Description: Sara takes her sister's place on the 100's ship. She keeps her distance, so no one will notice she's actually 24. Then she's captured and imprisoned in Mount Weather where she unexpectedly falls for the leader's son. The question is: does he deserve her affections?
AN: I do realize that there was not such a thing as having siblings on the Ark, but this story is AU, so I don't see a problem to why I couldn't allow it:P
Part 01
Sara Matthew's life was never easy and it was actually getting harder and harder the older she was getting. She'd already lost her parents as they'd been both floated many years ago. Whereas she remembered her mother, she couldn't say the same thing about her father who died when she was four. All she had left now was her sister, Lily. The very same sister who was arrested shortly before her eighteenth birthday. Naturally, Sara was faced with a dilemma of how to help her. The times were hard and more and more people were being floated for even the most minor crimes. Sara had no doubt in her mind that soon enough she would also lose Lily and then she would be truly left all alone. There was only one way out of the situation and even that might not work. Still, Sara needed to try, so she mentally prepared herself for going to see Vice Chancellor Rhodes. He was one of the most ruthless men on the whole Ark, but there were rumors going around that he was willing to do someone a favor with the right incentive. Sara was pretty much sure of what that incentive would have to be, but it wasn't like she had any other choice. When it came down to her body and her sister, the choice was simple. She could get over having sex with someone she didn't particularly like, but she would never get over Lily's death.
In the end Sara actually received more than she bargained for. She found out that the Ark was sending a ship with a hundred young criminals to the ground to see if it was survivable there. Rhodes had little hope for the mission as he admitted that he'd voted against it, but in the end Chancellor Jaha decided it was for the best. Sara was truly terrified when she heard that. She couldn't possibly let Lily take the trip down to earth as they had no idea what was waiting down there. It could be a brave new world, one in which they could finally start over, but more probable scenario was that the 100 would drop dead the moment they stepped out of the ship, simply being killed by the radiation poisoning.
And that was how Sara found herself on the ship heading towards the ground. She only had a few brief seconds with her sister before Rhodes sneaked her onboard and made the switch. She wished she could've had more, but at least Lily was alive. At least she was safe. Well, as safe as anyone could be on the Ark. Still, right now it seemed better than being sent to the ground, Sara decided. When her and Lily's mother died, Sara had promised to look after her sister and to do everything that was in her power to keep her alive. She'd sooner die than break that promise and she was pretty sure that those ominous words were coming true right now.
Only then they actually landed and no radiation killed them. In fact, they survived the first few days and Sara was both at awe with the world she got to see and scared that her deception would eventually come out. She didn't look below eighteen years old and it was getting harder to hide her true age. She did her best though. She stayed aside, kept herself away from any trouble or dispute. There were times when she really wanted to say something, to plant some ideas in those teenagers' heads, but in the end she knew that if they realized she was an adult, they would see her as a threat and she was even scared to think what they would do with that. Maybe it wasn't right to just play an innocent by-stander, to be silent when she saw the kids were making a mistake, but again, she was supposed to think like them, she was supposed to be stupid and angry just like a teenager. She spent most of her days inside the ship or just walking around and picking up wood for a fire. She tried to be useful, but in the same time she was doing her best to actually stay in the shadows. She'd already received a few suspicious glances and she was scared that it was only a matter of time before she would be accused of being a spy of the Council. Only then again, when they actually contacted the Ark and come to a mutual understanding, it was obvious that she wasn't one. And she got to talk to her sister, the short conversation being worth it all, Sara decided when seeing that Lily was healthy and safe. Maybe with a little bit more luck, they would eventually reunite and Sara wouldn't have to be afraid of exposing herself once the adults came down, too.
It was then that they heard the Grounders were coming to kill them all and the real trouble started. They were all alone, didn't have enough weapons and their only chance at survival was to lock themselves up in the ship they'd come down to earth in and blow the fuel that was left. The plan was either brilliant or crazy, Sara couldn't decide, but she obediently stayed inside, just trying to survive in hiding long enough to see her sister again. She was sure that Lily and the others were coming and then she would finally find herself in the company that was more suited for her, she decided.
She didn't foresee strange, masked men appearing on the site once all the Grounders were burnt alive, though. The last thing she remembered was falling down as she suddenly felt dizzy and sleepy.
She woke up in a white room and after a brief moment of panic, she forced herself to calm down. She was actually clean and had a fresh pair of clothes on her. She was hooked up to an IV, so whoever had taken her and the rest, they didn't want them dead. If they did, they wouldn't go to so much trouble, they would simply put them into a cell or kill them on the spot. With that in her mind, Sara got out of the bed and looked out the small window in the door. She stilled when seeing the board informing her that she was in Mount Weather Quarantine Ward.
All this time they thought Mount Weather was empty, that it was just a bunker they could use as a shelter during the upcoming winter. Now it turned out that there were actual people inside, people who'd survived the war. It seemed incomprehensible to Sara that they'd survived underground for so long. Why were they still living there? She wondered. Why hadn't they just built a town outside? They surely had enough technology at their disposal, so they didn't have to be afraid of the Grounders like the 100 had to.
Sara's head seemed to explode from all the questions she wanted to get to know the answers to. She was curious about everything around her, curious about those mysterious people. It kind of bothered her that they hadn't come for them earlier, that they hadn't helped them defeat the Grounders, but she couldn't really hold it against them, could she? Maybe they were afraid. Maybe they didn't know the 100 were there. But why was she locked up now? Could it be possible that she was affected by the radiation poisoning if she was in the quarantine ward? Then again, she would've had some symptoms by now, wouldn't she? She started counting the days she'd spent on the ground so far. Day twenty one would be the day past which she wouldn't have to worry about radiation anymore. Was it that far along already?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a woman dressed in a survival suit. Soon, she unsealed the door and said, "Come with me."
Cage Wallace didn't think of the Grounders as people anymore. He couldn't. If he stopped for a moment and start thinking about the issue at hand, he might simply not like the conclusions he would reach. The Grounders were vicious, they were capable of the worst deeds. Far worse than the Mountain Men as the people living in Mount Weather were called that way by them. The Grounders killed each other for the most minor of offences, they betrayed each other and their punishments were barbaric. It simply suited those who couldn't come out of the bunker to use the Grounders like animals, to lock them in cages and harvest their blood to help themselves heal. It wasn't fair that those who could live outside were acting the way they were, it wasn't fair that they had the chance to go anywhere they wanted and they chose to behave like savages, Cage thought bitterly. It truly wasn't fair that he and his own people could never really leave. Sometimes he wondered when they would meet their end. They couldn't possibly live in the confinement forever, could they? Even the world's strongest hatch wouldn't withhold hundreds of years. Someday the metal would corrode, the hinges would loosen and they would run out of their resources. Someday they would all die. Unless they would find a way to survive. Unless they would find a way to beat the radiation poisoning. That was why Cage didn't let himself feel guilty for what he and the people working under him were doing. There was simply no other choice. The world wasn't black and white. Also, if they wanted to keep the Grounders away, if they wanted them to fear the Mountain Men, they had to go to some unorthodox measures like the one Cage was seeing to completion right now when creating a new reaper. They needed to replace those that were lost.
"Ok, we're done here," he said to the guard as he handed him back the syringe, casting one last glance at the Grounder strapped down to a gurney. That one was unusually strong, Cage thought with admiration, he would make for a fantastic reaper.
"The Sky Kids are in the dining hall right now," the guard informed Cage. "They were all released from the quarantine today, sir."
"Thank you for the information." Cage nodded and directed himself to the dining chambers. It could be interesting. And what was even more interesting was the fact that the Sky People were apparently immune to the radiation on a completely different level than the Grounders were. Sometimes the Grounders were born with a certain deformation to their organs or their bodies. The Sky People all looked just like the Mountain Men with the exception that the radiation did not affect them at all.
Sara was bored. She couldn't really believe it, but she was. The woman who got her out of the confinement, Lorelei, patiently answered every single question. Sara found it remarkable that the Sky People and the Mountain Men had so much in common. They were both raised and living in confinement, unable to reach the ground. Well, now Sky People finally managed to achieve that, so it kind of bothered Sara what the people from Mount Weather might want to do to them. They might've just welcomed them without any agenda as well. Just a moment before she'd listened to a speech made by the president, Dante Wallace, and he'd welcomed them warmly, saying that they could stay and contribute to the work flow in Mount Weather in exchange for a place to live and food. It sounded pretty good to Sara. She was sick of living in the forest, of having almost no roof over her head when not counting the ship, of having to clean herself in the spring and relieve in the woods. She was especially comfortable in Mount Weather when finally being clean enough, having taken an actual hot shower and having a meal which didn't consist of meat fried over fire. It was heaven to her, but she knew she still needed to pay attention. She couldn't just trust those strangers right away. As she thought about it some more, she was sure that they had their own agenda in taking them in. They probably wanted to add the Sky People to their gene pool, therefore eventually making it possible for them to get out of the bunker and breath the fresh air without the fear of radiation. Still, the fact that they might one day ask her to become a mother when mating with one of them did not come as a shock to Sara. Even when she realized that when considering her real age, they might ask her soon. Back on the Ark and before they were facing the overpopulation problem, people had actually been forced to procreate, so the species would survive. It wasn't a big deal, it was just life and the harsh reality of it.
So now, having thought everything through and having eaten a delicious chicken and a salad and actually having something warm to drink for a change, Sara just felt bored. Maybe it was the fatigue catching up with her, the excitement of the day, the adrenaline slowly wearing out. Or maybe she was just tired after everything she'd been through outside. She finally felt safe and her body didn't have to be constantly on alert. She could finally rest. It pained her that her people, the rest of the 100, were chatting merely by the table, eating something that looked like chocolate cake and having no care in the world about her. She didn't even feel like getting up from her seat to grab a plate of that dessert or to talk to them for that matter. She'd been alienating herself for way too long for that. She felt strangely numb out of the sudden, her good mood evaporating. She felt lonely, she figured. She really wanted to see her sister, but when she'd asked Lorelei earlier about another ship that might've come down, she'd met with a negative answer. There apparently had been no ship landing anywhere near them those last few days.
In that moment Sara decided that she would just go back to the room the 100 got and she would simply lie down, trying to fall asleep in order to stop feeling so down. The moment she stood up, Cage Wallace entered the dining hall, realizing that he was late. It wasn't a big deal since he was almost always late, usually being detained by some matter that needed his urgent attention. His father was the president, but conveniently for him, it was Cage who usually did the dirty work for Dante. Go figure, he thought with a sigh and looked around, taking in the sight of the newcomers. And then his eyes actually spotted a woman he'd never seen before. She didn't look like she belonged anywhere, which was weird. She clearly wasn't a teenager like the rest of the kids and she wasn't one of the Mountain Men either. Added to that, she was unusually beautiful, Cage decided. In fact, she might've been just the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen and he wasn't exaggerating since there was such a small number of available women in the hatch to choose from.
"You certainly look like you don't belong here," he said when making his way to her.
At first Sara didn't realize that someone was talking to her and once she finally did and looked up at the man, she came to a sudden stop. So far she'd seen kids and teenagers, she'd seen old men and men who were apparently taken since they were enjoying dinner with their families, then there were the guards, but none of them actually attracted Sara's attention. This one standing right there in front of her and talking to her, did. He intrigued her, actually. When growing up on the Ark Sara had never seen a man dressed up in such an impeccable suit and she'd very rarely seen any kind of a suit. Now she was standing right next to a man who not only wore one, but looked dashing in it. The neatly combed hair and face smooth and free of any kind of a stubble made her feel even more attracted to him. And he had a peculiar scar on his upper lip that she actually caught herself staring at.
And that was when she realized that she was, indeed, staring. She felt herself blushing and cursed silently that she was acting so silly.
"Well, it's because I don't, really," she finally spoke, referring to what he pointed out.
"I'm Cage. Cage Wallace," he introduced himself when reaching his hand to her.
"Sara Matthews," she answered and shook his hand, feeling even hotter as she touched him.
"So, Sara," he started when sending her a charming smile, "what's your story?"
"I don't think I feel like talking about it. I'm not in a particularly good mood right now and what I've been through only makes everything worse," she answered.
"Have you tried the cake?" he asked and when she shot him a questioning look, he added, "it's apparently the best thing we're serving here and chocolate always makes you feel better."
Sara actually smiled and was close to telling him that he'd already achieved that, but chose against it. Maybe she'd been away from grown-up men for way too long, she wondered. She was really sick of teenagers. "I'm sure the cake's gone by now, but thanks," she eventually just said.
"They always save me a piece," Cage insisted. "I'll be happy to give it to you."
"I knew your name sounded familiar. You're the president's son, aren't you?" Sara asked when she connected the dots. He did say his name was Wallace and why they would save cake for just anybody?
"Well, yes, I am," he admitted rather reluctantly, "but believe me, it doesn't really matter. Why don't you take that chair over there and I'll be right back with the cake?"
She couldn't argue. Suddenly the perspective of going to her room and trying to fall asleep didn't appeal to her at all. She was finally talking to someone older than she was and he was a man, so she really liked that. Cage seemed to be in his early thirties, but she didn't mind. It was a refreshment, really.
In the end Sara walked towards the two chairs that stood in the corner of the room, away from most of the crowd and she waited. Soon enough, Cage not only brought cake but also two glasses of something that made her think of wine. Not that she'd tasted any. They'd never really had any wine on the Ark, but she'd read about it.
"Is this what I think it is?" she asked when pointing the glass.
Cage smiled when he handed it to her. "Oh, yes, red wine, just for you. Have you ever tasted it?"
"Honestly? No."
"Well, then it's my pleasure."
Sara couldn't really decide which was better: cake, wine or the presence of a charming man. Although about a few minutes later when she actually felt getting warm again, she decided that it was definitely the man.
"So, if you're not a teenager, how did you get on the ship in the first place?" he asked when watching her closely.
"I did it to protect my sister," she simply answered. "Just please, don't say anything to anyone. I've managed to keep it a secret so far."
Cage actually raised his eyebrows at that. "I didn't know these kids can be that stupid as not to notice."
"Well, with all that was going on in our camp and the dirt that seemed to be everywhere no matter how much time you spent cleaning yourself up in a spring… let's just say, they didn't. I wasn't spending my time with them at all, so there you have another reason."
"I bet you were bored out of your mind. We should've brought you in sooner," Cage spoke.
"What didn't you?" she asked in curiosity.
"We were afraid of the radiation," he simply answered. "If you got sick, you would endanger all of us."
"So you've waited twenty one days," Sara suddenly realized.
"Precisely. But we still put you into quarantine first."
"Can you honestly answer one question?" she then asked.
"Depends on the question," he said and she couldn't tell if he was joking or if he was actually serious.
In the end, she asked anyway, "What are you planning to do with us? The fact that we seem to be immune to the radiation must be very convenient to you. Do you want to add us to your gene pool?"
"And what if we do?" he answered with a question, looking for her reaction.
"Well, nothing," she simply said when shrugging. "Believe me, I understand, but those kids out there, they might not."
"That's probably why we're not telling them about our plans just yet. They're just kids."
"Clarke actually wanted to escape today," Sara revealed. "She almost killed all of you, but one of our own, Jasper, convinced her not to do that."
"I'm glad he did," Cage admitted when leaning back in his seat and sipping the rest of his wine. "You know what? You can be a valuable asset to us," he suddenly said. "You don't seem to belong completely to your people, therefore you're the perfect link between them and us."
"Well, they won't listen to me if that's what you're suggesting," Sara said. "I haven't really been socializing with them either."
"I know, but maybe it's time to tell them who you really are and how old you are," Cage insisted when looking her in the eye. "We could really help each other, Sara." There was something ominous in his eyes when he said that and she didn't really know what to make of that. Added to that, his eyes seemed to be haunted by something. Suddenly, Sara felt cold dread in her stomach. She didn't really know those people and appearances could be deceiving. She didn't really believe that this man would hurt her, but she was sure there were things happening in the bunker the Mountain Men didn't want the 100 to know. Only hadn't there been things to hide back on the Ark? Sara started wondering when remembering all those unnecessary floatings. Well, maybe in the eyes of the Council they were necessary since they were facing the overpopulation problem, but it didn't justify killing innocent people. Sara was in a bit of a pickle. She didn't really feel like she belonged to her people since they'd caused her so much pain. They'd taken her father, then her mother and in the end they'd tried to take her sister, too. And what happened then? Sara was forced to entertain Chancellor Rhodes only so she could take her sister's spot on the ship. Was that how real family should act? She started wondering and her hand actually clenched on the chair's arm. She hated the Sky People, she realized. But she didn't hate the 100 since they were just like her. Still, she hadn't made the effort to truly bond with them either. Cage was right, she should just tell them the truth. She should tell them that she was twenty four and not eighteen.
"Are you all right?" Cage asked when seeing the change in her expression.
"I'm… fine," she finally said and shook her head, trying to get rid of the painful memories. The Mountain Men were highly feared by the Grounders, that was true and Sara couldn't really know what one did to another and which ones started fighting first, but what she was pretty sure of was that in Mount Weather they didn't just kill people for minor misdemeanors.
"Have you ever faced an overpopulation problem here?" she suddenly asked, wondering about that.
"The what now?" Cage actually chuckled at that. "My, my, you really are getting straight to the point, aren't you? And you do think of some serious problems instead of endangering the life of every single person here just because you want an out," he pointed out, clearly meaning Clarke.
"Also, when I ask a question, I want a straight answer," Sara pointed out.
"No, we've never had any problem of the kind," Cage simply said.
"How so?" She actually frowned at that.
"Look around," he spread his arms, "we have chocolate, wine, we grow our own vegetable and have our own breeding, why wouldn't we have birth control?"
"Oh," escaped Sara's lips. "Ok, that explains it," she admitted and immediately hated all the ideas that one answer put into her head. She'd been so scared of any possible pregnancy back on the ship that it'd nearly taken the whole fun of sex. They'd had their own ways of preventing the impregnation, usually improvising with makeshift condoms, but needless to say, those weren't very effective.
When all the kids and Sara were back at their room after diner, the woman actually took a deep breath and revealed to them her real age and the reason to why she was on earth instead of her sister. They were surprised and as she could easily predict, after she told them that she could make friends among the Mountain Men and find out about certain things, most of the kids were unhappy. They immediately assumed that she would eventually betray them and some even dared say that she'd been a spy from the Mount Weather from the very beginning, but that was just ridiculous as Clarke said since there was a problem with the radiation.
"Why should we listen to you?!" they asked her. "Why should we trust you now? You were lying to us all that time and suddenly, just because you're older, you've got to tell us what to do?!"
"No, I'm not saying that," Sara protested. "And you should know why I kept quiet. Ever since we landed I've seen nothing but cruelty among you. It was enough. I didn't want to be hung on a tree just because someone thought I could be a spy." There was silence for a moment as the rest was processing those words, so Sara just went on, "Listen, I'm not asking you to abandon your own people. I'm just asking you to stop being so antagonistic to the people here. They got to us late, but they waited those twenty one days for a reason and here we can finally be safe. We do not have to worry about food or bed for the night. All they ask from us in return is a little bit of work."
"And they would eventually want us to stay here and have kids with them, won't they?" one of the girls asked.
"Well, yes, I admit that they might do that," Sara agreed, "but wouldn't our people do the same if they came down here? We might've been facing the overpopulation problem when we were living in the space, but here on earth we can actually have the opposite problem. So many of us already died, so many on the Ark died as well."
"I think she has a point," Jasper spoke. "We should keep our eyes open, but we should also stop attacking those people. So far they haven't done anything wrong."
"Oh, so you'll actually listen to her?" Clarke couldn't believe her friend. "She'd been making googly eyes at the president junior even since he came into the room tonight!"
"Well, if she were making them at the guys here when being so much older than we are, I would be seriously disturbed," Harper pointed out and they all actually started laughing. All except Sara. Teenagers, she simply thought before rolling her eyes.
"I'm asking you to stop verbally attacking everyone here," she repeated once more. "Instead, you just keep your eyes open for anything suspicious."
"Do what you want, but I'm going to find a way home!" Clarke decided, determined to escape and in the end there was nothing Sara could do about it.
"Have you considered actually asking them to let you go?" she eventually asked the blonde.
"Well, yeah, I did."
"After you tried to escape, so that is why they didn't comply," Sara tried once again.
"They told me that it wasn't safe out there and that all my friends were dead. They also said that there was no ship coming from the skies. And they had to come!" Clarke suddenly raised her voice and actually started to shake. "They had to make it! They have to be out there somewhere!"
"What if they're really not?" Sara asked the perfect question. "Clarke, I want them to be there as much as you do. My sister… I came down here to save her and if in fact that actually sentenced her to die…" Sara stopped for a moment, closing her eyes and shaking her head. She couldn't start crying now. "I don't know what I'll do, but for now, for now we have this place. We should be happy about it. We should try to work with the people in here. Haven't we learnt anything by now? We're already at war with the Grounders. We can't afford to be at war with the people here, too."
"Listen, I'm sorry about your sister, I really am. I know how it is to lose someone and believe me, I'm pissed at everybody in the Council, too," Clarke then said. "They killed my dad and my mother actually gave him up. But I want to get out of here to find Finn and Bellamy."
"What if they're dead, Clarke?" Sara just asked. "You saw that explosion. They couldn't have…"
"I choose to believe," Clarke just said and made her way to her bed.
Sara could only sigh and in the end she just got into her own bed. Surprisingly enough, after everything she'd been through that day, she fell asleep almost immediately. She didn't think she would be able to, after all, but she did. Although she did dream of a pair of brown eyes and a scar on a man's lip…
AN: Vice Chancellor Rhodes is a character from the 100 books. I felt like it wouldn't be right to use Kane. He was many things on the Ark, but he would never ask a woman to trade sex for information, his moral code wouldn't let him as he was so adamant on following the law.