Author's Note: This is my first attempt at a fan fiction featuring two leading females who are romantically involved. Fair Warning = this will be a slow burn Fic and Clarke and Lexa probably won't even meet until a couple of chapters in at the very least due to the complexity of the canon divergence so early on it'll take a while to build up the story around it.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters involved and am just a obsessed fan who selfishly wants to rewrite the tragedies of J. Roth and do the amazing characters justice.
This Fic was inspired by Rhinomouse's Fic 'A Different Landing' which is absolutely amazingly well-written and extremely addictive I recommend any one who hasn't go read it. Anyway it got me thinking about the other possibilities of landing sites and how that would have so drastically changed and influenced the 100's relationship with the people of the ground. It also provides a unique opportunity to explore some of the other Clans.
Chapter One: Unknown Blessing in Disguise
Clarke felt herself drift back to consciousness for the second time in a matter of mere hours. Confusion hit her first. She couldn't help the instinctive jerk of her body when she realised that she could barely move. But calm quickly returned once she recognised the the feeling of the tight straps of the harness that was securing her to her seat in the drop-ship. That's when everything came flooding back to her. From the guard entering her room, him trying to force her to remove her father's watch. Then to the over-whelming fear that she was about to be executed, to the moment of brief relief when her mother had explained that her and 99 other prisoners were being to sent to the ground before blissful darkness had descended over her as she was tranquillised. If it had of been any other person who had drugged her, Clarke would have been furious with them but her current circumstances made her anger quickly fade to the background. The first time she regained consciousness, everything was slightly fuzzy. Probably because of the remnants of the tranquillising drug still trying to cycle its way out of her system combined with the symptoms of her concussion.
Blinking her heavy eyes, Clarke struggled to fight off the drugs remaining affects which she could feel as it fought to suck her back under into the blackness of unconsciousness. She distantly heard muffled voice speak to her on her right hand side. "Welcome back. Look." Wells mumbled as he gently shook her. Understanding hit her quickly, she was already on the drop-ship and from the movement, they'd already been launched into space heading for earth. Confusion and the drugs in her system clouded her thinking as she demanded. "Wells, why the hell are you here?" Despite her remaining anger at him, her voice didn't have the bite that she wanted it to.
"When I found out they were sending prisoners to the ground, I got myself arrested." Wells explained quickly. "I came for you." He spoke gently.
Clarke's heart clenched in her chest, she knew that tone, she dreaded hearing that tone. Wells was using that whining tone that seemed to always grate on her nerves. It was the tone that conveyed that he wanted more from her than he'd ever verbally asked of her. The use of that tone after his betrayal of her Father's secret, cut deep within her. It had cost her father his life and because of her loyalty to him, it had cost her the most important person in her whole world, her future and the past and possibly last year of her life.
The blonde was jerked away from her thoughts by the sudden and repeated jerking and shuddering of the drop-ship.
"What was that?"The Blonde couldn't have stopped the instinctive demand from blurting out. "That was the atmosphere." the distinctive voice of her father's executor and his dearest friend pulled Clarke's attention, her eyes snapped to the surrounding Monitors throughout the top floor of the Drop ship. The sight of Chancellor Jaha caused Clarke to snap her mouth shut in fury as she reluctantly listened to him speak.
"Prisoners of The Ark, hear me now." God that address alone made her want to start screaming and she was terrified that if she started she'd never stop screaming again.
"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. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we would've sent others. Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you expendable."
The fury which had been frozen in her shock, re-surged through her. Children were expendable?! What kind of leader would allow the future of man-kind, regardless of the limitation of our resources, to be needlessly killed.
A Random Prisoner shouted out. "Your dad is a dick, Wells!"
Blocking them out Clarke focused back on what their supposed Leader had to say.
"If, however, you do survive, those crimes will be forgiven, your records wiped clean."
Clarke couldn't help the sarcastic comment that she muttered beneath her breathe. "How magnanimous."
"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 300 people for up to two years. No one ever made it there. Because we can spare you no food, or water, or medicine, I cannot stress strongly enough, that Mount Weather is life."
Clarke's attention was jerked away from the monitor when she saw movement from the corner of her eye. Then one of the prisoner's shouted out
"Spacewalk bandit strikes again. Go, Finn!"
"Check it out." Finn said to Wells as he floated alongside him and Clarke.
" Your dad floated me, after all."
"You should strap in before the parachutes deploy." Wells muttered under his breathe, clearly embarrassed.
Clarke caught further movement from the corner of her eye as two other people pulled out short shafts of metal that had been sharpened as crude knifes out of their pockets.
"Hey, you two, stay put if you want to live." Clarke instinctively demanded, but they merely laughed at her and began sawing the safety straps of the harnesses that held them securely to their seats.
Chancellor Jaha continued to address the prisoners but with each passing second the delinquents were losing more and more interest in what he had to say.
"You must locate those supplies immediately."
Finn pulled her attention back to him by speaking to her. "Hey, you're the traitor who's been in solitary for a year."
Clarke snapped back, "Well, You're the idiot who wasted a month of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk!"
"But it was fun. I'm Finn." He replied.
Chancellor Jaha droned on in the background. "Your one responsibility is stay alive."
Clarke's panic for the rest of the prisoners increased as the two boys who had been sawing at the harness straps finally cut loose. "Stay in your seats." she shouted.
Suddenly the Drop-ship jerked sharply as the parachutes Wells had warned about deployed. The two boys were violently flung across the drop-ship and smashed into the far wall while Finn slammed over their heads into the wall behind where Clarke and Wells were seated.
"Finn, are you okay?!" Clarke shouted in a demand to be answered as everyone around her began to scream and panic.
"The Retrorockets ought to have fired by now." Wells said to her, panic clear in his voice.
Shaking her head before speaking, Clarke tried to keep her voice void of the growing panic that was mounting within her. "Okay. Everything on this ship is a hundred years old, right? Just give it a second."
Clarke looked to Wells as she instinctively tried to reassure him, dread filled her when she saw his expression. "Clarke, there's something I have to tell you. I'm sorry I got your father arrested." Wells shouted in an attempt to make her listen when he saw her expression darken.
Clarke snapped back desperately. "Don't you talk about my father."
"Please, I can't die knowing that you hate me." Wells pleaded.
"They didn't arrest my father, Wells. They executed him. I do hate you." Clarke screamed back at him.
Before he could say anything else something collided violently with the right side of the drop-ship, as the retrorockets fired up. That was the last thing Clarke remembered as a loose pipe slammed into her temple.
Clarke pulled her attention back into the present, it immediately registered with her that this time instead of the noise of machines, it was to buzzing in her ears and muffled voices. The disorienting swaying of everything around her, made the nausea from Clarke's head injury that much worse. Blinking rapidly, the blonde's head lulled to the side as a stabbing sensation shot from her right temple across her fore-head to the other side.
Instinctively sucking in a deep breath, both to alleviate the pain and swirling nausea that warned her that throwing up was becoming a definite possibility. Clarke flinched away as a hand cupped her neck and face gently. "-larke? Clarke, can you hear me?" After swallowing sharply, suddenly the surrounding sounds regained their normal volume. The sudden influx of seemingly loud noises around her, made Clarke shrink further back into her seat.
The gentle shaking of her shoulder encouraged Clarke to open her eyes. Before her knelt a girl she'd only ever seen in passing on the Ark. Clarke vaguely recalled that she was a mechanic. But she thought to herself that didn't make any sense, the Chancellor had said those that were sent in the drop-ship were prisoners from the sky box and were therefore expendable.
"Yo Griffin!" Clarke's eyes jerked open in shock and focused her attention.
"That's it." The dark haired girl murmured before further questioning her.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Jaha junior said you were hit pretty hard with one of the pipes that broke off during the impact."
"Impact?" Clarke questioned confusedly her voice husky and cracking. She cleared her throat before continuing. "Are we on the ground?"
"Not exactly." The dark haired girl replied.
"Who are you? I don't remember you being on the drop-ship. where did yo-. Wait a second. What do you mean not exactly? It's a yes or no answer to a straight forward question!" Demanded Clarke.
"Oh right. I'm Raven Reyes, the youngest Zero-G Mechanic in 52 years." Raven introduced herself confidently before continuing haltingly.
"Well, about that supposedly yes or no answer not being exactly straight forward. Technically we have landed, but not exactly on the ground. As far as I can tell, and I know how impossible that it sounds. But I'm 97% certain that a missile collided with the drop-ship and knocked it off course." Raven mumbled after attempting to force out a laugh.
"We're lucky this drop-ship was modelled similarly to the drop-ship used in the return landing of 1969 moon landing with water landing capabilities. I'd say that we're floating somewhere off in the north pacific ocean, east off the Washington coast." Raven finished hurriedly.
"What?!" Blasted Clarke.
"But, don't take that as gospel. That's just my informed guess. We lost all the systems either in the process of entering earth's atmosphere or when the missile hit us. Which by the way is freaking me the fuck out. I mean, someone purposely launched a missile at us. Which means that the Ark was wrong. Obviously someone survived the fallout of the nuclear war-."
"Enough!" Interrupted Clarke. "I get what you're saying Raven. It's Raven isn't it?" Clarke continued when she nodded. "That's a lot of information to take in for anyone in these circumstances but I'm pretty sure I at the very least have a concussion."
Taking a deep breath Clarke kept talking.
"So let's just focus on figuring a way to get everyone off this drop-ship before it becomes anymore compromised and we end up sinking and drowning because I for one, do not know how to swim and I'd rather not be forced to try and learn in order to avoid drowning." Clarke finished worriedly.
"Good thinking Bat woman. We should definitely get a move on before that idiot Bellamy, ends up shooting off a round to try stop people from messing about." Raven muttered as she helped Clarke to remove the opened harness straps still over her shoulders.
As Clarke stood, her surroundings swam warningly around her. Instinctively she reached out and grabbed Raven's arm that was closest to her. Clarke sunk into Raven when the girl secured her arm around her back to help support her.
"Take it easy you." Raven cautioned. "Last thing we need is you loosing consciousness and leaving Bellamy as the man in charge of these lot." Raven joked.
"Who the hell is Bellamy?" Clarke moaned out as her stomach swirled when she took the first step heading towards the ladder to the escape hatch with Raven's support.
"Bellamy Blake, the guard-in-training who is also the older brother of Octavia Blake, the girl who lived under the floorboards for sixteen years? Anyway, He and I bumped into each other when we were both trying to sneak onto the drop-ship."
"You what?" Interrupted Clarke.
"Yeah well, we both had people on it who needed us and then we realised what the other was trying to do, so we agreed to keep our mouths shut and helped each other sneak on. He pretended that he was escorting another prisoner and I over-road the system to gain entry to the service hatch with the two additional seats where we held back in until we landed."
"Up you go." Raven murmured as she gestured up the ladder. Cursing beneath her breath, Clarke placed her shaking hands on the ladder and with Raven keeping her hand on the centre of her back supporting her, she began her ascent up the ladder.
Clarke paused at the top of the ladder, her hand on the latch to open the hatch door. Apprehension seized her as she paused, the human race wasn't meant to return to earth in her life-time, there hadn't been enough time passed for the radiation fall-out of the nuclear war to completely dissipate. Surely opening the drop-ship would expose her to deadly radiation. But then again the hatch had already been opened, because the rest of the delinquents were no-where to be seen inside, so that meant the last Raven knew they were alive and well outside.
Raven griped at her from below. "Get a move on Blondie. Bellamy's already been left outside with the rest of the delinquents to his own devices for too long as it is."
Taking a deep breath, Clarke pushed her illogical fears from her head and turned the latch to release the locking mechanism and shoved the top emergency hatch door open.
The bright sunlight which beamed down on her through the open hatch door momentarily blinded her, causing shooting pain to arch through her head due to the remnants of the headache from her concussion. Sucking in a breath Clarke let her eye-sight gradually adjust to the brightness.
"Just look to your left Blondie. There's rungs down the side of the drop-ship to the emergency inflatable sea-landing raft below." Raven said nudging her along. Clarke jerked in surprise by the sight and size of the inflatable raft that made it possible for them to stay afloat.
It was quite laughable but Clarke breathed a huge sigh of relief when both her feet were placed on the raft below, considering she lived her entire life in space, wariness of heights seemed impossible. But then again, the human mind was a strange and powerful thing.
"Ah, the sleeping princess awakes." Jokes Finn from behind her. She hadn't even noticed him or heard him approach.
"Don't call me that!" Snaps Clarke before continuing sarcastically. "After all, I could say the same thing about you. Last time I saw you, you were quite the damsel in distress, knocked out cold because of foolishness."
Raven burst out laughing beside her. Clarke couldn't help but look at her like she wasn't quite right in the head. When Raven looked up and saw her expression she just laughed harder, desperately she was clinging onto Clarke, struggling to keep herself upright.
"Really Raven!" Finn snapped at her still laughing form, before storming off around the side of the drop-ship raft in a huff.
"I know your Mom from around the Ark, you know annual medicals and all that jazz. No offence, but she's one of those people, that even though you admire them, they grate on you. You, I'm gonna like." Raven spoke in-between her remaining giggles.
"Thank you, I think." Clarke mumbled. Before staring steadily at Raven, she raised her eyebrows in expectation as she waited for her to lead the way.
"Right, Bellamy. We should really find him and check in." Raven replied rolling her eyes at the heavy sigh that Clarke released before nodding in agreement.
Clarke followed Raven as she walked around the corner of the drop-ship raft. The sooner they spoke with this Bellamy, made sure he'd kept a cool head and they were certain that the rest of the delinquents were okay, the sooner they could figure a way to make land and start communications with the Ark.
As they rounded the side, they came upon a crowd of boys talking amongst each other. When they spotted Raven and Clarke all their expressions darkened. Well that couldn't be good, Clarke thought warily to herself.
"What the hell do you want now, Reyes. I've listened to all the lectures from you that I'm going to." The dark-haired boy in the middle snapped.
"Aww, Bellamy, you missed me." Snarked Raven in response as she lay her hand, mockingly over her heart.
Bellamy's jaw tightened in anger before he snapped. "Well?"
"Well what?" Raven smirked back obviously knowing that it would annoy him.
God they were both as bad as each other.
"Reyes, I Swear if you-"
"Enough!" Snapped Clarke frustration evident in her tone.
"We don't have time for this. Not only have we been dumped on earth with little earth survival skills knowledge and zero experience, in a potentially hostile environment, we have over 100 people crammed on a floating drop-ship with no supplies. You heard Chancellor Jaha, We need water and we need food, immediately if we're to survive."
"Listen princess, if you wanna be Jaha's lap-dog knock yourself out , we're free from their control. They can rot up there for all I care and we can do whatever the hell we want."
"Yes, that's right. I'm all for following Jaha's every command. Not only did he execute my father for trying to tell the truth, he locked me up in solitary for a year." Clarke snapped sarcastically while shoving Bellamy back a step.
"Listen Princess, we don't have to do a damn thing that you or anyone says. We can do whatever the hell we want!" Bellamy swore at her as he stepped into her space. The two boys alongside him echoing his last sentence. Great he was already pushing his own agenda, Clarke thought spitefully to herself.
"Yeah, well unfortunately that's not how it works. There are around a hundred kids who have no idea how to fend for themselves, some as young as 14. We need access to drinking water at the very least within the next 56 hours and we need to find a way to contact the Ark." Shouted Clarke her frustration at Bellamy building.
Bellamy raged back at her. "Why the hell should we do anything for them. In case it escaped your notice Princess, they sent you and everyone else who was on that drop-ship to their death. No matter what way the phrased it. Earth wasn't meant to be inhabitable during our life-time, yet they sent us down here. They may not have floated you, but this was an execution none the less."
"No Bellamy, it was a risk taken in an attempt to ensure human kinds survival."
"Princess you're full of sh-"
"Enough Bellamy." A small built, long dark haired girl muttered as she side-checked him. She must be his sister that Raven told her about.
"What do you mean a risk to ensure human kinds survival?" She demanded.
"The Ark is dying. That's the reason they sent us down here. The Ark's oxygen system is failing, there's only a couple of months of oxygen left. If we don't let them know that earth's survivable then everyone up there is going to suffocate to death."
Raven spoke, horror clear in her voice. "That's why they arrested and executed your father isn't it. He wanted to tell the people of the Ark. That's why they had you locked up in solitary for the past year, they couldn't risk that you would tell people the reason he was executed." Clarke nodded in confirmation as she swallowed down the tears that blocked her voice.
"All the more reason to let them all die." Bellamy pushed.
"Don't you get it, Bell." Octavia interrupted. "Everyone's gonna die, not just the hateful council members. All these kids parents, the workers, the children. Everyone Bellamy. "Octavia beseeched to him.
Clarke could see the effect Octavia's words were having upon him. But she could still see the grudging indecision reflected in his eyes. Some other reason was fuelling his reluctance. That's when Clarke knew what she had to do. Bellamy took his responsibility to his sister seriously, so she would appeal to that inbuilt strong sense of responsibility within him.
"We owe it to all these kids, who are younger than us or look to us, those other kids who Jaha has judged them to be expendable and basically thrown away, to make the right choices to ensure they have a better life and better choices than what they've been offered before now. We can do that for them, if we work together. We can make them see, that we are NOT expendable." Clarke finishes strongly and she can see what she's saying resounds within him, she can tell.
Bellamy motions to the two boys alongside him to back off. Only when they drift around the corner does he take a step closer to her, lowering his voice, He begins to speak.
"Some of us, haven't made the best choices before now, princess. Do you really think I knew how to or that it was so easy to sneak aboard the drop-ship. There's consequences and a price for everything, trust me if there's one thing this screwed up life has taught me, its that." Bellamy confided.
"What did you do?" Clarke spoke before Octavia could voice the question herself.
"The head guard approached me, he knew that I wanted to find a way to get on the drop-ship with Octavia. He said he'd tell me how to get on and make any other guards look the other way. All I had to do was ..." He trailed off, his jaw tightening in reflex.
"Bell, what did you do?" Octavia asked as she reached out her hand to his shoulder.
He jerked out from under her touch. "I did what he told me to do, I shot him. I shot Jaha."
"Bellamy how could yo-"
"I know Octavia! But I couldn't let you go down here by yourself. I'd already failed mum when they caught you and she was executed for it. I couldn't let you go into danger by yourself."
"Bellamy." Octavia's voice was choked up with tears, as she stepped forward and wrapped her brother in her arms squeezing him tight when he reciprocated, she settle in against him and he tucked her small frame in against his chest.
Clarke was surprised by his soft tone and expression as he spoke to his sister. His manner remained soft even as he locked eyes with her before speaking. "Just tell me what it is you need me to do. Octavia's right we owe it to all these kids to give them the type of protection that they were denied by the ruling council on the Ark."
Clarke went to speak to remind him of his other obligations but he spoke over her. "And we owe it to them to warn the Ark that earth is survivable so their friends and family don't die needlessly. I'll tell them who gave me the gun to shoot Jaha and whose orders they were carrying out." Bellamy finished solemnly.
"But only in exchange for the same deal promised to you and the other delinquents, a full pardon." Bellamy added forcefully.
Nodding in agreement, Clarke realised that for the first time since she regained consciousness, She didn't feel alone. The mounting burden of ensuring the safety of the other children, suddenly didn't seem nearly as heavy or as overwhelming. She knew that she had Raven and could rely upon her to ensure everyone's survival including those on the Ark, despite the uncertainty of this strange and unknown world. And she even had Bellamy, but only time would tell if she and the other delinquents could rely on him.
Chapter one: Unknown Blessing in Disguise = Edited 22/01/2017
A.N: Thanks to all those who have already read and followed the story. I'm in the middle of fleshing out some of the later chapters and i'll try and post the earlier ones soon after I finish editing them. I'm open to any feedback and appreciate who ever takes the time to review. I helps keep the creative juices flowing.
X.K.E.Q.993X