Chapter Text
Our Journey on the Ground
Clarke sat on the sofa, waiting for her dad to get back to their quarters. She looked around at the place she had called home for 16 years. It wasn’t much, on the Ark you didn’t get much, just two bedrooms and a living area. Floating thousands of miles above an irradiated earth, this was the best anyone had, although Alpha Station’s quarters were bigger than most.
Even though living on a space station was at times painful, the Ark was her home.
She looked around the room, taking in the gray walls sparsely decorated with the charcoal drawings she did whenever she was in the mood. Her most recent drawing was one she had just completed only days earlier; tall trees were the main centerpiece with a light gray sky and a white moon just barely seen from between the trees. Her father loved it and insisted on hanging it above the old television.
Her dad always encouraged her to draw and follow her more artistic side, her mother, on the other, hand loved to say that Clarke should be studying the medical charts she brought home from the med bay specifically for Clarke. Always reminding Clarke that it was her idea to learn medicine from her mother.
Clarke snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the beep of the door being unlocked, followed by the swoosh of it opening. Not a second later her dad, looking tired and slightly withdrawn walked in with his head down, looking deep in thought. Despite that, Clarke jumped up with a grin on her face and ran and to give him a hug.
“Dad!” Was her only warning just before she crashed into his chest, giving him the biggest, hardest hug, she could.
Despite his tired expression, Clarke saw a big smile on his face as she pulled away, “Hey kid, what are you doing up this late? Where’s your mother?” His light blue eyes, the same as hers, stared down at her warmly.
Clarke shrugged, “She hasn’t come home yet.”
Her dad just nodded, his eyes going thoughtful again. He walked to the couch and sat down heavily, heaving a sigh as he went. His head tilted back, and he closed his eyes.
Clarke watched him for a moment, remembering a conversation she had heard him and her mom arguing about. Her dad had found a problem with the life support system, and he wanted to tell everyone on the Ark. Her mother, who sat on the Ark’s council, had been vehemently against it. And while her mother had her fears, Clarke thought that her dad was right in wanting to tell everyone and try to get as many minds as they could on the problem to find the solution
“Long day?” Clarke asked, taking a seat next to him, watching him. She didn’t know how to bring up the fact that she knew about the life support problem.
Another sigh, “You could say that… it’s been a long day trying to work out a problem we’re having.”
Well, that is as good of an opener as I’m going to get, Clarke thought. “Are you talking about the life support system?”
His head snapped up and he looked at her, startled. “What? How do you know about that?” He sat up straighter on the couch, giving her his full attention.
Clarke shrugged like it was no big deal, “I heard you and mom arguing about it, last night. I want to help; I think you’re right and that people should know.”
He was already shaking his head before she had finished speaking, “Clarke, no.”
“Yes, I listened to your recording, and I think you’re right, everyone should have a right to know, a right to decide on what to do next. This is too big to be kept a secret.” She found the recording earlier in the day as she was looking for more charcoal.
“Sweetie lis-”, before he could finish his sentence the door flew open, and four guards stepped inside. Commander Shumway, the leader of the station’s guards, was first in.
“Jake Griffin, you’re going to need to come with us.” Commander Shumway said, stepping forward with a pair of metal restraints in his hands.
Her dad stood up a look of confusion on his face, “What’s going on?” Clarke stood too, mirroring him.
Commander Shumway stepped forward and put the cuffs on his wrists, “You’re under arrest, Mr. Griffin.”
“What for?”
“Treason. Get him out of here.” He said, gesturing to a younger guard with black hair and freckles. He nodded and started dragging her dad out of the room.
“NO! LET HIM GO!” Clarke yelled and moved to follow them, only to be held back by two other guards. “Dad!”
“It’s ok Clarke, it’s going to be ok.” He said over his shoulder, resisting the pull of the other Guard.
“I’ll do it dad; I’ll do it for you.” Clarke said desperately, still being held back.
At that he turned fully around, fear overriding the resignation that had begun to settle on his face. “No, Clarke. Listen to me don’t do anything.”
Before Clarke could respond, Commander Shumway, looked between both Clarke and her dad, pointed to one of the Guard holding Clarke, “Bring her too.”
“No! Shumway, she has nothing to do with this!” Desperation laced is voice.
“If she knows, then she does. Let’s go.”
………………………
Clarke’s heartbeat in her ears, and her hands were sweating. With her arms pulled behind her back, she couldn’t wipe them on her pants, though that didn’t stop her from trying reflexively.
“Keep moving,” the guard behind her gruffed, his hand clamped tight around her upper arm as they marched down the corridor.
“Where are you taking us?” Clarke asked as they turned left at the end of the corridor, the opposite direction of The Sky Box, which was where they held their underage prisoners.
Her dad walked in front of them with two guards flanking either side of him. The guard that was holding his upper arm turned around with almost a look of sympathy, “The Chancellor wants to speak with the two of you.”
Commander Shumway, leading them down the new corridor turned around, “Guard Blake, do not talk to the prisoners.”
“Sorry sir.”
They continued walking and it took a few minutes, but Clarke eventually recognized where they were headed. Her breathing sped up and she would’ve slowed down if not for the guard pushing her forward with a warning.
Cargo bay 3
Just last week one of the teens held a big party there for their birthday, their last party for a while, as they had been thrown into the Sky Box the next day for organizing the party without permission from the council. Her mother told her that an accident could have happened, and they all could’ve been blown out of the Ark and into space and then she had asked Clarke repeatedly if she and Wells had gone to the party. Which Clarke denied, of course.
Their procession came to a stop and Commander Shumway slid his access card into the reader. When the light turned green, they marched inside one at a time.
The cargo bay was huge, easily the size of an old-world soccer field. Most of the bay was empty, the perfect place for a party, but the back half had one or two drop pods and containers and boxes.
As Clarke walked in, she saw her mom and Chancellor Jaha standing by one of the drop pods. They were standing close, conversing quietly to each other. There was no one else in the cargo bay with them and Clarke got a bad feeling.
“Mom!” she shouted and made to run to her but was pulled to a stop by the guard. “Let me go!”
When the guard refused to even respond, Clarke tried to jerk out of his hands, failing again. “Stay still,” The guard said gruffly this time, unimpressed.
“Mom, what’s going on.” Clarke’s eyes filled with tears, this was it, they were going to float her and her dad at the same time. They weren’t going to even wait until her 18th birthday, it was still two years away, but she guessed they didn’t want to take the chance that their secret would get out. Better to kill her now, then risk it.
As soon as her mother saw her, she ran over to Clarke and put her hands on her face. “Oh sweetheart, it’s ok. It’s going to be alright. Ethan, uncuff her now.”
The guard, Ethan, looked over at Jaha, who nodded, before pulling out the key and uncuffing her. Then he, Guard Blake and the other two guards left. Leaving only Commander Shumway, her mom and Jaha in the room. Commander Shumway pulled a key out of his pocket as well and uncuffed her father.
“Don’t even think about doing anything rash Mr. Griffin.” He said as he moved to stand by Chancellor Jaha.
Her dad didn’t even acknowledge him, just moved to Clarke and Abby and wrapped both in a hug.
“I’m sorry, so sorry.” Jake whispered to them both.
Chancellor Jaha cleared his throat, “It has come to my attention, Jake, that you plan on telling the populace about the malfunction in the life support systems. The council was clear about its stance on the topic. We don’t tell anyone, and we solve this ourselves. Even Abby agrees, this is too much for the people to handle.” His voice turned pleading, trying to appeal to Jake one last time.
Jake turned and faced Jaha, his face sorrowful, “I disagree Thelonious, I think if we tell people we can find a way to fix this or come to some other solution. We can’t hide this problem, it’s too big. There are only 5 years left, at most, before we run out of oxygen. You are dooming these people.”
Jaha sighed and looked at them apologetically, “I’m sorry Jake. I just can’t take the chance that there won’t be mass panic.”
“So, what, you’re going to kill me? Lock up Clarke?”
“I can’t risk Clarke telling one of the kids in lock up and them telling their parents and their parents telling everyone else. No instead-”
“You are not floating my daughter Thelonious! I won’t let you!” Jake turned to Abby, “I can’t believe you would let him do this Abby, our daughter!”
“No, Jake!” Abby shook her head, “Of course not. You’re not being floated,” she turned to Clarke, “and neither are you. You’re both going to the ground.”
Clarke’s head spun; she didn’t know what to think. The ground? But... “but it’s not safe, we won’t survive, it’s barely been a hundred years.” The earth wouldn’t be habitable for at least another 100 years.
Clarke turned to her dad, instead of having a horrified look on his face, it was pensive.
“You think we might be able to survive down there, and if we do, you can bring down the rest of the Ark?” Her dad looked back and forth between Jaha and Abby, “We’re guinea pigs.”
………………………
“Heda, the horses are packed, and we are ready to leave whenever you are.”
The deep voice broke Lexa out of her meditation, pulling her out of the conversation she had been having with the previous commanders. She had been unfocused as of late, as Titus kept telling her, and had hoped that they could provide some help. She looked up from where she was sitting at the foot of her bed and gave the man a nod.
“Thank you Gustus. I’ll be out shortly.”
Gustus merely nodded and closed the door to her bedroom silently. Like Lexa he was a man of few words, but extremely loyal to her. He was not only Captain of the tower guards, he was also Heda’s personal guard and she’d known him since before she became the Commander.
Lexa stood, the voices of the previous commander slowly quieting, and walked to her armor rack that held her pauldron and cape. She was already in her travel clothes, she just put them on and she was ready to leave.
She took one last look around her room, they wouldn’t be back for at least a year, barring any unforeseen complications. A year to travel the clans and solidify the coalition, a year to start the creation of a lasting peace, a year to forget….
Lexa sighed, squared her shoulders and marched out of her room and into the hall where Gustus and Keto were waiting for her. Keto was new to Lexa’s guard, she was young, but she was a fierce warrior.
Both Gustus and Keto bowed their heads with a low “Heda,” as she walked by, heading to the lift. The ride down to the bottom of the tower was mostly silent, with only the occasional groan coming from the lift itself. Once they stepped off the lift, Lexa saw Keto let out a relieve breath and smirked to herself.
“Not a fan of the lift Keto,” she asked as they walked onto the ground floor of the tower.
“I am fine Heda.” Keto folded her hands behind her back with a nod as Lexa led them outside to the stables located around the back of the tower.
They turned the corner and Lexa could see a few warriors milling about, loading last minute items onto their horse or into some carts. As they got closer, Lexa could see her General and former first, Anya, off to the side talking to Titus. Anya looked annoyed, granted she always looked annoyed when talking Titus, but this annoyance had an undercurrent of anger to it.
When Lexa walked up to them, Anya gave her a small bow, “Good morning, Commander. We have just finished packing the last of the supplies and are ready to leave when you are.”
“Thank you, Anya.” Lexa turned to Titus.
The passiveness in his gaze was a stark contrast to the lingering annoyance in Anya’s. Titus was Lexa’s teacher and in all the time she’d known him she’d never seen his emotions bared for all to see. Even when he was angry.
“Commander do not worry about Polis while you are away. I will make sure everything is taken care of.”
Lexa nodded, “Good, this will be a long trip, if you need anything, I’ve left our movement plan with Osaria.”
Titus bowed, “Very well Heda.” He looked at Lexa, contemplatively then away again, “One other thing Commander…”
Before he could finish, a young woman came rushing around the corner, a large satchel hanging from her shoulder. She had light brown curly hair that flared up behind her head, light brown eyes and full lips. She was wearing light traveling clothes. She stopped next to Lexa, Titus and Anya, “I’m ready to go Flamekeeper.” She directed her words to Titus, then turned her head to Lexa, her expression soft, “Hello Commander.”
Her voice was equally as soft and it made Lexa ache, “Costia,” Lexa glanced between Titus and Anya before turning back to Costia. “What are you doing here?”
“I sent for her Heda,” Lexa turned to Titus as he answered instead of Costia. “She will be accompanying you on your tour of the clans.”
Lexa raised an eyebrow at Titus and clenched her jaw, “She will not.” A flicker of hurt passed through Costia’s eyes for a moment and Lexa felt the urge to take it back.
“Costia has been my second for almost as long as you’ve been training to be the commander.” The tone of Titus’ voice almost took her back to when she was a child, and he was teaching her and the natblidas what it meant to be the commander. It grated on her nerves, and she grit her teeth. “As I cannot accompany you, Costia is a suitable replacement should anything happen to you or the Flame.”
The Flamekeeper’s job was to protect the Flame and the vessel, Lexa understood Titus’ caution. She was going to be away from the safety of the capital for at least a year, if anything happened to her or the flame, the spirit of the commander could be lost forever.
Lexa tightened her jaw, “Very well,” she turned to Keto, “Please have a horse prepared for our Flamekeeper.”
“Yes, Commander.”
…………………………..
Lexa always loved being on the road. Whether it be for war or for piece, there was just something about being on the move. The way the trees moved in the wind, the clop of the horse’s hooves on cobblestone and even the soft steps on the grassy floor of a path not often taken just felt magical somehow. Maybe it was the sweet smell of spring flowers or the soft singing of birds in the trees. Maybe it was finally having the freedom to leave Polis that she did not have as a child. Whatever it was she loved it.
A laugh drifted from behind her and she was helpless to resist looking back. Costia was riding next to one of her warriors, Delani if Lexa wasn’t mistaken, and laughing at something the warrior said. The soft, almost bashful, smile on the warrior’s face made something acidic boil up in her stomach and she turned back around with a shake of her head.
Costia was moving on, she should too.
The procession made their way temporarily out of the forest and up onto a small hill overlooking the valley. They had another two days journey before they arrived at Floukru.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to push her from her horse Lexa? She cannot come if she is injured.” They had been riding for hours towards Floukru’s territory and this was not the first time that Anya had made that same suggestion in various ways.
Lexa didn’t even turn her head from where she was riding at the head of the caravan, she could tell by Anya’s tone that she was only teasing. But after being her Second for so long, Lexa knew the other woman was dead serious. If Lexa asked, she would do it.
“It’s fine Anya. As the Flamekeeper’s second it is her job to keep the flame safe, besides, I am the Commander, and I will not see any of my people harmed. Especially by my General,” at that she turned her head and met Anya’s eyes, raising her eyebrow as she did so.
She felt more than saw Gustus ride up next to her, “We can always scare her horse off while she sleeps at night, then leave before she wakes up.”
Lexa sighed as Anya let out a loud laugh, “This is going to be a long year, isn’t it?”
Still laughing, Anya sped up her horse a little to ride next to Gustus and Lexa, “Don’t worry Heda, we’ll make sure you don’t get too bored.”
As the words left her mouth a low boom sounded and from the sky a giant ball of flaming metal passed overhead, close enough that they could feel the hot wind it brought with it as it fell. They watched as it landed in the trees a few miles west of their position, a white sheet trailing after it.
“What is that?” Anya’s voice was a whisper that Lexa barely heard.
A voice from the deep recesses of her mind spoke up, one she rarely heard, “That is a dropship from those who come from space. Where I came from all those decades ago.”
“Make camp here,” Lexa’s voice boomed around them in the sudden silence left in the wake of the ‘dropship’. “Anya, Delani, Cole and Keto, with me. We will investigate. Gustus make sure this site is secure, we will return within the hour.”
“Yes Commander,” Gustus bowed before standing and barking orders to the soldiers with them.
As they descended into the valley, Lexa glanced over her shoulder, hearing another set of hooves. She stopped as did her chosen four, “Stay here Costia, this could be dangerous.”
A defiant look came into her eyes, “All the more reason for me to come.”
“No,” The word was harsh and forceful, and it took Costia aback for a moment before the young Flamekeeper frowned.
“I’ll stay in the shadows Commander, but I think I should be there.”
Lexa took a deep breath then let it out slowly, “Very well, but if anything goes wrong…”
Costia nodded, “Don’t worry Commander, I can protect myself.” She smiled cheekily, “I learned from the best.”
Lexa’s face remained mostly impassive except for the slight involuntary twitch of a smirk, “Of course you did.” Then she turned around and continued to make her way into the valley, her warriors behind her.
“The offer to kick her off her horse is still there,” Anya said quietly sidling up next to her.
Lexa just rolled her eyes and continued.
………………………………
Clarke wasn’t going to lie; she much preferred the view of the earth from the dropship to the Ark. The earth seemed bigger somehow, more attainable.
“Take a deep breath sweetheart, this is going to be rough.” Jake gruffed out to Clarke. She looked over at him, his eyes were bloodshot, his face was red and there were still tear tracks running down his cheeks. Clarke imagined she looked much the same.
Just a few minutes before they were saying goodbye to her mother who, despite the current circumstances, Clarke loved deeply. And now they may never see her again. Still, as they floated toward the earth, she couldn’t deny the view.
“Is your dropbelt secure?” He reached over where he sat at the main controls on Clarke’s left and gave her belt straps a hard tug. He cupped Clarke’s cheek and said, “No matter what happens sweety, know I’ll always love you. Be brave.”
With that he took a deep breath and put one hand of the joystick that controlled the pitch and angle of the dropship and one hand on the lever that controlled the speed.
After a few minutes they entered earth’s atmosphere, the cabin juddering and shaking beneath Clarke and her dad. While her dad attempted to maintain control of the dropship, Clarke held on for dear life to her dropbelts. When they stopped shaking, Clarke knew they had exited the atmosphere and were essentially in a freefall. Her dad hovered his hand over the button that would deploy the parachute.
“Let’s hope they checked and made sure the parachute was still intact,” He flashed Clarke a grin that was full of terror and she couldn’t help but let out a high pitch laugh.
Luckily for them the parachute was still intact, but they were still going to hit the ground hard and soon.
The last thing Clarke remembered was the ground rushing beneath the dropship and then them getting closer and closer and a jolt of the ship hitting the ground. Then she felt a sharp pain in her head as it met the window on her right side.
Clarke awoke to an alarm beeping right next to her ear and a red light flashing in her face. She groaned and tried to open an eye. She was on her right side, her head resting awkwardly on the right window that had a small smear of blood on it. She ran through a checklist of body parts making sure she could feel all of them. Prognosis good, she turned her head, trying to see the rest of the dropship.
Her ears were ringing, her eyes were blurry, but she could see her father struggling out of the dropbelt. His foot landed near her face, and she felt him tugging at the belt on her seat. She could also see his mouth moving but couldn’t make out the words. He grabbed her around the waist using only his right arm. Clarke brought her legs up to help him out and eventually made it to her knees and with her dad’s help they both made it out of the dropship.
Clarke’s hearing returned as they stood outside the dropship, staring up at the trees that surrounded them. Clarke and her dad both turned in circles, their mouths open in a wide smile. She couldn’t say who made the first sound, but the next thing she knew, they were shouting and laughing and jumping around each other. Until her dad let out a loud hiss. It was then she noticed that his arm was hanging at an odd angle.
“Can you believe this,” Her dad said, still laughing. “We’re on the ground! The first humans to ever touch the ground in 100 years!”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that dad,” Clarke said. She backed up until her back hit her fathers as the bushes parted in front of her and two women stepped into the clearing.
“Oh,” She heard her dad say, as another two women exited the bushes in front of him, “Ok so maybe not the first humans…”