Chapter 1: Start of a New Life
4
A/N: The story will follow canon for the first season, and the MC will be forced to make certain events happen. Please bare with me and give the story a chance to develop. I promise that I will address the MC's choices and mistakes that she makes in the later 'seasons'.
3
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White light… it was the first thing that I could see or remember, but slowly, my memories came back to me. I had been driving back from my parents' house after Christmas dinner and a car coming the opposite direction had crossed into my lane… then nothing else. It was easy for me to realize that I had died in the accident, but the fact that I could remember what had happened was what left me puzzled.
COMMENT
"Sleeping away the day does not make time stop, little sis," a familiar voice said.
I sat up and only then did accept the fact that I was alive. I looked around and found myself in a room of white with the only exception as my brother, Tori, who was sitting to the side. He had the same teasing expression on his face that he always had when he would wake me up for school. I could only stare at him while my mind tried to process a singular thought.
"But… your dead," I said.
"And you aren't these days?" he chuckled.
Looking down at my hands and feet, nothing seemed different from when I had been in my accident, so I could only sigh and sit up straight. I complained, "Don't tell me this is heaven."
"Not quite… Although I am your brother, your brother was only a piece of the True me," he replied with outstretched hands. "I am a being beyond your understanding, but the simple side of things is that I am a God, and I took you away from your old world. Well, actually, I took two souls with Katye being the older of you two. You'll meet her eventually, but since this was her favorite television show, I had her start off with a little disadvantage."
"I've placed you both within the world of 'The 100' as it is an excellent test of character. If you can live with the choices that you are forced to make, then I'm sure that I can find a place for you within my pantheon. For now, it is not something that you need to worry about, but my goal is to make you a Goddess and get your help in the future when you do reach that level. Until then, I plan on having you and her train in worlds like these. 'The 100' is only the first, and the second will be Star Trek Voyager since I know it was your favorite, after that… well, you and Katye can argue over it when Voyager starts wrapping up."
2
I chuckled, "You're serious, aren't you?"
"As a car accident," he replied without a hint of hesitation.
I sighed and looked at him hard. He had been my best friend growing up despite the fact that he was ten years older than me, and he even took on a lot of the parent role when my father had died which caused our mother to fall into depression. There had been a couple of times that he had egged me on, getting myself into trouble, but nothing more than what a normal kid would do. I had only been sixteen when he died in a mugging while I had lived to be in my mid-thirties before the accident claimed my life. While I loved and trusted my brother, this was not something easy to accept, or even fit in with common sense.
"Look, you don't have to believe me now. Living as Octavia Blake for a few years will make you realize that I'm telling you the truth. We only have a few minutes before you will awaken in your new life, so tell me what power you want before we have to separate."
"Why put me into 'The 100'?"
"Well, aside from it being one of Katye's favorite shows, you are somewhat familiar with the story line as well. I use set plotlines from tv shows, movies, and books because it reduced my workload to create these environments."
"Why are you doing this then?" I could not help but ask.
"I help you, you help me, hopefully, but that is a long time off... think of this as a long-term investment in you. You are my baby sister, and I know that you can reach my level if you truly commit to this new life. What I have done is place you upon a path that can lead to you becoming a Goddess, but whether or not you can depends solely on your own efforts. Whatever power you ask for will be you gateway and method of practice for your future, so think carefully. Whenever you meet up with Katye, she can help teach you her abilities which are superspeed and shadow-meld while I would hope that you would do the same with what you pick."
"And if I die on this journey to Godhood?"
"Then you die, I'm afraid. Tampering with a Soul and removing it from the Cycle of Reincarnation is a dangerous thing, so I can't pluck you out a second time without risking the True Death of your soul should you die a third."
3
I sighed, looking down at my hands while rubbing an old scar across my knuckles. "So, what's the limit of what I can ask for? Invulnerability seems a bit much if I'm supposed to work at becoming a God."
He chuckled, "Always looking for the method with the least amount of work for yourself. Whatever power that you request is something that needs to grow, so if you request invulnerability, it will start off as high resistance to various sources of damage and then you would have to figure out a method to train it."
2
I thought about it for several minutes and a few ideas came to my mind, but there was one thing that I wanted to ask first. "Is this the only chance that I get to ask for these powers?"
"No," he replied with a teasing smile. "I'll give you, and Katye, another chance to ask for an ability before I move you onto your next world, but they start at the basic level."
"What happens when you move us onto the next world?"
"When you complete the main journey of the story, you'll have a short amount of time to straighten out your affairs then I'll pull you back to this place. You're running out of time, Becca… Katye is already placed, and I can only hold the world paused for a little longer."
I sighed as I gave him a wry look, and grumbled, "Aren't you supposed to be a God?"
"I am," he chuckled, "but between Katye and you, I know that you both could talk off my ear. A time restriction was the only way I could prevent either of you from overthinking things."
I huffed, but I could not refute his claims, at least for myself, and said, "Fine, but I don't know why you even bother asking me. You know exactly what superpower I would want if I could have them. I want to control the Five Elements of Nature."
"Alright, done," he replied with a smile. "You will be able to sense the elements at first and slowly be able to manipulate them if you can figure out how to infuse your intent into them. Like Katye, I'll give you a second ability of my choice which is healing, but it will take a lot of practice before you can heal yourself."
1
Before I could respond, everything faded to black, and the next thing I knew, I was strapped into a chair of some sorts. Opening my eyes, I found myself, and a lot of other kids and young adults, in a poorly lit, metal room while several screens played a recording. While I was by no means an expert on 'The 100', even I could recognize Jaha and the drop ship.
No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than an explosion rang out overhead and an invisible force yanked us to one side. Those of us who were still in our chairs were fine, but two young men were out of sent crashing into the wall, though pipes and hoses that likely broke multiple bones, if not killed them outright. Several people screamed as some smoke spewed out from the broken parts of the ship. Another minute passed and another explosion rang out, this time from below and lasting much longer. There was one last, heavy impact and then we were stopped, no longer failing.
"Listen," a young man that I knew must be Monty said, "no machine hum."
Next to him was no doubt Jasper, who replied, "Whoa… that's a first."
With that, people started scrambling to unbuckle themselves. Clarke was one of the first out of her chairs and she rushed over to the two injured boys where Finn already kneeling. I still found it hard to accept where I was, but being face to face with the members of the 100, it was hard to deny the truth in front of me.
"Finn, is he breathing?" Clarke asked, but Finn expression was the only answer that anyone needed.
"The outer door is on the lower level. Let's go!" someone shouted.
"No!" Clarke said as she pushed herself back onto her feet. "We can't just open the doors!"
Clarke chased after those heading down to the second level while I finally unbuckled myself. I gave Finn a look as he was upset that his foolish actions had cost those boys their life, but there was no need to lecture him since it was clear that he understood. Instead, I followed after Clarke and the others, making my way down the ladder.
"Hey, just back it up, guys," Bellamy said, trying to herd the group away from the door.
"Stop!" Clarke shouted as she shoved her way through the crowd. "The air could be toxic."
"If the air is toxic, we're all dead, anyway," Bellamy retorted with callousness.
Although I knew he was Bellamy from the original show, his voice was identical to my brother's and he even looked similar to him. Knowing that I was supposed to be Octavia, I elbowed my way through the crowd.
"Bellamy?" I asked aloud.
There were a couple of whispers as I moved closer, most noting that I was the 'girl under the floor', but it did not bother me. Octavia was an outcast within a group of outcasts during the beginning of this story, but eventually, she grew to become one of the greatest fighters, a leader, and then a peacemaker. Her journey throughout this world was one of the most twisted of all of the main characters, and now it would be mine.
"My god, look how big you are," Bellamy said with a rare kind smile.
While I knew it was not Tori, I could not help the tears welling up in my eyes as I looked at the spitting image of my brother that I had lost twenty years ago. True, I had just talked to him moments before awakening here, but that version of him gave off an unapproachable feeling. This was the brother that made me waffles every morning before school and would help cheer me up whenever I had a bad day.
I threw my arms around him and gave him a big hug, whispering, "I missed you, big brother." When I pulled away, I shoved him in the chest as remembered exactly how he had gotten onto the dropship. "What the hell were you thinking? You shouldn't be here!"
"Someone has got to keep an eye on you," he said with a strained smile.
"Where's your wristband?" Clarke asked.
Since it was danger to reveal exactly how he had gotten here in front of everyone, I could only play along with the story. Thankfully, aside from the crazy powers that Tori supposedly gave me, there was one already activated which fed me the lines and actions of Octavia.
"Do you mind? I haven't seen my brother in a year," I said, whipping my head in Clarke's direction.
"No one has a brother," someone in the back said.
"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor!" another shouted.
Unfortunately, it appeared that relying on whatever power to help me with the lines also gave me the emotions of the original Octavia. A rage and fury came over me and I was ready to throw myself at the girl who had called me out. Instead, Bellamy grabbed me from behind and pulled me into his arms.
"Octavia, Octavia, no! Let's give them something else to remember you by," he said, trying to calm me down.
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Like being the first person on the ground in a hundred years," he replied with a smile.
I returned it and only then did he let me go. He turned around and placed a hand on the door lever. When he pulled it, the ship gave off a bit of smoke or steam as a white light flooded into the dropship. Everything was so bright that it took all of us a couple of seconds for our eyes to adjust, but the fresh air hit us almost immediately. No one, with the exception of me, had ever seen a lush forest like where we had landed, so no one was willing to take that first step. Without any fear, more because I knew that we were safe, for now, I walked down the hatch door then jumped onto the dirt.
Looking around one last time, I got to deliver probably one of Octavia's best lines throughout the show, shouting, "We're back, bitches!"
2
This caused everyone to cheer and race out of the ship. People raced by and into the forest, but unlike the original Octavia, I was not excited. Well, maybe a little, but I also had the mind of a thirty-seven-year-old and had a good idea of all of the problems that we would be facing eventually. I turned around and looked from Bellamy to Clarke. Both of them would become the future leaders of the one hundred, then Skaikru, and practically all of humanity by the end of the story. Although I had a natural connection to Bellamy as his sister, I remembered that he would be more of a problem than a help during the first season or two. Right now, my best option was to get closer to Clarke since she was the one with a decent head on her shoulders… most of the time.
"You're Clarke, right?" I asked as I walked up to Clarke.
"And you're Octavia Blake," she replied, looking at me with some suspicion.
"I just wanted to see if I can help. You've got a map it looks like, and judging by the sun, north should be that direction which means we can use the trail from the dropship to get a better vantage," I said and pointed out the direction.
1
"How do you know all of that? I thought you grew up hiding under the floor."
"What do you think I was doing under the floor? I've spent most of my life reading and studying, but since I wasn't in going to be using my skills, I took up learning whatever caught my interest," I lied with a causal shrug.
Not the most brilliant of cover stories, I know, but it would give me an excuse for the unusual things that I knew, at least from their perspective. She gave me a nod and I followed her as we headed for the edge of a steep cliff that allowed us to off into the distance. Clarke opened up her map and tried to figure out our position while I looked at the mountains. Someone walked up behind us, but once we confirmed who it was, neither of us gave him a second glance.
"Why so serious, Princess?" Finn asked when he saw her face. "It's not like we died in a fiery explosion."
"Try telling that to the two guys who tried to follow you out of their seats," she replied, dismissively.
While I resisted the urge to sigh, or chuckle, and shake my head, he looked practically like she had slapped him with more than just her words, but instead of shutting his mouth, he retorted, "You don't like being called princess; do you, princess?"
"Do you see that peak over there?" Clarke asked with annoyance.
"Yeah," he scoffed.
"Mount Weather… There's a radiation-soaked forest between us and our next meal. They dropped us on the wrong damn mountain," she said.
"Then we should get moving. That's not going to be a short walk," I added.
Clarke and Finn gave me a surprised look, but Clarke nodded her head and started walking back towards the dropship. People were scattered about, doing their own thing, while fire was still burning on the broken trees from our landing. Instead of trying to save it and build a bonfire or prevent a forest fire, it was just ignored. I already knew that they were all kids and delinquents, but with no one taking our situation seriously, it was a wonder that they had survived until the rest of the Ark came down.
"What the hell have I gotten myself into?" I mumbled to myself, but someone else heard.
"At least you aren't alone," Finn said with a smile.
I smirked, remembering the love triangle between him, Clarke, and Raven, and retorted, "You sure cast a wide net for someone with a girl back on the ark, spacewalker."
He looked at me with surprise, and possible alarm, since my demeanor and words did not match my appearance, but I was not going to play the part of Octavia more than I had to. I was no kind of actress, nor did I know the show, and her character, well enough to succeed. Bellamy might notice a difference between me and the original Octavia, but no one else would know the real her, so this was the time, or it would lead to more questions down the road.
Clarke spread out her map across the ramp and looked around for something to draw with. She found a straight, yet broken piece of metal nearby and grabbed a charred stick. While she started trying to figure out exactly where we landed, Wells, I believe, walked up as Finn wondered off. He gave me a curious expression as he approached, but did not question me and leaned over Clarke's shoulder.
"How did you learn to do that?" Wells asked. Clarke gave him an angry look which made him sigh and answer his own question, "Your dad…"
"Octavia!" Bellamy called out.
"Don't leave without me, Clarke," I said before heading off towards him.
"Right, thanks, Octavia," she replied.
He grabbed me by the elbow and dragged me away from the others and said in authoritative tone, "You need to stay away from Clarke and Wells. You can't trust them; their criminals!"
"We're all criminals, Bellamy. I think that the son of the Chancellor and the daughter of one of the Council members would be great friends to have," I snapped, yanking my arm out of his grip.
"How did you know that?"
"You learn a lot when you're in prison," I said, lying again. I knew that I probably should be more careful with what I reveal that I knew, but it was easier said than done. "They're good people, if you can look past who their parents are. Clarks and Wells have done nothing wrong to me, so that's how I am going to judge them."
He looked at me for a moment then smirked as his expression softened and asked, "When did you grow up so much?"
"I may not be the same Octavia you knew before, but you're still my brother and I love you," I said.
"You'll always be my little sister and I love you too," he responded as he pulled me into a hug.
"Come on. Clarke says that we landed on the wrong mountain, so we need to figure out how we are going to get to Mount Weather. You may not like her, but we need the food and supplies."
"Fine," he agreed with a groan.
I led Bellamy over to Clarke and Wells then asked, "How does it look?"
"We have a twenty mile trek to get there. If we want to have any chance of getting there before sunset, we need to get the group together and go, now," she replied.
"No, we should send a small party out while the rest of the group starts building up this place. The dropship is the only guaranteed shelter that we have right now, so we can't lose it. If we can even get to Mount Weather, that doesn't mean that we can necessarily get in. While we go looking for Mount Weather, the rest of the group should stay here, looking for food, figuring out how to catch the rain when it falls, and building tools and more shelters," I interjected.
"She's right," Wells agreed with surprise in his voice.
"Of course, she's right," Bellamy snapped, but I elbowed him in the side before he say anything else.
"And who do you suggest?" Clarke asked.
"I'm sure that you can get Finn to help us if you ask," I replied.
"I'll get Murphy to go with…" Bellamy started.
"No," I said, quickly since I knew that the fabled cockroach of the series was not the most trustworthy of people. "What about Monty and Jasper? They're supposed to know about plants, right? Maybe we could find something useful on our way."
"That's not a bad idea," Finn's voice came from above us since he had climbed the side of the dropship and was sitting on some piping. He jumped down and smiled, "I'm in."
"I'll get Monty and Jasper," Bellamy said, giving the other three a hard look, then walked away.