{ breathe }
unedited
1.7k words
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Once the six were prepared, they began to leave for their long journey. Each carrying their climbing equipment and suits.
As the reached the bottom of the mountain the need to climb, (y/n) winced at the sight. "I'm already regretting this."
"You and me both." Penny whispered out, gaping at the giant wall in front of them.
The started their long way up, a single rope attaching all six of them together. Judy went first, than Will, (y/n), Penny, Liam, and lastly Vijay.
They were about halfway through when Will saw a small hole in front of him. "Judy, did you hammer in an anchor that didn't stick?"
Judy looked at her brother. "No, why?"
Looking back to the whole, an insect crawled out of it. Will giggled at the sight and lightly patted it. The buy squeaked and crawled to the side of the wall and onto (y/n)'s hand.
She smiled at the creature. "Hey little guy. I wonder what you are." The creature squeaked once more before moving on to the next person: Penny.
"Hey, what is that?" Vijay asked the girl.
She couldn't give a definite response so she replied with something else. "Is it weird that I think it's kinda cute?"
"No." "Yeah." Vijay and Liam said at the same time. The two looked at each other, causing Penny to awkwardly laugh. (y/n) snickered at their interaction and only stopped when Penny gave her a warning glare.
Judy looked down tot he group and called out to them. "Let's keep moving. We have to reach 1500 miles before dark."
They were able to climb up to the mark they wanted as night fell. They decided to have some much needed sleep, pitching two tents that hung off the side of the mountain. One for girls and the other for boys.
Will—who was finally getting some sleep—woke up from another nightmare. He sighed, slightly sitting up to grab his water.
Vijay shifted in his sleeping bag and turned to him. "You okay?"
"Had a nightmare."
"Uh, yeah, tell me about it. This has been a nightmare for me too." The older boy glanced at the sleeping Liam as he snored. "Hey, does she ever talk to you about me?"
"Penny and I haven't really been talking much."
Vijay silently nodded. "I miss the way things used to be."
"Me too."
A silence took over before Vijay asked another question. "How are you and (y/n)?"
Will looked at Vijay before looking downwards, a small smile planting his lips. "We're good."
"You better be because if I hear that you hurt her, not even Penny's gonna be able to stop me from hurting you."
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The six had reached the point to where they had to use their suits. It was a lot harder to climb with extra weight so they took it slow and steady.
Liam was helping Penny on a small ledge they found, making Vijay gave him the stink eye.
"Left hand there." Liam told the other boy.
"Thanks, I got it too." Vijay replied spitefully, climbing to the edge.
Liam lifted out his hand. "Here man."
"Hey, you're distracting me. Stop." Vijay refused to take the blonde's hand, causing him to slip and fall. He screamed as the others braced themselves to feel the pressure of his weight on the rope attached to them.
"Vijay! Vijay, are you okay?" (y/n) knelt over the edge to look for him but the clouds were too thick to see through.
"Will." Judy called to her brother. "Let me down!" Will nodded as Judy slid down her rope to where Vijay was hanging off of.
"Vijay!" (y/n) was still calling out for him as Penny joined the girl.
The boy groaned before responding. "I'm fine. I think I might have hurt my wrist."
Judy took his hand in hers and began to light press on it. "How does that feel?" She asked.
"It's okay."
She pressed another spot. "What about that?"
"No, that hurts."
"Okay, it's starting to swell. I think it's fractured."
"Come one, let's focus on my other perfectly non-fractured wrist."
"Hey, don't feel bad. What we're doing isn't easy. Liam, can you come down here and bring the med kit?" Judy looked up.
"Yeah, on my way."
She put her gaze back on Vijay. "He's gonna bring you back to camp okay?"
Vijay opened his mouth to argue when a voice interfered. "He's bringing you back whether you like or not Vijay." (y/n) said, her tone was nothing more than seriousness.
Judy sighed. "This is what I was worried was gonna happen."
Within a few more moment, Liam and Vijay made their way back down to camp. Leaving the four to make it the rest of the way there.
Thankfully, it wasn't very far as the reached the titanium, getting straight to work and mining it.
Using a large pickaxe and needle, the were able to obtain a lot of ore. Penny, who was distracted, didn't notice the small bag next to her, accidently kicking it.
The bag fly upwards, causing Penny to let out a gasp. "Woah! These updrafts are crazy. Could they actually blow us away?"
Will looked down below before looking back at his sister. "Pretty definitely."
Penny went to say something when her gaze drifted to behind her brother. "Wow, look!"
The others turned their attention to the right of them, noticing a giant mist-waterfall flowing beside them.
The mist of the water must've contained water as it created a rainbow when the sun shined upon it.
"It's beautiful." The (h/c) girl said in awe, eyes shimmering as such a sight.
Will let out a small smile. "It's been a while since it's been just us."
Judy smiled at her family when her attention was shifted. "Just get what we came here for, okay?"
The three kids looed down in disappointment, continuing to mine. "Yeah."
The sun began to set a few hours later, causing them to pitch the tent and share it. A person for each corner.
They were getting ready for sleep when penny began to shuffle around the tent. The redhead accidently smacked (y/n)'s foot. "Hey!"
"Sorry." Penny gave her a small smile.
Judy rolled her eyes and looked away from her map. "Penny, what are you looking for?"
Penny didn't answer her, only pulling out a small device and looking at the couple in front of her. "What is this?"
"That's a high-powered radio signal receiver, because we might be high enough to catch a signal from the Fortuna lander, right?" Will sat up, looking towards his eldest sister.
Judy avoided their gaze. "You're looked for Grant Kelly." Penny said.
"Well, I've been trying to raise the missing Fortuna crew ever since we got here."
"What were you gonna do if you got a signal?"
"Well, there isn't."
"Might be if we go higher up."
Will and (y/n) looked at each other before looking back at the tense atmosphere between the two girls. (y/n) didn't want to intervene because she felt as if it wasn't her place and Will just didn't want to get between the two.
Penny pursed her lips. "Are you coming down with us or not?"
"We have all the titanium. The descent's already anchored."
"So, you're gonna leave us here two miles up?"
"I have never been this close before. You can't understand that?"
"I understand you made us leave our family and now you are looked for a new one." (y/n) gaped at the girl.
oh shit.
Judy didn't respond, leaving silence to fall in the tent. Until small sounds of light footsteps could be heard outside.
"Hey, what's that sound?" Will asked them.
"It's just the wind." Judy reassured him.
"No. There's something else." (y/n) looked at the boy confused before turning to the tent walls. Then, she began to see small little bugs crawling on top of it. But there wasn't only a few, there were a lot.
"Uh, guys. There's a lot of them."
Will panicked, scooting closer to (y/n). "What are those."
"Oh my god." Penny whispered out before the tent began to shake and crumble. The four fell on each other and groaned. "What just happened?"
"Quick, helmets on." Judy ordered as they rushed to put on their helmets. They all hurriedly put on their helmets as Judy unlocked their the zipper of the tent, crawling outside. "Hey, be careful of the updraft."
The four looked down to at their position to realize that they were on a tiny piece of rock supported by a very thing layer of rock.
"I think we have bigger problems than the updraft." Will said, looking even further to see that the bugs from before were eating at their rock. "It's those bugs! They're eating the pillar out from under us!"
"Why must cute things be so dangerous." (y/n) complained, making Will give her a look.
"They're like rock termites and you still think they're cute?!"
"Maybe." She shrugged at him.
Penny groaned and got up. "Okay, so how do we get down from here?"
"We can't go down, we have to go up." Judy told them.
"What?" The other three of them said in unison.
"We can't leave without that titanium."
"Will," Penny turned to her brother and pointed at the bugs. "Seems like a geology problem."
"Creatures that ear rocks aren't geology." Will argued.
"What would mom and dad do?" Penny asked aloud.
"Well, it's just us." Judy spat out.
Penny turned to her brother once more. "Come one, Mr. Magnesium. Let's make this a story we wanna tell around a campfire." Will looked to her sisters to (y/n) before turning around and looking around.
He turned back and stated. "We'll fly!"
Penny gave him a blank face. "That's a terrible story."
(y/n) let out an awkward laugh. "I don't think I heard you right. Did you say fly?"
"No, no that's it. We can ride the updraft, right?" Judy asked for confirmation.
"Yeah," Will nodded. "Let's test it." Will grabbed one of their foil blankets and threw it off the side as they all watched it fly away, carried by the winds. "See? It worked."
The redhead wide eyed at her brother. "Are we watching the same test?"
"We need to control our ascent." Judy ignored her sister's words. She grabbed the tent as the others joined in. They cut and taped wings on each other.
Putting on the last set of tape, the rock began to shift. "So, am I just supposed to jump over the edge?" Penny asked.
"No, everybody jumps over the edge together. Hold my hand."
Will held (y/n)'s hand as her and Penny both held one of Judy's hands.
They all looked at one another, fear in their eyes. They were beyond scared of what's to come. But trying not to die is much better than just dying.
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