Chapter One

Earthbound

"Why'd you do it?"

The first question she heard as she looked up from sitting on her bed to see a figure standing by the open door of her cell, at an instant she recognized the voice without even having to see who it was as she looked at him for a moment, a tall slender man dressed in a black leather-like jacket and dark jeans with black shoes, his dark brown hair combed back neatly and those equally dark eyes fixed on her with a less than pleased expression held within them.

Councilman Marcus Kane stood there with his arms crossed looking down at the slightly bruised teen, a cut on her lip and a slight black eye from the fight event the guards had broken up, it was something that had shocked him to hear that his own daughter and a promising candidate for the guard training program was sitting before him in a cell, charged with assault and taking part in illegal events such as fighting for ration cards – she owed him answers and fast.

"Dad…I can explain…" the first words to leave her lips as she moved to stand up, though just looking at him she could tell that she was in for a real ear-bashing this time but before she could continue her father spoke up.

"I don't care for what you have to say right now, Dani…" he shook his head with a tone of mixed anger and frustration despite him asking why she'd done it, in those seconds he'd already deduced or so he'd thought anyhow "…you're going to listen to me instead…do you understand?" he told her straight his dark eyes searching his daughter for her acknowledgement and soon enough he saw the small the nod "Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?" he asked her as he watched her eyes fall to look at the ground avoiding his gaze "You are up to your neck in this shit, aggravated assault, underage gambling, resisting arrest and last but not least destruction of public property…" he pointed to a finger on his hand with each charge "…four separate charges and the fact that you're going to be turning eighteen in three months' time, your review date isn't looking good…" he told her though it was only now that it'd begun to sink in.

There was no way she could serve a long enough sentence before her reviewing date for them to assume she's paid for her crimes, the thought of this felt like a ten-ton weight on her shoulders now as she carried on looking at the ground, she tried not to show that it scared her even as she listened to him.

"I don't even think there is anything I can do in your favor…" he sighed "…you may have even cost me my place on the council…" he added about his job that he'd be risking because of her "…I worked hard to get there and now because of your stupidity I could lose it..." there was something in the way he spoke to her about it that seemed to ignite a spark of her own anger, the look in her eyes as they came back up to meet his gaze with equal anger.

"It's all about you…isn't it?"

Her tone was quiet as the muscles in her jaw tightened, she'd had enough already of his blaming her for this mess – alright, she'd brought most of it on herself but in the past few years he'd been building her frustration, ever since he and her mother had broken up when she was just twelve years of age after he'd had an affair with CeCe, the way he was never there when they needed him because he was always working or so he said - but most of all when her mother had died four years after the split, he was too busy to check on the teen which is what led to the path which brought them to be standing in this cell today.

"Excuse me?" he asked a little taken aback by the change in the teen that had just moments ago been silent and listening to him.

"You don't really give a crap about me, do you?" the girl asked him "You're more worried about the fact that I could have cost you that precious job of yours…" she said bitterly as she stood there looking at him, her dark eyes narrowed on him "…that's all you care about, isn't it?"

"Don't even start with that…" her father growled "…you know that's a lie"

"No, dad…it's not a lie at all" she shook her head the muscles in her jaw tensed up briefly "Ever since mom found out about CeCe…you've always been 'busy' whenever we needed you" she told him "we didn't need you that much until mom got sick…" she shook her head trying not to remember how she'd sat beside her mother's deathbed in the medical wing, holding her hand as she passed away "...we needed you and still you didn't give a single fuck about us!" her rage was simmering to the surface as she looked at him.

"I did what I could…I got her more medication than she was supposed to have…" the man in his early forties tried to explain to her but she shook her head and interrupted him.

"Do you really think getting her a few pills extra was enough to save her life?" the teen growled now almost squaring up to her father "Mom was past help by the time you decided to get them…" she told him before the next thing she'd say would be the verbal knife in his heart "…I wish it was you who had gotten ill instead, I wish she was still here and you'd died in her place…" she said with a cold tone in her voice, anger had taken over her rational thinking and sooner or later she'd regret such words but for now it's how she really felt.

The look in his eyes when he heard her words could only be described as utter devastation and hurt – yes, he was angry but he still cared about her.

A lump built in his throat as he stood face to face with the angry teen whose eyes seemed to remain harsh like she'd been truthful about that cruel remark; he took a breath to quell the emotions that'd struck him before he spoke to her in a calmer voice than he thought he had possible right now.

"Even if that'd happened and Kate was here, instead of me…" he spoke matter-of-factly looking right back at her "…she'd still be ashamed to see what her little girl had become…a callous and ungrateful little brat who threw her life away by getting involved with scumbags…" he said now a bluntness returning to his voice as he looked her right in the eye, though he was getting the feeling it would be safer to leave before she flipped like it seemed she was going to do "…I guess it's a good thing she's not here to see that…" he finished as the words sank into Dani like a knife into her own heart, she watched him turn to leave the cell and for some reason something propelled her forwards, trying to catch him before the door closed.

"No…wait…" she tried to say but he carried on over the threshold and out of sight, she tried to get there in time but the door was slammed shut as she got there and the force of colliding with the metal door knocked the teen right on her rear, she hit the concrete floor but didn't stay there for long as she scrambled to her feet ignoring the pain at her lower back, she rushed to the door once more and beat her fist against it three times "Come back! Please!" she called as loud as she could "Please!" the tears were running down her bruised cheeks…

*KAFLUNK*

It was the jolt that reverberated through the dropship that snapped her back to the present, she opened her eyes after having fallen asleep it seemed if the drowsiness she'd felt had anything to be there, the remnants of the nightmarish memory seemed to still be there too as she sighed and lifted a hand to rub the sleepiness from her eyes and try to think about something else, she'd had three months to dwell on her hasty words and now she didn't want to do that anymore if she could help it.

Once she was a little more awake it'd begun to sink in that the jolt she'd felt moments ago had been a sign that they were no longer a part of The Ark, they were on their way down to the ground and the nerves in her gut returned at the thought of this, wondering what kind of a state the planet was in – was the air clean enough to breath? Or would they suffocate as soon as the doors open? These were just a couple of thoughts that crossed her mind as she sat there strapped to the seat, trying to keep a level head was the easy part for now as she glanced around taking in the sight of the seats and walls filled with teens most of whom some were excited and others looked just as nervous as she was.

She knew that if things were really as safe as she hoped down on the ground then she'd have another thing to deal with, a large amount of the teens in this ship would not take too kindly to her presence, even though she was there because of her own mistakes it wouldn't matter to them since her father would have been responsible for either them getting locked away – or worse, a loved one getting floated for even the most menial crimes.

Because of this, she might just be a target or an outcast if they were ever to discover who she really was.

The pain in her wrist had grown dull now and only ever hurt when she pressed on the bracelet, the green light was still flashing in time to her heartbeat and if what she'd heard about it was true then she'd have to bear it for longer than she wanted to, she let out a tired yawn and blinked a few times trying to shift the boredom of being confined to a seat for what could still be a while yet.

"Wakey, Wakey, Cuteness…" a mirthful tone seemed to catch her attention causing her to tear her eyes from the silver device on her wrist in order to look to her left, once again she was greeted with the dark shaggy hair and even darker set of eyes of the boy from the line who at this moment in time was strapped to the wall, as soon as she looked at him a grin flashed across his rather handsome features "...man, you were out of it!" he stated with an amused tone, for some reason he always seemed to have that infectious smile which would spread to her, the corners of her lips tugged upwards slightly.

"Lack of sleep will do that" she answered back as she stretched a little in her seat "It's really no fun getting woken up by the punk next door…" she remarked about the somewhat noisy neighbor she'd had for the past couple of nights before this had begun, awake and listening to the crying and yelling from the teen next door no matter how much she'd tried to block it out, she shook her head trying to not think about it before curiosity got the better of her "So what did they get you for?" she asked him as she settled in her seat.

"Space walking, kinda wasted a month of oxygen trying to surprise my girlfriend…" he responded unapologetically with a shrug, this seemed to sum him up to her in one that he was reckless and irresponsible but then again, she was no angel either "What about you?" he asked since she'd enquired about his being there.

"Fighting, for ration cards and stuff…" she sighed seeming more apologetic in her tone than he had been with his "…I guess I kinda messed up on that one" she added with a shrug of her own before all of a sudden the entire ship shook and rumbled as the lights flickered leaving them in darkness for each split-second that they went out before returning, a small but frightened shriek sounded from across the room.

The rocky movements seemed to spook even Dani for a moment as her hands instinctively moved up to grip her straps keeping her in her seat, the beating of her heart sped up a little no matter how much she tried to stay calm, she listened to the chatter of the other teens as they tried to figure out what in the hell that was, soon she'd figured it out when the atmosphere around them had changed slightly in the way that she felt everything was lighter as they passed through the Earth's atmosphere, a strange but awesome feeling.

Her attention was snatched back to Finn who'd reached for the buckles on his straps keeping him to the wall, for a moment it looked as though he was checking them but soon it became clear – he was undoing them, was this guy mad?

"Finn, I don't think that's a good idea…" she tried to warn him at least retaining some form of responsibility, she doubted that this could end well as she watched the straps float open while the screens around crackled to life, she turned her head for a moment to look at the screens and saw the face of Thelonious Jaha upon them "…great, that prick…" she muttered not really caring enough to listen to what he had to say for the moment, she looked back at Finn to see him push off from the wall and float across in front of her with a grin, he was actually floating there in front of her almost two feet off the deck "…are you for real?" she said trying not to smirk but failing.

"Yeah…" he answered simply as he almost swam through the air, the notion was tempting to her since for all she knew this was her last few moments to have fun before a potential death "…c'mon, try it…" he coaxed her as though he could see the struggle between wanting to have fun and wanting to stay safe that was currently going on within her mind "…what's the worst that could happen?" he smirked like he had a good point.

For now he did.

"Why not?" the girl replied as the struggle was finally won on the side of wanting to have fun, she watched as he reached his hands forwards and began undoing the straps on her seat much like he had done to his own, though she'd decided to go through with this it didn't stop her from feeling a tad nervous as she soon felt the weightlessness around her increase as she began lifting out of her seat as Finn moved away "Oh my…god…" she muttered with surprise as she began to float from her seat "…this is weird" she uttered as she'd left the seat and now a few of the teens were looking over at them, some finding it funny while others looked unsure about it.

She was beginning to wonder if this was a mistake rather than a good idea as she reached out and pulled herself closer towards the wall, Finn had begun floating off towards the far side where she could see a slightly familiar blonde haired girl sat next to a dark skinned boy, she began making her way over slowly but surely as it seemed she was less of a 'space walker', she heard the cheers for the dark haired boy as he finally reached the other two and began speaking with them.

Dani shook her head with a smirk as she pushed herself off from the side and floated across the space trying to get used to this feeling of being weightless, on her way she crossed the path of one of the screens that for some reason she only now began to pay attention to as the dark-skinned man upon spoke.

'…you have one job, one responsibility: stay alive…' he spoke with a degree of seriousness which for some reason seemed to make her feel like she should have been paying attention to the screen as he continued speaking but her attention was snatched away once again by a girl's voice ringing out across the ship.

"Stay in your seats…!"

The voice made Dani look across to see that it'd come from the familiar blonde she'd seen moments ago, it was Clarke Griffin who for now was looking over at two boys who were also undoing their straps, maybe she had a good point as in the following moments the ship was shaking a little more, a worried feeling was coming back to her gut as she caught the gaze of the blonde for all but a split second, she opened her mouth to speak though no word would pass through as the feeling of worry was greeted with a sound of scraping metal…

Suddenly the whole ship shook way more violently than the last time.

The force of the shake seemed to dispel any weightlessness that surrounded them and gravity hit like a runaway train, in a mere moment she went from floating effortlessly to being hurled across the ship like a ragdoll, she braced herself for impact as she saw the wall rushing to meet her…

In that brief seconds she felt as though her life flashed before her eyes, she saw her mother, her father and she even saw AJ – all the memories both good and bad but some of them were the best of all, the ones she'd cherished all this time were now there for her in that brief moment that she caught herself hurtling towards the metallic wall.

"Oh Fu-" the last word to pass her lips before the impact of the wall cut it short, her left shoulder, side and hip seemed to hit it first and then her head which made it feel as though her brain rattled around her skull like a stone in a tin can, she could hear the panic around as her fellow teens held on for dear life in their seats, the ship rumbling and sparking all over the place by what her now blurred vision could deduce but things were only growing more and more fuzzy for her now.

She tried to keep her eyes open but she was losing that fight, the blow to her head had handicapped her in this battle to stay awake, her eyelids grew heavier now…

Was this how it was meant to end? Was this what she'd managed to escape getting floated for? This?

Her eyes finally closed as the loss of consciousness finally collected her into the calmness it held.

"So how did this happen?"

The soft female voice spoke breaking through the burning sting of the gash in her eyebrow getting cleaned with disinfectant, a hiss of discomfort escaped through her gritted teeth while she tried to come up with yet another excuse for why she'd shown up with a nice deep wound to her eyebrow this time and the beginnings of a black eye.

"Walked into a door…" the teen answered almost right away while keeping her eyes on the wall across the way from the stool she was sat upon, she didn't really know what else to say other than that since the past few weeks this was her second visit to the medical wing late at night, shifting her dark brown eyes up to look at the woman doctor who was currently swabbing the wound with antiseptic, she could almost tell that this excuse just didn't cut it this time.

"A door, huh?" she asked a little skeptical of the fast answer, the teen tried all she could not to show regret for lying to someone who she was supposed to count on, the person who'd been there for her in the past year since her mother's body had been floated during the funeral "Tell me, did the door come off worse?" she asked with a sigh catching the girl's attention at this part before she stepped back to put the antiseptic on the trolley while she looked for the butterfly stitches among the several items on the tray, she glanced occasionally at the girl who had since returned her gaze downwards to the floor this time "When are you going to tell the me the truth, Dani?" she asked a moment or two later.

"What 'truth'?" the teen asked quietly doing all she could to ignore the throbbing headache that currently filled her skull after the fight a couple of hours ago "I don't know what you're talking about…" she sighed.

Doctor Abigail Griffin had been friends with her mother for almost ten years and in that time she'd gotten on pretty well with both Katharine and Dani – but for now the girl before was far from the teen she'd remembered her to be a year before, she could recall a happy-go-lucky young woman who would often help out in the medical labs when she wasn't studying, the younger kids seemed to love her too when she'd give readings from books and assist in teaching lessons, she'd been an aspiring teacher…

…but that was not the girl she saw in front of her.

"Yes, you do…" the doctor responded with a slightly displeased tone that the teen would try and lie to her this way "…if the bruised knuckles are anything to go by, you've been fighting…" she pieced together as she noticed the way the girl would promptly tuck her hands away into her sleeves out of view of the doctor's eyes "…haven't you?" she asked as though for the confirmation she already had by this mere action from the teen.

"I know what I'm doing, I'm fine…" she said quietly as she finally brought her eyes up to look at Abby who seemed to shake her head at hearing this.

"You're not fine…" she told her in an almost motherly tone "…you're hurting but you refuse to let anyone in…" she added as though it was plain to see on the teen's expression, she'd remembered having to literally pull the teen away from her mother's bedside so they could take her body to be prepared for the funeral, the cracks were showing in the girl as each day passed by "…it's not what your mom would have wanted for you" she sighed as she came back over with the stitches in hand, tilting the girl's head gently to get her at the right angle in order to apply the butterfly stitches to her right eyebrow.

"Can we not talk about my mom, please?" a sigh departed Dani's lips as she grit her teeth once more at the sting around the area of the wound on her eyebrow.

"Dani…" Abby went to speak but she was shut down.

"Just stop, okay?" Dani said this time with a slight edge to her tone as the doctor had begun placing the stitches over the cut to keep it closed "I don't want to talk about it…" she told her honestly while trying to hide the tears that wanted to bubble to the surface in that moment, the emotions she once again had to swallow down as she'd had to do all this time

The next couple of minutes passed in silence as Abby didn't really know what to say to the teen in case she was shut down once more, she applied the stitches and placed a small plaster over top to keep the area clean over next few hours, there was no denying that she was worried about the girl but if she wasn't willing to talk about it then she really couldn't do much else than be there for her when things get tough.

"Are we done?" the girl finally spoke up breaking the silence as she hesitantly brought her fingers up to gently touch the dressing on her eyebrow, feeling this she knew it already and stood up whilst holding her ribs, something that didn't go unnoticed by the doctor.

"Not quite…let me see your side" Abby replied now seeing this as she drew closer, the way the girl had been holding her ribs seemed to catch her attention earlier but it was only now that the thought had sunk in.

"No, I'm fine…" the girl shook her head "…I just took a couple of hits to the ribs, that's all…it doesn't even hurt that much" she said but there was something in her tone that said otherwise.

"Just let me check, please?"

"I'm fine"

The answer was short and to the point as the girl began walking towards the door, it was hard to believe the sweet young woman she once had been was now closed off and somewhat cold to most people, she knew that even the girl's own father was on the outside to the teen as well but she could never bring this up to him, if he ever found out what Dani was really up to it would be disastrous for all involved – especially Dani.

"Dani…" she could hear the older woman call her but she just wanted to get out of this room, just being in there longer than she needed to be brought a sickening feeling filled her gut, that one bad memory swirling around in her head about the room next door where it felt like her life had come crashing down around her feet, she couldn't stay any longer no matter how much Abby called for her as she opened the door and left the medical room while the same voice called out to her "Dani…?" she called her but the teen carried on down the hallway blocking out the calls…

"Dani…?"

"Dani…?"

"Dani, wake up…"

The voice broke through the darkness that'd enveloped her for god only knows how long, her senses slowly began to return to her and unfortunately the god-awful pain of what'd left her in this condition also came back to her, the pain in her head felt like someone had tried to pry her skull open with a dull axe though as she slowly came round there were certain things her senses picked up on.

A soft rush of air brushing over the exposed flesh on her face, neck and hands…

It didn't feel one bit like the atmosphere she'd grown up in, it didn't feel so claustrophobic either like she was finally free from being closed in and it was only as her eyes began to slowly open that it began to sink in, the strange but bright light that filled her vision making her squint for a brief moment before a familiar face came into view, blonde locks and blue eyes that shimmered with concern looking down at her.

Where were they? And why was it so god-damn bright?

"Dani…can you hear me?"

"No…I'm just going to play deaf, Griffin…" the first words to leave the older teen's lips in the form of a smirk as her dark brown eyes finally focused enough to see a small smile appear across the blonde haired girl's lips, this would soon be followed by a light slap that connected with her shoulder which twisted the brunette's calm features into a mild wince "Ah, careful…" she hissed a little through gritted teeth

"Maybe that'll teach you for being a wise-ass, Williams…" she remarked while she slowly lifted a hand to move the girl's fringe out of the way, her eyes settling on the small cut in the left-hand side of Dani's hairline "…you missed out on all the fun…" she seemed to inform her as she dabbed the drying blood with a scrap of cloth "…been on the ground for a couple of hours now…" it was these words that seemed to sink into the brunette the fastest as her eyes widened a little with realization.

The ground? They were there already?

"And we're alive?" she asked a little surprised "It's safe?"

"As far as we know…" the Griffin girl nodded as the sound of footsteps could be heard approaching and again that familiar voice rang out.

"She alright?" the voice belonged to Finn who soon appeared as he knelt beside Clarke "Hey Cuteness, how ya doing?" he asked looking pretty unharmed for someone who had also been thrown across the ship.

"I'm fine…I've had worse" she shrugged it off as she moved to try and sit up before looking at Finn "…and it's Dani, not 'cuteness'…" she corrected him with a small smirk trying to hide the wince from the pain that shot up her back as she moved to sit up "So, we're really on the ground?" she asked as she glanced around and saw greenery of bushes and trees all around, as well as the occasional teen who seemed to be running around freely while celebrating their freedom from the Ark and their prison.

"We sure are" Finn nodded with a smirk while glancing at Clarke who just shook her head with a sigh.

"This is amazing…" Dani uttered taking in the sights around her, the breeze that flowed through the woodland area they were currently in the middle of "We're actually on the freaking ground…" she smirked as she saw Clarke smile at her.

"Welcome to our new home"

New home…?

That kind of had a nice ring to it.

So here is the latest chapter, I would like to say a huge thank you to those who read the story so far and have shown your support, I am trying to get these chapters out as often as I can but sometimes writer's block tries to thwart my plans – I want to give a shout out to my good friend and beta reader Arizona Green who again has aided me with her expertise, thanks for that hun :) and with that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter even if it was a little rushed! Lol.

Let me know what you lovely people think ^^

Thanks,

xS19x