❝you can do anything if you're not afraid.❞

-matt murdock, daredevil

♛

THE GOOD THING ABOUT the vents is that nobody in their right mind will go in them, and so we make our living space there. It's where Bellamy and I store our uniforms, radios, and various other things we've stolen. The small section is quickly accumulating enough to make it slightly cramped. Even so, it's a way to make sure all of our belongings are in one place.

That's why it's extremely easy for us to hurry down there and quickly put on the extra protective gear used when handling the forty-four. As I slide on the elbow pads, I wonder how I don't look like an insect of some sort with the weird plastic pieces. The goggles are a kind of ridiculous touch as well. The entire getup is bulky and altogether unenjoyable.

I've also managed to grab some food between our missions for Clarke - mainly small things like cheese, crackers, and fruit - but it at least keeps us on our feet and energized. I just wonder how Bellamy is doing with the lack of sleep. I'm used to it by now, but the red rimming his eyes is becoming more and more obvious. Maybe sometime soon I'll be able to force him to sleep.

"Actually, wait," I whisper to myself, carefully removing the elbow pads and starting on the rest of the gear I'd just taken ten minutes to put on.

"What are you doing?" Bellamy asks while watching me in confusion. He's almost done, starting to put buckle the strap on his helmet that goes under his chin.

"You stick with the plan," I tell him quietly, sliding off the rest of it until I'm back in my regular uniform. "I'm going to pay our friends a visit."

"What?" he hisses. "They have the whole floor sealed off--"

"Not the vents," I reply with an encouraging grin. "I can do it. I'm gonna run some errands- I'll be back soon."

"How do you even know where you're going?"

"I can multitask," Raven adds in through our earbuds. The fact she's stayed with us this long is actually amazing.

"Right, then." Bellamy nods his head. I can see how reluctant he is to let me go off on my own - especially when there will be so many guards lurking around. "Just don't die."

I salute him before edging around our plethora of stolen items and crawling as quickly as I can down the vent. The banging of my knees against the tube is frequent enough for me to know I'll probably have bruises at some point. The cool air seeps cold through my sleeves, which are quickly turning brown from all the routes I've taken through here.

The trip to level five is eerily silent except for Raven's occasional directions, and even those are mostly concise. It's particularly lonely without Bellamy right behind me, and I find myself more on edge than I usually am. Something about the confining space of the vent is restricting my ability to breathe as deeply as I probably should. My pulse thrums; I feel my throat getting dry for no reason. For the first time, I'm completely alone in Mount Weather.

"Take a right," Raven instructs. "No, not you, Bellamy. I'm talking to Fallon. You take a left."

"This is too confusing," Bellamy mutters in annoyance.

"I agree," I pipe up as quietly as I can. My voice echoes and I hope it doesn't travel to anyone's room- that'd be bad. So far our luck has stuck with us, but it can run out at any moment. That thought alone is terrifying.

As I get closer and closer to level five, a strange scent in the air invades my senses. I dismiss it as nothing unusual until it starts to smother the air. A turn around a corner brings me face-to-face with a mist. My lungs reject the hazy fog, causing me to cough and sputter. It gets so bad that I have to stop for a second and catch my breath by breathing in the inch of air at the bottom of the vent.

"What's wrong?" Bellamy questions worriedly, but I can hardly hear him through my fit.

"It's - smoke," I manage to choke out, sucking in a shaking breath to further inform them, "wafting through the vents."

"Like smoke from a fire?" Raven asks. Just by the tone of her voice, I can tell her mind is whirring.

"No," I answer. Taking a breath through my nose, I discover it doesn't smell like fire normally does. "And it isn't - burning my eyes, either."

"It's a flare," Raven decides with the snap of her fingers. "Fallon, just keep going and breathe the air on the bottom. Something might be wrong. Hurry."

I push myself back onto my hands and knees with another sputtering cough. Though rather slowly, I army crawl through the rest of the vent until I reach an end. Through the narrow slots, I see my friends standing around a spacious area with countless bodies littering the ground and furniture toppled everywhere.

I reach my arm back before punching the front off. It causes the metal to bust open and pop off of the wall, allowing me to push myself out of the vent and collapse onto the floor. The clean air inside cools my burning lungs as I gulp huge amounts of it in. My chest shudders and my head spins as I lay there on the ground with my limbs spread out around me.

"Fallon?" Jasper asks in disbelief. He drops what looks like a fire ax and rushes over to me, leaning over my body and staring. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Jas," I tell him, giving him a smile that immediately falters upon noticing his face is covered in blood. "Why is your face covered in blood?"

"Long story," he replies vaguely before offering me a hand. I take it and he pulls me onto my feet. I'm immediately welcomed into a warm embrace by him, the fabric of his blue shirt pressing against my face. It's my first time having physical contact with him since...I can't even remember. My heart warms with the fact he's alive as I wrap my arms around him as well.

"The hell happened here?" I ask, looking over his shoulder and noticing what a mess the room really is. Blood splatters the floor and parts of the walls in thick, red stains. Barely any of the furniture is standing upright; some of it litters the floor while most of it is piled around the perimeter of the door. It looks like they tried blocking it without success. I notice with alarm that the bodies on the ground are that of guards'.

"They took Fox," Monty informs in a thick tone, weighed down by despair. I feel all of the happiness once inside of me deflate as I step back from Jasper in shock. Fox - the young, carefree girl who'd always been nothing but nice to me - is going to be harvested. It's barely enough to stomach.

"Where's Bellamy?" Miller questions with one eyebrow raised skeptically. He and the others now stand closer to me than they had been when I first came in. "You're never apart. Did something happen to him?"

I shake my head, trying not to dwell on the fact that something could actually happen to him while I'm gone. "No, he's fine. But--"

I freeze, an idea springing in my mind so fast I feel my body jolt. It hits my brain, which starts whirling to calculate the possibilities of if it could actually work. There are risks, yes, but I have faith it can be carried out without a problem.

"What?" Jasper asks with a bit of alarm in his tone.

Instead of replying, I reach up to my earbud, only to realize it's not there. I spin on my heel to discover it on the floor where I fell into the room. With shaking hands, I quickly pick it up and all but shove it into my ear. "Bellamy, do you copy?"

"Yeah, I copy," his voice replies instantly, almost like he'd been waiting for me to say something. "What's wrong? Did something--"

"They took Fox, and something tells me they actually will try to kill her," I cut in before he can finish his question. My eyes drift around the room, lingering on the anxious and terrified faces of my friends. "Can you get to her in time?"

Bellamy curses under his breath. "Yeah. I ran into Maya, so she'll help me around."

"What do you mean, they actually will try to kill her?" Jasper asks, eyes so wide they overpower his face. His Adam's apple bobs nervously. "Fallon..."

"Jessica, Max." I swallow thickly. "Both are gone."

The air is stuffed with the overwhelming sensations of grief and that we are truly in more trouble than we originally thought.

--

"Okay, how do I look?"

I twirl around for good measure, holding out my arms as I do so. My palms smack my legs when I bring them back down and wait for a response from one of the four people staring at me.

"You'll do," Miller replies with a shrug. I glare at him, tilting my head down in an unamused expression. He cracks a grin.

Harper rolls her eyes at him. "You look fine, Fallon. More normal than when you wore that guard uniform."

I pull her into a side-hug and shoot Miller a pointed look. "See? Harper is nice. Harper gives me compliments."

The guard uniform had been a tricky thing to practically peel off of my body. It was damp with sweat, caked in dust, and smelled awful. I had been more than happy to change into fresh, clean clothes from the dorm, even if I did feel a little uncomfortable in them.

They're all pastel- a sharp contrast to how dark every piece of clothing had been on the Ark. My jeans are white and rise up a little due to them being the tiniest bit too small. The shirt is a men's one  - there hadn't been any clean ones for females - and as a result I have to tuck it into my pants and roll the sleeves to my elbows. The baby blue button-down is soft to the touch. I've kept the dress shoes and actually brushed out my hair. It falls in semi-tangled waves around my shoulders, probably looking a bit bushy from it being in a ponytail for so long.

"Could I pass as Victoria?" I ask a bit nervously.

Jasper nods with his lips pursed. "Yeah, I guess."

I shake my head at the vague answer and make sure my hair is covering the earbud. My palms are clammy; I have to wipe them on my pants.

"Okay," I say, exhaling slowly. "I'll be back with food and stuff."

And so begins my adventure. It consists mostly of running around from floor to floor, stealing whatever piece of food I can find. It's actually almost too easy- Mount Weather is so trusting of their own people. Once again, a sharp contrast to the Ark. I'd probably be questioned just for sneaking around like this if I were still there.

I try my best to remember which routes I'm taking as I go. I implant the directions in my mind, but it isn't that hard considering I have to return to level five every so often to deliver what I've taken so my hands don't get too full.

By the time Bellamy's voice enters my ear, I'm basically out of breath and have to strain to hear him over my panting.

"Hey, Fal, Maya's dad is gonna let us stay for the night," he informs me.

"Are you serious?" I ask in exasperation, realizing that this whole thing was basically for nothing. A place to stay means food that I don't have to steal.

He must think I'm saying that out of excitement. "I am. Where are you? Maya's gonna bring you here."

"Seventh level, by some...storage rooms," I say, still fighting to catch my breath. "Did you get Fox?"

"Yeah, I did. She's fine- shaken up, but fine. They didn't do anything to her."

I sigh in relief through my heavy breathing. The fact that Fox is okay lifts a weight off of my shoulders.

"Stay right where you are. Maya just left."

"Got it, King of the Jungle," I reply in a sarcastic tone. The old nickname is one I haven't used in a while, and it doesn't even really apply to him anymore. "Or...should I say...King of Mount Weather?"

"Shut up," he says lightly. I can practically hear him rolling his eyes.

I crack a smile, thankful that this floor is empty so nobody can see me grinning at nothing. It makes me wonder how Bellamy can make me smile when it's the last thing I want to do.

When Maya finds me, she starts to hurry me along immediately. It takes her a good three minutes to realize I'm not in my previous attire.

"Where did you get those clothes?" she inquires, giving me a once-over with her thick eyebrows pinched.

"The dorm," I reply with a shrug. "I had some, uh, running around to do."

She doesn't question it further. Instead, the trip to her room is filled with a comfortable silence. Compared to our last time in an elevator, nobody gets on for the entire three floors we go down. It causes me to relax a bit more; my shoulders have been stiff.

"This way." Maya beckons me down a hallway, stopping at a nondescript door on our right that she swipes her I.D through to get us inside. She walks in first, carefully and quietly.

The first person I take note of is presumably her father. He's short, with grey-blond hair that's smoothed back and stubble surrounding his mouth. His gray eyes widen in surprise when they catch sight of me.

"Another one?" he asks incredulously, shooting Maya a look of question.

"It's just one night, Dad," Maya pleads. Her voice is full of desperation that warms my heart; I can never thank her enough for working so hard to keep us safe.

"Fallon?"

I turn toward the source of the voice to see Fox peeking into the main room. Her face is filled with disbelief and excitement, shining brown eyes filling with joy. I barely have time to blink before she flings herself into my arms and practically smothers me in a hug. Her impossibly long hair hits me in the face along the way, but I don't care. I just relish in the fact she's alive as I return her tight embrace.

Maya's dad sighs in defeat. "Alright. One night."

When Fox pulls back, she causes a crinkling sound in my shirt from the food hidden there. She casts a confused glance at the source. I swiftly untuck the shirt in one go and cause about ten protein bars to fall onto the ground, along with an apple, some grapes, and a package of crackers.

"You took all of that?" Maya marvels with her eyes wide. The five of us stare at the stolen items on the floor blankly.

"Fastest hands in the whole Ark," I answer back absentmindedly as she starts picking up the food and depositing it somewhere safe.

Bellamy clears his throat and straightens up, causing Fox and Maya's dad to glance between the two of us. I feel my face heat up by about a hundred degrees until I think it might burst into flames. Fox turns away to hide her giggles. Maya's dad just looks like he already regrets letting us stay.

There isn't enough room for all of us in Maya's bedroom, and Vincent doesn't trust us enough to sleep in his, so Bellamy and I have to take the couch. It's overstuffed and not very comfortable in the slightest. The plaid fabric is scratchy from so many years of use.

I find myself unable to fall asleep despite how tired I am. I'm wedged between Bellamy and the back of the sofa, eyelids burning with fatigue. When Bellamy swallows and the movement catches my eye, I discover he's awake as well. I shift around so I'm on my side and facing him.

"Can't sleep?" I ask him in a whisper.

He shakes his head. His eyes are fixed on the entrance. "I just keep picturing someone coming through the door."

"We're safe here, alright?" I assure him, causing him to glance at me. "Maya would never betray us."

"It's not Maya I'm worried about."

My expression turns into one of slight disapproval. "We'll be fine."

I lean forward to give him a quick kiss. Instead, his lips lock onto mine and practically hold me in place. He slides a hand to my jaw, fingers brushing against my hair with a gentle yet firm touch. I move it all on one side before crawling on top of him and keep most of my weight on my elbows as not to crush him. And then, after a few seconds, he cuts it off with a yawn.

I pull back and pout jokingly. "Am I really that bad?"

He shakes his head fervently. "No--"

"I'm kidding, Bell," I laugh quietly, already easing back into my spot beside him. "You and I both need the sleep. Nobody is coming through that door."

I must have made an impact on him, because we both fall asleep moments later- me with my head on his chest and him with an arm tucked around me. It's one of the most peaceful slumbers I've had in a while.

-----

*wipes tear from eye* how cute

-kristyn