"Fallon, please. Just follow me." Iris begged her friend while Fallon sat in the hut eating her soup - glaring at Iris while she tried to talk her into abandoning the soup. This was the first time all day Fallon had gotten a break to eat and her best friend was already begging her to leave. Fallon sighing before moving her hand to reach over to Iris's - trying to find a nice way to reject her pleas.
"Iris, I love you but..." Fallon trailed off as she looked back down at her food - clearly already knowing what her priority was in the situation.
"Fallon, this is so life-changing important that I need you to see it, okay? If the world ends and we are at risk of starving to death, I'll give you my arms and legs to eat." Fallon raised her eyebrow seriously at the offer, Iris leaning on the table as she held her pinky out to Fallon. One of the guards sitting a couple tables away staring at the two girls weirdly as he remembered the rumors about Lexa's soldiers having a strange way of communicating with one another.
"Arms and legs? And you'll make me new soup?" Fallon repeated as she began to consider the offer of having a meal if the world did end, Iris's lips spreading into a smile as she nodded too eagerly to give her best friend her limbs if needed.
"Arms and legs and all the soup in the world." Iris confirmed to her, Fallon finally interlacing their pinkies together to seal the promise of her getting Iris's limbs in the risk of starvation.
"Okay, what are you taking me to see?" Fallon asked boredly while she made her follow the way out of the hut as Iris dragged her to the part of the village where the children usually stayed. Fallon's mouth parting in shock before clapping her hand over it to help keep in the laughter incase someone heard her.
"Oh, this was definitely worth the arms and legs." Fallon decided as she finally composed herself as Iris chuckled - unable to stop her own laughter at the situation in front of her unfolding.
At least twenty children were running rampant while Aspyn was sitting on top of one of the logs with three kids who were giving her warpaint - clearly distracting her from the other two kids who were tying her feet together so she would trip up once she stood up. While Aspyn herself was holding a hand-made leash in her hand as she kept grabbing the other kids who were running away - pulling them back before they could escape the vicinity they were supposed to stay in.
"Should we do something?" Fallon asked in confusion, Iris's face covered with amusement as she watched the scene.
"Well, she is in charge of the kids?" Iris stated even if it came out more as a question rather than a statement. Fallon tilting her head towards Iris to see if she was serious causing Iris to let out another chuckle. Truth was, Aspyn decided to take on the responsibility herself to take care of the kids considering no one knew yet how dangerous the sky people.
"Okay, mama Fallon, let's go." Iris teased her causing Fallon to roll her eyes at the mother joke. Fallon and Iris standing up on the logs - Fallon putting her fingers in her mouth as she let out a loud whistle causing all the kids to stop momentarily before trying to run rampant again.
"Hey, one more move, and I'll have you training for fourteen hours. Listen up." Iris yelled out to them, causing all the kids to straighten up fully and to stop moving once they heard they would have to train and actually do work.
"You two, untie her feet. Aspyn untie the kids from their leashes - they are not horses. The one kid in the corner who is eating mud, just stop. You're going to get at least one disease and it's frankly just disgusting." Fallon pleaded when she saw the kid in the corner head planted in the ground with his tongue obviously covered in the mud he was previously trying to disgust. The kid staring up with a guilty look planted across his face at being caught.
The kids started listening to Fallon as they went to get cleaned up - the one kid starting spitting the mud he had tried to eat on the ground. Iris crinkling her nose in disgust at the spitter - not having sympathy for a kid who decided that mud was a good snack. Both her and Fallon going over to Aspyn who was finally getting untied by the kids. Aspyn letting out a tiny squeal of excitement - not expecting the two to visit her while she was babysitting. Aspyn was more than glad to have company that was actually her own age rather than the torturous little kids around her. While Aspyn was the sweetest and childlike out of the three, she had a hard time getting along with children due to not having experience handling people who were more energetic than herself.
Aspyn wrapped her arms immediately around Fallon's shoulders as she kissed her cheek in greeting. Fallon accepting the greeting despite the fact she was rubbing paint all over her. Aspyn turning around to Iris whose eyes immediately went wide as she held her finger up in opposition at the thought of being smothered in whatever germs the children had possibly passed onto her friend.
"You try and touch or kiss me, I'll cut your hair and tongue off!" Iris threatened her with weird eyes, knowing those were Aspyn's two favorite qualities.
"How will I ever be able to get my true love's kiss if you cut off my tongue?" Aspyn asked dramatically as she moved her hands to her hair as a source of protection against Iris's threat. The sound of a horn going off caused the three to stare at each other solemnly - knowing exactly what was about to about and that they didn't have a lot of time before the fog started to roll in.
"Listen up! Everyone follow us or you die, got it?" Iris screamed to the kids - not wasting any time in being gentle in breaking the warning to them about the acid fog. The kids immediately flocking to them, Aspyn picking up the smallest kids as they started running fast as possible to the nearest place of shelter to keep them safe. Aspyn going in first as she led the little kids deep into the cave where the fog couldn't reach them.
Fallon picking up one of the kids who was struggling to run fast enough as she grabbed him and held him in her arms as she continued to run to the cave.
"Iris?" Aspyn called out, noticing her best friend standing at the entrance as she turned behind her as she heard a noise from behind them.
"I can hear a kid crying," Iris revealed with wide eyes - not hesitating as she took off running in the direction of the noise. Fallon running time the entrance as she noticed the fog getting closer to the cave. Iris didn't have long before the fog would catch up to her and she would soon be dead by the poison. Aspyn standing beside Fallon, both of them realizing Iris only had a few seconds to come back before her fate was sealed. Neither of them even tempting to go after her since they didn't even know the direction she had run off in - knowing they needed to stay alive to make sure the children stayed safe with them.
Iris coming running into the cave a few seconds with a kid latched onto her back with a bloody leg. Aspyn and Fallon sighing in relief as they all ran deep into the cave for safety. Iris finally setting the kid down next to her friends as she sank against the wall beside Fallon and Aspyn out of breath.
"You could've died." Fallon breathed out, her heart still not having stopped the pounding that Iris had caused by being reckless in her decision to go back outside.
"I didn't and neither did she, that's all that matters," Iris stated as she held her head against the wall. Aspyn and Fallon sharing a look as they both wondered if they were the only ones thinking she was crazy in the moment.
"Uhm, Iris?" Aspyn asked her suddenly, while Iris turned around as she raised an eyebrow at Aspyn. Aspyn lifted the bottom of Iris's pants as she noticed the burn marks on her leg that she received from the acid fog. Aspyn staring at it in concern since it looked pretty gnarly yet Iris didn't seem to be in any pain from her injury.
"I'm still on an adrenaline rush. I can't feel a thing." Iris stated in a pant, finally leaning her head on Fallon's shoulder as her eyes began to close from her tiredness.
"Okay, Aspyn has medical equipment on her. She's going to heal you and the girl you saved before the fog passes over. Just don't fall asleep, okay?" Fallon reminded her, squeezing her shoulder slightly in a weak attempt to keep Iris awake - although it didn't seem like it was going to work too well considering her drooping eyelids.
"Promise my arms and limbs that I won't," Iris whispered jokingly, Fallon, smiling as she nodded at Aspyn to start working on Iris - hoping the quicker she healed her the faster her heart would slow down.
—•—
The acid fog had finally cleared, and the three girls now had a new mission that they had spent the day thinking about and contemplating. Iris led the two of them to the cave, not letting her newly injured leg slow her down in the slightest even though it was clear she had a slight limp that the acid fog had given her.
"Why'd you bring them here?" Lincoln asked suspiciously as he stared at Fallon and Aspyn behind her - not having any experience with the two girls even if he was friends with Iris. Even if he wasn't that scared of Aspyn since he could tell by just looking at her that she wasn't much of a fighter - he was smart enough to not underestimate the commander's most trusted friends.
"We want your information," Iris stated matter-of-factly - not giving Lincoln any room to object to what she wanted from him. Iris knew she wasn't going to leave without getting what she wanted and so did Lincoln. Lincoln remained silent as his eyes glanced between the three girls as he tried to make a decision. Fallon stepping beside Iris as she crossed her hands across her chest.
"Lincoln, there are kids in this village. We witnessed how scared they were when they saw the acid fog and didn't have their families to comfort them. We don't want to see them in a war zone with these sky people being here." Fallon cemented their stance into getting information out of Lincoln to help their cause as Aspyn nervously stood beside them.
"We want to help you. We want to prevent war." Aspyn stated sheepishly as she shrugged her shoulders as she tried in her own attempt to convince him to help them. Lincoln stared between the two unfamiliar girls before looking back at his friend who nodded her head reassuringly to him that they could be trusted. Lincoln finally nodding as he turned around and indicated for them to follow him. The four sitting down on the cave floor together as Lincoln showed them his journal that held all of his information about the sky people.
"There's one hundred of them?" Fallon asked curiously as she tried to quickly scan the number of tally marks to figure out how many of the sky people there were in total.
"One hundred and one but they're starting to drop." Lincoln pointed out to them as he showed the crossed-out marks to indicate those who had already died out of the sky people so far.
"They didn't know about the acid fog," Aspyn whispered under her breath as she noticed the fresh marks on Lincoln's journal which most likely came from the acid fog that had swept through the villages today. Aspyn feeling a pang of guilt for the enemy and the painful deaths they must have suffered from the fog.
"How old are they?" Fallon asked curious to how old the threats were since the only ones she had seen seemed to be as young as they were.
"Some as young as twelve, the leaders are the same age are around the same ages as us," Lincoln answered honestly causing Fallon to sigh, picking up on the similarity between the Grounders and the Sky people - they both forced the young people to be their leaders.
Iris and Fallon began to walk out of the cave once they had got all of their information from Lincoln as Aspyn realized that her friends were leaving the cab.
"Hey, wait! Come back, we all forgot something!" Aspyn called out causing Iris and Fallon to turn around as Lincoln moved from his spot to see what Aspyn had figured out that could help them.
"We need a cool group name!" Aspyn told them as Lincoln turned to Iris to see if Aspyn was being serious with her suggestion to come up with a group name for them.
"Come on, every cool rebellion has a name! I'm not risking my life unless we have a cool name!" Aspyn demanded in her attempt to lift the groups spirits as Fallon tilted her head back and forth as she tried to figure out if she was going to agree to this plan to come up with a name.
"Okay, what is your suggestion?" Fallon finally asked, causing Aspyn to let out a quiet squeal of excitement at them agreeing to her plan to come up with a name.
"The Fantastic Four." Aspyn pointed out before placing her hand in the middle as Iris contemplated whether she liked the name or not.
"I hate that I like it," Iris muttered under her breath as she placed her hand first over Aspyn's with Fallon slowly following after. The others looking at Lincoln as he stared at the three girls apprehensively before placing his hand over theirs - giving in to their ways of doing things.
"Fantastic Four." Fallon started as she muttered her belief in the group and that they could do this.
"Fantastic Four." Iris went next as she tilted her head to Lincoln with a small smile on her face since he was still hesitant in Aspyn's group name.
"Come on, Linc. We're team good guys." Iris reminded him with a small smile on his face causing Lincoln to hesitantly crack a smile at her suggestion that they could actually be the good guys for once in all of this.
"Team Fantastic Four." Lincoln finally agreed to the name cause Aspyn to let out a scream as she let go of their hands to jump up and hug Lincoln.
"Think he's going to be affected by the Aspyn charm?" Fallon whispered to Iris as she smiled at how tightly Aspyn was hugging Lincoln due to him agreeing with their plan - not used to strangers wanting to be their friend or help them so easily.
"Ah, he would be a fool if he didn't." Iris decided as she wrapped her arm around Fallon's shoulder. Lincoln let go of Aspyn as he tried to not look too uncomfortable with the sudden physical affection the girl was showing him which only caused Fallon and Iris to smile brighter at the two of them knowing that this team was definitely going to work.