My eyes slowly open to a sound I've never heard before- complete silence. In my little cell, there was always the constant buzzing hum of the ark. I conclude that the ship has already landed, I'm on the ground. The first thing I notice is the fact that I'm alone, all the other seats are vacant. The others must've already left the drop ship out of excitement. I quickly fumble out of my seat and climb down from the third level, the second level of the drop ship is also vacant and as I get to the first level my breath catches. The bright sun is shining in my face and all I can do is stare into its golden glory. My eyes don't seem affected by the brightness, yet another quirk. I can hear voices from outside the ship and slowly make my way out.
My breath once again stops as I step onto the ground, the sound of the soil beneath my feet satisfies me. All around me the teenagers are running around, laughing, climbing trees, and socializing, nobody notices me and I feel relieved at the fact. I take in the beautiful forest, the vibrant, rich green filling me with happiness. I quickly recognize some of the species of trees I've read about; Acer Genus also known as Maple Trees seems to be the most abundant but I'd have to go deeper into the woods to find out, I also recognize Anacardium Genus known as Cashew Trees and Callitris Genus known as the Cypress-pines. I feel giddy at the fact that there's so much to survive off of.
I walk a little deeper into the forest recognizing a few other species of trees and plants I've read about in botany books. I stand still for a moment and close my eyes, breathing in the crisp forest air, unlike anything I've ever felt before. This is better than I'd ever imagined, more vivid than any dream I could ever have. The breeze gently whistles through my hair and suddenly I feel a burning sensation in my lungs- almost as if a fire is slowly eating its way through them. The headache from before the landing makes its vengeful reappearance and I grip my skull with my hands, whimpering in pain. The burning only gets worse the more I breathe in and out. "Hey!" a deep, soothing, but also serious voice of a man suddenly calls out. I can't reply though, as I kneel on the forest floor, panting for breath, or something to put the fire in my lungs out. I feel a presence kneel next to me and I weakly look up, still struggling to breathe through the pain- if it's even called breathing.
When my eyes connect with his I forget the pain, for barely a second. He has the most beautiful deep dark eyes filled with mysteries, his dark hair and tan skin only bringing them out. He looks older than the others, which surprises me but then I recognize his guards uniform. Is he the only guard here? I process all of this in barely a second until I cry out from the growing burning in my lungs. He grasps my shoulders which causes a pleasant tingle to spread throughout my body, "What happened? Are you hurt?" He demands in a commanding tone, he seems puzzled as he takes in my appearance, almost as if he doesn't know what to make of me.
I start panting harder, but it only gets worse, I'm suffocating in the fire burning within my body. "C-c-can'tt b-b-r-reath-th…f-fire…i-it b-b-urns." I barely manage to gasp out. His face is covered in shock and then worry, but it doesn't seem like that worry is for me. He contemplates something for a moment and then moves to scoop me up in his arms with ease. I grip his arm tightly, trying to get through the pain. I'm gasping for air, the pressure in my skull unbearable, I can't even cry out as the burning completely overcomes me.
But I don't die. Why aren't I dying? For the first time in my life I want to die. Anything to make this suffocating hell disappear. On the ark, I was content with the idea of death, but I never wanted to die. Is radiation causing this? If that's true why isn't anyone else affected if they've been out longer than I have? I should be dead by now, I've been suffocating for over ten minutes, at the rate of my suffocation I should have been dead within five minutes. I don't know how long it's been, I don't know when I stopped hearing and seeing my surroundings. All I know is that I've been gasping and panting and fighting for air- to no avail, it's like being held underwater, unable to reach the surface. Not to mention the fire in my lungs and pressure against my skull. It's as if my body is fighting against the air. I first got my headache when the ship was harshly jostled which means it had probably hit the atmosphere. Is my body fighting against the atmosphere? Why me? Why not anybody else- as far as I could tell everyone was fine before I was affected.
But of course there's the fact that I virtually have no DNA, no fingerprints, type of blood or any other genetic marker. But maybe its not that I have no genetic markers, maybe my DNA is simply beyond the understanding of the doctors and scientists on the ark, this thought has crossed my mind several times over the years. I hadn't really considered it until now. Is it possible that it's not only the radiation affecting me, but the atmosphere? If I'm not human what am I? All these thoughts only make the pain in my head grow and the burning soon overtakes any other thoughts flying through my mind. The pain in my head and lungs grows even more intense then it was before, so intense that I'm able to scream a what feels like blood-curdling scream through all my gasping and panting and for a moment I'm glad I can't hear anything. But then the pain subsides as quickly as it had come. Relief floods through me as the darkness overcomes my mind and I fade away along with the pain. At least I got to see the ground is the last thought that crosses my mind as I die.
My eyes open wide and I gasp harshly as I take in a deep breath. A girl is sitting over me with her hands on my chest, her blonde hair falling in her frantic green eyes but relief quickly floods her face and she hunches back on the floor, sighing deeply. I tentatively sit up, feeling a scorching thirst in my throat, I grip my throat and gasp. Next to the blonde haired girl sits a dark boy who quickly hands me a container with water. I greedily gulp it down and give the container back to the boy gratefully. I frown in confusion as I look about me. "What's your name?" The blonde haired girl asks me, she looks at me with concern and it warms my heart to have someone care. Before I can answer, the girl I was sitting next to on ship strides into the drop ship and as soon as she sees me she runs up and hugs me tightly.
"I can't believe I didn't even get your name! You've been out for two days and nobody even knew who you were, we've all been calling you 'snow white'!" She's the first person that has every hugged me and I feel startled at first but quickly return the gesture before she pulls away. I feel a hot blush come over my face at the nickname.
I turn to the blonde shyly, "Aqua, they named me Aqua." The blonde gives me a small but guarded smile.
"Clarke." She says shortly and then continues, "Can you tell me what happened? What were you feeling?" I can tell that she's really curious but before I can answer the girl from before cuts in, shooting Clarke a glare.
"I'm Octavia, maybe we should let her rest a little, Clarke. She did just die after all." Octavia doesn't seem to like Clarke much, but it isn't any of my business so I don't give it much thought.
"What's your name?" I turn to the boy who gave me water.
"Wells." The boy gives me a short but kind nod. I smile back at him shyly.
Before I can explain everything to Clarke, the man that found me in the woods strides in, my cheeks once again darken as I get to properly take in his tall, muscular frame. His dark hair is now messy and covers his for head, his striking dark eyes standing out against his light freckles. The sight of him makes my heart race. Upon seeing me, shock seems to cover his face but he quickly recovers and looks at me with a guarded expression. "Glad to see Snow White has woken." He says with a smirk. I blush in embarrassment at the nickname.
"Are you? Because you're the one that suggested we put her out of her misery." Wells said in a calm voice with an undertone of hate to it.
"Wells!" Clarke scolds as she looks to me, the man seems unfazed as he shrugs, "Sorry, Aqua." She says tentatively.
Truthfully, I don't mind the remark much. I shrug as I reply, "It's alright, I wanted to die anyway. Suffocating over and over is misery." I glance at the man who has a slight frown between his eyebrows which only makes him more attractive. I continue, "Thank you Clarke, for bringing me back." She nods to me.
"I was trying to figure out what could've caused your…reaction. We were worried it was radiation at first but nobody else had a problem so it can't be that. Octavia said something about you having no genetic markers, what did you mean by that?" Clarke sincerely looks curious and so do the others. I take a deep breath, how am I going to explain this?