Why am I posting this when I already have like a thousand other stories going? Why am I posting this at 5 am when I have a class tomorrow, need to go and get gifts, have an anniversary dinner, and might go to a midnight movie? Why do all my Bellarke fanfics have really long names or names I can't spell without checking (Blame the greeks!)

These are the questions I ask myself, and yet I post it anywhere.

So this will be an AU that I've been wanting to start for a long time, or one that takes place with Bellamy and Clarke falling in love on the Ark. I've seen them before, and I really wanted to try my own hand at it. I also love me some Arranged Marriage tropes and saw a story about some historical arranged marriage where the parents didn't tell the kids, they just kept pushing them together and they eventually fell in love on their own. That was basically the whole inspiration here.

This takes place with the idea that the revolt of the lower stations happened not around the time they were trying to get to earth, but about 10 years before. They had time to ease the tensions, which comes into this story. Not to say those disgruntled feelings won't vanish totally, but, I suppose you'll have to see.

When I first began writing this, I thought it might be just a one-shot (albeit, like a 15,000 word one), but I now realize there's so much story I want to tell that I can't help but make it a multi-chap. I can't promise that updates will be common, I just wanted to get this one out there to test the waters.

I hope you enjoy!

"This has gotten out of hand, Abby. One time is an isolated incident to be aware of, watch, but usually is soothed or dissolves away. But five? Great, stars..." Thelonious Jaha's voice was rough, and his eyes traveled around the Medical Bay with sadness and regret. The newly appointed Chancellor wrung his hands, looking to one of his most trusted friends helplessly.

"I have redefined my opinion of luck at each incident." Abby agreed dryly, "The first time, it was lucky we discovered the plan before it happened. The second, that we stopped it only moments into it. The third time, I thought we had evaded disaster when there was only a man who lost a tooth. The fourth time it was that no one had to stay overnight here, just minor scratches. But this time?" She had the same tone of desperation, shaking her head as everyone flitted around, tending to burns and scars and injuries of the men and women, "This time, I consider it lucky these people are still alive."

She met Jaha's gaze with a deep frown, "Next time we won't be lucky." There was a certainty in her voice, a certainty that Jaha knew deep down to be true. He nodded gravely, licking his lips as he considered his next words with caution.

"Next time, I fear you are right. We will lose people. It will not just be an incident, but a rebellion, or dare I say, a mutiny." His voice was so quiet that Abby almost didn't hear it. She understood the need for scrutiny; no one wanted to incite panic among the people on the Ark, not before this could be taken care of.

Jake Griffin jogged into the Medical Bay, an emotionless expression planted on his face.

"The damage?" Jaha asked softly, wincing.

"Fixable." Jake said, and both his wife and Jaha relaxed. He led them outside to a place where few people walked, but despite this, no one talked until they made it back to the Griffin's residence.

"Clarke is with Wells at your place." Jake said, using the keypad to unlock the door, "I figured that this was a talk we didn't need children to hear. They are well occupied with ice cream and chess." He said, breaking into a small smile.

Jaha seemed disturbed though, shaking his head. "Wells could have been in that area. It's a common route he takes home from school. If he'd just been a little early..." His hands shook, and he couldn't even finish his second.

"But he wasn't." Abby was quick to comfort him.

"And Abby says the injuries just need time to heal, but no one is really that bad off, right?" Jake said, looking to her for confirmation.

"Yes, of course."

"The area that was damaged in the explosion is far more minor than we thought. Two families need to relocate while we fix it, but other than that, it shouldn't take much more energy."

"The energy to fix the underlying problem though..."

Jake and Abby exchanged glances. Both realized that their friend could not be soothed, no matter their words. But neither denied the problem at hand. Jake did what any sensible friend would do; he got a strong drink for the three of them. Jaha hardly glanced at it.

"I feel as though I have already failed, and I've hardly led our people for more than a six months." Jaha said brokenly, "Perhaps it's a sign I should stand down..."

"Nonsense!" Abby's voice was firm, "It's not you. Diana may have had these problems too, had the timing matched up. The unrest I think has been brewing for ages." She said.

"If you can't fix this, you might be right." Jake said, and Abby sent him a hard glare, "But, we know you will, of course." He added at his wife's look.

"I've been talking with Diana. I did just after I heard." Jaha admitted, taking a swig of his drink.

"Do you trust her?" Abby's voice was suspicious, "You did, after all, take her job."

"She was voted out naturally, as happens. She hold no ill-will. We want what's best for our people," Jaha's voice sounded as though it was pre-recorded, meaning he'd thought of Abby's accusation before, and had already prepared a speech. Jake wasn't sure he even believed it himself but Jaha was grasping at straws by this time.

"She's aways had a better way with the people." Jaha reminisced, sighing, "Not the Alpha station people, or even the Power Station, but the people with the smallest houses and scarcest funds. In a way I have yet to master. These have been orchestrated by those people, of course I would go to her." He added, sounding a bit more confident. Abby leaned back into her seat, but did not relax or break her narrowed stare.

"What did she say?" Jake prompted, leaning in, curious.

"The lowest workers feel as though the government is running almost like we are kings or queens. There is a great divide between those with means and those without that is becoming more and more apparent everyday. The rich marry the rich and become wealthier, the poor marry the poor and struggle. They feel undervalued, unnoticed, and horribly judged as those compared to people like us. The children at school are the only times the different wealth levels interact, but after that? Who was the last person that didn't live on Alpha station but Mecha, for example, that you took the time to talk to?" Jaha raised his gaze to his friends. Abby bit the inside of her lip, hearing his truth, despite wanting to reject it.

"Ah..." Jake nodded, "I see."

"The children are the key." Jaha said, leaning back, swirling his drink around his glass. His tone suddenly became very serious, "I think I have an idea to fix these ideas. I've been considering it since I met with you, but even before that. I'd already heard the rumblings of these thoughts from the lower stations. It's crazy, and it is much to ask but not only do I ask this of you as a friend to support me, but also to consider that I truly feel like this will mend the problem and we will have peace again."

His tone was hopeful, and Jake and Abby shared frightened looks. They seemed to have an internal battle between them, unspeaking. Jaha did not interject, just watched the rapidly changing looks between them, even if they did not quite yet know what he was asking. Jake seemed against it, but finally, he gave a long huff.

"Fine." He said, "We trust you, you know that? Only because we trust you. Not Diana." Jake said in a clipped tone.

"I know, and I cannot thank you enough." Jaha said, for the first time, relaxing.

"When do we hear this plan?" Abby asked.

"I am holding a meeting of the officers and council-men to announce my plan and hopefully gather participants. You will know then." He said, and stood, "I will go see if Wells is okay. I'll send Clarke back your way." He said. The door shut with an audible click behind him.

Jake looked at Abby, frowning.

"We don't even know what we just agreed to." He said, angry.

"Jake, we have to support Thelonious. We both know he is what our people need in a leader. I'm sure he's thought very long and hard, and it seems whatever he's asking of us, he will do himself. We should trust him."

"I do." Jake said, standing up to wash out the glasses, "I am just worried that whatever his plan is won't be enough. These people are truly hurt, and it's going to take a lot to fix it. I don't want Clarke to be collateral for whatever this is."

"I know..." Abby sighed, running her hand through her hair, "But we have to have faith, don't we? Thelonious would never put his son or our daughter through something he didn't have faith in the safety of it."

Jake opened his mouth to answer, but Clarke burst through the door. The five-year-old had smeared and dried ice-cream around her mouth, and her smile was dazzling.

"Guess what mom! I finally beat Wells in chess!"

PROJECT*I

The meeting room was packed. Not only was it just the council that Jaha had invited, but it was also the officers and any representative of the people that could be crammed into the usually stuffy room. Jaha looked calm and collected, much different than the nervous man Abby and Jake had seen at their house three nights ago. Abby sent looks over to Diana Sydney every once and awhile, thinking she looked far too pleased. Everyone else looked worried, or even the slightest bit hopeful. News of the explosion in the Alpha Station made by a small band of men from the Factory Station traveled fast, as all things did aboard a relatively small space craft. Although the three responsible had been floated yesterday, and usually that would consider a problem done and resolved, there was still tension. It was because everyone, just as Jaha had predicted, realized the deeper problem.

As it were, the men's thoughts were not singular. Although it only took three people to orchestrate a bomb that could have killed people, but luckily only injured, their sentiments remained deeply ingrained within various other Arkers. You couldn't kill an idea, not formally. This was exactly where the problem was. Kill one, three more rebels emerge. The frequency of the attacks since the first one proved this idea quite eloquently.

Most were there looking fearful, because they realized this too. They also knew the problem was growing more violent in nature, and feared murder would start next. The few people there from the lower of the stations- the Factory Station- held near smirks on their faces, hoping that this meeting would be a settlement to their demands, even if they themselves didn't quite know what that was. They just had a sense they'd been wronged, and it should be about time the stuffy Alphas fixed...something.

Jaha had assured Abby and Jake before the meeting that Diana thought his plan was a good one, and that the few Factory Worker representatives she'd spoken too had found it equally as agreeable. Abby still had little idea what it could be, but she recalled what he'd spoken of in their room. The children were the key. She felt this to be significant, but she couldn't even begin to imagine what that meant.

"I'm glad everyone could make it today." Jaha culled the quiet murmuring with a single, confident statement. Everyone quieted, gazing at him, breaths held, "We all know why we are here. Most have figured out the problems that reside within our Ark. We are all equally responsible for letting it get this out of hand. The stations have retreated into ourselves; our friends are our neighbors, our children marry each other, our jobs reside within our areas. We hardly leave, and even more rarely make more than small talk with someone who is not from our living quarters."

Abby observed the way people rocked on their heels or bit their lips; just as she'd felt shame, they did too.

"I do not condone what the men from the Factory station did, but I am horrified as that I understand them, for what have we truly become? We are meant to be kinder than this, more accepting, more integrated." He said. He looked at Diana, who nodding in assurance.

"We cannot fix the hurt and neglected feelings of the lower stations that have been fermenting for years, but we can work to make the bridges between the stations bigger, and the gaps between one way of living and another less obvious. I plan to put a program into reality, one that proves that we of the Alpha station, and the remainder of the Ark people wish to fix these feelings with actions instead of empty words. We as adults can do little; we have been living as we have been for far too long. You can attempt to fix things, make a better effort, but within a year or so I fear it would only go back to the way it was. Our children, however..." He locked eyes with Abby, and she felt her breath stop. This involved Clarke.

"Our children are young and free of prejudice. They are all together in one school, stations mixed. My son speaks fondly of a smart boy from the Agro station, and teaches a young girl from Mecha station chess. Not only will they be the next generation, but hopefully one that is better than us."

Jaha took a breath. To the normal listener, it was a casual place, a place not unusual to inhale, and didn't last any longer than it should have. But to Abby, it seemed to last an eon, as she hung in between his words waiting to hear what she'd agreed to and wondered, in that brief moment, what kind of awful mother she was. Jaha looked at her, hardly a glance, and she saw so many emotions in his eyes, and it frightened her.

She saw an apology first, something that unnerved her. She saw unsureness, replaced by a firm conviction and the desperation to fix a problem he didn't know he was inheriting, and didn't fully know how to deal with, but understood he had to do something. She saw the stormy resolution in his eyes, the kind of sureness that made him more than just a singular man but truly a leader, the belief that this is what had to be done for his people to survive in peace.

That look Abby understood. It was perhaps the only thing that kept her grounded when he opened his mouth again, and what would keep her grounded through the many years that his next sentence would change.

Thelonious looked up, all traces of doubt vanished from his eyes, and this was reflected in the people. He had the courage to speak something that hadn't ever been done before, but by God, Abby hoped it worked.

"My program will match children up from different stations with the intention of, one day, a marriage between them. It is called Project Iphigenia."

I have all the couples in my head! They will either be ones we already know, or OCs since I obviously figured there were more on the Ark than just the Sky Box kids. All the last names I took straight from the original Ark members, which you can find on their wiki, so it is grounded in some sort of canon.

Many of the couples are my own OTP couples from the show that never happened *sob sob*. I'm not even sure if I'm going to tell you whose paired with who, or let you glean that on your own. Of course, right now you don't even know whose going to be in these pairs, but ya know.

The title is very important. If you know anything about Greek Myth, it tells a lot about the story and it's meaning and the general idea about it. I'm not going to say too much, but, well, if anyone was wondering what the name meant. Go educate yourselves, read up on it a bit ;)

Please, if you enjoyed it, drop me a review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! Also, I recently participated in a drabble contest on tumblr for Bellarke. I'm only posting it on Ao3 because it's really short, but go check it out if you want. It's under my username which you can find in my profile.