CHAPTER TWO
DADDY DEAREST
"all the rest of my crimes don't come close"
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     The memory of a little girl dressed in a cute little flowy lilac dress with a floral pattern with her hair tied up into adorable pigtails might have been Dylan's first memory of herself and her father. She had absolutely no idea how old she was at the time, nor did she remember what occasion she was dressed for. All she knew was that single memory might've been the happiest one she could recall with her father, Marcus Kane. It was before him and her mother, Candace Brown, had separated. That morning on the Ark, Marcus was late to work because he prioritized his daughter above it, happily chatting away with her as he tried fixing her hair.

     Candace stood a few feet away, a brow arched and one single arm on her hip as she watched her helpless husband desperately trying to redo his mistake when making the pigtails. Dylan was shuffling around, impatient and full of energy as well as bored. It made the task even harder for him. Yet, he managed to fix it after a few tried, taking a step back to proudly admire his work on her hair. Candace hugged his arm as the two watched their daughter admire his work as well in a mirror. "It's perfect, daddy!" She squealed, running to hug him.

     As mentioned, her first and maybe even last truly happy family moment. From there on things went downhill. Marcus started choosing work above his family, and Candace was growin tired of his pompous behavior, slowly slipping back to Farm station, the only place on the Ark that felt like somewhat home. Dylan was soon stuck in crossfire between the two parents, ending up a Dylan Brown from Farm station, not Dylan Kane from Alpha station. Besides, Brown had a nicer ring to it, didn't it?

     Nothing had broken Dylan's heart more then when her mother passed away, her best friend in the whole entire world. They had so many similarities, more then just their genes and looks. Maybe that's why Marcus was so hard on Dylan. She reminded him of Candace.

     Watching the launch ship crash and explode into the ground knowing it was what killed her father crushed her, but there were too much happening as they were standing in the middle of a war to truly grieve him. But she had accepted it. He was gone, and she would never see him again.

     Maybe that's why Dylan forgot to breathe when her eyes locked on the scruff looking Marcus Kane only a few feet away from her. Lincoln's hand held back the gasp threatening to escape her. Tears welled up in her eyes, one slowly escaping from her eye. She couldn't believe it. He was dead. How was this possible?

If it hadn't been for Lincoln's arms around her, she would be heading to the ground. But he held her in place until Marcus Kane retreated back to the group of others, their voices become distant as they headed in the opposite direction. When the coast was clear, Lincoln released Dylan.

"H-how is that possible?"

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     What felt like hours, but probably was just twenty minutes, had passed since Dylam had seen her father. Yes, her freaking father. Marcus Kane. Her father Marcus freaking Kane!

     She honestly felt like she would never recover from the shock of seeing him. He was dead, at least he was suppose to be. Dylan had literally witnessed him crashing to the ground at an abronsmmly high speed, exploding and burning into nothingness except ashes. She had grieved him, hell, she still was grieving him! Yet here he was, down in earth, walking, breathing! It was a miracle.

     After Lincoln had released her, she had immediately felt her knees go weak. She collapsed to the ground, staring blankly infront of her. Lincoln had become very worried, having never seen someone act like their soul had just left their body. He spent a good fifteen minutes shaking her, trying to get her to respond. Finally she had.

     "Dylam!" He said for the hundredth time, shaking her body violently by her shoulders. The said girl snapped out of her trance, eyes locking with the doe brown eyes staring into her with worry.

     "Lincoln." She retorted. His eyebrows pulled up together in confusion. She sounded so. . . normal. Dylan got to her feet, brushing the dirt off her already dirty pants. I mean, it wasn't like they had a washing machine or anything other to wear down here.

     Dylan shook her head. Fifteen minutes was time she barely could afford to waste. Though she wanted nothing more then to run after her father and throw herself into his arms, she had other much more important priorities. She needed to save her friends, and she knew that if she went to her father, he would lock her up if necessary to make sure she was safe and far from any mission to rescue her friends.

     "Dylan, are you okay?" Lincoln grabbed the timid girl by her shoulders, eyes scanning her to make sure she was alright. Dylan swatted his arms away.

     "Yes, I'm fine. We need to get going, it's getting dark out." Dylan brushed past the strongly built grounder, heading in the direction she had been before the whole incident. Dylan was dead set on masking all feelings and thoughts of what had just happened until she found a way to save the others. Then she could go crazy co-co.

     Dylan was correct, Lincoln realized. The sky was empty of any clouds, and the bright blue shade was slowly meshing into a darker one that would then turn black, the only thing to light up the surrounding being the half full moon and the several stars.

     Lincoln decided against pressing Dylan on what had just happened, at least for now. He was hungry and tired, and she probably was too. So he trudged after her. "Where are we going?"

     Dylan didn't look at him when she answered. "We? I thought you were going to the ocean."

Lincoln had planned on leaving everything behind. It was the smartest decision and with no doubt the one with the most promise of his survival. Alas he hadn't. And there was a five foot three sarcastic and rude reason for it. Leaving her to go off on her own was going to lead to her death. She hadn't been down on earth for long enough to know how to survive. He needed her as much as she needed him.

"You're going to get yourself killed by yourself." Lincoln flatly replied, brutally honest, just the way Dylan liked it. She preferred direct people over fake people.

"Gee, thanks for having faith in me." Dylan sarcastically spat, stumbling slightly over a stick. Lincoln shot out to grab her upper arm, steadying her. "Okay, point taken."

"There's a village not too far from here, we're avoiding it." Lincoln instructed. Dylan nodded, not bothering to question it. They'd kill her without any warning for being a sky girl, and him for being a 'traitor'.

"You know what my end game is. What's your plan?" Dylan asked after a few moments of walking in silence.

"I know a village a few miles from here, they'll take us both in. We will stay there until we know more of your friends and until you are ready to fight the battle that will come." Lincoln informed. The chances of her friends being recovered alive was slim, he knew that. They had been taken by the mountain men, and Lincoln couldn't recall anyone ever having survived that.

     He didn't have the heart to tell her that. He was incredibly confused, but oddly at peace, with the moment they had shared earlier. Did it mean that Dylan was feeling the same way for him? How could she? Lincoln himself wasn't even sure what this feeling brewing inside of him was. All he knew that he got this warm and fuzzy feeling whenever he saw her that reminded him of home. And that whenever they touched, he swore he was going to pass out. And that he would do anything for her, to the point that he scared himself.

     Lincoln had never felt this way before. It made him all warm and loved up inside. He hadn't quite decided if it was a feeling he liked or not.

     "You know who took them, don't you?" Dylan asked. Bellamy, Clarke, Murphy and all the other names were running around her mind, getting louder and louder with each step she took. She barely remembered the kiss she and Lincoln had shared due to her friend taking up all the space in her head.

     Dylan Brown did not want to live in a world where John fucking Murphy didn't exist, even if he had been a huge ass lately. Nor did she ever want to imagine loosing Bellamy, or Octavia, or Clarke. The only thing that was really driving her to keep walking was the small hope of them still being alive. The way they made her feel at home and comfortable and safe all while being on a literally battlefield was a feeling too precious to risk loosing forever.

     Besides, Dylan owed it to them to at least try. They would have done the same for her, no doubt.

     "The mountain men." Lincoln said, interrupting Dylan's intrusive thoughts.

"I've heard of them before, I think you have something about them in your notebook." Dylan recalled. At the time, she had been too busy swooning over the drawing he had made of her to pay too much attention to that section of the book. Lincoln nodded. "So, where can we find them? Who even are they?"

"No one knows who they are, only that they are dangerous. All grounders are scared of them. They come from the moutain. They're the reason we attacked you in the first place. My leader thought you were one of them." Lincoln explained. Realization washed over Dylan like a wave.

"Mount Weather!" Dylan exclaimed. It all made a whole lot more sense as to why this whole mess had started now. They thought they were friends with the ones going around kidnapping people. Dylan would've been skeptical too if she were them. Maybe not as to the point of spearing a random and innocent teenager, but still a little skeptical.

"What even are they? Oh, please tell me they're some weird giant creatures or something." Dylan said, trying to make light of the sitatuion. "Actually, I hope their small. Easier to kick their asses."

"They're like us, only they wear some kind of protecting suit around them. And they have a red gass that knocks anyone who inhaled it out." Lincoln continued listening a few of the things he had heard about the mountain men. He had never witnessed one in person, he had only heard stories.

"Before you starting cooking up some plan as to how you're going to save your friends, you are going to need to adjust a few things." Lincoln said, causing Dylam to shoot him a look.

"Adjust what? And for what."

"Well, if you're going to be staying in a grounder village, you are going to have to learn the language and their ways. Starting now." Dylan's eyes widened. She never was good at English, how the hell was she going to learnt her grounder language.

"What?! But I-"

"No going back." Lincoln interrupted. "Now repeat after me. Ai laik Dylan kom Skaikru. It means-"

     "Yeah, yeah I know what it means. Ai laik Dylan kom Skaikru." Dylan repeated.

     "Good now, keep doing it till I say different."

     Dylan scoffed, but nontheless obeyed. It would keep her focus off of things. "Ai laik Dylan kom Skaikru."

     "And again."

     This was going to be one long night.

word count; 2073
a/n

don't hate me for taking, like, nine years to post another chapter. trust me i've been struggling with this chapter so much, but finally i managed to force myself to write it. inspiration had been down lately as well as my motivation for this book. ( yikes I literally spontaneously wrote a stiles fic and posted freaking ten or sum chapters in two days ).  but i promise you all I'm working like crazy to get these chapters done! sooo stay tuned!

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