Based on 01x08

September 27, Year 2149

Trikru Territory

Senaah Forest, Delinquent's Campsite

"I'm gonna go pee." The tent flapped open, exposing Jasper to the cool air. He just had to leave Monty behind with his pine cone — the sexual tension between the two was growing a little too weird for Jasper. The nuts Jasper had were really good, he could still taste them in his watering mouth. He walked up to one of the secluded sections of the walls protecting the camp and threw his empty pack of nuts to the side. Shortly after unzipping his pants, he caught a glimpse of someone sprinting past the wall on the other side. "What the…"

Jasper shook his head and stepped closer to the hole to get a better look. His pupils dilated and the world felt...fuzzier, for the lack of a better word. God, what were those nuts?

Octavia on the other hand was having the time of her life, sewing some furs together while sitting on a log instead of doing more productive thing. Bellamy was a good brother, but his doting was really cramping her social life down here on the ground. She just wanted to have fun, ("Octavia!") was that too hard to ask for? She spent her whole ("Octavia!") life underneath that stupid floor—

"Octavia!" Jasper shouted, running up to her and unaware of the looks he was getting from the other teens. He gripped her shoulders and rocked her back and forth. "Listen, I think I'm going crazy, or the grounders are here — or I'm going crazy and—"

"Wait slow down!" She pushed his hands off her shoulders and held the sides of his arms. "Relax and tell me what you saw." In the midst of describing his experience at the wall, he saw the grounder standing in the middle of the camp. "Him, he's right there! Why isn't anyone doing anything?" His shout caught everyone off guard, and more people were starting to question his sanity as they passed on by.

"Jasper, there's no one there. Stop it!" Her eyes flickered between him and the area he was pointing too. "Are you on something?"

"We're all gonna die," He mumbled softly. As if resigned to his fate, he ate more of the nuts he had in his pocket. Octavia snatched the pack from his hand and examined it. "Is this all you've eaten today?"

"It doesn't matter now, we're all gonna die anyways."

'Oh, he's definitely high as shit.' She thought. "Hold on." She looked to her left and seized a stray stick from the forest floor. "Here, take this."

"It's...just a branch?"

"No," She wiggled her finger, "this here? It's an anti-grounder stick. If you hold on to it and sit right here, the grounders won't be able to see you."

He immediately dropped to the floor, clutching the stick tight in his arms as if it were his life line. "Yeah, that makes sense. I'll just stay right here then."

"Of course it makes sense." She patted his back and spotted the boxes full of the jobi nuts. "Just stay right here."

While the storm was passing, Kova fixed the door of Lincoln's home to take shelter from the weather and organized their plan. By switching out the clothes to seem like an unrecognizable Trikru warrior, they could safely enter the camp without getting shot down by Tristan's scouts. They made sure to keep their weapons on and walked over to the chest full of masks. Picking through the masks for full face coverage, there was one that they dropped as if it burnt them. The full faced mask was a dirtied greenish-brown color with two curved horns at the forehead. The face was designed similarly to the head of a snake with designs curving around the face and concealed holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth.

The designs originated from an infamous group of people named Emerald Boas, who branched out from the Floukru people and were officially recognized by the Coalition as outlaws for stealing from the wealthy and privileged to redistribute to the poor. However since there was no proof that they were related to the direct government of Floukru, the Coalition couldn't accuse Floukru of incompetence. They were typically referred to as the modern day Robin Hoods, providing protection to people who seek sanctuary and peace, they became popular to political peacemakers on how to argue for harmony.

'If Lincoln has a mask, he must have been one of them. Or he's still with them.'

Kova easily adjusted it over their face.

The area they planned to climb over was mostly concealed by vegetation and was avoided by both sky people and Trikru spies. Intruding was easy — all Kova had to was climb a hanging tree, crawl to their side of the barrier, and fall into the bushes. But then this guy just had to take a piss right when they ran past the crack. They hadn't even seen the hole in the wall and briefly wondered if anyone else did.

'The boy who crossed the river is alive?' The boy shouting about grounders in the camp made their heart race rapidly. Kova looked like a deer in headlights despite being shielding from the rest of the camp's view by the thick bushes they were surrounded by. Every muscle and tendon in their body was tense, ready for anything at any moment. But he didn't even glimpse in their direction. The warrior was tempted to laugh at the looks the other invaders sent him, even the girl he was talking to. Watching him collapse to the ground with a stick the girl gave him, a smirk appeared on their lips. 'Terrifying. I can't believe I worried over something like that. At least the jobi nuts are working now.'

A note they mentally made was the same sky girl who gave the boy the stick went around camp to hand out more of the nuts. Kova switched their gaze to more important matters — the spaceship, if you could even call it that. They speculated that's where Lincoln was being kept. Sticking to the shadows and approaching the dropship by keeping to its side, Kova sneaked past the curtains and slid behind some bins to the side of the entrance before anyone could see them.

The same sky girl climbed up a ladder and opened the hatch, spoke to someone inside briefly and came back down to leave. A few moments after she left, a different boy clumsily scaled down the ladder and fell off when his foot missed a bar. He shook it off and stumbled past right past Kova's hiding spot and walked through the curtains.

Once they both left, their determined eyes set on the ladder.

'Now to save Lincoln.'

After Miller left in a daze from the nuts, Lincoln reflected over the past few days. Four days ago, he took the sky girl to heal her after she tumbled down a hill and hurt herself. Three days ago the scouts executed their attack on the scavenger group and Lincoln had to save her again after she escaped. Two days ago Lincoln was captured by the scavenger group, but not without stabbing one of them with his poisoned knife. One day ago after he woke from his unconscious state with his arms and legs bounded by wire, he wondered if they would do anything to him. Today, he understood he would die a prisoner. The torture was something he had never been through before. That's what he thought, anyways.

His ear picked up the hiss of the hatch opening. He barely had enough energy to lift his head, but was glad he did when he saw the person climbing up the ladder. Though their clothing style changed, their straight posture was a dead giveaway to who was under the familiar snake mask. Kova gently closed the hatch.

"Kova?"

"Lincoln!" Pushing the mask back to rest on top of their head they hurried over to him. The heat of anger spread through the sibling's body when they saw the wounds on him. "What the hell did they do to you?" His back hurt from standing straight the whole time. Kova tore out a knife from a pocket and slashed the ropes that held his arms. He immediately bent over and tenderly touched his raw wrists.

"How did you find me?"

"I visited you just as those two guys carried you out of your house. The other scouts didn't want to do anything to ruin the mission, especially with Tristan and Lexa involved."

They crouched to sever the bottom ropes. When they stood up, sudden relief filled his body and he almost collapsed into them. "Hey, I'm here. You're okay now." They soothed, bringing a hand up to the side of his neck.

"I'm tired..." He murmured.

Delicately Kova brought their foreheads together, staring him down in the eye. "I know, but we're not safe yet, we have to go now while they're still hallucin—"

The sound of the hatch opening again caught them both off guard. Kova stepped in front of Lincoln and swiveled around. Their left hand pulled a sword out of its sheath attached to their hip and the other dropped the mask to conceal their identity. Octavia pulled herself into the room just as Kova prepared to pounce, but the only thing that stopped them was Lincoln's hand on their shoulder.

"Wait, don't. Not her, she's a friend."

Octavia didn't realize there was someone else in the room and was frozen in shock, especially with the sword pointed at her neck. Kova was frozen in place because of Lincoln's words. Despite the questionable look they gave him, they returned the sword back into its casing without hesitation.

A twitch of nervousness in Octavia's hand caught their eye. "Those clothes, are they for him?" They motioned to the clothes the sky girl gripped in her hand.

"Yeah, sorry I just wasn't expecting anyone here. We have to hurry." She held out the the shirt to them while she fixed the jacket's arms. Kova usually wouldn't trust anyone, but they were running out of time and Lincoln already said this woman was friendly. Scrunching up the bottom of the shirt to the neck hole they guided Lincoln through the shirt. The fabric chafed against his wounds and he let out a small painful groan.

"I know you're exhausted, but you can rest at home. Right now we have to go." He bobbed his head sloppily in acknowledgment and allowed Octavia to slide the jacket on. The two supported him on either side with an arm over their shoulders and helped him shuffle his way down to the step to the hatch.

'Do you mind going down first? I want to say goodbye.' Lincoln asked.

'Of course, let me thank her first.'

He moved his arm off their shoulder and leaned against the railing of the ladder. Kova squatted to yank the hatch open and faced Octavia with their forearm out. The other arm held the mask up so she could see their face. "Thank you for helping him escape." Unsure what to do, Octavia slowly held her forearm out in a similar fashion. Kova gripped her arm firmly with a softer expression. "If I didn't come, he still would have gotten out safely with your help."

"He shouldn't have been in this situation in the first place." Octavia's eyes flashed to his so quickly Kova almost didn't notice. "I'm sorry this happened to him, I really did try to stop it."

"I understand, and I do not blame you for your people's mistakes." They dropped the mask and turned to Lincoln. "I'll meet you downstairs." They grabbed the railing and climbed down the ladder without another word. Halfway down, their foot missed a bar as a thought smacked right into them. 'She's the girl from the book. That's the girl Lincoln was watching before. He's saying more than goodbye, isn't he?' Once they landed on the floor, Kova tilted their head back at the open hatch to see Lincoln leaning towards Octavia and out of sight. A smug look appeared on their face but Lincoln hadn't notice when he came down. They led him past the curtains and turned into the bushes away from everyone's view. He wouldn't be able to climb out, so they would have to go through the exit.

"You just said goodbye, hmm?"

"What's that look on your face for?" He leaned on the wall for extra support.

"I just wasn't aware they kissed each other to say goodbye."

He scrunched his nose at their teasing, and looked to the side to avoid the cheeky look he was certain they had on their face. "Kova—"

Their teasing behavior changed when they were face to face with a sober sky boy. Lincoln recognized him as Finn, the boy he stabbed before he was knocked out. He communicated this as a 'warning' to his sibling and they flexed their hand on the hidden knife in their pocket. To both their surprise, the knife wasn't necessary. Finn jutted his head towards the exit and stepped to the side with his hands up. The two didn't bother to question him, they moved slowly towards the opening as if one wrong move would set alarms off within the camp. They kept their eyes on him until they passed by the walls to the edge of the bundled trees, then they swiftly wobbled into the forest.