Greed. Need. Fame. [Full :)]

Ten Sauna

I run off into the forest. They want food? They want animals? That's what they'll get. That's what I'll get for them. There's animals all around, I can hear them but they can't hear me. I'm crouching in a tree, silently watching the ground and all around me for one of them to come out. I can hear more than animals too, I can hear people, but I won't come down, not until I have a clear target.

Something rustles but it's just the wind, a small breeze. Something snaps and it's the enemy. A small group comes through the brush, chatting quietly and holding ropes. They come up to my tree and set up a trap a few branches below mine. It was a trap for catching animals, at least that's what it looked like, but I'm sure that if they caught something else - say a human - it could hold the weight. The knot was very tight, professional. I want to compliment the person who tied it on their skills but I keep silent.

They mumble a few more things about what to do next and decide they'll leave and then come back a few minutes later. They go away and not even two minutes after their gone a rabbit comes hopping through and right into the trap. I descend from the tree and let the rabbit out of the trap. It struggles a bit in my hand but I quickly crush it's neck. I set the trap back up because it was a very good one and I'm smiling at the dead animal when a branch cracks. I scramble back up the tree seconds before another group comes crashing through. It's my team.

"Me? Graceful?" Micah says, "Are you kidding? I'm, like, incapable of walking ten feet without tripping!" I hear Micah laughing and talking. They should work on being quieter. What if I was an enemy? I grin at the thought. He takes a few steps and passes by my tree, or at least tries to pass by, but instead he triggers the trap and is yanked up.

"Oh, bugger." I nearly laugh, but I don't. The others are laughing and are about to get him down with the enemy comes running through. Everyone stops, the enemy too for a moment, and then another small battle breaks out. Mavrick and Nadia are fighting off the group, bigger than before, and Effy and Lire are trying to keep them away from Micah, who is struggling in the rope. I smile and decide it's time to intervene when I hear some other noises over the fighting, the sound of running feet. I jump down from the tree and Micah gives a small scream before relaxing.

"Hello, Micah," I say with a smile.

"Hello, Ten," he replies.

"I see you're stuck."

"I see that also."

"I should get you down, yeah?"

"Yeah." I cut the rope and he goes falling down to the ground and lands with a grunt. Holding his back, he gets up and stretches. Next thing to do is deal with the group but I'm getting ready to fight when the high whistle from before interrupts me again. Everything gets quiet and the group all takes off as one again, leaving the forest in an eerie silence.

Everyone's checking on Micah so I get back up in the tree and get my rabbit. I come back down and give the rabbit to Lire. She looks at it weerily.

"Thanks," she says. I smile and shrug.

"It's not much, but I'll get more, okay. Tell Dill I said I'll be back soon."

I'm turning to go when Lire stops me.

"You should come back, Ten. I don't think Dill wants you out here alone." I almost listen to her, almost, but I keep walking.

"No," I say. "I will be back before it gets dark." I stop and turn to face Lire. "Do you think Dill will be mad at me?"

"I don't know, Ten."

I bite my lip and stop. I don't want to get yelled at...

"I- I'm only getting food." I nod at turn away. "Goodbye." With that I run into the forest silently.

*Mason & Seph*

Mason wiped her sword on a tree, then slid it back in her shealth. "Unworthy? I'd rather be unworthy than a tyrant."

"Oh, so now I'm a tyrant?" Dill's eyes narrowed dangerously. He picked up the boar and slung it over his back.

"I'm saying you're running an anarcy here." Mason pushed Seph behind her, her blue eyes digging into Dill's.

"I wasn't 'running an anarcy'! Someone needed to take charge. In case you didn't notice, I was trying to keep us alive!" Dill roared, the muscles in his arms twitching.

"Um, Mason." Seph whispered.

"You assigned us jobs! No, you ordered us!" Mason snarled, ignoring Seph. Her hand twitched towards her sword.

"It's not like you dungheads were going to do anything without someone ordering you around!" Dill droped the boar to the ground and walked over to Mason until they were nose-to-nose.

"Try asking us, you insolent, arrogant-"

"STOP IT!" Seph squeezed betweent hem and shoved them apart. "Instead of arguing and drawing attention to yourselves, try going back to base where our team is waiting for us!

Dill smiled slightly at Seph. "You're right. Lead the way." He picked up the boar and, ignoring Mason, followed Seph. Mason scowled and followed them to camp.

Nadia

As we reach the group on the opposite bank, almost instantly our walk back towards camp, bringing water, starts back up. I let myself fall to the back, partly for privacy and partly because I hate wet clothing and being irritated slows my pace. My cousin used to call me a princess, a diva, and I was any thing but. But everyone has their pet peeves right?


"I think that we need to work on keeping our balance, not knife-throwing," Micah chimes in after a moment and I whip my head around to give him a half angry half amused stare.

"Micah! It is not my fault I'm not as graceful as you." I snort shifting the pods on my shoulders a little. I think I needed to work on strength training a little too. But I was quick and precise when in a fight, and currently that was good enough for me.

"Graceful! Why I can hardly walk ten steps without tripping!" He says laughing now, I join him but only for a moment. Because as if timed, he is ripped from the ground and now dangling from a tree.

"Oh bugger.." He mutters and I can't help but utter a little shriek, Ten comes out of the bushes smiling and then on the opposite side our opposing team launches themselves at us. One man flies through the air at me and I pull out my dagger, managing to slice through his forearm, he yells out and grips it, retreating already.

"Oh very brave, very gallant." I yell, taking on another boy who comes at me, I look back worriedly and Ten is freeing Micah, while Lire and Effy are keeping the enemy away from him. I let out a sigh of relief and turn my head just a bit too late to see the same boy I was fighting previously try and jam his own sword into my leg, I dodge it but barley and I am left with a long but not deep slice on the thigh.

Angered I move in for the kill, as if he were no more than an animal that had just attacked me, but the strange and shrill whistle blows again and the come as quickly as they came. "So odd." I whisper as I turn back to our group.

"Will Dill be mad at me?" Ten asks.

"I don't know Ten." Lire replies, and he leaves too. Probably back to the group that went out to hunt. I hope they have more food. I caught up with Micah and look down at his ankle, the red outline of the rope burn is there but it doesn't look to serious.

"You okay?" I asked biting my lower lip, moving with the others back to camp.

"Oh yeah. Fine." He brushes it off as if nothing happened. I smile a little.

"Never thought I could look graceful." I say with a laugh. It suddenly occurs to me there are other people in our group involved in the same fight. "Is everyone else fine?" I call out looking at the others, a few scrapes, a few cuts. But nothing mortally wounding anyone. Effy rolls her eyes. Lire nods. We being (yet again) on our trek back to the camp. This time with water.

Micah,

I'm thoroughly annoyed, first because I actually got caught in that stupid trap and second because I'm incapable of freeing myself from it, and so have to be protected. Still, Ten is a great guy, below the strangeness, and I'm glad that he helped me, instead of, you know, eating me, or something. I'm also grudgingly grateful that Effy, Lire, and Mavrick protected me, even though they don't have any great love of me. Well, I guess Lire hasn't ever been openly hostile towards me.
I smile at Nadia as I get up and brush myself off.

"You okay?" she asks, looking concerned.

"Oh yeah. Fine," I say, smiling

"Never thought that I could look graceful," Nadia laughs, before checking that the others are okay. There are a few cuts and bruises, but nothing major. Ten has already left.

"We should have given him some water," I say, worriedly, "The other group hasn't had anything to drink in over a day. They need to get hydrated."

"We'll meet them soon enough," Effy snaps, "If we stop jabbering away and start moving!" So saying, she stalks off, back towards the beach.
Again, we all start walking.

"That cut on your leg doesn't look good," I say to Nadia, concern evident in my voice.

"Oh," she involuntarily winces, "It's, uh, fine."

"Nadia, you are a terrible liar," I say softly, "When we get back to camp, we're gonna have to clean it up and bind it well, 'kay?"

"Fine," Nadia mutters. I can tell that she doesn't want to be babied. I take her hand in mine and squeeze it.

"It's not a sign of weakness," I say in a low voice, "It's just doing what must be done, or else you'll get infected."

Nadia

The cut on my leg burns a little, but that is what is to be expected when some one slices you open in a fight. I wonder how dirty the weapon that the opposing team member used. Probably filthy and my leg would fester away to nothing. I rolled my eyes and closed them for a minute.

"That cut on your leg doesn't look good." Micah says eying it warily. I purse my lips. I hate concern, it makes me feel as if I can't take care of myself. As if I've done something wrong.

"No. It's, uh, fine." I mutter. I took a large step, wanting now only to get back to camp, the wound opened up. I winced.


"Nadia, you are a terrible liar," Micah says softly, "When we get back to camp, we're gonna have to clean it up and bind it well, 'kay?" I sighed.

"Fine."

"It's not a sign of weakness, It's just doing what must be done, or else you'll get infected." I rolled my eyes and nodded. An infection on this island would not be enjoyable. It would actually be the end of me. I pressed a free hand to it and Micah took my other one. I jolted up straight and my face colored again. But I let him take it. I hear Effy's scoff from behind us.

"Let's hurry it up and try to make it to camp." She hisses pushing past me and continuing on in a half march/almost run. I wrinkle my nose and give her dagger eyes. But her back is to me and she takes no notice.

It doesn't take too long before we are back at camp. We exit the dense jungle like forest and step back on the beach. My feet welcome the texture of the sand and Dill and Mason and---the other girl, I need to remember her name, come through the woods from further up. With a boar. Thank god. I drop my water packs on a flat rock a little way off from the shelter and drop onto a piece of wood.

"So are you going to fix me up doctor Micah or should I?" I ask tracing my fingers over the cut and closing my eyes in a moment of pain. Stupid enemy and their damned weapons. I kicked the sand in front of me.

"Shit that was stupid of me. I should have kept my guard up." I mumbled pushing my hair over my left shoulder, exposing my right leg better.

Micah,

We finally make it back to camp, just as Dill, Mason, and Seph approach. They've got a boar. Thanks goodness. We all drop our strings of water-pods and then I offer one around to the returning food group. They look skeptical.

"There's water inside," I say tiredly, not wanting to take anymore crap from Dill, "We've already drunk some."

I walk over to Nadia, who is sitting down, examining her wound.

"So are you going to fix me up doctor Micah or should I?" she says, tracing the wound with her finger and wincing. She lets out a sigh of irritation, "Shit that was stupid of me. I should have kept my guard up."

"You did well," I say, taking off my coat and my shirt, leaving me with just the undershirt on, "The other team doesn't seem to have any knife-fighters who can beat you!" She smiles a little.

I tear a strip off my shirt and press it to the wound, sopping up the minimal amount of blood. Nadia lets out a little moan. Next, I reach into my pocket, taking out the sewing kit I carry everywhere (since I never get new clothes, and I never know when I'll get shunted into the next god-awful foster home), and take out a needle.

"What color thread do you want," I ask, grinning. Nadia just shakes her head.

"I don't give a shit," she says. I shrug.

"Just let me go disinfect this, and I'll fix you up." I say, patting her leg.

When I've boiled the needle, I return and pick up the spool of gray thread.

"This is definitely gonna sting like hell," I say. I begin to sew her back up. It's not that big a cut, and it's shallow, but it's big enough that stitches are necessary. Nadia is biting her lower lip, but she's looking stonily at Dill, who is gutting the boar, and doesn't look that pained. She's strong, this one. I finish, tie a knot, and cut the extra off with my knife. I tear off more of my shirt and wrap it tightly around her leg.

"There you go," I say brightly, "Good as new."

Nadia

What color thread do you want?" Asks Micah pulling out a small sewing kit from his jacket. I had no idea men carried around stuff like that and I smiled.

"I don't give a shit." I muttered turning my head towards Dill and the boar. I hated needles. I hated them. I think I had visited one doctor in my life and I nearly had a conniption when they tried to put that i.v. in my arm.

"It's going to sting like hell." He adds, I nod slightly and keep my face turned away. And it does hurt. But he is gentle and I am biting down on my lower lip hard to disguise some of the pain. It helps, actually. To bring pain to some where else. It distract me. I wince only once more as he ties the bit of shirt around my leg.

"There you go, good as new." He adds smiling. I look up at him and stick out my hand.

"Good. Now help me up." I add bracing myself against the rock to my side. He smirks and pulls me up, perhaps a little faster or harder than intended. Or maybe he overestimated my weight, I jerk up quickly and bounce back off his chest. Luckily he catches me with his free hand, wrapping it around my back and holding me up. I get my feet steadily on the ground and begin to laugh.

"Thank you." I add smiling, one eyebrow raised slightly.

Micah,

As I help Nadia back up, I realize too late that she's a lot lighter than I thought. She bounces back off my chest, but I catch her, wrapping my arm around her back. She laughs as she rights herself.

"Thank you," she says, smiling. One of her eyebrows lifts slightly.

"My pleasure," I say, still remembering the feeling of my arm around her back. Unthinkingly, I kiss the top of her head, "Wouldn't want to lose a great fighter like you."

I blush, and so does she. Luckily, only Effy was looking. Why is it always Effy? She just snorts, and turns away, going to help cook the boar.
I hand Nadia a water-pod. We both drink from it and then walk towards the smells of roasting boar.

"Never thought I'd say this, but this whole situation isn't that bad," I say.

Nadia snorts, "How so?"

"Well, we've got food, water, a beautiful beach...each other," I say, blushing.

Nadia smiles, "And the other people trying to kill us? Where do they fit into your little realm of contentedness?"

"Okay, so that's not so good. I don't like killing," I say, a bit uncomfortably, "But at least they've been easy to take out so far, right?"

Nadia

Micah nonchalantly kisses the top of my head and as I look up at him, red and smiling, I see his face is the same color. I laugh it off, I have got to stop blushing so much or my face would be this color permanently.

Never thought I'd say this, but this whole situation isn't that bad." Micah speaks up suddenly. I look up into his face, my expression quizzical. We could both be dead by this time tomorrow, random people storming out of the woods to kill, yes kill, us. And a whole group of people who doubtlessly thought that being interested in some one on the island was stupid and pointless.

"How so?" I ask with a snort. I can't help it. I want to be sweet and cute all the time but I simply can not bring myself to act as such.

"Well, we've got food, water, a beautiful beach...each other." He explains slowly. His face changes, yet again, to the color of his hair. I touch his nose with my index finger.

"And the other people trying to kill us? Where do they fit into your little realm of contentedness?" I ask after a moment.

"Okay, so that's not so good. I don't like killing, but they've been easy to take out so far, right?" He asks looking at me. He seems a little..ashamed? Yes almost embarrassed that he doesn't kill with the ease of Dill or Ten.

"I honestly hate it too. I killed someone once, before we were here. On this island. And I swore I would never kill any one again. But here, I know I need that money and I know I need to survive. I try to think of them as animals. I try not to think about the families or loved ones that will be devastated when they discover their child's death." I've said too much and I know it, but I don't mind. He should know this. I don't care if he knows it. Any one else. I am content if they think me a killing machine. But I want Micah to know he is not alone. And I am sure there are others on this team who feel the same way. But right now, he is the only one I am already falling in love with.

"I guess if you leave the killing out, it's not so bad after all." I say finally. Letting a light smile touch my lips. "I wonder what plans almighty Dill has for us when we are back with the group." I say with a chuckle. He would probably be horrified to see the budding romance (romance, should I call it that I ask myself). He would think it was stupid. He would agree with Effy. But Lire and Mav. I thought I saw something between them too.

Micah,

It gives me strength to know that Nadia too hates the fact that we have to kill. Even if we have to continue in doing so, at least I have someone to share my pain with.

"I wonder what plans almighty Dill has for us when we are back with the group," Nadia chuckles, lightening the mood considerably.

I snigger, "Oh, I'm sure that His Almighty Dillness has an amazing battle plan all figured out."

Both laughing, we reach the others.

"What are you two laughing about?" Dill snaps.

"Oh, nothing," I say, innocently, "We were only rejoicing in the fact that our great, big, happy family is all together again."

Dill's jaw tenses, but I see the lips of some of the others' twitch.

"So," I say, flopping down on the ground, "What next?

Dill Rivanni

I was mad, which was actually very obvious.

Everyone returned back to camp, everyone except Ten who was God knows where doing God knows what. I pulled at my hair and paced back and forth quickly, creating a small grove in the sand. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes but I held them back. What good would crying do?

Ten could be fully gone now? Who knows if Ten was even in control? London probably took over by now. He could be gone, way too far gone. Just like when he was held hostage and I got him back all broken and insane. He could be like that. If London took over fully i'd never get Ten back.

"Shit," I mumble to myself. "Fuck. Damn it all." I can feel warm tears trailing down my cheeks and I wipe them away with a scowl. At least the others can't see me. But Ten will come back, right? Yeah, he knows better. He's just getting food and then he'll come back.

I laugh bitterly and sink down into the sand, my back against the hut. The others are working on the boar and drinking water. I hear Micah and Nadia laughing, like everything was freaking okay, and something in me snaps.

"What are you two laughing about?" My voice is hard and sinister. I know I'm being mean, I don't even know why I asked. I had no say in whether they laughed or not, but I'm so mad right now - so fucking sad. I turn my head away quickly, not caring about their answer. A snippet of Nadia's reply reaches my ears and narrow my eyes and clench my jaw. "Big happy family" my ass. I stand, not able to just sit down anymore.

I walk over to where I stash all my ammo and grab a few rounds and my gun. I needed to kill someone, anyone, and it's just my luck we have a whole army to fight against.

"Hey, where are you going," someone calls. I don't know who it is but the tears are running down my face and I won't turn around so they can see.

"None of your damned business," I snap back. Why the hell should they care anyway. I run into the forest, searching for the enemy. Either I'll find them or they'll find me. Or, perhaps, I'll find Ten, which is unlikely. He has a way to stay hidden when he doesn't want to be found.

Nadia

"What are you two laughing about?" Dill snaps and I turn my head towards him slowly.

"Nothing." I say, face neutral. Something about him irritated me beyond measure. But he looks distressed, I can see it behind his eyes which are focused somewhere between Micah and me, looking beyond irritated. He looked so damned mad. That was what scared me, though I would never show it. I had a nasty way of acting more sarcastic and nasty as the situations became more intense. I saw a muscle in his jaw twitch and I scooted a bit closer towards Micah and the rock he was resting against.

He turns quickly and begins to walk into the woods, gun cocked and waiting on his arm. He could turn around and shoot any one of us if he pleased.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Calls Effy as his pace quickens.

"None of your damn business." Dill yells back. What. An. Ass. I look at Micah and raise my eyebrows. He shrugs. I look around again and realize, Ten is not back with us.

"If you're looking for Ten, we saw him in the woods a while back. He was worried you would be mad at him." I called out as he entered the forest. He paused.

"He helped Micah out of a snare and then left after we fought of a bit of the...enemy." I added, cupping a hand around my mouth to try and make my voice louder. It was thin enough at a normal volume.

Micah,

Slowly, Dill stops. It's obvious that he's worried about Ten, and I even feel bad for aggravating him, if only a little. He's still an arrogant bastard.

"He helped Micah out of a snare and then left after we fought of a bit of the...enemy," Nadia says.

"Yeah," I say, awkwardly, "He said that he was off to do some more hunting, but that he'd be back before dark."

Dill turns around, "And you let him go? Off in the forest, on his own?" His voice is soft, and I hear more menace in it than if he'd been yelling at the top of his lungs.

We shift uncomfortably, but I say, defensively, "Well, we didn't want him getting angry, and we didn't want you getting angry at us. Let's face it, that's a likely scenario, and I'm sick of you telling us that everything's our fault."

Well, that didn't make much sense, but, there, at least I said it. Nadia is looking at me with an inscrutable expression on her face. Dill is still standing at the edge of the wood.

Mavrick Lock

"Well we didn't want him to get angery and we didn't want you to get angery at us. Lets face it that's a likely scenario and I'm sick of you telling us that everything is our fault." Micah's face was flush and his jaw stuck out as he glowed at Dill.

Micah's statement was so confusing that Mavrick wanted to laugh, however he checked him self. Dill defiantly wasn't amused and some how Mavrick didn't think laughing would help the situation.

Dill's mouth slid in to his sarcastic smirk. "You thought I'd get mad" his tone thick with fake sweetness before turning dangerous. "Well you're darn right I'm mad. This whole group is nothing but incompetent.!" His voice raising to a shout.

Micah opened his mouth to reply but Mavrick spoke first. Keeping his tone carefully neutral he addressed Dill.

"Come on Dill, you know Ten better than any of us. You honestly think we could make him do anything he didn't want to"

Dill huffed and folded his arms. Lire spoke up from were she was crouched by the fire.

"I tried to get him to come back Dill," She pocked the fire with a stick and little sparks shot up. "He just wouldn't"

"Yeah" Effy agreed, taking a long drag from a cigarette and slowly blowing out the spoke. "besides your the one who let him off his leash, if recall correctly." She smiled and Mavrick wanted to strangle her. Now they were right back where they started He thought, seeing the look on Dill's face.

Mavrick meet Lire's eyes and could see she was thinking the same thing.

She stood suddenly and brushed the dirt from her pants. "Ten said he'd be back by dark." Lire addressed all of them. "So why don't we stop bickering like childern, wait to see if Ten come back like he said he would and if he doesn't then we all go and look for him."

Nadia

I watched as the entire group was thrown into a frenzy. Effy. Oh Effy. Wonderful at fighting, very skilled. But so hard to get along with. Why didn't she see how upset, how terrifyingly angry Dill was. And I supposed I would be too, I could only imagine how dangerous a feral Ten could get.

"Well you're darn right I'm mad. This whole group is nothing but incompetent!" Dill shouts and my body jumps a little in surprise. I could only imagine how dangerous a furious Dill could get. I reached back and placed my hand on Micah's knee. His voice echoed in the silence that ensued for a moment after. After a few moments Lire stood. She brushed her hands on her pants and sighed. Her whole presence had a stern, sort of motherly aura about it.

"So why don't we stop bickering like children, wait to see if Ten come back like he said he would and if he doesn't then we all go and look for him." She says calmly looking around at the group and then back at Dill. I tightened my grip on Micah's leg.

"If you want us to help." I said in an even tone, That is if we are not too incompetent for you. I snarled inwardly and bit on my lower lip waiting for Dill's reply. Maybe it was too dangerous for us, and I didn't want to be the one to find a Ten-gone-wild and have to hurt, even kill him, just to protect myself. I hoped that killing members of our own team wouldn't come until much, much later.