Author's note:

Sorry for the delay, had a bit of a technical issue there…. But I will update two chapters today to make up for it!

Chapter 3

"So, you're a Green too?" said a guy named Monty, smiling with complicity. Common last names were pretty rare on the Ark because of the 'no siblings' thing, and people with the same surnames had the same ancestors from back when the Ark first came into orbit.

"Guess I am, with an additional second last name." Emily couldn't help but grin back, even slightly; shyly looking at her feet while she did. Monty radiated this friendly warmth she didn't know how to ignore.

"So, Em," interjected the brown-haired goofball, "how old are you?"

"17 and a couple months."

"Hey! Us too!" Jasper motioned for her to high five him, then, when she took too long, he hit his own hand, pouting disappointedly.

"Any family? Up there, on the Ark?" Monty asked with a soft voice full of curiosity.

"No." She replied as her face grew dark. She stared at the ground and walked faster, trying to avoid this kind of conversation. Emily tended to close herself off when she was sad or mad or felt any real negative emotion. Actually, she just closed herself off when talking to people. Emily never really had any friends, and she found it hard to just talk. Slamming both her hands in her red pockets, she was practically running to join the front of the group, ignoring the two boys chatting with Finn and Octavia. She kept on walking when Clarke turned around to tell them to hurry, and her feet carried her far from any conversation.

Suddenly, something caught her eyes, finally unglued from her dirty boots. An animal. She didn't really recognize what it was from her manuals, maybe a horse or a zebra… No, no, this was a deer. She remembered now. They were graceful forest creatures, leaping and running away from danger for most of their lives.

There it stood, in all its glory, just a couple feet from her. Its nose was stuffed in the high grass, mouth chewing and eating, savoring the plant. Tall, strong antlers rose from its skull, reaching for the sky, twisting and dancing above it.

Emily noticed the others grouping around her, in awe as they silently joined her, admiring the beauty of nature.

"No animals, huh?" she heard Finn whisper before he slowly inched his right leg forward, cautiously approaching the creature. He took a step. Two steps. They held their breaths. On the third step, his foot thumped down on a cracking branch, the sound resonating in Emily's ears, and the surprised deer abruptly lifted its head. Silence. A few seconds passed before the animal turned its gaze towards the group. That's when they all saw it and gasped in horror.

It had two heads. They were joined, infected skin linking them together in a melted mix. Such an atrocity almost made Emily want to throw up, but she managed to keep everything inside, as she, along with the rest of the shocked teenagers, began to move again.

This time, she walked at the end of the group, along with Jasper and Monty.

"So, Em, you didn't tell us, what'd you do to get into that dropship?" Jasper smiled childishly. Finally, it was here; the dreaded question. Emily debated telling them the truth for a moment, and then decided against it; she knew she needed and wanted to survive, she owed it to her mother. She was given a second chance, and she wouldn't let it go to waste; she would live, for mom. And so, to survive, she didn't want to be known as a murderer and be banished or killed without them hearing the whole story, and that would take too long to explain.

She settled with, "I got arrested."

Jasper answered with a grin, "Well, obviously, yeah! But what'd you do to get arrested?"

"It's complicated," she replied honestly.

"You're not much of a talker, are you?" his companion gently said, the corner of his mouth rising in sympathy. "Doesn't matter, you don't have to tell us, it's all in the past now anyway."

"Yeah, I guess it is."

After a few more minutes of walking silently, Finn asked a question most of the curious teenagers from the dropship had asked themselves, "Hey, you know what I'd like to know? Why send us down today after ninety-seven years?"

"Who cares?" chirped in Octavia, "I'm just glad they did. I woke up in a cell and now I'm spinning in a forest!" She gripped a tree and twirled around it, in an obvious attempt to get spacewalker's attention.

Monty suggested something about a satellite or something they found on Earth, until Clarke interrupted him. "It wasn't a satellite." Emily knew what she was talking about, but had no idea anyone else ever found out about the oxygen support flaw. She thought that secret had died with her father and her own imprisonment in solitary two years ago. Continuing to listen, she wanted to be sure that was what she was talking about before she talked herself. "The Ark is dying. At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone."

Wide eyed, Emily blurted out, "You knew too?"

"What do you mean too? I thought only the council was aware of my father's discovery."

"Your father? My dad found the flaw two years ago. He only ever told Jaha and me."

"What? There was no trace of that anywhere. Why didn't he talk to other engineers? Why didn't he tell anyone? My father found it last year. We thought it was for the first time, your father could have saved precious time!" Clarke started to steam, apparently, her father was a touchy subject and she truly cared for the wellbeing of the Ark.

With such anger directed towards her for no reason, Emily defended herself by getting just as mad, almost screaming, "He died that week! Killed himself 6 days after telling me." She lowered her eyes, getting blurry with tears, her face red in anger and shame.

"Oh, sorry," she looked down too, "I didn't know." There was an awkward pause as everyone just waited. "So, Jaha put you in solitary?"

"Yeah. But I got arrested for a different reason. When Jaha told my father to stay quiet for the moment, my dad told me not to say anything, or they would float me. So, he just followed the Chancellor's orders. A week later, he committed suicide, no one really knew why, but I think it was just too big of a secret for him to keep, and he couldn't go public and risk my life and mom's. I never really considered going public myself, thinking it was all going to be sorted out within the next few months, and I had to take care of mom; I couldn't risk acting all rebellious and get myself arrested. When my dad died, I don't think Jaha even knew I was aware of the flaw, but when he had the chance to arrest me, he locked me up in solitary. I guess he thought he might as well just get rid of the whole family once and for all. I didn't really think about it again, too preoccupied with… well, the reason I got arrested."

When Emily finally raised her eyes, everyone stared at her, shocked at what she had revealed and that she could utter that many words at a time. Trying to change the subject and turn their attention off her, she offered a small, "So what happened when your father discovered the flaw?"

Shaking her head as if to jump out of a reverie, Clarke answered, "My father was an engineer who, well rediscovered the flaw. He thought the people had a right to know. The Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They thought it would cause a panic, probably the same reason Jaha gave your dad. We were going to go public, anyway, when Wells…"

"What?" asked Monty, intrigued by this whole situation, "turned in your dad?"

A moment of silence occurred as compassion arose for the blonde. "Anyways, the guard showed up before we could. That's why today. That's why it was worth the risk. Even if we all die, at least they bought themselves more time."

Suddenly realizing the cause and effect of the situation, Emily found herself feeling stupid for not figuring it out sooner, or taking the flaw seriously all those years ago. "But not enough. And if we can't communicate and tell them we can live here…"

"They're gonna kill more people, aren't they?" the intellectual Monty said more than asked, concerned.

"Good," added Octavia in a serious tone. She seemed nice but she was starting to get on Emily's nerves, always flirting or being the rebellious girl. "After what they did to me, I say, float them all."

"You don't mean that," said Jasper. Emily was starting to grow affectionate towards him though, there could even be a chance for friendship hanging in the air between them. He rushed after brunette, obviously following his little crush.

Emily stayed behind and looked over at a concentrated Monty. "I should've taken this more seriously. It's my fault, I mean, if I had warned them before maybe they could have found another solution…"

"Hey," he grasped both her rigid shoulders making her face him. "This is not your fault, you couldn't have known. Don't blame yourself for things that were out of your control, okay?"

She shyly nodded at him, not quite persuaded but the words resonating in her mind. Don't blame yourself for things you couldn't control.

Author's note:

Howling2themoon: Thanks, and enjoy reading, this is gonna be a loooong one (If I have the courage and endurance to actually finish it…)

Mereryan: Glad you like it, and have hope in this story not turning out into a disaster!

Next chapter will come along either…. Today!

Then, however, I will try to update once a week.