October 12, Year 2149
Trikru Territory, Senaah Forest, Delinquent's Campsite

In Kyongedon culture, fire was the element of new beginnings, a way to settle old disputes and end one's pain to move on. Fire had no mind of its own, no bias to worry of. All it cared about was growing and feeding off whatever it could.

This was no different.

The stench of burnt flesh mixed with wood (and for some reason, a slight hint of chemicals) burned in their nose. Kova realized they were laying on the floor, eyes unfocused but aimed to the foxhole a few meters to the right. The world was blurry when they finally sparked awake, as if falling unconscious also knocked their vision around.

Their entire body flinched when something unexpectedly rough but lightweight smacked right into their cheek. They took hold of the twig and examined it for a moment, stuck in a strange daze from the recent events.

Crack!

Their vision switched from the twig in their hand to where the sound came from. A dead branch snapped away from its tree and bumped into other branches as it fell, growing bigger and bigger—

"Shit!"

Kova managed to roll away just as the enormous branch landed where they were a few seconds ago, the ends of its twigs still bright orange and singed from the fire. The kyongedon grunted and squirmed at the feeling of something poking them in the rib and reached underneath, pulling out a familiar pair of goggles.

They could see him, as if they were back in the foxhole. Jasper's eyes, dark, unfocused, lifeless, his body slumped against the wall, the spear forever embedded into his heart. Kova could feel the blood rush away from their face, leaving a blanched paleness behind. They sat up slowly, wearily, eyes never leaving the goggles until they slid it up their arm to hold onto. 'Monty would want this.'

Looking up and around, it seemed like the fire spilled a bit over the wall. All they could see were the dead trees that had fallen or were crumbling into nothing. It was even worse than the first time the delinquents landed here.

The branch that almost crushed their body gave Kova the strength (and adrenaline) to stand up and climb through the foxhole. They purposely ignored any ashes they stepped on, knowing some were most likely Jasper's.

By the time they reached the other end of the foxhole, all they could do was weakly tumble out and drop to the ground, their weapons clanking against the armor. 'I haven't eaten or drank water since yesterday, exhaustion must've taken me out.' They reasoned, bringing a hand up to push the hair from their face.

Their inside of their hand was stark white.

Nausea settled in the back of their throat when they realized why. The dust and ashes of the dead warriors created a hill to the dropship, although there were a few skeletons that maintained their shape. The sweat gathering at their palm allowed the ashes to stick on. Their breathing slowed down, as if breathing as little as possible would prevent the ashes from entering their body.

To make matters worse, the dropship door was open.

"No way." Kova spoke breathlessly, scrambling up the hill on all fours until they reached the metal door. 'There's no way someone got in before the launch, why is it open?!' Stumbling onto their feet they stood in front of the door but hesitated on entering. The curtains were gone, revealing an empty first floor. The worst possibilities came up in Kova mind. "Hello? Anyone here?"

"Kova?" A dry, raspy voice came from deep inside the dropship.

"Raven!" Kova perked up at hearing their friend's voice, but the warrior inside kept them from sprinting to where the voice came from. Instead of taking the quick route, they kept a hand on their sword and went around the crates, only to find Raven laying on the floor with a gun just within arms reach.

"I can't feel my legs." Raven said, turning her head to face them. Tears fell from the corners of her eyes. "I don't know what to do."

Kova crouched and wiped the tears off silently. 'This is all Murphy's fault.' Briefly, they wished Bellamy didn't stop them from killing the murderer. But this was no time for that. They looked around the dropship before turning back to Raven. "Where is everyone?"

"The last thing I remember was everyone stepping outside. I don't know what happened, they left me in here." She winced at the growing pain and pressure in her lower back. "What do we do?"

"I… I don't know. I don't want to move you without a stretcher. If I carry you I might cause some serious damage if the bullet is in your spine." Kova gnawed on their bottom lip. "I can make a stretcher and drag you somewhere safe, but there would be a lot of friction and a lot more bumps. It's not a good idea."

"Leave me here."

"...what?"

"Leave me here." Raven spoke with a bit more force this time. "You survived the blast, right? There must be others. Go look for them, then you can come back for me."

"And just leave you defenseless?!" Kova shook their head. "It's not happening."

"I have a gun." She motioned to the weapon by her side. "It's better than nothing."

It was the last thing they wanted to do, but the kyongedon also knew Raven was right. Kova couldn't think of another plan, and Raven certainly can't move at all with the amount of pain she was in. "Here, take this just in case I lose it." They slid Jasper's goggles off their arm and handed it to her.

"These are Jasper's." Raven said while taking them. "Is he…"

"Spear to the heart. I didn't see it happen though, I saw it before everything went up in flames." Kova informed her as they pushed the gun closer to Raven, eye contact unwavering. "Stay here and play dead. If someone comes, shoot them on sight."

"Bellamy, get out of here!"

The problem with being in a dense forest was the fact that the trees bounced noise off of each others' surface, making it almost impossible to find the source. Finn's voice was no different, but Kova was determined to find him and potentially Bellamy. They sprinted past the trees and hopped over branches and roots until they could see a break illuminating the forest line.

By the time Kova made it, Finn and Bellamy's hands were tied to the saddle of a horse by rope, their wrists red from the friction and their faces freely bleeding and swollen.

"Don't fall behind or he'll kill you." Finn said lowly to Bellamy, avoiding the eyes of the owner of the horse.

Tristan.

Eyes darkening, Kova quietly slipped the sword out of its sheath and hid behind the tree for the right moment. Tristan walked up to the horse, ready to mount it with his back turned away from them.

'Perfect.'

Just as they ran out from their hiding spot, sword up and ready to strike down, Tristan's attention was alerted to the right where two other sky people sprinted out of their spots to try and save Bellamy and Finn. He dropped down from the footstep of the saddle, but his attention was directed to Kova instead.

They felt the shiver run up their spine (in fear? Adrenaline? It was hard to tell.) but refused to let it show. Without hesitation, they fluidly swung the sword down. The block was expected now that their cover was blown, but the force of Tristan's twin daggers against their sword threw them off balance.

There was a strange feeling of deja vu when Kova's foot slid back from the mud.

"Even the Earth, the very thing that gives us life, can kill us in battle. Fighting against others is easier than fighting against the elements, remember that!"

Indra's lesson from a month ago. They lost to Lincoln that day — they had a minor slip up in the mud, and that would have cost them their life. 'Use the elements to your advantage, huh?'

So they did.

They let their knee drop into the ground and switched sword hands while Tristan raised his arms, ready to deliver the final blow until Kova swung their arm around, scooping up a handful of mud and smushing it right into his face.

With a shout, Tristan instinctively dropped his weapons and brought his hands to his face, frantically wiping the mud from his eyes. He took a few steps back only to stop. A disgusted and painful shiver ran through his entire body. Tristan cracked an eye open, looking down to see the edge of Kova's sword peeking through his abdomen.

The ex-warrior had gone around and stabbed him through the back, just in case he still tried to stab them.

They pulled out their sword slowly, agonizing, just so he would feel the pain and his life leave his body. "For my brother you abandoned when he needed you."

Tristan collapsed to the floor like a puppet with their strings cut off.

They flicked the sword to the side and wiped off the remaining blood on Tristan's pants. After taking Tristan's twin daggers, Kova turned around and scoffed. All four sky people were standing there, stunned at what they witnessed. "Monroe, Sterling, you could have helped you know." They teased to the two as they headed towards Bellamy and Finn. Flustered, they were about to defend themselves when Kova held their hand up. "I was joking, it was better you two didn't. Tristan's unpredictable."

They used one of Tristan's daggers to slice through the rope around their wrist, wordlessly starting with Finn then moving onto Bellamy. Once his restraints came off, Kova hovered the back of their hand over his facial wounds with a grimace on their face, but didn't dare touch him. Bellamy's eyes flickered between Kova's hand and their face, showing a hint of surprised that they were worried about him. It must've been obvious because by the time he was about to speak they had already dropped their hand. "He didn't even lay a hand on you, huh?"

There was a twitch at the corner of his lips. Bellamy knew he must've looked like a hot mess, he could see how swollen his cheek was without even looking in the mirror. The burning of the cuts where blood and dirt mixed into his wounds wasn't helping either. "Right."

One moment, Kova was in front of him, the corner of their lips quirked up in a teasing smile.

In the next, as if something knocked into them they stumbled right into Bellamy, chest to chest, their head falling limp onto his shoulder. It was only when he heard the gunshot ringing in the air and something warm seeping into his shirt did he understand what happened.

"No, don't shoot!" Bellamy instinctively brought his arms up to keep Kova from collapsing. He didn't even know who it was, but if they had a gun he reasoned the person would be a sky person. "They're an ally, they helped us!"

He mentally thanked Finn for stepping in between the two and the gunner. Finn raised his hands up to appease whoever had the gun, his voice becoming part of the background as Bellamy focused on Kova. He could tell they couldn't hold up their own weight — they were leaning on him more and more and their legs began to tremble. "Here, let me just…"

Bellamy kept an arm on their back as he helped Kova lay down on the floor, their hand pressed against their side. He sat by them on his knees. "I think it just grazed me." They grunted out, bringing their hand up. Blood covered their palm entirely. To Bellamy's surprise, a pained grin appeared on their face. "Bellamy, be honest. Do you see any intestines hanging out?"

"Stop joking around." He spoke gruffly, pushing the hand back to the wound. Kova hissed, but kept the pressure there. While they kept their eyes on the sky and taking deep breaths, Bellamy lifted his head to see Finn speaking with...speaking with Kane?

He almost wanted to ask if he had a concussion from the beating and was seeing things but thought better of it. Kova's weird humor was rubbing off on him.

As if he sensed Bellamy looking at him, Kane turned his head to give Bellamy a questioning look. It must be weird, seeing him next to a groun— kyongedon, but he wasn't going to leave them any time soon. Behind Kane, guards were building a makeshift stretcher. Kova took notice as well and called out to them. "Hey!" Kane and Finn turned their heads toward them, as did the guards. It seemed like the new sky people were surprised they were speaking English. "Make another stretcher, Raven Reyes is still in the drop ship."

"What do you mean?" An unfamiliar voice asked Kova, they couldn't exactly get up and see who it was. "What happened to Raven?"

"That's Abby Griffin." Bellamy spoke quietly to Kova, keeping his eyes on Abby and Kane. "She's Clarke's mother."

"Oh. She's going to love me then, no? I did save Clarke from death at least three times." What should have been the same quirk of the lips seemed forced this time from the pain of their side. He almost considered telling them to stop pretending, but Kova switched their attention to Abby. "She was shot and the bullet moved into her spine, I found her after the battle ended."

After hearing the news, Kane went off to talk to some other man while Finn and Abby stepped closer. "Is everyone else okay?"

"I'm not sure, they're all missing."

"...what?"

"Everyone else is missing. Raven is the only one there. I have no idea where they went."

After explaining what happened, Kova was moved onto a stretcher while Kane and his squadron took a moment to formulate a plan. Bellamy and Finn's weapons were taken from them, and Kova ended up getting the same treatment. They even took their sword — which was surprisingly heavy, one of the gunners had to find a comfortable way to hold onto it for the journey — and their new twin daggers.

Finn and Bellamy were ordered to carry Kova's stretcher while giving directions to the front gunners — Finn in the front while latter took the back. From this angle Bellamy could clearly see where the bits of their leather armor was ripped off by the bullet.

Abby had given the ex-warrior a piece of cloth to hold pressure against the wound. Whether it was from the blood loss, the pain, or just recent events, Kova was fading in and out of the conversation. There would be times where they would listen to what the new sky people were talking about and times where they could hear words being said, but not focusing on what they were saying.

"...[any]thing more from Jaha?"

The familiar name brought their attention back. "Jaha?" They asked softly, shifting around in the moving stretcher in order to sit up.

"Don't even think about it." Bellamy warned, motioning for Kova to lay back down with a nod of his head. They were about to roll their eyes, but the pain from their side made them think twice. Kova did as told, laying back down but this time with their head facing Abby.

Her eyes were wide, as if she was shocked Kova knew the name. This was the first time they had seen the brunette, but something about the woman just screamed 'Clarke's mother' to them. Maybe the hair?

"Jaha, as in Wells' father?" Abby continued to stare at them in shock. 'Maybe she's still confused how I know English? Every new sky person reacted the same way. Or maybe—'

"Yes. Do you know who Wells was?"

"Was? He should still be alive, no?"

Kane whipped his head around so quickly Kova could practically feel the wind from it. "What are you talking about? He died after a few days on the ground." His voice came from Finn's side, but the kyongedon couldn't see him.

"The last time I saw Wells he was in the drop ship with Clarke and the others. Wherever Clarke is, I'm sure he's with her."

"Wells is alive…?" Abby's voice was quiet, but there was no hiding the disbelief behind it.

"Did you think he was dead?"

"Yes. Everyone thought Wells was dead. It's why…" He trailed off, but Abby finished his sentence for him. "It's why Thelonious Jaha, Wells' father, stayed on the Ark."

'It's always silent down here, there's never any background machinery noise or anything. But now it's too quiet.' Finn thought as he set down the stretcher slowly with Bellamy. Kane had already gone inside with a group of gunners, leaving two behind to babysit the three of them.

Finn sat down on top of a rock, eyes unfocused but still seeing, if that made any sense. He could see what was going on, he could see Kova was still breathing as they laid on the stretcher, he could see Bellamy squatting nearby and talking with them for a bit before he got up. But it didn't feel like he was paying attention. He was gradually getting lost in his thoughts, something that happened more frequent now and days. Ever since he—

There was blood all over his hands.

He could feel the liquid smoothing his hands, the blood drying as it thinned towards his wrists.

"Finn?"

How many grounders did he kill? Not just during the battle, but before?

"Finn?"

Did he kill more people? Would he if it was necessary?

"Finn!"

The boy looked up.

'Oh.'

Bellamy was trying to get his attention. Finn didn't realize until the man was calling for him, standing by the guardsmen who he was trying to persuade to let them in. Finn stood up, realizing Bellamy was waiting for his response. "You okay?" Bellamy asked, concerned etched into his face.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine." At least that's what he was telling himself.

"Kova told me the foxholes are still usable. If they won't let us in, we can sneak through there. Sounds like a plan?"

"Yeah."

Not sleeping enough was taking its toll on Kova. They kept dozing off, stuck laying down on the stretcher because of their fresh injury. 'As if my leg wasn't bad enough.'

But no matter how deep they could fall asleep, they were always easy to awaken. They almost shot up when they felt the stretcher being picked up, but the pain kept them from doing so. "Where are we going?"

"Inside."

"...[wait,] you don't understand. Murphy murdered two of our people. He shot another one. He tried to hang Bellamy!"
"I don't care. You are not animals. There are rules. Laws. You are not in control here anymore."

"Shouldn't you care if one of your kids are murdering people left and right?" Kova spoke without thinking, but they didn't bother to try and take it back.

From their angle, they couldn't see Bellamy on the floor with a guard clipping handcuffs on his wrists, nor did they notice Murphy on the side getting treated for his injuries. It was smart he kept quiet to try and stay hidden. His shoulder blade ached and twitched at the sight of the grounder.

"The last time I heard about you grounders was that you were all picking off these kids one by one. Should you really be talking?" Kane asked as he walked up to the stretcher, holding a strange cylinder object in his hands.

"Your kids murdered 300 Trikru warriors where you're standing." Their voice suddenly became hostile, cold. Kane briefly looked down to his ash-covered shoes. Just as he was about to talk, Kova cut him off. "They also set a village on fire, killing off more than a hundred people and burning down a major library. That was before we even made contact. Don't act like you know what happened down here."

It was obvious Kane was taken aback. Luckily for him, a distraction came along. Two guardsmen came out of the dropship carrying a stretcher with a young woman on it. "Raven!" Kova exclaimed, immediately trying to sit up. They gave up quickly when a shock of pain shot up their side.

"She's lost a lot of blood." Abby came up to them, Finn on her heels. "It's a miracle that she's still alive. There's no one else in there. Come on. Let's get going."

October 12, Year 214
Forbidden Trikru Territory, Mount Weather Bunker

If someone had told Harper she would be in charge of the 46 that survived in Mount Weather, she would have scoffed and reject the idea. However Clarke's… unexpected appearance and her attempt to leave created a frenzy in Mount Weather. Wells had to speak with Prez. Dante Wallace in order to explain the situation and left Harper to keep an eye on the remaining delinquents.

"He wasn't in the dropship, Harper. Does that mean I might've killed him?"

This also meant helping the others come to terms with what happened at the battle.

"I'm sure he escaped if he couldn't make it to the dropship in time." She reasoned, rubbing her hand soothingly on his back. Monty was hunched over in his chair, the palms of his hands pressed against his forehead, eyes red and itchy from crying for so long. Ever since he was told Jasper wasn't in Mount Weather, he had been going around asking all the delinquents if they had seen him inside the dropship when they launched.

So far, no one had seen him.

He relaxed for a few hours, but it seemed like Clarke almost pulling the emergency door lever triggered his nerves once again. Not knowing what happened to his friend was gnawing at his very soul, leaving him with holes.

The two were sitting in a small secluded table at the corner of the main room, avoiding everyone else until Monty had calmed down.

"I'm the one who pulled that lever." Monty spoke quietly, more to himself rather than Harper. "Did I kill him?"