CHAPTER FIFTEEN
( space girl )

SEPT 24, 2149
DAY TWELVE ON THE GROUND

FINN AND DAKOTA SPRINTED THROUGH THE RICH WOODS, THEIR EYES DESPERATELY SCANNING for Bellamy or the Pod; having split up from Clarke to cover more ground. So far they'd had no luck, but as sweet droplets of light rain showered upon them, the sunshine remained gleaming as their damp baby hairs stuck to their faces; Dakota's dark locks still in the two braids from the previous night.

"Can we slow down some?" Dakota requested, her legs not able to carry her as fast as Finn's carried him; the girl out of breath and struggling to keep up.

"Yeah, sorry." Finn nodded, looking over his shoulder when he realized the girl had fallen behind him; slowing his pace until he made it back to her side.

"So, tell me Finnie." she began jocosely, panting heavily as they reduced to a walk; a small smirk playing at her lips.

"When Clarke said she let herself get distracted...."

The boy chuckled at her innocently implying tone as Dakota smiled over at him; making it abundantly obvious what she was wishing to discuss.

"What was she referring to? Did you guys go on like... an earth date, or something?"

Dakota's mind was far too incorrupt to be thinking of something inappropriate, nor would she ever ask such an indecorous question even if she was thinking of something on the naughtier side. She wasn't asking or assuming, and Finn wasn't one to kiss and tell, but that didn't mean he couldn't answer the entirely harmless question.

"We just... talked and went stargazing." he decided on, Dakota seeming to be satisfied with his answer; her smile greatly widening into a bright beam.

"So... yeah, I guess you could call that an earth date." the boy admitted, trying to suppress a smirk and keep his boyish, helpless blush to a minimum; though he knew it wasn't any secret to anyone that he had been infatuated with Clarke Griffin since the moment they crossed paths.

"I'm happy for you guys."

The hundred's two natural peacemakers felt themselves encompassed with bliss for a brief moment. For almost the first time since they landed on earth, a normal conversation was being had. It wasn't about the danger posed, or the food they didn't have, or the mountain they weren't dropped on, or the medicine they lacked. It was a regular, happy passing of words; not everything had to always be about life and death.

And, of course, just as they were thinking that, the two emerged from the woods and into a small clearing where news of anything but bliss was unknowingly awaiting them. A double sneak attack awaiting Finn.

There in the field stood Clarke next to the fallen pod, watching with a warm smile as an unfamiliar girl almost her exact height took in earth for the very first time; evidently mesmerized by what she was seeing. Her arms were outstretched to openly receive the wonders she had traveled all the way from space to reach, her head tilted towards the clear sky and green tree tops with an enraptured beam on her face. Olive skin and a pronounced jawline, the stranger's cappuccino-colored hair was woven with strands of shimmering brown copper, tied up into a messy ponytail. She was clothed in a short red coat and black jeans, a gray t-shirt with holes penetrated through the soft fabric to decorate the top beneath the shield from cold; charcoal-hued boots with long laces rising far past her ankles and hugging the bottom of her calves. Dakota couldn't help but instantly smile too, amazed by the touching scene of the stranger reacting to the beautiful planet; her new home.

"Raven!" Finn called, his features deeply furrowed as he jogged up to her; making Clarke and Dakota aware of her unique and beautiful name.

The brunette spun around, her already lit up irises filling with even more unadulterated joy when she saw the boy; her grin widening, if that was even possible.

"Finn!" she cried out, a mixture of immense relief and wholehearted adoration coating her gleeful voice.

She unhesitatingly closed the gap between them, his arms immediately falling around her body as her hands naturally went to either side of his face; the two holding one another as if they'd done it a million times before. Dakota's smile faltered slightly as she held a first class view of the reuniting pair, close enough to detect the look in their emotional eyes; they had done this a million times before, and their relationship was far from platonic.

"I knew you couldn't be dead." Raven breathed, her hands comfortably sliding down his neck and to his chest as their eyes thoroughly scanned one another, soaking up each other's presences; Finn's face still plastered with shock.

"You're bleeding." he mentioned quickly, Raven shaking her head as her smile remained; for her, in this moment, everything was perfect.

"I don't care." was her truthful response, her fingers making their way into his long, damp hair as she pulled him in for a zealous kiss.

Dakota's smile was completely gone now, her eyes automatically moving to Clarke, whose face had fallen with no attempts of masking her clear hurt; the Thompson girl's promptly sad eyes shining with sympathy.

Finn slowly backed up as she continued to kiss him, Raven- with no intentions of stopping- steadily stepping forward as he did this; his hands around her upper back. Subtly, Dakota walked around them and over to the blonde; standing next to her without uttering a word, no explanation necessary. The urge to grasp Clarke's hand and give it a firm squeeze was strong, but she knew the Griffin girl would likely be against that idea, so instead she decided to supply her simple presence in hopes of bringing some form of comfort.

The second their lips had finally disconnected, Finn's first reaction was to glance uneasily over at Clarke; the boy's features underlined with hints of distress and guilt, greatly conflicted.

"How did you get here?" he then asked, turning his attention back to Raven, who was still grinning from ear to ear; the couple never letting go of one another as they spoke.

Dakota was eager to hear what her response would be, but also worried about Clarke and mildly dizzied by the dried crimson blood crusted on the girl's face; so she decided to fixate her gaze onto the miraculous pod itself while she listened.

"You know that big scrap hold, the one on K deck?"

"You built that from scrap?" Finn asked, his words laced with amazement; impressed with her monumental accomplishment.

"I kinda rebuilt it." Raven giggled, the Collins boy chortling.

"Please, like that's hard. It just needed a couple parts and some love."

"You're insane."

"I'd do more for you and worse. Just like you would for me."

Dakota had to hide a wince, knowing the more words exchanged were like adding salt in an already fresh wound for Clarke; her heart aching for her friend. Because of the way her brain was wired, in most scenarios- this one included- Dakota found herself sad for the victims of a negative occurrence long before she could ever feel anger for the ones inflicting harm. Her mind wasn't at all centered on Finn, but on the two girls who had been greatly wronged; no matter if he had intended to or not, he had wronged them both. And though Raven was a stranger, Dakota already felt empathy for the undeserving pain that was inevitably awaiting her in the near future.

"Come on, sit down. Sit down, here. Let me get something for that." Finn guided the girl to a nearby rock when her balance wavered and her shaky legs threatened to give out; the brunette hastily pulling off his outermost coat before wrapping it around her.

Clarke was already digging through her bag to find something to help with Raven's minor head injury when Finn jogged over to the two, awkwardly glancing between her and Dakota as she fished out a rag to hand to him.

"I'm sorry." he immediately apologized, the Griffin girl refusing to meet his eyes as she quickly denied the conversation he wanted to partake in.

"Let's not talk about this."

"We've known each other our whole lives."

"Finn." Dakota whispered, shaking her head when he tried to continue; the three advancing over to Raven.

"We don't need to talk about it. She needs to put pressure on her wound." Clarke snapped quietly.

"Thanks." Raven voiced, pressing the cloth gently against her cut as Finn tenderly placed a hand underneath her ponytail; examining her wound closely.

"Hey, was this pod salvaged from MIR-3 in-"

"2102? Yeah." the intelligent brunette finished Dakota's sentence, smiling at her words.

"You a mechanical engineer too?" she inquired in a jolly tone, as if excited by the prospect of having a companion in her same field.

"Kota's kind of a little bit of everything." Finn joshed lightheartedly.

"I have a lot of hobbies." she confirmed, giving a sheepish smile and shrugging her shoulders all the way up to her ears.

"This is Clarke and Dakota, they were on the drop ship too."

For a reason unknown to them, his words seemed to spark something in Raven's brain; the girl's eyes widening slightly as if she had made a crucial connection, rising to her feet at once as she stared at the blonde.

"Clarke? Well... this was all because of your mom."

Clarke's demeanor shifted, her mind no longer occupied with her love life at the bizarre proclamation.

"My mom?" she furrowed her brows, Dakota and Finn just as confused.

"This was all her plan. We were trying to come down here together, if we waited-" Raven paused, panic suddenly flashing through her umber irises.

"Oh my God. We couldn't wait because the council was voting wether to kill 300 people to save air."

A chill ran down Dakota's spine, her lips parting in shock at the barbaric proposal the Ark was apparently facing. Maybe the beauty of earth had caused her to forget just how cruel her former home actually was.

"What?" she jarred her head forward.

"When?" Clarke questioned seriously.

"Today. We have to tell them you're alive!" Raven declared, taking off towards her pod; the other three exchanging worried glances before hastily following after her.

"The radio's gone."

The unfortunate words were enough to make both Clarke and Dakota realize what had happened; their hearts dropping into their stomachs.

"No, Bellamy." Dakota whispered under her breath as her shoulders sagged in utter disappointment; not speaking loud enough for the others to hear. She didn't want it to be true.

"It must've gotten loose during re-entry. I should've strapped it to the A-strut, stupid!" Raven hissed in frustration with herself, slamming a fist against the side of her capsule in anger.

"No, no, this is my fault." Clarke quickly assured her.

"Someone got here before us. We have to find him."

༻✧༺

"HEY!"

Bellamy and Fallon both glanced over their shoulders at the familiar voice, never ceasing their stride through the forest even when they caught a glimpse of the fuming blonde.

"Where is it?!" Clarke immediately interrogated once reaching them, tone deeply angered as she grabbed onto Bellamy's shoulder; forcing him to halt and look at her.

"Hey, Princess. You taking a walk in the woods?" he asked insolently, discourteous sarcasm lacing his words as he tossed her an annoying smirk; the Walsh girl chuckling dryly.

The mocking air disappeared from his features when Dakota appeared shortly after her, a look of immense concern washed over both her and Clarke's faces. It felt almost relieving to him when Dakota came into view; her kind and hopeful mien refreshing after having been stuck with Fallon for so long, whose world was viewed through such a bitter lens.

"Awww, look, it's my favorite person." Fallon sneered, a mien of mild disgust on her face at the Thompson girl's arrival; shoving her hands vexedly into her pockets.

"Please tell us where the radio is." Dakota requested desperately, glancing back and forth between the unlikely duo.

"Up your ass along with that stick." the Walsh girl snapped satirically, everyone ignoring her; more pressing matters in need of addressing.

"They're getting ready to kill 300 people up there to save oxygen. And I can guarantee you it won't be cocouncil members, it'll be working people. Your people!" Clarke exclaimed vehemently, poking Bellamy in the chest with her finger.

"Bellamy! Where's the radio?" Finn immediately shoved him the second he and the unidentified girl they'd found in the pod caught up with the group, earning an angry push back from Bellamy.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Bellamy Blake?" the stranger questioned, sizing him up with a small smirk.

"They're looking everywhere for you."

Unease instantly engulfed the him, his eyes hardening dangerously as they shot over to the girl; spitting out a vicious warning. She was going to spill his secret.

"Shut up."

"Looking for him why?" Clarke asked seriously, the stranger detrimental to Bellamy's reputation as she unhesitatingly answered.

"He shot Chancellor Jaha."

Bellamy found his gaze darting hastily around to read everyone's reactions, halting when he landed on Dakota. She was shocked, indisputably; her eyes nearly bulging out of her head as her jaw dropped at the wild information. She was clearly stunned by the news, but oddly enough, there was not even one morsel of anger or fear; which is what he had been expecting to see. Instead, deep beneath her ebony eyes was understanding. Empathy, leniency, compassion. Somewhere beneath all the diplomatic and considerate layers of Dakota Thompson was something in her that seemed to immediately, wholeheartedly understand what Bellamy had done. Almost something that he felt about himself was mirroring in her irises, something raw and real that he hadn't expected to find within her. He saw this, and it perplexed him beyond belief; the boy knitting his brows slightly as the two stared at each other in a deeply unsettling knowingness.

"That's why you took the wristbands. Needed everyone to think we're dead." Clarke voiced in realization.

"And all that, whatever the hell we want? You just care about saving your own skin." Finn added.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Fallon pursed her lips, giving a few slow claps with her hands as if to applaud them.

"And siding with Fallon? That's real low." Clarke insulted, the Walsh girl's eyes flashing with anger as her gaze shot over to the Ark's privileged princess.

"No one asked for your opinion, Cinderella." she hissed.

The stranger's hickory eyes suddenly shifted when she looked to Fallon, her features dropping and her lips parting when she spotted a familiar necklace around the blonde's neck. Instinctively, her hand flew up to her chest, patting it down and finding herself void of the jewelry she rarely ever dared to take off. Immediately, she was overcome with anger; that necklace was special. With a rage igniting in her eyes and a hefty scowl curving her lips downwards, she marched the few steps between her and Fallon; not hesitating to try and pull it harshly from her neck.

"What the hell?!" she spat irritatedly.

"I'd watch yourself if I were you, Space Girl." Fallon didn't miss a beat matching her aggravation, swiftly knocking her hand away when she tried to take back what was rightfully her's.

"Name's Raven Reyes, and I'd give you the same suggestion. You can give me back my necklace, or you can let all them watch as I take it from you."

Blaze meets tempest, roaring flames vs violent windstorm. If Fallon Walsh was fire, then Raven Reyes was a hurricane; the two destined to be a fatal force of nature against mankind if ever to unify. If rivals, the outcome was bound to be just as deadly; for untamable gale could only cause an inferno to grow taller. The moment their brutal eyes met, an explosion was set in the near future. Or right now.

"I'd like to see you try." Fallon snarled tauntingly, irises darkening.

"Clearly you're underestimating-" she halted, her vexed gaze only leaving Fallon- her new and immediate enemy- when Bellamy attempted to storm away; Raven not having one second of that.

"We'll finish this later." she growled.

Hey, shooter! Where's my radio?" she called, chasing after him; putting herself in front of him and blocking his path.

"Get out of my way." Bellamy ordered impatiently.

"Where is it?!"

"I should've killed you when I had the chance."

"Okay, woah, woah let's-"

"Shut up, Thompson." Fallon quietly, unnoticeably grabbed her arm and roughly yanked her back when Dakota tried to interject; the dark-haired girl stumbling to regain her balance for a moment at the harsh jerk on her body.

"Really? Well I'm right here." Raven challenged lowly; Bellamy barely waiting a full second before leaping into action.

He seized the collar of Finn's coat- which she was wearing- and slammed her against a tree; his hand flying loosely around her neck. Before any of them even had the chance to race to her aid, Bellamy found the sharp end of a blade aimed directly at his throat from the very girl he had pinned against the pine's brown bark; Raven having effortlessly retrieved her pocket knife and gained the upper hand. Though it most definitely wasn't their main focus, they were all slightly impressed; maybe Raven could hold her own if she were to fight Fallon.

"Where's my radio?" she growled menacingly, eyes smoldering fearlessly.

"Bellamy, let her go!" Dakota exclaimed.

"Stab him!" Fallon grinned encouragingly, not wanting their dangerous dispute to end.

"Okay, stop it." Clarke demanded seriously, the two remaining locked in an intense stare before Bellamy finally let go of her; Raven pushing him away with a scowl.

"Jaha deserved to die, you all know that." Bellamy asserted gruffly.

"No one deserves to die." Dakota shook her head in disagreement, even though Bellamy's back was now facing them.

"Except my step-dad, right Kota?" Fallon sneered, her head snapping over to her foe; resentfulness never having been so discernible in someone's voice.

Each time the Walsh girl said something of the sort, Dakota felt a piece of her heart chip away inside of her chest; guilt eating her slowly alive. She opened her mouth to respond, but Bellamy was whirling angrily back around before she had the chance.

"Knock it off, Fallon." he warned.

The blonde shot icy daggers at him with her eyes as she took a step closer to the fuming boy; emotions running so high throughout the entire group that nothing important was able to even be discussed. They couldn't stop arguing long enough for that to happen.

"Or what?"

"Yeah, Jaha's not my favorite person either, but he isn't dead." Raven declared loudly, Bellamy freezing; forgetting about his quarrel entirely.

His brain stuttered momentarily, the astounding news nearly ripping the air from his lungs; that, he had not expected. Not in the slightest. It meant so many different things. It lifted various weights and replaced them with a different set of heavy worries on his shoulders; a stronger fear the most prominent thing that took ahold of his heart.

"Damnit!" Fallon harshly slapped her hand against her leg with gritted teeth, a deeply annoyed groan coming from her lips; no one else seeming to take the news like she was.

"I knew it was too good to be true!"

"What?" Bellamy managed to question, eyes wide and body rigid; jaw overwhelmingly tight.

"You're a lousy shot." Raven snickered honestly, eyeing him up and down once.

"Bellamy, don't you see what this means? You're not a murderer." Clarke quickly strode up to him, placing a hand on his arm.

"You always did what you had to do to protect your sister. That's who you are. And you can do it again, by protecting 300 of your people. Where's the radio?"

"It's too late." he responded lugubriously, regret evident in his tone as he looked down at the blonde dispiritedly.

"No, it's not. You can change this!" Dakota eagerly encouraged, speedily joining Clarke's side; fighting for the same cause.

"Come on, do the right thing. Truth minus dare, Bellamy. Where's the radio?"

He stared at her with a crestfallen face, guilt constricting his heart at the hope-filled smile on her features, knowing what she didn't. Dakota Thompson placed her faith in everyone, even in the people who didn't deserve to be believed in. He felt ashamed staring into her innocently sparkling eyes, the girl believing they still had a chance. He was trying to muster up the horrible words, but was too conscience-stricken to tell the truth; Fallon taking cruel pleasure in speaking for him when he said nothing, crossing her arms with a wicked smirk.

"Bellamy threw it in the lake."

༻✧༺

DAKOTA WADED THROUGH THE ANKLE DEEP WATERS OF THE COLD STREAM, HER SOCKS SOAKING WET beneath her tawny hiking boots; the poorly crafted shoes having been unable to keep her feet dry. She squinted her eyes against the same sunshine that was bouncing off the tiny ripples; a small crowd having been recruited to search for the missing radio.

Fallon had headed back to camp a long while ago, refusing to help; not caring one bit about the risk posed to the 300 hundred people on the Ark. With teamwork, they had gotten Raven's necklace back from her before her heartless departure; only earning one mild black eye on Finn's face in the process.

Dakota placed a hand over her eyes to shade her vision, scrunching her nose as she titled her head upwards to see Bellamy squatting in the grass outside of the water's boundaries; pensive and brooding and not helping at all. She sighed, sauntering across the stream and stepping back up onto dry land; her immense clumsiness only succeeding in her fumbling once against the slippery rocks. She sat down next to him, Bellamy's gaze never shifting from the water; hers set on the same sight as she spoke to him.

"Don't feel like going for a swim?" she asked, and though her statement was sarcastic, it lacked any form of meanness; the girl awkwardly trying to use it as a conversation starter in the tense and suffocatingly melancholy atmosphere.

He didn't respond, his jaw clenched unremittingly and his hands folded in front of him; Dakota only then looking over to his freckled features beside her.

"Bellamy, you should help. It's-" she was speaking with a soft tone, but he cut her off with a cold, bitter one.

"The least I can do since this is my fault?"

"It might make you feel a little better." she shrugged quietly, removing her gaze to pick through the grass as his finally snapped over to her.

"Feel better." he scoffed under his breath with a shake of his head; clearly fed up with himself.

"I'm going to cost 300 people their lives." he voiced angrily.

"Not when we find this radio, which is why you should come help."

"I tried to kill a guy, Dakota." he looked back over to her, bitterness lacing his words; the girl titling her head to the side with her brows furrowed in trouble.

"I thought I did. I had every intention to kill Jaha. So no, maybe he didn't die, but I am still just as much of a murderer."

"You're not a murderer, you're human." she turned her body to face him as he hung his head down.

"Right, because everyone shoots their chancellor in the stomach." he mumbled morosely.

"No, because every human messes up. Badly."

He lifted his head to meet her eyes. Calm. She miraculously brought him calm when their gazes met, somehow. His shoulders sagged a little as he stared into her soothing irises; believing for a moment that everything would be okay. What an allure she had to aiding in inexplicable peace.

"And that's what you did today. You messed up, badly. But you also didn't know about the culling, so you can't hold yourself responsible for all of it. And as for Jaha.... we do crazy, crazy things when the people we love are in danger. W-we go blind and we do whatever we think has to be done to protect them. You were trying to protect your sister, Bellamy. You gave up your morals to keep her safe."

He knitted his brows, slightly surprised by the last words that had exited her lips; he hadn't pegged her for someone who believed there were situations in which setting morals aside were okay. Her oddly desperate endeavoring to justify this struck a peculiar feeling in him; something just felt strange about the way she had posed her words. Almost as if he wasn't the only person she was trying to convince of this. Perhaps it was her feeble attempt at keeping the image of her mother unsoiled from murder in her head, her way of telling herself what her mother had done could even be explained.

"You think what I did was okay? Was right?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant, I just...." she quickly denied, pondering for a moment; of course she didn't think it was right.

"I'm just saying I get it. I think a lot of people would do the same, and you can't pretend you're some cold-hearted killer who tried to take Jaha out for no reason, o-or for plain revenge. At the end of the day, you did it for Octavia."

He looked back out over the water, the group still searching incessantly.

"What I do think is that you should help make this better while you have the chance." she added, her gaze returning to the scene before them just as his had.

"You don't know what it's like, Dakota." he shook his head.

"To have blood on your hands."

There was a long pause with only the wind whistling softly in their ears before she replied; her voice just above a whisper, barely even audible as she kept her eyes trained firmly ahead.

"I know what it's like."

Bellamy's face contorted in utter confusion, snapping over to look at her; Dakota staring out at the water with a blank air upon her usually theatrical and expressive features. For a moment, he wondered if he had imagined her bizarre statement; perhaps it was just a murmur of the chilly zephyr chattering through the air.

"Hey! I found it!" Jones's voice suddenly rang out before Bellamy had the chance to ask her what she had meant; Dakota springing instantly to her feet as he eventually trudged reluctantly behind her.

Raven was quick to get her hands on the trashed device, Dakota wincing as she watched her hurriedly shake the water out of it; knowing from the looks of it that the damage had been extensive.

"Can you fix it?" Clarke quickly inquired, Raven hastily picking flecks of rubble from it as she answered.

"Maybe. But it'll take half a day just to dry out the components to see what's broken."

"Like I said, it's too late." Bellamy told them coldly, voice gruff and low; an emotionless air glazed over his features once again. Clarke stormed towards him in a rightful rage.

"Do you have any idea what you did? Do you even care?!"

"You asked me to help. I helped." he responded vacantly.

"300 people are gonna die today because of you!"

"Hold up." Raven interjected, an idea clearly formulating in her mind; wheels turning behind her brilliant eyes.

"We don't have to talk to the Ark, we just have to let them know we're down here... right?"

"Yeah, but... how do we do that with no radio?" Finn asked glumly, receiving a bright and knowing smile from his girlfriend.

"Flares?" Dakota gasped, catching onto her idea; the beam on Raven's face directing over towards her.

"I like your brain, Bite-Size. Come on, move out! We gotta go!"

"We can do this!" Dakota grinned, hopping on her feet momentarily in excitement; no doubt in her mind they would save the day.

Bellamy furrowed his brows when he felt the corners of his lips being tugged, rolling them into his teeth to prevent it. He wasn't sure why he had started to smile in such a worrisome situation and in the midst of red hot guilt wrapping around his stomach, but then he realized. Dakota's avid hope is what had caused it. It made him blink in surprise, continually startled by the power she so naturally had to do something of the such to anyone; his gaze fastened to her skipping alongside Raven back to camp.

What was once intrigue for the doe-eyed girl was gradually turning into an authentic sense of enjoying her the more time he found himself around her; the more time she had to unintentionally make him see the good before the bad. A real, true connection with anyone besides his sister was foreign to him, and frankly, it is not what he wanted here on earth. He wanted to be emotionless to a fault to keep himself and Octavia safe.

But Dakota Thompson was beginning to make that pretty damn hard.

A/N!
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DOUBLE UPDATE BC WHY NOT

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