The sun is watery, in the mornings, in Iceland.
The air is crisp and cool; Riley remembers winter wind and snow- they're her strongest memories of her home- but now, it's the middle of summer. Will is a comforting weight on her lap, solid and grounding in a world with too many unknowns. It feels good, the silence, but it also feels dangerous- the calm before the storm.
"I've spoken to Sven," she murmurs aloud, and Wolfgang shimmers into view before her, cross-legged on the rocking boat. "We should be in Norway in three days."
He nods, hand tightening on the wooden balustrade. "I'll meet you there. How much medication d'you have?"
Too little, in reality. Even more than that, there's a real chance of overdosing Will, and too little of a chance that they can get away from Whispers without being caught. Wolfgang joining them doesn't mean much of anything, really, other than a greater chance of being captured.
"We'll make it work."
He hesitates for a long moment, eyes colorless in the early-morning sun, then straightens a little- a warrior marshaling his strength. "Why Norway?"
"I can speak fluent Icelandic," she says quizzically, "and a lot of West Norwegian dialects are… closely related. And I have some money stored there, that we can use." When Wolfgang arches an eyebrow, she shrugs tensely. "I was a… troubled child. Paranoid. And I had some stuff put away, if anything bad happened."
"Not paranoia if they're really after you, eh?"
The laughter is more bitter than she'd have expected, but, at the same time, she's glad that there's someone who can mitigate the worst of her fears. Three days alone on a boat with just her fears and Will… madness would have been kind, at the end of it.
"Still paranoia," she says, "but justifiable."
A breath, and Nomi appears- not the gentle shimmer that had been Wolfgang but an almost-violent shift of light to solidity. Her words, though, are gentler than Riley would have expected: "We'll send you some money, untraceable, don't worry. The three of you need to disappear, and running across the Atlantic'll draw attention."
"So, what," Riley asks, rubbing a finger over Will's collarbone again and again, "do you want us to do?"
Her eyes are brighter than Riley'd been expecting; the sunlight hurts against the backdrop of the ocean, and the two Sensates next to her are less substantial than she'd realized. In a dream they were real, but with her eyes open she thinks the play of light across their clothes is a little too fake for them to appear realistic. If it were anyone else, she'd have thought Nomi on drugs- except she's connected to Nomi, now, and she's nothing of the sort.
"Head across Europe," she says softly. "Into Asia. There's a lot of confusion, down there. Easier to disappear. You can pick up Kala and Sun- I can go with Amanita to Africa some time and meet up with Capheus."
Wolfgang looks like he's bitten on a sour lemon. "And if we get caught, it'll be too easy for Whispers to find us, and remove us."
Her fears exactly. But what her mind is saying is stupid might or might not be true; her heart has always ruled Riley, and right now all she wants is to be with the other Sensates. She won't let herself lose them.
And… that transmitted to Wolfgang.
Who looks a lot like he's been punched in the gut, in more ways than one.
Why…
Ah.
Kala's refused to meet with them for a long time. After she saved her in the facility, she apparently disappeared. Capheus had mentioned her, briefly, but disappeared soon after, so it probably meant that there was some sort of tiff going on between her and Wolfgang.
Still- it isn't really her place, and she has bigger things to worry about.
"We can't remain separate, though. There's safety in numbers."
"Not when there's eight of us against thousands of them! We can't-"
"Then what do you suggest?" Sun asks, and Riley almost shrieks from fright. Sun is seated, stiffly, against the back of the boat, a distended shadow the only thing visible of her presence. She looks slightly irritated, but mostly calm- calmer than the last time Riley'd seen her.
Wolfgang glares. "We stay apart. Keep Will safe, in an unidentifiable house somewhere. And we take turns guarding it- one month, one person. We can iron out the details later."
"How is that fair to him?!"
Riley sighs. "It isn't, Nomi. But it might be our best chance to reconnect with the world, without a proper failsafe. We keep calendars away from Will for a couple weeks, and set him up in a town, and we keep him safe. I can stay the first month, and we can work out a way to protect each other then. Just in case, we'll move him every month, yeah?"
"Amateur Witness Protection," Nomi says wryly, but her face still looks flushed.
Sun unfolds herself from the stern, gracefully, a paper crane made out of cut-diamond. She looks slightly tired, and there are bruises ringing her knuckles, but also lighter- a burden loosened off her shoulders.
"Do you not think," she asks levelly, dark eyes locked on Nomi's, "that we would not try something else if we had a choice?"
Nomi's back stiffens, but it's Lito who says, roughly, "When we make choices, we have to either live with it- or fix it. Smart man told me that, once." The way his eyes cut to Wolfgang's isn't a mistake, Riley thinks. "So, can we live with imprisoning Will?"
The boat is getting crowded. One more person and it'll go from stuffy to congested, and-
-Capheus appears.
Her sigh goes unnoticed, but the others also settle down in his presence, like a breath of fresh air to alcoholics. He takes the time, too, to pat Wolfgang on the shoulder; to hug Lito; to embrace Nomi and nod at Sun- but when he comes to Riley and Will, all he looks is sad.
"We can ask him, soon," he says, reaching out and sweeping a lock of Will's hair back. Then, "how are you?"
Her lips kick up in a vague attempt at humor. "Nothing a few good nights' sleep won't fix. How's Nairobi?"
"Quiet, compared to Iceland."
The smile goes from vague to full-blown, and Riley feels a load lighten off her chest for the first time in days. But then Wolfgang- who doesn't appear all that impressed by Capheus' easy nature- asks, harshly, "What the hell do you mean soon?"
Quite suddenly, Capheus looks trapped.
Nomi reaches out, as if to speak, but Sun catches her hand and pulls her back at the last moment, warning Lito with her eyes to try it, and see how much it will hurt.
She glances over at Riley, and they exchange self-satisfied smiles.
They can approach this a number of ways- but, in the end, Wolfgang's an idiot and this is one good way of showing him that.
"…I found out?" Capheus tries.
In the meantime, Capheus is a good sacrificial lamb.
"Cut the other one," Wolfgang growls, standing to his full height. Riley can't stop her twitching lips now, not if she tried.
"I spoke to Kala," he confesses, shoulders drooping slightly. "She told me that the drugs he's taking aren't dangerous in mild quantities, but any more and you'll have to deal with overdose as well as addiction."
The stinging scent of peppermint curls over them all suddenly; Wolfgang throws Capheus a scowl darker than the rocks that ring waterfall-pools in Iceland and disappears. Lito breaks the awkward silence with a chuckle, and claps Capheus on the shoulder.
"Good man," he booms, "he'll go after her now."
Nomi's lips twist. "Somebody should make sure he isn't jumping on the nearest plane to India, you know."
Which is… a good point.
"He likes me?" Lito mutters, with a shrug. "I guess it's been good knowing you. Hasta luego, mis amigos!"
He, too, fades.
Capheus nods at Will. "Talk to Kala. Lito'll keep Wolf occupied for some time. She's a little angry, I think, but she knows this stuff."
"Wolf?" Nomi asks, amused.
He grins diffidently. "He's angry enough for it."
She smiles back, and then turns to Riley. "Amanita and I are heading south. Mexico's seeming better every day, yeah? I won't be visiting for some time."
Riley nods silently, still running a hand through Will's hair. She doesn't bother to say bye- they'll see each other soon enough, and there's really no point. Instead, to Capheus, she says, "Get Kala, could you?"
Sun, still standing tall and stiff in the back of the ship, steps forward as both Capheus and Nomi disappear. Her hands fold around the bow of the ship- she leans forward and inhales sharply at the salt-spray.
"I am afraid," she says slowly, turning to Riley.
Riley curls a hand around Will's face, hunches into herself, and remembers a small girl who killed her mother. She'd always wanted a mother, she thinks, when she fell asleep in the night- someone to put an arm around her and comfort her.
She'd make a poor mother as well, she thinks, softer this time, but none of them really have much of anything, and they can make do with substitutes.
"Do… do you want to come here?" She asks softly. "I always thought the night wasn't so dark if faced together."
Painfully slowly, Sun moves, and though she doesn't hug Riley, she is sitting close enough to put her hand on her knee. The touch appears cathartic in more ways than one; Sun's shoulders slump, and her head cants backward, arching against the light like a bow strung tight.
Riley pulls Will a little closer to herself, shifts slightly so her hand pools in the hollow of Sun's knee, and closes her eyes.
She feels peaceful.
I wrote this story as a predicted second season. It should be a proper mix of romance and action- quite similar to the series itself, in fact. Each chapter will be in the POV of a different character; next one will be Kala. Updates will probably be once a week.
Reviews inspire me!
-Dialux