After a couple of weeks, Ten and Clarke found a new rhythm, and things were once again copacetic between the two. Clarke kept herself busy while Ten was at her apprenticeship by spending more time connecting with the pack or playing chess with Wells. Then the two would meet up and train together for a couple of hours before heading to Ten's to study. Sometimes Octavia would join them, finding them much easier to be around than the Pit or Orphan Ward. Though, the girls knew why Octavia was with them, making sure they were still good in the relationship department. Neither one minded the extra attention and came to appreciate having Octavia around. The three formed a sisterly bond that rivaled Octavia's bond with her brother.
Eventually, Ten found herself with more free time and would often hold movie nights at her place. The girls in the pack loved it. The boys used it as an excuse to let loose in the Pit without the usual eye rolls and judgemental stares for being teenage boys.
It was on one such night that Raven and Octavia were sprawled out on the Cartwig's armchairs while Clarke and Ten cuddled up on the couch. They were making their way through a Ryan Reynolds movie marathon, but Raven kept getting distracted by the couple on the sofa.
Ten was tucked into Clarke, head buried in Clarke's neck while the blonde murmured in her ear and ran a hand soothingly down the Alpha's back. Ten had an arm wrapped tight around Clarke in what seemed like a desperate attempt to ground herself.
Raven had enough. Swinging around until she was sitting correctly, she reached for the remote and stopped the movie.
"Hey, I was watching that," Octavia cried out, tossing a pillow at Raven.
Ignoring Octavia, Raven turned a stern glare at the couple, "Alright, you two. I can't take it anymore. What's going on? Is there trouble in paradise again? Ten lose her favorite boots?"
Octavia looked at the couple in surprise. For the first time noticing how they were laying. She bit her lip in worry as she adjusted herself to look at the couple.
Clarke sighed and whispered in Ten's ear and got a nod in return. Reluctantly, Ten extricated herself, and both girls sat up, but Ten immediately pulled Clarke on her lap and held her tight.
Burying her nose in Clarke's neck, Ten took one last comforting inhale before turning her attention to the two brunettes.
"I've been having these…dreams, I guess you could call them," Ten hesitantly spoke. "But they feel different. Different from vivid dreams or even lucid dreaming. They have this…heaviness to them. Almost like…memories. Which is impossible."
"Why do you say that," Octavia asked, intently focusing on Ten's words.
Ten sighed, and Clarke reached up to run a hand through Ten's short hair, comforting her.
"I see the ground, O," Ten replied, looking at her. "Not like what we see in the movies, but as if I'm there. Some scents are of things I've never smelled before. Sounds that make nature films pale in comparison. Colors so bright that they're damn near blinding. They are as amazing as they are terrifying. And if I didn't get drug tested so often, I'd think I was tripping on something Jasper cooked up."
"Babe," Clarke turned her head slightly to look at Ten. "Why don't you show them that first one? Like you showed me."
"Wait a sec," Octavia said, sitting up straight. "You can share things?!"
Clarke and Ten exchanged a strange look before Clarke asked, "Are you saying you guys never shared thoughts, memories?"
Octavia and Raven looked at one another, and both girls shrugged.
"I can't say that I've ever tried," Raven honestly replied.
"Me neither," Octavia agreed.
"Huh," Clarke looked thoughtful. "Well, Ten and I have. Especially during Ten's Rut."
Ten blushed and buried her head in Clarke's shoulder, "That didn't need to be shared, C."
Both brunettes laughed at Ten's embarrassment.
"But it's so cute when you blush, Ten," Raven teased.
"Go float yourself, Rae," Ten growled, but there was a look of amusement in her eye as she glared at Raven.
"Anyway," Clarke interjected before things could escalate. "The dream, Ten."
Ten nodded, "It'll work better if you guys close your eyes."
They all closed their eyes as Ten recalled the dream and began projecting it to the three girls.
"It started like I was strapped into a chair," Ten spoke, and the girls began to see it. "I'd get moments of sight but saw mostly darkness. There were screams and yells. The sound of metal shrieking and sparks going off. Then there was a bright white light. It filled every sense. I couldn't see or hear anything. It faded, and for a moment, all I could see was green. When it all came into focus, I was standing in the middle of a broken clearing. Trees were broken and uprooted. Fires were burning out. I looked up, and the sky was this pale blue, and clouds were moving slowly across. I could feel a breeze, and it brought these amazing scents. Like growing things, but it was richer than Farm. Purer. And it was warm. Not like the constant cool temperature of the Ark."
"Float me," Octavia murmured in awe.
Ten chuckled, "It was breathtaking and so beautiful. I remember taking a few steps, and instead of the firm metal of the Ark, I sunk. I was stepping on the ground. My boot had sunk into the dirt and grass, leaving a boot print behind. I was overcome with an urge to turn around so, I did. But before I could turn around, I woke up."
Ten stopped projecting, and the girls opened their eyes, looking at Ten in awe.
"God, I really wish I could have smelled and heard what you did," Octavia said after a moment.
"I felt such joy when I woke up from that one," Ten said, smiling as she reminisced. "I've had that one twice, and I always wake up before I can turn around. I've had others. They're similar in that they take place on the ground, but different locations in a forest."
"And each time, it's the same," Raven thoughtfully asked. "You can see, taste, feel, smell everything around you."
Ten nodded, "Yeah. I have never dreamed of such clarity or such realism." Sighing, she nuzzled Clarke's neck for a moment, "But last night was different."
"How so," Octavia asked.
"I wasn't in the forest," Ten explained, tightening her arms around Clarke and grounding herself. "It was a room made of stone and dirt. And it was freezing. Colder than the kitchen freezers. There was no furniture except for a thin, ratty blanket. For a long moment, I thought the room was empty, but there was a sound of a chain rattling."
Ten paused to take a slow breath and licked her lips, "I looked to the sound, and there was this…thing. This bloody, broken, dirty thing. Then it moved again, and I realized that it was a girl. I felt sickened seeing this girl chained and looking so near death; I couldn't understand how she was still alive. But, her eyes. Her eyes were fierce. Whatever had been done to her hadn't broken her. She was still fighting, and it was…inspiring. But I could see that she was dying. She didn't have long, but it was like she was waiting for something. Or someone."
Ten stopped again as she swallowed down tears. When she felt a bit more in control, she continued, "I wanted to go to her. Wrap my arms around her and comfort her. But I couldn't move. I could sorta look around, but not much. I was pretty much frozen. I don't know how long I stood there, but then something changed. It was like the air changed. Ionized. The girl's eyes changed then. There was so much love in them. They were filled with compassion and sorrow. There was so much emotion in them that I felt my heart squeeze painfully. Then, they started to dim. The life started to fade from her eyes, and her chest fluttered. She seemed to take this deep breath, a soft smile on her face. She let out the breath and her head slumped. She died."
"Oh my god," Octavia cried, covering her mouth in horror.
"A scream filled the air," Ten said, closing her eyes. "It was the most pain-filled sound I have never heard before. It was so encompassing that I vibrated with it. It was devastating and heartwrenching. It was…I don't have words. But, the sound chased me out of sleep. I woke up screaming."
Clarke licked her lips and looked at Raven and Octavia nervously, "I, uh, was spending the night and I woke up to Ten whimpering. I couldn't wake her up. I tried everything I could think of, but nothing worked. Right before she woke up screaming, she said something weird."
"Em don laik ain (She was mine)," Ten whispered.
"What," Clarke looked at her in surprise.
"Em don laik ain," Ten firmly repeated and shook her head. "I didn't remember saying it then, but I remember now. Between the screams, I heard a voice that cried that out."
"What does it mean," Octavia asked.
Ten sighed, "I don't know. It's not a language I know, and you know how many I've learned."
"What you're telling us," Raven carefully spoke with an air of seriousness that belied her usual manner. "Is that you're dreaming of places you've never been. Seeing people you've never seen before. And hearing a language you've never studied or heard before. You're smelling things that you've never encountered before. Do I understand you right?"
"Yeah," Ten replied, looking at Raven. "And the dreams themselves feel differently than every dream I've ever had."
"Does your wolf feel anything," Raven asked.
Ten sat up and looked at her, wide-eyed, "I, wait…yes. Now that you mention it, yes, she has. Part of why I've been in such a good mood lately is that my wolf feels peaceful after I've had those dreams. Usually, I feel like my wolf is restless and disgruntled. Simply because I live in a metal box and can't run free. The forest feels like home. I feel like I'm finally where I'm supposed to be."
"Are any of us in these dreams," Octavia hopefully asked.
Ten immediately blushed, "Um, just Clarke. But, she looks different. Older. And she, um, has weapons on her."
"Weapons," Octavia leaned forward eagerly. "What kind of weapons?"
"Um, she had a knife strapped to her right thigh. A bow and quiver. And a sword of some kind on the opposite shoulder from the quiver," Ten answered.
"That is so badass," Octavia excitedly grinned.
"When did these dreams start," Raven asked.
"About a week ago," Ten told her. "Once I got some decent sleep again, they started up."
"Clarke, have you had any dreams like Ten has," Raven asked.
Clarke shook her head, "No. Nothing like she's described. I just have normal dreams."
"Have you had any headaches, dizziness, double-vision," Raven asked Ten.
"No," Ten answered. "Clarke thought that too so, we snuck into Medical and hooked me up to an MRI and CT. Everything looked normal."
"Or as normal as we can tell without the training," Clarke grumbled.
"No hallucinations or hearing voices while you're awake," Raven asked.
Ten smirked, "No. As far as we can tell, it's not a neurological or health issue. We're actually stumped as to what's happening to me."
Raven sighed and slumped back in the chair, "Well, I don't have a damn clue. I know I'm not experiencing anything like those dreams. O?"
"Me neither," Octavia replied, sounding disappointed.
Raven looked at her pack leaders in thought for a long moment and then asked, "How long have you guys been able to project your thoughts and memories?"
"Ooh, that's a hard question," Clarke replied, looking at Ten for an answer.
Ten furrowed her brow in thought, "I think we've been able to do it since we hit puberty. That's about when our bond became stronger as Pack Leader and Second."
"You guys also have the clearest mind voices," Raven said. "Distance doesn't seem to matter to you either."
"It might," Ten interjected. "The Ark is too small of a testing ground to know for sure."
"Do you think the council has these abilities," Octavia asked, looking at Clarke curiously.
Clarke shrugged, "I don't know. Honestly, I'm afraid of asking Mom. I'm sure that if I brought it up to her, she'd want to run a whole battery of tests to find out the causes."
Ten grimaced, "Yeah, no. I have no desire to be hooked up to machines. Laying still while you ran the MRI and CT was torture enough."
"Then we'll keep quiet about it," Clarke promised, shifting her head until she could kiss Ten.
"I think that's best," Raven said. "But we should tell the pack. Ask them if they've been experiencing anything weird lately. This could be like that whole extra energy build-up we experienced when we were younger."
"That's a good idea, Rae," Clarke nodded in agreement. "We'll hold a pack meeting after you guys get off work."
"But Clarke," Ten whined. "My wolf…"
"Will just have to suck it up, babe," Clarke said with a smirk.
"Fine," Ten pouted. "If we're done, can we go back to the movie? I hadn't seen this one before."
"Seriously," Octavia exclaimed, reaching for the remote. "You've never seen Free Guy?"
Ten shook her head as she and Clarke stretched back out on the couch, "Nope."
"Then we definitely need to finish watching it before we call it a night," Octavia replied, getting comfortable before starting the movie.
"Sounds good," Clarke said as she snuggled into Ten now that their positions were reversed.
Ten kissed the top of Clarke's head before focusing her attention on the movie. She felt better now that she had told the others about her dreams. But it still bothered her that she couldn't figure out the why behind them. Or why she was waking up at the same point each time. It was frustrating not to have answers, and she wasn't used to not having the answers. Hopefully, their packmates might have a clue as to what was going on.
