Chapter Text
Clarke feels the rocket rush to a sudden stop and a loud creaking noise come from the 100 year old ship when everything settles. “No machine hum” a voice notes and Clarke struggles with her buckle to try and get out. “Clarke, what are you doing?” Wells Jaha says from beside her and she doesn’t answer him. He is the last person she would answer to today. But she had to find him. What if he didn’t make it on? A voice tries to tell her but she shoves it down to the bottom of her chest with the rest of her negative emotions.
Shoving through people crowding around the door, she walks up to the lever on the wall. Acting as if it’s gonna fucking open itself. She goes to push it down and a strong hand stops her. She turns, eyebrows already raised in don’t fucking touch me unless you wanna lose a hand fashion. Standing before her was a man about a foot taller than her. His skin was surprisingly tanner than most, considering we’ve been on a space station for the past 100 years. His hair, which was probably usually curly and stuck out everywhere, was gelled and combed excruciatingly back. What confused her most about him was the guard jacket wrapped around his form. Why would they send a guard down with us? That’s not really the Ark’s style, to send down someone who isn’t expendable.
“What the hell are you doing?” He asks and she rolls her eyes.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m getting out of this place. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to spend the rest of my life stuck in this dropship” she says and now it’s his turn to roll his eyes. But he doesn’t, he just smirks.
“Brave princess. The air could be toxic.” He says mockingly as if he were talking to a five year old.
She pushes his hand away and nods her head in the direction of the large door holding them in. “If the air is toxic, then we’re all dead anyway” she says back, copying his tone. Except she really means it because this guy probably has the same amount of brain cells as the guy who blew up Earth the first time. As soon as he finally moves his hand, she pulls the lever down without hesitation and the doors open to a blinding light.
At first she is nervous, had her prediction been wrong? Did she just kill them all? Will she never see him again?
Then the light dies down and standing before them was a forest of greens and a blue sky. A smile erupts on her face as she gets her bearings. Earth was safe. They were safe. From the chancellor, the guard, and the Arks stupid laws. Earth was right here and survivable. A girl that was previously talking to the guard steps up and runs onto the ground. She feels the grass beneath her shoes and Clarke smiles when she screams out, “We’re back bitches!”.
Everyone runs out, screaming and cheering. Celebrating because they’re free. Clarke runs out with them, but wasn’t celebrating. Not without him. She searches through people and starts to feel anxious. Did he not make it on? Was he kept behind on the Ark? She almost gives up until she sees a head of hair come from behind the dropship with a few other people. She smiles widely. He made it on, he was here. She watches him and can tell he’s looking for her too. She doesn’t know why, but that makes her feel happier then it should.
She runs up behind him and jumps on his back. He groans but she can hear the relief in his tone when he recognizes who it is. “What the hell?” Nathan Miller shouts when he sees the Ark Princess jumping onto John Murphy. “Calm down, Miller. Don’t gotta worry about her” Murphy says and pulls her off his back. He turns to Clarke and holds her face in his hands.
“Hey, Griffin” he whispers.
“Hi”.
“Almost thought I lost you there” he says and she nods, “I could say the same”. She doesn’t have to turn to the group of delinquents standing before them to know what they are thinking. What the fuck is going on and were there eyes working correctly? “Did you have a good ride?” He asks her casually and she smirks.
“Well, I was unconscious for most of the ride, but yeah it was ok. Now are you going to kiss me or not?” She asks and he gives her a sly grin. “Don’t gotta ask me twice” he mutters and brings her lips to his. She laughs softly against his lips and wraps her fingers around his hair. “You need a shower” she mutters against his lips when she feels how greasy his hair is. He finally laughs loudly, pulling away from her.
“Sunshine, how in hell could I going to take a shower down here?” He asks her and she shrugs. “I don’t know. But I bet you’ll find out” she says and he rolls his eyes, smirking at her words.
“Murphy, what the hell is going on?” Miller asks and Murphy turns to them. “Oh, yeah. This is Clarke Griffin, my… what are we? Isolation kind of confuses that” he asks her, turning back to face her. She shrugs, “I don’t know. What do you want to be?” She asks casually.
“Wanna be my girlfriend, princess?”.
She raises an eyebrow, “Yeah, sure. Sounds fun. We’ve only been together for about a year. Let’s put labels on it now”. Murphy grins and turns back to the group of delinquents, unstirred by the looks of disbelief, shock, and confusion on the delinquents around them. “Ok, then yeah. This is Clarke Griffin, my girlfriend of, as she said, about a year” he says.
“Dude, this girl is Ark royalty. She’s probably just slumming it with you for some rebellious phase against mommy and daddy” Dax says and Murphy turns to him, a glare directed at him.
“Shut the fuck up, Dax. You have no idea what you’re talking about”.
“And by the way, just a fun fact, there’s not really a daddy to rebel against. Mini Jaha got him floated so that option isn’t really in the books” Clarke mutters sarcastically and Murphy nods in her direction.
“So we’re gonna go. See you later?” Murphy says and walks away with Clarke without getting an answer.
“Did we land on Earth or some fucking alternate dimension?” Miller mutters and walks away with Dax.
- - -
The sun was setting and they didn’t know who, but someone set up a large bonfire in the middle of what was going to be camp. Clarke could already see the guard from the ship, who she later learned was named Bellamy, ordering people around building the tents from the ship. Clarke and Murphy were sitting by the fire, with the rest of the delinquents who didn’t want to work for the rest of the night. After all, they were free. They could enjoy one night without work before they were ordered around again.
Murphy was sitting against a tree and Clarke was laying in-between his legs, laying her head on his chest, facing the fire. He was running his fingers through her hair and she was sharpening a homemade knife she had torn from the ship. It was just a piece of metal from the side of the ship, so it was dented on a few sides, but that could be fixed easily. She was trying to make sure the hunk of metal would actually puncture something if she used it.
“Life is going to be so weird on the ground” Murphy mutters, staring at the fire and she nods against his chest, turning to face him and away from the roaring heat. “Well, we’ll adjust, we’ll have to” she says and yawns.
“You’re tired?” He teases and she rolls her eyes, laying her head on his chest and tangling her legs with his. She sets the knife on the ground, deciding she could keep trying to make it damageable tomorrow. “Yes, I have to adjust to having to walk so much. We were stuck in a small metal box for over a year with literally nothing to do, so…” she mutters, closing her eyes, wishing they could stay like this forever. She’d be fine with that.
“Now that’s not completely true. There wasn’t nothing to do.” He implies jokingly and she laughs softly into his arms as he wraps them around her form.
“I think your friends are still a little shocked to see me with you” she yawns again and feels him nodding.
“That’s an understatement, princess, everyone is shocked. They know who you are and who I am. No one is going to exactly dismiss that like it’s nothing” he says, playing with a strand of her golden locks. She shrugs lazily, not wanting to move. “Well, they can get over it. They weren’t stuck with us in isolation, so they don’t get to judge who I decide to be with”.
Murphy is silent for a while and Clarke almost falls asleep before she hears him say something again. “Do you think we would still be together if we weren’t in isolation together?” He asks and she can practically hear how loudly he’s thinking.
She sighs and sits up, knowing she wasn’t going to fall asleep now. “No, John Murphy. I don’t think we would be together if we weren’t in isolation together. You would probably be your asshole self when we land and then slowly we would grow to respect each other and then become like best friends. We would never be romantic. But we are now. So that’s all I want to focus on. I don’t want to get stressed over something that could have happened when I can be happy with what did happen” she says and he nods, seemingly satisfied with her answer.
She always knew how to give him an answer that would calm down the problem he seemed to be having.
She nods as well and lays back down again. “You can sleep now. I’ll keep my brain down for a while.” He mutters, knowing how tired she truly was. She just repositions herself against his warm body, too exhausted to give him a verbal answer. She falls asleep to his fingers running soothingly through her hair and the fire reflecting off her eyelids until all she sees is black.