Stronger Future

By Samdagger

Disclaimers: The 100 are not owned by me. The CW and Jason Rothenberg did all the work in creating the series. The Dragons of Pern are not mine either. Those belong to Anne and Todd McCaffrey.

AN: This is for Copper Fox who requested it. I will warn you about needing tissues. I still cry when I reread it and I wrote it! Samdagger.

Atom

Atom kom Dragonkru, rider of bronze Jojeth lay in his bed with his family around him. He was dying and he knew it. He knew he didn't have long for this Earth, but he thought his life had been full and rich. From a 17 year old criminal on death row on a space station to a respected rider in one of the weyrs of Earth. From juvenile delinquent to dragonrider. He shook his head slightly as he remembered when he'd died in the previous life before his 18th birthday, and yet here he was, 82 years old. He'd spent most of his life with his dragon.

Jojeth was the best thing that had ever happened to him - meeting his wife was a close second and his four children ran a close third as well.

There was movement as Adara came into the room.

"Hey, Atom," she said.

"Adara," he replied. Most people still called her Heda even if she was retired as the leader of the Dragonkru, but those who came down from the Ark with her called her Adara.

"It's nearly time," Adara said.

"Yeah, I can feel it. Probably a few more hours at best," Atom said.

"Well, when you're ready, we'll get you on the back of Jojeth for your last journey," Adara said, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Don't cry, Adara, I know I'm short for this Earth."

"It's not that, old friend, it's that another one is leaving us. There are only a handful of us left."

"15," Atom said. "Once I go, only fifteen of the hundred are still alive and of those, only eight are dragon riders."

"I know and it hurts each time," Adara said.

"We're all short on time, Adara, you're only a few months younger than I am."

"I know. I was talking to Charlie the other day and it suddenly dawned on me that she's 77!"

"Shit! I still think of her as the youngest of us. The kid who had nightmares."

"Yeah, I do that too when people aren't standing right in front of me. Sometimes I turn to talk to Murphy and then realise he's no longer here," she said.

"Yeah, I do it too. I think I miss Jasper the most," Atom said. "He was a clown at first and then he became one of the most dependable people in Dragonkru."

"At least he went out in his own way. I think when Drew went between when he was accidentally spooked and never returned was the moment when I realised that the worst had happened, that we had no control over when someone died."

"He had just become a father for the third time," Atom said, remembering.

"He was the first of us to die," Adara said.

"I think when Monty's son Harmon became weyrleader of Panther Bay, I realised that we had produced some really good kids. None of us threw them away or ignored them," Atom said. "I know I never did that with my own kids and you and Anya never did that with yours."

"Anya wouldn't have allowed it. Once she'd gotten her head out of her ass about me and became my wife, she took to motherhood with aplomb.

"I remember when your oldest spoke to her for the first time and called her nomon. She couldn't have been more than three at the time and Anya's face lit up."

"She'd just turned three and was a feisty little thing." Adara laughed. "When Anya asked what Makana's personality was like, I told her to think of Raven and Octavia in the same body. You should have seen her face! She was horrified." Atom laughed.

"Yeah, I can see that. Your daughter certainly livened up the weyr!"

"She calmed down as she got older, and definitely when she impressed with Arath."

"All your kids have impressed either bronze or gold," Atom said, thinking about the children of the delinquents.

"We did good, Atom."

"We did. When I think back on those early years before our dragons and when we were on the run from the Maunon, we were a ragtag group, not sure what we were doing, but you seemed to know exactly what you were doing. You had everyone organised and even before we left the Ark, you were working for us to survive on the ground." Adara laughed.

"Monroe once asked me if someone told me that we'd organise a mass jailbreak and get the other side to think it was their idea, if I'd believe them!" Atom laughed.

"Really?"

"Yup, it was not long after we'd settled in Atlantis. I was up on one of the high towers, looking at the shoreline when she came to me to talk. It was then she said it and it was then that I knew that we'd have to start new weyrs sooner than planned. I'd asked her what she wanted to do, where she saw the weyr going. I'd hoped to have a good ten years before we split, but with our dragons still breeding every two years and producing a minimum of fifteen eggs per hatching, we had to split sooner. I know Jill felt she wasn't ready yet. It was the same reason I had for keeping Raven, Murphy and Octavia with me. I wasn't ready to lose their support, but I was wrong. Others stepped in and only twenty years later, there was absolutely no difference between us and any clan riders we took in for those first three hatchings. Olo and Tersa stepped up and filled in for Miller and Jill."

"Nontu?" a man said.

"Jatim," Atom said, "what's up?"

"Nomon has arranged your riding clothes for you."

"Mochof, son. Have you met Adara?"

"Yes, Nontu, we've met on many occasions," he reminded his father. Atom stopped to think.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," he said. Atom's memory was starting to fade and he couldn't remember who had met with his leader and who had not.

"Did I ever tell you of my first meeting with Adara?"

"No father, that one you never told us." Atom brightened.

"Sit here son and I'll tell you." Jatim sat beside his father and took his hand.

"I was 17 and sitting in the lounge in Flint Station where I lived when this one came in looking for me. She wanted to show me something. Well, I took that to mean she wanted to sleep with me so I went with her. What she showed me instead was a tablet with recordings of what Jaha and his cronies were up to. I was livid. There was a recording of our supposed leader, talking about being in radio contact with Mount Weather - Maunon - and organising for kids in prison to be sent down for them to use for their bone marrow. It would kill all of them. Then Adara asked me to get myself arrested so I could go down with them!

"I kind of told her where she could go, but she was insistent that I help her and the others to find a safe place to go instead of waiting for the maunon to turn up and take us inside their mountain. Once she had explained it all to me, I was in. A few days later, I was arrested and met up with Adara in the prison. That was my first interaction with her. I soon found out that she needed me to step up and be a leader. I became head of exploration once the maunon had been dealt with. I loved it, I was out and about on the ground, finding hidden paths and places instead of being cooped up in one place. It gave me the freedom I didn't know I wanted and then when we got our dragons, that was real freedom! Flying was the best thing ever!" Atom's eyes grew wide with excitement when he remembered his first flight on his dragon.

"And remember your nerves when you went between for the first time?" Adara said, smirking.

"Alright, you were right!" Atom grumbled.

Jatim turned to Adara.

"Heda, Matengir is here," he said, looking out of the window.

"Matengir? That's your great grandson isn't it?"

"Yeah, can you believe Makana's a grandmother with her grandson being a dragon rider already?"

"God, he must be so young!" Atom said.

"Not that young, he's been a rider for three years. He impressed with a bronze from Jerinath's last clutch."

"Is Inkalith still mating?"

"No, now that Ovrath no longer flies well, Inkalith has decided that her time is over as a breeder. She's happy to leave it to Arath and the others."

"Who is the leader of the Atlantis weyr?" Atom asked. Adara and Jatim looked at each other.

"That's Caralin, Murphy's granddaughter," Adara replied.

"I feel old when grandkids are in charge of places we used to be," Atom admitted.

"We are old, Atom, but we had a good run didn't we?" Atom grunted.

"Speak for yourself!" he said. "I only had fun when we were exploring. Is there any places we haven't surveyed yet?"

"Only between," Adara replied.

"How many weyrs are there now?"

"Dozens, Atom. We have weyrs in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and even one out by Vanuatu."

"Are they all led by our grandkids?"

"Most of them. Remember Sonchur, bronze rider of Panther weyr?"

"Yeah."

"Well he took over as the senior bronze at the weyr we have in Italy and he has no intention of stepping down. He said we'd have to peel him away from the weyr when it's his time to go. Ralinth says he'll make sure that his rider goes with him when it's time."

"Sonchur, I know the man but I can't remember who's kid he is."

"David and Fox's youngest."

"David used to be Wells didn't he?"

"Yeah, but when he came down and saw the recordings he declared himself as David Stevens, his mother's child. He took the names for his mother and the first name she wanted to call him. He gave up the name Wells Jaha. He was on our side, Atom."

"I remember. The angry kid who grew up."

"We were all angry kids, Atom. Remember what Murphy was in prison for?"

"Setting fire to a guards' quarters."

"Yeah, did you know how much oxygen he used up with that stunt? He could have killed some of those 320 people that Jaha wanted to kill if we'd never got in touch with them."

"We grew up fast, didn't we?"

"We had to. Remember when we were running from the dropship and we met up with Lincoln and Indra? We had no idea if they'd take us in then, but we had to try."

"We succeeded, Adara, and that's thanks to you."

"Actually it was more that Octavia and Lincoln met up and remembered their last lives. That did more than anything I did."

"Still not liking praise?"

"Nope, not one bit. We did what we had to do and that's all."

"If you say so," Atom said. Adara snorted in laughter.

"Next time I see Raven, I'll hit her for teaching you that one!" Atom laughed.

"I think you'll have a hard time, she's still faster than you at running!"

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

A few minutes later, Jatim moved to the window to see Matengir helping Atom' wife, Jiram, with his riding clothes.

"Nomon and Matengir are here with your clothes, Nontu."

"Good, I can feel it's time."

"Do you need help getting dressed?" asked Jatim.

"Probably, I'm not that stable on my feet anymore."

"I'll leave you to get dressed," Adara said. "I'll be outside with Jojeth." Atom nodded as his wife walked through the door.

"Grandma," Matengir said as he passed her. Adara had been adamant that she didn't want to be called Great grandma, so they all just called her grandma, no matter which generation they belonged to. She nodded to him as she passed him.

"I'll be outside when you're ready." Matengir nodded. She smiled at him as she left the room and the house. She walked over to Jojeth and helped Atom's youngest grandchild Chardon with his harness.

"Chardon, are you okay to attend the hatching so soon after?" She didn't have to say after what, they all knew.

"I think I should, Heda, it would be a fitting tribute to grandpa. I hope I impress to do him justice. The next generation of dragonriders."

"Chardon, you can do anything you want to. Just because his other grandchildren are doing other things, doesn't mean you have to become one."

"I know, but I want this, Heda. I grew up listening to grandpa's stories about those early days when no-one knew how to build a weyr nor how to look after a dragon, but you all impressed with them. I kind of envy you for that," he admitted.

"Are you changing your name when you impress?"

"IF I impress, then yes I will, I just don't know what to change it to. C'don doesn't sound right, Ch'don sounds better, but I was talking to D'bor and he said that in the early days of dragons on Pern, some people changed their names altogether. I may do that." Adara nodded, having an inkling of what he would change it to.

"Let's get Jojeth harnessed up for his final flight," Adara said, putting the harness over Jojeth's back.

A few minutes later, Atom was supported as he walked out to Jojeth and went to his dragon's head.

"Well, old friend, one last trip to see our departed friends, okay?" No-one knew if the dragonriders went onto another plane of existence once they died, but they all wanted to believe it so they could see their lost comrades once more. It was their version of heaven.

With a lot of help, Atom mounted Jojeth and buckled his straps.

Jiram, Jatim and the other three children who had been brought by dragonback to see him off, stood with him as he said his final goodbyes. Jiram had to be held back by Jatim and Maragen, his only daughter.

"Atom!" Adara called. "When you see the others, make sure they behave themselves, okay? I'm not ready to join you yet so keep them in line!" she said, jokingly. Atom smiled and waved his arm.

"Come on, Jojeth, one last flight before we go," he said and Jojeth leapt into the air and flew upwards. He only went a few hundred feet up before Atom gave the order to go between.

Those on the ground watched as Jojeth and Atom disappeared and a few seconds later, every dragon around the world, reared back on their haunches and keened to the skies for a lost dragon and rider.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

Six days later, Chardon was at Atlantis Weyr with the others waiting to see if they could impress a dragon. There were sixty eggs on the hatching grounds laid by two dragons. One hundred and fifteen candidates stood on the hatching sands waiting for the eggs to hatch. The eggs were rocking and suddenly a bronze burst out of his shell and impressed with a boy from Rock Cliff. More and more dragons hatched and impressed. Near the end, one lone egg was rocking and a bronze emerged from it and looked around. Chardon looked into his eyes and impression was made. Chardon ran over to his new lifemate.

"Carjeth!" he cried as he hugged the little wet bronze. "I know you're hungry, there's some food outside, let's go get some," he said as he led his dragon towards the hatching ground doors.

"Chardon!" called Adara. "What's your new name?" Chardon stopped and looked at her, drew himself up to his full height and spoke.

"I'm Atom kom Dragonkru, rider of bronze Carjeth!" Adara smiled, tears running down her cheeks as the newly named Atom led his dragon out.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Sorry, but I did warn you about needing tissues!