CHAPTER TWELVE - THE GLOWING COMET

    DAKOTA DIDN'T HAVE A reaction for what she had felt in the situation when Monty declared that the wristbands were fried. Her body remained frozen in place, not sure what to do nor say. From behind her, Finn cursed to himself and then punched the drop-ship wall in anger before storming out of the room. Clarke's  gaze was quick to follow Finn's leaving body, her soft features were wiped clean and replaced with a look of worry. 

 Dakota watched her face and she knew how much Finn meant to Clarke. The glances they shared towards one another was pretty obvious to tell that something was going on between the both of them.

  "Go after him." Dakota spoke up, watching as Clarke's eyes landed on her.  "Go bring him back." She added while she gestured her head towards the drop-ship doors. Clarke smiled softly and then went to go after Finn.

 Dakota's eyes left Clarke's figure as she disappeared behind the door and her gaze switched down to the fried wristband. All the hope she was feeling earlier had dropped from her heart and the unsettling fact that they were down here alone with no help from above had finally sunk in. 

 Her best-friend Raven was still up there on the Ark, and she had no clue that Dakota was still alive, not locked up but still a million feet away from her. Octavia seen the look of pure disappointment and walked over towards her, putting a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder which made her tense up.

 Dakota was about to push the hand off when she turned her head and caught the face of the little Blake sibling. Dakota tried to muster up the best fake smile she possibly could, but not even a smile could hide how broken she was feeling. 

Jasper slid down the wall beside them all, holding his hands tightly together. He was shaking and frustrated. Octavia noticed and walked towards him, comforting him the best she could. "This is all my fault." Jasper sighed.

"No it's not. You tried and that's all that matters." Octavia gave him a small smile while she crouched down to get on his level.

 Jasper let out a laugh full of disbelief and everyone in the room could tell he was beyond frustrated with himself at this point. Jasper threw the tools he was using on the table and cursed again. It was when Octavia leaned forward that had Dakota elbowing Monty in the ribs. He looked over in question, and then a small smile slipped up on his lips as Octavia pulled away. 

 Dakota seen the shocked look on his face and she smiled down at him. Octavia motioned towards Dakota, and she sat up after she patted Monty on the shoulder. While she was following behind Octavia who was headed towards the door, she sent Jasper a wink.

 Dakota elbowed Octavia playfully in the ribs once the two girls were outside of the dropship. "So you and Jasper, huh?" She asked with a smirk on her face. 

 Octavia looked over at her with a small smile of her own. "Maybe." 

 Dakota nodded back at her as they walked through the camp together. "He's a nice kid," she told her. "doesn't look like your type though."

 Octavia let out a small giggle as the two girls started to go their separate ways, Dakota walking toward her tent to get some needed sleep. Her eyes went towards the sky, seeing a flying comment descend down towards the Earth. She looked at it in astonishment until it had finally hit her, that was not a star.

 Dakota quickly grabbed hold of Octavia's forearm, pushing the younger girl towards her as she pointed up at the sky. Octavia looked over at her, totally confused of why she grabbed her with such force until she looked up and her green eyes set upon what Dakota was looking at it. 

  A bright red.. something, spinning and twirling through the cloudless sky- it took no time at all for Dakota to distinguish it's features against the blackened sky. It was a pod, used on the Ark for one-person flying or to send out supplies to other Ark stations before the thirteenth stations decided they would attach themselves together to make things easier. It spun violently towards the ground, it's grey parachute tangled and half-deployed behind it. 

"Bellamy, Get out here!" Octavia called. Bellamy caught her attention as he walked out of his tent, completely shirtless like it was no big deal. Dakota felt like she had been hit with a bucket of cold water on her face, no longer feeling tired. When the two girls walked out of the tent behind him, her eyebrows rose on her forehead. He had sex with not one, but two girls? Is there anyone alive that is less of a douchebag?

 "They're coming to help us," Another guy with short black hair and a wonderstruck expression on his face shouted out, "Now we can kick some Grounder ass!"

 Most of the group was cheering in anticipation of the idea that they might finally stand a chance against the Grounder army just on their doorstep. Bellamy, on the other hand was stood there stoically; his eyebrows were furrowed and it was clear that he was deep in thought as he stared at the hurtling ship.

"Please tell me they brought down some shampoo," said another, a girl, in the crowd standing a few bodies away from Dakota. She wrapped the throw she had around her frame tighter with a huff.  Dakota looked towards her with a glare, yeah, shampoo is what we need right now.

***

 Since Clarke and Finn were nowhere to be found, Bellamy had called a meeting with the next best thing. Inside his tent stood Dakota, Nathan, Jones, and Octavia. Everyone but Bellamy was insistent that they should organised a search party immediately in search for a fallen ship.

"If it cleared the ridge, it's probably near the lake." Jones stated with his arms crossed over one another as they all stood in-front of a large table.

 Dakota nodded with approval at the idea. They had no idea what this pod contained, and with hope; the Ark might've sent down either reinforcements or supplies. "We should get moving. Everyone's ready." she told them while putting her pack over her shoulder.

 Bellamy shook his head and put his hand infront of the exit of the tent to stop her from leaving. "No one is going anywhere."

 Dakota's eyebrows rose on her forehead in surprise. She found it all a little suspicious, if she was being completely honest. "What?"

"Not while its dark. It isn't safe." Bellamy continued. 

 "If we don't get to it, the Grounders's will." Dakota told him, her voice rising slightly with annoyance. "Do we really want whatever is contained in that pod to get into the hands of our enemies?" She pointed out, walking forward and staring down Bellamy. 

"We leave at first light. Tell the others." Bellamy said to Jones.

 Dakota scoffed. "You guys can, I'm leaving." She told them. "I'll bring back what I can." She turned to leave but Bellamy had grabbed her by the shoulder, stopping her from advancing. 

"I don't have time for this, Kane." Bellamy snapped, "You are not leaving this camp. Period." He glared down at her, his gaze becoming more authoritative and dangerous the longer they stared at each-other.

 Dakota yanked his hand away from her shoulder with moving her body to the side. "Don't you forget I'm the daughter of Marcus Kane, and I will beat you to a pulp if I have too." She shot back and pushed him away so she could walk out of the tent. 

 With the help of Octavia, Dakota and her got a band of volunteers to help look for the pod that the Ark had dropped down for them. A brunette girl came over, her eyes narrowing down at the map that Dakota had in her hands. "Bellamy said we should wait until sunrise." 

 Dakota's eyes left the map briefly to look over at the girl in question. "Does it look like I care what Bellamy says?" She snapped over at her, frightening the girl away and Dakota shook her head in annoyance. 

 "Where is Bellamy?" Clarke's voice rang out through the camp and Dakota turned her head to see her walking towards her. She shrugged her shoulders in response and then said, "Probably in his tent, why?"

 Clarke gave her a look and Dakota's mouth opened slightly, both girls taking off in the direction of Bellamy's tent. "Ever heard of knocking, bitch?" One of the girls inside had snapped at the two of them when they entered uninvited. 

Dakota's eyebrows rose, eyes narrowing down. Finn rushed into the tent behind them and the girl rolled her eyes. "Oh great, it's a free show. Anyone else want to take a look?"

 Dakota smirked over at her, "ain't much to look at, sweetheart."

"Where the hell is Bellamy?" Clarke asked.

"He took off a while ago." She replied.

Finn took a look around the tent before speaking. "Gear's gone." He pointed out.

 Clarke turned around to face Finn, her voice stern and quick, "He told everyone to stay. Whatever's in that thing, he wants it." She shook her head, "We've gotta get there before he does."

 Clarke ran out of the tent, leaving Finn and Dakota to exchange a worried look. They needed to start moving.. now if they had any chance to catch up with Bellamy. "Let's go," Finn called to her, gesturing towards the door where she walked through. 

 Dakota ran faster to catch up with the fast pace of the determined camp princess, "This isn't your fault, Clarke." She told her while they followed behind. 

 Clarke shook her head, "I've should've known he would go for that radio."

"How are you suppose to know something like that?" Finn questioned, chasing after them.

 Dakota looked back at Finn, "Are you serious? Bellamy spent every last breath making sure no one knew we were alive down here." She snapped back at him as they all stopped in-front of a table with makeshift weapons laying on-top of it. Dakota's eyes stopped on the knife and she grabbed it before following Clarke.

***

 They all decided to split up once they were close enough. Clarke and Dakota went one way, while Finn went another to check the bottom as they all broke out into a jog. As they were searching, Clarke pushed a piece of hair out of her face. "You and Murphy have history?" Clarke's question trailed on her tongue, and to Dakota, it didn't even sound like a question, more of a statement. 

 The fact that Dakota and Murphy had some sort of unspoken connection with one another had Clarke curious of what was between them, or if anything was between them. 

 Dakota arched an eyebrow at the blonde, "Should I even ask about you and Space-walker?"

 She swallowed hard, mentally nodding dually noted. As they dwelled deeper into the woods, Dakota's eye caught something in the distance. "Clarke, hey, over here." She started walking towards it, smoke covering the ground around it. Once they entered the clearing, they both smiled once they got to the pod.  Clarke pulled the latch open, climbing in but stopping, "Oh my god."

 Clarke was blocking Dakota's view, as she tried to maneuver her way to find what Clarke was looking at, whatever was in there, spoke.  "Hi." The tanned girl that was in the pod stared back at the young blonde. "I made it?"

 Dakota felt herself freeze in place at the sound of the voice coming from the pod, and while Clarke gave her a helping hand out of the pod, Dakota's eyes widened. 

 As soon as her feet touched the ground, she spread her arms out from her sides and her head fell back, breathing in the Earth's fresh air. Dakota watched her with astonishment, the scene looking so familiar to her when she had first landed. "I always dreamed it would smell like this," she said happily and then turned to face Clarke, but her eyes landed on a familiar figure beside her; her own eyes widening like saucers.

  "Dakota.." Raven stopped in her circle as her eyebrows furrowed with emotion, and when she realized she was not imagining the person standing in-front of her; she walked forward.

 Raven tucked her head into the girl's neck while her arms wrapped around her mid-section. The familair sent of her best-friend still felt like home to her. "I thought the Ark floated you.." 

 Dakota smiled in her red puffy jacket as her own hands tugged the girl closer towards her. "Not exactly how I would define 'floating', but pretty close to it." She told her as she sniffed, her emotions coming to the surface. 

 Tears were threatening to escape her eyes as Clarke watched with her own soft smile of the reunion of two best-friends. "I can't believe you're here right now." Dakota whispered into the girls neck, and after awhile they let go of each-other, Raven's brown eyes searching the girl's face until her attention went back towards the sky.

"Is this- is this rain?"  Raven asked curiously, and Dakota nodded while grinning over at her.

"Raven!" Someone shouted from behind them, and they all turned to find Finn running towards them. Dakota noticed the huge grin that grew on Rave's face when she saw Finn making his way towards them. "Finn!" 

 They both ran into each other's arms, touching their faces and making sure they were real. Their eyes never broke away from the others, it was like they were the only two people on Earth. Raven let out a relieved breath, "I knew you couldn't be dead."

 Raven pulled Finn towards her, kissing him and wrapping her arms around his neck. His hands found her waist as they continued kissing. Clarke's smile fell as she watched the two, the mixture of pain and confusion was written all over her features, the betrayal of the guy she had feeling for- with someone else. Dakota blinked back as her mouth opened in shock, and then sadness for the blonde that stood beside her. She knew Finn and Raven were friends, but she didn't know how far they had really gotten. 

 Raven then held onto him, nearly falling but he had a tight grip on her. He then helped her sit down and then he noticed the dry blood on her forehead. "You're bleeding." Finn said as he noticed the gash on the side of her temple.

"I don't care" She whispered, kissing him.

"How did you get here?" Finn asked, pulling away.

"You know that big scrap hold? The one on K deck?" Raven said. Finn glanced at the drop ship.

"You built that from scratch?" He said in disbelief.

"You always get the exciting things every time I'm not around." Dakota grumbled while crossing her arms over her chest.

"I kinda rebuilt it." She said with a grin. Finn chuckled. "Please, like that's hard. Just need a couple parts and some love." She said with a smile.

"You're insane!" Finn said.

"I'd do more for you and worse. Just like you would for me." Raven said and Dakota couldn't help but glance back at Clarke who was watching the exchange from afar. 

"This is Clarke. She was on the drop ship too," He placed his hand on Raven's shoulder as she put pressure on her wound with the scrap of cloth that was passed by Dakota. 

 "Clarke? This is all because of your mom. This was all her plan. We were trying to come down here together. If we waited- oh my god. We couldn't wait because the council was voting whether to kill 300 people to save air."

 Dakota's mouth fell open, "when?"

"Today." Raven rushed forward and back towards the pod that she came down in to get the radio. "We have to tell them your'e alive."

Raven came out of the pod with a distressed look on her face, "The radio is gone..." Dakota felt her face turn pale and she rushed forward, climbing into the pod to look for it when she seen the wires, split and frayed like someone had pulled the radio from it. 

 Clarke looked on with distressed blue eyes as Dakota emerged from the pod, her eyes connecting with Clarke's and she shook her head knowingly. 

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

        TO SAY THAT SHE WAS ANGRY, was an understatement, the remainder of the hundred were starving on the ground without the proper equipment and now, no way of communicating with the rest of their people all thanks to one person, Bellamy Blake.

Her usual soft brown eyes were now almost black, growing more dangerous with each step she took through the forest, Finn, Raven, and Clarke trailing closely behind. She didn't know where she was going, but she hoped that Bellamy was slowly making his way back to the camp now, and she was right.

Through the trees, she saw the mop of curly brown hair dodging through the thick leaves, his head was down and unaware at the small group that was coming for him. "Hey!" Dakota screamed out as soon as he came into view. She picked up her pace and ran from the rest of the group to catch up with him.

Bellamy turned around at the sound of his name, and visibly groaned at the advancing brunette, "Hey, Short-stack, you taking a walk-" She slammed her palms down onto his chest, cutting his words short and instead a gasp escaped his lips when he was pushed hard.

"You bastard!" She screamed and he stared back at her in confusion, "Don't you dare call me that, you selfish prick! Three hundred innocent people are going to die today, because of you." She yelled as he stared at her, eyes widened with confusion; having no idea exactly what she was talking about.

"What?" He asked, furrowing his brows and she glared back up at him, sending another shove his way.

"You lose your brains on the walk? The fucking radio, Bellamy! Where is it?" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"Bellamy." Suddenly, Finn and Clarke came rushing out of the forest, his arms outstretched as he looked at the standstill and aimed towards Bellamy. Finn pushed Bellamy back the second he had contact. "Where's the radio?"

Bellamy shoved right back. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Bellamy Blake?" Raven asked beside him, one that Bellamy didn't recognize. She had a bruise on her forehead, and Bellamy immediately realized that she was the girl in the pod. "They're looking everywhere for you."

Bellamy looked over at the girl with disgust burning in his brown eyes, "Shut up."

Clarke and Dakota looked between the two in confusion, "Looking for him why?" Clarke intervened.

"He shot Chancellor Jaha."

The words were pointedly with cold air around them from Raven's lips. Everyone's heads snapped towards Bellamy, while Dakota's head went towards the soft earth. "You shot Jaha?" She asked, disbelief covering her tone as she took a step backwards, away from him.

It had finally made sense to her. Everything he had done to get down here was for his sister, and she wasn't sure if she should blame him for his actions, or thank him. Chancellor Jaha had hurt her too, ordered to kill her mother, but that didn't mean she accepted a kill order to kill the most respected man on the Ark.

"That's why you took the wristbands," Clarke narrowed her eyes, creasing her eyebrows together. "needed everyone to think we're dead."

"And that 'whatever the hell we want'... you just care about saving your own skin," Finn joined in with the angry blonde.

Bellamy looked around at all the judgmental faces before wiping his nose with his hand, without a word, he turned and tried to walk away. But Raven ran after him, "Hey Shooter! Where's my radio!" She jumped in front of him and he tried to push her out of his way, but Raven wouldn't budge, "Where is it?"

They both stopped walking and Bellamy's face contorted with anger and annoyance. "I should've killed you when I had the chance."

Raven bit back in a dry voice, "Really? Well, I'm right here." She moved forward, tempting his rage even more. Bellamy grabbed her by the front of the jacket and pushed her up against the tree, holding her up by the neck. Clarke, Finn, and Dakota all moved forward to intervene when Raven whipped out a knife and held it in-front of Bellamy's face without so much as batting an eye.

Clarke, Finn, and Dakota all moved forward to intervene when Raven whipped out a knife and held it in-front of Bellamy's face without so much as batting an eye

"Where's my radio?" She snarled.

"Let her go, Bellamy." Dakota spat out as she glared over at the taller man with distaste in his eyes. "Put the knife away, Rae."

Bellamy's brown eyes flickered towards Dakota's face, her expression was serious as she looked him in the eyes; her own pair fighting dominance with his. A huff escaped his lips before he released his hold on Raven, and hesitatingly, she flicked her knife back.

Bellamy turned his body away from the judging pair of eyes, and started to walk away from them until he stopped to look behind his shoulder, "Jaha deserved to die."

From beside Dakota, Raven regained her balance on the tree, Dakota's hand holding her steady. "Yeah, well he's not my favorite person, either. but he isn't dead." RaVen agreed loudly, pulling Bellamy's attention back.

A strange look overcame his features. "What?"

"You're a lousy shot."

"Hey." Dakota moved forward to him and shook her head. "You did what you needed to do to come down with your sister because that's the kind of person you are, because you protect her. You may be an ass half the time, but you are not a murderer and you know it." He fell silent, and she nodded quietly. "Where's the radio?"

Swallowing thickly, Bellamy softly answered. "It's too late."

***

After Bellamy had explained to the others what he did, and that he threw the radio into a creek, they had walked back towards the camp to grab some more people to help look for it, while the others were to stay and finish building the wall.

By the time they had gotten to the camp, it was already midday. The yellow sunlight filtered through the thick trees and cast down onto the dirt path that at least a dozen teenagers were strolling down. Clarke had suggested that they would only take a few people, not wanting to leave the camp completely vulnerable to attack- if that did happen.

Bellamy was the one to lead the group, considering that he was the only one to know the location of the radio. She hated this, everything about it and the fact that Bellamy was once again, ordering people around.

From beside her, Raven was walking with her head up in the trees, her brown eyes searching frantically around the tree tops. Dakota's head turned to watch her with an amused smile on her face. "Was it everything you imagined?" She asked.

Raven's eyes flickered down towards her friend, her smile only growing more wide with astonishment. The way the light flickered through the holes in the leaves and casted themselves down onto the ground like a shadow, and how the wind blew through her tight ponytail, the scent of wildflowers on a breeze.

"Everything and more," She told her breathlessly. "How can you just be so calm while walking through this?"

Dakota laughed slightly and poked her elbow out to hit the girl's mid-section. "Because I've been down here for a couple days." She told her, and Raven smiled softly back at her.

Raven was happy that they were both reunited once again, having Dakota locked up for three years - with no visitation privileges - was hard on them both. They were inseparable as they both studied different trades, having the same classes up on the Ark. They acted like each other's rocks, both of them keeping each-other grounded. As soon as Dakota had gotten her degree in Design Engineering, she and Raven often worked together on the same project, and that's when the friendship really grew for the both of them.

Usually, Dakota hated going to her classes, but that had changed since she knew that Raven was waiting for her to arrive.

"He misses you, you know." Raven suddenly spoke, her eyes turning away from the endless beauty of the Earth before her.

Dakota's eyes found hers as her eyebrows rose on her forehead, "My father doesn't know the meaning of the word 'miss', you should know that."

Raven's eyebrow quirked up, "I thought that too until I found out that you guys were on the ground, and then my eyes found your card.." Raven explained, remembering the way she felt when she saw the darkened picture, and the big red 'terminated' on-top of her vitals. Her smile had slowly started to disappear, she had thought she was dead as the others were still lit up until she realized what they were all doing.

"the way he looked at your card.." Raven shook her head, her eyes going down towards the dirt, "that was one expression that I thought Marcus would never reveal in his lifetime."

A moment of silence fell over the two as Dakota mulled over the information Raven had given her. She remembered why she took off the band in the first place, but now it had only made her more angry. Did it take him until she was dead and gone, to realize that she mattered to him?

"Was it the expression of relief that his mind-sick daughter was dead?" Dakota scoffed, her emotions going back to where they belonged, bottled up and suffocating. "You can never really tell with my father." Her pain stained eyes had Raven frowning on the spot.

"Okay we're here!" A loud voice boomed over the chattering crowd, and Dakota stopped with her walk, her brown eyes going up towards the crowd. Clarke had stood next to Bellamy, ready to prepare one of her speeches.

After one of Clarke's speech of why they were looking for the radio, Dakota was currently searching with them, her grey pant-legs about a half foot soaked in water. Raven was back on shore, her brown eyes dancing over the various teenagers that were looking for her radio, then her eyes rested upon the back of Bellamy's head and her stare hardened.

They had to find the radio, and soon. If they didn't three hundred innocent would die. Bellamy felt that if they didn't find the radio in time, that those deaths would be his fault. He kept saying that he didn't care about the people on the Ark - but he did. He just didn't care for the council, and Dakota understood that.

Anyone who had gotten locked up would understand his hatred for the council members, herself included.

Dakota waddled through the water towards a particular stone that had caught her eye, she carefully maneuvered through the water, trying not to slip on the wet rocks - the water was almost to her knees before she hunched forward and her hand grasped the object.

"Hey, I found it!"

Everyone spun around in the direction of the young brunette, seeing her huddled over the device and walking out of the water and towards the river bank. Bellamy stepped forward and offered a hand out of the water but Dakota pushed his hand away and stepped out onto dry land herself.

Raven jogged towards her as she shook the radio with a sigh- water dripping out of it. "Can you fix it?" Clarke asked desperately as she reached the three of them.

"Maybe," Raven sighed out in frustration as she looked at the radio in Dakota's hand, her brown eyes following the movement of Dakota searching the device herself. "It'll take her half a day just to dry out the component system and check if it's broken."

"Like I said." Bellamy started. "It's too late."

Clarke stormed over to him angrily. "Do you have any idea what you did? Do you even care?"

Dakota handed the radio over towards Raven before interfering and grabbing hold of Clarke's tense shoulder. "Clarke, calm down." She tried to pull her away from Bellamy. "He told us where it was, didn't he? He made a mistake and he knows he was wrong. Get off his back."

Clarke raised her eyebrows with a scowl on her face. "I did help." Bellamy defended himself and then pointed towards the radio.

"Three hundred people are going to die today, because of you!" Clarke screamed - visibly shaking with anger.

"Hold up," Raven paused. "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 without a radio?" Finn questioned as he gestured to the piece of scrap metal in his girlfriend's hands. A smirk appeared on Raven's face as she turned towards Dakota, both sharing knowing looks, coming to the same conclusion.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Raven grinned over towards her.

"Oh yeah," Dakota nodded, "Let's go light up some stars, Rae." The others frowned in confusion at the cryptic conversation between the two friends, not understanding what they were planning. Dakota and Raven turned around, her arm falling over the shoulders of the mechanic as Raven hung onto the device.

***

Raven was quick to order some people to scrap out what they could use from the pod that Raven landed in, leaving no screw behind. The young mechanic and the Design Engineer had everyone on their feet, and working towards launching a couple rockets in the sky, hoping that the Ark could see them and stop the killings.

Dakota began to dismantle the control panel, over-looking the damage and seeing two wires that were disconnected inside the panel. She turned the breaker and snapped them back into place, then taped them back together with some black electrical tape.

"I never seen you work before," Monty told her as he walked towards her with a soft smile on his face. "need any help?"

Dakota looked up from her work briefly before looking back down at the panel in-front of her. "Yeah," she gestured with her head to the empty seat in-front of her. "the quicker we get this done, the faster the Ark can see that we aren't dead." She murmured, not looking up from her work. Monty nodded and sat opposite from her, both started to fix the control panel.

"She used to work alongside me, and I've taught her quite a bit." Raven spoke up from beside them, walking over towards the control panel to take a look at the progress that her friend was making.

Raven was always impressed on how tight Dakota got the wires to be, and how clean it looked. Rewiring a control panel was a lot of work, but she had taught Dakota that the first day they had met, and she had no doubt in Dakota's abilities.

"It's a long shot," Dakota glanced over towards Raven as she started connecting the wires that were going to release them once they pressed the button.

Raven nodded her head knowing the possibility that the rockets wouldn't reach the Ark enough to let them see that they were alive down here, and surviving. "I know, but it's better than doing nothing." She replied back.

As soon as Dakota connected the last red wire, the control panel lit up with different colors and she smiled. "Fixed." She looked over at Raven with a cocky smile as she started to put the panel in one piece.

Raven nodded, "Great, now go connect the control to the launchers."

With the help of Monty, both of them had finished wiring the control panel to the launchers, and then connected the panel to a sturdier piece of wood, a warm orange glow lit up the camp as the other members had begun to light up sticks, ready for the night.

"You did a good job, Dakota." Monty smiled back and flicked a few buttons, ready for the missile launch.

Dakota looked up from her work, her fingers working her strand of hair behind her ear as she stood up straight. "Thanks Monty."

Dakota moved backwards and stood in the crowd, she rubbed her arms as she and the other delinquents surrounded the flares. They were set on fire and they busted into the sky quickly, purple streaks raced through the sky as intended.

Finn and Raven stood a few feet away from her looking at the sky as everyone else did. Raven was tucked under his arm in a warm embrace. Then she looked back and caught Dakota's brown eyes, she smiled at the young girl and Dakota smiled back.

A presence came up behind the brown eyed girl carefully. Dakota glanced up and smiled slightly at Bellamy, who still seemed to be a bit on edge. He smiled back at her before focusing his gaze towards the sky, as did she.

He knew he had made a mistake and he had to live with it if it was going to work. Dakota couldn't stay angry with the older Blake, even if she tried. She couldn't possibly understand the love for a sibling, since she didn't have one. But she would've done it for her mother in a heartbeat.

"You think they can see it from up there?" He asked, a frown on his features.

Dakota's lips went thin as she thought about the possibility of them not seeing it, "I hope so," she told him, her eyes tearing away from the sky to look over at him as the fire lit up his face, illuminating the countless amount of freckles lining his skin. "It's pretty high up."

Bellamy's lip twisted up into a crooked smile, but as fast as it happened, it vanished and his eyes returned to watch as the flares flew further and further into the sky.

Their shoulders brushed against each other slightly and Dakota found her eyes leaving the sky and eyeing the Blake from the side before her eyes returned. "Bellamy?" Dakota called out quietly as she watched the flares grow more distant, now looking like three shooting stars flying across the sky.

"Yeah?" He replied, his own brown eyes looking down towards the brunette.

"Can you wish on this kind of shooting star?" Dakota asked softly, and her own dark eyes found his as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"I wouldn't even know what to wish for." he admitted. "What about you?"

Dakota took a minute to think his words over, and if she was being completely honest, she didn't know either. She had everything important down here now- Raven, the people she got the privilege to call her friends. She had her freedom down here, and if she had the chance, she wouldn't go back to the Ark.

Dakota took a breath before speaking, her brown eyes leaving Bellamy's frame to look up at the sky once again. "That whatever tomorrow brings - we'll be safe - we can't afford to lose anyone else."

Dakota didn't notice the look he gave her

Dakota didn't notice the look he gave her. She didn't notice how his dark eyes had started searching her tanned face - the vein on-top of her forehead was more prominent as she stared up at the sky in wonder, and pure concentration, which seemed to always make that vein protrude more, he noticed. Her usual dark eyes were now shinning with shades of orange and purple as she looked at the sky.

The dark circles under her eyes were from the lack of sleep, and she was much smaller than him, much smaller but her cheekbones still managed to be full despite the lack of food that the camp had. Bellamy had wondered how her life was like back on the Ark, he had an idea of how her family life was like, but he wanted to know more.

He wanted to know her.

***

edited; 2018-05-27

This shit cracked me up so I thought I would share this wonderful picture with you. (: Don't forget to tap that star to vote for the chapter!