Chapter Text
As Riley and Orange climbed atop the mound to identify where the sound came from, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Jamie and Jade were standing just a few feet away, near the base of the mound. They were alive! They were slightly worse for wear, but still, alive!
Riley slid down the other side of the mound and Orange practically jumped off of it to rush over to them. Orange charged towards Jamie with their arms out, but Jamie sidestepped them and watched as they face planted in the sand. Jamie only cackled at the sight.
Orange lifted themselves up off of the ground and briefly had a look of betrayal on their face. Jade walked up to them and helped them dust the sand off of their clothes. In response, they gave Jade a hug. Jade returned the hug with no hesitation.
Jamie awkwardly coughed and crossed their arms. “So, uh, you slowpokes finally caught up! We might’ve left you behind if you took any longer!”
Jade rolled their eyes at Jamie and spoke up next. “Sorry for leaving you two behind. Jamie freaked out and ran off, so I was left with no choice but to follow them.” Jade spotted and motioned towards the bandage on Riley’s forearm. “You doing alright?”
“I’ll live. What about you two?”
“I’m alright. Jamie’s pretty beat up, so now we’re trying to find some first aid to patch them up.”
As if a switch got flipped, Orange suddenly perked up. “O-Oh! Uh, I have a f-first aid kit here f-for you!” They grabbed and proudly waved the first aid kit in front of themselves.
Jamie locked eyes with the first aid kit and grinned. “Yessss!!!! Maybe I’ll live after all!”
Jade looked over at Jamie, confused. “You were never going to die in the first place…?”
Once again, Orange ran up to Jamie. They attempted to reach out to examine their injuries. Jamie reeled back almost immediately and hissed at Orange. “Has no one ever taught you what ‘personal space’ means?! Back off!”
Orange winced at Jamie’s hostility. “I-I’m just… t-trying to help…”
Jamie looked down at Orange. They then looked over to Jade, who gave them an approving nod. They groaned. “Fine. Take a look.” They extended both of their arms out towards Orange.
Orange scanned both of Jamie’s arms with their eyes this time, before looking up at Jamie. “W-Well, uh, y-you have a lot of cuts on your arms, so I’ll clean and c-cover those up.”
They dug into the first aid kit and pulled out a handful of Band-Aids and a tube of ointment.
Jamie cringed at the sight of the Band-Aids. “What, so they—” They pointed at Riley. “—get a cool bandage wrapped around their arm, but I only get Band-Aids?”
“Um… Riley… has a k-kinda big cut on their arm. Y-You don’t. So… yeah. You g-get Band-Aids.”
Jamie rolled their eyes. “Whatever.”
“...do either of you have any w-water? To, uh, c-clean the cuts?”
Jamie scoffed. “We’re surrounded by water. Of course we do.”
Orange shook their head disapprovingly. “N-No… not water in the ocean… that w-will only make it worse.”
Jamie cocked their head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Uh… the w-water in the ocean… it isn’t r-really that clean. S-So… if you put that in a w-wound… it could get infected.”
Jamie and Orange looked to Jade for an answer, but they shook their head.
“Guess that’s a no, then.”
“O-Okay… that’s… okay. I’ll, uh, j-just cover them up, then…”
Silence fell across the entire group as Orange slowly ripped open each Band-Aid to put on Jamie’s arms.
Orange fell into a steady rhythm; fish out a Band-Aid, rip off the paper, put some ointment on it, stick it on a cut, put the trash back in the kit, repeat.
“A-and… done!” Orange exclaimed as they put the last Band-Aid on. They took a step back to allow Jamie to examine their work. Jamie looked Orange in the eyes and, just for a moment, their frown wavered. “Thanks, I guess.” Orange responded with a grin and a thumbs up.
“Uh, w-what about…?” Orange pointed at Jade. “I…” Jade examined themselves for any sign of injury. “...strangely enough, I’m fine. Must’ve been in a pretty good spot during the crash. Oh, and, my name is Jade.” Jade pointed over at Jamie. “And that’s Jamie. What about you?” Orange stood proudly. “I’m Orange! And this…” Orange tugged at Riley’s arm. “…is Riley!” Riley waved.
Jamie groaned. “Look, can we stop with these dumb introductions already? We have a really cool mountain to climb!” Jamie turned around and spread their arms out in front of the mountain. “Last one to the top is a rotten egg!” They scrambled to climb up the mountain before anyone could protest against them.
A shift in the shadows caught Riley’s attention. The sun had started to slowly creep towards the horizon. Maybe recklessly climbing a mountain they knew nothing about as it was getting late wasn’t the best idea, so they wanted to concoct a new plan instead.
“Listen up, scouts!” Everyone except Jamie snapped to attention and saluted. “The sun is starting to set, so I think it’d be a good idea to find a place to settle down for the night.” Jamie reemerged atop a cliff directly above the group with an irritated look on their face. “So, not only do you wait to say that until after I climbed up here, but you also decide you’re in charge now?”
Riley chose to ignore their hostility and motioned towards Jade. “Jade, did you two find anything while you were exploring?”
Jamie scaled back down the mountain and butted in before Jade could answer. “Hey, I asked you a ques—” Jade slugged Jamie in the shoulder. “What the fuck was that for, Jade?!” Jamie whined and rubbed their shoulder. Jade shot an angry glare at Jamie, but bit their tongue before they could say anything. They then nodded their head in response to Riley’s question.
Jamie opened their mouth to speak again, but Jade suddenly snapped their head towards them. They firmly placed their hands atop Jamie’s shoulders despite Jamie’s whines at the pain it caused. “I am so tired of you running away and whining when we’re in the middle of nowhere on an abandoned island. If you have nothing to say, please, JUST. SHUT. UP!”
Jade didn’t wait for anyone to say anything. They simply began to walk along the mountainside, signaling for everyone else to follow. Orange hesitantly followed behind Jade, but neither Riley nor Jamie made an effort to move. Instead, Jamie only sat down and brought their knees up to their face. What Riley didn’t expect was for Jamie to start crying, especially in front of them.
Riley was unsure how to respond. On one hand, everything in their body was screaming at them to comfort Jamie. On the other hand, they knew that Jamie had been acting very cold towards them since they met. They were afraid to say or do anything in fear of invoking a worse response from Jamie.
Despite their worst fears, they decided to take their chances and sit down a few feet in front of Jamie.
After a few minutes, Jamie mumbled something that Riley barely made out. “Why are you still here?”
That was a good question. Why were they still there? They could’ve just left knowing Jamie didn’t like them. They could’ve left someone else there to deal with them. They could’ve done a lot of things differently, but they didn’t, because they knew they shouldn’t.
Riley sighed. “I’m here because I refuse to leave anyone behind.” Jamie looked up at them. “Yes, that includes you, too. I’m not gonna make you talk, but I’m not gonna leave you here either.”
Jamie drew a ragged breath. “Jade… never got that mad at me before… usually they’d get annoyed, but not like that…” They pulled away long enough to rub their eyes before burying their face again.
Riley hummed in contemplation. All things considered, it was more likely that Jade was stressed rather than mad. They were in the middle of nowhere and as much as Riley hated to admit it, Jamie was likely only making things more difficult for them. Riley echoed these thoughts to Jamie. Jamie hesitantly acknowledged them with a nod.
Orange suddenly reappeared in Riley’s line of sight, but Riley motioned for them to stay away. However, Jamie also caught sight of Orange. “I guess they’re looking for us… maybe we’re the slowpokes now…” They softly chuckled at their own remark. Jamie got up without another word, and Riley followed suit shortly after. They both followed Orange as they led them somewhere.
Orange stopped both Riley and Jamie right before a turn. “Uh… f-friendly warning… m-maybe don’t talk to Jade r-right now… they s-seem a bit… sad? So, uh, w-when we get there, just… p-pick a spot and… try to relax, o-okay?” The two of them nodded in response.
As the trio turned the corner, they came upon a very shoddy camp within an alcove. All that Riley could see was a campfire and both Jade and Orange’s belongings separately piled up near the fire. It was far from luxurious, and it’d probably leave them very sore in the morning, but it’d work for the night.
Jade was in the midst of carrying extra firewood when the trio arrived. They gently placed the firewood near where they stood and gave a small wave to the trio. Jamie and Riley hesitantly returned the wave, and Orange responded with a more enthusiastic wave. Wordlessly, Jade picked the firewood back up and placed it down near the wall of the alcove.
Both Jade and Orange returned to their spots, which left only Riley and Jamie to pick their own. Jamie opted to sit across from Jade, much to Jade’s dismay. Riley settled down beside Orange, to which Orange immediately attached to their side.
For a few minutes, all anybody could do was stare at the fire or at each other. The air was extremely tense after the day’s events. It was too suffocating to be able to say anything. What was there to say, anyways?
Much to everyone’s surprise, Jamie was the one to break the silence. “Riley, right?” Riley hummed in affirmation. “So, uh, is… Orange… you know… yours?” Riley took a glance down at Orange, who was now sleeping, before responding. “You’d think they were because of how attached they are to me, but… no. No, they’re not…” Not yet, at least. Jamie seemed content by this answer, as their gaze returned to the fire with no further questions.
A few more moments of silence passed. This time, it was a tired yawn from Jade that broke the silence. Right. Fatigue was very much a problem still, even when stranded in the middle of nowhere. Riley gave Jade a worried look. “Get some sleep, you two. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” Neither Jade nor Jamie dared to contest as both of them appeared to be very tired.
Riley didn’t wait for further confirmation, instead leaning back themselves. The ground beneath them was cold and hard, and they had nothing to cover themselves or Orange with. Not the most comfortable place to sleep, but they couldn’t be picky either, given the circumstances. They were lucky to even be alive.
Despite the newfound tension between Jade and Jamie, Riley felt more at ease knowing that everyone was reunited and alive. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, and they needed all of the rest they could get, so they closed their eyes and drew Orange closer to them. They were tired themselves, and did nothing to protest the fatigue that suddenly emerged and enveloped them in darkness.