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the heat of the volcano clings to your skin, your nerves rising with the temperature as you head deeper into the cave. as hot as it is, the warmth of jake’s hand on the small of your back should not be comforting, but you cling to the safety of it, his touch your anchor in the sea of danger you can’t seem to swim out of.
diego is in front of you with varyyn, looking around. they both pause suddenly, looking in opposite directions.
diego says your name quietly, gesturing for you to come closer. “what are those?” he asks, and you notice the runes when you turn. varyyn doesn’t even glance your way, walking toward the other side in an eerie silence.
“varyyn?” you call.
“i think you need to see this,” he says as a response. the entire group’s attention moves from the runes diego continues to head toward, gasping quietly when they see the glimmer and light that reflects off of the other half of the island’s heart, nestled on a rock in the middle of the lava.
“how are we supposed to get that?” sean wonders aloud, crouching on the edge of the rocks.
“be careful,” michelle urges, a hand moving to hold his shoulder.
“uhh, if any one of us has been hiding that they can fly or something, now would be the best time to tell us, dudes,” craig implores hopefully, looking around the group. after a moment with no responses, his face falls. “no takers, then?”
zahra rolls her eyes, pushing past him.
you glance at diego once more, squinting at the heart again when you see he’s only looking around. “what do we do?” you ask, easily noting that no one has long enough arms to reach. a brief glimpse at one of your precariously balancing over the lava, held by criag or sean, flashes past your mind, and you cringe immediately, unwilling to put any of you in that kind of danger.
“i can try calling it over,” quinn offers after a moment.
“i thought you couldn’t do that anymore,” aleister states. “you said the connection wasn’t strong anymore.”
“i can still… feel it,” quinn replies, her face contorted as she tries to explain. “it’s like it’s pulling me to it, maybe i can pull it to me instead.”
“but what if… it happens again?” grace points out worriedly. “or what if it’s not strong enough and the heart falls into the lava?”
“i don’t see any other choice,” estela points out.
the group nods, albeit hesitantly. michelle stares at quinn, concern coloring her dark eyes, and you move to stand next to quinn, ready to help her if she needs it, but jake holds you in place.
you turn to him to argue, but his face is set with a hardness you’d not seen before, a certain kind of fear that reminds you of the last time quinn connected with the heart.
but quinn’s facade of reassurance is obviously delicate to you, a flimsy mask that you need to help her solidify. you smile gently at him, urging him to trust you.
“i’ll be fine,” you promise quietly.
his eyes scan you, and his grip on you loosens slowly.
“i’ll be right next to you, quinn,” you assure, walking towards her. her fingers curl around yours tightly, squeezing once. you squeeze back, and she lets out a shaky exhale, shimmying her shoulders. “you can do this. i believe in you.”
“i can do this,” she repeats, stepping toward the edge, her hand slipping from yours.
she exhales, closing her eyes. it takes a few silent seconds, her features pinched, but a familiar green glow begins to surround her. her eyes snap open, but the color of her irises is gone, eerily green instead.
“i am not complete,” she says, but her voice is flat, as if someone else were saying it using her tongue. “make me complete…” she wails, beginning to levitate. your arm reaches out to hold her leg, but a movement in the pool of lava distracts you. slowly but unquestionably, the heart is inching toward quinn.
“broken,” she mumbles, and she tenses, a hand extending toward the heart. “mine.”
the half flies to her hands, and you wrap a hand around quinn’s ankle, pulling at her. quinn barely notices, head down to look at the heart. her hands shake.
“quinn!” you yell.
“broken!” quinn sobs. you reach for her hand, leaning on your toes.
“quinn, fight it!” you urge. “come on, quinn,” you mumble. “we need you.”
she grunts suddenly, and the green begins to flicker. she lowers, the glow dimming until it fades completely, and quinn slumps. you catch the heart with one hand, lowering a panting quinn to the floor with the other.
“did i do it?” she aks tiredly.
“you did it, quinn.” you lift the heart, pride and relief making your head rush. your other friends surround you in seconds, michelle hurriedly beginning to take quinn’s pulse.
as you revel in the victory, a strange pull freezes the blood in your veins, directing your attention from the heart to your best friend, who still hasn’t followed the group. you cock your head at him, handing the heart to craig as you stand and walk over to him. with all the commotion, nearly noone notices as you leave.
“diego?” you ask, but he doesn’t respond, barely showing that he listened to you running his fingers along the indentations on the rock. jake notices your disappearance and turns toward you, his brows furrowed.
“hey, princess, be careful,” he reminds, beginning to follow you. diego stops suddenly, his features molding in excitement.
“there’s a button here!” he exclaims.
“short stuff--” jake starts.
“i really don’t think we should touch anything--” grace begins, just as diego pushes.
you see it before he does, the gigantic stone that begins to fall from somewhere in the cieling. you take off into a run.
“diego, move!” you scream, launching yourself at him to move him out of the way. his face contorts into surprise, then into a wince as you both land on the ground.
“princess!” you hear among the voices of the group, and you spot the arrows beginning to launch when you turn, grabbing diego’s hand to drag him to the place where the rest of the group is, but he’s woozy and takes a second to get up.
you can see jake beginning to take off in a run to get to you, but you yell at him to stop, the panic of him being in danger too making images of him, hurt and in your arms, flash across your mind. estela, sean, and craig grab onto him, stopping him in his tracks as he thrashes against them, ordering them to let him go.
varyyn has fear plastered across his face as he eyes diego, and his panicked thoughts tumble around in your mind as you dodge a particularly sharp arrow. diego’s name is screamt repeatedly, but you push everything aside as you race to safety, shoving diego to get him out of harm’s way when you spot a spear flying. you wince when it grazes your calf, but the pain feels minimal once you’re finally safe.
you tumble down with diego, ignoring the burn of your wound as you check to see he’s okay. varyyn and michelle run to you in a hurry to examine him, but jake is faster, in front of you in a second.
he holds your face in his hands, grip firm on the sides of your face but still gentle as he always is with you. “princess? you okay?” he checks, eyes wide and frantic as they scan you. you nod, gulping. he sighs in relief, pulling you into his embrace, hands desperately tugging you closer, dancing around your shoulders and waist, as if to make sure you’re real. you melt immediately, tucking your face into the crook of his neck. “don’t ever do that again,” he commands, but it’s quiet, pleading. “i can’t lose you, princess.”
you sniffle, hugging him tighter.
“is diego okay?” you ask after a second, still nestled in jake because you can’t bear if the answer to your question isn’t yes. but michelle confirms, and you swallow, turning toward your best friend.
“just a little shaken up,” diego says, offering you a crooked smile. “but alive. thanks to you, y/n. you saved me.” you pull away from jake to press a loud kiss on diego’s forehead, and then punch his shoulder.
“you’re an idiot,” you tell him. affectionately.
“you almost died to save this idiot,” he reminds. you don’t miss that varyyn’s fingers are tangled with diego’s, pure relief in his eyes.
“how’s quinn?” you question after, leaning up to catch sight of your friend, cringing when you put too much pressure on your leg. “ouch,” you frown, fingers reaching toward the source and coming back scarlet.
“you’re bleeding,” jake realizes, michelle coming around to help you when she hears.
“it’s just a scratch,” you point out, but he’s having none of it.
“spears don’t scratch,” he states worriedly. “is she okay?” he asks michelle.
“it’s not too deep, just gotta clean it and keep pressure. maybe don’t jump or run for a while,” michelle recommends, carefully examining your cut.
“give someone else a chance to play hero,” sean winks. you roll your eyes playfully.
“says you,” you rebut.
you look back at the ruins, eyeing the weaponry that nearly took yours and diego’s life splayed on the ground. an arrow protrudes from a crack in the rock. nearly as soon as you spy it, there’s a rumbling that makes craig drop the heart.
zahra springs for it before it can fall into the lava, shooting craig a dirty look as she holds it protectively to her chest. the movements don’t cease though, only becoming stronger.
“just when i think it can’t get weirder,” jake mutters, holding you closer.
“this is not a good sign,” aleister states helpfully, settling a hand on the small of grace’s back. “we must go.”
michelle and estela help quinn rise to her feet, hovering around her after she insists she’s fine and following after her as she leaves. jake and sean help you up, and you limp your way outside, glancing back one last time to see the empty cave pierced with weapons.
you walk as fast as you can, leaning mostly on the guys helping you, until you arrive at the entrance again, hiding inside the deserted building you’d found as the rumbling got worse.
your knees buckle the moment you know you’re safe, but jake keeps you upright, his strong hands lowering you gently on the stones, where he sits with you, eyeing you carefully.
“how you doin’, princess?” he checks, fingers running along the small cuts that litter your face.
“dandy,” you reply, letting your head drop against his chest, appreciating the gentle shake of it as he chuckles, the hand draped around your waist pulling you closer. he presses his lips to the crown of your head and sighs.
“i’m glad you’re okay,” he murmurs. “i don’t know what i’d do without you.”
“probably kill sean,” you tease.
he squeezes you playfully. “i’m glad i met you, princess.”
“i’m glad i met you, too, top gun,” you grin.