We Come Running - Youngblood Hawke
Run Boy Run - Woodkid
I Went Too Far - AURORA
"I got to know what you two did to get busted," Finn smirked, glancing at Jasper and Monty who were both walking in a carefree manner just behind the boy.
"Sumac isn't the only herb in the garden, if you know what I mean," Monty said suggestively, Isaac rolling his eyes at him.
Jasper sighed in slight annoyance, it seemed like. "Someone forgot to replace what we took," he put in.
"Someone apologized, like, a thousand times," Monty shot back, clearly offended and slightly hurt that his friend still seemed irked about a mistake from so long ago.
Jasper nodded distractedly as he turned towards the brown haired girl. "What about you Octavia? What'd they get you for?"
The girl left the two with a stony silence for a moment before growling, "Being born," and then running up ahead to walk with Clarke.
"That is so not game," Monty commented smugly and Jasper responded with a light hit to the chest. Monty hit back childishly before turning to Isaac. "So why were you in lock-up?" he asked, trying to change the mood.
Isaac tensed, bowing his head. Clearing his throat awkwardly, his shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. "When it comes to orphans the council does not know what to do," he told them quietly, and Finn pursed his lips in concern.
"You're an orphan?" he asked, shocked.
Isaac turned and narrowed his eyes at the long haired boy. "No, I just thought I'd share a fun fact," he snapped, and all three boys backed off, clearly recognizing a boundary. Isaac sped up his pace just a bit, stalking ahead of the three boys currently prying into his life. He rolled his eyes at the sounds of Monty and Jasper hitting each other childishly. Isaac sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. He couldn't lose his temper; he calculated everything he said and everything he did for a reason. He wanted to avoid fights, keep conflict to a minimum. Because when he let himself speak his mind, bad things normally followed.
He sealed his lips shut again, pressing them together in a thin line, promising himself to not do anything irrational or stupid. Which is exactly why he crouched down quickly when he noticed everyone else doing it, going down to balance on the balls of his feet as he hunched over, mildly confused. Biting his lip, he glanced towards Octavia. "Why are why crouching?" he whispered, his voice barely audible even during the silence.
Octavia didn't answer out loud, instead using her dainty hand to point towards a deer, maybe twenty yards away, munching on some grass. Isaac glanced at it and a shy smile made it's way onto his face, and suddenly he was grinning. "No animals, huh?" Finn murmured to Clarke at the front of the group, a smug smile plastered on his face. Finn bravely shuffle forwards, placing his feet on the ground with care; but not enough care. He had only moved about a foot or two forwards when a twig was caught underneath his shoe and snapped, causing the deer to look towards the group of six.
Its face was horribly disfigured, and Isaac guessed he could apply the word mutated considering the situation. There was an entire second head morphing into the first, the former small and red and bloody, muscle showing and the two inside eyes melding together grotesquely. The jaw on the second head hung slack and useless, the teeth yellowed and the tongue lolling out like a piece of ribbon glue to the roof of it's mouth.
Isaac held back a gag as he and the other five prisoners jumped back, shocked. Finn let out an "Uh!" and the deer only paused for a moment before scampering away into the forest, leaving the six teenagers to think.
* * * * *
"Hey, you know what I'd like to know?" Finn asked, jumping and weaving through the trees, "Why send us down today after ninety-seven years?"
Isaac nodded in agreement, puffing out a short breath as he jumped down a small ledge. "What changed?" he asked, purposely looking towards Clarke. If he had guessed right, she would be the one with the answer. Everything she did she did with a purpose, maybe that was her fatal flaw. What got her arrested, even.
"Who cares?" Octavia added in a sing-song, skipping ahead of the group. "I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now-" she grabbed a small tree, using it to spin around and face the rest of the group," I'm spinning in a forest!" She smiled flirtatiously at Isaac, who noticed and sent a polite smile back in her direction, though Finn thought it looked more like a grimace.
"Maybe they found something on a satellite," Monty suggested, nudging Jasper excitedly, "You know, like an old weather satellite or-"
"It wasn't a satellite," Clarke interrupted the boy, tugging on the straps of her back pack in boredom as she strutted past the group, who had now curiously parted for her. "The ark is dying. At the current population, there's roughly three months of oxygen left, maybe four now that we're gone."
Isaac puffed out his cheeks, letting out a subtle sigh. "So we're like..." he frowned for a moment, trying to come up with the right words. "We're the necessary evil. We might die, but they live."
Clarke nodded as Finn glanced at her in realization. "That's the secret they locked you up to keep," he blurted, connecting the dots. "It's why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?"
Isaac's eyes widened at the blunt question, his mouth drying ever so slightly in anticipation of a violent response, but all he got was a sigh. "My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw," Clarke explained, rather proud sounding. Clearly her father had been someone she looked up to, and judging by the sound of her voice Isaac might have gone far enough to say she even idolized him; but he couldn't say for sure. "He thought the people had a right to know. The council disagreed-" Clarke paused to swallow even though her mouth was dryer than a desert, "- my mother disagreed." The girl paused again, before continuing. "They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were gonna go public anyway when Wells..."
The blonde trailed off, leaving the rest of the group to guess what had happened. Isaac had a pretty clear idea of what had happened. So did Finn, though the long haired boy decided he didn't want to keep his deductions a secret. "What? Turned in your dad?"
The blonde sucked in a short breath, feeling another one of her nerves singe. Shoulder tense, she nodded stiffly. Isaac noticed this, his thumb rubbing against the poison sumac in his pocket from earlier. "Anyway, the guard showed up before we could. That's why today. That's why it's worth the risk."
Isaac nodded solemnly, digging his hands deeper into his pockets. "Even if we all die, at least they bought themselves some more time." Being in the back, Isaac froze when everyone turned to glance back at him, and he cautiously gave them all a lazy smile. "Right?"
Clarke, still a bit shocked, nodded. "Yeah," she regained her mind slowly, and soon began walking again. "Actually, you took the words right out of my mouth."
"Oh," Isaac sighed, blowing out a puff of air in relief. He debated on whether or not he should say something else to ease any tensions, but decided that adding a remark might be a push not needed.
Monty perked up from the back of the group, finally voicing what he had been wondering for the past minute or two. "They're gonna kill more people, aren't they?" he asked, clearly concerned. Isaac guessed he had family on the Ark.
"Good," Octavia Blake hopped down from a ledge only to land in the center of the entire group, a smirk that marked her feelings of superiority obviously. "After what they did to me, I say float them all!" She sauntered on ahead of the rest of the group, all of them staring on in shock except for Isaac, who kept his pace easily.
"Wha-" Jasper frowned after the brunette, stumbling a bit as he tried to jog after her. "Wait, Octavia --you don't mean that!"
Isaac stopped the boy from chasing after her with a knowing hand on his shoulder, and a timid yet understanding look. "She does now," he explained, pursing his lips as he, too, gazed after the girl. "She's just bitter. Forgiveness takes time."
Jasper opened his mouth at the boy, but no words came out as they continued walking. Finally, Jasper scoffed and raised an eyebrow. "What are you, dude? Like, a doctor?"
Isaac felt his cheeks flush a bit and ducked his head briefly. "A slightly more accurate term would be a psychologist, but truthfully speaking I'm neither."
"Then what are you?"
The curly haired boy shrugged, bobbing his head awkwardly to a beat that wasn't there. "Try an observant book nerd."
Jasper's eyebrows crawled even further up his hairline, before suddenly he paused and his attention dragged elsewhere. "Damn," he chuckled, a lazy grin spreading across his face. "I love Earth."
Isaac followed the boy's gaze and his eyes widened at the sight of Octavia at the edge of a patch of rock, shrugging off her jacket and sliding her pants off with a certain sway to her hips. As Clarke and the others joined them, Isaac noticed the blonde's expression as her eyes almost bugged out of her head. "Octavia!" she gasped, mouth hanging wide open. "What the hell are you doing?"
Octavia Blake gave no verbal answer, instead opting for turning around to give her almost infamous smirk before snapping her head around and jumping over the edge. Isaac heard a faint splash and his eyes widened for a split second as he and the other teenagers took off running. It took only about three seconds for them to get to where Octavia had been, the group now noticing the river that was now the home of one very pretty (and half-naked, which Isaac tried not to think about) Octavia, who was wading in the water with everything under her mouth under the surface.
"Octavia!" Monty shouted, just as Isaac sighed in relief. "We don't know how to swim!" The taller boy raised his eyebrows at the young boy, half amused and half annoyed. Octavia wasn't stupid. She wouldn't have jumped had she not had full confidence in her ability to stay alive. Apart from that, she wasn't violently jerking her body in an attempt to stay afloat -therefore, the only explanation was she was standing. Otherwise, she would be sinking like a lead pipe right about now.
"No," Octavia smirked at Monty, her tone sultry and seductive, making Isaac raised his eyebrows, "but we can stand." Dramatically, she gathered herself up on her two feet and rose to her full height, her chest rising above the water as the clear liquid dripped off of her in a very inviting fashion. Isaac pursed his lips as he looked towards Jasper, who was already beginning to strip. He sighed to himself. He couldn't deny it, he thought Octavia Blake was pretty, he would even go as far to call her beautiful. But he at least was exhibiting some control. To the other boys, she was like a damn siren.
"Wait," Clarke blurted suddenly, seeming a bit miffed at the younger girl's actions, "there's not supposed to be a river here."
"Well there is," Finn piped up from beside her, already working on removing his jacket. "So take off your damn clothes."
Isaac watched in slight amusement as the others began to strip, he himself opting to keep his clothes on. Someone, he guessed, needed to keep lookout. But before long, Jasper was panicking and Isaac realized that he wasn't the only one noticing things. "Octavia get out of the water," he gasped, suddenly pausing his mission to undress. The brunette, instead of taking the boy's advice, dumbly turned around to get a look at what he was staring at. Isaac gaped as he noticed a gigantic, eel-like creature twisting it's way through the water towards the poor girl as she stood there in shock. "Octavia, get out of the water now!" Jasper repeated, shouting the words as loud as he could, as if he hadn't already alerted her to the threat.
But by then it was too late, and Octavia Blake was pulled under the water by the creature, but not before she let out an ear-piercing scream.
"Octavia!" Clarke blurted, and suddenly as quick at it had come the creature was gone, the water stilling, the surface undisturbed. The group looked at each other, scanning the river for any sign of life, for any sign of the brunette. Isaac's brow furrowed as worry began to swirl in the pit of his stomach; could humans hold their breath for that long?
He found out the answer to his question very quickly, because moments after he had begun to consider the possibility that maybe she had drowned, she popped back up again, screaming bloody murder. When he noticed none of his comrades doing anything, Isaac gestured towards the river. "We have to do something," he told them snapping them all out of their dazes as they exchanged terrified glances.
Jasper stepped up to the ledge, glaring down at the water. "What are you going to do?" Finn asked him.
"Try not to get eaten."
"No, wait!" Isaac blurted, holding his hands out to keep anyone from doing something rash and stupid. They all paused to stare at him, and he forced himself to not grow red as he took his mind off of their eyes. "We can't do anything until that thing lets go of her," he told them, glancing around for anything that might help the plan he was formulating in his head. "We need a distraction."
Clarke nodded, her perceptive eye catching on a large rock at the edge of the small cliff. "Over here!" she gasped, already rushing to put all of her weight on it. Soon enough Isaac was next to her, and Finn, and together the three managed to get it over the edge. Stumbling, Isaac felt his heart leap into his throat as he almost toppled over the edge, until suddenly two pairs of hands wrapped around each of his arms and pulled him back towards safety. Gulping in air, Isaac looked up at Clarke with wide eyes, and although all she saw was panic Clarke knew he was thanking her without words.
"It worked, it let her go," Isaac gasped, gesturing wildly for them all to go to Octavia as he scrambled to sit up and follow them.
"Can you get to the shore now?" Jasper called, but the only response her got was Octavia's gasps for air as she struggled to stay above water. The boy didn't even hesitate as he jumped in after he, doggy-paddling over towards her. "I got you."
"It's coming back!" Monty warned them, panic evident in his voice. "It's headed right for you guys!" Jasper and Octavia pushed themselves all the way as the former got hold of a platform, pulling himself half way up before hoisting Octavia ahead of him, desperately crawling up. Just in time, too, as the monstrous creature slithered right past them and along the shoreline, trapped in the water.
Isaac's eyes widened as he took notice of the bloody gashes on Octavia's upper leg, rushing over to her side along with Clarke, who was already splashing some water on the wound. Isaac rushed to rip off a strip of cloth off of his own shirt, the bottom now slightly shorter as he used it to tie a makeshift tourniquet above the wound, hoping to slow the blood flow. Clarke looked at him in surprise, impressed, as Octavia rolled onto her side to pull Jasper into a hug, thanking him multiple times.
From his perch above their heads, Monty chuckled. "Note to self: next time, save the girl," he joked, earning two breathy laughs from Jasper and Octavia. Isaac rolled his eyes at the boy, but nonetheless sent him a warm smile.
* * * * *
"You wanted to go first, now quit stalling," Clarke called up to Finn, seemingly amused as he tugged on the rope he had in his hands, 'testing' it for the sixth time in the last five minutes.
"Mount Weather awaits," Monty added, wiggling his eyes at the long haired boy, teasing him.
Jasper smirked at his best friend, before he glanced over at Finn. "Just hold on until the apogee, and you'll be fine."
Finn spared Jasper a fleeting glance, seeming a bit unsure yet. "Apogee, like... the Indians?"
Isaac bit his lips to keep himself from verbally correcting the boy, instead letting Jasper take that job. "Apogee, not Apache."
Clarke chuckled lightly at the banter. "He knows," she told Jasper, even though clearly, he did not, "Today, Finn!" she called up at him impatiently.
Finn rolled his eyes, but gave Clarke a smile. "Aye aye, Captain," he joked, "See you on the other side."
Isaac sighed as Finn pulled down on the rope for a final time, but right as he was about to jump Jasper stopped him. "Wait," he blurted, and the curly haired boy widened his eyes in exasperation. "Let me," Jasper volunteered, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet as he glanced down at a smirking Octavia. "I can do it."
Finn gave Jasper a once over, before he almost too gladly handed over the rope, patting the younger boy on the shoulder. "I knew there was a bad ass in there somewhere," he chuckled, wiggling his eyebrows. Finn wasn't blind, and neither was Isaac; they both knew why Jasper was volunteering to go first.
Jasper tugged on the rope, looking a bit hesitant before Isaac spoke up from his spot in the back. "It's okay to be afraid," he suddenly said, his tone assuring and quite comforting. "The trick is not fighting it."
Jasper smiled thankfully at Isaac before he glanced at Octavia one last time, giving the rope an extra hard tug. "See you on the other side," he repeated what Finn had said earlier, a laugh bubbling out from between his lips as he took his feet off of the ground and swung across the water, screaming incoherently the entire time. Everyone scrambled towards the ledge to get the best view of him landing. He flew a nice distance as he let go of the rope, the vine swinging back towards them as Jasper landed a bit roughly on the ground. The group 'ooh'ed and Finn reached over Clarke's shoulder to catch the rope, watching nervously as Jasper stood up confidently. "We are apogee!" he whooped, pumping his fist in the air. The small group erupted burst into cheers, an Isaac chuckled, grinning across the river at the boy with the goggles.
"Go Jasper!" he dared to yell, earning a grin back.
Clarke laughed joyously as Isaac recognized Octavia flash the 'rock on' sign. "You did it, Jasper!" Clarke yelled, and the boy let out a shout.
Finn turned to the blonde with the curly hair, offering him the rope. "Whadd'ya say," he suggested, his eyebrows raised. "Wanna go next?"
Isaac nodded hesitantly, taking the rope with a shy grin. The material was course and rough on his fingers, and he gripped it tightly as he tugged it lightly to test the strength. He gathered himself up, but was interrupted when Jasper brushed something off of the ground, reading it before calling to the others. "We did it!" he shouted, raising a thin piece of metal over his head like a banner. "Mount Weather! Woo!"
Isaac grinned ecstatically as a feeling of accomplishment overwhelmed him. Jasper let out another shout, and Finn glanced over at Isaac. "You ready?" he asked, and Isaac nodded with a slight grin as he tugged on the rope one last time. Ready to let go, he froze when suddenly Jasper was tossed back into the rocks behind him, a huge spear connecting with his chest.
Isaac felt his entire body seize up with fear, and suddenly his breathing was rapid and uneven. He stared, wide eyed, as Jasper's body, they suddenly dead-looking eyes staring nowhere in particular as his body hung limp like an old coat on a hanger. "JASPER!" Clarke screeched, jerking forwards until Finn wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to the ground. Monty and Octavia ducked, but Isaac stood standing. His mind frozen, all he could focus on were the muffled screams of his comrades and the way his hands twitched in terror.
Suddenly a hand was wrapped around his own and Clarke was pulling him towards the ground, causing him to stumble down a small ledge and hit the back of his head on the hard rocks. He let out a hiss as he jerked away from her touch, panic still evident in his eyes. His mind was going haywire. Enemies were something he didn't think they would encounter down on Earth. Sure, maybe a storm or two, possibly a stampede of rabbits, but he had never considered the possibility that there could be actual humans, or humanoid creatures, on Earth as well. And he had never thought they would be territorial either.
Mind racing, Isaac barely noticed when Clarke stated the obvious; they weren't alone. His brain was running through all of the possibilities, what had happened, what will happen, and everything in between. Was the purpose to kill them? What if had been a moment of panic? What did the enemy look like? Was this a threat? It was most definitely a threat, Isaac's mind shot back at him.
But no matter how many questions were hurtling through his mind, Isaac was already sure of one thing.
The river was a boundary. And they had crossed it.
A/N: WHAAAAT OKAY ISAAC IS GREAT BYE I'M SO EXCITEDDD. ALSO I KNOW I SAID THIS WAS A RAVEN FIC BUT I'M SORT OF ON THE FENCE ABOUT IT NOW LIKE I KIND OF WANT TO MAKE IT ABOUT SOMEONE ELSE SO I'M NOT SURE BUT I MEAN LEAVE OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS IF YOU WANT? OR MESSAGE ME EITHER ONE. BUT SERIOUSLY, OPINIONS: RAVEN OR CLARKE?