AN: Here is chapter two, please enjoy and review!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

CHAPTER TWO

Can you feel the wind of Venus on your skin?
Can you taste the crush of a sunset's dying blush?
Stars will always hang in summer's bleeding fangs

Can you feel the rings of Saturn on your finger?
Can you taste the ghosts who she'd their creaking hosts?
But seas forever boil, trees will turn to soil

Sea of Teeth

BEFORE

"You're going to get yourself floated," Nora whispered fiercely as she followed behind a dark shadow as they moved down the vacated corridor, slowing to hide in a doorway as two guards walked past, enforcing curfew. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and smacked him on the shoulder, causing him to turn and glare at her. "Scratch that, you're going to get me floated."

Bellamy only shot her a half smirk before edging back out into the corridor, checking if it was clear. Seeing the guards turn down another corridor two intersections down, he motioned her forward with a hand, holding a finger to his lips when she caught her boot on the corner of the wall and let out a curse.

"You're the one who's going to get us floated if you don't learn to be quiet," he whispered back as she shot him a withering glare.

Go-Sci was eerily quiet at 0100 hours and she knew that both of them would be held accountable for breaking the station-wide curfew. As kids it had been exhilarating to among the ship while everyone was asleep and during the later years of school it wasn't uncommon to meet a group of friends for some moonshine down on Telsa Station. But now that they were both cadets in the Academy, she knew that they would suffer harsher punishments than those under-age.

"What are we even doing up here, Bell?"

Grabbing her hand, he let her down another corridor and fished out his ID from his back pocket. Nora nervously checked the quiet corridor for another shift of guards to come through. The door to the Observation Deck chimed open, locked during the night from the general public. Her eyebrows shot up when his card granted them access and he only smirked before pushing her through the door. Letting it shut behind them, he pulled her by the hand towards a maintenance door.

"Try not to fall down this one," Bellamy joked, as he let a small 'oomph' as he was hit on the back of the head. Holding the door open for a still confused Nora, he motioned her into the small shaft. Climbing in after her, he pulled the hatch closed behind them, throwing them into darkness.

"What now, genius?"

An electric torch blinded her as Bellamy apologetically aimed it in front of them. She blinked away the light spots that filled her vision, slapping him lightly the shoulder. He pulled out a plasti-sheet with what looked to be a crude map of the maintenance shaft. Shifting around her so that he was in the lead, he motioned the light ahead of them. "I think it's this way," he said, crawling away on his hands and knees, light bouncing off the shaft's metal surface.

Fifteen minutes and many wrong turns, Bellamy finally let out a victorious cheer as he kicked out a vent and slipped out of the shaft. Turning with a hand out he helped Nora to exit the shaft and brushed her jacket off as she looked around them. Eyes to the view above them, she pushed his hands away and walked in awe to get closer to the glass, reaching out a hand to touch it.

The detoured journey through the maintenance shaft had emptied them out on a cat walk that was installed to access the giant windows that provided the Earth view to the Observation Deck. A quick check below her made her stomach jump as she saw the fifty foot drop the deck's floor. While the view was nothing different than the one she had seen from the floor, on the catwalk the Earth took up the entire view, she could trace the outlines of the land forms with her finger.

"Do you like it?"

The question was soft in her ear as Bellamy came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and lowered his dead to rest on her shoulder. Her body shivered in delight as his breath tickled her ear lightly. Leaning herself into his chest, she let out a happy sigh and nodded, bringing her hands to rest on his broad arms. He pressed a kiss to the side of her head and hugged her closer as they watched the Earth spin above them.

"What do you think it's like down there?" she mused after a few moments.

He moved his head so that hers was tucked under his chin and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "We'll never see it, so what does it matter?" His voice was rough as he thought about what life would really be on the surface. Octavia would be able to live a normal life, his mother wouldn't have to live in free of her life for having more than one child, and he would have been able to provide for his family better than he ever had on the Ark. On the surface, he and Nora would have had a future beyond stolen kisses hidden behind a friendship.

She frowned and twisted in his arms so that he could see it plainly. "Why do you have to be such a killjoy, Bellamy Blake?" She flicked him on the nose with her finger before turning back to the view with a sigh.

He squeezed her tightly in retaliation and looped his fingers through the front of her belt loops and spun her around, pressing her up flush against the window behind her. She let out a small gasp as he closed the short distance between them and towered over her. Tucking a stray hair behind her ear, he looked at her curiously as her eyes searched his. "What do you think it's like down there, Bishop?"

Her eyes were on his lips as he tilted his head closer to hers. Taking a small breath and putting an unsure hand on his chest, her eyes flickered up to meet his once more. "I think that it's hope," she said quietly, her hand reaching up to bury itself in his dark hair as his lips crashed into hers.

AFTER

Abby looked confused and reached out a comforting arm to support the young woman. "What do you mean, they're all dead?" Her eyes followed Nora's and she gasped before shaking her head quickly. "Oh, no, sweetie, don't worry about that. Their bracelets went out last week," she explained, pulling Nora into a one armed embrace as she led her around the main control console. She smiled and gave her arm another reassuring squeeze before releasing her to key in a code and opened a door for her. Waving an arm into the room, she gestured for Nora to follow.

The Council Chambers was a room that Nora remembered playing in as a child, hiding beneath her father's chair as he attended meetings day after day. While it had been a few years since she'd been allowed inside, it smelled and looked the same as she remembered, with one addition. Set up on the middle of the conference table was a large monitor with a camera on top.

Abby motioned her over to the screen, a tired smile lighting up her aging face. "The 100 aren't dead, Nora," she said, looking proud to announce it. Nora walked over slowly, not daring to believe what the woman was saying. She had seen the readouts.

"I know what you think you saw," Abby continued, smiling while Nora frowned at her correct assumption, "And trust me, I know what it feels like to not want to have hope because you're afraid that it'll be wasted. But it's not, Nora. Not this time." She came over and gently guided the young woman into the chair in front of the monitor.

She sat dumbly as Abby put a microphone and headset on her and pushed her chair to face the screen. A wave of emotions crashed into her as the woman patted her once more on the shoulder and made to leave the room. "I think you have some catching up to do, sweetie," she said, eyes wetting as she watched the happy reunion between Nora Bishop and Octavia Blake. "You both deserve it."

Nora couldn't believe her eyes, couldn't let herself trust the video feed showing her a very alive Octavia Blake. A tear streamed down her face as the two young women fell over their words, both expressing the relief of seeing one another alive and well.

"I thought you were dead," Nora said quietly, her finger resting on the camera lens so that her finger touched Octavia's on the monitor.

The last time the two girls had spoken was the moments before Octavia was rushed away to the Skybox. Nora had managed to call in a favor with a fellow cadet and got his guard duty the night that Octavia was put into solitary. The chance to say goodbye had cost Nora two weeks in the brig for abusive use of power, but it had been worth it. She barely recognized the scared, sheltered girl that she had said goodbye to over a year ago. The screen portrayed a very different Octavia, a more confident Octavia. A young woman who was more than just a girl hidden beneath the floor.

Octavia's laughter rang over the headset, garbled between the static and interference. Her smile was wide as she shook her head, "It takes more than just a little fresh air to get rid of me, Nora," she laughed. "You should know me better than that!"

"Doesn't mean that I don't worry!" Nodding with a laugh of her own, Nora couldn't help but agree. "You Blakes, you'll be the death of me, I swear," she said with a fond but watery smile.

Octavia noticed the small drop in her smile and her face grew solemn as well. Her eyes met with someone outside of the camera's view and Nora felt her heart leap, only to be disappointed with frown from the youngest Blake.

"My dick of a brother is off trying to be our fearless leader," she explained, eyes once again meeting with the person out of view. With a wave of her hand, she seemed to dismiss them and focused back on Nora. "We're trying to get him to talk to Jaha," she continued. "But he's too scared to deal with his problems, so we'll see how that works out. Did he get you in trouble because of that stupid stunt?"

"He did it to protect you," Nora defended, though not surprised at the girl's anger. Octavia had always placed Bellamy on a pedestal, a place where he could do no wrong. He was her hero. He had only let her down once in her life and it had come at the cost of her freedom. By the sounds of it, she hadn't quite accomplished in the forgiving part of their relationship.

"Right, yeah, I know," Octavia said with a heavy sigh, "He tried to kill a guy all for his baby sister because he loves me. I've heard the story, Nora," she said, fingering sliding off the camera to join her other hand in lap. She twisted her hands before chewing on her thumb. "Why do you always defend him? I didn't ask him to do that. And I sure as hell didn't ask him to get you dragged into it."

It was Nora's turn to let out a laugh. "Your 'dick of a brother' didn't drag me into anything, O," a bitter look flashing across her face. "He didn't even tell me what he was planning. I didn't even know he was on the dropship until Shumway told me last week," Nora paused and looked away, almost embarrassed. "I thought he was just hiding out somewhere on the station."

When the news first broke that the Chancellor had been shot, Nora hadn't been surprised. She, along with all members of the Guard, had been warned one hour in advance that the dropship would be launching for Earth and taking with it one hundred prisoners. It would be their duty to keep the peace as the public was informed, and they had been right to warn them. Public backlash against the Council's decision had been immediate following the launch. Anyone with an Earth view had seen the dropship launch and everyone wanted to know who was aboard.

After two days the Council released an official statement, citing the occupants of the dropship as one hundred prisoners selected from the Skybox. Outrage was instantaneous as the news spread across the Ark. Children, people said in horror, they sent one hundred children to their deaths. Many of the 100 had been nearly due for their reviews at eighteen and almost all would have been pardoned of their crimes, save for the violent offenders. Parents, who in only a few short weeks or even days would have been reunited with their children, instead were forced to accept the likelihood that they would never see their son or daughter again.

It wasn't surprising that someone would place the blame on Jaha, as the Chancellor it was his word which was final. There had been an extra guard assigned, there for the express purpose of preventing any harm from coming to the Chancellor, but he had been missing from his post at the time of the shooting. Some believed that he had worked in tandem with the shooter, but when Nora learned that Bellamy had become #1 on the Ark's Most Wanted, she knew he had worked alone. If he hadn't included her in the scheme, it was because he wouldn't have wanted to risk someone else's life.

She knew why Bellamy had done what he had, the undying loyalty to his sister that gave him the strength to pull the trigger. She didn't even blame him for what he had done, not really. His bond with his sister was so unique and intimate that most of it didn't make sense to her. No one else knew what it was like to have a sibling. She didn't understand, but she could imagine, and Nora couldn't deny that if given the chance, given the opportunity to protect Octavia, she wouldn't think too long before pulling the trigger herself.

The information that her brother had worked alone seemed to only perturb Octavia further as she set off on another complaint about Bellamy Blake's insensitivities. She rambled on, mentioning something about a boy, and Nora started to laugh until she heard her explain that Bellamy had tortured someone, a Grounder, as Octavia called him. A deep frown set in her face as her head tilted, not sure if she had heard correctly.

"What do you mean, he 'tortured' someone?" She asked, hoping that there had been a delay in the feed and that Octavia had really said that Bellamy 'tickled' someone. The image wasn't something that she had any memory of witnessing, but it was a far better one than imaging his tall form standing over a bloody, beaten body.

"I mean he- he tortured someone..," Octavia repeated slowly, her voice coming over the relay with little interference. The brunette shook her head and looked off screen once more, lost in thought. She let out a deep breath and met Nora's eyes through the camera, "He's different down here. I don't even know if I know who he is anymore, Nora. He's not my Bell," she said, voice almost too soft against the static. "That's for sure."

"You don't mean that," Nora argued, not understanding what had happened between the siblings. Over the years she had witnessed one or more of their sibling feuds but this seemed different, more serious even than when Bellamy had brought her to the dance. "You guys used to fight all the time and nothing changed," she continued with a reassuring smile, not knowing if it was the support her friend was looking for. It seemed almost enough.

She pressed on, "You didn't see him after you were arrested," she reminded her forcefully, not voicing the other important even in Bellamy's life that Octavia had been absent from – the floating of their mother. She shook her head, trying to get the image of Bellamy that his sister was painting out of her head. He was better than that, she knew that he was, she'd seen him be better. "He has changed," she finally conceded, not able to argue the point. "But he changed so that he could live in a world where you didn't exist anymore, O. He thought he'd never see you again."

Octavia was silent as she listened to her friend's words, knowing deep down that all were true and meant to give her comfort, but it only made the way that Bellamy was acting that much worse. She too knew the kind of person that he could be, the kindness that he could show, the loyalty that he valued to a fault, and the lengths that he would go to keep her safe and alive. Nora was right, but she needed that Bellamy back, not the stranger that had taken control of her brother.

"You're both just trying to survive down there and honestly, that's all I care about. If you say that Bellamy tortured someone," Nora shivered at the thought, "Then I have to believe that he did that for a reason, that he was trying to protect you. You need to watch out for each other," she said seriously, eyes dropping as she realized how much distance was truly between them.

"You need to take care of each other, Octavia. I don't know what the Council is planning to do now that Earth is a viable option, but you can bet your ass that I'm going to be on the first shuttle down. When I get there, we can deal with whatever it is you say is wrong, but until then, he's all you've got," she said honestly. "Please, just talk to him."

She felt a small breath of relief leave her as Octavia started nodding and a small smile broke out on her face. "You're just worried I'll kill him before you two can have your little lover's reunion, aren't you?" Octavia teased her as the smile grew larger and soon overtook her features. She laughed once before nodding again. "I promise that I'll watch his dumb ass, but I can't promise you that he wouldn't still get himself killed. The guy's an idiot, let's be honest, Nora-"

Letting out a laugh of her own, something caught her eye and Nora tore herself away from the screen, both surprised and uneasy to see Commander Shumway standing in the doorway. He didn't seem to sense her gaze as he took a deep breath and stepped into the chamber, allowing the door to slide shut behind him. As he pressed the lock mechanism and scanned his keycard for an approval, Nora let out a tentative, "Sir?"

She let out a small gasp as his gun was suddenly out and with a sickening feeling, saw that it was pointed straight at her chest. The headset fell around her neck and her call with Octavia was all but forgotten. The tense interaction the hallway just moments before was fresh in her mind. Something was wrong. Her training rushed itself to the forefront of her mind, screaming instructions as her body moved from muscle memory, remembering the long hours spent on the training deck with Bellamy. Her body tensed to move, eyes flashing to the two exits that would lead her to safety.

Shumway pulled the trigger before she had time to get out of her seat.

Stars will always hand in summer's bleeding veils
But seas forever boil, trees will turn to soil