Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I do not own the 100

I stretched my back and shoulders after putting my janitorial cart away. I just finished working a twelve-hour shift and when I looked at the roster, no one else worked over eight hour shifts, while most of mine consisted of ten hours. It was like they were giving me extra because of what happened with Octavia and my demotion from the Guard. They were telling me that I was no better than them, and I wasn't. I never believed I was.
I was tired and hungry and looking forward to going home when a shadow approached. It was Dax, a delinquent guardsman who got away with nearly anything because he was one of Nygels' minions, so to speak.
Nygel was an illegal trader, she was the black-market of the Ark and the guard had been trying to catch her for years but they never were able to gather evidence that stuck, now I knew why. She had people on the guard, she would pay them in goods to help keep her in the books on innocence.
Not long after I had been demoted, Dax had approached me with an offer from Nygel, if I accepted her terms she could get me back on the Guard but I didn't want to be a corrupt guard. There was enough of them already without my being one.
"What the hell do you want?" I snapped.
"Settle petal, I come in peace. Nygel just wanted me to check up on you, see how your job is going. She heard you've been stuck with extra long shifts. It was twelve today, wasn't it?" Dax smiled the cruel smile of his. He had short blonde hair and a chiselled jaw that women found very attractive whereas I just found it punchable. His smile told me that it was Nygel that was the reason my shifts were so long and the breaks in between them were so short.
"I'm doing fine. My answer is still no. I'd prefer to be a janitor, cleaning up after everyone on the Ark and earning next to nothing rather than be a corrupt guard and work for her." I glowered at him, hoping to intimidate him enough that he'd leave the conversation at that.
"Come on, you were good in the guard, you were top of the cadets. You can do so much more than pick up trash and clean up shit." Dax argued. "Nygel could really use someone like you. She really wants you and she's willing to do nearly anything to get you."
"My answer is still no."
"But you see, I don't really want to take her back the answer she doesn't want. Mostly for your sake." Dax threatened.
"I don't care. My answer is no and my answer will always be no." I was putting my foot down, someone I had done on more than one occasion when it came to this conversation.
"Okay, I'll tell her no." Dax turned to leave but paused. "Before I forget, she sends you her congratulations on your wedding. She has no idea how you landed such a gorgeous young lady from Alpha station…" Dax trailed off threateningly.
"Don't you touch her." I fisted his collar and threw him against the wall. "You keep away from her." I threatened.
"Or what? There's nothing you can do, there's no threat you can carry out because all I have to do is arrest you for assaulting a guardsman and you'll be floated, leaving your pretty little wife all by herself. Who would take care of her if you happened to die?" The smirk in his eyes was sick, I knew exactly what he was insinuating and it made my stomach do flips. Bile was rising in my throat and I was going hurl all over him, and I would if I wasn't the one who'd have to clean it up.
"I'll give you some time to reconsider your answer, until then, I'd keep a close eye on your little lady." He pushed me off of him, straightened off and walked away, leaving me shaking with rage.

I walked into my quarters and was taken aback by the change. Clarke's things had been delivered, she had books and art supplies. She was still packing things away, trying to be neat and not disrupt how things already were too much.
"You can redecorate if it helps you decide where things are meant to go." I said as I closed the door behind me.
"Oh! I didn't even hear you come in." She gasped, startled by my presence.
"Sorry. You have a lot of books." I observed, seeing the pile on the desk. Suddenly, I remembered she was one of the privileged. She had things because of her title, because of her parents.
"Um, yeah. My dad was a big collector and my mum thought I should have them. Some of them are for my studies though. You're welcome to read them if you want." She shrugged, playing it off as if it were no big deal but we both knew it was.
"Are you hungry?" I asked, opening the pantry that held the bags of rations.
"Yeah, I was just going to finish this before heading to the cafeteria." She replied, stacking the books away with mine.
The cafeteria meant she'd come across Nygel, possibly Dax or one of the other corrupt guards. "Why not just have a bag of rations from the pantry?" I offered, holding out a bag towards her.
"Thanks but I want to go to the cafeteria, my mum will be there and it'd be nice to talk to her." Clarke denied my proposal.
"Or we could stay in and get to know one another?" I offered, trying to convince her to stay with me.
"Thanks but maybe we can do that when I get back. I need to speak to my mum." It appeared as though Clarke did hear what happened last night, that's the only reason he could think of as to why she would be so adamant about visiting her mother at the cafeteria.
"Why don't I join you then?" I offered, at least if I was there I could keep away Nygel and her minions.
"Sure." She replied.

We scanned our chips, got served our ration for dinner and sat at a small table, just for the three of us. I'd steered Clarke away from Nygels booth—Nygel's day job was a meal provider, which was good for her because it gave her lots of access to people and she could speak with them briefly without drawing attention to herself. I had to admit, she had a near foolproof system in work and it was impressive, a disgrace, but impressive nonetheless.
"So, I convinced the council to let you finish your training with me. When you're done, you'll be assessed by a third party and if you pass, you'll be working with me. Your goal is to be the best, if you do well enough, they'll move you and Bellamy from Factory to Alpha."
"What happens if I don't do well enough?" Clarke asked, sounding more worried than she should.
"You'll either continue living where you are and working with me at medical, or you'll be trained to work in Factory." Abby glanced away, not wanting to see the disappointment on her daughters' face.
"Factory isn't as bad as it sounds. My mother mended clothes for a living, the work wasn't hard and she could do it from the comfort of our quarters." I tried comforting. It was obvious Clarke was destined to be great, her mind would be wasted mending clothes and that would be a great shame but at the same time, I didn't want her to hate life in Factory.
"Okay, well failing isn't an option." Clarke said to her mother before turning to me. "I don't mean that as an insult to your mum." She flinched, realizing how she possibly could have come across to me.
"I know you don't. This is what you've been training for and it'd be a shame if you had to settle for anything less." I replied, feeling bitter about my life. I loved being a guard, I was treated with respect and people didn't pity me.
"How are you all doing?" Nygel asked, sitting down next to Clarke. The hairs on the back of my neck rose and I kicked myself for conversing with Clarke and her mother when I should have been looking out for any signs of trouble.
"What do you want Nygel?" Mrs Griffin accused.