"Allison, wake up."

She shook the fog from her head. "Dee? What…" She tugged at her restraints, before realizing she was strapped into the dropship.

"Allie… I was on the team fixing the dropship. They… They let me come in to say goodbye."

"Dee…"

"No, it's… we don't have much time." She smiled sadly. "I know… This is my fault, no matter what you say, Allie. I'm… I'm letting you go. I hope you find someone –"

"Dee, it's not your fault. You– "

"You deserve someone who won't betray you like I did." She said grimly.

"Dee, don't do this." Allie took Dee's hands into her own.

She shook her head sadly. "Even… even if we see each other again…" She bit her lip, her eyes tearing up. "I want you to find someone else. I don't deserve you. You're brilliant and beautiful and – and I threw that away when I told the Guard."

"Dee. I love you. I want you." She whispered, the dropship filling up.

"No, Allison. This… this is goodbye, in more ways than one." She pressed her lips against Allie's hands. "I can't… I can't look at you, I can't touch you, I can't love you without facing… " she swallowed. "Without facing what I've done. Let me go."

"Dee, I can't do that." She shook her head.

"It has to be this way." She straightened up. "Goodbye, Allie."

Allison bit her lip, watching as she reached into her pocket, pulling out a leather-bound notebook.

"I saved your notes. The guards… the council wanted to burn Heather's work, but I got this out." She handed it to Allison. "Here."

Allie took the notebook reverently. "Dee… "

"This is goodbye, Allie. I want you to move on, okay?" She forced a smile. "What we have – what we had – was good, but it wasn't perfect. And that's what you deserve."

"I'm not just going to let you go, Dierdre." Allison hissed as a pretty brunette strapped in next to her.

"If you love me, at all, Allie, let me go. I can't stand this, okay? I betrayed you, and I can't let myself do that again." Tears burned in her eyes and she turned to walk away.

"Dee…" Allie stared after her, a hollowness burning inside her. "Find someone that will put you first. Okay? You deserve that too."

She smiled sadly, looking back from the hatch she was nearly out of. "Goodbye, Allie."

Allie stared after her as she left, a lump in her throat.

"Well… that was intense?" The brunette offered next to her.

Allison tried not to glare at her. "Thanks."

"I'm Octavia." She stuck out her hand.

"Allison." She nodded, gently taking Octavia's hand. "So… what're you in for?" She tried to change the subject.

She smiled hollowly. "Being born."

She arched an eyebrow. "A second child?" She guessed.

"Got it in one. What about you?"

"Unauthorized experiments on a human subject, and theft of public resources." She shrugged.

"What sort of experiment? You didn't kill someone, did you?" She asked, morbid curiosity coloring her tone.

Allison snorted. "No, I was my own subject. I was trying to increase the human body's ability to metabolize radiation."

"Oh." Her brow furrowed. "Seems kind of… geeky if you ask me."

Allie snorted. "That's one way to put it."

"Yeah." Octavia was quiet for a minute. "She was your girlfriend?"

Allison nodded, the hollowness in her chest flaring up again. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry," She said awkwardly. "I don't really… know much about relationships, I guess. But that's rough."

"Thanks." She frowned at the seat in front of her, then felt the jolt as they were ejected from the ark.

Octavia held up her fist. "Well, here's to Earth, right?"

Allison tapped her fist half-heartedly against Octavia's. "And to not dying from radiation, hopefully."

The ship shook, and a shriek left Allie's lips.

"Or from a crash, right?" Octavia said wryly.

She gritted her teeth. "I hate being in these metal contraptions. The ark is bad enough and now we're in a centuries old dropship hurtling –"

The screens flickered on. "Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now." Counsellor Jaha's face appeared. "You've been given a second chance, and as your Chancellor, it is my hope that you see this as a chance for you, but a chance for all of us; indeed, for mankind itself. We have no idea what's waiting for you down there. If the odds for survival were better, we would've sent others. Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you… expendable."

"Your dad's a dick, Wells!" A boy a few rows over shouted. Octavia snorted in amusement, and Allison tried to quell her simmering rage.

"Those crimes will be forgiven, your records wiped clean."

Another girl snorted from somewhere else in the cabin. "Fat chance!"

Allison clenched her fist and glared at the screen.

"The drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war, Mount Weather was a military base built within a mountain. It was to be stocked with enough non-perishables to sustain three-hundred people for up to two years."

A boy with a roguish grin – Finn – drifted out of his seat to the cheers of many of the other kids, Octavia included, and floated up to Wells and Clarke Griffin.

"Hey, check it out. Looks like your dad floated me after all."

"You should strap in before the parachutes deploy." Was all he said, his face unimpressed.

Clarke noticed a few others attempting to emulate Finn a few rows back. "You two! Stay put if you want to live!"

"Mount Weather is life. You must locate those supplies immediately. Your one responsibility is to stay alive." The screens flickered, then shut back down as the ship began shuddering again, shouting echoing through the cabin.

Allison crossed her arms, hugging them close to her. Octavia reached over and grabbed her hand. "It's alright."

She shook her head. "Fucking Jaha is sending us down here to die in a four-hundred-year-old ship. The retrorockets haven't fired yet." Her voice was quiet, barely audible over the shouting match between Clarke and Wells, but terror laced each vowel.

"If we die, we die." Octavia said seriously. "There's nothing we can do except hope we don't. Fear doesn't do anything."

Allison exhaled, keeping her eyes shut, squeezing Octavia's hand. "Wow, and here I thought you didn't know how to talk to people." She said, trying for a joke.

"I have my moments," Octavia grinned, just as they crashed – onto the ground.

Everything was quiet, as everyone absorbed the situation.

"Listen – no machine hum."

Allison felt herself relax, opening her eyes to see Octavia grinning down at her. "So… what were you saying about these metal contraptions?"

They hurriedly unstrapped themselves, standing up quickly. "How about we get this over with?" Allie grinned at her new friend.

"The outer door is on the lower level! Let's go!" Someone called out, and there was a mad rush for the ladder.

"No! We can't just open the doors –" Clarke pushed her way to the front.

"Hey, just back it up, guys," a deep voice ordered.

"The air could be toxic!" Clarke finished.

"If the air's toxic, we're all dead anyway," He said authoritatively.

"Bellamy?" Octavia spoke, having frozen by Allison's side. She rushed forward to hug him.

The tall man grinned at the sight of Octavia. "God, look how big you are."

Octavia seemed to gather her wits. "What the hell are you wearing, a guard's uniform?" She asked.

"I borrowed it to get on the drop ship," he said, a lopsided smile spreading on his face. "Someone has got to keep an eye on you." He chuckled.

"Where's your wristband?" Clarke asked suddenly.

Octavia turned and glared. "Do you mind? I haven't seen my brother in a year."

"No one has a brother!" a boy called out.

"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor!" Another girl realized.

Octavia growled and went to lunge at her, held back by her brother.

Allison stepped closer. "Hey, Octavia, it's alright. There's no floor to be hidden under here." She grinned down at the beautiful brunette.

"Let's give them something else to remember you by." Bellamy urged.

"Yeah? Like what?" She was still glaring at the girl from earlier.

"Like being the first person on the ground in four hundred years." He smirked, before pulling the lever to open the door.

Light streamed in, blinding them momentarily; when their eyes adjusted, they saw trees.

Allison gave Octavia a little nudge, reassured by the fact that nobody seemed to be affected by the air. "Go on, first girl on the ground."

Octavia bit her lip, looking at Allie, then stepping out gingerly onto the ramp. She crept down, and as soon as her feet touched the dirt, her arms raised in triumph. "We're back, bitches!" She screamed out into the air.

Allison ran out to meet her, wrapping Octavia in a hug. "You did it!"

She stepped back to grin at Allison. "We did it, Al." She held up her fist for another fist bump, which Allison obliged.

Allison looked up from the ferns she was running her hands along, hearing raised voices.

"Relax, we're just trying to figure out where we are." Wells said defensively.

"We're on the ground. That not good enough for you?" Bellamy said belligerently.

Allison stood, dusting the dirt – the dirt! – from her hands onto her jeans, turning towards the brewing tension.

"We need to find Mount Weather. You heard my father's message. That has to be our first priority." Wells said reasonably.

"Shut the fuck up about your father. I like you, Wells, I do. But not your father. We're 'expendable.' Your father sent all of us down here, not knowing if we'd succumb to radiation, when the research that got me locked up would have ensured our survival!" Allison felt the anger that had been brewing inside her for ages bubble over.

"Allison, we don't have any food." He said seriously. "We do need that to survive, and as despicable as you may find my father, he's right."

"Screw your father." Octavia stood next to Allison, defending her new – and first – friend. "What, you think you're in charge here? You and your little 'princess?' " She said angrily.

"Do you think we care who's in charge? We need to get to Mount Weather! Not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll be and the harder this will be. How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a twenty-mile trek. If we want to get there before dark, we all need to leave now." Clarke said forcefully.

Bellamy took a few steps closer. "I've got a better idea – you two go and find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change!" The surrounding delinquents cheered.

Wells looked frustrated. "You're not listening! We all need to go."

A slim, dark-haired boy – Murphy – snorted sarcastically. "Look at this, everybody – the Chancellor of Earth." He said mockingly, pushing Wells back.

"Think that's funny?" Wells said challengingly.

Murphy smirked and shoved him to the ground. "No, but that was."

Wells pulled himself to his feet, putting his hands up defensively.

The others egged the fight on, and Allison bit her lip, considering stepping between them when Finn jumped down from the top of the dropship.

"Kid's got one leg." Finn said. "How about you wait until it's a fair fight?"

As the others melted away, Octavia strode forward. "Hey, Spacewalker – rescue me next." She said. Allison chuckled, shaking her head at her.

Bellamy looked at Octavia.

"What? He's cute." She said cheekily.

"He's a criminal." He reminded her.

"They're all criminals." She responded.

"Look, O, I came down here to protect you." He said softly.

"I don't need protecting!" She snapped back. "I have been locked up one way or another all my life. I am done following orders. I need to have fun, Bell. I need to just do something crazy just because I can – and no one, including you, is gonna stop me."

"I can't stay with them, O." He said, lowering his voice even more when he noticed Allison standing close by.

"Now what are you talking about?"

"I… did something, okay? To get on the drop ship. Something that they will kill me for when they come down." His eyes flicked towards Allison, who was approaching them now. "I can't say what it is, just yet, but you have to trust me. You do trust me, don't you?"

"Yeah." She shrugged, walking away.

"Bellamy," Allison looked at him concernedly. "You came down for your sister, right? Here… here we don't just float people. No matter what you did, whoever you had to steal that jacket from… that doesn't have to be a capital offense. And you are one of us, now." She reassured him.

He shook his head. "Maybe."

"So, Mount Weather! When do we leave?" Finn asked Clarke.

"Right now. We'll be back tomorrow with food." She said to Wells.

"How are the two of you going to carry enough food for a hundred?" He questioned.

Finn spun Monty and Jasper around. "Four of us. Can we go now?"

"Sounds like a party!" Octavia smiled flirtatiously at Finn. "Make it five."

Bellamy strode up to her, Allison a few steps behind him. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?"

"Going for a walk." She said sarcastically.

Clarke looked critically at Finn's wristband. "Were you trying to take this off?"

"Yeah. So?" He shrugged.

"So… this wristband transmits your vital signs to the Ark. Take it off, and they'll think you're dead."

"Should I care?"

"I don't know. Do you want the people you love to think you're dead? Do you want them to follow you down here in two months? Because they won't if they think we're dying." She said authoritatively.

"Okay." He nodded.

Allison looked concernedly at Bellamy. "Hey… don't do anything too rash." She told him quietly.

"Wouldn't think of it." He smiled a lopsided grin at her.

"Now let's go." Clarke gestured out towards Mount Weather.

"Go on." Bellamy nudged Octavia forward.

"I'll go with her." Allison said to Bellamy, looking up at him. "Remember what I said."

He nodded at her, "Thanks."