x.

part ten
:-:-: theme; maps by maroon 5 :-:-:

Octavia's green-gray eyes blink open, and she's met with the familiar ceiling of her cell. Her whole body is sore, as it usually is after incidents like the one that happened earlier.

"You're okay," A young voice says softly— sounding as if they had been holding their breath. Slowly regaining her senses, Octavia recognizes the voice as Fang's before she turns to groggily stare at him.

"I told you she would be fine," Jeb is also there, standing next to Fang with a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. He smiles reassuringly at them both, "Octavia is a very strong girl; I told you she'd protect you."

Fang says nothing, continuing to stare at Octavia with a furrowed brow. The brunette looks back at him, never breaking from his gaze.

Jeb sighs, sitting down at the edge of Octavia's bed, "You did good today; I'm sorry I couldn't be there to stop it. I had been called away and— I tried to protest but…" He met Octavia's eyes and gave a sad smile, "I'm sure you already know why I couldn't deny them too much."

The brunette nods, seeming to placate Jeb somewhat. Octavia finally pulls herself into a sitting position, "Why… Why are you both here?"

Fang looked away, making Jeb chuckle, "Fang wanted to make sure you were okay."

Octavia looked at Fang expectantly. The boy scrunched his face up and refused to meet her gaze as he mumbled, "I didn't know that— I thought that you were… I'm glad you're okay."

"It's fine," Octavia says immediately.

"No, it's not," Fangs protests. "I-I said all those things to you— I didn't even understand what your situation was and—"

"It's fine."

Fang glares, and opens his mouth to say something else but stops himself. With a huff, he turns to Jeb and asks him to take him back to the others. The boy gives Octavia one last meaningful look before Jeb escorts him out of the room.

When Jeb returns, he doesn't sit back down and instead stares at Octavia with a serious expression, "You mutated again." Octavia raises an eyebrow in question, "When you were attacked, it seems you summoned a shield over Fang. It only went away after you were knocked unconscious."

"I created a shield…?"

Jeb nods, "We don't know much about this new ability— So, I'm sure you know what to expect until the scientists' curiosity are sated."

Octavia nods in understanding, gazing down at her hands. She flips them over repeatedly, examining them as if she can figure out the problem herself.

"Will it ever end?" She whispers.

"It will. Just not today and maybe not tomorrow, but it will."

Fang and Octavia continue to train together when they can, and before they know it— another year has gone by. They are only able to train in secret, and under Jeb's supervision. After the events that led to Octavia mutating again, the scientists returned to making her train by herself so that they could perform tests, thus forcing her sessions with Fang to end.

Another thing that had changed since then, was Fang's attitude towards the brunette girl.

Before, he was rather standoffish and hostile, but now he treated Octavia with a respect that she honestly didn't know how to respond to. In her other life, she had never been much of an authority figure, so she simply decided to just act normal with the hope that she would get accustomed to Fang's new behavior soon.

It was a task that would be more complicated than she'd originally thought, because not only was Fang more respectful, but he was also more protective― not that he ever was before, at least not towards her.

Fang acted like he owed her something; as if she would want anything from the poor boy. No type of dissuading made him change his opinion, however. Jeb couldn't even breakthrough to him, so how would Octavia even begin to?

"How are your friends?" Octavia asks him one day after their training. They're both sitting against the wall of the "abandoned" facility they've been using to secretly spar. Jeb is getting them refreshments at the moment, leaving the children in dim light and dreary silence. Octavia tiredly slumps against the wall, leaning against Fang somewhat. The boy shivers at her cold skin ―a side effect of her ice manipulation that he has yet to get used to― but doesn't complain.

Fang leans against Octavia, too, tiredly blinking as he glumly stares at the stained wall across from them. "They're fine. As fine as they can be in this place," He frowns. "There's a new kid in our room― says he has a baby sister. We haven't met her yet, though― said she's too small for the cages."

Octavia's stomach churns at the obvious implications in Fang's words. He probably doesn't understand it himself, but to Octavia it was blatant that the School had access to a newly born child.

"That's… Did he say anything else?" The brunette asks, trying to keep her voice level.

Fang shakes his head, "No, he can't talk much anyway. Sometimes we can't even understand him. Jeb says it's because he's only two, and no one has been teaching him how to speak properly." Something sparks a smile in the dark-haired boy, and it's clear that he's recalling a happy memory. "Iggy, Max, and I are trying to help. Nudge can't even pronounce stuff correctly yet, so she isn't much help. But, it's like a competition almost―" Fang laughs a little, and Octavia is surprised to hear such a lighthearted sound come from the usually brooding boy.

"―Iggy just teaches him big words, or just things he likes." Fang continues, "Max is too serious― always thinking about words he needs to know."

"What about you?" Octavia asks, unconsciously smiling.

"Me?" He asks, suddenly returning to the present. His smile disappears, and his expression turns bashful. Octavia only gets a glimpse before he turns to hide his face from her, the tips of his ears turning red.

'Such a child,' Octavia muses with a chuckle.

"I―" Fang starts in a whisper before stopping to clear his throat, "Teach him about you― and stuff…"

"About me?" Octavia's eyes widened in surprise.

"Like your abilities, and your name. He can't say it right, though― He always says Tovie." The young boy refuses to look at her, and Octavia is positive his face is probably as red as a tomato now. Despite how cold her body is, it's doing nothing to combat the heat of Fang's in this current moment.

"Cute," Is all Octavia says, a small smile on her face.

Her lackluster reaction seems to fluster Fang even more, as he whips around to face her in shock. "I― Sorry for talking about you. I probably shouldn't― I should have known to keep you secret―"

"No, it's fine." Octavia interrupts, "I'm happy that you talk about me. I―" She pauses to collect her thoughts, "It makes me feel included. Like, I'm a part of you."

"Well, Jeb said we'd be a family one day." It's Fang's turn to give a straight-forward reply, "Why can't we be one now?"

In that moment, Octavia thinks of all the terrible things that could happen in the time it takes them to escape and now. She sees them all dying or suffering a fate like her brother; she sees them turning into mindless weapons like her― no, like she could have been.

She doesn't voice any of these thoughts. Instead, she just sighs and affectionately runs a hand through Fang's hair (he pouts at the gesture, and swats her away before trying to fix the damage).

"You're right," She ends up muttering, but the collar around her neck has never felt tighter.