It had been a month since the surviving members of the 100 had been found by Alpha station, Clarke had been so full of relief the moment she saw her mother that her body basically collapsed, it felt like her job was completed; they were safe and she was no longer responsible for the lives of the group. Bellamy and Finn had gone missing after the explosion at the dropship but Clarke had fought Chancellor Kane to send out a search party every day until eventually he caved and went out himself with a team to find the boys. Abby had been left in charge in Kane's absence of what was now known as Arkadia and seemed to win the respect of the people, particularly the 100, more than Kane ever had.
Clarke sat at the gate every day, staring into the trees waiting for a glimpse of them. Raven would bring her meals to her but most times when she came to get the last plate it would only have a bite or 2 missing. By day 3, she was no longer eating at all and whilst Abby still had hope, she feared what would happen to her daughter if Kane returned without the boys.
By midday on the 4th day, Abby approached her daughter with a portion of food,
"Clarke?" She questioned as the girl didn't respond to the sound of her mother approaching. Clarke turned to face her and Abby was devastated by what she saw, Clarke's eyes were bloodshot and red with tear stains down her face and black bags under her eyes that made her look skeletal.
"I need him mom, I need him with me, I can't do it on my own, I never did it on my own" She said, her voice cracked as she spoke, she hadn't said a word in days. Abby pulled her into a deep hug.
"I know. Raven's told me how close you are with Finn '' Clarke pulled away abruptly, said nothing but dropped her eyeline to the floor, she was filled with guilt.
"Chancellor! Movement in the trees!" A voice came from further down the wall.
Clarke jumped up from her position and had to remind herself not to grab at the electric wire. They were right, on the forest edge there was Kane walking out in front with a noticeable limp and behind him was a guard who was carrying Finn on a makeshift stretcher assisted by Bellamy who had a bandage wrapped tightly around the side of his head.
"Should we send somebody to help them?" The same voice said, turning to Abby.
"No, it could be a trap to get some of our guards into the open, wait until they get to the fence. Then and only then are you to open the gates" Abby instructed the guard, before turning to Jaspar who was amongst the crowd that had begun to gather. "Get to medical and clear all minor injuries, we need beds and move Raven into another room, she doesn't need to see Finn's injuries, she's unstable enough from her own." Jaspar quickly sprinted off in response.
The gate took what seemed to Clarke like an hour to open as she resisted the urge to run up and greet them. The minute they crossed the threshold into camp, 2 members of the guard took over from carrying Finn, and Abby quickly led them to medical with Kane following attempting to tell her what had happened. Bellamy took a deep breath as he looked around the camp noticing all the faces that he had missed in the last few days until eventually, his eyes found Clarke, who was now sobbing, he took a moment to register what he was seeing before a wide smile spread across his face, this was all that it took for her to run towards him and throw her arms around him. She was wrapped tightly around his waist, crying into his chest, the rest of the teenagers were shocked by Clarke's reaction and felt like they deserved their moment so backed away saving their reunion for later.
"I didn't think you'd miss me this much Princess" he said laughing as he placed his head on top of hers.
"Never did I" She pulled away and looked into his eyes and it hit him for the first time how she looked.
"Clarke are you okay? Are you ill?"
"Just haven't been sleeping much recently, it doesn't matter anymore" She assured him with a massive grin as he placed a hand on her cheek. "What happened out there?" She asked, looking towards the way that the guards had taken Finn.
"Kane found us on the 2nd day that they left camp, Finn and I had been together since the explosion, we saw Octavia but I made her stay with Lincoln I thought she'd be safest there" He said, staring out towards the trees obviously missing his sister and regretting his decision.
"We'll bring them both here I promise, you made the right choice" Clarke swore, bringing his attention back to her.
"On the way back here, we were attacked by grounders, they killed 2 of the guards and knocked me out, when I woke up Kane told me that Finn had been shot with an arrow and a grounder healer called Nyko was the only reason he was still alive and we had to get back here as soon as possible" He explained briefly, probably not wanting to have to relive it.
"You're here now, everyone is here and now we're not alone, we can stop surviving and start living" Clarke said as she led Bellamy inside of the camp.
3 months had passed and life had started to resemble life again. Arkadia was once again under the leadership of Chancellor Kane but the council had been disbanded whilst things got settled with only Councillor Abigail Griffin as his second, the people respected her and Marcus through her support, he would've been stupid to do anything else. Finn had almost completely recovered but had been diagnosed with mild PTSD from the trauma and had been limited to guard duties within camp for the foreseeable future. He hadn't spoken to Clarke since they had returned and instead spent his days with Murphy. It had taken Bellamy longer to get used to not being in charge than Clarke but with small nudges from Abby, Marcus was listening to them, not wanting to waste the knowledge they had gained from their additional time on the ground. The remaining members of the 100 had been named the Genesists after the first book of the bible and Marcus had kept Jaha's word and pardoned them all.
Marcus had set up his great plan to build a civilisation, the first step of which was transforming Arkadia into a small village and moving everyone out of Alpha Station and into individual homes. Plans had been drawn up and materials found but Marcus seemed to be putting off allocating the Genesists to permanent work placement, leaving them to help where they like but not always where they were best suited.
Octavia and Lincoln had moved into camp about a month ago and brought with them news of a new grounder leader after Anya had gone missing, a leader who seemed very uninterested in the Sky People as long as they kept to their own.
Clarke woke up in her cramped bed and had to resist the urge to roll over and go back to sleep but she knew she was already later than normal, she had worked until the early hours of the morning in medical helping to deal with the flu session. She forced herself up and got dressed before putting her hair up in a ponytail. Clarke had a morning routine now, something she had never had back at the dropship: she got up, went to Bellamy's room to walk with him to breakfast and then went to medical after they had eaten. It calmed here to go through the process, it made her feel safe in an odd way.
She walked down the steel corridor to Bellamy's room and thought about how far they had come. They had been sent to the Earth to die and now they were building a civilisation. All of the rooms in Alpha station that were no longer necessary had been stripped for parts before being turned into dorms with families sharing a single room and most of the others having a roommate. She finally reached Bellamy's room but saw the door wide-open with no sign of Bellamy inside, she was about to step in when she heard a voice from behind her,
"Clarke there you are, the Genesists are being gathered in the mess hall, there's some kind of important announcement" Jaspar said before leading her back down the way she had come.
Jaspar had been right, the mess hall was full of not only the Genesists but anyone from Arkadia under the age of 35. Chancellor Kane and her mother stood in front of them.
"Keep moving in everyone, please find a seat we'll begin shortly" Abby said to the gathering crowd. Clarke scoured the room before spotting Bellamy in a corner with space next to him and she began making her way over and sitting down next to him.
"You're late" He said with a smirk.
"I was up late and besides you didn't wake me up" She snapped back pretending to be angry.
"Murphy woke me up, said there was something important being said this morning, he basically pushed me the whole way here, there was no way he was letting me stop to get you."
"Whatever you say Mr Blake" She said, trying not to laugh, at this he gently nudged her with his elbow to stop her laughter.
The room was filling up more and more, until finally the doors to the mess hall closed and Kane began to speak.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your day but we've made some decisions recently that impact everyone in the camp, but in particular the people in this room. As you know when we came down from the Ark and we didn't know how we'd survive, let alone thrive but with the expansion of camp beginning in the next month and the peace we have had with the grounders, it's time we look to the future. As of today everyone over the age of 16 from both the Genesists and the survivors of alpha station will begin their training and begin their official jobs, we have assigned you all to the areas where you have shown the most promise and hope that you will all succeed in your new positions." Kane announced and a slight murmuring spread across the room.
"Doctor Griffin" Bellamy whispered to Clarke, tilting his head in a fake display of respect with a sarcastic tone, she chuckled in response.
"In relation to these jobs, 3 of you have been chosen to join the newly reestablished council as well as doing your everyday jobs, along with myself, Dr Griffin and Major Byrne so congratulations to Clarke Griffin, Bellamy Blake and Lincoln" The group all turned to look at Clarke and Bellamy and then looked for Lincoln who was unsurprisingly sat by Octavia before beginning a slow clap.
"Councillor Blake" Clarke said back to Bellamy copying his manner as he sat in shock, not as impressed with her joke.
"Whilst these announcements are significant, there is a more pressing matter that we have brought you all here to discuss, as we continue to expand and improve Arkadia we remember the reason we came back to the Earth, to continue the human race. It is now clear that we are not all that is left of humanity" He continued looking to Lincoln "But we must look to the future, to the next generation. And that is why starting tomorrow we launch Project Adam and Eve led by Doctor Griffin, which will require any Arkadia resident between the ages of 18 and 35 to be placed in couples and reproduce so we can begin to look towards the next generation"
This time the room erupted with noise and people stood up and began to shout questions and complaints at the Chancellor, Clarke was silent with shock and instead tried to read her mother's face but was getting nothing.
"We know this is not the way you want to have children and we don't want to have to do this but it is the only way forward and the only way that we can track genetics and prevent inbreeding. Doctor Griffin will now tell you in more detail." Kane said before taking a step back.
"As the chancellor says Project Adam and Eve requires you to find a partner and produce a child, we are not asking you to find a partner for marriage, this is solely reproduction you can choose either to co-parent or if you do decide to move forward as a couple we will support you either way. For the rest of the day, I will be taking a day off from medical and spending it in here to answer any question you have or more importantly to take any requests. We are not monsters, we want you to be as comfortable as possible with this so if there is someone you would rather be partnered with, say you are already a romantic couple or you are close friends we will accommodate for that but I do not want 3 boys to fight for 1 girl so you must come in your pairs with a decision from the both of you to pair up. Anyone who doesn't make a request will be paired up in relation to compatibility and we will post the list for all of the couples tomorrow morning, giving you a day to come and see me. Also tomorrow we will go over more specific details in a meeting like this one but I feel like that's enough to keep you thinking for a day. I know this will be hard to get your head around but we need your support in this and the history books will thank you greatly for this service." Abby finished and surprisingly the whole room was silent, digesting what they had just heard.
"Now please try to go about your first day of training as well as you can, though we understand you have a lot to think about, working listings are posted on the door, please find where you are placed and report there immediately, please only come to see Doctor Griffin on your breaks or with permission from your superior. You are all dismissed." Kane finished and the room began to come alive with movement and discussion about the shock of the announcement. Clarke felt that she couldn't move and instead turned to look at Bellamy who was in the same state of confusion, they both tried to speak but instead sat in silence and Clarke buried her face in Bellamy's chest as the 2 continued to fight to find the right words.