𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 || 𝐛. 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

EVERYONE WAS GATHERED AROUND THE SCREEN, LISTENING TO JAHA. He was making the Unity Day announcement to the people on the Ark, and the teenagers were watching from the Earth through the comms. "My friends, this is a historic Unity Day. Every year, we mark the moment our ancestors of the twelve stations joined to form the Ark, but this is the last time we do so while aboard her. Next year, on the ground."

"Right. After we did all the work," Miller scoffed, rolling his eyes at the man speaking, along with a lot of other people that hated Jaha for putting them in jail. "Someone shut him up."

"You shut up, Miller. No one's forcing you to watch," Raven snapped, and Miller put his hands up in surrender as she turned back to the screen to watch. Ivy and Enzo shared a look at her tone, wondering why she wanted to hear this speech so much. Everything that they were telling them had already been said.

Miller had a point, though. The Ark was going to come down and take over after those teenagers had fought for their lives and learned the terrain. Jaha continued, "For ninety-seven years, we have eked out an existence, hoping that someday our descendants would return to Earth."

"Whoo! Yeah! Monty strikes again!" Jasper yelled as he stepped out of a tent with a pot full of a liquid. Enzo chuckled slightly as he looked over at his female friend in excitement. None of them had gotten drunk in a while. "Hey! Call this batch Unity Juice! Who's thirsty? Monty! There you go. Happy Unity Day. Pass it around."

"To our sons and daughters on Earth listening to this message, we will see you soon. The first Exodus ship will launch in under sixty hours, carrying you the reinforcements that you need, so stay strong. Help is on the way," Jaha informed them, and everyone cheered, excited to see their loved ones.

Ivy smiled when she saw the huge grin spread across the Escobar boy's face when the camera turned to show hundreds of people standing and sitting, listening to Jaha's Unity day speech. It landed on his mother, who was smiling and waving enthusiastically, even though she could not see her son. She knew that he was watching.

There was something about that that brought Ivy so much happiness and sadness at the same time. She was so glad that Enzo had someone who knew him so well that she knew he would be watching to catch a glimpse of his mother. However, it made her wonder what she did to not deserve someone like that.