Chapter 3

Author's note: thanks for all the positive reviews and favorites/follows, I really didn't expect it to be this popular.

Ari couldn't help herself, she ran out with the flood of teenagers into the brilliant world before her. It was so large, how could one place be so huge? It terrified and thrilled her in ways she hadn't ever thought possible. She stopped at the edge of the group, spinning in a slow circle to take it all in.

Her hand trailed over the tall grasses at the edge of the forest, releasing the sweet smelling perfume of hay. She raised her hands over her head as Octavia had done, reaching for the sky as if she could grasp it.

All around her were the sounds of people rejoicing, her people rejoicing. Even as a few small fires burned from the ship, they fled into the woods jumping and whooping out their joy. That was everyone except for Blondie. She stood off to the side glaring at a map.

Ari rolled her eyes once more, some day she would roll them too hard and they would detach from her skull but not today. Blondie stared broodingly at the distant mountains until Finn came up to her. "Why so serious, Princess?" She nearly snorted at the joke, Princess was the perfect nickname for Blondie. She observed the two closely, Finn was interested in the Princess it seemed. She hadn't seen that curve ball coming.

"It's not like we died in a fiery explosion, "he added when she didn't respond. My thoughts exactly, maybe me and Finn are more alike than I thought. "Try telling that to the two guys who tried to follow you out of their seats."

Ouch, that was a low blow. She knew there was a reason she didn't like the Princess. Finn looked away guiltily, and she wanted to wipe that indifferent look of Blondie's face. "You don't like being called Princess, do you Princess?"

"Do you see that peak over there?" The sudden change in subject cause them both to look at the mountain nearby. Even though the two had no idea she was listening to their conversation she still looked.

"Mount Weather. There's a radiation soaked forest between us and our next meal. They dropped us on the wrong damn mountain."

God fucking dammit, I can never get a break.

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She wasn't really paying attention to Blondie and Wells, who were talking about maps or something along those lines. She was pretty much just fucking around, waiting to go find Mount Weather.

She tuned in when she noticed Jasper approaching to speak with them. "Cool, a map. They got a bar around here? I'll buy you a beer," he joked. She smiled, wondering how the upright Princess was going to react. She didn't have to it turned out as Wells stepped toward him. The smile slipped from her face as he grabbed him and roughly shoved him away. "You mind?"

Ari moved forward, shoving between the two of them. She stood protectively in front of Jasper, hitting Wells's stomach with her chest. She wasn't sure who was more surprised when she knocked him back a foot, her or Wells. "I mind."

Wells reached out as if he would touch her but she noticed several boys approaching. "Hey, hey, hey. Hands off, they're with us." He was pale with sharp features and cold eyes. Since when was she part of his group? She hadn't even been aware there was a group. She moved back to Jasper's side, anticipating the conflict that was sure to come.

"We don't want any conflict, we're just trying to figure out where we are." "You should've thought of that before you touched my friend," she mumbled but no one heard her. She did, however, hear another voice.

"We're on the ground, isn't that good enough for you?" She turned to see the voice belonged to none other than Bellamy Blake.

Wells looked nervously between the two obvious groups, his being the smaller one. "We have to find Mount Weather. You heard my father's message, those supplies are our first priority."

"Screw your father," Octavia told him bitterly. Ari began to laugh at the indignated looks on both Wells and his bitchy friend's face. They all turned to look at her as she tried to get it under control. "Oh sorry. That was perfect." With a last chuckle she made her way over to Octavia's side and gave her a low high five.

She continued for Octavia, knowing exactly what the girl was going to say. She knew Octavia like the back of her hand. Wells was still in shock over the comment it seemed. "Oh I'm sorry, did you think you were in charge here? You and your little princess?" Her smirk grew as she watched them.

"Do you think we care who's in charge here?" It was the Princess who responded, stepping forward. Ari stepped towards her as well, fingers hooked into her belt loops. "I think..,"she drawled slowly," you're pretty desperate for people to listen to you. But no one here will." She gave the taller girl a smug smirk, cocking an eyebrow as she waited for a retort.

With a huff the blonde turned to the crowd. "We need to get to Mount Weather. Not because the Chancellor said so but because we need that food. The longer we wait the hungrier we'll get and the harder it'll be to survive. How hard do you think it'll be without it? We're looking at a twenty mile trek so if we want to get there before dark we need to go. Now."

"Oh, very moving,"Ari fake applauded. She apparently wasn't the only one unimpressed. Bellamy piped up," I've got a better idea. You two go, find it for us. Let the privileged do the work for a change." Octavia stared up at her brother in pride as echoes of, "Yeah," went around. Ari only smirked at the Princess. It seemed she had fed Bellamy's fire and it wasn't going out any soon, it was spreading to the other campers.

"You're not listening, we all need to go, "Wells protested be for being roughly shoved. "Look at this, Chancellor of Earth," taunted the sharp featured boy from earlier. "You think that's funny?" The boy apparently didn't like the challenge for he promptly sweep kicked the kid. Ari watched on as the others cheered. She didn't particularly care for the violence but she couldn't say she minded it either. She didn't really care if Wells got beat up, maybe it would knock him down a peg.

"Wells!", cried Blondie before she was held back by two of the boy's henchmen. "That was," smirked Wells's attacker. "Alright,"he shrugged as the other boy got up apparently to fight, limping heavily. Both held up their fists, ready to swing at each other.

"Come on, come on," the boy taunted as he feigned hits at Wells, making him flinch. They were interrupted before it could get physical by a certain spacewalker jumping down between them.

"Kid's got one leg, why don't you wait until it's a fair fight?" The attacker looked away guiltily obviously not knowing he had a prosthetic. "Aww, and it was just getting good!", Ari called out sarcastically. She sent a little wave in Wells's direction when he glared at her. Others chuckled and the boy winked at her. She definitely wouldn't be acting on that, he wasn't her type.

"Hey, Spacewalker..,"Octavia called out flirtatiously, drawing it out for effect, "rescue me next." Finn grinned at her while Bellamy glowered at Finn. Ari only chuckled and shook her head at Octavia, who sent her a wink. It wasn't long before everyone dispersed while Octavia took a glance at Finn's butt.

Bellamy walks over to her, looking down at her in disapproval. "What? He's cute," defended the youngest Blake. "He's a criminal," her brother pointed out. "They're all criminals." She thought she saw Bellamy's eyes flick over to her with Octavia's words. The elder Blake pulled his little sister away to argue with her.

Ari had only been watching in amusement but she noticed Jasper behind her when she turned. "That was pretty badass, the way you stood up to them." She shrugged off the compliment, "So, so."

"So, Mount Weather. When do we leave?" It was Finn who asked Blondie the question and Wells that shot him a look for it. Ah, so two boys were in love with the Princess. Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Now. We'll be back," she told her googly-eyed companion. "How are you two going to carry enough food for a hundred people?" He was so adamant in the first place, now he's complaining because he doesn't want Finn to steal his little girlfriend. Go figure.

Finn simply grabbed Monty and Jasper before tugging them over to the pair. "The four of us." That was when Octavia came rushing over," Sounds like a party. Make it five." Bellamy soon followed her," Hey, what the hell are you doing?" "Going for a walk," she responded as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Hey, were you trying to take this off?", the Princess asked Finn suddenly, grabbing his scratched bracelet. "Yeah. So?" I stared down at my own, I had pretty much forgotten about it. "So these bracelets transmit your vital signs to the Ark. Take it off and they'll think you're dead." Nobody in the group looked like they particularly cared except for Monty and the others with family. Bellamy was looking at the bracelets now in dread. I stared at him in confusion, wondering what he was so worked up about.

"Should I care?" Man, me and Finn really do think alike. "Well, I don't know. Do you want the people you love to think you're dead? Do you want them to follow you down here because they won't if they think we're dying." Bellamy had a look on his face she couldn't identify, almost as if he had thought of something. Finn and the others obviously got her point because they looked away from her. "Okay."

"Let's go." The others started off in the general direction of Mount Weather while Octavia looked to Bellamy for permission. He jerked his head towards the others, "Go." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before jogging off. That left Ari and Bellamy alone essentially.

"I'll keep an eye on her," she told him amused by her sister's actions. They may not have been related but Octavia was her sister through emotion rather than blood. Bellamy glanced over at the girl beside him. He wasn't sure he could trust her but she was his best shot at keeping his sister safe on this expedition. "Watch her," he warned trying to seem intimidating.

The tiny girl at his side smiled strangely enough," Aye, aye, Cap'in." She jogged off with a laugh leaving him watching after her with an amused smile gracing his face.

Ari caught up with the others, hearing Octavia warn Blondie that Finn was hers. Blondie responded with some sort of sassy remark. Ari sighed to herself, this was going to be a long hike.