II: HELL ON EARTH? NO, IT'S JUST ATHENE

[the chaos didn't make her crazy, it made her powerful]

The straps holding Athene down were too tight, if you'd ask her. She felt like they were cutting down her air pipe and she didn't particularly enjoy it. She screwed her eyelids shut, trying to drown out her surroundings. It didn't work. The teenage voices were still overpowering her and she wanted nothing more than to tell everyone to keep their mouth shut. She didn't, she opened her eyes just so she could roll them instead, while everyone else was screaming in fear for their life. The drop-ship was shaking around and they were falling down at an increasing speed. She thought it was stupid that everyone was afraid, when being here, in the drop-ship, was the best option any juvenile could've wished for.

On the Ark, oxygen was precious, and if you did something even remotely illegal, you'd get floated. Quite horrible. Now the Ark did have some kind of morals, because everyone under eighteen was put in the Skybox. Which was even more horrible, if you'd ask Athene, because in there you were only waiting for the inevitable, the best eighteenth birthday present one could ever wish for. Death. Not that anybody ever asked Athene, but she didn't mind. It was not like she had all the answers, but sometimes she believed that when solving a problem, you didn't only need to know the answer, you needed to be a tiny bit intelligent as well. But nobody fucking ever was.

With an overwhelming crash they hit ground, and for a few seconds everybody was quiet.

"It seems like the only thing that can keep you quiet is when something crashes and burns, which is terrific now that I know I have to put up with every single one of you." Just moments ago Athene wished that everyone'd keep their mouth shut, but now she had broken the silence herself. Sarcasm dripped from every word she spoke as she freed herself from her chains; she was the first person that stood up.

Some people were throwing her dirty looks, others grinned and whispered and some didn't even hear any word come out of Athene's mouth.

Not wanting to be left behind, everyone followed Athene and cut themselves loose. Athene wanted to open the door that kept her from seeing the real world for the first time, but some girl spoke up. "Hey! You shouldn't just open the door because you want to. We don't know what is out there, and if it wants to kill us."

Athene rolled her eyes, again. "You want to wait here? We could do that, I mean, it's not like we have been locked up our entire life, I can surely wait a little longer." Silence followed, but Athene did step down. If nobody was screaming at her to open the doors, they could damn well do it themselves.

A boy with black hair and curls that sprung in every direction pushed Athene away with his shoulder.

"Hey! Watch it."

He ignored her, and turned to the buzzing crowd of teenagers instead. Before he could address the crowd, someone spoke up, "Bellamy?"

The crowd parted, and a girl with the same dark hair emerged. She looked at the boy – who Athene assumed was named Bellamy – with wide eyes. The resemblance between the two was striking, and anybody using their head could've figured out they were related right away.

The boy who rudely pushed Athene moments ago had completely forgotten about the crowd of impatient teenagers in front of him, and instead directed all his attention to the girl. "My God, look how big you are," he said with a hint of emotion lacing in his voice.

Athene rolled her eyes, tired of waiting. She should have just opened the doors when she had the chance.

Athene closed her eyes, and immediately images began projecting themselves like a film. Tears and blood were splattered everywhere, and the echo of a scream ripped through her memory. Her scream.

Athene shook her head; she realised that her heart was pounding in her throat. She pressed her teeth hard against one another and locked her jaw. She vigorously hoped no one witnessed her little slip-up. She pushed her demons to the back of her mind, and focused on the voices around her instead. The world around her sharpened again, and she realised people were yelling at one another.

"Wow, wow, calm the fuck down everyone."

A guy with a menacing, but childish glint in his eyes spoke up, "Calm the fuck down? Do you know who that is?" He pointed at the girl who was held back by Bellamy.

Athene shrugged her shoulders, "Should I?"

The guy gave her an unbelievable look, "That's the girl they found hidden in the floor. Octavia Blake."

Athene rolled her eyes, and she figured she would do that a lot more when surrounded by people like the guy in front of her. "That's wonderful," she exclaimed, "but I really couldn't give a rat's ass. We all have done something that led us to being in this dropship. Thief's, liars, murderers, so I should be careful when picking your fight, kid. We are all criminals and will not hesitate, so I'll say it again: Calm the fuck down."

Murder swirled in his eyes, and Athene dared him to throw the first punch. He stepped down with much difficulty, and Athene gave him an applauding smile. She turned her back on him, and was greeted with gratitude and curiosity of the Blake siblings.

"She's right," Bellamy said. "So, Octavia, let's give them something else to remember you by."

Octavia calmed down a bit, but fire was still flowing through her veins, "Like what?"

Bellamy smirked and opened the door of the dropship. "Like being the first person on the ground in a hundred years."

The metal door groaned loudly, and smoke and electrical flickers erupted from it as it slowly opened its doors to a new world. The real world. Athene could taste the second chance waiting for her, so when Octavia jumped down and screamed: "We're back, bitches!", it felt like the world no longer rested on Athene's shoulders. No, she was finally able to crush it with her feet.

☙

One minute on the ground, and they already found themselves in complete chaos. Words were thrown around and people were firing one another up.

Athene looked at the blonde girl who was staring at Bellamy with hatred. She looked like she was ready to explode, and Athene felt for her. She was trying to be reasonable, but Bellamy would have none of it. "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 get and the harder this'll be. How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a twenty-mile trek, okay? So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave now."

Athene leaned back on the dropship as she watched the scene in front of her unfold. Bellamy and the girl were stubborn, but whereas Bellamy had the whole bunch of brainless teenagers wrapped around his fingers, the only person that supported the girl was Wells, the Chancellors son. And he was, well, not really a favourite among the teenagers, and was known to get himself into trouble with saying the wrong things at the wrong time. Like right now.

"You're not listening," Wells spoke up, trying to defend his friend who Athene has yet learned the name of. "We all need to go."

Athene chuckled at his poor attempt of trying to win the crowd over.

"Look at this, everybody, the Chancellor of Earth."

Athene knew him. Murphy. The last time she saw him, he was a fair and reasonable kid who had a knack for getting into trouble, but never with the intention of hurting anyone. Athene looked at him with a hint of surprise, guess everybody changed, but then again, she hadn't seen him in nearly two years.

Murphy gained on Wells, and Athene could feel the fight brewing; she knew right away that it wouldn't really be a fair fight. She could see it in the way Murphy was gazing down at Wells, with no intention of playing honest.

He kicked him in the leg which caused Wells to stumble and fall over. From the looks of it, he seemed to be in quite some pain, but that didn't keep him from standing up and facing Murphy. But before any of the two could charge again, Finn, another boy she knew, jumped between the two. "Kid's got one leg, how about you wait until it's a fair fight."

Now Athene did laugh, making heads turn towards her. She lifted her shoulder off the dropship and walked into the direction of Finn, "Come on, Finn, you and I both know it is never going to be a fair fight between those two. Murphy likes to play dirty, Wells doesn't. Simple as that."

Finn grinned and threw an arm around Athene's shoulders, "That's my girl! I've missed you."

"To me, the Skybox were the best two years of my life. Finally away from you." Athene bumped her hip with his, indicating that she was joking, and scattered off. Finn rolled his at Athene, and winked at Octavia.

Athene saw the muscles in Bellamy's arms tighten at the sight of his sister flirting with a boy. "He's a criminal," he told Octavia.

"They're all criminals," she snapped back.

Athene touched Bellamy's right shoulder, but appeared at his left. "She's right, we've all done something scandalous. Everyone, except you." Her index finger graced over Bellamy's chest, hovering over the Ark's guard emblem. "You're in a guards uniform, and I'm going to find out why, so be careful, Pretty Boy, I'm coming for you."

Athene threw her head back in laughter as she saw the fear in his eyes. He had done something alright, and she couldn't wait to discover his little secret.