Author's Note: This entire story is basically a different timeline and end result, with the main character's perspective (the main perspective throughout the story) being an OC. It's also a power AU, but ark characters will have weaker powers than grounders because while space radiation is stronger, the radiation and evolution required to survive on earth produced stronger abilities in many, but abilities equal to the Arkers on a wider scale. However, most main characters from the original show will still play major roles, things will just play out differently and from a different perspective and take, etc... If that's not the sort of story you're into, this isn't for you, so please don't leave any hate about the fact that it's not like the original story. Thank you!

My name is Loriel Martins, and my parents are Ariel and Laurence Martins. Or perhaps it's were by now. Seven days ago I fell from the sky, from my home the Ark, along with one hundred delinquents, and boy that smuggled himself on. Of course, I can't say much- I wasn't meant to be here either.

One Month Ago

Second children are forbidden on the Ark, it conserves resources and is supposed to ensure that our people can survive up here among the stars until the Earth is livable for us once again. That doesn't stop people from having second children, and the thing about it that makes no sense is that they float the parents and anyone else that knew about it, and no matter the age of the child they are raised until 18 before the council votes on whether they live or die. If you were that concerned about wasting resources, why wouldn't you do something like mandate sterilization after the first child until closer to the time to live on earth? Or better yet, why let children live their entire lives in misery and lockup just to die at 18, why not give them to a family that hasn't had a child yet or can't? It doesn't make any sense to me, or my mother and father. I have a baby sister, she's almost a year old now, and there are other families with two children as well. In the last few weeks that number has been dropping. The council is cracking down harder than ever before, for some reason they're panicking. Today, my dad figured out what that reason is while working on some repairs near the council room. The Ark is running out of oxygen, and they don't know how to fix it. In a month they'll be sending a pod filled with delinquents down to Earth, which explains the project my dads been working on for months now that he had no explanation for, and I'm going to be on that ship along with the few second children or otherwise illegal children the council hasn't found yet.

It's not many, a few weeks ago there were close to four dozen, and now it's down to less than two dozen. It'll be less by the time we can leave. For the first time ever, they're doing it very secretly and floating the children with their parents. Claiming random crimes or infractions when questioned about it. For now, we have to get as many resources for babies as we can, because the Ark isn't going to send much down with the delinquents, and babies need other things. Cloth diapers, formula packets, the more durable the bottles we can find the better. Blankets, and so many other things that'll have to fit into one backpack and a duffle.

Day of Launch

"Mom, I'm scared about this. What if it's not survivable yet?"

"It will be, I've seen you on the ground and safe in my dreams. Everything will be okay, and not as many made it through the month as we hoped, but if they stay they'll be condemned anyway. This way, maybe the rest of their family will have a chance as well as them." I nod my head and glance back to the area where my dad is securing small children with the help of their parents. The younger ones have been giving some drowsy medication to keep them from crying until we're safe. One baby under a month old, two babies under 6mos (my sister one of them), a two-year-old, a four-year-old, and a little girl that's nearly six. Which is old for a second child, although a few have made it to even older than that. My father spent the last month secretly building a hidden compartment. It's not as safe as we'd like, but the six-year-old can make force fields, and since we will all be close together if I really feel like we need it I can get her to make one. I don't know how strong they are, but that's what dad said to do.

"What if... What if I can't take good care of them by myself?" My mom pulls me into a tight hug.

"Don't say that, you'll do a great job. I know it." She pulls back and runs her fingers through my black hair, tying it back into a ponytail with a little ribbon.

"It's time to go, I love you little bird." I hug her again.

"I love you too mom." My dad places a firm hand on my shoulder.

"It's time Loriel, are you ready?" I give him a small smile and wipe away my tears.

"As ready as I can be I guess." He ruffles my hair, nearly undoing the ponytail it's in.

"If there was anyone better for this, I'd send them. You're meant for this, your mother and I both know it. Come on, let's get you buckled in." My father leads me into the hidden area, showing me where the duffle and my backpack have been secured, and that each baby has the harness/sling for carrying them pinned at the front of their seat for easy access. We're crammed pretty close together, but the kiddos are so small it doesn't matter. My father has to crouch a little to stand in here, luckily I take after mom for my height or this would be much more difficult. He buckles me in and tightens the straps, using his ability to strengthen the material. He can increase the durability and strength of objects by ten to twenty percent, and mom has dreams about what's going to happen and can heal very small injuries. By very small I mean papercuts and scrapped elbows at most. That's why they wouldn't let her into the medical program at all, she works in the kitchens instead. They don't believe her about the visions either, just think she's a little touched in the head. Once I'm secured my father double-checks the others and steps back to the hatch.

"Be brave little bird, I love you." My father's smile is sad, and he's in tears too.

"I love you too papa." He seals the hatch behind him, and the six old wiggles her fingers at me, a toy horse in her mouth. I reach out and take her hand, giving her a big smile. I keep my voice down to a whisper.

"Hi there, you're Sophie, right?" She nods her head and takes the toy out of her mouth and holds it out to me.

"Hold horsey for me."

"Can you say please?" She scrunches her nose up at me and sighs.

"Please?" I take this damp toy from her and tuck it into my shirt pocket.

"I'm six. How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen, almost an adult, like your mom and dad." She drops my hand and starts playing with her sleeves.

"...that's old." I laugh a little, everyone seems old when you're little.

"It is, but we've got to be quite now okay? We don't want anyone to find us."

"Like hide and seek in the wall?"

"Yeah, just like hide and seek in the wall." She nods solemnly and holds a finger up to her lips before leaning her head against the seat and just staring at me quietly. Maybe this is going to be a lot easier than I thought it would be.

It's nearly two hours before the delinquents are loaded up and we're sent to the ground. It's a terrifying experience, enhanced by the extra small space. When the turbulence seems to increase too much, and it doesn't seem like a parachute has deployed, I have to try and talk to Sophie over the noise.

"Sophie! Can you hear me?" The little girl is crying and clutching my hand, but she looks up and nods.

"Can you make a force field for me sweetie?" She gives me a confused look.

"A magic circle?" I give her a big smile and a nod.

"Yeah, a magic circle! Big as you can make it, can you do that?" Nodding she scrunches her nose up in concentration and whispers to herself, I can't hear her over the noise of the fall but slowly a ball of pastel pink energy forms around us. It shimmers and glitters, and as we impact on the ground it cracks and frays around us. Sophie keeps her face scrunched into concentration until we hear the delinquents start to exit the ship, and then I squeeze her hand.

"You did really good sweetie, we're on the ground now!" She gives me a big smile and then yawns.

"I'm sleepy." I begin working on unbuckling myself and checking on the others.

"I'll let you sleep in a little bit okay? We've got to go outside, don't you want to see outside?" She perks right up then and steals her horse out of my pocket as I unbuckle her. I situate one of the older babies on her in a sling, she's so small it's difficult. The four-year-old is drowsy, but I'm able to wake her up as well. The two-year-old is still completely out like the babies. So I get two babies situated in their slings after putting the backpack on, and while the four-year-old clings to me I carefully hold the two-year-old in between the babies. I leave the duffle bag near the exit, but I can't carry it at the moment. Once I've got the secret hatch open, I carefully guide the small children out, and I'm greeted with absolute chaos. These kids are already arguing and disagreeing, and some are talking about leaving the camp. I recognize one girl as Clarke Griffin, she's arguing with a boy that should be too old to be here. This is all going to end up poorly. So I approach cautiously, the kiddos clinging to me as people turn to look at us in confusion.

"Who are you, and where did these kids come from?" Clarke is all business, a serious and furious look on her face.

"I'm Loriel Martins, and these are the last of the second children from the Ark." A girl similar in appearance to the older boy pops her head into the conversation at that/

"There are others?" Her eyes are filled with curiosity, looking at the kids in amazement.

"Yes... There used to be more, but the council has been turning up the heat to find them since the Ark is running out of oxygen. So here we are." The older boy scowls and pushes the girl away.

"Stay out of this Octavia, and we can't be trying to take care of a bunch of babies down here!" Clarke nods in agreement.

"Yeah, you're on your own. We've got to go find Mount Weather and get supplies. I have no idea why you would bring children or babies down here. It's just not a good idea." I shrug and shift the toddler a little bit.

"Don't worry about it, we'll stay out of your hair."

I lasted about four days at the camp, set up with the babies away from the others. No one bothered me, probably because of the kiddos actually, and I kept the duffle hidden and scavenged all the straps and stuff I could from the ship and added them to it. Wells is trying to keep order and organize, and I tried to help but no was really listening to him or me very much. They're not very happy because of who his dad is, and no one is happy about the babies being here. A lot has happened, Bellamy is also trying to set up camp, but he's not very nice about it, and from what I can tell he's slept with nearly every girl here. His sister is a wild child who periodically comes nearby to see the babies, refuses to hold them though. It's like the kids scare her or something. Clarke had tried to go to Mount Weather, but all that happened was they realized people already lived here. Poor Jasper got speared, I offered to help but Clarke shut me down and insisted on dealing with everything herself. A few kids died from this weird fog or acid stuff, and then likely more things I haven't been able to get details on.

Once people started tearing off their bracelets I knew it was going to get more dangerous, and my black eye from stopping someone from attacking 12-year-old proved that. Wells Jaha had helped, but she looked at him like she was seeing a ghost. She'd been sitting quietly next to my fire for a while, she'd even volunteered to rock a baby to sleep for me.

"I'm Charlotte by the way." I give her a smile and keep feeding the baby in my arms.

"I'm Loriel. The little girl with blonde hair is Sophie, and the redhead is Anne. The little boy is Mark. The baby you're holding is Lucas, the one already sleeping is Riley, and this right here is my baby sister Sarah." Charlotte looks up at me with wide eyes.

"She's your sister?" I nod, shifting her to burp her.

"Yes, she's about five months old. Likes to chew on your hair if she can get ahold of it, and refuses to try and hold the bottle, but will hit you with it. I think she just likes the extra attention." Charlotte nods slowly, still rocking the baby in her arms.

"You're really good at taking care of them." I look at her and shrug.

"You're doing a good job over there yourself. I could use help you know, so you're welcome over here anytime. I do have a question for you though." She makes a face at me but sighs.

"Let me guess, it's either what my crime was or what my power is," I shake my head.

"No, I was gonna ask why you seem scared of Wells." She gasps a little then, shaking her head and focusing on the child in her arms.

"I have nightmares sometimes, of my parents getting floated and-" Charlotte's voice is shaky and she shakes her head. "But I'm gonna fix that."

"Hmm, what does Wells have to do with your nightmares?"

"His father is responsible!" I shrug, lightly, shifting to place Sarah in the makeshift bassinet. Before rising to my feet to stretch

"Do you think kids should get punished for their parent's crimes?" Charlotte's shoulders are trembling.

"Bellamy said if I slay my demons while I'm awake, they won't bother me while I sleep." I shake my head, that boy shouldn't be allowed near kids.

"Is that what the knife is for then? Slaying your demons?" Charlotte looks up with wide eyes.

"How-" I kneel in front of her, we're the same height standing, but she's still sitting on the log with the baby in her lap.

"You can't beat demons that way, you'll just make new ones. You think you'll get the image of your parents being floated by his dad out of your head if you don't have to see him anymore, but if you hurt him, he'll become your new demon. The only way to beat a demon that lives inside your head is to defeat it inside of your mind. But, if you really can't be around him, you can come with me. I'm leaving in the morning, it's not gonna be safe here much longer, but I have a job to do." Charlotte is looking at me with wide eyes, tears streaming down.

"You'd really let me go with you?" I nod and reach out to brush a stray hair out of her face.

"I promised my parents and their parents I'd do whatever it took to take care of them, and I can't promise your parents anything because they're gone, but I like to think that they would really like for someone to look after their little girl. So you're more than welcome to come with, who knows, maybe it'll help you beat your demons." She nods and wipes her face with her free hand.

"I'd like that." Smiling brightly I take the sleeping baby from her and lay it in the other makeshift bassinet.

"Perfect, you'd better get some rest then, we're leaving first thing in the morning. Do you have anything you need to go get?" She shakes her head and sits down on the makeshift bed I point to, still staring at the fire. I check on the other three kids, who just like the babies are sleeping well, and sit back on the log.

"Tell me about your parents, what did they do for work on the Ark?" Charlotte smiles and lays back to look up at the stars.

"My mom worked in the redistribution center, and my dad worked in the kitchens. That's what got them in trouble, something to do with the black market and their jobs. No one would tell me more than that."

"It doesn't matter what happened, in the end, Charlotte, what do you remember about them?" Charlotte closes her eyes and sighs.

"Mom could repair clothes really well, she liked to sew a lot. Never made sense to me, I don't have the patience for it. Dad liked working in the kitchens because it's always warm there, he didn't like being cold. He always said that the rest of the Ark felt like ice to him, even though it's all just the same temperature. Mom liked to read books late at night, when all the lights were already out and she should have been sleeping. She could see though, it didn't matter how dark it was mom could always see. When I was really little, I thought there were monsters under my bed, and they vanished when the lights came on. But mom could see in the dark, so as long as she checked after the lights were out that meant the monsters couldn't get me. If mom was too tired or not feeling well, Dad would stay up with me all night. He wasn't allowed to use his power much, but if he focused really hard he could make his skin glow from the fire. Fire eats oxygen, so fire users aren't supposed to use their powers on the Ark because it'd be wasteful. That's part of why I got locked up." I add a little more kindling to the fire, using the metal rod I'd broken off from the wall to shift everything around in the pit to get more warmth into the air.

"When my parents stuff was being taken to repurposing, I used my powers on accident. I'd never done it before at all, but it was like an inferno came from inside me. I felt invincible, I punched a guard. My skin was so hot it melted his skin, and then I burst into flames. It was so hot I could barely breathe. I can't do much more than heat my skin and catch myself on fire, and I have almost no control of it so I just have to not try and use it. I was officially locked up for assaulting a guard, but I know that the fire thing is a big part of the reason. Who knows how much oxygen it wasted." Charlotte stops talking then, her breathing slowly evening out as she falls asleep. At some point in the middle of the night, this kid who I know keeps stirring up trouble comes over. My fire's been died down, but I don't want to wander off while the kids are sleeping, especially not at night when most of the camp is sleeping. We don't really know what's out here yet. Instead, I just move the kiddos closer together and drape my jacket and a blanket over them, and steal the blankets from Charlotte since she's not using them. I tuck those around the babies. My knees are pulled up close to my chest, and I'm trying to keep my hands warm against the chill when he tosses some firewood into the pit.

"You looked cold." I narrow my eyes.

"Thanks, what's the catch?" He shrugs and gets to work on arranging them before I can even move to do so myself. He catches it on fire with his bare hand.

"Why would there be a catch?" I roll my eyes and hold my hands out closer to the fire.

"You haven't really made a name for yourself as someone who does things out of the kindness of their heart. The opposite actually."

"I'm an asshole, not a bad person. Just trying to survive, like everybody else. I wouldn't bother helping you if you weren't literally babysitting. How are you so cold anyway, it's not that chilly out." I roll my eyes, easy for a fire user to say. I'm always cold.

"Let me guess, you never get cold or hot?" He grins shrugging his jacket off and tossing it at me. It's so warm it almost feels like it'd burn, but I put it on anyway.

"That's right, benefits of a fire user. We can overheat ourselves but nothing else can, and if it's cold we just turn up the heat. Doesn't answer my question though."

"Not really your business is it?" He adds some flame to the fire and spins some around in his hand.

"I mean, you can consider telling me the catch if you want." I scoff.

"It's colder over here than everywhere else, at least when Lucas is sleeping. That's why he's away from the others."

"Ice user?"

"Probably, dad could make cold fronts to make it snow and mom could frost things or freeze them. Worked in mechanics to deal with overheating machines."

"Makes sense, why not wander around then?"

"They're babies." He shrugs, reaching out and using his hand to fiddle with the kindling.

"Right, can't leave them unsupervised. Alright, I'm going to bed. I'll see you around."

"No, you won't." He raises an eyebrow at me and turns to walk off.

"Just leave my coat by the dropship in the morning then."

I wake Charlotte up a little before dawn, and she helps me pack everything away. I find a backpack for her to use for some of the extra stuff I've accumulated. I get her strapped into it, and then I get Lucas strapped onto her after I feed and burp him.

"He's probably an ice user, so he might feel really cold, especially if he falls asleep. I'll get frostbite if I have to carry him for too long. Okay?" She nods. I wake the toddlers up next, and Sophie- she's a little old to be called a toddler. I get them out of their outer layers so they don't get them messy and then I get them some breakfast of this grain stuff they seem to like with these berries that I tested to see if they're safe to eat. They sit quietly while I pack the bedding into the duffle, and I wake the babies up, giving Charlotte one to feed, and Sophie wants to feed Sarah again so I let her take over once she finishes her oatmeal so that we can get out of here. She's a helpful little thing, which is a very good thing. I swear the other two would never stop fighting if she wasn't around.

"Wori! Anne bit me!" I turn to look at Mark who's holding his arm away from Anne who is growling at him.

"Anne, why did you bite Mark?"

"He touched my berries!"

"We don't bite people, it's not very nice and they could get hurt okay? Next time just tell me he touched your berries. And Mark, eat your berries okay? Don't touch other people's." Mark continues pouting but goes back to eating his food, getting almost as much on himself as in his mouth. Not that it being on his arm stops him from eating it. Anne is a little better, but she growls the entire time she eats. Little ferals are difficult to get to behave. I'm just glad her teeth aren't sharp enough to break Mark's skin yet. She tries to bite him a lot. Sophie usually growls back at her, she's not as good at it, but apparently Anne respects her authority. I don't understand very well yet, hopefully, I figure it out soon though. Once I've got all the bedding put away, I start cleaning the kiddos up.

"Hey Mark, can you make me a water ball?" He nods excitedly and hands me a sphere of water, which I use to clean him off, as well as the others and the dishes. I drop it onto the ground on the edge of the forest. Mark can mark balls of water that don't break unless the hit something pretty hard. They're really just like giant raindrops. It's a useful skill, but he only does it when you ask him to. And then you'll get anything from a ball the size of a berry to one as big as he can get it. That's okay, for a two-year-old that's a really good level of control. Except for when they explode and get everything wet of course.

I take Sarah and get her into her sling, and help Sophie get her jacket and stuff on. Packing the bowels and things into my backpack I hand it to her.

"Is this too heavy?" She starts to put it one immediately.

"No, I'm a big girl. I can carry it."

"Okay, well, you're still kind small so let me help you make it fit." It's big on her, but she seems to be able to walk around alright. Sarah is playing in the dirt, but sadly I have to break up her fun and put her in her sling. She's not very happy about it and starts to cry.

"Oh it's alright, it's just me..." I hum a lullaby as I go and take Riley from Charlotte and put him in the other sling on my opposite hip. Carefully situating the duffle bag so that it won't bother either of them. Charlotte is helping Anne and Mark get their jackets and stuff back on and puts the bottle she had away in her backpack.

"Charlotte, can you help Mark onto my back? Anne should be okay walking if she holds one of our hands, but he's too little and gets tired faster than her." I kneel down and she helps Mark to sit on the duffle, which hurts my shoulder some, but he clings onto me for dear life so I've got no worries that he'll fall. Anne is running in circles around Sophie who is glaring at her. That one never runs out of energy.

"Stop it, Anne!" Anne keeps running in circles and just growls loudly at Sophie, who in return growls sharply, and then Anne stops and pouts. I'm starting to think I'm going to learn how to growl. Or at least snarl the way Sophie does when Anne pulls her hair. It seems like we're ready to go. Except- I need to take that jacket I left on the log and put it by the dropship, or I guess he'd know to come to look here for it. I'm sure it'll be fine. I look around and smile.

"Alright guys, we have to be super quiet and careful. Anne, Sophie. Hold hands with either me or Charlotte okay? Sophie comes and holds my hand, and Anne takes Charlotte's. Charlotte looks at me, she seems a little worried, she hasn't talked all morning.

"Where are we going, exactly?" I shrug.

"It's hard to explain, but you'll see." It takes hours, with a lot of little breaks for pottying and changing diapers and soothing fussy babies, and lunch of course. Charlotte gives me odd looks every time I stand with my head tilted and a hand on a tree before moving on. It does probably look odd, I barely understand it, but it is what it is. By midday we've reached it though. A small clearing, with a waterfall, and a little cave is hidden by vines.

"Woah... How'd you know where to find this?" I shrug, and make my way over by the little cave, where I let Mark get down. I set Sarah and Riley down in the grass and dig around for blanket from the duffle and spread it out for them to play on. Mark sits on it with them. Charlotte has Lucas, who she sets on his back with the others. He's not even a month old, so he can't do much yet, which is another reason Charlotte had to carry him. It's hard to carry more than one back if they're in a chest harness, but he needs the head support. It'd be fine if it was a short trip, but this had been a long journey. Charlotte and I get everything set down as Anne runs around the clearing, and Sophie plops down next to Mark.

"Anne, honey, come sit over here okay? I don't want you to get to close to the water until I check how deep it is." She grumbles but comes and sits with the others. I reach out and ruffle her hair.

"I'll go check out the cave, it'll make a nice shelter." I nod at Charlotte and let her head over to check it out. She comes out a little later with some loose sticks which she sets next to the door.

"It's pretty nice in there, it looks like someone has used it as a shelter before. Some shelves are carved in the walls, and there are a few old weapons in there. I'd worry someone was coming back, but it's pretty dusty and there's nothing else in there." I give her a broad grin.

"That's perfect! What's weapons are in there? Did you recognize them?" She shrugs.

"I can go get them? I should be able to carry them." I nod, bouncing Riley on my knee as he gurgles. Sarah is playing with Sophie again, they really like each other. When Charlotte comes back over she sets a few things on the ground. An ax, a beaten-up old sword, a few knives, and a bow with no string or arrows.

"Is the ax sharp at all?" Shrugging, she picks it up and goes and takes a swing at a tree with it, and the answer is yes. Though it should be a little sharper I think before trying to chop firewood with it.

"I guess it is, but if it wasn't we wouldn't have a way to sharpen it."

"There's actually a couple of whetstone in the bottom of the duffle. Heavy, but worth it all things considered. Not sure how my dad got a hold of them though." Charlote sighs and lays back in the grass.

"What do we do first?" The wheels spin in my head slowly but surely.

"We'll need to set up places for the babies to sleep first, as well as secure that entryway somehow. That might take longer, for now, there's a tarp we can use underneath the vines if we can figure out how to get it pinned up. Then we'll need to find a way to see how deep the water is. I don't want the kiddos getting in there and us not know how deep it gets. Did you ever take swimming lessons on the ark?"

"Yeah, it's hard to get them but in third grade, I won a raffle for it. They only do it once every couple of years right?" I nod and look at the water.

"It's not the same I guess, but I never took them at all so it might be better for you to check. We'll have to set up an area of doing laundry and using the latrine away from the river, we want to keep that at least 50m away, 30m would be fine, but I'd rather be safe than sorry if we're going to use that for drinking water. So, the first thing will be setting up space for the kids to sleep. We'll go from there for today based on how much daylight we have left. Is the ground in the cave stone or dirt?"

"The whole cave seems to be stone. I can start gathering sticks and stuff from the edge of the forest and we can work on building a frame with them maybe?" I nod, and gesture to the ones she pulled from the cave.

"Some of those can probably be used too, we'll see what we have and go from there."

The next few days are a blur of rangling children and gathering and building a camp with really only two people taking care of six others and themselves. Charlotte and I take turns being on watch at night. We make nails by shaping small sticks and use her makeshift knife to puncture holes into the larger sticks that we use to build the frames for the bassinets. Buckles serve as support, and blankets round things out. We make a makeshift pallet for the rest of us, we won't be able to make it more comfortable until we start hunting. But if we all share it's softer and warmer. Charlotte knows how to weave, so she gathers dried reeds and branches and makes baskets for our things. They're not perfect sure, but they work. Extra straps and buckles that I scavenged in one. Food packets go in the carved shelves on the walls, and when we're resting inside at dusk we work on carving more. It's going to take a long time to make each one, but that's fine. Clean diapers in another, dirty ones in one we keep suspended just outside the door on a post. Setting up a place for laundry had been easier than I'd thought it'd be, though digging the hole for the latrine had been exhausting work that had taken Charlotte and me most of a day. The kiddos just playing in the dirt, and the babies in their slings.

It had turned out that the water of right underneath the small waterfall was shallow, though the current was a little strong closer to the falls and where it flowed back out to the water. We were learning to survive, and it was tricky and lots of work, and soon I'd have to start hunting for more food. I was worried about what I'd do when I didn't have any formula milk left, of course, I was able to give cruel and mashed berries to the older two babies but it's not the same obviously. If there Sophie was older I wouldn't be as worried about leaving Charlotte here alone with them, but three babies and three small kids would be a lot of work for her.

Finally, on day eleven on the ground though, it's time to at least try.