Chapter Text
Flickering lights continuously shut on and off from the ceiling. A small, quiet groan exited the lips of a shivering body in the left corner of the small room. She whimpered in pain, gazing longingly at the black marks etched into her left wrist. The most comforting thing she could do was trace the mark, wondering who the name belonged to and how they would meet. The tattoo finally formed the night before. At birth, the marks were merely dots that slowly formed letters as the girl aged.
The door in the center opened to reveal an adult woman.
"Clarke?" The woman closed the door behind her and bent down to console the shivering body.
"Mom? What's happening to me?" The shivering body, named Clarke, sat upright and brushed the wavy blonde curls from her own ocean blue eyes.
The woman, Abby Griffin, member of the chancellors and one of the best doctors on the Ark, sat next to her daughter.
"Do you remember your classes with Mr. Pike? Honey, this is your first heat."
"My heat? So that means-"
"Yes. You're an omega."
Clarke tried to clear her head to remember the lessons she learned.
She knew about the existence of Alphas, Betas and Omegas, but typically children did not know what they were until they exhibited signs: Strong powerful scents, mild scents and strong sweet scents. Children were trained to form a habit of taking suppressants on a daily basis once they hit the age where they could consume solid food. The pills were meant to suppress scents and various pheromones, up until they experienced puberty. And then the pills would have a dosage increase, but only the omegas were forced to continue taking the pills. Alphas were encouraged to build their overwhelming testosterone, as leadership was typically associated with a brutal display of power, and betas were a middle ground; they comforted the other two with their scent, they controlled themselves around others with ease, unlike Alphas, and they didn't have an overwhelming urge to prove their strength or submissiveness.
But Omegas were a complicated sort. They needed the pills, and once they hit their first heat, the dosage needed to be increased to avoid the next. This was mainly a safety attempt. Alphas were drawn to Omega scent and had the urge to claim them or prove their strength. Omegas needed the pills to cloak their scent. Alphas were encouraged to let themselves go and were not disciplined unless they broke laws, such as harassing the offspring of an important figure, like Clarke, or committed other heinous crimes.
Typically, anyone who committed heinous crimes would be 'floated', they would be sent to an air lock and floated into space. However, anyone below the age of eighteen would be imprisoned in the 'Skyblock', a massive jail system. Those who were imprisoned would be floated as soon as they turned eighteen or be pardoned if their crimes were subtle.
Someone as young as Clarke, a small twelve year old, was especially vulnerable during this time.
Clarke turned around to face the hazel brown eyes of her mother and perished her thoughts.
Abby lifted up her daughter's arm and traced the tattoo.
"This finally formed? I wonder who this Lexa is," she mumbled quietly. She felt a small pang of quiet jealousy. "Your father has my name on his collarbone, but I never had his."
"But not everyone is Marked. And sometimes the unmarked are another person's soulmate, or they form later in life," Clarke tried to reassure her.
Abby's lips turned into a small smile. She loved her daughter's relentless positivity.
"I swear, Clarke, you're an Omega but you think like an Alpha."
"What do you mean?"
"Omegas would usually agree or stay quiet, and Alphas would insist otherwise." Abby stood up from the cold floor. "Unfortunately, you're going to stay in this heat chamber with other Omegas who come into their first heat for a week. But it's better for you to stay in here than out in the halls with Alphas prowling around. Betas will guard this room until your heat ends. We'll give you stronger suppressants when this is over."
"Alright. I'll just stay here, I guess," Clarke hated the idea of confinement, but at least she would be safe.
_______
A few hours later, the door opened once again. A beta guard wrapped his arms around a newcomer, and shut the door behind him as he exited.
"Um, hi," the new Omega shuddered quietly as sweat trickled down his neck. "My name's Jasper," his brown curly hair seemed to flop as he lifted the goggles from his face.
Clarke watched the boy and her lips turned into a sad smile. She shared his pain. She understood the painful shuddering and the uncomfortable heatwaves.
"I'm Clarke. I just woke up in here a few hours ago." She pat the spot next to her.
"Clarke? Chancellor Griffin's daughter?" Jasper sat in the spot and beamed at his new friend.
Jasper was a literal small energetic bundle of excitement, just like her best friend Wells. At least Clarke could find familiar comfort in her new friend.
________
A week finally passed. Within that painful period of time, Clarke and Jasper spoke of their soul marks. Jasper's mark was still a bundle of underdeveloped black dots. But under his left knee, the letter 'M' was fully formed to start a vertical name.
Neither of them knew how the soul marks formed or how they became imprinted on their bodies, even the teachers on the Ark didn't know. Clarke liked the way Jasper described it.
"It's like a journey. You don't know how it formed, but you know where your future mate is and instinctively find them."
Mr. Pike explained the phenomenon in one of his many lessons. Those who were Marked would instinctively sense and follow their potential mate. He said it had something to do with the reason behind the individual strong scents of the three counterparts. Alphas sought out those who had sweet scents most pleasing to them, Betas sought out a combination of strength and sweetness, Omegas were typically drawn to an overwhelming strength from someone who would guard and protect them and future pups. Those who were Marked were considered special for already being able to claim their mate while the unmarked had to find their future mates by sensing individual scents and courtship.
Abby's mate, the Beta engineer named Jake Griffin was marked, but Abby was not. Clarke's studies would explain that sometimes one person can be another's soulmate, but not the other way around.
"What a strange world we live in. Our genetics determine our future," Clarke sighed.
Jasper turned to face her. "But it doesn't have to be this way. Don't let your genetics determine your future. Just because we're Omegas doesn't mean we have to act submissive and let everyone boss us around."
Clarke opened her mouth to protest, watching as Jasper's mouth curled into a soft smile.
"See, Clarke? You were about to argue, just like one of the Alpha Chancellors. Omegas aren't supposed to argue, but look at you. You're going to be a leader some day. I can feel it."
The door slid open. Abby entered and wheeled a cart inside. Jasper let out a loud sigh of relief and stood up. "Finally, it's over!" His goggles fell from his face. Clarke grabbed them before they hit the floor.
Abby watched her daughter and her new friend. 'At least she doesn't have to go through this on her own,' she thought to herself. She opened a container to reveal two large boxes that contained several ziplocked bags of pills. "One bag for each month. Two pills daily," she instructed.
"You're so lucky to have a doctor and a Chancellor for a mother," Jasper whispered.
_________
Four years later
Clarke sat between Jasper and Wells. The three of them were paired up together in an art class.
Clarke quietly sketched the Earth on a small sheet of paper, remembering the circular shape and the blues of the ocean and greens of the forests left to grow after the nuclear apocalypse. She spent countless time watching the planet from the windows of the Ark with her father.
Wells gripped his knight chess piece in an attempt to use it for a sketching model. He often played chess with his father Chancellor Jaha. Just like Abby and Clarke, they had a strong parent to child bond, probably from the Alphas' instinct to guard and protect their young.
Jasper sketched a strange looking plant. Another classmate by the name of Monty walked by the desk and smirked at the image. Jasper looked up and shared the smirk. They high-fived each other and Monty walked to his own seat.
"You two and your friggin' ancient drug references," Wells shook his head in mock disapproval and laughed. His pencil left his fingers.
"Clarke Griffin, someone would like to see you," the instructor's shrill voice called. Clarke stood up from her seat and walked outside of the classroom. "Oooh," Wells, Jasper and Monty called in unison as if Clarke was about to be punished.
"Oh, shut it," Clarke playfully rolled her eyes and exited.
"Dad!" She ran up to her father's arms. Despite her age, she and her father were still practically inseparable. "I have something to show you," Jake smiled at his daughter.
Both Griffins walked down the hallway together. They entered an elevator, exited as they hit their destination and walked inside the engineering room.
"Dad? I've been here several times. I can't see what's new or exciting," Clarke faced her father.
Jake's soft smile curled into a strangely sad smile. "Clarke, there's something wrong with the Ark, and I need to tell someone. I need you to keep this a secret until I figure out a way to let everyone else know."
"Dad? You're scaring me," Clarke sat down in one of the padded desk chairs.
"You should be. The oxygen system isn't functioning correctly, and it looks like we don't have a large supply of air left to keep us alive," Jake closed his eyes as he tried to form answers for the questions his daughter might ask.
Clarke wasn't sure how to respond. She opened her mouth to speak, but noises didn't combine to form words. She quietly thanked herself for sitting down before she heard the revelation.
Little did she know, this knowledge would play a significant part in her loss of innocence.