Chapter Text
A stray ray of sunlight caught Riley’s eyes at a bad angle, startling them from their sleep. They groggily opened and rubbed their eyes. As expected, their back felt stiff and their limbs ached, but they weren’t exactly in a position to be picky. They made it through the night alive. That’s what mattered the most.
The ground was still cold, yet the warmth from the fire still raged on. They’d half-expected the kids to be noisy or complaining, but… there was nothing but silence. The crackling of the fire and the faint sound of crashing waves were all Riley could hear. In any other circumstance, it’d be therapeutic. They had no time to enjoy it now, though.
After a small groan, they forced themselves upward and scanned the camp’s current conditions. It seemed that the fire had fresh firewood, which would explain why it hadn’t been reduced to ashes yet. Jade and Jamie were sitting near a cliff, talking among themselves. Orange was still asleep, softly snoring besides Riley.
For a moment, Riley considered waking Orange up. However, with everything that Orange did yesterday, maybe it was for the best that they got as much as sleep as possible.
Riley slowly moved Orange so they’d be laying on the ground, then stood up themselves. They froze when Orange let out a small whine and tightly clutched their Bing Bong plushie, but otherwise they showed no signs of waking up. Riley let out a breath that they were unaware they were holding.
Riley’s first thought was to approach Jade and Jamie, but they assumed that those two wouldn’t appreciate them prying. They instead looked around for anything else that stood out.
They noticed a stray granola bar by their feet. It was mostly untouched aside from the dirt and dust on the wrapper. It still had a few weeks until it expired, so one of them must’ve dropped it without knowing. They scanned the camp for something to store it in, but found nothing, so they instead stuffed it in their trench coat to save for the future.
Speaking of their trench coat…
They rolled up their right sleeve and took another look at their forearm. The bandage appeared to be mostly intact, albeit a bit dirty. It’d likely need to be replaced with a clean one sooner than later. Their arm still felt fine to move, and it didn’t hurt to touch. At least it wouldn’t get infected anymore.
Nothing else stood out to Riley to clean up, so they decided to sit down near the edge of the cliff. They wanted to take this time to scope out the area. It wasn’t entirely for leisure, but to also try to map out a route from the camp to the top.
They set their sights on the shore. Aside from the palm trees and bushes they had spotted before, there were some other things they hadn’t spotted until now. Gray pillars of stone in various proportions protruded from the ground in a seemingly random fashion. Luggage was haphazardly scattered around, presumably from the crash. Though… they couldn’t recall anyone carrying on any luggage themselves. The plane had also stopped smoking at some point during the night, leaving behind charred remnants of what was once carrying all of them in the air.
Focusing their sights upwards, they spotted a few bridges connecting to… floating islands? Never mind that; not the most pressing matter at the moment. They saw multiple patches of sand that jutted out from and led up to the top the mountain. They’d also spotted the same hazards they spotted before: jellyfish and urchins.
There was a small problem, though. A route was not readily apparent. With all of the mountains they’d hiked on in the past, there was a clear path. With this mountain, though, there was no such path to be seen.
Maybe they could consult with Jamie on where to go, assuming they were in the mood to talk. They didn’t forget that Jamie had some kind of vendetta against them. They may have had a moment of vulnerability last night, but they didn’t expect them to continue to be docile today.
They’d find out very soon though, since Jamie flopped down beside them unannounced… or maybe they did announce it and Riley was too zoned out to notice.
“Huh. The slowpoke is also one of the last to wake up. What a surprise.” Jamie rolled their eyes, then shifted their gaze up toward the mountaintop. “Guess I’m not the only one trying to figure this mountain out. Honestly, it’s a complete pain in the ass trying to figure out how to climb up it.”
So they were in a talkative mood today. Good. They did seem a bit less rough around the edges after their chats with Riley and Jade. Riley just hoped that they’d continue to be this way.
Riley rubbed their chin and hummed in acknowledgment. “Mhm. I’m struggling to figure it out myself. I was actually gonna try to talk to you to help me figure this out. And, uh, before you can say anything, cut Orange some slack. They really worked themselves down to the bone yesterday.” Jamie let a giggle slip before they covered their mouth. They then looked down at the Band-Aids Orange had applied, before letting out a sigh. “Guess so.”
Jamie stood up and paced back and forth, humming what sounded like a song to themselves. Riley couldn’t make out the tune, but it seemed that they got lost in thought. Maybe they didn’t know a way up, either? This mountain was really shaping up to be a challenge, especially when the kid that seemingly loved climbing struggled to figure it out themselves.
Jamie suddenly stopped. “You wanted my help, right?” Riley nodded. “Well, being lazy isn’t gonna help us figure it out. Guess we’ll just have to wing it. Y’know, climb up to one of the patches, if it doesn’t work, climb up to another one, blah blah blah. I think even a moron understands the idea.” Jamie shot a mischievous grin at Riley. “Do you understand?”
Riley chose to ignore the very blatant insult and looked back at the patches they had spotted earlier. Maybe those were the route after all? They were just not familiar with climbing. Hiking was more their forte than anything. They did see some kind of path if they could all muster the stamina to do that much climbing. It’d have to work for now.
“Yeah, I guess that’ll have to work. No other way around it. Thanks, Jamie.” Riley smiled at them. Jamie scoffed. “Yeah, whatever.” They started walking back towards the fire, but stopped and turned towards Riley once more. “Oh, and… thanks… for not leaving me behind last night, I guess.” They hurried along before Riley could respond. Riley’s smile grew wider for just a moment.
A blur of orange suddenly barely missed a collision with Jamie and darted directly towards Riley. Orange skidded to a stop right before Riley, with the first aid kit in their hands. “G-Good morning, Riley! I’m s-sorry for sleeping too long…” They sat down beside Riley and unzipped the first aid kit to grab more bandage and gauze. “W-Well… let’s g-get you a new b-bandage, okay?” Riley nodded.
Despite Orange’s caution, it still stung to remove the bandage, but Riley knew better at this point than to complain. They got a good look at the wound. It had started to scab over and they thought it looked kind of cool. Maybe it’d leave behind a cool scar. How would Jamie feel if they saw it?
Orange repeated the same process as the first time. Dab it with wet gauze, then have Riley hold some dry gauze down while they wrapped it with a new bandage. It felt like the process went quicker this time, since Orange was a lot less shaky than before. Like clockwork, they scooted over after they were finished and smiled at their work.
Riley nodded approvingly at the new bandage. “Appreciate it, Orange. Good morning to you too, but please don’t apologize for sleeping. You did a lot yesterday, and we weren’t really ready to leave regardless.”
“Oh, o-okay… uh, what w-were you and Jamie t-talking about?”
“Just figuring out how to get up to the top of this mountain. From what we can see, there’s a whole lot of climbing ahead of us.” Riley frowned. “I was really hoping there was a safer path we could just walk on, but…”
Orange softly patted Riley’s right hand. “It’s okay! W-We’ll be j-just fine! We s-survived the crash, we c-can do this!” They gave Riley an unapologetically toothy grin. It seemed like their confidence had increased overnight.
Their hunger must’ve increased too, since their stomach suddenly growled. “O-Oh… uh…” Riley grabbed the granola bar that they found earlier from their pocket. “Here. Might be a good idea to eat something before we get going.” Orange shamefully accepted the granola bar. “S-Sorry. Thank you…”
Riley wasn’t sure how to respond. How do they respond to a kid feeling bad about accepting food? Especially when they’re clearly hungry? They opted to just let Orange enjoy the granola bar in peace. No point in pressing that matter at the moment.
Orange finished the granola bar and held the trash in front of them. A very confused look swept across their face; maybe they were trying to find somewhere to get rid of it?
Riley put out their hand. “I’ll take the trash from you and throw it away if we find a trash can, okay?” Orange placed the wrapper in Riley’s hand without any hesitation, and watched as they stuffed it back in the same pocket they had grabbed it from.
Orange slowly rose up from where they sat. “O-Okay, uh, I’m g-gonna talk to the o-others before we go…”
Riley noticed them fidgeting with their hands. “Something on your mind, Orange?” Orange said nothing for a moment. “Uh… O-Orange… isn’t a-actually… my name, but… I d-don’t know what it is…”
Riley had a suspicion that this was the case, but at the time, they didn’t want to pry into that part of Orange’s life. Especially since they had just met at the time. Maybe now was a better time since they’ve grown a bit closer?
“Well… here, I have an idea.” Orange sat back down and looked at Riley expectantly. “Why don’t we come up with some names once we make it to the top?” Orange cocked their head in confusion, as if they weren’t expecting that response. “W-Wait, really?” Riley nodded. “Yeah, maybe we can find a name that you like.”
Orange tapped their chin. “I think… I t-think I’d like that… I’ll t-try my best to come up with some!”
“Great, I look forward to hearing what you have.”
“O-Okay! Well, uh, I’m g-gonna talk to t-the others now! T-Thanks, Riley!” Orange skipped away, gleefully.
Looked like it was Jade’s turn to talk to Riley. Riley was really popular today, it seemed. “Thank you for giving them both a chance to talk.”
“And what about you?”
Jade hummed. “Not much to say that hasn’t already been said. Jamie and I are on better terms now, though. Maybe not perfect…” Jade finally sat down. “…but at least I’m not drowning in my own guilt anymore.”
“Your… guilt? This is about last night, right?”
“Indeed. And before you ask, I… I didn’t stay behind last night because I didn’t think I’d be the right person for them to talk to. I appreciate you talking to them, even if they weren’t very fond of you.”
“Weren’t?” That had to be a deliberate choice to use “weren’t” over “aren’t.”
“Yeah. I won’t lie, maybe they’re still a bit of a jerk in general, but that’s just how they are. They… talked about you in a more positive light this morning. And they seemed content with how your conversation went with them, too. So… thanks.”
That was the first time Riley saw Jade smile.
“Anyways, I think those two are starting to pack up. At least, they were before I came over here. We should probably help so we can leave.”
Riley let out a sad sigh. “I… forgot we were stranded for a minute. Just taking in the view and having chats. Felt like were just on another camping trip…” They stood up and stretched. “You’re right, though. No point in lingering here when we should be climbing.”
Jamie was helping Orange gather their belongings as Jade and Riley returned to the campsite. Jamie held Orange’s Bing Bong plushie while Orange was tidying up their first aid kit. Riley couldn’t help but smile. As much as Jamie wanted to be seen as a tough and stubborn kid, it seemed like they still had a heart deep down.
Jade was busy sorting out their own belongings, which left Riley to tend to cleaning up the campsite. They took a look around to see if anything stood out. Based on previous camping trips, they’d come to expect a mess. However, none of them left any trash or stray belongings scattered around. Furthermore, the campfire had been dealt with, and properly, at that. These kids weren’t messing around, were they?
Riley looked over at the pile of firewood that Jade set up the night before. For a moment, they had considered moving it. They ultimately decided against it, though. If someone were to be unfortunate enough to end up a similar predicament, maybe they’d end up here and have a pile of firewood already ready to go.
So much for leaving no trace, but the circumstances here were just a little different from a normal trip. Riley internally accepted that they’d take all of the blame if it ended up being a problem.
Everyone shuffled over to the now-extinguished campfire, indicating that they’d finished their share of work. “Good work on cleaning up after yourselves, everyone. So, based on what me and Jamie found, it seems like we’ve got a lot of climbing ahead of us. We’re going to climb for the rest of the day and find another spot come nightfall. Questions? Concerns?”
Nothing but silence.
“Well, then I suppose we should go ahead and leave, then. Please stay close, and if you really need to split up, take a buddy with you. Got it?” Everyone nodded in agreement. Riley stepped out from within the alcove, with their troop in tow.
Riley wasn’t sure how they ended up being in a leader role, or why everyone silently decided to follow them, but they weren’t going to back down from it now. Not when they had their own little troop depending on them for survival.