HALLOOO gorgeous peeps ! First off, thank you for clicking on my little story :p You know, giving it a shot. ANYWAYS this fic is supposed to bring LOADS of smiles to our fandom! I should warn you though, it won't be all just rainbows and butterflies IT NEVER IS GUYS *cries in the corner* I have no idea how many chapters this will be, but probably more than 10 because I have nothing to do with my life JOKES ahah I have stuff, and friends *cries in the corner again* BUT ANYWAYS I plan to post weekly (during exam season probably, every fortnight) and yeah... That's it! Enjoy lovely people :D

Disclaimers: I do not own any characters either created by The 100 or Fear the Walking Dead or the fandom (Elyza Lex) I wish I were that cool xD I merely make them do whatever I want (that sounded better in my head).

Spoilers: I started writing once I saw Episode 4 of Season 2 of FTWD so, I guess spoilers from previous episodes ^.^

Chapter 1 - That Voice

The tension shamelessly hovering over our heads wasn't showing any signs of regret. Ever since that evening started, any word spoken had been bluntly thrown into that false sense of amicability, propelling its destruction within the shadows of fake smiles. Feeding the imminent implosion of a foretold storm, to the point that its pivotal cloud had reached bloodcurdling proportions. Its growing dimensions were able to transcend any physical barriers, such as Uncle Richie's dining room walls. And so, it growled in delight as it fed on supposedly concealed spite. It didn't pity the pain it brought, it didn't regret the devastation it caused, it only thrived, taking advantage of an already broken family.

"Can you reach for the sausage rolls, Lyzi."

I blinked back into the fake reality of our family dinner, and quickly did as I was asked. The table was so large we had to sit oceans apart, which made it additionally difficult for me to get the dish to him.

"You could make a bit of an effort, Dad."

He had his gaze subtly fixed on his brother, who was sitting at the opposite head of the table. A shadow of a smile made its way to his lips as he stretched his right arm in my direction.

"Thank you." I watched him closely, how his movements were relaxed and yet, full of that unspoken tension. Worried, I wondered if Cory was even slightly aware of how suffocating and toxic that environment was, and so I chose to examine him instead. I couldn't help but smile at his blissful ignorance. He had downright given up on our strict table etiquette and was casually kneeling on his chair, and still could barely make it to his plate. In his tiny hand, a marker was bringing Uncle Richie's silky napkin to its demise. Somehow, no one but I seemed to notice. And suddenly I pondered on whether my little brother was as oblivious as he let out.

"So tell me, Devine The Second." I glanced at my dad before turning to his brother. 'Devine' was the family name, a name Uncle Richie would gladly shout from the mountain tops with a chest full of pride. He had always looked at me like I was this rare, priceless treasure, since I had been the only girl in our bloodline to come after the legendary Tilly Devine, my great grandmother. She had left us that name to carry, a legacy, as Uncle Richie called it. A legacy my mother called a curse. But maybe someday I would be able to just be 'Elyza Lex', like she had always wanted. "How's public education treating you?" Uncle Richie didn't really look at me as he spoke.

"It's just new." I honestly had no idea how I felt about it, so far. I looked away from his expectant eyes as I shrugged my shoulders, giving him the best answer I could come up with. "I'm wicked good at PE though. The boys in my class don't really like that…"

"Well, teenage boys don't really like to feel emasculated."

"Take it from your uncle, he knows that better than anyone. Isn't that right little brother?"

His laugh sounded almost genuine. "What can I say? I like some sense of authority. It's crucial in our line of work, remember Christopher?"

Another silent roar caught my attention, as the enormous invisible cloud gulped on the sparks shooting from my dad's eyes. "I have told you, Richard. Not in front of them." He didn't need to specify, we both knew 'them' meant 'Cory and Elyza'.

"Come on. Like they don't know!"

"That is NOT the point." And even though his voice was calm and low, it projected the same strength of an angry shout. Cory looked up, hiding the napkin in the process. "Lyzi, please go check on the dessert and take your brother."

I didn't want Cory to witness whatever was about to happen, so I didn't argue. I took him by the hand and walked slowly enough for his little legs to keep up. He was 10, but could still pass as a 6-year-old boy, in every way.

Once in the corridor, I sank to my knees, making it to his eye level.

"Remember where the kitchen is?" He nodded. "Alright buddy, go get dessert then, I'll be here."

I waited for him to make his way out of my sight and then leaned, soundlessly, on the wall behind me. Their voices were low, steady.

"Are you going to tell me why you REALLY invited us for dinner, Richard?"

"I have another job for you."

"I told you I'm out of this life, for good! It's over. I've paid all my debts, I'm out."

"Come one, Christopher. You're not this naïve. Family is never out of the FAMILY business. Only way out is usually bloody and permanent."

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a fact!"

"There's always another way out…"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Silence. "Tell me, big brother. Who were you talking to last night? Tell me he was not who I think he was."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I was home last night."

"No you weren't! Don't lie!" It was rare for Uncle Richie to get angry like that. He would usually laugh when angered, but this was different. "You should know better than to lie to me, Christopher. You could never do it quite right, could you?" Another pause. "Why would you put me in this tough spot, big brother?"

"I don't want them to grow up like we did, Richard. I don't want them to have this life. Why do you think I left Australia?"

"And why do you think I came after you? Family sticks together! What would Dad say if he could see you now? Look around! We have everything. We earned it."

I risked on a small peek.

They weren't sitting at the table anymore. I could barely make out the expression on their faces. Their silhouettes were shaded dark against the moonlight creeping in through the large glass wall in front of them.

"No, we didn't. We took it! And that's all we do, we take. We take and we put those we love in danger. I can't do it anymore. I'm out, one way or another, I'm out. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too…" His mouth kept moving but the rest of what he said was muffled by the sound of glass shattering. The immense, transparent barrier, separating the dining room from the outside, came crashing down. My uncle dived to the floor, arms over his head, and for a second I thought my dad did too. But the blank expression in his eyes, and the blood quickly soaking the carpet under his head, told me otherwise. The fear of getting shot too would have probably stopped any ordinary person from running in his direction, but I was far from ordinary. "Get out of HERE ELYZA!" While I was crawling towards the danger, my uncle was running from it. "Elyza, he's gone! We need to take cover!" His hands were grabbing me so tightly I was sure my bones could snap at any second. I tried to shake him off, I tried to reach for my dad.

"Dad, dad. We need to go! Dad!" The lack of light in his eyes didn't dim the hope in mine and so I stretched enough to reach his face. My light touch was enough to make his head turn, only to reveal the other side of it. A gasp escaped my lips when I saw the blood dripping from his cracked skull. All the strength I might have had abandoned me body in that precise moment, and my uncle was able to drag me away from that exposed area. But I couldn't look away. All I could see was that fatal wound, those eyes that would never light up again, that liquid announcement on the carpet: it's over.

The shattered glass, the bloody rug and her dad's lifeless expression was the last thing Elyza saw before opening her eyes, somehow grateful Jay's voice woke her up from such a dreadful nightmare.

"Wake up, Paige…? It's time, come on."

Waking up in that tiny cell had felt strange only in the first three days, but after two full weeks, she could almost call it home. It was dark, cold and damp, but Elyza had been through worse before. She rolled out of bed, and took a moment before answering. Okay, focus. You're not Elyza anymore, you're Paige. The hardest part of her cover was definitely the American accent. Even though she had never really been to Australia, she might as well have lived there for her entire life. Mum and Dad had moved to the States to give her a better shot, outside the family business. But the family business had followed them all the way to Florida. Uncle Richie had always been very fond of any ties to home, and home for him, would always be Sydney. And so, Elyza knew more about a place she had never seen, than the place she had always been.

"Do I get to prepare for it?"

"Yeah. I'll leave you in the locker room so you can freshen up a bit. You have around half an hour before we start with target practice." Jay's hands moved quickly around the metallic lock which was just stubbornly denying him access. "I swear to God, this damn lock just keeps getting stiffer and stiffer!"

That's probably my fault, since I picked it at least 4 times. Elyza struggled not to show off the amusement she was feeling. Instead, she fell back on the insecurities she had planned for Paige to have towards guns, in order to make her seem less threatening. "Guns are the first? Seriously?"

"You'll be fine, Paige. For what Connor wants you to do for us, you don't really need to be an expert." He had finally gotten the door open and Elyza slid through it to stand by his side.

"It just makes me nervous, I guess." Wow, nailed it. The furrowed eyebrows were a nice touch Elyza. Well done.

"It's best to get it over with. As long as you don't drop the gun or shot yourself, you'll be fine. Connor thinks it's best for everyone to know the basics, you know… These days, you have to." And that was one of the things Elyza definitely agreed on.

"So Connor is going to be there..." It wasn't a question since they had already discussed this, it was more of a self-reminder.

"Yeah, he supervises the final day of training, if you can call it that." Jay made his way to the stairs.

"He's on top of everything around here."

"Yeah, he is. I don't know how he manages it all, but somehow he does." Elyza allowed the silence to sink between them so he could hear her elaborate, quick breathing. "You're going to be okay, Paige. You'll be out of that cell in no time. You'll see."

"Are you going to be there? During my eval, or whatever you call it."

He chuckled a bit before responding. "Yeah, it will be like any other day."

"Sure, the only difference is that by the end of the day I may have a hole in my skull." An abrupt image of her father, motionless and cold, flooded Elyza's mind. She blocked it out before it could do any real damage to her task in hand. "You'll put in a good word for me, right?"

"I already did." He stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to face her. "You'll be alright. Just do everything I taught you and you'll be fine." And so Elyza nodded in response, saw him turn on his heels and then followed. It had been excruciating going through training, and not because it was hard. Actually, far from it. It had been too easy! She had to watch as Jay held the gun with an agonizingly wrong posture and grip around it. Worse than that, she had to pretend to be impressed and act like she had never held a gun before in her entire life. Elyza had probably held more guns, than toys throughout the years, another treat from the family business, which made her an expert on all the wrong things. She couldn't wait to be done with that job. "Okay. See you in half an hour. Try not to freak out, alright?" Elyza made it look like she wasn't able to manage more than a smile, and with a light pat on her shoulder, Jay left her to prepare.

Once under the stream of hot water, her mind worked better. It suddenly hit her how close she was to her goal. There was so much at stake. The plan was flawless and so, she had to be too. She had to ensure they believed she wasn't a threat, that she could walk free and unsupervised amongst their most trusted. I have to do it, for Cory. It had been a month since she last saw him, but it felt like a long, long year. The things she had done to make sure he'd be safe would most certainly haunt her for the rest of her life. But there was nothing she wouldn't do for him. Nothing. And that had always been the scariest part of her. We're almost there, little brother. Just a few more days and we'll be done with all of this. We'll run away and never look back. Together. Always together.

Lost in her thoughts, in her plans, half an hour flew by. Elyza tied her hair in a firm ponytail and stepped into the shooting range, still not used to how small that room was.

"Hello again, Paige." Connor stepped from the shadows with his hand held high. Elyza shook it softly and pulled the best nervous smile she could convey. "Just proceed like I'm not here, okay?"

"Well, that's easier said than done." And with that, she was able to pull a small chuckle out of him before Jay took charge.

"Alright, Paige. Here you go." He handed her a FNH-USA FNX-9 semi-automatic, which he had called a Glock in previous training sessions. "Alright, 5 shots. That's it. Do your best."

She stepped into the glass chamber and held the gun using the two-handed method Jay had tried to teach her. And then, she took her time with the positioning and intentionally made a few mistakes. Slowly, she placed her finger on the trigger and steadied her breathing, ready to miss the first shot. It was easy to look like she was on edge once the recoil vibrated from her fingertips and through her arms. She regained her balance with a step back and then, prepared for the next shot. Just four more rounds now. I have to hit the target, but as far off from each other as I can manage. It was easier than Elyza had expected, all she had to do was focus on the spot she needed to hit, mentally changing the target. The real trick was on making it look like she was aiming towards the centre. As soon as she fired her last round, Jay opened the chamber with a smile.

"Not bad at all. See… You had nothing to worry about."

"I missed the first one. How is that good?"

"Most people with no previous training, only get a hit or two."

Connor had joined them by then. "Yes, he's right. You're either a natural or you lied to us, Paige."

"Or I had a good teacher." Elyza looked at Jay in order to avoid the inspection of Connor's gaze.

"I see why you like her, Jay." His smile looked familiar to her, fake. "Let's move this upstairs, shall we? I have an idea."

Connor didn't wait for the other two to keep up, and Jay intentionally walked behind him, maintaining some distance. "I think we're going to the radio room."

"Already?" And this time, Elyza didn't have to pretend to feel surprised.

"He must have really liked you. This is huge."

But for some reason, Elyza wasn't convinced. She had always been able to read this kind of people easier than she could read a picture book for kids. Spotting suspicion on the enemy's face was something she had learned before being taught to count to 10. And Connor had definitely raised some flags.

"Come in, guys." Elyza tried to mimic the confused look on Jay's face and then followed Connor's orders without questioning the reason why he had taken them to his office. Without giving any kind of explanation, he pulled a chair out and invited her to sit. Elyza looked at Jay in search of reassurance, just like Paige would have. He then pulled another chair. However, he didn't sit, or offered it to Jay. He merely held onto its back, leaning slightly towards her. "First of all, let me tell you, Paige. I am so thrilled that we have crossed paths. Your background in chemistry and biology was definitely your biggest asset from day one. We're all incredibly lucky that you were majoring in those two, am I right?" His smiled turned to Jay for a second. "And then on top of that, you're a natural with guns. That will come in handy, for sure. But the best thing by far, is how much you look happy to be here."

"I am…" Elyza tried to look puzzled, but Connor wasn't buying it.

"See… That's the thing. When we brought you in and took you away from your family, you didn't struggle, whatsoever. You just came in quietly, like you wanted to be here. It bothers me, because I don't like it when things are too easy. Not because I like challenges, don't get me wrong. But because experience has taught me that nothing is easy."

Well, I see where this is going. I can totally fix it. "Well, I wanted to be here. I wanted to be anywhere but on that boat. They were family, only by blood. I have been a prisoner for longer than you can imagine. Long before the world went to hell." Elyza bit her tongue and clenched her hands into fists. She had just broken rule number 12: never use real, personal information for a cover.

"What does that mean?" Suddenly, Connor's entire body language had changed. For some reason, that truthful little piece of information seemed to work on him.

"It's my story." Some resistance from her part made it look ever more realistic.

"Well, it's our story now… If you really want to stay. And to make it clear, by stay, I mean live."

Elyza thought of her next words very carefully, allowing the silence to settle her stage. "My uncle is not a good man."

"No one here is a good person anymore."

"It's personal. He's the reason why my father is dead." Elyza's voice trembled under her incredibly real rage.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Paige. But happy to know your intentions are somewhat harmless to our cause. I'm an incredibly good judge of character." As Connor's smirk grew, Elyza laughed internally. Sure you are, pal. "Okay. Let's pay a visit to the radio room then."

"I'm sorry about your dad…" Jay felt like he should have said more, but wasn't exactly sure what was appropriate.

"It was a while ago." She let out a small sigh as they left the office, content about the end result of that slight mishap.

The radio room wasn't far from Connor's office. Through the narrow corridors, it had taken them less than a minute to reach it. Jay used his access card to open the door, gently, soundlessly. As the heavy, metallic door slid open, a voice erupted from the room, taking Elyza completely by surprise.

"It doesn't have to be now! We can come… We can come and get you. Tell me where you are." A bizarre feeling of familiarity filled her skin with electricity, making every hair from the back of her neck curl. She made her way in, trying to identify the source of that voice. There were only two men in the room, and so Elyza looked around, in confusion. I could swear it was a girl…

"I can see the fire in the Santa Monica Mountains. That smoke plume, is that to your north or your south?" One of the guys was probably as young as her. He was sitting at the table, talking to a radio, and Elyza could swear she had seen him around before.

"North." That voice again… It's coming from the radio.

"Okay, we're just south of that. Maybe two miles offshore. How close are you to Catalina?" The boy looked expectantly at the machine in front of him, and Elyza caught herself anxiously waiting for that voice to say something too.

"Wait a second, Jack. I'll be right back." Elyza felt her feet dragging her forward, completely absorbed by that voice, so weirdly familiar and yet, so obviously strange. She knew exactly what was happening and she wished with all her might that the girl on the other side of the radio wasn't naïve enough to give out her precise location.

"Alicia? Alicia, are you there?" Silence.

Thank God… Elyza let out an inaudible sigh of relief, only to question herself almost immediately about the reason behind such sudden concern. I don't even know the girl! I think…

"Good job, Jack. We've got a rough location already. We'll prepare a boat for you. Very good job!" Connor looked extremely pleased, yet the boy seemed somewhat, concerned.

"We'll protect her, right?"

"You boys need to stop taking so much liking to the people you talk to on the radio…" His smile was half serious, half playful when he spoke not only to Jack, but to Jay also. "Don't worry, as long as you train her, keep her out of trouble and make sure she can bring something to the table, she'll be alright. Now go. We need the room."

Jack gave him a respectful nod before exiting.

"Okay, Paige. This is quite simple now. You get us another hit, a nice one, and you're out of that cell. You get us resources, you prove yourself useful and we'll give you a nice room. You get us what we want, we'll get you what you want. Seems fair?" Elyza nodded. "Great, good luck then. Jay, keep me posted." That said, he left the room without another word.

And so, Elyza sat down in front of the radio, looking at it longer than she needed or intended to. She stood there, motionless with the exception of a slight tremble of her leg. Her fingers hovered a few inches above the frequency tuner in an unexplainable moment of hesitation, when a hand on her shoulder jolted her back into reality.

"You'll do great, Paige. I'll be here."

Elyza saw Jay sitting down across from her. It's time to do this. It was only when she changed the frequency of the radio, that she understood why it felt so wrong to do it in the first place. The moment she turned the frequency tuner, was the moment she knew she wouldn't hear that voice again. And for some reason, that knowledge made her heart shrink. This is ridiculous, Elyza. FOCUS! You have to do this, for Cory. And so, she grabbed the detachable piece of the radio and pushed to talk. "Hello? Is anyone there? Hello?"

Alrighty! That was the end of Chapter 1! And I'm incredibly excited while writing this note ahahah I'm so sad. Anyways... If you really liked it, like really REALLY liked it, I'm going to be posting sneak peeks and previews on my Tumblr page before I post the chapters here completely. SOOOO if you're into that kind of thing, you can find me in those wonderful wireless lands too! I go by "derofeba" and if you're as lazy as me, here you go: blog/derofeba

ALSO don't be shy! Tell me what you want to read, leave your thoughts and desires AND I promise I'll read them all ! I always appreciate some good old fashioned constructive criticism :p MAY WE MEET AGAIN gorgeous peeps and HAPPY READINGS 3 Kiss kiss !