need to kind of decompress a little. Back in the tent." Amery nods, analyzing the dark circles under his eyes and anxious twitch of his hands at his sides.

"You'll be okay?"

Cash nods with a grateful smile, and Amery turns and follows Octavia into the dropship, back to the source of the screams.

✧✧✧

Octavia holds Jasper's head up gently as Clarke pours the antibiotic tea into his mouth, a tenderness in her eyes that Amery hasn't seen given even to the girl's brother. Maybe it wasn't Octavia and Atom- maybe it's this.

Although, Amery reasons, if Octavia is anything like her brother, one man isn't nearly enough.

"I'm really sorry about Atom," Clarke says slowly after a moment of hesitation, gaze darting between Jasper's pale complexion and Octavia's sad eyes. The younger girl looks up briefly, mouth opening and closing in indecision before she speaks.

"I guess we're gonna have to get used to people dying down here, aren't we?" she asks, her voice dry and cracked. "But not you. You hear me?" She tilts her face down toward Jasper, cupping his face in her hands. Her voice is uncharacteristically gentle as she says, "You're not allowed to die." Jasper's Adam's apple bobs. His eyes don't open, but he looks more at peace, not screaming or writhing around on the floor in pain.

Amery sighs in relief, leaning back on her hands as she sits cross-legged next to Monty a short distance away. She has yet to fill the boy in on the events of the day, but his solemn expression says that he's put the pieces together.

"He'll be up and annoying the shit out of you in no time," she promises, leaning her head on her own shoulder as she glances at Monty. He chuckles quietly.

"Twice as much, probably, to make up for lost time," he sighs, and some of the tension seems to evaporate from his shoulders and jaw. On his other side, Finn sits silently, gaze steady on Clarke. Irritation flares in Amery's chest as she thinks of Raven back on the Ark. She can't imagine they're still together after all this time, but how do you properly dump someone from the Skybox?

Amery wonders what would happen if she told Monty why Keaton was arrested. Would he look at her in disbelief after discovering she's not the person he thought she was? The person who's supposed to stand by the people she loves but let her best friend take the heat for her own mistakes? Would he understand?

The spiral of anxious thoughts is interrupted with a harsh sigh as Keaton emerges from the first floor, a dejected look painted on his face and exhaustion in the deep eyes now framed by dirt and grime.

"Keats?" Amery asks, pushing herself off the floor and approaching him with question in her eyes. He just shakes his head, and Amery makes a decision.

She grasps his forearm firmly and drags him back toward where he came from, exchanging one last understanding glance with Monty before she murmurs a "c'mon" and takes the ladder two rungs at a time. As soon as Keaton's feet hit the floor, she's gripping his arm again, dragging him outside and shoving him down on a large rock before plopping herself down beside him.

"Talk," she says firmly, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her chin there, tilting her head toward her obviously upset best friend.

"He loves her," Keaton says flatly, dropping his gaze to his shoes. "Wells. He's in love with Clarke. Everyone sees it." He swallows, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Everyone except her."

"How?" Amery scoffs, recalling the way Wells follows her around like a lost puppy.

"She hates him," Keaton whispers. "She thinks... she thinks he turned in her father." Amery inhales sharply. She can't help but think that's justified, but then she realizes that Keaton said thinks.

Clarke thinks Wells turned in her father.

"But he didn't," Amery whispers, her eyes widening, and Keaton nods. "Then who... who did? Why wouldn't he tell her?"

"He wouldn't tell me," Keaton whispers back. "He said it's too important. Which is why I think... I think I know exactly who it is."

It clicks before Keaton has a chance to say her name, the redhead's mouth falling open as it tumbles out of her mouth.

"Abby."

Keaton doesn't say anything, but his silence is enough of an answer.

"Damn," Amery murmurs. She's suddenly struck with the revelation that she has no idea how Wells got down here in the first place. What could the Chancellor's son have possibly done to get arrested? "Keats, what'd he do to get Skyboxed?"

"He stole from Kane. Something stupid, a watch or some crap. His dad was gonna keep it quiet, but Wells made sure it got out," Keaton murmurs, eyes sad. Amery's eyes widen as she realizes what Keaton's just revealed. Wells was arrested on purpose.

For Clarke.

Her epiphany is followed by a burst of anger. The Chancellor thought he was entitled to pardon his own family, but nobody else's? It's exactly the kind of elitist mindset that sets her so on edge, the kind that makes the kids on the Ground throw their wristbands to the dirt and holler derogatory insults to the sky. It makes her furious.

But Wells made sure it didn't happen. Amery respects that, but- if it's even possible- she might hate Thelonious Jaha even more now.

"He lost his best friend," Keaton says softly, eyes far away. "Because he didn't want her to get hurt. He doesn't... he just deserves so much better, you know? And it kills me."

Amery knows Keaton Sinclair like the back of her hand, like the interior of a simple machine, like the winding pathways of Mecha Station. The issue isn't that Keaton is sympathizing for the pain of his friend. She knows this tone of voice, knows what it means when his eyes squeeze shut like he's trying to block out feelings he doesn't want to feel. She doesn't need to say it out loud, to ask the question, to make Keaton confirm what she already knows is true. His feelings for Wells are eating him up as it is. She doesn't need to voice what's already bringing him pain.

"I'm sorry," she whispers. It's not just for the unrequited feelings Keaton has toward Wells. "The hell is it with everyone taking the blame for everyone else's crimes?" She chuckles dryly, carefully gauging Keaton's reaction.

"Guess you do crazy things when you love someone," he sighs. There's a beat of silence before a question wriggles its way into Amery's consciousness, and she needs to know the answer.

"Keats?"

He hums in acknowledgment.

"Does... does Cash know the real reason you were arrested?" Her voice comes out in a hollow whisper, and she finds herself unable to meet Keaton's eyes.

He shakes his head wordlessly. Amery nods, having expected the response. Cash has never looked at her with even a hint of resentment in his eyes, clearly not knowing that she'd gotten his best friend locked up.

Maybe he wouldn't be angry. Keaton's arrest was the reason Cash landed such a great cellmate, after all.

No. He'd be angry. And it would be justified, too- Keaton deserves the best of everything, not a criminal status and separation from his father.

All the relationships she's formed here on the Ground... they could all be shattered with a simple revelation.

"Why?" Amery asks softly.

"I couldn't... I couldn't risk it," he admits quietly. "Even with Cash. Nobody could... nobody could know. Not when you were the cost."

"Keaton..."

Amery gulps hard as her companion wraps a warm arm around her and pulls her into his side. She's been trying to avoid thinking about that day, about the expression on Sinclair's face, about the way her mouth felt glued shut as they took Keaton away.

But the only way to come to terms with it is to remember.

"Lewis Ekker, you are being executed for crimes of bribery and theft against the Ark," Jaha said lowly, making direct eye contact with Amery's father. Her wonderful, generous, kind, absolute genius of a father, who had never done anything but good.

"Dad," she choked out, taking a step forward and letting him wrap her in his arms.

"S'okay, sweetheart," he whispered into her hair, but she could feel his shoulders shaking, knew he was scared even if he refused to show it for her sake. It was so not okay, it was the complete and utter opposite of okay, it was her worst nightmare come true, but she couldn't do anything about it.

Please, she thought. Please, please, please. She stared anxiously at the doors, watching. Waiting.

"You be strong, yeah?" her father murmured, squeezing Amery's shoulders as he took one last look at his daughter. "You've already made me proud."

"Dad," is all Amery could say, the word coming out in a breathtaking sob, and she screamed as two members of the Guard took her father by the shoulders and pushed him into the airlock. "NO!"

Keaton's strong arms wrapped around his best friend, pulling her back. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's okay," he begged her to calm down, and Amery's dad just had this smile, this calm about him, as if he wasn't about to be shot into space to die.

"Three," Jaha said almost mechanically, like her father was just another item on the to-do list. Amery's blood boiled. "Two."

"NO!"

"C'mon," Keaton interrupts Amery's vivid memories, pulling her to her feet and nodding in the direction of the dropship. "You keep sniffling."

Amery hadn't even noticed. The wind has picked up again, sending more of whatever the hell her immune system isn't a fan of right into her face. She wrinkles her nose and lets Keaton lead the way back to the ramp, but the screams don't leave her ears, don't stop echoing in the open chasms of her mind like an unanswered call in the dark.

"One."

"DAD!"

Jaha slammed the red button, and Amery squeezed her eyes shut, unable to watch.

There was no sound.

She breathed hard into Keaton's shoulder as he wrapped her into a hug, but nothing... happened. Nothing happened.

"What's wrong with it?" Jaha asked irritatedly, kicking something on the wall. Amery's eyes flew open.

It worked.

The airlock doors hadn't opened.

Her dad stared at her through the glass with wide eyes, but they were watery and proud.

He knew.

"Amery Ekker," Kane's voice barked, marching into the room with guards on either flank. "You are under arrest for treason against the Ark, disruption of the justice system, and abuse of mechanical privileges."

Her heart plummeted.

Her father wasn't the only one who knew. She cursed herself silently, wishing she'd been more discreet, that she'd been smoother with Kane and Jaha in the halls the other day, that she'd chosen a different window of time. Shit.

"I-" But they were already on her, wrangling her arms behind her back as she stared at her father behind the glass with teary eyes.

"It wasn't her!" Keaton shouted, and everyone froze. "It- it wasn't her," he said, quieter this time, taking a step forward. Amery glanced at Sinclair, whose eyes were wide with fear and confusion.

"Keaton-" she murmured, wide eyes boring into his, a silent what the hell are you doing? in her panicked gaze.

"Amery," he said firmly, something pleading in his eyes. "She already lost her mom," he choked out, looking at the guards. "I couldn't let her lose him, too. She's suffered enough. I'm sorry, I-"

Kane snapped his fingers, and the guards let Amery go. Apparently, he'd heard enough. She stumbled into Keaton, who pulled her into his arms tightly. They gripped each other, holding one another to reality as she sobbed into his arms. She tried to speak, but her mouth seemed glued shut.

His whisper was almost unintelligible, but the warmth of his breath tickled her ear as he said, "I can't let them take you."

Kane sighed.

"Keaton Sinclair, you are under arrest for treason against the Ark."

✧✧✧

At some point during Amery's session of heart-wrenching discussion with Keaton, Clarke left the dropship to "take care of something," leaving Monty, Finn, and Octavia to take care of Jasper. Some color is already returning to his cheeks and his breathing has evened out to a steady rhythm.

"Any progress on the wristbands?" Keaton asks Monty, lying on his back and staring unrelentingly at the ceiling.

"Nope," Monty confesses, popping the p as he leans back on his hands and cracks his neck with a wince. "None of 'em will stay alive long enough for me to work with them."

"Have you tried sweet-talking them?" Amery teases, and Monty rolls his eyes as Keaton snorts.

"That's my thing," Keaton claims, lifting himself onto his elbows to glare at Amery. "You just kick stuff when it doesn't work."

Monty raises an inquisitive eyebrow, but Amery just shrugs. Keaton isn't wrong.

"Keaton likes to say please and thank you to machines," she explains flatly. "But I don't think anyone taught them manners, so they don't particularly care."

"Nobody taught them violence, either," Keaton scoffs, and Monty laughs.

"Love or violence, Green?" Amery asks, assuming she already knows the soft-spoken boy's answer. Keaton flops back onto the ground as Monty hums thoughtfully.

"You can love violently," Octavia muses from across the room, and Amery's brows shoot up at the response.

"Elaborate," she prompts, curious.

"I mean, love isn't this static idea that stays the same from person to person, right? You can love softly. You can love harshly," she says, eyes never leaving Jasper's face. Interesting. "And I think as long as it works for you, there's no problem in loving a person however they need to be loved."

She risks a glance up, her face flushing immediately as she notes three incredulous stares directed at her. Octavia clears her throat uncomfortably. "Or machine," she amends quickly, eyes flickering back to the floor.

Amery wonders the same thing Monty asked only days ago as Octavia was leaving the dropship. How can someone raised under the floor not be a total basketcase?

"I don't think I can offer anything that deep," Monty admits, breaking the tension. "I just kind of keep trying until it works." He pauses. "I mean, with machines and stuff. Not- I've never..." Amery glances at him curiously.

"Never what?"

"Never... you know, been... I've never been in love. I got thrown into the Skybox pretty young. Not a lot of... not a lot of chances to talk up ladies," he grins, shooting a look at Jasper.

"Oh, I think you know more than you're letting on," Keaton drawls, and Amery whips her head around to look at him only to find that he hasn't even moved.

"What?" Monty asks, but before Keaton can elaborate, Finn pipes up from a few feet away.

"You need lessons, kid?"

Amery scoffs while Monty just stares at Finn blankly, blinking twice before rolling his eyes.

"Pass."

"Oh, sweet rejection," Keaton drawls from the floor, prompting Amery to crack a smile as Finn's face turns red. Yawning and stretching her arms over her head, the mechanic shoots a glance at the dismantled seats on the floor across the room. Sitting in this position all day hasn't exactly done wonders for her back. She stands without prelude and kicks Keaton lightly in the shin, eliciting an irritated "Hey!" before she turns and crosses the room to the half-circle of seats.

"Oh," Keaton says lamely as he tilts his head to watch Amery's trajectory. He pushes himself up at the same time as Finn and Monty, who snag two chairs while Keaton opts to flop back down on the floor at Amery's feet.

"Well," Octavia huffs. With one more look down at Jasper, she rises and trots over to join the party. After a moment of stilted silence, Finn's eyes light up with mischief. Amery is immediately filled with a sense of impending doom.

But then he reaches into his jacket pulls out... alcohol?

"Look what Clarke and I found," he grins, shoving the bottle at Monty. It doesn't escape Amery's notice that the boy failed to include Wells' name in his explanation.

"Smooth," Monty says after taking a swig of the liquid, coughing. He offers it to Amery with a raised brow.

"Why the hell not?" she mutters, pressing the bottle to her lips and letting the liquid run down her throat. It burns, and she spirals into a fit of coughing. Keaton laughs mercilessly at her while Monty grins, prying the bottle from her hands.

"Oh, screw off," she tells Keaton, eyes still watering. "You try it." Keaton sits up, eyes flashing as he takes Amery's words as a challenge. He snatches the bottle from Monty and takes a massive swig. Apparently he thinks he has a tolerance, but Amery soon learns that he most definitely does not, because his eyes nearly bug out of his head as he shoves the bottle back at Monty and keels over with a series of wet coughs.

"Karma," Amery sings sweetly, watching her best friend suffer on the floor. Octavia snorts as she takes her turn.

"Disgusting," she proclaims after downing another sip, leaning back into the dismantled dropship seat across from Finn's. "Love it." She passes it to the spacewalker, but just before the bottle reaches his lips, a familiar voice pierces the air from across the room.

"Can I, uh, get a hit of that?"

"Jasper!" Monty cries, jumping out of his seat along the wall and practically catapulting himself across the room to reach his friend. Amery grins from ear to ear as the rest of them make their way over, too.

"Let's start with the soft stuff," Finn suggests, offering Jasper some water. "Welcome back, buddy." Amery is annoyed that he's even here. He'd been ready to give up on Jasper just yesterday. But now isn't the time for grudges.

"Sumac?" Amery suggests lightly, earning a relieved laugh from the boy next to her.

Monty clasps Jasper's hand in both of his, a wonderfully bright, ear-to-ear grin gracing his features as he beams down at the brother he'd thought he lost. Amery hasn't seen that smile since the first day on Earth, and she hadn't realized how... how perfect it was.

"Was that a dream or did I get speared?" Jasper asks groggily, eyes flickering to the various faces around him for answers.

"You'll have a very impressive scar to prove it," Clarke promises as she resurfaces from the hatch, a soft smile on her face as she registers Jasper's drastically improved state.

"My savior," Jasper proclaims, lifting his head to meet Clarke's eyes as she kneels down beside him.

"Thank you for not dying," the blonde sighs. "I don't think I could've taken that today."

"I'll try not to die tomorrow, too, if that's cool," Jasper grins, then notices Octavia's presence. "Oh, hello."

Octavia grins at him, resting a hand on his leg, and Amery finds that she's smiling, too, at the sight of Jasper alive and happy and surrounded by the people he loves.

✧✧✧

a/n:

and so the crime is revealed. thoughts?

this means i can finally publish amery's character profile in my misc book, which is super exciting !! because i've spent way too much time working on character aesthetics and textposts instead of writing-

how did you guys feel about the octavia and jasper thing in the first few eps of season one? i always thought it was really cute tbh but it never really goes anywhere

ALSO ,,, keaton is the loml and i just want him to be HAPPY but apparently not bc i keep making him suffer i'm horrible. i actually originally intended to have him end up w miller but i think our boy is too dedicated to bryan (whatever happened to him anyway) at this point in the show sO.

instead, wells. which means, in the next chapter,,, PAIN.

thanks for reading !!!

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