for blue skies ➸ octaven

part 2

Within a day, Octavia's life has suddenly been divided in two; the time before Earth, and every moment that follows after her feet touch the ground for the first time.

Suddenly, walls don't exist anymore. She's boundless. She's alive. Fresh air fills her lungs and she swears she's never really breathed until now. Everything's new. She's been on sensory overload since they touched down and she doesn't see it stopping anytime soon.

The days pass in a blur. First, she swears she's dying when something sweeps her underwater and leaves her with three gashes running down her leg. But even that doesn't stop her. Bellamy (who somehow was on the dropship) struggles to keep his younger sister contained.

So, within the span of three days, she's gone swimming for the first time, gotten attacked by a sea monster, found a field full of butterflies, and kissed a cute boy.

Oh, and, to her absolute terror, found that same boy dead, his skin peeling off of his skeleton like ash from a fire. It's only then that the panic begins to set in. Because suddenly, they're not immune.

Tragedy seems to become a given, from then on out. Every day it's something new. First, it's members of the group disappearing and never coming back. Then, it's the acid fog that washes over the camp and leaves Octavia with a sour taste in the back of her throat that won't go away. She watches Murphy nearly die, and then days later, holds down the hatch of the dropship as Murphy tries to barge through and kill Jasper.

All in all, this isn't how she expected things to work out.

But on the fifth day, something appears in the sky like a sign from above. There's a streak of purple light that catches Octavia's attention. And in the wake of all the chaos, she and the rest of the delinquents watch as it grows larger and larger, spiraling overtop of them and making the ground shake when it crashes just a few miles outside of camp.

It's only then that Raven crosses her mind. She's felt like a new person from the moment they landed, and she'd been so busy exploring the ground that she hadn't even had a chance to turn her head upwards and look at the sky. More specifically, the small dot in the distance that Clarke had pointed out as the Ark. Everything that happened there is thousands miles away. Including Raven. Octavia wishes she had a way to give the girl a sign that she was alright – that she'd gotten her adventure. (Maybe not the one she had in mind, but it's an adventure nonetheless.)

Octavia immediately sets to gathering a search party for the vessel, but Bellamy refuses to let anyone leave camp until morning. But, when Octavia notices him slip out behind the dropship later that evening, she doesn't hesitate to follow him – lingering behind to keep her presence hidden.

After walking for god knows how long, Octavia, frustrated with her brother, breaks her silence and hurries forward to confront him in the clearing. And then things get a little more complicated, because now she's faced with the fact that Bellamy shot the chancellor for a spot on the dropship. And if anyone else gets down to Earth, he's as good as dead.

All she can do to avoid breaking down from all her pent up frustration is to storm away, leaving her brother to continue on his own, and her to fend for herself. Which she can do easily, right?

Maybe not.

She gets lost within a good hour of walking, trying to find her way back to the dropship and the other delinquents. It's as if she's been walking in circles this whole time. Everything looks the same. And she swears she's passed the same rock three times now. But she keeps pushing forwards, because she knows the dropship has to be just within her reach. It just has to.

Suddenly, she's filled with the overwhelming feeling that she's being watched. It causes her to pause, standing still in the middle of a clearing. She scans her surroundings carefully. But, she convinces herself she's hearing things, and picks up a faster pace. She's anxious to find her way home.