The hunting party charged through the woods after Finn. The tracker was leading them back the way they'd originally came towards the river where they'd last seen Jasper. Fourteen of the 100 ran after him, laden with their crafted weapons. Suddenly, a horn sounded in front of them. Finn stopped. The rest slowed down to a halt behind him.

Bellamy walked up beside him, "What is it? It sounds like they're just ahead of us!"

Murphy, one of the boys Bellamy had dragged along, was also outraged, "Let's get them!"

"Listen," Finn gestured to the forest around them. It had gone eerily silent. Suddenly, a pale green fog started to expand across the ground towards them.

"What is that!?" Said Monroe, one of the 100 they'd recruited to go after Jasper.

"RUN!"

They ran.


Bellamy had separated to run away from the fog on his own and he slid into a small cave, pulling a log down in front of the entrance as he slid in.

"Ow!" Came a cry from a short ways away. Bellamy had managed a sliding kick on Charlotte, the second youngest of the 100. Theft was her crime. One she seemed to have repeated judging by the assorted goods scattered around her hiding place. Food stolen from the drop ship. A sword stolen from one of the camp's guards.

"Charlotte?" Bellamy asked. He was wiping dust from his eyes and the cave was dark enough that he couldn't quite make out her face.

The young girl sniffled and wiped her runny nose. She hiccuped slightly, a sign of the tears she was holding in. "Go away."

Bellamy shifted forward in the small space and tried to pull her into a hug like he would Octavia after she'd spent all day under the floor. Charlotte pushed him away. "Charlotte, what's wrong?" Bellamy asked. He shifted to be as close to her as he could, he stopped moving any time she jumped.

"The demons. They're here too," Charlotte whispered between a few more of her sniffles.

"Oh," the wind howled outside of their cave, "I have to stay here for a while Charlotte and then you should come back to camp with me."

Charlotte didn't respond. Bellamy lay there for a while, wondering what to do with the child beside him. The girl was obviously troubled but all of the delinquents were. But to be 12 years old and trapped in the sky box… that was more trouble than any four other delinquents combined. Made one think about the trouble Jake must be in. The kid had spent his entire life inside of the Ark's prison.

Briefly Bellamy spared a thought for Jasper. Hopefully the grounders, or whoever had speared him, would be keeping him safe from that fog. Hopefully the others had managed to run away safely. Hopefully they managed to survive.

Bellamy drifted off to sleep with thoughts of survival on his brain.

When he awoke it was to something attacking his face. He reacted and contained the threat by grabbing the offending fist and pinning it against the wall. Charlotte screamed as she awoke to Bellamy man handling her.

"Stop! Stop! I thought you were one of them!" She said, beginning to cry again. The girl was truly reliant on her tears. Bellamy released her and the girl gently rubbed her raw wrist.

"Who did you think I was?" Bellamy asked. He returned to his former position.

"One of the demons."

Bellamy knelt in front of her and refused to move when she tried to push him away. He smiled at her and offered her his hand, "Do you know what you do with demons, Charlotte?"

"Run away?"

Bellamy laughed, "No. You kill them. Come on, we can go kill them together back at camp. There's no need to hide away like this."

"You promise? You'll help me?"

"I promise."

Charlotte grabbed his hand.


Wells emerged from the bunker he'd sheltered in with Finn. It was amazing what the spacewalker could find when he wandered off. They could hear gasping nearby. Wells looked to Finn who had exited before him but the other boy wasn't looking at him. Finn was looking at the groaning man on the ground in front of them. It was Atom, he'd been caught up in the fog before he reached the bunker with the other two.

The poor boy was covered in burns and open wounds of some sort. He was bleeding freely and yellow pus poured from him. Wells gasped. He pulled Finn over next to the guy. Wells knelt down and stared. Even if he was medically trained, even if he was like Clarke, there was nothing for him to do. He could not save Atom. This was the end of his journey.

"Knife," said Wells. Finn did not respond. The boy seemed frozen. "Finn give me your knife."

Stiffly, Finn unhooked the knife from his belt and let it fall. Wells picked it up off the forest floor.

"May we meet again," Wells leaned over Atom and took a deep breath. He could smell the iron of his blood, the bitter chemicals of the fog that had seeped into his skin. Wells stabbed the knife into Atom's neck. It was a messy kill and Atom briefly choked on the blood pouring out of the cut.

"May we meet again," said Finn from his position a meter away from the scene in front of him.


"Your fight is over," whispered Indra from where she knelt in the trees high above, "They are different from the mountain men. Weaker. Dumber too. They did not know about the fog."

"It is because they are not mountain men. They are from the sky." Clarke responded. She was uncomfortable being up in the trees but approached it like climbing the mast of her ship. The branches were much thinner than her mast and lacked the grooves that had been specifically made for easy transit. Indra, by contrast, was far more comfortable with branches beneath her than she seemed to be on solid ground.

"Sky people," Indra scoffed and shook her head.

Clarke chuckled softly, "You need some surprises to keep you on your toes."

The two grounders laughed together softly and watched the two sky people react to their friend's death. Soon they could hear the cries of another sky person further away. It was Salami, the leader Anya had informed them of. Indra and Clarke followed the sky people as they regrouped and continued on their way towards Anya's trap. Clarke had looked over the wounded sky boy's wounds when she arrived at the scout camp and he had been well looked after. Now all that remained was for the sky people not to mess up his continued care.

Such was a distant dream.

Clarke knew these people. Not their faces nor their names for she'd long crossed them from her memory. But their kind, their language was as familiar to her as home, for once it was hers as well. So, the Ark still lived. Sometimes she would stop and watch the haunting structure float across the sky but she'd had no way to know if her Father's murderers still lived up there or if their own ignorance had already killed them. Abby was up there, surely. Clarke would get the joy of killing her herself if she ever arrived on the ground. She wondered about Wells. He'd been her best friend once. Had he survived to adulthood? Was he an engineer like he'd always wanted? Did he become a doctor in her honour? What had become of her best friend?

Was he a traitor like all the rest?

Clarke had changed a lot since her time on the ground. First as Luna's daughter and then as a warrior of the Black. She'd become queen of the ice nation and abdicated her throne. She'd killed far more people than she'd ever saved. Than she ever could save. What would Abby and Wells think of her now? Would the Chancellor try to float her?

Probably. Her crimes now were a lot worse than petty theft and he'd floated people for that. Floating was an interesting concept. Clarke had always categorized it as being different from death. On Earth, you die. On the Ark, you float. Floating sounds peaceful, inconsequential.

Death is the end. Clarke's Father hadn't "floated" he'd died. Jake Griffin had been murdered. Not "floated". If these kids were like the rest of their kind, Clarke had no mercy for them.

If these kids were anything like Abby Griffin then they would meet their end on her sword.

The sky children had regrouped, the 13 of them that were left plus a young child led by Salami. The girl looked the same age Clarke was when she was sent down here. They continued their journey and as the two grounders followed them high above in the trees. It was good that the sky children were slow runners for Clarke lagged behind Indra in their treetop voyage. Clarke made a note to ask the chieftain to reteach her this skill. She obviously had not learned it well enough when Indra had first taught it to her.

Clarke wanted full value for the armor she'd traded to get the training.

The sky children were almost at the tree they'd tied their friend to. A large panther had been seen prowling the area and it'd be nice to see their response. Consider it a test, a way to prove that these warriors were no where near as dangerous as the mountain men.

Suddenly, Clarke heard something that gave her pause.

"Oh just Wells Jaha walking around like the chancellor of Earth!" The guard with the greasy long hair yelled.

Clarke choked lightly. Wells still lived. Wells was here, on Earth. Wells was here. She felt anger then, that this boy got to grow up with his parents still alive. With his Father still alive. He never had to see the things she'd seen. Do the things she'd done. Clarke knew from the smile Abby Griffin had had when she'd watched the chancellor send her Father out into space that Abby was responsible. Abby had lost a lot of the love she'd once held for Clarke's Father as his madness took hold. Clarke had heard the fights after she'd been sent to bed. She knew what Abby had done. But Wells had been the only one she'd told about her Father's crafting. Wells had been the only one she'd told about the giant ship her Father was building. Blame for this fell just as much on Wells as it did anyone else on the Ark. Old best friend or not.

But he was alive. Wells was alive.

Clarke snapped out of it. She'd hesitated and started to fall even further behind Indra and the slow sky children. She would deal with this development later. Wells wouldn't recognize her.

Finally, they reached the edge of the clearing where the trap was set up. Pits filled with spears were scattered around the clearing carefully covered by grass and loose camouflage. Anya's scouts had prepared well for this. The pits could catch either the sky people wandering towards their injured friend or the panther they knew was already prowling close to the clearing. Indra and Clarke's arrival completed the circle of grounders waiting to watch the show. Clarke was the only non-tree clan grounder present and all the rest were comfortably sprawled across the tree tops.

Clarke heard the first gasp from Salami, the leader. They'd spotted the hanging body of their wounded friend. It was time for the show.

Clarke landed beside Indra on a thick branch with a good view of the clearing. Indra nudged her over when Clarke landed too close and soon the two grounders were well positioned for the show.

One of the sky people nearly fell into one of the pits but Salami saved them. The leader was a quick thinker. Suddenly Clarke nearly gasped at the shining black object Salami pulled from seemingly nowhere. It was a gun. It'd been over 6 years since Clarke had last seen one.

"Is that?" Indra asked her.

"It is. Just like the mountain men," Clarke's gaze hardened. Guns were a weapon she'd forgotten to account for in her assessment of the sky people, "They're more dangerous than we'd thought."

Bellamy fired a shot into the sky and Indra next to her recoiled. The sound grated on the ears, a monstrosity in the natural world the grounders lived in. Only the mountain men carried guns. For a sky person to have one solidified the similarities between the two groups.

"Same language, same weapon," Indra responded. She drew her bow and notched an arrow. If these people proved too dangerous this could be their chance to take them out.

Clarke readied her sword. She was uncertain about the drop from the tree branch to the floor but it would do to be cautious none the less.

The sky people had finally made it to the center of the clearing and begun cutting down their friend when the panther arrived. The great cat was stalking its prey, slinking through the high grass to get down wind and behind the sky people. Salami still had his gun out.

The panther got closer and closer until finally it leapt straight at Salami. The cat landed on his front as the leader just barely managed to turn to see it. Another bang rang out. The cat went still. Salami shoved it off him and set to commanding his followers. The little girl he'd brought along went unnoticed as she watched the events.

Clarke and Indra shared a look as they departed once more across the trees. They had far more to discuss with Anya now.


Octavia was pissed. Her brother had left her behind to go on his rescue mission. She'd slept with one of the layabouts again. Probably wasn't a decision she'd revisit any time soon. Or ever. She'd wandered out of the camp after that. Adventure was always available for those willing to look. Octavia wasn't willing to be kept locked up any longer. She'd spent her whole life inside of 2 rooms and it was time for change.

Octavia was wandering the woods alone, marveling at the fierce greens and browns of nature. Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of something blue out of the corner of her eye. It was the color of most Ark clothing. A steely, boring dark blue. Someone else was out here.

"Who's there?" Octavia called. She heard no response so she took off at a run after the flash she'd seen. She rounded the corner and there was the sniffling ball that was Jake Jaha. "Jake?"

Jake shook his head and huddled closer into his ball.

Octavia frowned and knelt beside the boy, "You know, I'm a second child too. I've got an older brother too." Octavia knew that Wells wasn't the friendliest older sibling, but that bond would surely still exist.

"Really?" Jake's question was muffled by layers of snot and fabric but the sniffling had subsided at least a little.

"Really. The angry guy with the gun is my brother, Bellamy. He's very protective of me and doesn't approve of a lot of the things I do. We've got a lot in common, Jake," Octavia pat the kid on the head again. He was a good kid. Far better than the witch who'd given birth to him. And the bastard who'd fathered him and his brother.

"But he loves you. When Wells looks at me… all he sees is Clarke. All he hears when I talk is Clarke," Jake was crying again.

"Then be different from Clarke. Be your own person. And if your family still doesn't love you then you can find your own family," Octavia gave Jake advice she'd been waiting for for most of her time under the floor. It was something she'd begun to learn only recently. Blood was good and all but family by choice could be a thousand times better.

"Okay," Jake sniffled some more, "I'm going back to camp now. I'll be my own person!" Jake stood up, wiped away his tears and ran away from the little hollow. He left Octavia behind but she smiled as the kid ran away. That was her good deed for the day.

Octavia stood up from her crouch. She groaned, her leg muscles were stiff after holding her in one position for too long. She took off in the same direction she'd left camp from. The beauty of nature was overwhelming her. However, there was something wrong. She could feel it, the hairs on the back of her neck starting to rise. Something was wrong. She crouched low and tried to be as silent as she could. However, she was used to being silent on metal floors, not the soft crunch of the forest's ground.

As a result, Octavia's quiet was actually rather loud. She continued to creep forward.

Suddenly, she felt an impact behind her and then a cold blade at her throat. There was someone behind her, someone dangerous. They said something to her but she couldn't understand.

"Who are you?" Octavia asked. She refused to scream. She would get out of this by herself. She would be her own person just like she'd told Jake. She didn't need Bellamy to save her.

It was a man behind her and he took the knife off of her throat to strike her across the face. Octavia spun with the blow and got her first look at the man who'd attacked her. It was one of the grounders, covered in their black armor and face paint. He looked like a devil come straight to get her.

He said something and another one dropped down beside him. These grounders lived in the trees, that's why the 100 never saw them. They never looked up. Plus there was the camouflage that the grounders cloaked themselves in, but the trees added to that effect.

"Who are you?!" Octavia asked again as she scrambled backwards. She'd seen what these guys had done to Jasper.

Another grounder dropped down then. This one was bigger than the rest, he stepped forward and looked down at her. Octavia had finally grasped a branch and now she picked it up to try and swing it at him. The branch bounced off his leg and the grounder seemed not to notice it. He leaned over her and offered her a hand, "Ai laik linkon kom trikru. Chon yu bilaik?"

Octavia did not understand. She got a name from that but… she tried again to see if they spoke her language, "English? Please?"

"Ai laik linkon kom trikru," The grounder said again. He gestured to himself, "Ai laik linkon."

"You are Lincoln?" The man nodded. Maybe they spoke a different language and looked quite different, but these grounders were not savages.

"Hello." That was another voice. A female voice. Suddenly another grounder with bright blond hair wearing black armor and a mask made from a shattered human skull appeared in front of her. This one spoke English. Octavia tried to back up but her back was against a tree.

"I am Clarke of the Bloody Smile. It is nice to meet you, Octavia of the Sky People."