( one )

THE ARK. PRESENT DAY.

Harley was alone. Only on visitor days, which wasn't so often, did Harley see someone else other than the steel walls. The council believed that she was a flight risk and on the same level as the child murderers so she wasn't given a cell mate. She never fit in with anyone, either. Everyone began to wonder why a girl with a wide smile and encouraging words was among them; criminals. Harley even stopped explaining that she was innocent, because no one would believe her. The last chance she had was being reviewed once she turned eighteen, where her fate would be decided.

There was nothing in Harley's cell except herself and a deck of cards. She was getting bored of having no one to talk to all the time, except the guards who would seem like they wanted to float themselves to get out of talking to the optimist. Eventually, her asking for something small that wouldn't hurt anyone and was allowed in her cell irritated the guards enough to the point someone brought her a small deck of cards.

On your own, there wasn't many games you could play. Harley taught herself the 'is this your card?' trick after many attempts, and even made up a game or two to entertain herself. Harley tugged off the small rubber band that was holding the deck together, and that was the exact moment the door to her cell swung open. Two guards walked in, and Harley took no notice of the case in one of their hands.

"Hi," Harley greeted with a smile on her face, putting the rubber band back around the deck of cards. "Is it visitors day already? I'm pretty sure I'm losing track of the days." Neither of the guards answered Harley, only opened the case. Her eyes narrowed towards the inside, seeing a small metal band.

"Prisoner 251, turn around and face the wall," the guard demanded. Harley didn't hesitate in complying. She shoved the deck of cards into the back pocket of her jeans and turned around, her gaze meeting with the steel wall with her hands hanging low. Suddenly, the guard roughly grabbed Harley's wrist and slapped the metal band on it.

Surprised by the feeling of sharp points digging into her skin, Harley let out a small cry and cradled her wrist to her chest. The bracelet was clearly made electronically, and she began to grow anxious and scared of what was happening. One of the guards grabbed her by her upper arm but Harley didn't protest, however that didn't stop any questions. "Hey, hold on - what's happening?" She asked, tensed as the guard pulled her out with a stone face.

The second Harley was out, her eyes widened when seeing what was happening. Delinquents of her age and younger, were shouting in demand of what was going on as they were dragged from their cells. No matter if Harley asked to know anything, it'd fall deaf against the guard's ears. A pit of fear weighed at the bottom of her chest, as the guard led her down the long way near the exit where everyone had seemed to be being pulled to.

They came to a slow stop down a hall where they were handing out certain clothing. Harley was taken notice of what she was wearing, before being given a thick jacket. Harley clutched it into her hand, as the guard forced her to where the delinquents were being lined up after being given their jackets in a single file line. Once he was gone, Harley came to a pit stop behind a tall boy that was built like a wall and slung her jacket on.

Harley had recognized the boy as Dax. She didn't know much about every individual person in the Sky Box, but she learned who he was quickly. A murderer; a teen boy that beat someone to death after he was stolen from. Still, Harley pulled her hair out of the collar before carelessly reaching up and tapping him on the shoulder.

Dax turned around slowly, his black hood pulled over the back of his head to make him look all that more threatening but Harley didn't shrink back. "What do you want, Social-Butterfly?" He practically snarled.

"Hi, Dax," Harley addressed him politely despite the rude undertone and posture. "I just wanted to know if you heard of what's going on. I figured they aren't floating us if they gave us bracelets and jackets."

Rolling his eyes, Dax answered the optimistic girl roughly and hesitantly like he hadn't wanted to do so. "Earth. We're being sent down to Earth." With that, he turned back around, not interested in having a further conversation.

"Oh. Oh! Okay! Thanks, Dax," Harley said in a cheerful manner. Harley was still scared, very terrified actually, but there was still a small glimmer of excitement. Earth had long been gone, unable to be inhabited after nuclear weapons went off and radiation ate up what it could. She was confused, scared, and excited in one confusing mix.

"Let's go!" One of the guards shouted, beginning urging the teenage delinquents to get a move on to wherever they were headed. In the same single file line, one by one, they began to walk. Harley followed Dax, keeping her head up as she walked. She turned her head slowly when passing by two members of the council; Abigail Griffin and Marcus Kane. They said nothing, hadn't even looked at her, just stood with their arms crossed over their chests as they watched the delinquents walk.

Eventually Harley reached the exit. She was led into a small, closed in place with a line of seats and a ladder. The guard guiding the large group of delinquents on where to go motioned for Dax to go to the left, and Harley to the right. In doing so, another guard pointed to a an empty seat for her to sit. There was no fighting. Harley was going to Earth, and the likelihood of her, along with everyone else not making the trip was to high.

Harley squeezed herself into the seat, with her feet dangling over the edge. She grabbed the straps of the red seat belt and buckled herself in, just as a boy she didn't recognize was taking the seat next to her. Harley chose to stay quiet just this once, waiting and silent, as the guards finished diving them and closed the door. Harley caught on quickly. If they were going to Earth, this was how. The council was choosing to send them down in a dropship, a very old one. If the radiation didn't kill them, then the way down could.

Biting her bottom lip to fight back any tears of fear, Harley lifted her hands and gripped the seat belt that tightly secured her the second she felt a heavy weight and a threatening shake, a signal that they were separated from The Ark and falling in space. The dropship was floating just when the screen hanging up in-between the rows of seats flickered on and Chancellor Jaha's face appears.

"Prisoners of The Ark, hear me now!" Jaha's voice boomed. "You've been given a second chance, and as your Chancellor, it is my hope that you see this as not just a chance for you, but a chance for all of us, indeed for mankind itself." A second chance, Harley repeated the words in her head, thinking to herself. Everyone on this dropship was being given a second chance at life, even the murderers. Even the boy, John Murphy, that had gotten her arrested; she wondered if he was being given one too. "We have no idea what is waiting for you down there," Jaha continued. "If the odds of survival were better, we would've sent others. Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you.. Expendable."

Many of the delinquents scoffed and shouted at the screen in empty threats at the word expendable, that Jaha said after thinking carefully of his choice of words. Harley said nothing, and even if she wanted to, it wasn't like he could magically hear her. She instead focused, attempting to listen to what he was saying. He had to say something useful.

"Those crimes will be forgiven, your records wiped clean," Jaha promised, the screen flickering a few times and his following words becoming more difficult to understand. "The drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war, Mount Weather was a military base built within a mountain. It was to be stocked with enough non-perishables to sustain three hundred people for up to two years."

'Mount Weather,' Harley repeated in her head. "Mount Weather," she then whispered underneath her breath, attempting to memorize the words. That was the key to survival, if they made it.

"Your one responsibility is to stay alive."

Suddenly, the dropship began to shake must more violently than it had been. Harley lurched forward harshly, barely being held back by her seat belt as she gasped in shock. Sparks began flying and many shrieked in fear, ducking their heads to protect themselves. The lights were flickering on and off as the dropship began to wobble fast enough to shake everyone aggressively. Harley could hear some of the delinquents began screaming in fear, but the sound was a lump in her throat.

Finally, there was a large crash sound and Harley was thrown back in her seat as the lights turned off for a few seconds before turning back on and off a few times. She sat still for a few seconds, feeling like she was unable to breath as her chest heaved with every breath. There was no 'whirring' sound, Harley realized. They weren't moving anymore, not even gently. They landed. "We're not dead," she muttered under her breath in realization before a grin spread on her face. Harley gently nudged the boy beside her with her foot, catching his attention. "Dude, we made it!"

Clearly annoyed, the stranger unbuckled his belt and jumped up. It didn't break Harley's grin, she was too excited at the thought of being alive. Now, radiation was the last test. She unbuckled her own seat belt and leaped off her seat, following to where a crowd was beginning to form near the opening doors.

Harley nudged her way through as more delinquents poured in from the upstairs level. She stood behind a shorter girl, seeing someone who clearly was over eighteen urging them to back up from the sealed shut opening. "Hey, just back it up, guys," he ordered, waving his hand.

"Stop!" A girl with blonde hair, crawling down the ladder exclaimed towards him. Harley turned her head and immediately recognized her. It was Clarke Griffin, Abigail's daughter. Harley wondered what she had done to land in the Sky Box and the rest of them. "The air could be toxic," Clarke pointed out once she was on her feet, glaring seriously at the man.

"If the air is toxic, we're all dead anyways," he pointed out. He was right, too, Harley figured out. Clarke realized it too, understanding, and growing quiet. They'd either die in radiation, or die stuck in the dropship if they didn't open the door. They only had once option. Before the man in the guard's uniform could pull the lever, he was interrupted by a small voice from behind the group.

"Bellamy?"

A very pretty girl with long chestnut hair and facial features similar to the one she called Bellamy hung low on the ladder. The second Bellamy heard the name, Harley saw his face soften as he lowered his hand from the opening lever. "My God," he breathed out when the girl pushed her way through the small group, nudging Harley aside as well to stand beside her. "Look how big you are."

Harley could hear a few mumbles from behind her, about how this was the girl hidden under the floor. The girl had ignored them, taking a few strides forward before throwing her arms around Bellamy in a tight embrace that he returned. Harley tilted her head and smiled, her heart warming at the sight.

The two exchanged a quiet dialogue before Clarke interrupted them. Her blue eyes glanced to Bellamy's hands, neither of them carrying a wristband like the rest of them. "Where's your wristband?" She asked.

The girl turned her head, and this time, Harley had gotten a much better look at her face. She was much more pretty than Harley originally thought, with beautiful sharp looks. Harley was dramatic enough to think that her breath was taken away by the look. "Do you mind?" She spoke, narrowing her eyes in a glaring way towards Clarke. "I haven't seen my brother in a year."

A hushed chatter arose between the delinquents at the shocking words. Even Harley was suddenly taken back, snapping out of her thoughts about the pretty one. No one has a sibling, not on The Ark. It was heavily forbidden, families were limited to three people only. "That's Octavia Blake!" Someone exclaimed. "The girl they found hidden in the floor."

Hearing this, the girl, Octavia seemed angered by it. She started to throw herself forward, ready to fight whoever made the outburst but Bellamy held her back. "Octavia, no!" He urged her to calm down in a kind voice. Octavia was still glaring in the direction, and Harley did a gentle sidestep to get out of her threatening view. "Let's give them something else to remember you by," he offered.

Bellamy's proposal grabbed Octavia's attention and she looked back to him. "Yeah?" She retorted, still upset. "Like what?"

"Like being on the first person on the ground in a hundred years."

Harley's breath hitched. This was it. Bellamy was going to open the dropship door, and she was either going to die from breathing in the radiation or live a life on the ground after being stuck in space for her entire life. After Octavia gave Bellamy the okay by nodding her head, he pulled the lever down in one quick motion.

All of a sudden, the large door was pushed open and the dropship was full of a different type of air and sunlight. Harley had to blink a few times to let her eyesight adjust, before she could see the outside. She sucked in a deep breath, completely stunned by the fresh air and beauty. There was so much green, and flowers, and Harley never thought she could be so excited to see dirt.

Harley watched as Octavia took a few brave steps down the door of the dropship. She seemed hesitant for a second when reaching the end, before finally leaping off and landing on her feet on the ground. She took a few steps forward, breathing heavily, as the ones behind Harley grew tense and excited from watching.

Finally, Octavia grinned widely and pumped her fists into the air with a loud scream; "We're back, bitches!"

Joining in, the delinquents began cheering before pouring out of the dropship and following Octavia to the ground. Harley didn't hesitate in racing down the metal, past Octavia, and onto the ground. She still couldn't believe it, but it was all real. Her boots were digging into the grass and dirt, and it was all real. Harley threw her head back, feeling the sun beat on her skin as she started laughing.

Everyone around Harley was shouting, hugging each other, even screaming in excitement. And Harley was there, laughing. She was so scared of dying, whether it was being floated, the crash landing, or the radiation. But she was alive. Harley felt to her knees in realization, pulling an unrecognizable flower out of the ground and laughed loudly again. There was nothing that could ruin this; nothing.

Except, maybe there was. When Harley looked up, she saw something that was the only thing that could ruin being on Earth for her. Harley's blood was still pumping with happiness, and she was at the highest she's ever been, but there had to be something wrong. In her line of vision was a boy, cheering along with a small group and grinning just as wide as her. The John Murphy in the flesh, that had been the entire and only reason Harley was arrested and sent down to this beautiful planet.

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