Chapter 2 –

Lazily awakening from her induced slumber, Clarke blinked repeatedly. Flashes of her last few moments of consciousness alerted her to her current state. Looking around she saw herself surrounded by the other prisoners strapped into their seats of the drop ship. The feeling of metal cutting into her wrist began to throb but before she could investigate further a voice to her right drew her attention.

"Welcome back."

She looked into the eyes of one of her former best friends, shock and anger welling up inside of her.
"Wells why are you here?!" She demanded.

"When I heard they were sending prisoners to the ground I got myself arrested. I came for you." He implored. Before he could continue a jolting and a scream in the background distracted them both. They were entering earth's atmosphere. Suddenly screens lit up around the ship, projecting the image of Chancellor Jaha. If she was going to die, surely this must be the moments before reaching hell Clarke thought. Sitting beside her was her former friend who betrayed her confidence and the man who sent her father to his death on the screens above staring back at her, talking of their redemption.

A figure floated in front of Clarke, a young boy with tanned skin and mischievous eyes, wisps of his flowing brown hair coming out either side of his green beanie.

"Check it out, looks like your Dad floated me after all." The boy with Disney prince looks goaded to Wells.

Before Wells could respond Clarke cut him off, "You should get back to your seat before the parachute deploys." Seeing two more trying to cut themselves free she called out to them to stay in their seats if they wanted to live.

"You're the traitor they kept in isolation"

"You're the idiot who wasted oxygen on a space-walk" Clarke retorted

"It was fun" he smirked "the names Finn."

Suddenly the chute deployed throwing Finn against the wall behind her. She called out to him asking if he was okay. As the dropship continued its shaky decent to earth Wells pleaded with her to forgive him but even if these were her final moments she knew she couldn't grant him that. He had cost her too much.

As they landed with a small thump Clarke quickly undone her seatbelt, running to the first slumped body she could find. Checking the pulse she found no response to her fingertips and looked up to Wells concerned eyes with a shake of her head. Finn too glanced up at Clarke as he hoovered over the second body, regret and sadness tainting his eyes. Mere seconds on the ground and they already had lost their first two casualties. A young guy suddenly shouted that a girl had been injured. Hoping to put her skills to use Clarke immediately made her way over to the panicked youth. When she stepped through the crowd that had gathered her breath caught in her throat. The flash of red that was her last fuzzy image in space was now clear before her.

The red hair in soft waves framing the angelic face of the last person she expected to see.

"Chloe?" came the whimper from Clarke's lips. She propelled her legs forward towards her best friend and tilted her head up. An angry streak of vibrant crimson was trickling down her forehead. Checking for a pulse she released the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. She turned to the guy that had called out for help, "What happened?"

He shakily ran a hand through his mid length curly brown hair avoiding the pair of retro goggles sitting above his forehead, "When we landed one of the pieces that broke off came flying towards us, we ducked but when I looked up she was bleeding."

Crouching over the unresponsive form Clarke quickly ripped a piece of shirt from her tee, wiping the stream that had gone into her right eye before quickly pressing it against the wound in an attempt to stem the bleeding. Cradling her face with her free hand Clarke gently urged her friend to open her eyes. A few moments later the red head began to stir. The throbbing in her head was instant but in the back of her mind she registered a familiar voice softly calling her name. Opening her eyes Chloe was met with a fuzziness that slowly cleared to a set of concerned blue eyes, their hypnotic colour one that she could place anywhere. Taking a few moments to focus herself she breathed out a pained "Clarke?"

"Yeah sweetie it's me", quickly tying a makeshift bandage of the rags around Chloe's head she continued, "How are you feeling? Can you stand?"

"Yeah, yeah I think so" Chloe moved to her feet aided by Clarkes arm around her waist, "my head is pounding" she winced.

"Just take it easy, if you feel dizzy or nauseous let me know, okay?" replied Clarke, giving Chloe a little space to see if she could support herself. When she was satisfied she could stand unaided she continued on with the second pressing thought she had when she saw her other best friend from the Ark. "What are you doing here Chlo? You're not a criminal."

"We've been through everything together Clarke, when I heard you were being sent to the ground we couldn't just stand by"

"-what do you mean we?!" Clarke interrupted.

Despite the pain still echoing through her head Chloe's eyes gleamed in mischievousness that Clarke was well accustomed to. "The girls of course silly."

Looking around frantically to see the truth to Chloe's words Clarke was pulled out of her search by the sound of someone calling out that the door was on the bottom level. She raced towards the gathering crowd.

"STOP! We can't just open the doors, the air could be toxic!" She yelled, hoping to be heard over the excited murmuring off those eager to leave their confines of safety.

"If the air is toxic we'll all be dead anyway." Came the nonchalant reply from the man before her. He seemed older than the rest, tall and determined in his stance, an air of authority only furthered by the uniform he was sporting.

"Bellamy?" an unknown voice called towards the back of the crowd. Slowly a tall, lean brunette emerged forward. Her striking features similar to that of the man Clarke had just challenged.

"Oh my god, look how big you are" the one Clarke presumed to be Bellamy marvelled, quickly throwing his arms around the beautiful girl. Suddenly it all fell into place for Clarke, she had heard the rumours of the first set of siblings in the Ark for over 25 years and seeing the two before her she knew the rumours had been true.

Clarke felt a hand slowly slide into her own, she didn't have to look to see it was Chloe. She knew that softness anywhere. They had dated, albeit very briefly, when they were younger before deciding that they were definitely suited to just being friends but Chloe's complete disregard for personal space and affection had always remained.

Looking back to the moment in front of her Clarke heard a girl shout, "That's Octavia Blake, the girl who was hidden under the floor!"

Before Octavia could go to challenge the girl, Bellamy pulled her back, "Let's give them something else to remember you by."

Turing around he slowly pulled down the handle to the door, Clarke felt Chloe's grip tighten in her hand and she squeezed back in an attempt to give her comfort. It was now or never, either they died free on the ground or they died within this metal container, either way they would do it together.

The door gave way to blinding light and warmth to the air that Clarke had never felt before. A soft breeze touched her cheeks, as gentle as a lovers fingertips, slightly wavering the strands of hair that framed her face. She stood in awe at the sight, the colours of the earth bright and alive before her. She turned to Chloe who looked forward, equally stunned as the sights and smells of the forest that stood before them. They both watched in awe as Octavia stepped forward and tipped her head back, taking a deep hearty breath on the sweet air that surrounded them. Cautiously making her way to the end of the door ramp Octavia stopped briefly at the end. With one last deep breath she jumped on the floor of the earth below, taking a few steps forward, her boots rustling the leaves and dirt underneath. Suddenly she threw her hands up in the airs before excitedly screaming,

"WE'RE BACK BITCHES!"

Before Clarke could move forward she heard a thunderous yell, "INCOMING!" before a large frame pushed past the crowd to her left and two arms raised high in the air smacked the heads of those in her way. With a smirk Clarke watched the figure run to the ramp lowering a flat sheet of metal to the floor and body surf to end of the ramp before tumbling off and rolling into the ground. With a quick ungraceful jump to her feet the woman raised a fist into the air before letting out a "WHOOMP, THERE IT IS!"