'Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.'
- the Bible
With the aid of Abby's shots, most of their symptoms had faded by the end of the third day - Raven's own had pretty much made a dash for the exit, leaving nothing but a lingering nausea and exhaustion in their wake. Luna's were taking a little longer to drag themselves out the door, though, and Raven still caught her sniffling every now and again.
(privately, she thought it was adorable and had to take care not to smile whenever she caught sight of that little crinkle in Luna's nose)
By the fourth night, they were finally granted freedom.
In a rare stroke of mercy, Abby reluctantly gave them the all clear, at last permitting them to escape the tiny room.
(okay, technically Raven had been given the all clear yesterday morning but she hadn't much liked the thought of leaving Luna all on her own with only a bunch of white walls for company)
Her cellmate hadn't wasted any time once freedom had been granted.
She'd taken hold of Raven's sleeve before she could blink and promptly yanked her out the door, as though they had some engagement more pressing than the end of the world to get to.
Raven suspected she'd been chafing under Abby's restrictions almost as much as her. Apparently at one stage, the doctor had even floated the idea of complete bed rest past Luna for the remainder of the week - which seemed a bit of an overreaction given how much she'd improved. At the time, Luna had accepted this with far more grace than Raven would have but she'd still sensed her getting increasingly antsy as the hours wore on. Well, antsy for Luna.
She didn't like being a prisoner, Raven knew that, and she'd been tempted to try persuading Abby to take her overprotective act down a notch and give Luna the all clear to leave. The only thing that had held Raven back was concern for her wellbeing. She did not want to be responsible if Luna left the room only to end up worse off than when she'd entered it.
Still, the days of captivity had taken their toll and Raven had watched as her patience had grown increasingly more frayed.
"If I spend another second trapped inside this room, I'm going to smash every light in sight," Luna had groaned at one point.
She'd been unable to keep back a snort at the words.
"I'm not joking, Raven. I am this close to committing lamp homicide."
Yeah. A no-go on the bedrest.
She suspected it wasn't just the lights Luna wanted to get away from but Abby's watchful eye and constant check-ins. Her fever finally breaking had done nothing to fend off the doctor's hourly invasions. Or her desire to poke and prod her patients - though mostly just one of them. Something which had done nothing to ease Raven's growing nerves - or Luna's, it seemed.
"And would this lamp happen to have the last name Griffin?"
Luna's mouth had twitched at the query and, though she'd offered no confirmation, she also hadn't denied it.
For all her infuriating patience, it seemed even Luna had a breaking point.
And that breaking point was one Abigail Griffin.
Raven would be pleased about the doctor suddenly deciding to prioritize Luna's wellbeing - if she didn't suspect that her concern for Luna wasn't actually about Luna at all. It left a sour taste in Raven's mouth. She wondered whether Luna had drawn similar conclusions - and whether those conclusions had only fed her desire to escape the lab. Escape the reminder of exactly what her value was to the people she inhabited this island with.
A walk was just what she needed. What they both needed, really.
Or, at least, that was what Raven had thought until she'd found out where it actually was Luna was dragging her to.
"Luna, is there any particular reason you're taking us to revisit the scene of our most recent trauma?"
"I want to show you something."
Raven grunted, finding the answer more than unsatisfactory. And is that something a brand new bacterial infection? At least they knew exactly where they were going this time so the walk was practically cut in half. She'd never admit to it but her hip was aching something fierce after being sick and her energy levels were still frustratingly depleted.
Luna's pace had been much slower than normal too - and for once Raven didn't think it was for her benefit.
"It better be something amazing," she groused.
Luna remained impervious to her obvious lack of enthusiasm. "I think it is."
"You think an impossibly large body of water that can kill you is amazing, your tastes aren't to be trusted."
Luna suppressed a smile. "The sea is amazing."
"Keep telling yourself that," Raven muttered, certain she would never see it as such. It was a big pile of blue that took up far too much space and had a death toll greater than any other force on the planet. And, okay, yeah, it was beautiful. But that was hardly enough to redeem it.
They rounded a bend and Raven squinted as she spotted some light up ahead. More drones? Or was Miller out and about?
Hopefully the latter because Raven really didn't want to get shot at. That would just be the cherry on top of her week.
Withholding a sigh as they stepped into the familiar clearing, Raven stopped short. What in the-
Her jaw dropped.
"Shit."
Luna's mouth twitched. "Not the word I'd use to describe it."
Raven was too busy staring to pay the words any notice. "It's freaking glowing."
The scene of their great misfortune. The bane of her existence. The river that had given her the rash from hell. . . was lit up like the Ark during Christmas time. Little orbs of light shone through from beneath the water's surface, coating the banks and spider-webbing up every tree within reach. The whole thing looked like a bunch of fairies had come along and gone wild. Thrown a hullabalooza of a party.
Possibly had an orgy for good measure.
"I told you the algae glows at night. I thought you might like to see the evidence."
Raven hastily picked her jaw up off the ground. She would not let the river win this round. "I mean it's. . . kind of cool."
Luna grinned. "It is. You know, none of my people fish in places like this. Too much risk of coming into contact with the water. So we leave them alone - and life thrives. The algae may be poisonous but it's been of benefit to some at least. The fish have even adapted to eat it, despite the toxins."
It was then Raven's eyes were drawn to the darting beams of light beneath the water's surface. "No way. . ."
Luna followed her gaze, lips drawing higher. "It makes their scales glow."
As if to prove her point, a large shape broke the surface, springing up into the air. The creature which could only be a fish repeated the action several more times, sailing through the night - like the ground's answer to shooting stars.
Raven stared. "You know, I think that's the fucker that tripped me."
She took a step forward-
Luna laughed, holding her back. "I would let the poor thing be. Unless you're keen on puking your guts out for another twenty-four hours."
'Poor thing?' Raven mouthed, but had to concede the point.
She sent her nemesis an entirely appropriate gesture instead, which earned an eye-roll from the woman beside her. "What? He deserved it."
"He's a fish."
"So?"
Luna shook her head, turning away. "So I really doubt he's the evil genius you think he is. He probably doesn't even remember you."
Well, that was insulting.
Finding Raven Reyes forgettable?
Another strike against her arch nemesis.
Luna made her way closer to the bank, though she stopped short of where the lights started. When Raven followed her, she caught sight of black spirals beneath the luminescent shine. They reminded her of Luna's tattoo, only these ones went on and on and on. No trinity. They were endless, disappearing into the water.
Grudgingly, Raven could admit that the effect was kind of beautiful.
Kind of. You know, for evil algae.
"I once saw an entire lake lit up like this during winter. The water had frozen over and beneath the ice you could see little balls of light, darting around." Luna let out a world-weary sigh. "Adria ran out before I could catch her in order to chase them. She nearly gave me a heart attack that day. Luckily the ice was thick enough to hold her." She sent Raven a little grin, "Though I don't think Derrick ever recovered from the fright."
She continued her walk along the bank, Raven following close behind. Luna's gaze was focused on the spectacle to their right, the one that branched out beneath their feet, but Raven was more captivated by the one in front of her: the light from the river reflecting off Luna's hair, her skin glowing under its touch. . .
She looked ethereal.
So maybe the river wasn't so bad, after all. Not if it could produce this.
Raven tried not to stare but, fuck, it was hard.
She wasn't sure she'd ever - no, she knew she'd never seen anything so beautiful in her life.
It's just the light.
That's all.
Just the evil, glowing light.
Against her will, she remembered the naked planes of Luna's back. That time she'd glimpsed her in the bathroom, before the rash had laid siege to her skin. She wondered what it would look like under the glow of the river. What all of her would look like.
Bad Raven.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Maybe she should just jump in this river right now. Maybe the cold water and another dose of hell rash would cool her raging libido.
It was the stress. When she got stressed, she got horny.
You're not so stressed right now. . .
Well, I don't know - fantasizing about your friend on a constant basis is pretty fucking stressful!
Still, if Raven had to be honest, her stress levels really weren't all that high at the moment. In fact, she felt oddly calm. At peace, even.
Must be the algae.
Maybe they released some sort of noxious sedative into the air. Or pheromone. Which would explain why her breath kept catching every time the light caught Luna's hair just so, or worse: when she turned her head, the planes of her face gleaming, the edge of her smile, her lips. . .
Fuck me.
"I told you it was amazing."
The sound of Luna's voice nearly made her trip.
Raven cleared her throat, trying to cover the fact that she'd nearly face-planted into the stupid river for a second time. "I guess it's. . . passable."
Luna halted, turning to gaze out at the water. Thankfully, she seemed unaware of her plight.
Or was kind enough not to draw attention to it.
"Two years after my Conclave, I came across one of these rivers. It was useless to me. I couldn't drink from it, couldn't fish from it. I should have moved on. But I liked the lights." She smiled. "It made the night beautiful. Safer. . . I didn't feel so alone when I had that light."
Raven watched her for a time, heart swelling as she took in the soft curve of her smile. She wondered how Luna could smile at all about this. How she could find beauty in one of the darkest periods of her life.
Raven's heart - bigger, heavier - became weighted as she calculated the rest of what Luna had said. The fact that she'd been alone for at least two years. Raven couldn't imagine being alone that long. Entirely alone.
She'd always had someone. Even if that someone was just a mother who most days didn't even seem to want her. At least when she was a child, in the years before she'd met Finn, Raven had been able to delude herself into believing that she did.
It made any loneliness that was felt more bearable, though no less painful.
But she had no clue what it was like to be alone in the dark.
Your only source of company, a bunch of poisonous bacteria.
Raven took a breath, making a decision. "I want to tell you about something that made me feel less alone too. . . someone, actually."
Luna turned to her, brow furrowed.
And before Raven could change her mind, think better of it, she shoved the words out of her mouth. "His name was Finn."
Luna gazed at her for a moment, the confusion dissipating. . . then slowly smiled. "Okay."
'It is freezing, but it is a good thing
to step outside again:
you can feel less alone in the night,
with lights on here and there
between the dark buildings and trees. . .'
― Franz Wright