Alrighty, so it's Saturday morning and it struck me that I didn't post yesterday (sorry!) due to a family emergency keeping me and my laptop apart for the whole day. Luckily for you guys (maybe) I had a vile nightmare about two hours ago and haven't slept since so the previously incomplete chapter that I was going to finish yesterday is now complete and hopefully you guys like it.


Eleven

With her teeth clenched, River grabbed Thorne by the scruff of his neck, ignoring the screaming, and yanked him from the slowly deepening water onto the safety of the boat. "You can't swim here, dumbass." She growled, ragging her coat off and throwing it over the shaking, sopping wet animal. "You can't even swim in the lake." She then grumbled, wondering what had possessed the milky deer to leap over the boat's edge and into the water.

"The animal is lucky to have you to care for it."

River had decided as soon as the boat pushed away from land that she would entrust the rest of the crew with her life should she have to, that included Abraham and the other Grounders. She had to trust everyone there. She had to trust that if she fell into the water, that someone would jump in after her just as she swore she would for any of them. She wasn't all too certain that any other than Octavia would and even then she only thought Octavia would because she seemed to be one of the few that the angry girl spoke to.

"He's just a baby." River replied to Abraham as if that would explain her love for Thorne. "Have you ever seen anything as pure as him?" She then asked, genuinely curious as to what such a man considered to be pure. Children? Love? Anything? Even killing?

Abraham, in all his muscular elegance, lowered himself to sit beside her and glanced emptily at Thorne as she rubbed him dry. "Innocence, purity, they are weakness. He is weak."

Weak? He was a baby. "He's not weak." River argued, perplexed as she turned to face the enormous Grounder. "It isn't possible to be weak unless you also have the option to be strong. Without the option to show strength, how could he possibly show weakness?"

"He shows that he is weak by following you. He does not show thought to feed himself. He sleeps beside you, eat what you hand to him. You even have to pull him from the sea because he is too weak to swim."

River couldn't help but scoff. "He's never been taught how to swim!" She snapped, because how on Earth could this man be so blind? "He eats what I hand to him because he's not yet learned to identify and avoid poisonous foods. He sleeps beside me because it's cold, dangerous and I'm the only one who protects him. And I pulled him from the sea because he's a fucking baby that doesn't understand not to jump into the sea."

Sighing, Abraham raised what River could only describe as a challenging brow. She raised one in return. "One can be neither innocent nor pure unless they have had the chance to taint themselves and have turned it away for no reason other than wishing not to be immoral." Abraham's voice in that moment was clear. He was speaking as a man who had been faced with the same choices and had taken the other path. He had killed. He had butchered. He had slain.

River watched his face as he allowed but a second of forbidden pain to pass over his features before he locked them down again. "It's never too late to stop choosing to be immoral." She told him, sensing that in that moment he didn't need someone to challenge him; he needed someone to tell him that maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all. "It only takes one second, just a single moment, to choose to be moral. To be good. To be kind."

Nodding, Abraham, who had long since dropped his brow, sighed the deepest of sighed, standing and walking away without so much as another word.

Luckily, River understood. Granted, the worst that she'd done was was killing a few Grounders who had been a threat to her, though even then she had done so by setting large traps as she knew that she was no match for anyone in hand to hand combat, not to mention that she wasn't sure that she had it in her heart to kill. She did. Still, she knew that for a man such as Abraham, someone who had taken so many lives of men, women and children, it must have been terribly trying to face one's demons.

She watched him go until he was safe below deck where there was the most room, admittedly cramped room. They had two Rovers, something called a motorcycle and an incredibly small piece of rubber that River had been astounded to learn would inflate into an entire boat that could hold twelve people should their boat sink, though they had all agreed that the machines and technology would be put inside their dinghy and everyone would hold on and swim to the closest shore.

River gently scooped a shivering Thorne up into her arms, drying him with her coat and walking to the control room where Bellamy was gripping the wheel. "Are we on course?" River asked, feeling warmth seep into her bones now she was out of the cold.

Chuckling and producing a winning grin, Bellamy shrugged. "I have no idea." He laughed. "I've never driven a boat before. I mean, it steers like a car and I figured cars out pretty quickly, but the ocean doesn't have roads."

"Everything in this world seems to be one shock after the other." River mused, amused. "We're sure to reach land at some point if we just keep moving." She gently clapped Bellamy on the shoulder, attempting to be encouraging. "Why don't you get some rest? I can stand here and scream if the boat starts to tip."

Laughing, Bellamy nodded and stepped away from the wheel. "We'll reach land, I just hope it's the right one. I'll get a few hours then come back, just keep the wheel still, we should still pretty much be on track."

And so River took over. She watched the far away horizon, hoping every second for land to come into view. Naturally, she knew they hadn't been sailing for nearly long enough to reach their destination, so any land that could possibly come into view wouldn't be correct. That didn't, however, stop her from hoping.

As the boat moved through the water, rocking and groaning into the waves, she looked out and watched the waves. She watched them forming and growing, shooting across the ocean and dying back into it. There was a sinister beauty to the movement.

She stood and thought about the absurdity of the whole mission before gently chuckling to herself. They were sailing on a hundred year old luxury boat in order to try and shut down some leaking power-plant and save the world in just a number of weeks. It was completely and utterly insane. Could such a task even be completed? Well, if there was one thing that she knew, it was the Earth surprised. It shocked the Ark when it proved habitable, it shocked them once more when it proved that life had not died out and here it was shocking once more by proving that no one could ever truly grasp how much it could withstand and weather and still survive.

River certainly understood surviving. Looking down briefly at Thorne clasped in one of her arms, she knew that he too would know survival. He would be toughened by the world, hardened, she had no doubt. She'd stick by him and help as much as she could, but she knew that she couldn't keep him so innocent and care free for long.

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.

.

.

.

When night fell, Bellamy and Abraham worked together to pull the lever to release the anchor and once it had fallen, everyone grouped together below deck through the safety of the airlock.

The group of them, totalling eleven rather than the two tens on the other boats, consisted of River, Clarke, Octavia, Indra, Raven, Monty, Jasper who was the extra one, Abraham, Kane, Bellamy and another Grounder named Tekken who was only sixteen but was apparently like a human camera. He remembered every path that he'd ever walked down.

Despite it seeming almost unfair how many of the specialists of their fields were on that single boat, it was decided that it really didn't matter if they took all of the best since if they didn't succeed, their talents would count for nothing as they all perished. River, however, still didn't really see why she was needed. She was happy and proud to be helping in any way that she could, but so far all she seemed to be doing was wandering about the boat, just as Indra and Octavia were too.

Kane, Jasper and Monty had spent most of their day preparing meat for the evening meal; something that would be River's, Clarke's and Raven's responsibility the next day. The three of them had done pretty well, splurging with what would otherwise be rationed such as butter and salt, once everyone agreed that the next few days of sailing could have been their last, so it was fine for them to indulge.

"I don't even care if I die," Jasper groaned around his fish, gaining a few worried glances. "I just know I can't ever go back to having fish without salt and corn without butter."

"This is what it is to die a good death." Tekken stated proudly, munching happily away.

Initially, River thought the statement to be odd. After all, who would say such a thing? Then, well, then she thought it through. A good death. What was such a thing? A good death for her would be one in which she knew she had done her best to make the world even the smallest bit better. Surely that was exactly what they were doing?

Sighing, she admitted that should she die on that boat or on whatever land they found, it truly would be a good death.

"Maybe," Kane started, laying the bones from his fish in a small pile at his feet, sucking the butter from his fingers just as they all had done. "Just maybe, we're on our way to somewhere incredible. Perhaps there's butter where we're going. Different types of cows that we could bring back with us. Who knows, there could be all sorts of animals. No one needs to die any good deaths so long as we're careful and we stick together."

River found herself agreeing with that too, mildly offended when Abraham snorted rudely, earning himself raised brows from the others and a full glare of death from River. "What?" She prompted when he glanced at them all in turn. "While we're all talking, come on, big guy."

If there was one thing that River was learning, it was that, for some reason or other, Abraham tolerated more from her than he did from the others. She knew that it may have seemed unfair to call him out on being down but when people were making an effort to be upbeat, she didn't like that he was pulling them down again."I have heard of the land of milk and honey." Abraham stated with a shrug, dropping his bones to the floor in a way that somehow angered River. How could such a tiny thing anger her? She had no idea, but it did.

"So you think that because we're not off to the land of milk and honey that we may as well die?" She snarled, angrily eyeing his fish bones.

She knew she was acting stupidly and it was almost certainly thanks to Monty's moonshine, but part of her wanted this. Part of her wanted to finally fight with someone. She wanted to feel something just as she had when Bellamy had shot her. Would pain be the only solution? She didn't know, but she knew that it worked. It gave her focus and made her work herself hard.

"And you think that we should all share you optimism and hero complex?" Abraham answered, raising his voice a little. He still didn't sound angry, only challenging, but it was enough to get Indra to reach past Octavia and dig her fingers warningly into River's shoulder.

"I do not have a hero complex." River scoffed, narrowing her eyes and shrugging Indra's hand off. She didn't doubt that the sting of the dark-skinned woman's fingers digging into her barely healed wounds would be enough to keep her grounded, but right now she could sense the anger under Abraham's skin and she wanted it out. "And for a man that doesn't remember the word boat, optimism and hero complex are big words so congratu-fucking-lations." She hissed, watching his eyes darken.

"Don't have a hero complex?" Abraham laughed, his shoulders shaking. "Of course you don't. Just as I have never taken life." His teasing was so obviously meant to offend, yet all River felt again was anger. She was angry because how dare he. It wasn't much of a reason but it was what she'd got. "Tell me, if you do not have a hero complex, why do you protect that thing?"

The second that Abraham leaned forward everyone else was forgotten. River drew a bone knife as Abraham reached for Thorne and she planted it as hard as she could between his fingers, stopping him in his track. She saw a fire rage behind his icy eyes; anger swelling like she'd never seen before. She wanted it. "This little meat sack means the world to me." She growled lowly, dragging Thorne under the protection of her leaning body with one hand, never once dropping Abraham's eyes. "If you ever touch him, I'll plant this knife so deep in your balls that it'll be scratching your back."

"I would love to see you try." Abraham snapped, every muscle in his body tightening, readying for a scrap.

Sneering, River replied. "Keep on reaching for him and I'll be happy to give you a demonstration, honey."

"River." It was Clark'e voice that broke the silence, only then making River remember that the two of them weren't alone. Not only that, she had stabbed the floor of the boat.

Quickly, she grabbed her knife and tucked it into her belt, swinging Thorne up into her arm and stormed out onto the boat's deck. She had to get away from him.

What the hell had she been thinking?

She was threatening a man that was nicknamed the god damn Night King for crying out loud, she was all but begging to be butchered. "Fuck." She hissed, realising quickly that she was getting rained on. "Shit. Wank. Fucking bollocks. Balls."

No matter how much she cursed, it was useless. She was slowly coming to realise what she wanted, or at least part of what she wanted. Did she want to fuck Abraham or stick a knife through his eye? That was the real question.

Thorne, unaware of it all, simply screamed up into River's face then burrowed into her coat as much as he could. She wrapped him up to keep him warm, nowhere near ready to go back in from the rain. Sighing and raking her free hand over her face, she decided that she needed to be alone, even from Thorne. She took her coat off and swaddled him loosely enough that he could clamber out and follow her but not so loosely that he would fall out, then she went to the control room and stowed him away under the wheel, stroking his neck as his eyes fluttered tiredly and she told him that he was a good boy. She waited a minute before going back into the rain, this time without a coat.

Slowly getting more and more drenched, she went to the back of the boat and climbed down to where the motor was, lowering herself carefully to straddle it so that he legs were in the water. It was stupid, she knew, and all it would take was a single carnivorous animal to swim past and take a liking to her legs, but she wanted the water. She wanted the calm that it held. So she didn't care, after all, it would be a quick death in the water as far as she could tell.

For a few minutes she sat there in silence before a small scream that could only be Thorne sounded, making her chuckle and sigh, letting her head drop forward. "What's wrong, Thorne?" She asked, wondering if the fawn had known that she was distressed.

"He's my meat shield." Came the voice of one Abraham.

River spun immediately, drawing her knife once more only to see Abraham lowering himself a few feet away from her, placing Thorne down from one big hand and letting him potter tiredly over to River who immediately scooped him safely into her arms "I thought I made myself pretty clear on where I stood about you going near-"

"Stop." Abraham commanded, some powerful tone in his voice making River obey. She knew then which of the two aforementioned options she wished to take with Abraham. "Just stop."

"Look-"

"I don't wish to fight with you, River." Gently, Abraham let his legs touch the water without breaking the top layer before thinking better of it and pulling himself a little further from the lip of the boat. "How deep is this water?" He asked her as if they hadn't just been threatening one another.

Sighing, River thought about it before answering. "I don't know, probably at least thirty feet. Could be as deep as two hundred or more."

"Feet?" Abraham asked, brow raised in the night. "I do not know this measurement."

River, amused, chuckled then let her laughter die. "You don't know feet but you know what a hero complex is?" She asked, looking sideways at him. He had clearly gotten ready to sleep before coming out to her, wearing a thin pair of pants that his thick thighs easily filled and a long sleeved sleep shirt that must have belonged to a giant to look as large as it did on him. His attire was oddly cute somehow. "A foot is, well Thorne is about a foot tall, maybe a foot and a half. You're about six and a half feet tall, maybe closer to seven."

"So a foot is not just on the end of your leg? Is that foot the same size as a foot? If so, how, as we all have different sized feet?"

"Feet are... I don't know, they're like this big." She moved her hands to show a foot, but now questioning the unit she was unsure. "Maybe this?" She moved them again. "It doesn't matter." She decided, shaking her head. Then, with a sigh, she looked at Abraham who was smiling softly. Had she really been about to stab him? "Do I make you as mad as you make me?"

Chuckling, he leaned back onto his elbows and shrugged. "I don't believe that anything angers anybody as much as I anger you." He laughed, then allowing his face to sober somewhat. "I think that the day that we met, during the meeting in Skaikru lands with Wanheda, you joked about my making things sound easy. I was unsure at the time whether I wanted your head or your... well-"

"My what?" River smirked, watching the man shift uncomfortably in the darkness only the smirk a second later when he caught sight of her face. "Did you decide?" She then asked, wondering how to get past the fire that he seemed to stoke.

Nodding, Abraham stood and held out a hand. Cautiously, River took it. She knew that he wouldn't help her up just to stab her but the option was definitely there. "I think that your head should probably go last."

"So what does that make first?" River found herself cocking her head and biting her lip, both of which she never did. She still couldn't believe how close to turning his hand into a kebab she had been less than fifteen minutes before.

Drawing her into his muscular body, Abraham chuckled. "Allow me to show you."


So, here we have the end of Chapter Eleven. Thoughts? Feelings? Anything from anyone is massively appreciated so I'd like to give a massive thank you to silentmayhem, the two guest reviews and to mainetaz for the reviews left so far, it may not seem like it but the couple of suggestions given have greatly effected River and her thoughts etc.

Also, I'd like to apologise profusely for my attempt to write that little "cute" part at the end. I won't lie, I didn't plan on Abraham and River fighting at all this chapter but when I woke up at dawn's ass crack, I felt like crap after having a vile dream about a loved one and to be honest I wasn't feeling great about writing positive stuff so I just sort of churned it out and began to enjoy myself as it went, so as cringy as that last bit is it's meant to be some kind of stupid peace offering for the otherwise dull then stupid chapter. We're so super close to the good stuff now though and I do believe that this is (hopefully) my longest chapter to date!

So, everyone have a great Saturday and I'll be back by Friday with Chapter Twelve!