IMPORTANT NOTE
new character/s will be added in the next chapters. if you did hard-core research on yellowjackets, you'll know about Yumi Heineken and how she's close to being a canon character on the show. also, i believe that the writers will add new characters in the next season from the 1996 timeline and bring those remaining nameless characters from the first episodes of the show to life.
soon, this fic will deviate from the canon story, and i will take shits into my own hands (wish me luck that i'll be able to do justice).
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Shaking legs, numbed back, and aching arms were what Agami was feeling at the moment. She badly wanted to stop moving and just lay down on the ground to rest, but she couldn't. Nobody in their group aside from her was capable of carrying Van on their backs while running at the same time.
They'd been doing it for more than an hour, but there was still no signal from the others, who were supposed to meet them halfway as planned.
Was it because Mari had some trouble leading them, or was she just not quick enough to meet them faster? Or maybe they are now lost in the wilderness and weren't on the right track.
"We're almost there, just hang on," Agami told Van, or rather, she convinced herself.
In another hour, they'll lose daylight. And once they lose daylight, Van will be as good as dead.
"Misty, are you sure this is the way?" she heard Natalie ask the anxious woman.
"We just passed through where we met earlier, right? I'm sure we're on the right path," replied the woman in glasses, confident in where she's leading them.
As they all continued to move along, Agami's worry for the injured woman's life grew intensely. She can feel her legs are almost on the edge of giving up, and they would need someone to take over what she was doing. The number of times she nearly trips over roots or rocks has doubled, which indicates that her knees are starting to weaken and that they cannot already handle any slight disturbance from the uneven ground.
"Red smoke... red smoke..." Agami heard Van whisper between her heavy breaths.
"What?" she asked her but did not earn any more responses from the woman. "Palmer, what red smoke?" Agami tried again, but this time her voice was loud enough that Taissa heard her.
The short-haired woman immediately searched for something in her bag. Van's statement knocked sense into her. And the moment Taissa got a hold of it, she didn't hesitate to point it up and pull the trigger of the flare gun.
Although she didn't stop moving, everything started to get blurry after that for Agami. But shortly, she comes to realize that someone was trying to get Van off her back and take over carrying her.
As she gets to take a good look at her surroundings, Agami finally sees everyone who has now come to help them, with Travis ready to run back to the cabin and the injured woman on his back.
The moment Agami was sure that someone had finally taken Van, she let herself fall to the ground, taking continuous, deep, and sharp breaths that brought pain to her chest. Her sight was spinning, and she couldn't even feel anything from her waist down, while her upper body, which grew accustomed to Van's weight, suddenly felt light.
"Go! We'll be right behind you!" she heard the familiar, high-pitched voice scream.
"It's gonna be dark soon, it'll be dangerous if you guys stay here!" replied Laura Lee.
"Then do you have any bright ideas on how we are gonna drag her with us!?" Jackie yelled one more time. "She can't even stand!"
"We can carry her!" Shauna argued.
"How the hell are we going to do that, huh!? We both know it's not going to be easy!" Jackie responded.
"Stop! All of you, fucking stop!" Natalie pacified, eying everyone who hadn't left yet before speaking one more time. "You guys, go ahead. I'll stay with Jackie and Agami here," she told everyone.
"What if another wolf comes?" asked Laura Lee.
"The hell do you think I have a gun, Laura Lee!?" answered Natalie. "Van will need as many people as she needs, so go. Dick will only need a few minutes to rest, and we'll be back on our feet once she's good."
***
[2021]
The red-haired woman stared at her reflection from the side mirror of their car as Taissa drove quietly following Natalie's car, who immediately cut them off before they could even say a word to her, asking them to just follow her to her apartment where they could talk in peace, which they agreed to.
It's been more than two decades since she had the scar on her face. For more than half of her whole existence, she'd been marked by that place and by that incident that permanently changed how she views things in her life that follows after it happened.
But she could still remember them clearly.
That night.
Death, who always pays her a visit in a chariot, but would never let her ride.
And most of all, it.
Would things be a lot different if that night didn't happen? If she didn't look for Taissa alone in the woods in the middle of the night, even though she could hear the wolves near them howling, would that make any difference?
Because if she never got injured and they didn't have to stop their journey to go back in the cabin, maybe they'd have been rescued a lot earlier than 19 months, and things didn't have to take a massive turn like that.
But how worse could it be if she was totally defenseless when it happened? The spear that Agami gave her made a huge difference between life and her supposed quick death.
When that wolf jumped right in front of her, she was lucky to have brought that spear on her search for Taissa, as it saved her from the worst injury she could get. She was quick enough to point it in front of her, which pierced the wolf's body and resulted in her only getting a scratch on the face as the wolf's claw reached her face instead of biting her head.
The knife she had in her pocket was the one she used to finally kill it, which, amusingly, was just like Agami told her when she handed it to her-use it for the final blow.
Although a wolf scratch was not the worst injury you could possibly get from a wolf attack, it still almost sent her to death.
There, on the borderland of life and death, she saw something she couldn't explain. It's not a physical being, but it surely was something. All she knew was that a feeling she never thought she had deep inside her heart had been awakened by it.
That was when she decided to believe that they were not alone in the wilderness and that something far greater or bigger was with them. It was scary, yes. But you would feel deserving of the life that you have if you welcomed it and also defied it.
That's what kept her alive in the wilderness. That's how she kept moving. Believing in it.
The next thing she knew when she opened her eyes was that she was being cremated alive by Taissa, Misty, Mari, and Akilah. She knows it was Taissa who would pull off a stunt like that, thinking she had probably died from the attack.
Van's thoughts ended when Taissa spoke, her eyes still on Natalie's car in front, not far from them.
"You good?" asked Tai, her right hand moving to caress Van's left leg gently.
The red-haired woman smiled as she responded.
"Yeah, of course." Her attention then shifted to Natalie's car. "Do you think this is a good idea?" she asked her wife.
Even though Taissa understood what Van was meant to ask, she still contemplated answering the question, also unsure about them.
"Natalie cut all of us off for a reason. Maybe she never wanted to do anything to any of us anymore," Van added to her statement.
"Is that what you think?" Taissa asked again.
"I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't involve Natalie in what we're doing. Have you seen her earlier, Tai?" replied the red-haired woman. "I think the last time I saw Nat looking proud like that was when she won over Travis when they were doing shooting drills for that rifle. She didn't even look that happy when she finally got out of rehab."
That put Taissa in deep thought. What Van was saying makes sense. Something must have happened, especially for Natalie to cut them off, knowing it was the two of them who helped the woman the most financially.
"We'll just ask her a few questions about what Everett meant and if she knows something about the book or anything," stated Tai, taking what Van raised into consideration. "If she says she doesn't know a thing about it, then we'll leave immediately."
The red-haired woman nodded at that, agreeing with what Taissa had decided. Besides, she was one of those who pushed the idea of starting everything anyway. It's just that now she's having second thoughts on whatever they are doing.
As they made another left turn into a boring neighborhood, Natalie's car slowed down until it finally stopped. Taissa pulled over just right behind where the woman parked, and the two of them got off immediately afterward.
"So, what do you want from me?" Natalie asked while the three of them walked to where Natalie's front door was. "If it's something big, then maybe you should give me a teaser about it so I won't be too shocked later."
Natalie has sounded a lot different since the last time they saw her. They both recognized that.
A few years ago, they would receive random calls or visits from the woman, who would ask for help on different things. Money, a job, or a place to crash for the night.
And then they would see Natalie a lot worse the last time they saw her, looking hopelessly tired after doing everything in her power to live a normal life. It was hard to see her like that, but none of them could do anything to make her feel better aside from helping her.
Not a single one of them complained about repeatedly helping Natalie in ways they could, not even Jackie. Aside from the fact that they owed her something that no amount of money will ever buy or make up, Natalie is their friend. They will never give up on her, and they are always hoping for the best for her.
And from the looks of it, it turns out that the last three years without any contact with the woman weren't that bad, and she might have finally found what she was looking for.
"C'mon, Nat. Tell us how you were first," Taissa told the woman.
They all stopped before they could even enter the house, with Natalie letting out a heavy sigh before answering.
"If you think I went down another wrong path after I disappeared, I didn't," replied Natalie truthfully. After everything, she owed them at least that. "I'm still as clean as the last time I got out of rehab."
"That's really good to hear, Nat. We're glad you're safe," responded Taissa, a genuine smile planted on her face.
Natalie nodded at the woman. Her eyes then began to shift between the couple. "What's with the random visit anyway? Something big must have happened for you to involve Rhett with this and show up on my game," she asked the two frankly but not hostilely.
Van took her turn to speak, responding to the woman. "It's about Agami."
Natalie froze upon hearing that name from Van's mouth.
Sure, being around Rhett and the man mentioning that name in some of their conversations made her used to hearing that. With all honesty, it made her move on. It was a healthy form of casually reminiscing about their old friend and their lives before the biggest tragedy of their lives happened.
Whenever she was with Rhett and they were talking about Agami, her memories of the woman during their time in the wilderness were slowly fading and being tampered with by the exaggerations of how fun they used to be prior to the crash. She knows it was for the best.
But if it's Van or anyone from their group opening up about Agami, it will surely not go well.
"I'm not having any conversation about Agami," she told them.
"What?" asked Van, confusion visible on her face, as she never expected such a thing from Natalie.
"I finally moved on, Van. It wasn't easy to do it, but my time alone and away from any of you helped me a lot," Natalie said, trying her best not to sound offensive.
But Van still took it the wrong way.
"Goddamn, are you saying we were a burden to you? Us? To you?"
"Jesus, Van! That's not what I'm saying!"
"Well, sorry to disturb your 'moving on' process then!"
"Van, we're not here to do this. Calm down."
"But she says we are-"
The red-haired woman's statement was cut off when suddenly the door opened.
Taissa, Van, and Natalie-who was the owner of the house-stood dumbfounded in front of the door and stared at the person in front of them.
"Ladies, you should take the arguing inside. Come on in!" said Misty excitedly, gesturing to them to enter the house as if she were the owner.
"Why the fuck are you inside my house!?" screamed Natalie.
"Your friend Rhett told me where you live," she responded truthfully, leaving a few details behind, such as threatening the man earlier in the parking lot where the soccer match takes place using a syringe that she told him contained some drug that would make him lose control of his limbs.
Natalie turned on Taissa and Van once again, but this time she was shooting daggers at the two.
"Breaking and entering!? Seriously?" she asked them.
Taissa shook her head repeatedly. "I swear, we didn't know she would do this."
Natalie ignored that and just stormed inside the house, hoping she could settle down and cool off a little. But instead, she saw another two people occupying her sofa.
"Are you kidding me!?" she screamed in annoyance.
Shauna stared at her, apologetic about the situation. But Jackie was just there beside her, unbothered about the happenings and even eating chocolate marshmallows, which Natalie guessed she got from her stocks in her kitchen cabinet.
"Look, I could say that it's nice to see you all after a long time, but I don't appreciate you guys breaking into my house like this!" yelled Natalie, opening her fridge and getting a can of beer, which she immediately drank. "You could at least warn me!" she added to her statement.
"And how are we supposed to do that? We don't even have your number," Shauna countered.
Natalie let out a provoking laugh. "Oh, I'm sure Tai will find a way."
"We're wasting time," Jackie intervened, rolling her eyes. "If she doesn't want to be with us, then just ask her what she knows so we can finally leave."
Natalie immediately focused her attention on the woman, who looked so bored at the moment, with her usual resting Jackie face that she didn't even dare to hide.
And she never liked that face.
"Jackie fucking Taylor," said Natalie, her voice full of hatred. "That attitude of yours still makes me want to shoot you."
"Believe me, you're the last person among us that I want to see again," replied Jackie, glaring at Natalie.
"Okay, enough with that," pacified Shauna. "Can we all stay civil with one another just for now?"
"You don't break into someone's house and ask them to be civil with the trespasser, Shauna," responded Natalie. "And she's eating my marshmallows for s'mores I'm planning to make," she added, pointing at Jackie.
Taissa shut her eyes and took a deep breath. The women's useless arguments are the only thing she's hearing. She was about to stop them when Van spoke again.
"Can you both shut the fuck up!?" she screamed at Natalie and Jackie.
For a moment, Taissa saw everyone in their younger selves dressed in ragged clothes and standing in the middle of a snowy landscape surrounded by trees, as if she were having a flashback of a long-forgotten memory.
Whatever it was, it's something unpleasant that her brain decided to just bury somewhere deep.
She closed her eyes one more time and shook her head in an attempt to shake them off, which she fortunately succeeded in.
"Do you know anything about this?" Van asked Natalie as she slammed the book on the woman's chest.
With her eyebrows furrowed, Natalie checked the book. A few seconds later, her expression changed after realizing something.
"What the hell is this? Why does it have Dick's initials?" she asked everyone, flipping through the pages of it, hoping to find some answers.
"That's the reason we're here. Does it look familiar to you?" Taissa asked.
Natalie shook her head. "No, aside from that thing on the cover, I have no idea what this is."
Jackie ran her hands on her face in frustration. It felt like they were not making any progress toward the truth.
"Do you think-" Van spoke, pausing for a while. "Do you think it was Agami?" she finally asked.
That caused another moment of silence among the group.
"What are you trying to say?" Natalie asked this time.
"What if she's alive?" said the red-haired woman.
Natalie shook her head repeatedly, not wanting to have another round of conversation about it with Van again. "You need to fucking stop, Van. I'm sure as hell you know that's impossible."
"Then how can you explain this? Who else knows about that ugly symbol?" Van countered.
"I don't fucking know! Has it never occurred to you that maybe it was just a coincidence?" Natalie argued, which made the red-haired woman furious as she remembered Taissa saying the same thing.
But much to their annoyance, Misty raised her hand to get their attention.
"Actually, I just confirmed ten minutes ago that it wasn't a coincidence," she told them, looking so proud of herself.
Taissa spared a glance at Jackie and Shauna, asking them what Misty was talking about. But Jackie simply gestured her head as if she were telling her to just listen to what Misty was about to say.
"I ran one of the symbols on the internet earlier, and it matched something," she explained to everyone, showing the screen of her laptop. "It looks like the symbol has gone out of the wilderness for years now without any of us knowing about it."
"What?" Taissa asked in disbelief.
"And guess where it traced back?" Misty said, tapping on her keyboard and showing them the next image. "It's being used in Camp Green Pine like an amulet or something. So with Agami's initials on the cover of that book and 'that' symbol related to that camp, there's no way it's a coincidence."
"How did we not know about this thing?" Taissa asked, terrified.
"If you're worried about whether the public knows anything about what happened out there with us, don't worry. I didn't find anything."
"Agami will never do something like that," said Jackie.
That was Natalie's last straw.
"Stop bringing her about this shit! How many times do I have to tell you she's gone!?" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
"They never told us she's dead," Van insisted.
Taissa was about to stop Van from pushing the subject more when Misty once again intervened.
"That reminds me. Everett says you know something about Agami that none of us do, but he wouldn't tell me about it, even though I'm threatening his life," she said, looking at Natalie. "Hah, talk about loyalty," Misty cackled.
"I'm sorry, you did what?" Shauna asked Misty again.
Natalie marched towards one of her locked drawers, pushing a key in its hole and twisting it to open it.
They all watched her silently as she got out something long that was wrapped in white fabric, then proceeded to slam it on Van's chest like the woman did to her with the book.
The red-haired woman unwrapped it, and they could only watch as her expression turned dark the moment she saw what it was.
Van's gaze shifted towards Natalie, her eyes full of rage.
"Why do you have this?" she asked the woman in a flat voice.
Natalie lowered her head, as she could not bear to look any of them in the eyes.
"When they brought me to that room to be questioned, that man gave the flute to me. He said they sent another team to search for her out there, but she's gone from where we left her. They found it a few miles away from there," said Natalie. "She's dead."
"And you never told us that?" Jackie asked, her voice shaking.
A memory flashed through Natalie's mind as she remembered something she did to Travis involving Javi. The one that tainted their relationship.
"That time, I thought it'd be better if you didn't know, especially the three of you," Natalie explained, referring to Van, Jackie, and Lottie.
"So you just watched us suffer from the thought that maybe she was still alive?" Van said, walking closer to Natalie and hitting the woman on her chest, even though it didn't do anything as she was too weak to even do any damage. "You could have told us about this that night in the villa. We could've moved on together."
Jackie looked at Natalie, her fists clenched. "What made you think you have the right to hide something like this, Nat? Do you really think not telling us about it made our lives better?"
A tear finally escaped her eyes. Once again, Jackie looked like the hopeless naive she used to be, who never knew the truth about what's happening around her.
"Deep down, I know that everywhere I go, I was hoping I'd see her. On caves, mountains, or even trees. Do you have any idea how hard it was, Natalie?" asked Jackie to the silent woman. "But you were here, moving forward in your life, carrying that truth while you left us in the dark. So much for the fucking leader you are."
Shauna can't even bring herself to comfort Jackie. Not when she doesn't fully understand how she felt about what Natalie told them.
Sure, she wanted to know the truth about everything. But unlike Jackie and Van, she had already moved on from it. The fact that she wasn't that close to Agami doesn't give her the right to say anything.
And she's certain that Taissa was feeling the same thing. The woman was only here with them to support and accompany Van. Hell, she could also bet that Misty doesn't even care about what's happening, and she's only helping them feel included in the group like she always does.
But they have another reason why they were doing this, they still have to know the person behind the book and why they were out there slowly unboxing their dark past, which threatens to ruin their present lives. They still have to know what they want from them.
The deafening silence going on between them ended when a notification sound came out of Misty's laptop. She immediately checked them, and her mouth opened slightly as she faced the screen.
"Oh, no," she said, the rest of them only giving her a questioning look.
Misty shifted her gaze from her laptop to everyone as she spoke. "You're not gonna like this."
"Fucking spit it out, Misty," Shauna said impatiently, not in the mood for any Misty stunts.
"After I found out that the symbol was connected to Camp Green Pine, I asked my fellow citizen detectives for the specific address of its location and if they knew who ran it," she told them.
Puzzled about what Misty was talking about in some parts, they still let her speak and wait for whatever she's going to reveal.
Misty took a deep breath and pushed her glasses up before speaking again. "I received a reply about its address, but someone added something to that reply. It says, 'My friend wouldn't stop talking about that camp after he got out, and he says their leader was able to tap into what their heart really seeks out. I don't know why her name was familiar (maybe I read her name somewhere else here)..." she read what was on her screen.
"No, no, no," said Natalie, slowly realizing something upon hearing what Misty just read.
Tapping into someone's heart and helping them understand what it seeks-that description is unmistakably familiar, and she's not liking where it is going.
"Don't fucking tell me-"
"Camp Green Pine was being run by a woman named Charlotte Matthews."