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"Happy Birthday Monty!" they all cheer in unison as Monty blows out the single candle placed in his surprise party cupcake. She knows it isn't much, but they're lucky he even gets to celebrate his 18th birthday. These are the moments that make her feel so grateful that her mother is on the council because she knows that without people like her and Marcus they would all be dead. Back before Marcus Kane was chancellor, turning 18 was not a celebration in any shape, way, or form. It was a death sentence.
Now, Chancellor Kane almost always pardons the 18 year olds of their crimes. He says he doesn't feel like children should have to die because of silly mistakes. Everyone in this room can agree that we owe him a great deal of gratitude. "C'mon Monty don't tell me you aren't going to share that with me! I would have shared with you if you hadn't still been locked up on my birthday!" Jasper half yelled, half begged Monty for just one bite of the chocolate baked goody. "Ya right" Monty replied with a scoff, "If by 'shared' you mean you would have let me lick the wrapper then yes I know you would have buddy."
Jasper and Monty have been the best of friends since..well practically forever. She's never seen a pair of pals be so relaxed and fun-loving toward each other, especially when each one of them is responsible for the other spending a year in the sky box. Clarke looks across the room and sees Wells arriving to the party, late of course, and watches him as he scans the room. She imagines he is looking for her. Wells has been her best friend since they were 8 years old. They're as close as siblings, but even so they still can't measure up to the bromance that is Monty Green and Jasper Jordan.
As she sits there, day dreaming and comparing the two friendships, someone tapping a fork against their cup draws her attention. "Alright everyone I'd like to make a speech" said Bellamy, of course he wanted to make a speech. Leave it to Bellamy Blake to fit a speech in during every event. He sure is something that boy. "This speech is dedicated to you Monty! The last one to be pardoned of their crimes and removed from the sky box. With Chancellor Kane in charge now we don't have to be scared. We can live our lives, and do whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want!" With that he lifted up his cup and they all brought their drinks to their lips in sync. When Clarke placed her cup back down on the table she noticed Kane and her mother walk into the main hall of factory station, hand in hand.
For what seemed like merely a moment Clarke sat there simply enjoying the conversation with her friends and admiring the way Marcus looked at her mother as though she were the brightest star in space. It was at the end of that short lived moment of pure content that she felt a large jolt that almost sent her soaring off of her chair and onto the floor. She grabbed a hold of the table in front of her to help support herself and once she regained control she looked around only to noticed that others had not been so lucky.
Octavia, who only seconds ago had been standing next to her brother, zestfully mocking his speech, was thrown to the ground when the ship shockingly snapped sideways. She cradled her head as she shakily lifted herself off of the unforgiving concrete floor. Before Clarke could even stand up Bellamy had already ran over to his little sister and pulled her up from the cold ground...effortlessly, like she was as light as air. "What the hell just happened??" Octavia said in a slightly groggy voice, but of course you could still hear that underlying bite of sass that had always been a part of the younger Blake sibling. Bellamy ignored her remark. He laid her down on top of the table and practically demanded that she keep still. He looked at her with such concern and nervousness that it involuntarily brought a soft smile to Clarke's face. Then he started interrogating her with questions. "Are you okay? How is your head? Do you feel sick? Should I call medical? I'll call medical!".
His immediate switch from loving to overbearing forced Clarke's eyes to roll deep inside the back of her head. Octavia sat up and was trying to no avail to convince her overprotective big brother that she was fine. Like usual, he was too worried about her to even hear the words she was saying. He was so caught up in everything he didn't even notice that Clarke's mom, one of the only doctors on board, was sitting only a few feet away from him. Just as Clarke was beginning to force herself from her chair to try and stop him from unnecessarily going to get medical she was brought to a halt by an alarm sounding and Bellamy being forced back inside as all the doors were sealed shut. In that moment everyone looked at each other with puzzled expressions written on their faces. Some seemed only slightly startled by the surprise lock down, while others were quite noticeably freaking out inside.
Her first instinct was to try and make sure that everyone kept calm and make sure that they were all okay. Looking around the room, however, she began to feel her chest swell with a nervous heat when she wasn't able to locate her mother. A rush of relief washed over Clarke when her eyes finally met Abby's from across the room. Abby and Marcus were standing off to the side away from the commotion and seemed deep in discussion. What was happening? Clarke needed answers and she needed them now. She began to slowly creep toward them, but the closer she got the more hushed their voices became and by the time she was standing next to her mother they had stopped talking completely and were staring at Clarke as though she were the one acting strange. Raising a brow in question, she began to open her mouth and start an argument but was interrupted by the blood curdling sound of shrieking metal.
She turned around to see Octavia attempting to pry open the doors with her bare hands. Octavia let go a scream of frustration as the door obviously didn't budge in the slightest. "Octavia you aren't going to be able to get it open, they are mechanically sealed. They can only be opened by the control room." the youngest mechanic on the ark, Raven Reyes, said to the frantic and terrified Octavia. "You don't understand! I have to get out of here right now I...I can't be locked in here. Someone get me out now! Please!" Octavia painfully pleaded with everyone in the room, but no one said a word. There was nothing that could be done, and it truly felt like needles pricking Clarke's heart knowing that she couldn't help her. Even from where Clarke was standing she could see the tears and a look in Octavia's eyes that could only be described as petrified.
Bellamy walked over to his sister and in a voice so calm and soothing he hushed her and said, "O it's gonna be alright...you aren't locked up anymore okay? Those days are far behind you and I promise no one is ever going to lock you up ever again... I will never let anything bad happen to you. Do you hear me? It's just a maintenance issue and these doors will open in no time. Trust me Octavia, I will protect you with my life." With every word that escaped his perfectly shaped lips Clarke could see her relaxing. Octavia melted into his arms like butter in a hug so innocent and beautiful that Clarke couldn't tear her eyes away from them. She could tell that this wasn't the first time that Bellamy used his kind, soft words to calm his little sister down. She watched him steadily walk Octavia from the doors and to a chair in the center of the room, all the while never taking his arm away from his little sisters shoulders. It was all Clarke could do not to go over to him and tell him how remarkable it was what he had just done for his sister. She had never seen anything like that before, and would have never expected such gentle, beautiful words to come from a boy like Bellamy Blake.
Quickly, she snapped back into reality when a loud crackle emitted from the overhead speakers and she heard a voice over the intercom. "Code 31, Code 31. Factory Station is in lockdown until further notice. Do not panic citizens of the ark, we are doing everything that we can." There was something erie about the voice on the other side of the speaker. Something felt wrong. If nothing were truly worth panicking over then why did the voice sound so...shaky...and anxious? No. Stop it Clarke. You're letting your brain play tricks on you. Everything is fine.
Everything was not fine. They had all been sitting together in the main hall of factory station for almost four hours now, and still nothing. No voice came over the static infected intercom, no doors opened, nothing. Everyone just sat blankly staring at one another with God knows what running through their minds. Maybe someone should spark a little conversation so the room didn't feel so dreary and lifeless? She elbowed Wells in the ribcage. "Ow! What the.." he began to speak only to be cut off by the sound of the old speaker system finally coming to life. For a moment nothing happened. They all just averted their eyes to the ceiling as if God himself was the one they were waiting all this time to hear from.
Then, after what felt like hours, a gruff, monotone, colorless voice began to speak. "Attention citizens of the Ark...we have determined the cause of the disturbance that occurred in factory station earlier this morning. A strong, wavelike, force of energy unknown to us at this time has crashed into your sector. The strength of said force has partially detached factory station from the rest of the Ark. After many hours of careful and difficult deliberation a mutual decision has been made. We are confident that there is no way to reunite factory station with the Ark again, and any attempt to do so would only endanger the lives of everyone in and outside of the sector. With that being said the plan is now to drop factory station in hopes that it will be easier to repair the Ark and lose the least amount of our people. Therefore, we shall be directing factory station toward the direction of Earth, and can only pray that it survives the journey. There are no words to describe how terribly sorry and devastated we are to have to make this call, but trust that it is the right one. Good luck and may we meet again." Clarke's spine tensed and her body froze listening to his words. She stared at the floor with her mouth slightly hanging open and she could feel her eyes begin to fill to the brim with tears. The click of the intercom shutting off felt like a bullet to the chest. How could this be happening?
She looked up and saw Finn Collins trying to comfort a hysterical Raven Reyes. Finn and Raven have been together for almost two years now, and were the most annoyingly happy couple she had ever laid eyes on...until now. Finn brought Raven's face up to his and kissed her softly on the lips, which muffled her sobs. "Wow...so much for the epic party I guess" said Jasper emotionless. "Yah..Happy Birthday to me." replied Monty. Clarke looked at her mother and she looked at Clarke and for a second, just that one glance from her mother made her almost feel at peace. She imagined that Abby could see the fear in her eyes because without hesitation she got up from her seat on the other side of the room and began to walk toward her daughter. Clarke did the same and they met in the middle of the room, not caring who watched, and Abby wrapped her up in a hug so tight she could barely breathe. She had no idea how long they stood there like that, but eventually Marcus came over and placed a hand on both of their shoulders and gave them a weak smile.
Then to the entire room he said, "I know I've only been Chancellor for a short time, but I want you all to know that as long as I'm still alive I will never stop trying to do what's best for my people. Please, trust me when I say that I will do absolutely everything in my power to assure that we get to the ground safely. All of us." Abby looked at him, her eyes gleaming, and said to everyone, "my fiancé and I don't plan on losing anyone today and neither should you. We're a family and family protects one another. Stay calm and we will all survive this." Those simple words some how happened to be just enough to lessen the nerves and jittery anxiety that once filled the room. That was until the lights went out, and the room turned pitch black with the exception of a hazy red glow emitting from the emergency light overhead.
Chaos was coming from every direction as people scrambled around the room like ants under a magnifying glass. The entire factory station began to shake violently as they felt it detach itself from the Ark. "Quick everyone find something to hold onto and strap yourselves down with anything you can find!" screamed Marcus over the pandemonium. Clarke had gotten separated from her mother in the riot of fear and panic and began to swirl around in circles trying to find something, anything to grab onto.
"Clarke over here!" she make a 360 to see Bellamy and Octavia crouched in the corner holding onto some metal pipes coming from the wall. "Come on, hurry!" Bellamy screamed in a seemingly desperate voice. Clarke leapt over a chair and rushed towards the siblings, crouching down on the other side of Octavia, Clarke scanned the madness looking for her mother again. There! On the other side of the room she sees her holding onto one of the steel tables that are bolted to the concrete floor, but she's yelling at someone. Was that...John Murphy.
Every stable spot imaginable had already been snatched and Murphy was trying to rip people hanging on to them off to make room for himself. Her mother kept yelling at him, but he couldn't hear her. Abby released her grip from the table and ran over to him. Grabbing him by the shoulders and turning him toward the table Abby pointed to the leg she had been desperately trying to hold onto and shoved him in that direction. Finally she turned and saw Clarke.
In the split second they made eye contact, Abby smiled at her beloved daughter and then was jerked forcefully backwards by another blow that hit the station. The little light they had diminished and the once red room was now in complete utter darkness and was filled with nothing but screams of terror. Clarke felt a hand grab her own. She didn't know who it was, but she didn't care to know. The unknown hand squeezed hers softly and another violent jolt occurred, this time smashing the back of her skull against the metal pipes and she lost consciousness.