Chapter Text
Much to their fortune, and as Jamie had predicted, many of the threats they faced prior to the canyon were not present on their way to the caves. While the heat and sun would remain as persistent threats, neither the tornadoes nor tumbleweeds appeared. It seemed as if they remained isolated on the other side of the desert.
In regards to the heat and sun, they did have the grace of nightfall to help them out. In that time, they wouldn’t have the sun beating down on them or the heat slowly cooking them alive. It’d provide them with the perfect window to navigate the caves. However, there were still a few hours to go before nightfall, so they’d still need to contend with those threats for some time.
In reality though, it was unlikely that any of them would even want to continue through the night. Barring how it would be disruptive to their sleep patterns, everyone had to have been worn out from the tomb and canyon. The desert was really shaping up to be a huge step-up in difficulty from both the beach and forest.
Jamie stopped to stretch and yawn dramatically. After a moment of stretching, they returned to walking.
Neither Luna nor Riley had yawned yet, but it was starting to become evident that both of them were getting tired. Their eyes seemed to be a bit more heavy and their movements more sluggish.
Jade could feel their own fatigue tugging at them, but they chose to ignore it.
If it wasn’t the fatigue from the heat and sun, then all of the climbing in the tomb and canyon certainly wore them all out. Jade really hoped that the caves would at least be safe enough to get a few minutes of rest in. All of them could really use a nap.
As they approached the caves, they ripped their focus away from the desire to sleep and towards what was in front of them. Much like what they’ve seen already, there were both cacti and cacti balls spread out on the ledges and walls. They were still just minor nuisances, but could make things more difficult especially in the caves. The possibility of reaching a dead-end because of a well-placed cactus was much higher.
Jade wasn’t sure if they were seeing things or not, but they could’ve sworn they also saw a pickaxe sticking out of the side of a wall high up. One of the suitcases they saw earlier was a mirage, so it wouldn’t surprise them if the pickaxe was also a mirage. Regardless, it was interesting to see in this environment.
Jamie pointed up towards what appeared to be a ledge that was tucked in near the back. The wall leading up to it seemed relatively simple to climb and had the benefit of being accessible from where they stood. It appeared to be shrouded in shade, at least for now, so maybe they’d be able to take a break from the sun for a bit.
“I think that’s our way up. And if it’s not, well… it at least gives us some shade.” Jamie stopped to yawn. “And… a nice spot to maybe take a nap or something like that.” It seemed their fatigue dulled their edge just a bit.
Jade stifled a yawn. “Agreed. Let’s not waste any time. I think we could all use some rest.” Okay, they definitely weren’t climbing overnight.
Jamie was the first to climb up the wall. They nearly slipped when they grabbed onto a weak chunk of rock and it fell effortlessly out of the wall. Thankfully, they were able to quickly recover and instead grabbed onto where the rock used to be. Once they reached the top, they peered over the edge and gave a thumbs-up to everyone.
Jade decided to go next because they were ready to get up there and settle down for a bit. However, once they lifted themselves off of the ground, it suddenly felt like the whole world was weighing them down. They weren’t entirely sure if it was due to the statue in their bag or if they were tired, but they assumed it was the latter since the former wasn’t an issue before.
Their entire climb up was a struggle. Fortunately, they didn’t have to deal with parts of the wall crumbling, but they still felt excruciatingly heavy. They were barely able to pull themselves up each time. They convinced themselves that if this went on for any longer, they’d just let go and fall back onto the sand below them.
Jamie’s upper body popped into view over the edge. Once they spotted Jade struggling, they clasped one hand to the edge and put the other down towards Jade. Without skipping a beat, Jade grabbed onto Jamie’s hand.
They did everything they could to help with being pulled up. In spite of carrying the statue, due to Jamie’s strength, Jade was pulled up quite easily. Immediately after, they collapsed face-first in the sand and blacked out.
…
Jade groggily opened their eyes.
They immediately noticed that they were on a new surface at a new angle. They were also moving. The material felt a bit soft, but also a bit damp on their face and it smelled… strange. Not a horrible strange, but an indescribable strange.
They lifted their head up just a bit in an attempt to identify where they were. Their eyes darted around for a bit. They saw just sand and cacti, so they were still in the desert. They turned to their right to identify what they were just laying on. It turned out that they were riding on Riley’s back, and what they felt and smelled was their trench coat. Gross.
A few questions entered Jade’s mind: How did they get there? Weren’t they on the ground? Why were they being carried anyways?
They didn’t feel like finding the answers to any of those questions though. They were too tired to. They instead rested their head in the same spot it laid originally and closed their eyes.
Riley must’ve noticed this though, because they stopped immediately after.
A voice, Jamie’s voice, inquired about this. “Why’d you stop, Riley?”
“I think Jade’s waking up.”
“Oh! Wait… set them down over here.”
Jade’s weight was suddenly shifted off of Riley’s back—they whined at this—and was leaned up against something hard. They figured it was another wall, but they weren’t terribly interested in confirming.
They opened their eyes a little wider. They noticed immediately that it was much darker than before. Faint traces of the sun were still present on the horizon, and from what they could see, stars were starting to appear in the sky.
Jamie and Luna sat in front of them, awaiting their return to consciousness. Riley stood a little farther away, their eyes constantly darting around. Were they not safe here?
Luna smiled gently and waved at Jade once they noticed they were a bit more awake. Jamie said nothing, opting instead to nod as a greeting.
Jade groaned and rubbed their forehead. It seemed that they had developed a headache while they were out. “Where are—what happened? Why was I being carried?”
Jamie hummed. “Well… once you collapsed, we decided to just sit beside you and let you get some rest. Luna and I got to take a small nap as well, but then we were shaken awake by Riley because of a scorpion!” Luna shivered at the mention of it. “It was pretty freaking big. We all tried to wake you up, but I guess you were super asleep because you didn’t move. So, I grabbed your bag and Riley put you on their back and… now we’re here.”
Well, that answered all of their questions. The four of them must’ve not been as safe as they initially thought they were, which would explain how they ended up here.
“That… makes sense.”
“Anyways, if you want, you can get some more rest. I don’t think any scorpions will get us here.”
“…And what about you two?”
“Since the desert and tomb have been kinda rough, we’re just gonna settle down here for the night. And, uh, I already worked something out with Riley. Luna gets to be lazy for once. Me and Riley will be on like… ‘shifts’ or something. I forgot exactly what they said. But, uh, I’ll get some sleep while they watch us, then I’ll wake up and take over, blah blah blah.”
“I can keep an eye on you all too, you know…”
“Yeah, I do know. But I also know that you need to get some more rest.”
Jade sighed and conceded. They didn’t really have the energy to argue. Instead, they just closed their eyes again and waited for unconsciousness to creep back in. They hoped they’d feel better when they woke up again so they could relieve Jamie of their duty.
“Good night, Jade,” was the final thing they heard before falling asleep again.
…
The next time they woke up, it was still dark. This time though, it was Jamie that was on guard. They were seated near the edge staring out towards the sky. Jade couldn’t see their face so they couldn’t tell how they were feeling, but they were slouching a bit. That didn’t raise any immediate red flags though.
Sometime during the night, Riley had settled down beside Jade with an arm wrapped around Luna, both of them sound asleep. Riley seemed to leave Jade alone though, which they appreciated. They hadn’t formed that kind of connection with Riley yet.
They considered going back to sleep but they probably had enough for the time-being. They needed to relieve Jamie so they could get some more rest, and aside from the grogginess, they felt pretty alright.
They leaned forward off of the wall and massaged their forehead for a moment. It seemed their headache had dulled sometime during their second bout of sleep since it no longer hurt when they dared to move.
They tried their best to not make any noise, but Jamie seemed to detect them anyways. They didn’t say anything, but turned towards Jade and patted the ground beside them.
Jade slowly got up then crept over to Jamie then sat down. Neither of them said anything for a while, instead choosing to stare up at the stars in the sky.
Jamie softly chuckled. “This is… nice. I can see why Luna likes this so much.”
“Did you know ‘Luna’ is Latin for ‘moon’?”
“No, I didn’t. But… it’s a very fitting name for someone like them.”
Jade couldn’t help but smile. Just a few days prior, Jamie seemed to hate Luna’s guts, but they grew on each other very quickly. For so long, Jamie struggled to find someone that’d actually give them a chance, and it sounded like Luna never really had friends. So, for that, Jade was glad that things worked out between them.
However, that sweet little moment didn’t last long. Jamie’s smile soon turned into a frown.
Similarly, Jade’s smile disappeared. “What’s wrong?”
“They don’t have anywhere to go after this, do they?”
Jade almost wanted to bring up Scoutmaster Edmond, but figured that’d just fuel the fire. Instead, they remained silent.
“It’s not fair.” Jamie clenched their fists. “Someone as nice as them having such a crappy life.”
Jade glanced back at Luna, who had made themselves a bit more comfortable in Riley’s side. “I have a feeling that someone would have their back.”
Jamie turned around as well. However, they didn’t seem any happier about that. “Yeah… I guess so.”
Jade definitely noticed. “…Jamie?”
“Maybe I’m gonna sound like an idiot for this but…” Jamie sighed. They hesitated to speak for a minute. “Do you… think Riley would have our backs too?”
Jade hummed. “I don’t see why not. I mean… we’ve only known each other for a few days, but they seem to care about all of us quite a bit.” They stopped in search for what to say next. “And… they had no incentive to care about us either. This isn’t an ordinary trip. They’re not responsible for us, but they took care of us anyways so… I believe they would.”
“Yeah…” Jamie sighed. “Hopefully they at least take care of Luna after all of this… or help find someone that will.”
“’At least?’” Jade had a suspicion that this choice of words was deliberate, but they weren’t certain.
Jamie picked at the frills on their tank top. They didn’t make eye contact with Jade.
“Jamie.”
“I don’t wanna go back to Grandma and Grandpa. I wanna… go with Riley instead.”
That confirmed their suspicion, but…
“I’m sorry Jamie, but… I don’t think it’s that easy.”
“I know.” Jamie’s tone sounded so… defeated.
Maybe Jade could salvage this. “If Riley and Luna are still in the area after all of this, maybe we could… still hang out with them sometime?”
“I guess so.”
That seemed to have no effect. So much for that.
Jamie got up. “Guess I should get some sleep while I can. Night, Jade.”
“Good night, Jamie.”
Jade wanted to watch Jamie to make sure they settled down with no issues.
Jamie settled down to Riley’s other side and was surprised to notice that Riley subconsciously slung their free arm over them. Jamie took that as their cue to settle in for the night. Once they were comfortable, they closed their eyes. Surprisingly, they seemed content.
Once they knew Jamie was safe and sound, Jade returned their gaze back to the stars. They weren’t particularly happy about how they handled that, or what they learned. They were bothered by how Jamie felt afraid to confide in them about all of that. They hated how much the truth hurt Jamie and that they couldn’t even do anything about all of that.
They never gave it any thought before, but it’d only make sense that Jamie had no interest in returning. Jamie had a ton of friction with their grandparents, often times sprouting from unusual or over-the-top punishments for such minor things. Jade tried their best to avoid them, but always came to Jamie’s aid when needed.
And of course, Jade was the one to take care of Jamie most of the time. Their grandparents did provide them with the bare minimum, but there was hardly any love behind it.
Jade’s own underlying resentment towards their grandparents had begun to grow once they found out over a year ago about their true intent for taking the two of them in.
Even now, they didn’t fully understand it, but their grandfather had mentioned some kind of “credit” for keeping them around. Something about taxes, too. Regardless, even if they didn’t know what that credit was, they knew there was some kind of gain from their continued presence. That gain wasn’t love, either.
It didn’t sit right with them then, and it still didn’t sit right with them now.
They only stuck around because they assumed that Jamie was okay with their situation. Well, at least okay enough to not want to consider homelessness. But… if Jamie was saying they didn’t want to go back and that they’d prefer to go with someone they met just a few days ago…
It only made Jade feel horrible. Had they known sooner…
Well, all that mattered now was fixing this. Granted, they couldn’t do much if their grandparents refused to let them go, but… it did give them something to reach for. At a minimum, they could just endure the next two years then scoop up Jamie and get out of there. Maybe they could also seek out Riley too for a place to stay, even if temporarily.
At the end of the day, all they wanted to do was make sure that Jamie was happy. They loved them very much and would do anything for them. And, since crashing on this island, they’ve come to learn that Jamie felt the same. They had to look out for each other since nobody else would.
But… they needed to focus on the present. They needed to actually get off of the island before they could even worry about their future.
Their night had been pretty rough, but… that was okay. Not everything had to, or would, be sunshine and rainbows. They had adopted that mentality after their parents’ deaths.
They leaned back and did some stargazing. It felt oddly therapeutic in wake of everything that happened that day. Maybe Jamie’s conversation didn’t quite go over well, but they at least got some clarity out of it.
They once again looked at Jamie. They’d nestled into Riley’s right side, just like Luna did on their left. It seemed that Jamie had really grown to appreciate and trust both Riley and Luna, which gave Jade a flicker of hope.
Maybe…
Maybe they could be a family, after all.