Harley found herself, as they walked through the forest, stopping every few seconds to stare at the flowers. They were the most beautiful part that the woods grew. The Ark had plants, but it was something about being on Earth that made the woods look much better. She tried to block out the conversation happening after Finn hit on Octavia by tucking a purple flower behind her ear as she hung behind.

Clarke was the one that led them, and growing annoyed by their lack of rushing, she turned around. "Hey, guys," she called. "Would you try to keep up?" The blonde seemed irritated by their lack of caring for where they were heading.

"Come on, Clarke!" Finn called back, turning his head in amazement at the tall trees that hid the sunlight. "How do you block all this out?"

Clarke suddenly stopped, catching Harley by surprise as she almost tripped from being nearly behind her. "Well, it's simple," she began to shoot back. "I wonder, 'why haven't we seen any animals?' Maybe it's because there are none. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us!" Her words were urgent, and set a quiet hush over the group. Even Harley suddenly felt uneasy, like Clarke was a scientist telling them they were all going to drop dead any second. "Sure is pretty, though. Come on."

Harley heard Octavia snort softly, and leaned over to whisper to Harley. "Someone should slip her some poison sumac." Harley couldn't help but smile; covering her mouth before any giggles poured out before they continued their walk, but Octavia continued talking to her. "So, what'd you do?" She asked curiously. "To land here. You seem to nice to be with a bunch of criminals."

"Oh," Harley started, shyly tucking her hair behind her ears. "I was caught when John Murphy committed an arson crime. They blamed me too, thinking that I did it for some reason. No one believed me when I said otherwise," she explained.

Nodding, Octavia brushed aside a branch that they were about to run into. Harley ducked to avoid it, as Octavia continued to speak, still interested to know more. Finn, who was ahead, joined in their game and asked Monty and Jasper what they had done. "And they just, blamed you even though you were innocent?" She asked, her eyebrows creasing. "Why?"

The question made Harley consider and think twice about what she thought. Octavia had a point, though. The guard's just assumed Harley chose to help Murphy, and refused to listen to any innocent plea that she had. She's never thought that there might be a reason why that they arrested her alongside Murphy. "I don't know," she finally answered, clueless and without a smile this time.

Jasper interrupted the girl's conversation, looking over his shoulder to face Octavia. "How about you, Octavia?" He spoke up. "What'd they get you for?"

Every emotion on Octavia's face was shown at once, until her expression was made of only stone. Harley frowned at the change of heart coming from the other, knowing that Octavia was arrested for being born as the crime of a second child was heavily forbidden. "Being born," she finally muttered under her breath bitterly.

No one noticed Clarke and Finn studying something close. Monty and Jasper were caught up in claiming Jasper's statement was "so not game" for upsetting Octavia, and playfully hitting each other in the chest. Harley's mood changed quickly; and another familiar smile was brought to her place at the best friend's. But Octavia waving her over from where she was crouching behind Finn and Clarke with a finger pressed to her lips.

Silently, Harley complied to Octavia's signal and tried to be as quiet as possible as leaning forward to what they were looking at. She carefully crouched in between Finn and Octavia and her eyes lit up in excitement when she finally got a glimpse of what they were looking at. It was a deer, nibbling at the grass and completely unaware of the six strangers a couple feet away from it. Harley has only seen pictures in The Ark, from books. It was so much better in person than it was on paper. She wanted to breathe out in amazement, but she was scared the deer would run off if she did so to loudly.

Finn, however, broke the silence by whispering to Clarke. "No animals, huh?" He said softly, the hushed whisper barely brought to Harley's ears. She was in too much astonishment to care, this was the first animal she's seen in her life. It was a moment that would be burned in her head forever, something Harley was sure she'd never forget.

However, the moment was suddenly ruined when Finn slowly took a step forward and his boot crushed a stick into two with a loud snapping noise. The deer heard and turned its head at the sound, and Harley's heart skipped a quick beat at the sight. The group gasped from beside her and jumped in shock. Instead of the normal looking animal Harley thought she was seeing, it had a bloody second head sprouting out of the side. In shock, Harley brought her hand to cover her mouth as the deer skipped away in fear.

Harley suddenly started to wonder if Clarke was right about the radiation. If that, at any second, they could all die from the exposure.

━━━━━━━━

The group of six continued walking, past where they saw the deer, and wherever Clarke led them from where the map said Mount Weather was. Harley was still memorized by Earth, but that amazed feeling mixed with worry. She's no scientist, so there was a possibility of them dying from too much radiation or living with these mutated animals, wondering. It kept her curious, a feeling Harley didn't like. She always wanted to know the answers to anything.

"Hey, you know what I'd like to know?" Finn asked, starting another conversation. "Why send us down today after ninety seven years? What changed?" It was a decent thought, in Harley's opinion. The Ark has been alive for almost one-hundred years, and they decided now to send test subjects down like lab rats. There had to be some reason behind it.

Octavia huffed at the question, practically skipping. "Who cares?" She retorted. "I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now I'm spinning in a forest," she announced, clutching onto the log of a tree and spinning around it, her chestnut hair trailing behind breezily. Harley watched as she looked Finn up and down when he passed her, still sticking by the statement earlier of how she wanted the spacewalker.

"The Ark is dying," Clarke declared, her voice dull and seemingly upset. "At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone," she continued.

'Dying'. The word repeated in Harley's head a few times, and she suddenly grew more worried. Even the others, besides Octavia, looked somewhat concerned as they should be. Harley began to wonder about her parents, and how they were up in space and if they were worried about her. She hasn't given them much thought, but now knowing that their home was running out of life support, Harley gave them much more thought than before. She was luckier than most, who grew up with only one parent or neither after they were floated.

There was a heavy but brief pause from Clarke's blunt statement before Finn talked. "So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" He asked, seemingly try to tread carefully around his words.

In response, Clarke nodded. "My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw," she explained, Harley perking up in interest. "He thought the people had a right to know. The Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic," she continued. "We were gonna go public, anyway, when Wells..." Clarke fell into a pause, the topic of Wells seeming too much to talk about.

"What, turned in your dad?" Monty asked carefully, trying to finish the sentence for her.

Clarke cleared her throat before she nodded. "Anyway, the guard showed up before we could," she finished. "That's why today. That's why it was worth the risk. Even if we all die, at least they bought themselves more time."

Inhaling sharply, Harley shook her head in disbelief. "Wait, they'll kill more people though, won't they?" She asked, remembering how Wells stated earlier any communication wires in the dropship were fried during the landing.

Before Clarke could respond, Octavia cut in. "Good," she stated carelessly. "After what they did to me, I say, float them all!" She threw her arms up before skipping forward again, towards the edge of a large rock they were approaching. Her words caught Harley off guard, but she didn't blame her. Octavia had been the girl under the floor, a rumor that was whispered through the halls of The Ark, and then locked up. All because she was born.

"You don't mean that!" Jasper called after her, rushing ahead. Harley shrugged before following too. She had nothing left to lose, anyways, and she was with a safe group. There was nothing in the woods besides mutated animals.

Harley came to a halt, nearly running into Jasper when he suddenly stopped. Clarke was next, nearly running into Harley when she stopped too, all at the sight of Octavia sliding her pants down her legs. Even Harley was startled by how Octavia wasn't shy at all to be in just her shirt and underwear. It's not like she was going to lie to herself though, and say she didn't like the view.

"Damn," Jasper whispered under his breath with a short laugh. "I love Earth."

"Don't we all?" Harley whispered back, surprising herself with her own words.

But Clarke wasn't in the same state of them both. "Octavia, what the hell are you doing?!" She shouted as Octavia walked further forward.

However, Octavia wasn't as scared. She flipped her hair over her shoulder to look at them with one alluring look to them, before taking one giant leap forward. Harley snapped out of the stare quickly at the sound of a loud splash and ran across the stone, carefully stepping over certain ledges, with the rest to see where Octavia ended up.

Quickly Harley came to a stop when they reached the edge before she fell in too. The top of Octavia's head was just poking out of the water, peeking at their expressions. "Octavia!" Monty exclaimed. "We can't swim!"

"I know!" Octavia called back, before the rest of her slowly arose out of the water, showing the water she was in was too shallow, making it harder to drown. "But we can stand!"Harley grinned, excited at the thought of getting in the water for the first time.

Octavia fell into a small fit of laughter as Clarke squinted her eyes. "Wait," she said, thinking. "There's not supposed to be a river here.."

"Well, there is," Finn shot back, already unzipping his jacket in preparation. "So take off your damn clothes." His words made Clarke drop the serious facade, and she even smiled. 

Deciding it was going to be fun, Harley began stripping herself. She pulled off her jacket quickly, glad to get rid out of it from the sweat from the beating soon that began pooling up and eager to wash it off. Next Harley unbuttoned her pants and slid them down her legs before kicking them off in the same manner that Octavia had, not noticing Jasper's stare of something moving in the water, creeping up on Octavia. Harley felt much cooler and more exposed in her top and baby blue underwear, but didn't shy away like she normally would have. On Earth, Harley felt like a new person, a more eager and confident but still not afraid to be optimistic and hopeful.

Suddenly, Jasper's loud tone caught Harley's attention and put her on alert. "Octavia, get out of the water!" He exclaimed urgently. Harley lifted her head, seeing Octavia's fearful expression and the water treading behind her. Her eyes widened when figuring out quickly that the other was in danger. "Get out of the water now!"

The thing in the water became more clear the second it attacked Octavia. The girl shrieked in fear as it dragged her underwater. The group, especially Harley, stood in a dumbfounded position, unsure of what to do. Harley felt a pit weigh in the bottom of her chest, waiting, and scared. The water seemed calm, too calm.

All of a sudden, Harley heard a screeching again. She turned her head to the side, seeing Octavia in a different spot in the water much deeper than the last, popping up and thrashing her arms around in fear as she was dragged around mercilessly. "What the hell is that?!" Monty shouted as they quickly rushed to her aid. 

Finn came to a sudden stop, pulling his jacket off the rest of the way. "Woah, what are you gonna do?!" Harley exclaimed, and already understanding what he was thinking.

"Try not to get eaten," Finn answered like it was a simple task such as taking a stroll before throwing his jacket to the ground.

"No, wait!" Clarke protested, stopping him suddenly with her hand on his chest. "If we distract it, it might let her go!" She knelt down, attempting to push a large rock off the edge. "Help me."

Monty and Finn crouched beside her as Jasper and Harley didn't take their wide eyes off of where Octavia was being thrown about, screaming in fear. The three used their strength to push the rock until it fell into the water with one huge splash. The second it hit the water and started to sink, the creature released its hold on Octavia and swam in its direction.

"Octavia, get to the shore now!" Jasper shouted. Octavia tried, kicking her legs and screaming, trying to keep herself afloat. Harley stood frozen in fear as Jasper raced towards where the ledge ended, jumping into the water beside Octavia and helping her swim to shore. 

Harley darted her eyes to wherever the creature went after the rock, and saw its long slithering body making its way back to where it left Octavia. "It's coming back!" She shouted, leaning forward but nowhere near closer to the water, yet urging them to hurry. The pair attempted to swim their way to shore quicker, kicking their legs furiously until they were in the mud and the thing slithered past them.

The three behind Harley all helped pull them up quicker, until they were in a much safer part, without their feet dangling in the water. Both Octavia and Jasper were coughing up water, their chests heaving with each inhaling breath. "Thank you," Octavia whispered gratefully wrapping her arm around Jasper in an embrace as Clarke inspected the bleeding wound on her leg. "Thank you."

Harley smiled, breathing a sigh of relief she didn't know she was holding at seeing her two new friends safe. The mud underneath her dug into her bare knees in an uncomfortable way, and when the initial shock wore off, she remembered just how exposed she was. Clarke however leaned over Harley's naked legs and ripped the bottom of Jasper's shirt off to wrap around Octavia's bite wound. "You're gonna be okay," the blonde reassured her gently.

Finally, Monty cracked the tension up with a joke and a smile. "Note to self," he announced, patting Jasper on the shoulder. "Next time, save the girl."

The small group fell into laughter, even Octavia, who was more than relieved she was alive and out of the water. Harley even spoke, with a large smile on her face. "Yeah. Noted," she agreed.