Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

We Were On Top Of The World

Day 1 – Getting Lost Somewhere

"Cause it was you and me; we were living the dream as we were seventeen."

XxX

'This is your fault.'

'No it's not.'

'Hey, you're the one who said you could "navigate the wilderness" or whatever.'

'Well, it seemed like a better idea in theory. Sue me.'

'Oh I'll sue you, alright -'

Vin held up a hand, scanning the endless expanse of trees around them. 'Shut up a minute, would you?' Dark clouds were gathering in the sky overhead, and the wind was whistling rather violently around them, making it difficult to focus.

Zero folded her arms and bristled at the bluntness of his statement. 'Care to say that again?'

'Yeah. Shut up. I'm thinking.'

'Don't tell me to shut up -'

'Could you ignore your self-righteous dignity for one minute, please? I think we're gonna have to go tree-climbing.'

She pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled in frustration, scowling heavily. 'I suggested that five minutes ago, dumbass. But guess what, you didn't seem to agree with me!'

He waved her off, finally turning back to face her. 'Alright, alright, you're clearly the smarter of us. I'm a moron.' He spread his arms akimbo and tried for a placating smile, but was met with one of the most deadpan expressions he had ever seen. 'Can you just go have a look, please?'

Her nose twitched, but she sighed heavily and looked up at the nearest pine tree. 'I'll need a boost.'

'Yeah, alright.' He turned around and linked his hands behind his back so she could climb to his shoulders, before risking a leap to the lowest branch (which was actually pretty damn high, mind you), grabbing on with her hands, and swinging herself up with the grace of a gymnast.

Vin, as always, pretended he wasn't jealous. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he gradually walked backwards through the foliage to better see her scale the length of the tree, right until she disappeared amidst the upper forest canopy.

Damn Pinkerton and its woodland isolation. This had happened way too often to be funny anymore.

'See anything?' he called, squinting to try and see her silhouette through all the leaves, which were whipping back and forth violently in the wind.

It was quiet for a moment, before she replied. 'Yeah, we've gone too far north, but we're close. We'll get back before it gets dark, anyway.'

Well, that was a relief to say in the least. The only reason they had gotten stuck out here in the first place was because of some mad, killer robot thing that Macbeth had set loose, and if it was going to make him late for dinner, he wasn't going to be happy. It was bad enough that they had been out of phone range for most of this escapade, but making him miss Pizza Night was way below the belt.

Zero had begun her trip back down the tree, leaping from branch to branch as she tried to find a suitable path. Finally, when she was about eight or nine feet above the ground, and on the lowest branch, she stopped.

'Well, shit,' she said simply, cocking her head to the side.

'What?' Vin asked, confused. 'I've seen you jump from higher places.'