Survival Of The Fittest

((Katie Agustien continued from ieatnothing))

She was far away from the woods now, practically on the other side of the world to them. If she turned and looked back, she could follow the path as it snaked down the hill towards the center of the island, and disappeared into the treeline. There was no sign of Forrest, or Meilin, or even Dane. Nothing to suggest any of them had followed her, or even tried.

Good. All she’d needed to do was to lose the other three, and to get to a different location, and she’d achieved both her targets. It hadn’t mattered where she ended up. It wasn’t as though Saffron’s location was gonna be handily signposted for her, after all. She just needed a restart, a fresh place to start searching for her girlfriend, without being surrounded by people who… well.

Images of broken noses and blood and fury swept through her mind again, and Katie gritted her teeth, continuing her walk up to the cliffside.

The fresh air was cleansing, now that she didn’t have to share it with three other people and feel it slowly replaced with tension and frustration, and she gave herself a moment to close her eyes and feel it rush through her hair. The sea breeze, with its hint of salt and its chill streaming through her pipes was enough to momentarily clear out everything from her mind.

And for that moment, it was pleasant.

But in the next, the realisation that it was cutting off the urge and drive to find Saffron before it was too late hit her, and she opened her eyes, and let the image of Cammy’s body stick to her mind once more, and kept on walking.

She went to the gardens, rather than the temple. No real reason why, it was pretty much a coinflip, but she was tired of being cooped up and surrounded, whether by walls and ceilings or by overarching branches and vines. Her footsteps alternated, thud and tap on the stone pathways, splash and squelch whenever she stepped onto grass.

It was peaceful in the garden. Peaceful, quiet. Empty. It was no longer a surprise to her, so it was hard to feel more than a tiny twinge of disappointment. There was nowhere really to hide out here. She stopped next to a small pile of stones, a memorial that looked much much newer than the other weathered marks of respect, imagining Saffron jumping out from behind them, yelling ‘boo!’ at her.

Katie smiled, even as her hand trembled. Just a small moment of respite. Then on to the next location. On to the next spot of hope.

(Saffron Fields continued from No Center)

Despite her best efforts, Saffron had gotten separated from Arizona. Now she was left to wander the island alone with her thoughts, which were not being particularly useful at the moment. Just reminders that she had lost everyone, she couldn't survive alone, Caroline had died because she couldn't find her in time...

... Yeah, she didn't like that particular one very much.

Her supplies were another major issue. Saffron's metabolism was on the faster side thanks to her near-constant training, but she had to make her food and water last. She would eat a little, just enough to feel that she wouldn't collapse, then move on. While this kept her from draining her supplies too quickly, it also made sure that she felt hungry and thirsty almost 100% of the time. She was tempted to try to loot the next corpse that she saw. She didn't have any malicious intentions, but she needed to survive. While she didn't have the desire to kill, she figured that lifting supplies from the deceased wasn't too objectionable. After all, it was better to put them to use rather than let them sit there and rot.

Of course, that assumed that she actually found any dead bodies, or anyone at all. Since she got separated from Arizona, she actually hadn't seen anyone, living or dead. It was almost as though she had slipped into a dimension where no one else existed. She had never imagined that impending doom would be so boring, which seemed like a strange thing to complain about.

Her travels wound up bringing her from one garden to another. Her map called it the Memorial Garden, and although she didn't know exactly what it was memorializing, it brought a small smile to her face. Unlike the overgrown mess that she had visited before, this garden was neatly maintained despite its age, looking quite serene. It gave her a small form of comfort.

She searched around the garden more out of curiosity than anything, still using her pool cue as a walking stick because she had simply gotten used to it by then. She looked around the respectful memorials until something caught her eye. A tall, muscular girl. Her hair to her shoulders, her outfit from the bus, just standing there. It was almost like a dream, or a mirage powered by hope. Saffron called out to her.

"Katie?"

The footsteps behind Katie weren’t so much drowned out as absorbed, by the sound of the rain and the clifftop wind. They merged together, turned into just more of the island’s atmosphere, its background noise. There had been some novelty to the rain when it had first arrived; it had given her surroundings a different feel, turning the island into a whole different one. But now it was just making everything damp and even more miserable, so now she just did her best to tune it all out.

The footsteps she could just ignore as part of the rainfall. But the voice? Oh, the voice was carried from something else entirely other than the water and the wind.

Her head perked up at the sound, barely daring to believe she’d heard it correctly. There was no mistaken the word that had been spoken, it was hard not to recognise your own name being said after all. But she had to be mistaking the voice for someone else’s. Hearing another girl’s voice and replacing it with what she wanted to hear. She turned, preparing herself for disappointment.

There she was.

Saffron stood at the entrance to the garden, a slate grey sky as a backdrop, just like that first day on the bridge. Some of the pieces were different - the pool cue, the collar around her neck - but the image was enough for Katie to connect the two days, for her heart to flutter away and her mind to go blank once again.

Katie stared at Saffron, mouth hanging slightly open, for what felt like hours. Her hand cracked open, the knife tumbling from it into the damp earth, and before she’d even finished shrugging off her bag, she was running to Saffron, as fast as she could, kicking up water and mud behind her.

She flung her arms around Saffron’s waist, clinging tightly to her, almost knocking the other girl over. She buried her face into her neck, and she felt herself shaking, wordlessly crying into her shoulder.

Saffron let her pool cue fall to the ground as she accepted Katie into her arms, draping them over the other girl's shoulders before embracing her. She patted her on the back and kissed her lightly on the cheek, just as grateful for the reunion as she was.

She stood there for a few minutes, giving Katie the comfort that she clearly needed as she cried into Saffron's shoulder. She hadn't heard Katie's name on the announcements yet, so she knew that she didn't kill anyone. However, that didn't mean that she hadn't suffered in her own right. And whatever she went through, Saffron intended to let her let it all out, right there with her, in a safe place.

"I was so scared." She admits, rubbing Katie's back. "I was afraid that I'd hear your name on the morning announcements, and I'd never see you again." She leaned back and gently stroked she side of Katie's face with her good hand. "But you're here. You're alive." She starts to get audibly choked up. "We're alive."

Saffron's eyes begin to water as she hugs Katie again.

She felt Saffron kiss her cheek and rub her back, and she slowly stopped noticing the raindrops on her hair and her shoulders, and started feeling as though she could let everything around her disappear whilst she remained in Saffron’s arms. The rain, the collar around her neck, the knife lying in the mud behind her, Forrest, Meilin, Dane, Bill, Erika and the words she’d said, Cassidy…

Everything was gone, except for her, and except for Saffron, and the warmth and safety of her embrace.

Saffron was sweaty and soaked through, dirt and foliage clinging to her, but Katie didn’t give a shit about any of that. She remembered the evening after Saffron’s dance recital, how she’d tried to stay as close to her as possible. She remembered the feeling of Saffron’s arm around her shoulders, of the way she’d smelled, her bright and beautiful voice, and those senses trickled back into Katie’s subconscious.

She felt safe. She felt safer than she ever had in her life. A dangerous way to feel to be sure, but here, with nobody around but the two of them, she let herself be so.

“We’re both alive…”

Katie’s voice was soft and trembling, such a far cry from its usual self, so very different to the last time she’d opened her mouth. She could still feel the gentle touch of Saffron’s fingertips on her cheek, and she softly made space between the two of them, arms still around the other girl’s waist.

“I’ve been looking for you since I woke up, and… and I kept on thinking I’d be too late, that the island would just be too big, that I’d run into too much bullshit to keep on searching for you, but… here we are…”

It was an odd thing to think about at a time like this, but they’d never officially said they were dating, had they? Never properly used the term ‘girlfriends’ out loud, although God knows Katie had thought it plenty. It sounded wonderful, that proper label, that… officialness to it, but it also didn’t matter anymore. They were in love. Words were cheap. Katie leaned in and kissed Saffron on the lips.

“Let’s go someplace else,” she murmured, smiling, tears sparkling in her eyes. “Not the temple, that place looks ruined to shit. Let's walk together a bit. Find some shelter. Together.”

((Katie Agustien continued in Tempest of Seasons))

"I was afraid too." Saffron said as she and Katie looked at each other, still in a loose embrace. "But now, it's okay."

She graciously accepts Katie's kiss, holding her a little closer when their lips touched. It was a liberating experience, a feeling of freedom after the massive anxiety of the last couple of days. It wasn't the same feeling that she had when they first met, or when Katie went to her dance recital, or when they kissed for the first time, but it was still a good feeling. In the deepest part of her heart, Saffron knew that this was right, the two of them together again at last.

And she hoped that it would be for a very long time.

"Wherever you want, Katie." Saffron agreed, her fingers interlaced with Katie's as they walked out of the gardens. There was nothing that could have caused her to lose the smile that was on her face at that moment.

(Saffron Fields continued elsewhere...)