After Finn had taken off, heading to Lincoln's cave to retrieve an antidote to slow Raven's bleeding, Clarke demanded the only viable person in this war to help her follow Raven's scientific instructions under the dropship; Harley. Night had fallen, and the grounders were testing the gunners by running just outside of the wall. A radio had been set up, so they could hear the chatter on the walkie talkie as they worked.

"I don't see anyone," someone's cracking voice echoed through. "They're too fast."

"I hit.. I hit them. I think I hit them," another continued.

Harley felt her face crumple. She knew she was losing focus, and that was dangerous in the situation they were in, but she couldn't control it. All her friends were out there, people she was frightened of at first because she was nothing like them. Now, Harley knew they were all in life threatening situations, one of them being Clover. And Murphy, she had no idea where he was. He was lost in the woods, or worse, captured by the grounders.

Snapping out of her worrisome daze at the sound of her name, Harley turned her head to see that Clarke was staring her down. "Harley, I need you to focus," she urged her. "Don't worry about what's going on out there. The gunners can handle themselves. Help me find the wire."

Understanding the importance, Harley focused again on the panel in front of her and Clarke. It was a mess of wires, all different colors, but none she could see that were orange. Raven was above them, fixing the switch that would set the blast off, and trying to talk them through it. "Do you see it or don't you?" She called down to them, sounding fed up.

Shaking her head, Harley confirmed that she didn't see the needed wire yet. "No," Clarke called back, shining the light above Harley so they could see better. "It's a mess down here."

"Look harder!" Raven pressed them. "You have to find the wire that connects the manual override to the electromagnet. It's not rocket science!"

Pausing to tilt her head, Harley raised her eyebrows at Clarke. Not to Raven, it wasn't, but she is a mechanical genius. Catching Harley's expression, Clarke called back. "It is rocket science, actually."

Harley moved onward to another set of wires, carefully pushing them apart to search for the orange one. "Guess we finally found something you're not good at," Raven continued, faint and mellow. "I used to be picked first for everything. Earth skills, zero-g mech course. First.. Every time." She paused for a moment. "So, how the hell did I end up here?"

Sensing that Clarke was frowning, Harley continued her search. Raven sounded genuinely hurt, more emotionally. She wanted to forget about the wire and hug the wounded, wanting to hear her more upbeat, but given the situation they were in, there was nothing she could do except find the orange wire.

"Raven?" Clarke spoke up gently. "I'd pick you first."

"Agreed," Harley murmured under her breath quietly, out of Raven's earshot. She was the smartest girl she's ever known, and definitely as feisty as Octavia. Harley liked her; and what was happening to her was horrid. She still had felt more guilt for her, for what Murphy did, even though it wasn't her fault.

Orange wire, orange wire. Harley repeated to herself in her head. Overthinking it, again and again, wouldn't make her useful. She chose to smile to herself instead when hearing Raven reply, back to her confident and spirited self. "Of course you would. I'm awesome."

Swiftly, moving aside a thick wire, Harley had finally caught sight of a dark orange wire. "Hey, hey!" She exclaimed, catching Clarke's attention as she tugged the wire. "I found it!"

"About time!" Raven proclaimed. "Now follow that wire to the override panel."

Following Raven's instructions, Harley knelt down, her eager slender fingers sliding down the wire until it came to an end. She picked it up, confused as to why it was so short, until she picked it up, and saw the end was split. Her smile dropped into a deep frown and she showed it to Clarke, defeated.

"It's fried, Raven," Clarke declared, beat. "Totally useless." Harley sighed, disappointed upon hearing Raven grow quiet and sensing the heavy tension. "Tell me this isn't as bad as I think."

"Any chance you know how to splice a wire?" Raven called down.

Harley studied the fried wire, not even knowing what splice had meant before shaking her head. "No," Clarke answered reluctantly.

"Then it's worse." Harley could hear Raven sigh before she let out a shout of pain, with her shadow shifting to the side, showing she was attempting to move down the ladder and to them.

Worried, Clarke shone the light upwards. "Hey, stop!" She told her. "Just, uh, talk me through it."

"You think you could.. Splice it?" Harley asked, trying to remember the right word Raven used. She knew she wasn't brave enough to try it herself, too worried she'd mess it up.

The radio began to crack again, before Jasper's voice filled it. "Raven, our mines actually worked!" He was ecstatic at the sight of, what Harley dreadfully guessed, was grounder's blowing up.

Hit with an idea, Raven leaned over to peer through the hole. "Jasper can splice!" She professed.

Quickly handing Harley the light, Clarke made her way to the radio and spoke into it. "Jasper, we need you in the dropship right now," she decreed, clearly leaving him with no choice but to leave his gunner post.

"Negative," Bellamy's voice argued next. "We can't give up the west woods."

"The west woods are mined, Bellamy," Clarke challenged him. "The grounders just figured that out." She paused, looking over her shoulder to glance at Harley. "Harley can take his place." At her name, Harley's eyes widened in surprise. "Jasper, get in here!"

For dramatic emphasis, Harley pointed to her chest. "Me?" She asked, needing to be sure she heard it right. "I can't shoot a gun!" She didn't mention how, coming down to it, she couldn't pull the trigger with intending to kill someone, even a grounder. Harley wasn't a killer. The only weapon she carried was a small knife made from the dropship, and that was only due to Bellamy's orders that every delinquent be armed with at least one weapon. She hasn't even used it in training.

"Pretend that you can." Clarke sounded so assured and positive that Harley could wield a gun, to be a real gunner, it made Harley wished she could too. She knew it was better to comply than to disobey the order, so she forgot about the wire and stepped up the ladder. She could see Raven look at her in disbelief as she made her way out of the dropship opening.

It really was a battlefield, just without the fight. Every delinquent Harley passed, who wasn't a gunner, held terrified expressions. Everyone was scared, including Harley, all fearing for their lives. On her way to the tunnel, Jasper was just sprinting out, shoving his gun into Harley's hands and wishing her luck. The two words rang through her head as she tried to figure out how to hold the weapon. What was he wishing her luck for? Did he genuinely hope that the kind hearted girl who didn't believe in this war in the first place could actually shoot someone?

However, it didn't matter. All Harley knew was that the least she could do was pretend to be brave, even if she didn't believe it.

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Harley was sandwiched in between Sterling and Harper, the gun in her hands pointed forward into the woods. Harper had given her a two minute lesson on how to handle it, but was still confused. She pretended to understand, for the sake of the fact she knew she wouldn't be able to shoot it. The grounders had stopped circling them when Jasper figured out that they were trying to draw out the gunfire. Which, in Harley's mind, she knew that they would be attacking at any moment.

Suddenly, Harley heard loud shouting coming farther away from the right of her. She tore her eyes away from the woods, making her head whirl to the side. It was loud, frightening, and filled with crashing noises. The walkie talkie Harper had clipped to her went off, and someone's voice cried out to them. "They're broken through! There's hundreds of them! They're heading for the gate! Game over!"

"They aren't coming this way! Fall back, to the East gate!" Harper ordered the others in an exclamation bravely. Before anyone could move, Harley heard more shouting, and it didn't sound frightening or painful. It was a war cry, from the grounders. She looked back towards the woods, seeing the grounder's were waving weapons, and heading towards the East gate. Now that they knew that the West woods were mined, they were heading into their camp from the other direction.

Harley backed up, following the others to the direction of the tunnels. She hated the feeling of the gun in her hand as she ran, but she was more so focused on the terror flowing icly through her veins. This was why she tried to help make a peace treaty, to avoid this war. Harley knew there was ways to solve violence. But just like how it didn't matter if she really was scared, it didn't matter that she believed in peace. This was a war, and everyone she cared about was in life threatening danger that wouldn't be stopped by sitting down and talking calmly.

When the small group of East gunners were back to the camp, most of the other gunners were already there. Miller had joined with the others at the top of the gate to point their guns and shoot at the grounders fighting their way past the gunner posts and making their way to the gate. Most of the West woods gunners were there, Harley noticed, all except Bellamy.

"There are too many!" Miller called out. "Everybody to the dropship now!"

"No!" Clarke exclaimed in protest from where she stood in front of the dropship. "We need more time! Gunners, stay at your post. The rest of you, inside.," she ordered. "Come on, move!"

Willing to fight and die for this, the gunners bravely retreated back to the gate. They were picking them down from the opening, all except Harley. She knew that she wasn't a gunner, not even close to a fighter, like these delinquents were. She wasn't even arrested for a criminal act, and Harley knew, she couldn't win this. The shouting the grounder's were making were closer, but she could hear the gunshots bringing a few down. Although Harley couldn't see them, as of now, she knew there was too many. Guns wouldn't slow them down.

Hopeful, Harley looked behind her to the dropship, where she knew Jasper and Raven were working on the ring of fire. In her head, she was urging them to hurry, but her heart was heavy with the idea of failing.

Before Harley could consider the horror thoughts crossing her mind, a sudden explosion from above quieted the war for a moment. She tilted her head back, seeing a blinding light glimmering in the sky. It looked like a giant star, falling out of the sky and hurtling towards Earth, towards them. She was so stunned, she could feel the gun in her hands beginning to slip out of the weak grip.

It wasn't a star though. Smoke began pouring out from behind, from where it was falling. There was only one thing in the sky that could fall, their old home. It was too small of an explosion to be a pod like Raven's, which only left one option.

"Is that from The Ark?" Fox asked softly.

"That is The Ark," Clarke breathed out.

The one body split, and soon, there were more dots in the sky. Harley didn't know whether to be amazed at the sight or frightened. The dots she could see began glowing red before exploding, while the other few were leaving a trail behind them as they fell. She didn't know if there were people in them; but a part of her hoped. Her faith told her that there was, and this bloody war would be over soon.

Another sound, this one more threatening, made Harley tear her gaze away. She couldn't make out what the sound was, but it was alike to the grounder's war cry, except more high pitched and more like screeching. "What is it?!" Harley called out to Miller in worry, who only shook his head back in confusion.

It was quiet, more for a second, before the screeching and war shouting continued and the clanging of weapons echoed. Harley could see a small, glowing light coming from one of the tunnels, before Finn appeared, out of breathe. The left corner of her mouth twitched into a small smile as Clarke raced towards him, embracing the other quickly.

The moment of happiness, that one more friend of Harley's was alive, didn't last. All she could hear in the air was the sound of angry cheering, before the gunners at their posts on top of the wall fell over with a cry of pain. She looked at them, horrified to see arrows sticking out of their chests. The grounders were taking down the gate.

Weapons began appearing, and the gate walls were suddenly being pulled down. "Start using the grenades!" Someone shouted as the grounder's forced their way in, all wielding different weapons. Harley felt like she couldn't move. Her feet were planted in place on shaky legs, her eyes widened in terror as the delinquents began throwing the grenades Raven made towards the opening.

The grounders there blew up from the fire surrounding them. But as they fell, more appeared. "All right!" Clarke shouted from the dropship opening. "Jasper did it, everybody, get inside now!"

Weapons started flying everywhere, from swords, to spears, to knives, to arrows, all killing the closest delinquents. Harley felt tears roll down her cheeks as she backed up towards the dropship, repulsed and petrified as her friends died. She wanted to do something, to help them and stop the grounders, but she was just one girl.

One girl that was in a deathly hazard in the middle of battle.

Harley felt sick to her chest when watching the grounders take down anyone that was close enough. What she didn't realize, when distracted from the paralyzing fear, was that one was too close to her, and was brandishing a sword in her direction. She, uselessly, raised her gun with her finger on the trigger, willing herself to push it.

It was supposed to be easy. Harley knew the barrel was pointed at the grounder directly, and maybe it would take a few shots, but she could kill him. He was close enough. It's what anyone would do in her position, to save their life. But Harley wasn't one of them. She always knew, coming down to it, she couldn't save her own life by killing someone else. On The Ark, the thought of taking someone's life never crossed her mind. On Earth, Harley knew she didn't have to consider it. The action was something she could never do; she'd rather die.

Lowering the gun, Harley held her hand out slowly. "Please, don't," she cried quietly, begging, but the grounder was to quick and vicious to care. With the end of the handle of his sword, he swung it to the side, and the gun was knocked out of her hand in one swift motion. Before Harley could move, the next move happened in a split rapid second. All she could see was the gleam of the silver sword before it was being waved to the side.

Harley cried out in pain when the blade sliced the side of her torso. The impact had knocked her off her feet, and she fell to the ground, vision blinded by tears as her hand lowered to clutch the bleeding gash. She looked up, sniveling in pain as the grounder lifted his sword again, this time the tip of the blade pointed downwards with intentions to pierce her.

"Please," Harley begged again, her voice breaking, although it was useless. She could hear her friends dying, crying in pain around her, and she knew soon she would be joining them. "Please, please.." She sounded so pathetic, on the ground with a hand over her wound, pleading for her life.

All of a sudden, the grounder's head was flung back when a hole pierced it. Harley blinked a few times, confused and panting, as he fell to the ground, dead, before turning her head.

It was Clover, handling a gun, with a deep and angry scowl on her face. She pressed the trigger again and again, hitting the grounder's already dead body with more bullets as she raced forward, towards Harley. At this point, Harley could have cried with relief, but it was too emotionally and physically painful.

"Come on!" Clover urged her, stopping the shooting and holding her hand out. Clarke was going to close the door any second, and Harley knew they had to run. She gritted her teeth as Clover pulled her up, putting her hand over Harley's that covered her wound. Harley cried at the pressure, throwing her arm over the other's shoulder and limped towards the dropship.

The pair passed by Clarke, who was staring into the distance with tears as Clover pulled the wounded into the dropship. She carefully propped her against the wall once they were safely inside, and Harley breathed out shallowly, lolling her head back weakly.

"Let me see," Clover whispered, kneeling in front of her and pulling Harley's hand away from the injury. She inhaled sharply, watching as blood cascaded into both of their hands. Harley didn't know if she could feel it. It was almost as if she was in so much burning pain that it wasn't there, only making her tired. Clover shook her head, lifting her blood covered hand and pressing it against Harley's cheek, staining it with a print. "You're fine. We're going to make you good as new, okay?" She didn't know who Clover was trying to convince.

Feeble, Harley slowly looked towards the dropship door that was closing. Chaos began erupting, startling Clover, as a woman rolled her way inside before it could shut all the way. She knew it was dangerous, but for now, she could only hope Jasper managed to do it. She hoped that Murphy and Raven were okay. She hoped The Ark falling had survivors, who would help them. She hoped that she'd make it, and see her friends again, and say goodbye to the ones who didn't.

With the grounder inside, and the delinquents fighting back, mayhem was happening and Harley wasn't going to be able to witness it. She pressed her hand back to her wound, feeling her body become limp and tired. "It's okay. I'm okay," Harley whispered to herself, slowly shutting her eyes and letting her head fall back.

All Harley could do was pretend she was brave.

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END OF PART 1.