It's just that I fell in love with a war. Nobody told me it ended, and it left a pearl in my head and I roll it around every night just to watch it glow.

— A Pearl, Mitski

━━━━━━ October 22, 2149

BELLAMY WAS DISTRACTED FOR most of the early morning by the revelation he had stumbled upon. He remembered the day he first met Casey clear as day, but some of the finer details were gritty from the panic he had felt.

⠀⠀⠀Her mom, Rian fucking King, had been a large part of Octavia's childhood. The only person outside of his family who knew about Octavia's existence. It was risky, but as the years went by, he noticed less and less of his mom selling herself for information. Rian could get access to that and warn Aurora Blake about incoming inspections.

⠀⠀⠀And then, when he had been stupid enough to think he could let Octavia have one magical night, a solar flare ruined it. Bellamy tried to send Octavia back home on her own, but it was no use. She couldn't remember the path after only leaving once. Rian had tried to intervene, but Shumway could sniff out a blackmail opportunity like a hound. Then Casey appeared from nowhere and punched Shumway as a distraction. It was more than likely to save her mom's ass, but it was him who led her to getting floated.

⠀⠀⠀If he was Casey, he'd hate him for life, too.

⠀⠀⠀Light peeked over the horizon, lighting the surrounding woods, as the trees grew unfamiliar. Finn led the way as Bellamy, Murphy, Monroe, and Sterling followed a few steps behind.

⠀⠀⠀Bellamy glanced at Murphy, and asked, "Alright Murphy, where to now?"

⠀⠀⠀Murphy held up his handcuffs and said, "I say we lose these first, alright?"

⠀⠀⠀"No."

⠀⠀⠀"Hey, if we get attacked out here, I have nothing to defend myself—"

⠀⠀⠀"I don't care."

⠀⠀⠀Finn turned on his heel and snapped the wire handcuffs free without a word. Then he stormed back to the front with a scowl on his face.

⠀⠀⠀Bellamy jogged to catch up with him and asked, "Hey, what the hell are you doing?"

⠀⠀⠀"It was your idea to bring him," Finn said through his teeth.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, because he's the only one who's seen where the Grounders keep their prisoners." Bellamy paused, glancing at Finn. "And he might hate us, but he wants Casey safe more than any of us."

⠀⠀⠀Finn caught Bellamy's eye and said, "Then we probably shouldn't let him be defenseless out here. We can handle Murphy."

⠀⠀⠀Finn hadn't been there when Murphy held the entire camp in the palm of his hand. He had been out in the woods with Clarke, dealing with his own shit. While Bellamy understood his reasoning, he knew exactly what Murphy was capable of, and it would happen a lot sooner with his hands free.

⠀⠀⠀"Better hope so," Bellamy called back as Finn moved forward.

⠀⠀⠀Murphy jogged to Bellamy's side. "So, do I get a gun now?"

⠀⠀⠀Bellamy grabbed Murphy by his collar and shoved him forward. Maybe it had been a bad idea to bring him along.

"CASEY," MONTY CALLED OUT.

⠀⠀⠀Casey had her head buried in the mythology book she'd picked up. Between her friends still missing on the outside, Clarke's incessant need to make things harder, and the conversation she had with Dr. Hassan, her head was a bit of a mess. As she looked up at the bustling room, she realized she hardly slept either. It seemed whether she was at the dropship camp fearing for her life or inside, where it was supposedly safe, she would never sleep right again.

⠀⠀⠀She yawned, covering her mouth, and setting the book on the bed beside her. "What's up, Monty?"

⠀⠀⠀"Have you seen Clarke?" he asked, pointedly looking at her bed.

⠀⠀⠀Casey followed his gaze. Clarke's bed was still made from the night before and didn't look slept in. Casey frowned. She remembered sitting next to Clarke the night before, but after that was blank. The story of Theseus and the Minotaur knitting together around her as she paid little attention to anything else.

⠀⠀⠀"No, I haven't," Casey said. She shrugged as she admitted, "But that's not saying much."

⠀⠀⠀"I don't know, Casey," Monty said, then sighed, nervously running his hands through his hair. "I haven't seen her since yesterday."

⠀⠀⠀"Mm, she was poking her nose where it didn't belong. I was hoping she'd listen to me, seemed like she had." Casey climbed off the bunk. "Have you talked to Jasper yet? He's been tailing her wherever she goes."

⠀⠀⠀"Not yet. He slipped out before I had a chance."

⠀⠀⠀"Come on. He's probably with—"

⠀⠀⠀Casey paused, their attention snapping her head to the pair outside of the dorm room. Jasper and Maya were breathless as they stared at each other with bright smiles. They spoke in hushed voices, their cheeks burning pink, and a carefree innocence to them. Casey didn't agree with Clarke's methods, but she did agree something strange was happening inside Mount Weather. It seemed pertinent to not get too comfortable, and Jasper was doing the exact opposite of that.

⠀⠀⠀"—Maya."

⠀⠀⠀Monty rushed forward with Casey a step behind.

⠀⠀⠀"Jasper!" Monty called out, grabbing the pair's attention. Their smiles immediately dulled as they stared at Monty and Casey with disappointment. "Have you seen Clarke?" He glanced at Maya and smiled to be polite. "Hey."

⠀⠀⠀"Hey," Maya said, shifting awkwardly. She turned to Jasper. "You guys should, uh—"

⠀⠀⠀"No, no!" Jasper exclaimed. He reached his hands out to her to keep her there with a carefree smile. "We're gonna have breakfast... I'll meet you in line?"

⠀⠀⠀Maya smiled and nodded, then did the same to Monty and Casey—albeit out of being polite—before running off to the dining hall. Jasper watched as she left with a goofy grin on his lips.

⠀⠀⠀"I've got a bad feeling," Monty said, just as Maya was out of earshot.

⠀⠀⠀"Look, I'd love to talk to you about Clarke any time in my entire life except right now," Jasper said. His eyes kept flickering from them to the dining hall, eagerly awaiting his return to Maya.

⠀⠀⠀Jasper tried to skip past them when Casey caught his arm in a bruising grip. He winced, pantomiming hurt, as she pulled him back into place.

⠀⠀⠀"Are you that fucking horny that you can't spare us a second?" Casey asked, annoyed.

⠀⠀⠀"What if she's in trouble?" Monty added.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm not—" Jasper started, staring at Casey like a fish out of water. He rolled his eyes. "She's Clarke, whatever she's up to, I'm sure she can handle it. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

⠀⠀⠀Jasper peeled Casey's fingers from his arm and headed into the dining hall. Monty sighed, running his hand over his face.

⠀⠀⠀"It's fine. We don't need him anyway," Casey said, and nodded for Monty to follow him.

THE FIVE MADE IT into a clearing. It was incredibly green with overgrowth. There was a sign from the old word. Hardly any letters on it and a large wooden structure behind it. Pieces of it had broken off over the decades, leaving it disfigured. There were a few buildings much more colorful than the rest of the area.

⠀⠀⠀As Murphy realized where they were, he lunged forward and pushed Bellamy down behind a log, telling them all to get down.

⠀⠀⠀"This is it. Told you I'd find it," Murphy said, turning to Bellamy.

⠀⠀⠀Bellamy lifted his gun to look through the scope. Across the ruins were three Grounders unpacking sheets of cloth, but other than that, there were no signs of their people.

⠀⠀⠀"I see nothing but Grounders. Our people aren't here," Bellamy concluded, resting his gun in his lap.

⠀⠀⠀"Wait a minute," Finn said. "They've got stuff from our dropship."

⠀⠀⠀"So maybe they know where our friends are."

⠀⠀⠀"Or... maybe they killed them already," Murphy muttered, looking at the ground with a solemn look. Bellamy only frowned, not saying anything, because he didn't want to even think like that.

⠀⠀⠀"Son of a bitch," Finn cursed.

⠀⠀⠀Bellamy looked over at him, adrenaline beginning to pump. "What is it?"

⠀⠀⠀"The guy with the one eye."

⠀⠀⠀Bellamy lifted his scope and put the man in his crosshairs.

⠀⠀⠀"Around his neck," Finn said.

⠀⠀⠀He lowered his gun to the man's chest and spotted a watch on a leather necklace. Bellamy removed the scope from his eye and looked at Finn, confused.

⠀⠀⠀"What am I looking at?" Bellamy asked.

⠀⠀⠀"He's got Clarke's watch. It was her father's," Finn explained, a growl becoming prevalent in his tone.

⠀⠀⠀"She wouldn't give that up without a fight."

⠀⠀⠀"Neither will we."

⠀⠀⠀Bellamy took a breath and considered their options. They had no other leads, and it wasn't like they had only scavenged the dropship. The Grounders would have gotten close enough to Clarke to take her things.

⠀⠀⠀"Okay, you're with me," Bellamy directed Finn. He turned to Monroe and Sterling, and said, "You two, stay here, out of sight. This thing goes south, take out the other Grounders, but don't shoot the Grounder with the watch. Copy?"

⠀⠀⠀"Copy." Sterling nodded.

⠀⠀⠀"Copy," Monroe said, then looked warily at Murphy. "What about him?"

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, do I get a gun now?" Murphy asked with a playful smirk.

⠀⠀⠀"Something like that," Bellamy muttered, grabbing Murphy by his collar and dragging him to his feet.

CASEY AND MONTY SAT in the dining hall. Her eyes scanned the residents and their friends scattered along the long tables, everyone engrossed in conversation, not a single one of them etched with worry. It almost felt normal, with laughter and clinking silverware echoing around the room. Casey felt a tightness in her chest—lingering distrust of this so-called "safe" environment.

⠀⠀⠀Her eyes worked their way back to Monty, and she frowned, watching as he did the same as her, looking for cracks in the room. Hoping that Clarke would worm her way back inside with a shrug, saying she'd seen some ridiculous other thing.

⠀⠀⠀"You okay?" she asked, poking at the food on her tray.

⠀⠀⠀Monty frowned, looking down at his food before he finally sighed. "I don't know. I thought... coming here would finally mean we could take a break from all the chaos, you know? That we'd be safe for once. But Clarke's gone, Jasper's... distracted, and I don't even know if we can trust anyone here. Everything just feels... wrong."

⠀⠀⠀"I know," Casey said, resting her head on her head. "I told Clarke to toe the line," she said through grit teeth, gripping her fork with a vice-like grip.

⠀⠀⠀"Who knows, maybe they're taking us one-by-one," Monty said.

⠀⠀⠀"For her sake, I hope not."

⠀⠀⠀A presence appeared beside Casey, and the two both looked up to see who it was, then deflated when it wasn't Clarke.

⠀⠀⠀Jasper smiled sheepishly. "Hey. Nice to see you guys, too."

⠀⠀⠀"Sorry. We were hoping you were Clarke," Monty explained.

⠀⠀⠀"You still haven't seen her?" Jasper asked, his face falling.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't think she even slept in her bed last night," Casey said with a sigh.

⠀⠀⠀Jasper slowly sat down beside Casey, their words finally sinking in.

⠀⠀⠀"What do we do?" Monty asked softly, leaning across the table to keep the conversation between them.

⠀⠀⠀Jasper was hesitant. His eyes flicked between his two friends, then darted to Maya across the room. She sat in a large armchair by the fire, reading a book.

⠀⠀⠀"Maya has access to everything through her job. Maybe she could snoop around. If Clarke's in trouble, she can find out," Jasper said.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't know," Monty said, shaking his head. "Clarke doesn't trust them and neither does Casey. What if they're right?"

⠀⠀⠀"We can trust Maya. At least, I think we can," Jasper said, though sounding unsure of himself. He looked back at Maya, and as if she could sense their stares, she noticed and smiled. "Besides, what choice do we have?"

⠀⠀⠀Casey chewed on her thumbnail, staring at Maya as she considered the risks. But what was more risky than sitting patiently like a pig for the slaughter?

⠀⠀⠀"I think you're right. Even if she knows something, having her on our side would be better than pissing her off," Casey said softly. She glanced between the two boys, then shrugged as she stood.

⠀⠀⠀Jasper's eyes widened at the suddenness, exclaiming, "What is she doing?!"

⠀⠀⠀"I don't know," Monty said.

⠀⠀⠀"Hey, Maya," Casey greeted, taking a seat in the armchair across from Maya. She sunk further than she expected into the cushions and crossed her leg over the other.

⠀⠀⠀"Hi, Casey," she said awkwardly. Her gaze flickered momentarily behind her head, finding Jasper before returning to Casey. She attempted a smile, but it looked forceful.

⠀⠀⠀"I know I might have come across as a little rude before. I hope you understand. I'm just wary of strangers." Casey sent her a thin smile.

⠀⠀⠀Maya's expression lightened then. "Yes, of course. I mean, two months in the wilderness... I don't know if I would survive."

⠀⠀⠀"It was tough work and we couldn't have done it without each other." Casey kicked her leg out subtly in a rhythm of four. "That's why I wanted to ask. Could you find out what happened to Clarke?"

⠀⠀⠀"What?" Maya asked, surprised.

⠀⠀⠀"Like I said, I'm wary of strangers, Maya, but Jasper trusts you and I trust him. Clarke's missing and no one's said anything. Jasper, Monty, and I are just worried about our friend. I understand if you feel you'd be betraying your people, but I'd be betraying mine if I didn't worry when they don't come back to sleep."

⠀⠀⠀Maya furrowed her brows, taking a minute to consider her words. Her hands folded onto her lap, her book resting gently against her knee. After a moment, her eyes returned to Jasper's as she looked for something from him. Then she returned her attention to Casey and nodded slowly.

⠀⠀⠀"I can find out where she is," Maya said, standing up. She held out her hand for Casey to shake. "Meet me in the common room in an hour."

⠀⠀⠀Casey nodded. One of the Mount Weather residents walked around the two girls and Casey pulled Maya into an uncomfortable hug.

⠀⠀⠀"Do not cross me, Maya. I don't like to see my friends heartbroken," she whispered, pulling back with a threatening smile.

⠀⠀⠀Maya's dark eyes widened, and she seemed to go paler than she already was. Casey nodded again, turning on her heel, and headed back to the boys.

⠀⠀⠀"Come on, I want to play some chess," she said to them. Jasper and Monty scrambled to their feet and followed her with whispered questions about what the hell just happened.

BELLAMY USED MURPHY TO get the one-eyed Grounder from the other two with a pair of rocks clicking together. When the Grounder was in range, Bellamy bashed him over the head and knocked him out. He, Finn, and Murphy tied the Grounder up and Finn led them to an old art store where they could interrogate the man.

⠀⠀⠀It felt like hours had passed as they tore into the Grounder. The man was stubborn and unwilling to give up any information he didn't want to. All he had told them so far was that his name was Delano and he had found the dropship camp empty when he scavenged it.

⠀⠀⠀"We're gonna do this again and this time you're gonna stop screwing with us. Where did you find this?" Bellamy asked, holding the watch out to his side for Delano to see.

⠀⠀⠀"I told you," the Grounder said with a sigh, his head rolling lazily to the side. "I found it outside your camp."

⠀⠀⠀"He's lying," Finn hissed. "She would never take it off voluntarily."

⠀⠀⠀"I know," Bellamy said, nodding his head. They had been over this same sentiment at least a hundred times.

⠀⠀⠀Finn took the watch from Bellamy and held it in Delano's face. His expression twisted into an odd type of anger Bellamy hadn't seen on his face before. Not even when Murphy shot Raven. This was something different, and it worried Bellamy.

⠀⠀⠀"Where is the girl who was wearing THIS WATCH?" Finn demanded.

⠀⠀⠀"I never saw a girl," Delano said, unflinching as he responded.

⠀⠀⠀"Another lie," Murphy said, sitting behind them as he played with a knife. "I mean, maybe you should stop asking him nicely."

⠀⠀⠀"Shut up, Murphy," Bellamy said, growing irritated by his quick remarks. "Where are our friends? You took them. We know you did. Just tell us where."

⠀⠀⠀"Murphy's right. We're wasting time," Finn said. He unholstered his gun and smacked it against the man's temple. "Answer the question!" he yelled.

⠀⠀⠀"Hey! Hey!" Bellamy exclaimed, pulling Finn back before he killed their only lead.

⠀⠀⠀"WHERE IS THE GIRL WHO WAS WEARING THIS WATCH?!"

⠀⠀⠀"Finn, stop! You don't want to do this. Trust me, there are some lines you can't uncross," Bellamy said firmly.

⠀⠀⠀Lincoln flashed into his mind. His blood was still on his hands. He had been a rare case of a man who could get past something so vile that he would still actively try to help their people. Delano was likely not like Lincoln in that regard. They would take one step too far, and he would lead them to their deaths.

⠀⠀⠀Finn looked at him, a somber nod. Bellamy let him go, thinking they were done. It was a momentary blip in Finn's otherwise pacifist nature.

⠀⠀⠀Then, he turned, slamming the gun against Delano's head again, demanding, "WHERE'S CLARKE? WHERE IS SHE?"

⠀⠀⠀Bellamy tried to pull Finn back to them again, but now the gun was aimed at him. There was fire in his eyes, and Bellamy realized something had snapped the second he saw that watch on Delano's neck.

⠀⠀⠀"Put down the gun, Finn," Bellamy begged.

⠀⠀⠀Finn turned the gun, resting it against Delano's temple. "THREE SECONDS! ...TWO! ...One."

⠀⠀⠀"Okay!" Delano exclaimed, his hard exterior fading as he cracked under the pressure. "Okay, I'll tell you. Your friends are east of here. The village where we take our prisoners of war."

⠀⠀⠀"East. Where? How do we get to them?" Finn asked.

⠀⠀⠀"I can draw you a map," Delano assured him. His expression turned grave. "You should hurry. Soon, they'll outlive their usefulness."

⠀⠀⠀"Get him something to draw a map," Finn demanded, lowering the gun.

⠀⠀⠀Monroe grabbed the supplies while Bellamy watched on in horror. Finn was morphing into something, something a lot like him.

⠀⠀⠀Murphy sidled up beside him and whispered, "You thought I was the crazy one, huh?"

⠀⠀⠀Bellamy glanced at him, but couldn't disagree.

⠀⠀⠀Delano drew them a map and Finn put the gag back around his mouth. They had stood around for long enough, and the Grounder's warning had been severe. Soon, their friends would be dead and they didn't have a second to spare.

⠀⠀⠀"Gather up the gear. We're leaving," Bellamy said.

⠀⠀⠀"What about him?" Sterling asked.

⠀⠀⠀"For now, we leave him. Deal with him when we're done."

⠀⠀⠀"What if he escapes?" Murphy asked with a sneer. "He knows exactly where we're going."

⠀⠀⠀"We're not killing him."

⠀⠀⠀"I'm not really seeing another option here. If we don't take care of this now, this is gonna blow back on us, and you know that."

⠀⠀⠀"He's unarmed, Murphy."

⠀⠀⠀"He's a Grounder," Murphy sneered with a glare. When he didn't get anything from Bellamy, he turned to Monroe and Sterling. "Really? Come on. Tell him."

⠀⠀⠀Monroe shrugged. "I don't know."

⠀⠀⠀"You don't know what?" Murphy snapped at her. "He's gonna tell his people everything. We're as good as dead. Our friends, too."

⠀⠀⠀"We're not doing this. End of discussion. You want him, you gotta go through me," Bellamy said, getting into Murphy's face.

⠀⠀⠀"And what exactly happened to you, huh? You're talking like you've never killed a Grounder before."

⠀⠀⠀"That was in battle. This would be an execution—"

⠀⠀⠀A bang! echoed against the walls and Bellamy's eyes shifted to Delano, dead on the floor. The smoke rose from Finn's gun with a menacing curl. Finn stood in the position for a second before he moved with intention and re-holstered his gun.

⠀⠀⠀"Let's get moving," he said, leaving the art supply store with nothing more than a dead look in his eye.

MONTY AND CASEY WERE mid-session of their chess game when Maya returned. She walked across the room with a pensive furrow to her brow. Her eyes darted for any prying ears before she sat down beside Jasper.

⠀⠀⠀"You find out something? What is it?" Monty asked. They abandoned the game to look at Maya.

⠀⠀⠀"Apparently, Clarke had some sort of breakdown, just snapped. Started pulling out her stitches trying to hurt herself," Maya said, retelling what she knew slowly so she didn't misspeak.

⠀⠀⠀"Where is she now?"

⠀⠀⠀"Psych ward, being monitored. I talked to a friend who works there. She thinks it might be a couple days before the doctors let anyone see her," Maya explained.

⠀⠀⠀Monty stood, abandoning the game, and left with an annoyed, "We'll see about that," as he left the room.

⠀⠀⠀Casey rolled her eyes. "Thank you for finding out what you could. We appreciate it."

⠀⠀⠀Maya smiled softly, nodding. "Of course."

⠀⠀⠀Casey reset the chess board before standing. "I'll leave you two to it."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

aesflms has announced the winners of the Armageddon '24 Awards and this fic came in third! Thank you to togeez once again for hosting and thank you all for reading this little fic of mine. It is truly my baby and I'm very excited for the future of Casey and Bellamy's story. And congratulations to ultrapunks and -DREAMINGG for winning first and second respectively <3

This chapter is a little shorter than most, but still fun. Then, I'm skipping episode 4 because it doesn't have any of the Mount Weather plot in it / has Mel's side mission. So, even though I did freaking write it, it's so short and not worth wasting a week.

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas, Hannukah, or just a really good Wednesday this past week. 

The next time I post will be in the New Year so here's to 2025! Cheers! 🥂🎆

CHAPTER TIME FRAME: Season 2, Episode 3: Reapercussions

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: Casey and Jasper are summoned to speak with the President about Clarke's disappearance.