AN: That was… an unfortunately long time to have to wait for another chapter. Horribly long. So long it was wrong. I am so sorry about that, I'm afraid school started and then this weekend, when I was planning on getting this chapter done, I managed to get sick. I'm actually still sick right now but come hell or high water I am DETERMINED to her this chapter up. Anyway, this chapter, as well as the entire story, happens to be dedicated to Tienka. Onward, to victory!
Disclaimer: I, Mistystarshine, do not own Gone or the characters.
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The sun was well in the sky by the time everyone had eaten and made their way out to the cliff and Diana had reached a level of irritation that the good folks at Coates Academy had learned to fear long ago. And it just so happened that she didn't seem to be the only one in an abysmal mood. Lana was glaring at anyone that dared talk to her, leaving her with an impressive bubble of space as everyone made their personal preparations for the climb down. 'Personal preparations' meaning forced themselves to accept that they would soon be climbing down a cliff above some very sharp, very painful rocks with only a temperamental telekinetic and a girl with the ability to cancel gravity to save them if they slipped.
Wasn't life wonderful?
Diana cast her gaze around the assembled group. Although, glare was a much better word than gaze at the moment. Sam and Dekka stood off to the side, murmuring in low voices about something. Lana was standing a little ways away from them and kicking thoughtlessly at the ground while Quinn hovered a little ways away, glancing at the healer every now and then. At another time she might have wondered if something was going on there but she had been woken up at a time which nothing deserved to be woken up at, was about to face the cliff again, and then had to fun little drama explosion that was sure to await them on the shore to look forward to. So yes, she was beyond caring about the healer's relationship status with the fisherman at the moment. The one farthest away from the others at the moment was, predictably, Caine. He kept switching between glancing at Sam and Dekka, probably trying to make out whatever they were hearing, and looking at Diana, who made sure to avoid his gaze.
Anyone that noticed that probably assumed that this was because of getting woken up. Or at least she prayed to god that they thought that it was because she was still angry about getting woken up. The fact of the matter was the cliff just wasn't a good place for them. First the movie-star brats had made their escape, causing Diana to confess her love for him, something she was currently trying to keep at the back of her mind, and nearly fall off the cliff only for him to save her. And then Penny had nearly killed him and caused this whole fiasco to happen, right on this freaking cliff.
So yeah, hanging around Caine at this place wasn't exactly something that seemed very fun to her.
Without a word Diana turned to face away from the group and began to make her way toward the edge of the cliff. She could practically feel Caine's eyes on her, no doubt preparing to yank her from the edge again. Not that he would need to, in fact she scowled at the thought. She just wanted to take a look, see just how the wonder fisherman had managed to get the boat secured to that cliff.
Of course when she actually looked it wasn't anything exciting at all, in fact it probably wasn't even worth looking. The boat had been pushed in a crevice between two rocks and then tied to another, making in at least slightly secure. Although she had no doubt that when she got close enough to take in some details there would be some scratches on the side. And maybe, if luck really wanted to mess with them today, a leak. Although, she mused, if it had a leak it would be mostly submerged by now, wouldn't it?
Despite herself she couldn't help but feel a little curious as to how Quinn managed it. Of course, from what she understood he had been a surfer before the FAYZ, maybe his knowledge in that had passed onto boats somehow? She leaned forward, trying to get a better look at the boat. It was then that she felt a bit of stone begin to crumble beneath her foot. It was not much, she was not at risk of falling, but she did let out a little yelp and flail her arms out slightly for balance. It was then that her suspicions about being watched were proven correct as she felt herself yanked back several feet, arms flailing wildly and only just managing to stay on her feet.
As soon as the invisible force let her go she whipped around, annoyance written across her face. All eyes were on her, of course, although she wasn't bothering to look at everyone. Instead she glared at Caine, who had a rather alarmed expression on his face, which began to fade as he took in how Diana looked. "Jesus!" she spat. "You know, I do have some semblance of balance." That was where she would have stormed off in a normal situation. But they weren't exactly in a normal situation, and it probably wouldn't help for her to go running off to some other part of the island. So she settled for turning away from Caine, who's alarmed expression had turned to a glare, and walking to the part of the group as far away from him as possible. Which, as it happened, turned out to be near Quinn and Lana.
As she was walking past she couldn't help but notice Quinn murmur, "I guess the rumors about the cliff jump are true then." And, somehow, she didn't think that he was talking about Mary Terafino's big display.
The moment the words hit her ears she whipped around to snarl at the boy, "shut it, fisherman!" He paled at her words, causing a small bit of smugness to flash through her. However, it didn't long as Lana stepped forward, eyes narrowed at the other girl.
"Hey," she growled, "don't take your relationship problems out on him. When you run away to some movie star island only for a helicopter full of kids to come back with some wild tale that really doesn't seem that wild at all people are going to talk."
She could feel people around her tensing, preparing for a fight to break out. After all, they had been together for quite a while without some sort of confrontation already. Surely one was overdue, even with these unique circumstances? But Diana did not look at anyone else to see if her assumptions were correct. Instead she met Lana's eyes as she forced an utterly fake smile across her face and said through clenched teeth, "oh, I know all about rumors, but I would hope that people would have the brains to not talk about them when the subject of the rumors is within hearing range."
A tense silence fell upon the group, only for it to be broken by the sound of Sam clearing his throat. "Right," he began, "maybe we should get going now? We don't want to get caught out in the night after all." An attempt to break up the blossoming fight without getting himself directly involved. For a moment it did not work, neither of the girls wanting to look away.
After what felt like a century, even though it was only a few seconds in reality, Lana responded, "couldn't agree more." With that they looked away from each other and headed closer to the others. Despite herself Diana moved to stand beside Caine, both of them refusing to look at each other.
"So," Quinn asked, "whose going first?"
The look Diana shot him was one that clearly stated that she couldn't believe he even had to ask. Her voice was dry as she said, "I vote the people that don't have to worry about plunging to their deaths." Quinn looked at the ground at this, Lana sent an annoyed glance at Diana, and Diana smirked. Meanwhile Dekka gave a small nod and stepped forward, pausing only to glance at Caine, who rolled his eyes before reluctantly following after her.
As they began to make their way down the cliff Diana tried her best to fight off the worry that was growing inside her, or at least tell herself that it was worry for herself. There was no logical reason to worry about Caine falling, she really shouldn't care if any of the others fell, and as for herself? She certainly didn't plan on letting herself slip. Besides, some bitter voice reminded her, even if you did I don't think Fearless Leader would let you have an easy out any time soon.
God she hated emotions at times.
A couple minutes after Caine and Dekka started climbing Sam moved forward, Diana following out of the incredible desire to not look like a coward. Although she didn't look behind her she had a hunch that Quinn was the last to get moving, the boy wasn't exactly made of bravery after all.
For the first stretch the climb itself was just as fun as she recalled it being the first time, meaning not at all. She swore she could feel every dent and point in every stone her foot touched thanks to the soles of her shoes beginning to wear out. For a moment she cursed herself for not thinking to search the mansion for something else her size, because there was certainly no going back up now. The stones she grabbed with her hands still managed to make her palms feel rather raw despite how the skin had thickened. Another thought that made her scowl. A year ago she would have hated the idea of her hands being anything other than nice and soft, now she was worried about them being too soft.
Despite having been one of the first ones to start climbing she soon found herself the farthest up. However, it was to her pleasure that she noted that so far she was the only one that hadn't slipped and needed to be caught. It was as this thought crossed her mind that she heard a yelp and craned her head down to see Sam very nearly detach from the cliff, only for Caine to reach his hand out and freeze him in place, allowing the other boy to secure his grip on the wall again. With a snort Diana called down, "I'll bet you'd trade your laser hands for lizard fingers in a second now, huh?" It was meant to be a snarky comment, maybe to point out the other boy's current weakness and make him feel uncomfortable. However, Sam took it in stride.
"Yeah," he called back up to her, "or whatever magic you've been using to have not slipped yet."
Diana couldn't help but let out a slightly bitter laugh at this before pointing out, "well, they did always call me a witch."
After that the group lapsed into silence for a bit. As she climbed she swore that this was taking much longer than it had when they had climbed up. But then again, when they were climbing up there had been less people, one of which had been considered to be on the expendable side at the time. Funny, she mused, if it had just been Penny and Bug he left floating instead we wouldn't be in this mess. For a moment her mind wandered to Paint and Tyrell, wondering what had become of them. They would certainly be dead by now, something told her Sam would have mentioned it if they had rescued a pair of Coates kids that had been left floating. And, for a second, she found herself hoping that their deaths had been quick.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of someone letting go of the stone. Alarm flashed through her as she glanced down, only to see Caine leaping down from where he stood about three feet above a large, relatively flat stone. Beside that stone was the boat, looking rather worse for wear from its perch on the stone. As soon as he was on the stone he began to step toward it and, before anyone could say anything, waved his hand and dislodged it from the rocks. Diana wouldn't be surprised if the entire group had held their breath as it bobbed there for a moment, the rope the only thing keeping it from floating off now.
Despite the distance she could swear she saw a smug smirk begin to cross Caine's face. Breaking the silence she called out, "if you broke it yanking it out of there you get to be the one worrying about fixing it, even if you have to bail the water out yourself." His response was to look up at her and smirk before gesturing toward the boat. She could almost read his thoughts, of course he didn't break it, there was no way he would be careless enough to disable their only means of mistake. This egotistical response she did not dignify with words, instead focusing on the wall and her continued climb down.
Soon enough Dekka was on the ground, followed closely by Sam. That was when Quinn called out, "hey, guys? I think I'm stuck." Her quest to keep climbing forgotten for the moment she glanced down at the fisherman who, sure enough, was clinging onto the wall for dear life without a foothold in sight.
Immediately a laugh left Diana, which Quinn met with a glare up in her direction. She just smirked down and teased, "what, afraid of a little drop?"
The fisherman looked absolutely flustered as he exclaimed, "it is not a little drop!" Indeed, he was at least fifteen feet high, and with stone waiting for him at the bottom it wouldn't exactly be a comfortable fall. "Besides," he added, his cowardice apparently leaving him for a moment, "I don't think you should be talking, you're even higher up than I am!"
This was true, and for a moment she felt annoyed that it was true. But she refused to let him get to her as she jeered, "yeah, but you don't see someone needing to rescue me, do you? It's like a reverse Rapunzel!" The group on the land, which now included Lana, who had made her way down while Diana and Quinn were arguing, appeared to be discussing Quinn's imminent rescue. However, Caine appeared to have only been half listening as he looked sharply up and sent a glare at Diana at the mention of Rapunzel, doubtlessly despising the comparison of him to a princess, or maybe the prince charming when Quinn was the princess. Either way, it was rather amusing.
This showed in her voice as she called down, "what? You certainly used enough hair product pre-FAYZ to fit the part!" Caine quickly glared at Sam, who she had assumed snickered, before looking up at Diana with narrowed eyes and gesturing up at her. She just snorted at this before responding, "yeah, well I'm a girl. What's your excuse."
Diana swore she heard a groan from Quinn, who looked just about ready to give up on life when she glanced down at him. Maybe it had something to do with her having an argument with Caine while he was trapped on a cliff. Either way, she snickered at his misfortune. Or at least she did until the horrifying fear that she was turning into Drake shot through her. But then again, she told herself, he was talking about me before. So really this is just karma.
And so, as Quinn was telekinetically removed from the cliff and gracelessly dropped in the boat Diana snickered and enjoyed every minute of it. Or at least she did until she came upon the realization that she was now the only one on the cliff, which meant that everyone was waiting for her to make her way down and judging her for her slowness. With this eating away at her mind she picked up the pace, and in the process accidentally dropped her caution.
That was how she found herself stepping onto another foothold only to have trouble keeping her feet in it, unable to move back up in the direction she had come without risking falling, and unable to move to the sides. Immediately dread and a bit of denial formed inside her. Oh no, she was not stuck, not after the teasing she had just put Quinn through after finding himself in the same situation. She would get off, she would not ask for help, and no one would know.
But as it turned out that was easier said than done. For, after a few minutes of trying to move and only getting a few inches in either way, she heard Lana's voice begin to call up, "Diana…" Immediately she craned her head around to see Lana smirking, Quinn looking very amused, Dekka holding back a smile, Sam looking like he was dreading something, and Caine's hand twitching at his side.
Her voice was a hiss as she said, "don't say it." Then to Caine she added, "and you do not move." He looked up at her and met her gaze, the look on his face saying that he was sure he knew what was going to happen. How she had gotten this good at reading Caine's facial expressions she wasn't sure. But then again, she hadn't needed to worry about that before nearly as much as she did now, had she?
Turning her gaze back to the wall she started to try and climb down, only to feel rock starting to crumble away beneath her feet. "Diana," Sam called, "if you're stuck there's no shame in asking for help." She almost laughed out loud at this. Did Temple even realize who he was talking to? Asking for help was not something she particularly excelled at. Besides, there was a bigger issue at hand that needed to be addressed.
"I am not stuck."
Lana's voice sounded at this, amusement showing in every word, "really? Because from where I'm standing it doesn't look like you're going anywhere fast." Diana didn't bother responding to this, instead growling to herself and letting out a string of curses under her breath. There was a clear teasing note in the healer's voice as she added, "besides, Quinn did it, I'm sure your dignity can survive the blow."
Okay, now they were just pushing her buttons. Forgetting her attempts to get down at the moment she looked back at the group to exclaim, "Quinn has no dignity!" As she spoke her gaze went to Caine, whose smirk had widened. However, that was nothing compared to Quinn, who looked like he was trying his hardest to not put on a Cheshire cat impersonation.
Part of her expected it to be Quinn that spoke next, but instead it was Dekka's voice that called, "come on Rapunzel, we need to get going."
Despite not exactly having a mirror on hand she swore that she could feel her face beginning to turn red. She opened her mouth to spit something back when the remainder of the foothold she stood on, which had been slowly crumbling away, finally gave in. For one horrifying moment she was holding onto the face of the cliff with only her hands, feet kicking in midair, when she was yanked from the cliff and into the boat. Thankfully Caine had the decency the leave her sprawling in one of the tattered chairs this time instead of just dropping her on the ground.
As she straightened herself out, humiliation rushing through every fiber of her being, she heard someone mutter, "you really don't get along well with cliffs, do you?" Unfortunately she was unable to identify exactly who said it, possibly because of how the sound of her heart pounding seemed to drown most everything out.
But despite that rather jarring experience as everyone that had not been on the boat filed on the boat she spat to Caine, "that was completely unnecessary." Caine, who had been watching her and simultaneously trying to hide any sign of concern, just rolled his eyes in response.
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Later on, once the boat had been pulled out and made some distance from the island, Diana gave him a quick nod of thanks when she didn't think anyone was looking, although she wasn't even sure he was looking. It didn't matter, she wasn't going to do it again. But despite her words she had been rather stuck, and at least he had saved her from having to ask.
And, when Diana wasn't looking, Caine smiled back at her.
