Where you going? Don't go. No, no, no, no. Stay right here, I'm more sincere when I drink.

— Dionysus, The Buttertones

━━━━━━ October 5, 2149

"JASPER AND MONTY ARE making moonshine."

⠀⠀⠀Octavia lay on her stomach inside her tent, the journal the Grounder had given her shoved under her pillow the moment someone walked through. She looked over her shoulder at Casey, then lazily pulled it back out to continue reading.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, so?" she muttered, tracing her fingers against the charcoal strokes.

⠀⠀⠀"Well," Casey began, her tone edging on teasing as she rocked back and forth on her heels. "Everyone's going to be getting drunk off their asses, not paying attention to anything that's happening, it makes it... pretty easy to sneak out, don't you think?"

⠀⠀⠀Octavia's eyes darted to Casey faster than a bullet. She grew nervous, fingers messing with the edge of the page, and sweat beaded on her skin. Casey found it amusing. She knew about the book and where it came from. Octavia obviously didn't care if she knew, but neither of them discussed the fact that she had been seeing the Grounder. The fact that Octavia expected no one to notice, not even Casey, that she planned to sneak out was naive.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't know what you're talking about," Octavia said quickly, running her words together as she returned to the journal.

⠀⠀⠀"Relax," Casey laughed, moving into the tent and sitting beside Octavia. "I'm not going to rat you out to anyone."

⠀⠀⠀Octavia frowned, the lines beginning to deepen and crease her skin after weeks of torment on the ground. A sigh broke through her lips, and she bowed her head. Then, she pulled herself upright and sat next to Casey on the small cot, bringing her knees to her chin.

⠀⠀⠀"I know I told you during the storm, but I want to say it again. I forgive you for Atom, and I understand why you did it," Octavia said softly, her green eyes staring at Casey.

⠀⠀⠀Casey nodded and smiled. "Thank you. It means more to me than you know to hear that."

⠀⠀⠀"I'm sorry I was such a bitch after," Octavia said.

⠀⠀⠀Casey was taken back to the day Murphy was banished. She didn't like to think about it; she thought about it enough when she tried to sleep. During the day, she tried to push it to the back of her mind, especially after the hallucination she had during the day trip. Her thoughts of Murphy often led back to that false conversation. It felt so real, though. Even if he wasn't there, everything he said was true.

⠀⠀⠀And on that day, Octavia had stoked the flames of the fire going to burn Murphy. She had added that he had wanted to kill Jasper, pushing the rock an inch further before it tumbled down the hill. Casey was angry that she said it then but had barely thought about it since. It was such a tiny thing between everything Clarke and Bellamy had done.

⠀⠀⠀Although, Octavia's apology felt a lot like Bellamy's. Unlike Clarke, who had barely mentioned Murphy outside of telling Raven why she and Finn found the art supply store.

⠀⠀⠀"Thank you for saying that," Casey said, her throat getting tight and her words sounding forced. "You didn't have to."

⠀⠀⠀"But I did," Octavia replied, her tone blunt. She rested her hand on top of Casey's and squeezed it tight. "I know how much Murphy means to you, and he might be a dick, but he didn't deserve that."

⠀⠀⠀Casey smiled but didn't say anything else.

⠀⠀⠀"Hey!" Raven exclaimed, poking her head inside the tent with a wide smile. "Moonshines flowing, and I want to spend my time watching the Chancellor's speech drinking with friends! Come on!"

⠀⠀⠀Octavia looked at Casey and Casey at her. Their silent communication made Raven's smile flicker as she crossed her arms.

⠀⠀⠀"What? What is it?" Raven asked, playfully annoyed as she looked between them. "Ditching me already?"

⠀⠀⠀"I don't know about tonight. I'm just so tired," Octavia said offhandedly, beginning to yawn loudly to emphasize her point.

⠀⠀⠀"You're not getting any sleep with these loud shitheads outside your tent," Raven retorted, raising a brow.

⠀⠀⠀"I can try," Octavia grinned.

⠀⠀⠀Raven sighed despondently and turned to Casey with puppy dog eyes as she asked, "Will you watch with me?"

⠀⠀⠀"Of course. I'll meet you out there. I just need to finish with O first," Casey smiled softly.

⠀⠀⠀"Alright, alright, I get it," Raven exclaimed, waving her hand at Casey as she stepped out of the tent, muttering.

⠀⠀⠀Casey returned her attention to Octavia and pulled her into a tight hug. Octavia hugged her back, and both girls were thankful to have each other back in their lives, especially after the horrors of being on the ground. Having a rock like Octavia was well-needed.

⠀⠀⠀"Please be careful sneaking out, and tell him I say below," Casey whispered, pulling away from the hug to look into Octavia's eyes.

⠀⠀⠀"I will," Octavia said, smiling, a soft blush crossing her cheeks. "And you be careful, too. Don't get too drunk."

⠀⠀⠀"After the past few weeks?" Casey asked, incredulous, as she stood to her feet and wiped the dirt off her pants. "Not a chance, I think I'm due a good blackout."

⠀⠀⠀"And I'm gonna miss it?" Octavia teased with a laugh.

⠀⠀⠀"When you pick boys over your friends, you miss out," Casey shrugged and opened the tent to leave. "Sleep well, Octavia," she said, louder than necessary.

⠀⠀⠀Casey walked across the camp to the dropship. Raven had connected a monitor to it so they could talk to their parents and wired into Jaha's broadcast for the Unity Day celebrations. A small crowd of teenagers, including Raven, stood around to watch. Casey joined her, smiling softly.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't think I ever went to a Unity Day celebration on the Ark," Casey mused.

⠀⠀⠀"Really?" Raven asked, looking at her.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, well, it's more of an Alpha Station thing, right?" Casey asked with a shrug.

⠀⠀⠀"Everyone's allowed to go."

⠀⠀⠀"Right, but it still feels divided, especially in Alpha. I always hated it when we had to visit my grandma in medical," Casey explained, remembering how lifeless and sterile the other stations looked. Farm Station had some greenery wherever you went, while the people of Alpha stared at her like they were covered in dirt. Only once had that been true. "John and I never went. We just stayed home watching old Earth movies while my mom was required to stand guard."

⠀⠀⠀"That's sweet. Everyone talks about that Murphy guy like he was the worst person alive. He must be very lucky to have you," Raven said softly, resting her hand on Casey's shoulder.

⠀⠀⠀"My friends," Chancellor Jaha began, interrupting their conversation. "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, raising his hands towards the camp. Irritated, he waved his hands at Jaha in dismissal and demanded, "Someone shut him up!"

⠀⠀⠀"You shut up, Miller," Raven quickly responded, crossing her arms as she glared at Miller. "No one's forcing you to watch."

⠀⠀⠀Casey laughed softly behind her hand as Raven smiled in amusement. Miller glared at the pair of them, but neither were too concerned with him to care.

⠀⠀⠀"For ninety-seven years, we have eked out an existence, hoping that someday our descendants would return to Earth."

⠀⠀⠀Jasper bolted out of his tent, his signature goggles covering his eyes and hair standing wildly on end. He raised a barrel full of moonshine over his head and looked like a mad scientist with his elated grin. Just at the sight of his arrival, the entire camp perked up, distracted from the Ark's Unity Day for their own.

⠀⠀⠀"Whoo! Yeah! Monty strikes again! Hey, call this batch Unity Juice!" Jasper exclaimed. "Who's thirsty? There you go," he cheered, pouring cups as they came for him.

⠀⠀⠀Casey and Raven joined, catching cups full of alcohol to drink their problems away before they were stampeded by the other delinquents desperate for a taste.

CASEY SLAMMED HER THIRD cup of Unity Juice and wiped the excess from her chin. She grinned toothily at her new friends around the fire as they talked about Unity Days in the past, what they had gotten locked up for, whatever. It didn't really concern Casey until alcohol was involved, and there was a lot of it. Thank Monty!

⠀⠀⠀What Casey was really concerned about was that her limbs were beginning to feel like meat on bones. But not like... attached. Just pasted on with old glue and were beginning to slide off in a pile at her feet. She panicked every few minutes, needing to check that her arms hadn't fallen off yet. But she was certain they would come off when she least expected it.

⠀⠀⠀Or maybe that was just her stupid mind playing tricks with her again. If Casey was anything, she was an over-thinker.

⠀⠀⠀Casey shifted on the log she sat on, losing what little balance she had, and slumped to the ground. Her legs folded underneath, her arms laid like heavy weights at her side, and her cheek pressed into the dirt. She laughed loudly, but no one around gave much of a shit that she was losing it.

⠀⠀⠀"My body fell off my body!" Casey exclaimed.

⠀⠀⠀An empty cup lay a few inches from her head, and she realized it was hers, having dropped on her descent to the ground. With the grace of a newborn lamb, she moved her legs out from underneath herself and awkwardly moved them over her head so she was lying on her stomach. She was much more graceful at doing it as a flexible child after watching spy movies with Murphy.

⠀⠀⠀Casey took her time to stand, wobbling on her feet as she held her cup with an iron grip. She got herself a refill before turning back to find her new friends... However, she couldn't remember where she had placed them. She raised her finger, scanning the crowd before it landed on Clarke. Thoughts of her friends left her head, and she decided to talk with Clarke instead.

⠀⠀⠀"CAH-LARKE!" Casey exclaimed, stumbling over to her and catching herself on Clarke's shoulders. Casey pulled her closer to her face, nose pressing against Clarke's cheek, as she smiled loosely. Her eyes flickered to Clarke's friend standing beside her, Bellamy, and raised a brow before her attention returned to Clarke. "It's so good to see you! Y'know..." She paused, hiccupped, then held Clarke at a distance to get a good look at her. "You're very pretty, maybe not my type, but if you were as kiss as I am, I'd drunk you!" she whispered loudly, holding her hand to cover her mouth from Bellamy's ears.

⠀⠀⠀Clarke flushed bright red at her comment while Bellamy let out a howl of laughter. Casey enjoyed the moment of friendliness between them and would find the next part of her joke even funnier. A maniacal cackle left Casey's mouth as she removed her hands from Clarke and bent over at the waist.

⠀⠀⠀"Sometimes," Casey breathed out between her laughter, "I forget how funny I am! As if I'd kiss someone who killed my brother."

⠀⠀⠀Clarke grew stiff, not sure how to—or even if she should—respond.

⠀⠀⠀"Alright, Case," Bellamy said, sobering himself up as he walked over to her. Her shoulders snapped into place at the sound of the nickname, and she looked at him as if the nickname were some kind of calling card. "How about we get you to bed?"

⠀⠀⠀Casey screwed up her face and turned back to Clarke, not willing to let this go.

⠀⠀⠀"Y'know, at least Bella-Bella-Bel-a-meee had a reason to banish John. He went psycho and tried to kill Charlotte. Whereas you, Clarke, had no proof he killed Wells, and he didn't! It was fucking Charlotte."

⠀⠀⠀"Casey, I did what I thought was right with the information I had," Clarke tried to argue, sober, while Casey was ready to fight through unstable, drunken retorts.

⠀⠀⠀"Clarke," Bellamy cut in before she could. "Don't try and argue with her. She's drunk."

⠀⠀⠀"But it's the truth!" Clarke exclaimed as if that mattered.

⠀⠀⠀"With the information I have, we should kill you!" Casey shouted, jumping in her spot as Bellamy wrapped his hands around her stomach to pull her back.

⠀⠀⠀"Alright, alright, come on, let's go to bed," Bellamy whispered in her ear, his tone clipped but understanding.

⠀⠀⠀"Together?" Casey teased, ears perking up.

⠀⠀⠀"No," Bellamy said, turning her around and pushing her toward her tent. Clarke all but forgotten behind them.

⠀⠀⠀Casey looked up at Bellamy, their faces only an inch apart, as she smiled a sweet but mischievous grin. "Would you like to make out, Bellamy?"

⠀⠀⠀"Not right now, Sunshine. Maybe when you're not so drunk," Bellamy said with a smirk, ready to hold this over her head in the morning. But that was Sober's Casey problem.

⠀⠀⠀"Well, I don't think Sober Casey wants to make out with you. She basically hates you," Casey pouted.

⠀⠀⠀"But Drunk Casey doesn't?" Bellamy asked, intrigued.

⠀⠀⠀"Yes," she replied simply, nothing else to explain her reasoning.

⠀⠀⠀"Maybe another time when we're both drunk," he laughed.

⠀⠀⠀"I'll take that as a promise," Casey said smugly.

⠀⠀⠀"Let's just get you to bed, alright?" Bellamy sighed, pressing his hand firmly against her back to keep her moving.

⠀⠀⠀His hands didn't leave her, which led her to conclude that he really regretted not taking her up on her offer. Casey's eyes scanned the crowd around her and perked up at the familiar sight.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, wait! Fire!" Casey screamed, pointing to where she had been sitting before.

⠀⠀⠀"What?" Bellamy asked, startled.

⠀⠀⠀"I wanna go there. It's where I was hanging out before," she explained.

⠀⠀⠀Bellamy sighed but complied. He helped her sit down, and as his cheek passed her lips, she couldn't help but press a soft kiss to it. He stared at her, something deep and emotional in his eyes before he patted her shoulder and smiled. Casey smiled back as he left to continue his patrol.

⠀⠀⠀As Casey listened to the teenagers, their words dulled to a gentle hum. Half awake, her eyes started to flutter as she realized maybe she should have listened to Bellamy. Her eyes grazed over the tents, and she stared at Raven's tent. Finn walked out, and her drunken self glowered at the sight. If she were honest with herself, Casey had a slight crush on Raven. But she knew Raven was committed to Finn, even after his affair with Clarke. Sober Casey was okay with it; it was only a little crush, but Drunk Casey was jealous.

⠀⠀⠀Casey was perplexed by Finn's demeanor. He looked frustrated and determined, not at all what she imagined having sex with Raven would be like... not that she had thought of it. But he walked and walked and walked and walked until his feet led him to the edge of the woods, and he left the camp altogether.

⠀⠀⠀Alarm bells rang inside Casey's mind. Octavia was in those woods, and there was a sudden flash of worry that Finn had figured out what Octavia was doing. She sprang to her feet, interrupting whoever had been talking, and stumbled after Finn.

⠀⠀⠀She caught up to him fairly quickly but kept her distance, following him to Lincoln's cave as she suspected. (Thank God he wasn't actually meeting Clarke out here.) She pulled out her knife, rubbing her fingers over the engraved JM for courage.

⠀⠀⠀Finn walked into the cave, and she realized it was a few seconds too late. Finn announced himself to Lincoln and Octavia inside but didn't have another chance to speak as Casey caught him in a headlock. Her knife rested at his throat, a feral feeling ripping through her muscles. She wouldn't let another friend be banished.

⠀⠀⠀"Finn?! Casey?!" Octavia screamed, confused, as her eyes darted between them. She turned to Lincoln as he backed away into a defensive position, glaring at Finn. "Lincoln, wait, wait! He's my friend!"

⠀⠀⠀Lincoln backed down at Octavia's command, but Casey was sure it was only to make them feel safe. He needed only a moment to kill either of them.

⠀⠀⠀"Casey," Octavia said, her voice a little softer. "It's okay."

⠀⠀⠀She walked around Finn and held her hand out for Casey's knife. Casey sighed, removing herself from Finn and resting the knife in Octavia's hand. She smiled awkwardly in thanks.

⠀⠀⠀"You weren't joking earlier," Octavia chuckled, noticing Casey's flushed skin and dilated eyes as she pulled her away from Finn to sit on a rock.

⠀⠀⠀Finn glanced at Casey, slightly wary. They were friends, and Casey owed him for keeping her somewhat sane, especially the night that Murphy left. He didn't question her intention and only nodded softly before holding a horn out to Lincoln.

⠀⠀⠀"I think you lost this," Finn said.

⠀⠀⠀"So, what the hell are you doing here?" Octavia demanded, returning to fury now that Casey wasn't threatening him.

⠀⠀⠀"I could ask you the same thing. I could ask why Casey knew to follow me or how long you've known he speaks English," Finn retorted, but his tone wasn't malicious, just thoughtful. "But I won't. You blew this when your people were hunting us. You saved our lives. I have to believe there's more like you."

⠀⠀⠀Finn's apparent kindness didn't impress Lincoln, pointing out, "I stabbed you."

⠀⠀⠀"And we tortured you," Finn said, shrugging. "If the two of us can get along, then maybe there's hope. Learn from history instead of repeating it, right?"

⠀⠀⠀Casey listened to the conversation like she was having an out-of-body experience. Her head spun like a washing machine, and she closed her eyes tightly, which didn't help much. She groaned, the drinking suddenly not sitting well, and Octavia soothed her hand against her back.

⠀⠀⠀"How's that gonna happen?" Octavia asked, defensive.

⠀⠀⠀"For starters, no more killing," Finn began.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't have the power to call a truce," Lincoln stopped him short.

⠀⠀⠀"Then bring me to someone who does," Finn requested, but Lincoln didn't seem keen to comply with his request.

⠀⠀⠀"Hey, look," Finn continued, his brows furrowing. "The rest of our people are coming down here. The first ship lands in two days."

⠀⠀⠀"It's true," Octavia muttered.

⠀⠀⠀"And because of the attacks, they're sending mostly soldiers, the people that enforce our laws. The Ark is about survival at any cost, and they'll kill people who fall out of line. When those people get down here, if they feel threatened, they will start a war, and I don't want that. Neither do you, and I think that's why you blew that horn. Once the soldiers get here, it will be too late, and we'll have no power to stop them, but if they see that we're at peace, then maybe we have a chance to stay that way."

⠀⠀⠀Lincoln thought over his points for a moment, then nodded his head. "Alright, you bring your leader, I'll bring mine."

⠀⠀⠀"What, Bellamy?" Octavia asked, glancing up at Lincoln. "He'll never go for this."

⠀⠀⠀Casey slowly nodded her head in agreement.

⠀⠀⠀"No. Not your brother," Lincoln said firmly.

⠀⠀⠀"Clarke," Finn concluded.

━━━━━━ October 6, 2149

OCTAVIA WAS LEFT BABYSITTING a sickly Casey, who threw up the contents of her stomach at least two times at the abandoned bridge between Lincoln's people and theirs. Lincoln had requested his leader, Anya, while Finn returned to camp to get Clarke. The hours ticked by, and as Casey started to sober throughout the dawning hours, she realized the direness of their situation.

⠀⠀⠀Clarke, a seventeen-year-old girl, would have to come to a peace treaty with a woman who had breathed war itself. The idea of bringing their people together was crazy and unthought-out, and they had to trust that both parties wanted this. Casey hoped Clarke was a little more welcoming to the prospect of working with the Grounders, unlike Bellamy might have felt.

⠀⠀⠀Daylight broke, the forest illuminating around them with morning dew. Neither Lincoln nor Finn had returned, and it felt like Casey was going to throw up a third time just from nerves. Octavia paced in front of her, chewing on her thumbnail in worry.

⠀⠀⠀"Hey, everything's going to be okay," Casey tried to assure her.

⠀⠀⠀Octavia glanced at her, nervousness filling her expression, as she muttered, "Right."

⠀⠀⠀The bushes opposite to them rustled as Finn and Clarke erupted from the trees and walked along the bridge. Clarke had a firm frown etched into her features, her brows creasing and her eyes darting to Octavia as all the pieces fell into place.

⠀⠀⠀"So, that's how you set this up," Clarke commented to Finn before turning back to Octavia. "You helped him escape, didn't you?"

⠀⠀⠀"I trust him, Clarke," Octavia said.

⠀⠀⠀"There's a lot of that going around," Clarke said snidely, her narrowed gaze turning to Finn.

⠀⠀⠀"Maybe that should tell you something, Clarke," Casey commented, dismissively waving her hand at Clarke.

⠀⠀⠀On the other side of the bridge, footsteps approached before Lincoln jogged out of the woods. Octavia met him in the middle, jumping into his arms, and holding him tight. Her fear had stemmed not only from having this meeting, but Lincoln even proposing the idea. There was a slim chance that Anya felt betrayed by his request and killed him on the spot. Behind the couple, the sound of hooves ruptured through the woods and announced the trio of Grounders before they broke through the tree line.

⠀⠀⠀Casey had never seen a horse before, and none of them had, not in real life. The creatures were magnificent and beautiful, warm brown and muscular. They were what Casey imagined animals on the ground to be like not grotesque, two-faced entities like the deer.

⠀⠀⠀Their leader, Anya, stepped off her horse as Clarke walked forward to handle the negotiations alone. The woman was tall with pride and honor, her skin was dark, and her eyes narrowed into severe slits as she watched Clarke intently. Next to her, Clarke looked like a child, pale and fragile and bound to say all the wrong things. Her chin was raised, and her shoulders squared, trying to look like a leader, but it was clumsy and still unearned. They had only been on the ground for a few weeks; Anya had been here her whole life.

⠀⠀⠀"Your name is Clarke?" Anya asked.

⠀⠀⠀"Yes," Clarke said.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm Anya."

⠀⠀⠀"I think we got off to a round start, but we want to find a way to live together in peace," Clarke explained, holding her hand out to shake. Anya either refused or didn't understand the gesture. Once Clarke realized, she pulled her hand back to her side.

⠀⠀⠀Casey couldn't help it. A slight smirk pulled at the edges of her lips.

⠀⠀⠀"I understand," Anya stated. However, her expression stated explicitly neutral. "You started a war that you don't know how to end."

⠀⠀⠀"What?" Clarke asked, taken aback. "We didn't start anything. You attacked us for no reason."

⠀⠀⠀Casey sighed at Clarke's attempt to make peace. It was almost too hard to look at as Clarke made her claims and didn't hear Anya out for her reasons to believe the teenagers had started a war.

⠀⠀⠀"No reason?" Anya snapped, a sudden spark of emotion that hadn't been there before. "The missiles you launched burned a village to the ground."

⠀⠀⠀Everyone went silent. The only sound was the wind in the leaves. Anya's words were truthful, but they definitely didn't have any missiles. If they did, Bellamy would've used those to blow up the Ark somehow.

⠀⠀⠀"The flares?" Clarke asked, and it all clicked. "No, that was a signal meant for our families. We had no idea—"

⠀⠀⠀"You're invaders. Your ship landed in our territory," Anya claimed, a glare firmly set on Clarke, but it felt like it punctured through all of them.

⠀⠀⠀"We didn't know anyone was here. We thought the ground was uninhabited," Clarke explained.

⠀⠀⠀"You knew we were here when you sent an armed raiding party to capture one of us and torture him. These are all acts of war," Anya claimed, swift and well-informed on the issues concerning her people.

⠀⠀⠀"I see your point," Clarke said diplomatically, trying to keep her composure, but the cracks began developing. "That's why we need to put an end to all of this.

⠀⠀⠀Casey could see the fire burning behind Anya's eyes. She didn't take these matters as lightly as Clarke seemed to brush them aside. Her apologies were unexpressive and bland as if the lives of Anya's people were unintentional consequences.

⠀⠀⠀Casey tapped into her skin in fours, anxious over Anya's course of action. Her nails had grown out since they had come to the ground, so they hit her skin and turned it raw.

⠀⠀⠀"Lincoln said there are more of yours coming down. Warriors," Anya stated.

⠀⠀⠀"The Guard, yes," Clarke agreed, nodding her head. "But also farmers, doctors, engineers. We can help each other, but not if we're at war."

⠀⠀⠀"Can you promise that these new arrivals won't attack us? That they will respect the terms you and I agree on?" Anya asked.

⠀⠀⠀Casey was surprised Anya was warming up to peace between their people. However, she doubted the Grounders could have survived this long if they were constantly warring with others. Even if Anya was still understandably wary, peace had to be an option.

⠀⠀⠀Clarke paused, mulling over the question. Then, she stated, "I promise I will do everything I can to convince them to honor the terms that we set."

⠀⠀⠀With that, all of Clarke's diplomatic stumbling fell with the weight of the fact that she was still a naive child. Casey sighed dramatically—still not fully sober—as she looked at the sky above.

⠀⠀⠀"Why would I agree to an alliance that your people can break the moment they get here?" Anya sneered in her frustration.

⠀⠀⠀"If you fire the first shot, those people coming down won't bother negotiating," Clarke retorted forcefully as if trying to scare her into compliance. Anya didn't seem like the type that would work on. "Our technology... They will wipe you out."

⠀⠀⠀"They wouldn't be the first to try."

⠀⠀⠀Suddenly, from the woods, Jasper lunged out of the brush with a gun and screamed, "CLARKE, RUN! RUN!"

⠀⠀⠀Bullets exploded from his gun as he pointed up into the trees wildly. Behind him, Bellamy and Raven joined him, trying to take out the enemy in the trees. Casey frowned, her eyes catching Bellamy's. He looked away, raised his gun, and shot Anya in the arm before she could slit Clarke's throat.

⠀⠀⠀Arrows followed the bullets, aimed at both the three in the woods and the five on the bridge. The arrows sunk dangerously close to Casey's feet as she dodged out of the way. One even hit Lincoln in the chest as he protected Octavia. He shouted Casey's name and pushed Octavia into her arms as he stayed behind. Finn joined the pair, helping Casey drag Octavia from danger as she screamed for Lincoln.

⠀⠀⠀Once out of sight, the eight took no chances to stall as they sprinted back to camp without a broken word between them. As they arrived, they stood in front of the gates, just trying to catch their breaths.

⠀⠀⠀"You got anything to say?" Bellamy said suddenly, his attention on Finn, who looked ready to blow his lid.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah!" Finn snapped back, turning to Clarke. "I told you no guns!"

⠀⠀⠀"I told you we couldn't trust the Grounders. I was right," Clarke retorted.

⠀⠀⠀"Why didn't you tell me what you were up to?" Raven asked Finn, her tone defeated but still as snappy as the rest.

⠀⠀⠀"I tried, but you were too busy making bullets for your gun," Finn said.

⠀⠀⠀"You're lucky she brought that! They came there to kill you, Finn," Bellamy told him.

⠀⠀⠀"And what the hell were you doing in the woods?" Casey snapped at Bellamy.

⠀⠀⠀"Protecting you guys!" Jasper told her, exasperated.

⠀⠀⠀"You don't know that, Jasper! You fired the first shot!" Finn shouted, throwing his hands in the air.

⠀⠀⠀"You ruined everything," Octavia claimed, looking at Bellamy before turning on her heel and heading into camp.

⠀⠀⠀Casey followed after her, resting her hand over Octavia's shoulders, and pulled her close to her side. "We did everything we could. Now, we just have to hope that Lincoln can get us out of here before the Grounders come to kill us for Clarke's big mouth."

⠀⠀⠀Despite the air of tension, Octavia let out a small laugh and then covered her mouth. She looked back at the group, still bickering, but Clarke watched the pair with a firm scowl. Octavia turned back to Casey with a broad smile, and she smiled back. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hee hee! I love Drunk Casey. She won't be back for a while but you can bet your bottom dollar that she will return!

Some small updates: 

1. I was thinking about how quick the timeline for this show seems to be (based on the wiki) and realized like this is literally a fanfiction, I can change whatever I want. So, I know it doesn't really matter (at least right now) but I'm going to pad the time in some areas. I like the idea of them being at camp for about two months, I have season 2 sitting at about a month, the time skip between season 2 and 3 extending to six months rather than 3 months. Just so this world actually feels lived in rather than them rushing through everything. Like, you cannot tell me they turned Camp Jaha into Arkadia that quickly or that season 3 is set in January. (I know seasons are probably fucked, but still.)

2. I've officially decided this fic will end after Season 6. I think it works well with what I have planned and Season 7 would just be a pain in the ass to figure out with how Bellamy's story goes. I didn't plan to kill him and instead wanted to use some ideas I had seen a long time ago on Reddit for how that story line should have panned out.

CHAPTER TIME FRAME: 1x9, Unity Day

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you'd like, they keep me motivated! However, this is an all kind of reader safe space. So, even if you ghost read or comment on every chapter, I hope you know it means the world to me that you've come to spend your time in this fic ♡

NEXT TIME: Murphy returns and Casey protects him before anyone can think to kick him out. Although, he has unintentionally brought a deadly disease sent by the Grounders.