Chapter Text
Riley initially hadn’t paid any heed to Jade’s comment regarding being slowed down because of Luna. Once they made the first step up the stairs though, they realized just how much of a responsibility they undertook.
Even if Luna wasn’t particularly heavy—yes, they were still heavier than a full backpack—Riley was now once again entirely responsible for getting an unconscious life somewhere safer. The pressure that came with that kind of situation was nearly suffocating.
They did it once for Jade though, so they could handle doing it again for Luna. Additionally, things worked much better in their favor this time with Myres giving them a free path up, so they’d certainly manage.
Jade was ahead of the troop, which was quite a surprise. They didn’t often take charge, but given Riley’s extra load and the fact that Jamie wasn’t doing too well, they didn’t exactly have a choice now. They didn’t seem to have a problem with it though, which Riley was grateful for.
Jamie, on the other hand, was only just a little farther ahead of Riley. However, they regularly caught glances at Luna, often resulting in them stumbling over themselves or the stairs. Riley really hoped that Jamie would eventually get the hint and stopped before they could fall into…
This time, Jamie tripped and fell dangerously close to the edge, which finally prompted Riley to scold them.
“Jamie, please, I know you’re worried about Luna but you need to pay attention to what’s in front of you. I don’t think Jade wants to end up carrying you back up… or worse.”
As soon as those words left their mouth, they felt terrible for saying them.
“Sorry,” Jamie replied, just barely above a whisper.
Well, if nothing else, at least Jamie was paying more attention now. However, they also just started hugging themselves, which didn’t help abate Riley’s guilt in the slightest.
Jamie was quite possibly the most vulnerable they’ve ever been and rather than actually doing anything about it, Riley instead chose to shut them down. They could argue that they weren’t really in the best place for that, both physically and mentally, but they still felt bad about how they handled it.
With the occasional thought of adoption passing through their mind over the past few days, they started to wonder if they were actually fit to take them all in. If they couldn’t even correctly navigate something like this…
“Let’s take a break,” Jade suggested.
Riley was initially confused by that suggestion, but they soon realized they had already returned back to that bridge. Did time really fly by that fast while trying to juggle dealing with a vulnerable child and internal turmoil…? Time usually only flied by when they had fun…
Jamie didn’t respond, instead finally peeling away from Riley and Luna to settle down up against the wall. They then stared at Riley, which they found a bit unsettling.
Riley finished climbing up the stairs so they could step back onto the bridge. They cringed a bit at the change in texture on the ground. The stairs were way too comfortable to abandon, but they needed a minute to rest.
They assumed that Jamie wanted Luna to be set down by them, so they set them down gently nearby and stepped back a bit. Almost immediately after, Jamie scooted over closer to Luna and put their head on their lap. Riley wanted to find this endearing but it was really difficult to given the circumstances.
With Jamie and Luna accounted for, Riley walked over to the edge and sat down. They let their legs dangle over and just stared at the lava that was slowly rising. They wouldn’t have much time to rest but… at least they had some time.
They couldn’t really spot where they found Luna at, but given the fact that several of the stairs were submerged in lava…
Well, had they hesitated for some time, Luna probably wouldn’t be with them right now. It wasn’t worth thinking about that outcome though. Luna was alive; that’s all that mattered.
They noticed that the rescue claw Jamie had used was still up here. If they remembered correctly, those things had three charges, so maybe they could stash it for later? They could use it to get Luna up in a pinch, but they’d rather not do that unless absolutely necessary. Not after… that. They still had room for it in their bag though, so it wouldn’t hurt to hold onto it.
They nodded at that idea and then stuffed it in their backpack. This time, they put it in with the claw facing up. It did give them less space to put items in around the claw, but they didn’t have a particularly full bag to begin with, especially not after sacrificing the golden statue.
Jade soon joined them, prompting Riley to ask the following question: “Why aren’t you with Jamie?”
“They wanted to be left alone for a while,” Jade replied. “They’re… not doing great right now.”
“And you?”
“Huh? What about me?”
“Are you doing okay?”
“I’m fine.” This answer came with hesitance though, which told Riley that wasn’t the case.
“’Bottling up your emotions is a bad idea.’ That’s what you told me a few days ago, right?”
Jade chuckled then sighed. “You got me there.”
Riley didn’t respond, prompting Jade to continue. “I just… thought I’d be able to take care of Jamie throughout all this. I thought it’d be as easy as just… climbing a mountain and leaving! I didn’t think that it’d come with… all of this.” They fidgeted with their hands for a minute. “And…” They lowered their tone to a whisper. “After everything, I just… want to be a kid for a little longer. I only have two years left to do that.”
So they were really in the same boat then. Well, minus being a kid. Riley accepted that period of their life was over several years ago.
Suddenly, Jade stood up. They turned away from Riley but failed to hide that they were trembling a bit now. “I’m just… tired. I want to be able to enjoy life before I can’t anymore. I also want to make sure Jamie is taken care of though, which is clearly not happening with our grandparents…”
“Well, I know we had this conversation back in the desert but again: if, by some miracle, your grandparents surrender custody of you, I’ll…” Were they really ready to make that commitment anymore after what happened today? Yes, I absolutely am. “I’ll take you all in. You’ll all have some place safe to stay, someone that actually cares about you and you’ll get to enjoy your last years of childhood.”
Jade finally turned around. It seemed they were struggling to hold themselves together now. Jeez, everyone’s vulnerable today, huh? “You mean it…?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t say it if I— woah!”
Jade suddenly tackled them in a hug. Their grip tightened, which Riley responded to with a similar grip. Jade didn’t cry, though they didn’t really seem like the crying type anyways. Whether or not that was due to them engineering themselves not to do it, they wouldn’t know, but it seemed that even they weren’t above hugs.
“Thank you… that means a lot,” Jade muttered. They then pulled back, revealing a small smile on their face. They really did seem tired upon closer inspection. “I’ll… be waiting up ahead. We don’t have much time left.”
Riley let go, allowing Jade to leave whenever they felt like it. “Alright. I’ll fetch Jamie and Luna then. Don’t forget what I said though.”
“I won’t,” Jade replied. They then headed back to the stairs to wait for everyone else.
Riley approached Jamie, who was currently fixated on Jade. They only returned their eyes to Riley when they approached. “Is Jade…?”
“They’re just getting tired of everything, like everyone else is,” Riley replied. “Might be a good idea to keep moving. The sooner we leave, the sooner everyone can get some proper rest.”
Jamie complied, removing Luna’s head from their lap and standing up. They took one final look at Luna, who fortunately wasn’t disturbed throughout all of that, then left to join Jade on the staircase.
Riley once again scooped up Luna in the exact same way they did the previous time. Though, they weren’t entirely sure how much longer they could carry them like this. They weren’t getting tired by any means but they’d soon have to switch from walking to climbing, and they couldn’t exactly carry Luna in their arms while doing that.
Maybe they should figure out how they’re working around that sometime soon. For now though, they needed to worry about actually making it to that point. They still had plenty of stairs to walk up and the lava beneath them still threatened them.
They paused at the stairs when they noticed Jamie hadn’t moved.
“Jamie…?”
“I’ll follow behind you, just in case.”
“Okay. If you say so.”
The lava was still somewhat matching their pace, though it was much closer now due to the break they took, so they really couldn’t afford to stop anymore. They could only hope those few minutes of downtime were enough for both Jade and Jamie to re-compose themselves. Any other moments like that would have to wait, no matter what.
After a few minutes, they started treading into uncharted territory. While there were still some of rocks to climb, it was becoming apparent that they were starting to become scarce, with the remainder requiring a massive climb to reach.
They came to the realization that had Myres not assisted them with these steps, they’d likely be in for one hell of a bad time. There was no way they were making those climbs with the resources they had and the fact that nobody was operating at one hundred percent. Not to mention that one of them was out of commission, so it worked out completely in their favor.
They were surprised that Jamie hadn’t complained about the steps yet though. They seemed to constantly be antsy about climbing, but after Luna’s near-death, it seemed they backed off from that almost entirely. They seemed to be focused more on survival than having fun at that point.
“Well… looks like we’ve reached the rocks,” Jade sighed. “The stairs seem to stop here, so it looks like we’re climbing the rest of the way up.”
That much was to be expected given that Myres said so, but deep down they were really hoping that wouldn’t have been the case. The stairs had the benefit of not only being nice to walk on but also making it extraordinarily easy to carry Luna up. The rocks were the complete opposite.
There were a clump of rocks with a platform beneath them that seemed to lead all the way to the top. They also noticed, at that point, that their line-of-sight of the sky and sun were completely unblocked. They weren’t really much of an outdoors person, so it did come as a bit of a surprise that they missed those things, but given the alternative was a hot volcano…
“Riley?” Jamie asked from behind.
It was then that Riley realized they had zoned out again on the steps. “Oops, sorry.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Just have a lot on my mind, buddy.”
Jamie seemed to wince a bit at that. Don’t say that again. Noted. “Okay.”
Riley then continued onward until they reached the platform. Just like last time, they cringed at the transition to a more uncomfortable ground texture, but unfortunately that would also be the last time they stepped foot on those stairs.
They set down Luna in a small crevice away from the edge then tossed their backpack close-by. They were going to need to abandon their bag, so they decided now was a good time to take note of what they had and how they’d consolidate that into Jade and Jamie’s bags.
They weren’t entirely sure how much time they actually had, but they were certain the other two would warn them when they needed to leave.
They pulled everything out to assess what they had on them. A first aid kit, a rescue claw, bandages and a coconut. Not… exactly a full bag, but it’s all they could find along the way.
They could probably find space in the first aid kit for the extra bandages, and they really hoped they could hand off the rescue claw to someone else. That just left them with the coconut then.
They weren’t particularly concerned about the coconut being spoiled since those things were quite resilient in warmer climates. However, they didn’t want to hold onto it for too much longer, so perhaps now was the time to consume it.
Initially, they considered giving it to Luna. However, given that they’ve been unresponsive to all external stimuli, it was unlikely that they’d wake up for it. Additionally, they have had more than everyone else lately but given how thin they were…
They then considered offering it to one of the siblings. It was more likely that the two of them would split it instead, which was still perfectly fine. They just needed to get rid of it in a way that’d actually benefit someone, rather than tossing it over the edge.
“Hey, you two wanna split this coconut?” they asked.
Jade and Jamie stared at each other, but the former simply shrugged.
“I think we’re okay, but if you’re trying to move all of the stuff in your bag into ours… I think I can hold onto it,” Jade offered.
“You think you could carry both that and the rescue claw?” Riley asked.
“I’m not sure. I think Jamie can—”
“N-No. I, uh… I’ll carry the coconut. Rescue claw’s all yours, Jade,” Jamie hastily interjected.
”Okay…?”
Jamie snatched the coconut from Riley and shoved it in their bag. Jade, on the other hand, was far more graceful with storing the rescue claw. Riley wasn’t entirely sure what Jamie’s deal was…
Then it hit them.
Jamie was scared of using the rescue claw now. Given that it failed to save Luna the first time, it only made sense that they wanted nothing to do with it anymore. They just didn’t want to have their hopes ripped from them again.
Logically speaking though, it did grab Luna’s backpack instead of Luna themselves. If they had a better angle, then they could’ve definitely rescued Luna. However, in this scenario, emotions clearly won over logic.
Regardless, now that both the rescue claw and coconut were accounted for, they just needed to sort out both their medical supplies and Luna so they could continue.
They pulled the first aid kit and bandages out from their backpack. They then opened the kit but was frustrated to find that the kit was already stuffed to the brim. This was normal after all but they wished that they could’ve also carried the bandages too.
Wait… Luna kept them in their pocket… maybe I can too?
They shoved the bandages in their pocket, and while it was a tight fit, they still fit just fine. That problem was solved then.
“Jade?”
“Mm?”
“Is it fine if I slide this first aid kit into your bag?”
“Mhm.”
“Okay.”
Jade turned just a little bit so Riley could approach them from behind and put the first aid kit in their backpack. Fortunately, they did have quite a bit of open space in the bag, so they were easily able to slide the kit in.
Now that all of their items were accounted for, it was now time to figure out what they were doing with Luna.
Carrying a conscious person on their back was quite easy. An unconscious person on the other hand… not so easy. They also had to contend with climbing as well, which meant Luna would be very prone to falling off of their back.
While Jamie did have some rope, it’d still require them to go up and drop it down. They had used some back at the bridge, so they weren’t entirely sure if they still had enough left over. Additionally, it did nothing to actually secure Luna in place while they were climbing, so they’d just run into the same issue there.
The anti-gravity rope gun, while theoretically more useful, still had the same issues as the regular rope.
They could tie Luna to their body with the rope but there were several problems with that. One, they’d actually need enough rope to wrap around both of them. Two, they’d need something sharp to cut the rope, because they’d likely struggle with undoing the knot.
They had carried Jade before back in the desert but the terrain then was a lot friendlier towards them. Here, they had several crevices and sketchy climbs and… Well, needless to say, carrying Luna would be significantly harder, if not impossible here.
All that left them with was the rescue claw. However, given that Jamie was seemingly traumatized by it now, they weren’t entirely sure if that idea would go over well. Unfortunately though, it was the only idea that really seemed feasible.
Their plan was to wait for both Jade and Jamie to climb up to somewhere safe. They’d then clutch onto Luna as tightly as possible and the two of them would be dragged up by the claw. The only concern they had with this was a potential weight limit, but from what they remember, it could handle far more than their combined weight.
It sounded like a foolproof plan, but they weren’t really sure if it’d work out well considering Jamie was incredibly anxious around the claw. Jade would probably be on board with the idea at least. They wouldn’t find out until they proposed it though.
They echoed their exact plan out loud to the siblings and eagerly awaited a response.
As expected, Jamie seemed pretty anxious at the idea. “Can’t you, uh, just climb up…?” They asked.
Riley sighed. “Look, Jamie. I’ve already run all of the possibilities through my head. Climbing, either on the rocks or by rope, is going to be a pain with Luna being unable to grab onto me themselves. We can’t really tie them to me either because we don’t have a knife to cut the rope, and it’d probably be a challenge to get them off of me after the fact.”
“I… guess so. I just… don’t wanna lose more of my family—” Jamie suddenly covered their mouth and Jade suddenly went wide-eyed, though Riley didn’t really know why.
But then it hit them.
Jamie said “family.”
Jamie really considered them as family. It could’ve been a slip of the tongue, but that would’ve been a really crazy coincidence if that was the case, especially after the little chat Riley had with Jade earlier.
Riley smiled, but decided against pursuing that any further. “I know, but you’ve gotta trust me here Jamie,” they said. Jamie continued to fidget with their hands. “Say… I could actually use your help.” Jamie tilted their head. “Why don’t you climb up and scout out up there? See if there’s anywhere safe we can pull this off, stuff like that?”
Jamie nodded. “Okay. I think I can do that.”
“Great, thanks.”
Jamie then approached the rocks but initially hesitated. However, after a minute, they finally started to climb up. They were extremely cautious this time around, as evident by their slow and methodical movement. It was a stark contrast from their more messy and aggressive climbing style.
“Did you… not catch that…?” Jade whispered.
“I did, but I didn’t think pressing them about it would be a good idea,” Riley replied.
“I’m inclined to agree. You probably wouldn’t have gotten very far on that.”
“Yeah. Doesn’t seem like words are their thing.”
Jade shook their head. “Nope. Well… I suppose I should follow them up.”
Before Jade could do that though, Jamie soon popped back into view from above. “Hey! You two! I’ve got some good news!” They seemed much more enthusiastic than before.
“What’d you find?” Riley asked.
“Not only is there a flat surface up here but… a slope leading outta this place!”
“Can it be walked up?”
“Uh… I think so? It doesn’t seem too steep.”
“Alright. We’ll be up there soon.”
“Okay, good, because… the lava’s getting kinda close to you.”
Oh crap. I totally forgot about the lava!
Jade peered over the edge to confirm. “Yeah, they’re right. Let me get up there quickly and I’ll get you and Luna up.”
Riley quickly scooped Luna into their arms, this time holding them like a baby. They gripped as tightly as they could without causing physical harm. “Okay. I’m already ready. I think I’ll face away from you for the best results. Try to aim for my… waist?”
Jade nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. See you soon.” They then began their ascent the same way Jamie did. At the same time, Riley turned around so they were prepared to be grabbed.
They were finally getting out of this nightmare, and assuming that Myres’ journal entry was correct, this would also mark the end of their journey.
They felt a bit bittersweet at that realization. While they were happy to be escaping, they knew that they had a lot of work ahead of them still to give these kids the happy ending they deserved. They really wished they could just scoop them all up and run off into the sunset but… that’s literally just kidnapping, even if the kids themselves were okay with it.
Suddenly, they felt something hard and firm wrap around their waist. At the same time, their grip tightened just a little bit more on Luna. Shortly after, they were yanked up and they soon landed just beside Jade and Jamie.
“A warning would’ve been nice…” Riley groaned.
“I did warn you though…?” Jade said.
Maybe I was too deep in my own thoughts then… “Eh, forget it. At least you got us up here safely. Thanks, Jade.”
“You’re welcome.”
Riley turned around to face their final challenge: the slope. It was a little steep, but it was likely at an angle that they could still walk up it no problem. They couldn’t really see much from there aside from the clouds in the sky, which was rather unfortunate. They were hoping to get some extra scouting done before making the climb.
“Well?” Jamie inquired.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Riley replied.
They began the ascent with Luna in their arms and Jade and Jamie in tow. Every step they took was more hopeful than the last. This was really it. Everything they worked for culminated in this very moment.
Once they reached the top, they took a look around. They seemed to be on a massive flat platform, though their visibility had been reduced to a few feet due to the thick fog. That seemed to temper their hope just a little bit, since it didn’t seem too promising.
However, the fog suddenly receded, giving them a clear view of their surroundings.
They once again looked around, confirming that it was just a massive platform. In front of them was a bridge, which seemed to lead to…
“THE PEAK!” Jamie cried out.
The peak.