୨⎯chapter nine, peace.⎯୧
⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅
"𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐂𝐊 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄, 𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐔𝐏." a muffled voice made its way into madelyn's mind, causing her to groan and roll over on her side, not completely awake. "oh for shucks sake." the voice groaned in annoyance as a pillow was thrown harshly at the girls face.
madelyn's eyes shot open in surprise and was met with the smug face of minho, she let out a groan of irritation still feeling the lingering exhaustion and ache all over her body. "was that really necessary?" she asked, her voice groggy as she rubbed her tired eyes.
minho shrugged and tried to wipe the smile from his face. "i actually quite enjoyed that." he mumbled as he stood with his hands on his hips, he let out a chuckle as he observed the girl's appearance. "you look like shit."
"well maybe if i wasn't rudely awoken i would've got my much needed beauty sleep, min min." madelyn scowled as she attempted to brush her fingers through her tangled hair.
"min min?" the boy's smug smirk dropped at the nickname.
"yeah, min min." she taunted the boy.
"do not call me that!" he demanded, annoyance filling his tone. he liked the girl very much but he did find her irritating sometimes.
madelyn let out a deep sigh and shrugged. "okay min min."
minho groaned and slapped his arms to his legs in defeat. "anyway, you need to get up, everyones awake already."
"get out." madelyn scowled as she tossed a pillow at minho who threw his hands up in surrender.
"alright, alright fine!" he yelled as he backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.
madelyn let out a yawn and rubbed her heavy eyes. she looked around her room and her eyes settled on the end of her bed where newt sat the night before. she remembered the conversation they had, she told him about the dreams. madelyn felt a weight lifted off her shoulder knowing someone understood her. she swung her legs over the bed and pushed herself up, feeling the achy feeling consume her body from her training with gally the day before. a few beams of light creeped through her small window, reflecting onto the wooden floor as she trudged her way down the hallway, her heavy footsteps echoing.
as she stepped out into the glade, the morning sun almost blinded her, she flung a hand over her head shielding her eyes from the bright light as she headed over to the kitchen where frypan was stood serving breakfast to hungry boys.
"hey madelyn! you look like your in a great mood today." frypan sarcastically remarked as he chuckled at the disorientated girl.
"you could say that fry." madelyn breathed out, sending him a weak smile. she took a plate of bacon from frypan and started to head to the table where she saw her favorite blonde boy sat.
madelyn snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning her head on his shoulder. "morning goldie." madelyn smiled at his surprised expression.
once newt realised it was madelyn he examined her face and smiled back at her, her gentle touch sent tingles down his body, ones he couldn't explain.
"morning maddy." newt held his hands lightly over the girl's arms as they looped around his neck, madelyn pulled away and sat down beside him. "feeling any better?" he asked. he was concerned for the girl after the conversation they had the night before. no one else in the glade had those dreams and it worried him. even though he had only known her for a week now, he had a strange urge to want to protect her, he cared about her and didn't want anything to happen to her.
madelyn nodded in response. "yeah, a little. just trying to take my mind off it. though minho waking me up didn't help."
newt let out a small chuckle. "good idea." his gaze lingered on the girl as he took in her appearance, the morning sun cascaded perfectly down on her features, she was beautiful.
madelyn turned to newt for and they made silent eye contact for a few seconds before newt turned away a warm feeling flushed over his cheeks, the girl made him nervous for some reason. madelyn raised her eyebrows at him, confused as to why he had looked away so quickly, but she brushed it off when a small figure sat down in front of her.
"hey madelyn, hey newt." chuck beamed at the two as he glanced between them. he could read them like a book, he knew they both liked each other they just didn't want to admit it.
"hey kiddo. how are you?" madelyn asked as she smiled at the small boy, she had become very fond of him.
"im good thanks maddy, i have not played anymore pranks since the other day." chuck giggled. he was quite scared of gally, quite a few of the boys were. they couldn't understand why he was so nice to madelyn when he was cold to everyone else.
"i don't blame you, gally can be scary sometimes." madelyn joked. newt chuckled beside her. a small smile crawled up on madelyn's lips when she heard his laugh, it could light up anyone's day.
madelyn finished her breakfast and rose from her seat. "i'll see you two later." she pointed at them whilst backing away, she started to head to the kitchen to see frypan.
"hey again, fry." madelyn spoke as she jumped up on the kitchen counter.
"hey! get off my counters!" frypan swung a towel at the girl with a disgusted look on his face, almost like she had committed the biggest crime.
"no can do fry, sorry." madelyn shrugged whilst grabbing an apple and taking a bite out of it.
"oh, and now you want to steal my food?" frypan remarked, his hands placed on his hips as he stared at the girl slightly amused.
"sorry fry, at least i'm being healthy." madelyn shrugged as she swallowed.
"true, true." frypan repeated. "what are you doing in here anyways, are you just here to mess up my kitchen?"
"no i actually thought i would just bless you with my presence, i haven't got much to do as a third-in-command anyways." madelyn shrugged. "but i can do that if you want?"
"no, no thank you." frypan blurted out. "but i feel very blessed." he smiled sarcastically before continuing to do the dishes.
the two of them spoke for a while as frypan cooked, frypan telling madelyn some stories from before she arrived. madelyn found them quite amusing. he told her one about newt getting stuck in a tree and having to have the whole glade help get him down, that made madelyn laugh until her sides hurt.
"i'll be back to help with dinner later!" madelyn bellowed as she finally walked out the kitchen doors back into the open glade. all the boys were hard at work, echos of tools and chatter could be heard as she walked. she spotted gally talking to a few builders, so she decided to go over.
"hey, guys." she spoke as she approached the sweaty boys. "how's the building goin'?"
"good, thanks madelyn." one of the boys spoke as he was nailing something. the boys had begun to respect madelyn, they had become quite fond of the strange girl. even though she could be a bitch sometimes the boy's knew she wasn't truly like that.
"hey captain gal." madelyn placed a gentle hand on his shoulder grabbing his attention as he turned around.
a wide smile crawled onto gally's face when he noticed the small girl in front of him. "oh hey mads, whats up?"
"not much, just doing my third in command duties, you know." madelyn winked playfully as she stood with her hands on her hips.
"ah, i see." gally grinned at the girl finding her quite amusing.
madelyn observed the builders' work. "works a little sloppy, boy's."
gally scoffed and let out a small chuckle. "not like your's was much better."
madelyn ignored his remark with a little scoff. "i've got to go. gotta cook dinner for you shanks. get back to work!" she demanded with a small smirk on her face.
"yes ma'am!" the group of boys spoke in unison as they saluted.
madelyn giggled at the group before strutting away to the homestead once again. her eyes scanned the glade looking for a certain boy that her eyes always seemed to be drawn to. she spotted newt deep in conversation with alby, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he listened to him.
madelyn arrived back in the kitchens, swinging the wooden door open. "I'm back bitches!"
"less swearing, more cooking." frypan instructed the girl, sounding like he was talking to his daughter.
the pair began to cook his famous stew. madelyn chopped the vegetables whilst frypan stirred something in a pot. madelyn got distracted for a few seconds, stopping looking at what she was cutting which caused her to accidentally slice her finger.
"shit!" madelyn muttered in pain as blood dripped from the cut.
"don't get blood on the vegetables!" frypan smacked her hand away from its position that was still hanging over the chopping board, more concerned about his stew than madelyn. he quickly realised that probably wasn't the best thing to say in this situation so corrected himself. "go to the med hut madelyn, i'll finish up dinner." madelyn nodded in response and left the kitchen, clutching onto her bleeding finger.
as madelyn arrived in the med hut she called out for clint and jeff, their heads lifted as they heard the girl's voice fill the hut.
"what's up madelyn?" jeff asked as he walked over to her.
madelyn showed him her still bleeding finger. "what the shuck did you do?" clint exclaimed as he grabbed a wet cloth.
madelyn sat herself down on one of the wobbly beds, shrugging casually. "got distracted whilst cutting vegetables." she mumbled, she was slightly embarrassed about the incident.
jeff began to clean the cut before wrapping a thin bandage around it. "all done, it shouldn't take long to heal as it wasnt that deep." he reassured the girl as he patted her shoulder.
"thanks jeff!" madelyn spoke to the boy as she walked out the hut, she spotted everyone was walking towards the kitchen as it was pretty late by now, so she followed.
madelyn arrived by frypan again. "how's the finger?" he asked as he poured her a portion of stew.
"much better now." madelyn held up her bandaged finger with a proud smile. "hope i didn't get too much blood in your food." she giggled, frypan shook his head and chuckled as the girl walked away.
madelyn spotted newt, minho, gally and alby all sat down at a table eating already, so she wandered over. "mind if i join?"
newt glanced up from his bowl at the sound of the girl's voice, he smiled and responded with a mouthful of food. "not at all."
"newt what did i tell you about talking with food in your mouth." madelyn spoke sternly as she placed herself down beside him.
"sorry, mum." newt mumbled.
"what the shuck did you do to your finger?" minho asked as he noticed her bandaged finger.
"i cut it whilst chopping vegetables. might have got some blood in the stew, sorry guys." madelyn shrugged as she took a mouthful.
minho spat out his mouthful in disgust. "what?" he started to wipe his tongue.
madelyn giggled in amusement at the dramatic boy. "calm down min min, i was only joking."
"not funny maddy." minho groaned in annoyance, earning chuckles from around the table.
𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐏 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃 their food they all sat down on a few logs in front of a small fire. the glade was now almost completely dark, only the sound of the crackling fire and bustling trees could be heard. madelyn was sat with her legs over newts and her feet rested on minho's legs.
"ew! get your dirty feet off me!" minho exclaimed as he grabbed the girls' ankles, shoving them off him.
"aw, is poor minho worried hes going to get his precious trousers dirty?" madelyn pouted.
"they are already dirty, thanks to you." minho shoved his pointer finger in the girl's face.
madelyn gasped dramatically placing her hand on her chest. "how dare you, are you saying my feet are dirty?"
"yes, that's exactly what i'm saying." minho glared at her.
"will you two bloody shut up for once?" newt spoke up as he glanced between the pair, an unamused expression on his face.
madelyn and minho both looked at him offended. "no, thanks newt." they spoke in unison.
"jinx!" madelyn yelled with a wide grin.
minho threw his hands in the air. "no fair!"
newt rolled his eyes at the pair. "unbelievable, you two are like children." he muttered.
"sorry goldie, ill be quiet now." madelyn squeezed newt's cheek teasingly.
"madelyn, i forgot you haven't carved your name on the wall. want to do it now?" alby asked, grabbing the girls attention from newt.
"yeah, sure alby." madelyn spoke as she swung her legs off newt and stood up."you coming?" she asked the group. they nodded in reply and stood up, gally grabbed a torch as it was dark by now.
the group made their way over to one of the tall glade walls. the wall was covered in names, some crossed out. madelyn frowned at the sight, she wondered what happened to them.
madelyn took her small knife out from her pocket and began to carve her name carefully into the wall, she made sure to make it the biggest. gally stood beside the girl holding the torch as her tongue hung out slightly in concentration.
madelyn heard some chuckles from behind her and immediately guessed who they were from. "what are you two shanks laughing at?" she questioned them, not taking her eyes off the wall.
"your face!" minho sputtered out through a fit of giggles as newt hung onto his shoulder trying not to fall down from laughing too hard.
"aw, you guys are so sweet." madelyn remarked sarcastically as she finished off her carving. "done!" madelyn announced proudly as she backed up to stand next to the other boys to admire her work.
madelyn beamed proudly. "in my opinion i think i did a pretty good job."
"i mean each to their own, i guess." minho chuckled with newt again, madelyn sent them an offended glare causing the pair to stop immediately, they didn't want to get on the girl's bad side.
"alright let's tuck it in for the night." alby instructed whilst lightly patting madelyn's shoulder. they all obeyed and minho, gally and alby strode off beside each other leaving madelyn and newt behind.
madelyn and newt began to walk side by side as she wrapped her arm around his. newt smiled down at the girl, his messy hair falling on his forehead. "you need a haircut." madelyn suggested whilst brushing the hair out of his eyes.
"maybe, i don't really trust anyone around here enough to do it." newt shrugged as they continued walking through the silent glade, arm in arm.
"i could give it a try?" madelyn suggested.
newt let out a small chuckle. "knowing you, you would accidentally cut a chunk out of my hair."
madelyn smacked the boys arm lightly. "i would not!"
newt smirked down at the girl with his eyebrows raised, not totally convinced by the girl's words. madelyn rolled her eyes at him in return. the pair finally arrived back at the homestead, they spotted minho and gally stood staring at them whilst whispering and giggling.
"they look like little girls." madelyn remarked in amusement at the two boys. newt chuckled and nodded in agreement as they began to creep quietly past the sleeping boys.
they finally arrived in the familiar dark hallway, madelyn let go of newt's arm and opened her creaky door before turning around to face newt again. "night goldie." she spoke before pressing a quick kiss to his cold cheek. newt froze in his spot, slightly taken aback by the girl's bold actions as madelyn quickly turned around again with an innocent smirk, walking into her room and closing the door behind her.
"night madelyn." madelyn heard newt mutter from behind the door, still stood in the same spot.