"How come I have to have a babysitter?" I all but yelled at Nyko. He continued to ignore me and finished tightening his pack around his vest.

"I've been training for weeks now, ask Artigas I'm getting really good!"

"Cole," Nyko said, finally acknowledging me with a sigh. "They are going for your protection, even if you can protect yourself you still do not know these woods well enough."

I sighed in defeat, as much as I hated to admit it he was right. I fiddled with the straps to my own backpack as I waited for Nyko to finish, my two appointed guards stood not far off. We were going to collect herbs before the storm on the horizon moved in and despite me arguing until I was blue in the face, Nyko was not letting me go out alone. We would have to split up to cover more ground, which left me with Jaxon and a warrior introduced as Grimm. I was not a happy camper.

"Do you remember what you're looking for?" Nyko asked as we started to make our way out into the woods. I sighed again loudly, but nodded in response. It's not like we hadn't gone over it at least a hundred times.

"Good, then I'll go to the East and you can make your way North. Be careful," he warned, sparing a glance at the two warriors flanking me before turning and taking off. Nyko had already explained what kind of herbs we were looking for to Jaxon and Grimm before we left, so assuming that they might know where to look I followed them quietly, careful to take in my surroundings so I wouldn't miss anything.

Over the past few weeks I had started training with Artigas again, and I was glad to see that my new found strength and stamina was already coming in handy keeping up with the warriors. I was still a far cry from matching their skill, but progress was progress.

"Hod op," I called from behind. I knelt down near a bed of yellow flowers and grinned, these were exactly what I needed. Picking all the ripe flowers I made sure to store them where they wouldn't get crushed. One type down, only like twenty more to go I thought sarcastically.

Most of the day went about the same. Us wandering in silence until something caught my eye and I called for them to stop. The forest around us was relatively quiet as well, only small rodents and birds dared to venture close enough to us. As we fell into a pattern the distance between myself and the warriors grew, Nyko had explained they would also be scouting out possible hunting grounds for later so when they disappeared from my line of sight I was barely bothered.

Some protection they'll be if one of those giant catashow up again though, I thought to myself as I knelt down to collect leaves from a patch of green weeds. Nyko had insisted I leave my bow behind, arguing that I wouldn't need it with both Jaxon and Grimm with me. Guess my mauled body will show him.

Standing up I dusted off my brown pants. Nyko had started teaching me what herbs I could trade to what people in order to get supplies I needed. I was thankful when I learned that the women who sewed the clothes were prone to joint pain, it meant that I now had a slow growing wardrobe that consisted of more than two pairs of pants and a tank top. Exchanging goods or services for supplies was ingenious in my opinion, made me rethink why we ever had a monetary exchange system back on the Arc - it seemed pointless now.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a large horn going off in the distance. I hadn't heard anything like it before… maybe it was some sort of animal? I groaned, that's all I needed, was some other mutant animal trying to kill me. I looked around, trying to find the source of the sound but instead found Jaxon running full speed towards me.

What is going on? I didn't get a chance to ask him as he grabbed my arm roughly and started pulling me behind him. We darted off in a different direction, meeting up with Grimm.

My lungs and legs were burning, it felt like we had been running for ages. I finally slowed to a stop, despite Jaxon's grip on me.

"What. Is. Going. On?" I asked between breaths.

"We don't have time, keep moving," Jaxon urged now pulling me by my hand to get me moving again.

"Jaxon!" Grimm's voice called out, he was standing not to far ahead of us looking around warily. "It's closing in fast, we have to move."

Jaxon nodded and started to move forward again, pulling me reluctantly behind. Then I noticed it. A thick yellow fog was sweeping the forest and was almost surrounding us - this couldn't be what we were running from could it?

Apparently it was as I heard Jaxon slip out a few curse words I recognized. He pulled me along faster. Grimm soon fell into step behind us.

"Just up ahead, were almost there," Jaxon said as he continued moving forward. I wasn't sure if he was letting us know, or trying to convince himself. The fog was nearly upon us, and just being within 30 feet of it made my hair stand on end.

We reached what looked like a slab of concrete in the middle of the forest, but as Jaxon made his way over to an iron ring I realized it must be the entrance to an underground bunker. He struggled opening the door and I felt helpless as I just stood there and watched. I looked around for Grimm but couldn't find him. Surely he didn't get stuck in the fog?

The fog was getting closer and I could see little bolts of lightning striking out. I wasn't sure what it was, but I knew I didn't want to get stuck in it. It was moving in on us, only 10 feet away now. Where could he be?

I heard a pressure release sound behind me and sighed in relief when Jaxon stood with his door open motioning for me to hurry over. Not needing to be told twice I made my way towards him. I could hear Grimm yelling now, and saw him running towards us only a foot away from the impending fog.

He must have been separated from us by the fog, I thought as I stood motionless watching him move as if it was in slow motion.

Jaxon, apparently tired of waiting for me, grabbed my shoulder roughly and pushed me towards the opening. Looking inside, everything was pitch black except with the light shining through from the open hatch, I took a deep breath - now was not the time to be afraid of the dark. I dropped myself in, falling eight feet or so before I hit the bottom. I could still hear Jaxon yelling for Grimm above me.

In a moment another body fell down next to mine as they pulled the latch close enveloping us in darkness. It was darker than dark, I couldn't even see my own hand just inches in front of my face.

"Jaxon?" I questioned softly as he tightened the seal on the door. I hadn't seen who had jumped in, but he had been the closest.

"Yes," he called back, his voice strained as he stopped fiddling with the door.

"Where's Grimm?" I asked. A nauseous feeling overwhelmed me when he didn't immediately answer, however, the screams from above us told me all I needed to know.

"He fell too far behind" he said quietly. Without being able to see him at all, it felt like I was talking to a ghost.

"Why didn't you wait?" I replied, my voice wavering every time Grimm's screams pierced the silence.

"I couldn't," he responded easily.

"What do you mean you couldn't?!" I asked, my voice becoming more demanding. "You left him out there to die!"

"I did what I had to," he replied. "If I hadn't we would be dead too."

Not wanting to argue, not even being able to focus with the sound of Grimm's cries I tried desperately to change the subject.

"What… what is that?" I asked, my voice still shaking.

"Acid fog," he replied. "It kills everything in its path."

I felt like I was going to be sick. Grimm's screams eventually stopped and in a second I almost wished they hadn't. It left me sitting in pitch black with nothing but the sounds of Jaxon's breathing coming from somewhere around me and the sound of static from the fog overhead. It was bone chilling.

"How long does it last?" I asked.

"Hours," was his only response. I sighed and turned putting my hands out in front of me as I walked forward hoping to find a wall that I could sit and lean on. Instead my foot collided with something solid on the floor causing me to cry out.

"What are you doing?" Jaxon asked somewhere from my right.

"Trying to find a damn wall so I can sit and lean against it. If we are going to be here for a while I want to at least be a little comfortable," I replied, still cursing the unknown assailant under my breath.

"Come towards my voice," he instructed after pausing for a moment. It took me a second to pinpoint his direction with the echo. I moved slowly, not wanting to trip on anything else. Eventually my hands met something solid and warm.

"Please tell me that's you," I said jokingly. He wrapped his hands around mine and maneuvered me to stand next to him with my back against a wall. I must have ran into his chest.

"Sit," he told me as I felt him sink to the ground as well. Propping one of my knees up as I laid against the wall I made myself comfortable next to him, never letting my shoulder leave contact with his in fear that I may actually lose him in the dark.

"Do you think … Do you think Nyko and the others found somewhere safe?" I asked, my voice almost a whisper. There was only the sound of the acid fog moving above ground as I waited for him to answer.

"Yes," he responded shortly, his voice as low as mine.

"Good," I said nodding to myself. "That's good."

Jaxon said nothing in response and we continued to sit in silence. As the minutes ticked by I tried to focus on my breathing, keeping it slow and even, counting the cracks in the wall behind me and just about everything else I could think of to keep my mind busy. Without any light it felt as if the walls were closing in on me, it reminded me of the Arc. It reminded me of waking up in that too small holding cell, it was meant only to be temporary but I spent months in it… It was always dark, it was always quiet….

"Anything but that…" I said quietly to myself, not quite realizing that my thoughts had become vocal until Jaxon stiffened next to me.

"Does this uh, happen often?" I asked, trying to act as if nothing happened. Maybe if I could get him to talk to me, I could use that as a distraction.

"No," he responded, not elaborating.

"Is the clan prepared for this? Do they have somewhere close to go?" I pressed.

"Yes."

"Oh, well good. Hopefully no one is injured then, it would be a shame to have to use up all the medicine we just collected so rapidly, especially since that storm is still moving in…"

"Is there something wrong?" he interrupted.

"Uhm, no? What do you mean?" I asked, feigning ignorance. Of course there was nothing wrong, I was sitting in a pitch black space that was forcing me to relive one of my worst memories, while deadly acid fog floated overhead that had already killed at least one person whose screams I kept replaying in my head if it was silent for too long. No, everything was just peachy.

"You just keep talking," he said accusingly.

"Oh that," I said, sighing. "I do that when I'm nervous, or scared, or flustered or just about feeling anything that isn't normal…"

"Hm, that's a bad habit," he responded.

Well that's sort of rude, I thought to myself. But I realized he was right, but how do you try to cope with your coping mechanism?

"Well what is it?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"What is what?" I countered, unsure of what he was asking.

"What is it that has you … not feeling normal," he said, pausing to search for the right words.

Did I tell him? He would think that I was weak, if I had learned anything from my time with the clan it was that strength was an asset and there was no place for the weak, not if you wanted to survive. But I had already basically admitted it….

"You'll think it's stupid," I told him shyly, coming to terms with neither telling him the truth or lying to him.

"Perhaps, but we can't know for sure unless you tell me," he responded, his voice even and calm as if we were discussing the weather. I often found myself envying his passiveness, it was as if nothing ever seemed to bother him, he always had things under control. I kept quiet, being scared was one thing, admitting it was another entirely.

For a half an hour or so we sat in silence, my deep breathing was failing to keep me as calm and I had to keep reminding myself that it was just in my head, that the wall behind me was not slowly creeping inward.

"Can we talk about something else," I asked suddenly, desperate for any sort of distraction.

"Why?" Jaxon asked curiously.

"I … I don't like the silence," I admitted slowly. "I need a distraction."

"From?" he questioned, his tone never wavering.

"From my mind, from the walls," I told him. I would have told him anything he asked as long as he kept talking. His baritone voice was soothing and was the best distraction I had at the moment.

"Hm …. you're scared aren't you?" he asked.

It took me a moment to admit it out loud. He told me the fog could not get past the seal, and I just shook my head. Forgetting momentarily that he couldn't see me do so.

"It's not the fog, hell it's not even death. Death I can face" I explained. "It's this feeling of being trapped. Like everything is closing in. It's the darkness causing things to shift. It's the silence. It's what it reminds me of that I can't handle."

I had admitted more than I intended, but there was no taking it back now. I waited for him to criticize me for being weak, to tell me to grow up - but it never came. Instead he spoke to me quietly for the next few hours. Telling me about his home back North, the animals they had and about how the ground was covered in a blanket of white every year. He talked to me about archery and how to fletch arrows. At points he would ask me about my home, but his questions were generic and broad, always offering me a way out if it became too sensitive.

"Do you hear that?" he asked, cutting off our conversation on food - which I had discovered was a guilty pleasure of the very in shape, toned, muscular warrior. I paused and tried to listen for anything unusual but heard nothing past the sound of our breathing.

"No?" I answered hesitantly, unsure of what I was missing.

"Exactly," he replied, standing up and moving away from me. I instantly missed his presence and felt the panic sweep over me.

"It passed," he told me as I heard him unseal the door overhead. Light came pouring in and I had to shield my eyes until they readjusted to the sun.

"Come on," he called for me as he jumped up, grabbing the edge of a broken ladder and pulled himself back topside. I groaned as I stood up. My muscles were already complaining from having been inactive for so long and as I looked at the broken rungs hanging almost a foot above my head I knew that getting out would not be as nearly as easy as getting in was.

"Jump up, if you can reach the ladder I'll pull you up," Jaxon explained, apparently sensing my hesitation. I found myself wishing I had taken Artigas up on his morning runs, while my limited diet had inadvertently caused me to loose some extra weight, I was still self conscious.

"Jump, we have to get back before the storm comes in," he reminded me as he knelt next to the door waiting for me. I sighed again. Now or never I guess.

I took a few steps back and ran forward, putting all my effort into jumping high enough to grab the ladder. I was surprised when both my hands found the metal easily, but quickly became distressed when I realized how slippery it was. How had Jaxon done this by himself?

Before I could fall though Jaxon's hands grasped my wrists tightly. It hurt slightly, but I wasn't about to complain. And as if I weighed nothing he pulled me out of the black hole and onto my feet.

We moved at an even paced jog through the forest on the way back. Jaxon led as I followed only a few feet behind him. Just as the sun began to set we returned back to the village, stopping on the outskirts when we ran into Nyko, Penn, Artigas and many of the other warriors I had come to recognize.

"You're back, good," Nyko said as he walked over, grabbing both of my shoulders and holding me at arms length as he looked me over for injuries. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"I'm fine Nyko," I told him, but he just grunted in response happy enough with his quick evaluation. His eyes moved over to Jaxon, but I noticed he did not get the same lookover I received. I wasn't sure if I should feel flattered or insulted.

"Grimm?" he asked, not having to expand upon that for us to understand what he meant. I lowered my eyes to the ground. Out of my peripheral I saw Jaxon just shake his head softly in response.

"Taim yu drag raun, taim yu ge ban au," Jaxon told Nyko solemnly. Nyko nodded in understanding.

A moment later I got blindsided as a person rushed into me grabbing me in a rough hug, or death embrace - I wasn't sure which one yet.

"Cole! I'm glad you're okay, I heard you got caught out in the fog," Lucas said, loosening his hold on me, but not releasing me entirely from his side. My discomfort must have been evident because Nyko quickly pulled me out of his grasp and Jaxon was now standing by my side glaring at Lucas.

"Have some respect boy," Nyko told Lucas, who looked at me apologetically. My irritation waned.

"I'm fine Lucas, thanks to Jaxon," I told him. Lucas smiled.

"Good, I'm glad he was able to keep you safe," he said. I thought I heard Jaxon mumble something under his breath but I couldn't be sure.

"Did you come all the way out here just to check on me?" I asked curiously. Lucas' home was on the other side of camp from where we were, and while it wasn't exactly a trek it would have been a inconvenience for him at the least.

"Well yeah," he answered, rubbing the back of his head with an embarrassed blush. "That and to ask if you wanted to stay with me during the storm.."

"What?" I asked dumbfounded. Lucas and I had gotten along well and become close during our time here, but I don't know why he would suddenly ask me to stay with him.

"Uhm, because of your roof you know? You told me it leaks, and a lot of people are staying with friends or in some of the bigger buildings to ride out the storm and I thought you might like to stay with someone you know," he explained quickly.

I sent Nyko and Jaxon a confused look. Was that really the protocol for storms?

"Some choose to stay with friends or family, others will stay in our storage buildings. Our healer's building is one of the areas that will be open for the village," Nyko explained. "I anticipated your problem and have already saved you the cot you prefer."

Hm, cot or Lucas? The cot would probably talk less, I thought to myself instantly feeling bad right after though. Lucas was a good friend, and just concerned for me. But sleep. In the end my frazzled brain made the decision easily.

"I appreciate it Lucas, but I think I'll stay in the healer's building tonight. It would be best for at least one of the healers to stay there in case someone gets injured during the storm," I explained lamely.

"Oh, are you sure?" Lucas asked, sounding disappointed. Though I did notice both Jaxon and Nyko relax slightly next to me.

"Yeah, I appreciate the offer though."

"Okay, I'll see you soon though?" he asked as he turned to leave. I smiled at him and reassured him I would be back in the stable before he even missed me.

"Gather what supplies you need and I will meet you at the healer's building Cole," Nyko said to me once Lucas had left. I nodded and watched him walk off. Jaxon made to leave as well before I called out to him.

"Uhm, I never said thank you," I told him sheepishly, suddenly very interested in my worn boots. "So thank you."

"Hm, you're welcome," he grunted in response, now facing me again.

"You know, this smart ass I know once told me that you shouldn't tell people 'you're welcome'. It implies that you would be willing to do other favors for them," I teased lightly, not oblivious to his change in behavior compared to my first days on Earth to now.

He laughed slightly and I could have sworn I saw the always straight faced warrior smirk slightly at me.

"Go get your stuff and head to the healer's building. You think you can manage that without having a near death experience?" he joked back.

Laughing I just shook my head, "No promises."

Moving in the direction of my house, or at least that I thought my house was at I started to make a mental list of the little things I would need to gather before the storm. I had made it only a few feet before Jaxon's voice stopped me.

"By the way Cole, he probably didn't mean to say that you shouldn't say 'you're welcome', only that you should be selective on who you extend that offer," I heard him say behind me, his voice almost being lost against the sound of the wind.

I turned to question him but he had already made his way some distance away from me. I would have to save my question for another time.

I gathered a few supplies and my cat-fur blanket and made my way to the healer's building. Already a few villagers had started to congregate and set up their own little areas. I moved towards the back where Nyko was arranging his own cot, I had noticed he had pulled my favorite one away from the others and arranged it closer to his as well.

The council was still out on whether or not I was okay with protectiveness over me that had been established by virtually every male I had met - even Penn of all people was picky over who he would let insult me of all things - but as Nyko tossed me a small leather pouch full of jerky I knew he made himself I found myself content with it at least for now.

Another chapter out! I started my last semester of college this week so bare with me as I figure out how to juggle a huge capstone project, a heavy work schedule, this story and life! Hint: Reviews help motivate me, and actually make me incredibly excited when you guys send me theories of my story or pick up on my little nuisances I scatter about!

For the person who messaged me, almost all of the grounder's language I use in my story is actually real Trigedasleng (the grounder langague created specifally for the show). I have made some up here and there, but easily 98% of the grounder's language I use is real! Fun fact for ya'll.

In this chapter: hod op - stop/wait
Taim yu drag raun, taim yu ge ban au - those who fall behind, get left behind

Please continue to message me, review, favorite and follow this story. I'll be back with another update soon!