A/N: I told you I wouldn't give up on this story.

(By the way, Amber's face-claim is Lily Collins)

Chapter 2

"Amber?" He stepped forward, pushing past the crowd. He heard whispers that he wished he didn't hear, but for that moment it didn't bother him. He embraced his sister, enveloping her thin frame with his arms.

Amber held back her cry, he was so big now. It was difficult, not feeling pure emotion for years to finally now possess the ability to process such a thing. She couldn't gather any words, when he ended their embrace she only stared at his eyes, resembling their father's.

"I thought—" John held his sister's shoulders, she was paler than he remembered. Her striking eyes surrounded by a ring of blue and red, her lips chapped, she was thin, too, however underneath the grey sleeves of her thin and worn-in t-shirt it was clear she was well-built, for a moment he wondered what she did in solitary. Then, it hit him, she was 20 years old. He knew what she did, the guards came around to each cell with a image of her blurred and blood plastered face from a security camera in the ark, demanding to know if anyone recognized her. John said nothing, he merely shrugged and they moved onto the next cell. He knew her fate then, she would be found, like Octavia. He had accepted it; if he had lost everyone else then he would lose her too. "I thought you were dead."

"I'm not that easy to get rid of." She squeaked quietly, her cracked lips let out a hoarse and abrupt laugh at the final word, and there it was, a smile. The smile that John knew all too well, Amber had always been the joker, her sarcastic and agonizing humor appeased herself and John too, though he only ever met her comments with a roll of the eyes.

"What? He's cute." Octavia looked up at her brother with a shrug, his eyes disagreeing with her taste, or lack thereof, in men.

Bellamy looked around at the kids exploring the lush environment none of them have gotten used to yet, "he's a criminal."

"They're all criminals." Octavia retorted, sending Bellamy's eyes directly to the girl talking to Murphy. There was something familiar about her face, it hadn't struck him yet, but something was telling him it would. And it wasn't good.

"John, I—"

"I know what you did," her brother's voice dropped to a whisper, he looked her right in the eyes, inching closer, "I don't care."

Amber's thick brows furrowed, "you—don't…care?" her mind flashed back to that night, but the memories were far too repressed, she saw only a flash of blood and heard only muffled screams.

"Not one bit. We're free now, the ark is up there—" John pointed to the sky, Amber's eyes following, "and we're down here." Their eyes met again, "We're together and we're alive."

"Together and alive." She repeated, releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding, she looked around, her younger brother watching her in awe, "I haven't even gotten a chance to take it in yet."

"If you don't have a damn look around right now I'll beat your ass right here in this lush, luxurious, ravishing green grass." He pointed at her face, Amber laughed at his excessive vocabulary, wanting to punch him in the throat right there and then, "You've been hiding for far too long to not enjoy this, Amber." Her face straightened, she frowned for a moment at his sincerity.

"You know I can quite literally send your ass back into space with a single hit right?" Her brow lifted, and John huffed, remembering their small but injury-inducing fights when they were young, which, too add, Amber always won.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," John, smirking, turned Amber around, pushing her into the clearing where the teenagers ran amuck bouncing around and exploring their new home, "get out there." Amber looked back, her face asking John for endorsement, "now." He said firmly.

"I mean if you insist—" Amber began to look away when John grabbed hold of her hand once more, placing a metal object in her palm.

"Take this." It was a knife, not a tenaciously crafted one, but a piece of metal from the drop-ship, sharp enough to cut through flesh and—

"Thankyou." She cut off her thoughts before they took her someplace else. She turned to face the commotion once again, and stepped forward. This was her second chance.

John watched as Amber inched her way closer to Jasper, Monty, Finn and Clarke. With a small smile, he watched her straighten her back, he could only assume she was tensing her jaw and pursing her lips. She was intimidating, petite and quiet, but intimidating. Upon her arrival to the group ready to set off towards Mount Weather, Jasper inched closer to Monty. He knew who she was. Clarke too. Octavia joined them, after approval from her brother, and that was when Amber spoke up.

"You guys don't mind if I tag along too, do you?" She said directly, clearly not about to take no for an answer. Her eyes pierced Clarke, who was almost taken aback by the girl's presence.

The blonde girl opened her mouth, looking from Jasper to Octavia then back to Amber, "Uh—" She furrowed her brows, "no, not at all." At this, Jasper coughed. Amber still stared directly at Clarke, satisfied with her answer, the corners of Amber's lips turned up into a fake smile.

Amber walked a distance behind the group, not wanting to get into their juvenile conversations. She knew they recognized her from the posters around the ark two years ago; she wasn't going to beat around the bush.

But, there was a small, minuscule part of Amber who wanted to talk, have friends, and be a kid for once. She never, not once, had spoken to another kid before, other than her brother. Her brother had always been her only priority. She watched him at school, hiding in the vents, she watched him argue with his Earth Skills teacher, she watched his first fist fight with someone other than her and she watched him live the life she never could.

Here on Earth she could live that life. She could.

However, where Amber knew no one, they all knew her. They knew she committed a crime, or two, or three. Knowing this, they would not be her friend. They would even struggle maintaining eye contact with her, like Clarke had.

And so, she would live like she had before she was sent to the ground. She would have John as her number one priority, she would protect him at all costs, he is her responsibility.

"Guys, would you try to keep up?" Clarke snapped Amber out of her thoughts, the blonde spoke looking only at Jasper, Monty and Octavia—

Octavia. Where had she heard that name? Amber came to a realization, her brows shutting together. The girl who lived under the floor. The reason why she was found. Amber did not know whether to hate this girl or to empathize with her. She lived as Amber did. But when Octavia was found, the guards actively tore the Ark apart; making sure no one else was guilty for the crime of living.

Amber kept walking, alone with her thoughts; she hadn't realized the others had stopped. Almost bumping into Monty, she stopped herself. A distance away, there was a deer, if Amber recalled correctly from John's books he'd never read.

They all stared for a moment, in awe of its spectacularly. Yesterday, Amber was in confinement, itching at her skin and punching the walls, dreaming of the day she'd build up the strength to escape and help her brother through his trial and avoid his death once he turned 18. She was so close to it, she planned in a week from yesterday, she'd collapse in her cell, knowing there were cameras watching her at all times, a guard would rush in, she'd kick him in the groin, then punch his throat, dismantle his weapons, tase him, and run. Just run. She'd work out everyday for two years, 100 crunches, 100 sit-ups, and 100 push-ups, repeated twice, or three times if she was angry enough. She cared not about dying; she cared about fighting, for John. Her kid brother with a fuse just as short as hers, a temper uncontrollable, and the urge to fight just as powerful, like brother like sister.

Now, now she was seeing what she saw in the books. Grass, trees, insects, twigs, moss, and a deer, a real deer.

The moment of staring was cut short when Finn stepped on a branch, causing the fauna to turn its head suddenly. Amber almost laughed at the sight of the animal's true appearance. It had a mutation. Of course it did, it had two faces connected by pink and red tissue. Still beautiful, Amber thought but the others gasped. The animal ran away, leaving Amber frowning.

"It wasn't a satellite," Clarke stated as they trekked through the winding forest, "the ark is dying." She revealed, Amber followed closely, loosely listening to their conversation. At Clarke's broadcast, the group stopped. Amber rolled her eyes, why the hell do we keep stopping? "With the current population, they have about three months left of life support." Clarke kept walking through the stationary group, and they followed suit. Amber noted Clarke as the leader, a leader Amber would not follow. She was done conforming to rules and limitation, even if they were in the open now.

"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep?" Finn asked, Amber almost scoffed at this. There she was, convicted for the worst of crimes, and Clarke here was in solitary confinement for having a big mouth. Amber tuned out now, she kept following them, taking in her surroundings.

To the council of the ark, they assumed Amber was months away from turning 18, but she was two years older than that, she would've been floated without question never being allowed to say goodbye to her brother, not even because she was seen as an object so sinful and so dangerous, but because they didn't even know she had a brother.

Almost on cue, Jasper built up the courage to turn to Amber.

"So, Murphy, huh?" He said, a sly but careful tone to his voice. Amber looked at the boy with goggles straight in the eyes suddenly, clearly frightening him as he opened his mouth to defend his allegation. Monty joined in.

"John's my brother." She stated simply, causing both Monty and Jasper's jaw to drop slightly open, facing each other as they took in this new information.

Jasper seemed to be focusing both on his conversation with Amber and with the rest of the group as Octavia ran past him saying, "good, after what they did to me. I say float them all."

"You don't mean that." Goggle boy said in a knowing tone, running after her. And yet again, Clarke, Monty and Finn had stopped walking. Amber brushed past them, her head high and her jaw chiseled, she didn't know much about human interaction, but she was already tired of it.

Now, Jasper had stopped. Amber bumped into him, purposefully. And Clarke bumped into her, accidentally. She kept herself from shooting the blonde girl daggers with her eyes as she was focused on Octavia undressing.

Clarke started forward as Octavia stepped nearer to the edge of the cliff. The girl looked back, smirked and then she jumped into the water below. Without a care in the world.

Amber admired her risk-taking, and she herself began to contemplate joining her. Everyone, including Amber, ran forward, their mouths agape and few had worried expressions.

Water. Amber mentally ticked off her list.

"Octavia! We can't swim!" Monty called out, Octavia's face half submersed in the water. She showed no sign of struggling to swim, causing Amber's brows to furrow.

"No. But we can stand." The girl stood up, and this was enough for Amber to shed off her baggy black jeans her grey shirt was tucked into as Clarke said something about the river not supposed to be there. Still wearing her grey t-shirt as she was still contemplating jumping, she stepped forward, though she was still behind the group, all of them clearly oblivious to her pant-less legs.

Finally, Jasper and few others began to undress as well; his eyes meeting Amber's petite yet strikingly fit form. Gulping, he looked away immediately and gasped. His eyes set on something in the distance, Amber followed to where he was directing his speech and saw a ripple in the water. A mass, of some nature, heading toward the swimming girl.

"Octavia—Get out of the water." His voice hurried, everyone now focused on the water, and Octavia turning around. Suddenly, everyone was calling for her to get out, clearly in shock, she stayed still, and she was taken. Her body thrashed and pulled under the surface leaving Jasper calling after her, his heart beating rapidly.

Amber had little reaction. Her mouth was ajar, but she did not scream nor yell after Octavia. She was still torn about her position with the girl. Death and pain seemed to follow Amber wherever she went. She had a choice now. Let the darkness continue to consume her and those around her, or change her fate. Amber did not wish to forget nor be forgiven for her crimes, though she was not guilt-ridden, she was aware of the affect her actions had, or have.

Octavia, too, lived her life in hiding. She, too, had a brother who made sure she was fed and well read. Though unlike Amber, she probably had parents, a mother at least, who did not see her as illegitimate, as a mistake, it was only by law that she had to hide, whereas for Amber the reasoning was much, much more than that.

Amber was ready to die. She, just simply, wasn't dead yet. She wasn't scared nor intimidated by the thought of such a thing, and she did not see herself lucky because she got two extra years. She could die now, knowing John was alive and free. But was Octavia ready to die? Amber assumed she was not. She did not go through what Amber had, her only crime was being born. Could Amber let another person die in front of her, if she could help it? A person who did not deserve it nearly as much as she did?

"If we distract it, it might let her go—" Clarke brought Amber out of her thoughts once again; the blonde leader began gathering rocks to throw below. Amber knew a few small rocks did not have the power to distract a beast with its much bigger meal. She had a plan.

Without thinking for much longer, Amber tore off her grey shirt, leaving her white-turned-off-white tank below.

While the others were preoccupied with pushing rocks into the water, she jumped.

End of Chapter 2

A/N: If you want more, let me know what you think.