[Neil & Danny - Second island]

[plantfood]

The small pack on his back has water, food and sunscreen, enough of the first two to sustain him for a full week if necessary. It won't be, Mathias knows this, but even with all the work he's done on going into the jungle, he can't completely shake the fear that something terrible will happen. Something will keep him there, even if Neil and Danny get to leave and it's entirely irrational, but the extra food and water make him feel better. They calm the heavy pound of his heart.

Lucy knows where they're going and how long they'll be gone for, something else he's learned the hard way. In Mexico, no one had known where they were, but he's made sure that's covered here, and he's not worried about that. If they don't return by this evening, someone will come for them.

There's no reason to think they won't return. It's a simple trip to the second island. The restlessness that has been growing in Mathias for weeks has been almost overwhelming since Veronica's disappearance. Without her, he feels less grounded, scattered, like there's nothing to keep him from disappearing himself, though he knows that isn't true. He has Sam to look after, and it's because of her that he hasn't gone sooner.

Now, though, he's standing on the west beach with Danny and Neil, early morning sunlight turning the waves pink. There are two canoes in the sand, ready for them to push off and he doesn't feel good. There's not even the smallest part of him that feels close to good, but he doesn't feel terrible either. And that's something.

"Who wants to row on their own?" he asks with a small smile, gesturing at the two canoes.

Comments

[little_moons]

I've got my back to them, squinting against the sun and looking out over the trees, and it's nice. Quiet. Fuckin' peaceful, until I hear an ominous creak, a dry snap, and by the time I turn toward them, they've already disappeared from view.

"Fuck," I hiss, running toward the jagged hole in the ground, a haphazardly covered passageway leading down to fuck knows where. Skidding to a stop at the edge, just as dirt and rock gives way to rotting wood, I lean over, peering down into the darkness and shouting, "Mathias!" and wincing at how my voice seems to echo down, down, down forever.

[haolehothead]

Danny's gone down with Mathias and while he thinks he's in decent shape, he does the check. Couple of cuts and bruises and a definitely nice gash in his arm, but it's sluggish and bleeds slow. Nothing but mild things that a good band-aid will fix up. He tries to see through the dust and crawls over to Mathias' side, wincing slightly.

"Hey," he says hoarsely. "Hey, Mathias, I want you to lie still, okay? I need to check and see if you hurt your neck."

[plantfood]

From somewhere above, somewhere far, far too high, he can hear Neil calling his name. Much closer, he can hear Danny, but he can't make sense of any of the words. In the dark, somewhere down a tunnel, he can hear the whispers starting already. The flowers are there, they have to be. They're there, he's convinced, vibrating with noise, murmuring to him in German and Mathias twists on the ground, trying to get his feet under him.

There's a sharp pain in his left leg and he cries out hoarsely, swatting at vines that are touching his neck, caressing his skin because they know he's back. This time, he's here to stay. They're saying his name in the dark, saying the names of the others who died on that hill and he can suddenly hear the creak of a windlass, though there's nothing above them.

Without thinking, his mind filled with fear and memories, Mathias draws in a deep breath to shout for Neil, to ask him for help, but all that comes out is a terrified cry.

[little_moons]

It's... I can't remember the last time I heard somebody sound so fuckin' terrified. Dean, maybe, in that dream last Halloween, listening to him get torn to pieces and not being able to do a damn thing to help him. It makes my stomach churn, and I'm kneeling in the dirt on the edge of that cavernous mouth stretching out below me before I know it, sand and tiny pebbles sliding over the edge and disappearing into nothingness.

"Danny? Come on, somebody tell me what the fuck's goin' on!" I call, my voice cracking with panic that I can't seem to get a handle on.

[haolehothead]

Danny grimaces as he tries to figure out how to calm down Mathias. "Hey!" he shouts up at the top of his lungs, which is pretty fucking loud when you get down to it. "Hey, we're both breathing, but Mathias is freaking out a little bit and I think he's hurt something. We're gonna need help," he admits, turning his attention back to Mathias. "Mathias!" he booms out. "It's Danny Williams, I need you to talk to me. Tell me your name, tell me what hurts."

[plantfood]

Dein Bruder ist gestorben.

Abruptly, Mathias stops shouting, turning to where he thinks he's heard the sound. In the dark of the mine shaft, he can smell shit and urine, and even though he can move, even as his fingers clench convulsively at the dirt, he thinks he's broken his back. Just like Pablo, just like all the others, he's going to die down here in the dark with the vines and the flowers whispering his fate.

"My leg. My leg hurts, we need to get out of here,," he begs, falling into German. He twists, looking up toward Neil, his fingers continue to flex and relax, clutching at dirt and rock. "Neil! We need to get out, we have to get out, they are down here, I can feel them. I can hear them, can't you hear them?"

[little_moons]

Jesus Christ, speak fucking English.

"They? Who the fuck are they?" I ask, but I can already tell he's freaking the fuck out, probably doesn't know what he's even saying, and I swallow past the lump in my throat, looking around frantically like a goddamn ladder or pulley or army of rescuers might appear out of fucking nowhere. And I listen, waiting for whatever noise I'm supposed to be hearing, voices or something else, but there's nothing. Just the familiar sounds of the jungle and Mathias's panicked voice, muffled and too fucking far away.

"Danny, what the fuck's he talking about?"

[haolehothead]

Danny shakes his head, feeling like he's back in one of the worse hostage situations he's dealt with in his life. "I have no fucking idea," Danny shouts back up. "Look, it's just the two of us here, there are stones and plants and a lot of dirt, but it's just us! I'll try and calm him down!"

He turns back to Mathias and reaches out to grab hard at his shoulders. "Mathias, it's Danny Williams. It's just you and me down here and I need you to listen to me. You are safe. You are not back home. You are safe. Repeat that to me."

[plantfood]

Neil's voice is distant, but Mathias can hear the panic and for a moment it feeds his own. A vine snakes down the back of his shirt, leaving a burning trail, but when he swats at it, there's nothing there. There is just Danny's hands on his shoulders, fingers pressing into skin. That pain is real, the pain in his leg is real, but the vine isn't there.

"I'm safe," he repeats, his voice shaky and he doesn't truly believe it. Danny and Neil are here and he's brought them into this, just like he brought Veronica and Webster before. Like Stacy and the others before them. It's his fault again and they're not safe.

"We have to get out," he calls, trying to control the tremor in his voice. "How can we get out?"

[little_moons]

"Danny?" I call, sitting back on my haunches, both hands scrubbing down across my face as I heave out a calming breath.

"I think I'm gonna have to go get somebody. How bad's he hurt?" I need to know what to tell them when I get there, but there's no way I'm getting down there. Even if I could, I don't see how the two of us'd get Mathias out without ropes or somethin'.

[haolehothead]

"He's definitely broken something," Danny says, glancing at his own arm and wincing. "I cut my arm somewhere, but I'm in okay shape, nothing is broken! If we get some help, maybe we can lift him out of here!" He turns back to Mathias, still gripping onto his shoulders. "Deep breaths. You're here with me and I'm not gonna let anything hurt you. I'm a cop, Mattie-boy, it's what I do."

[plantfood]

At that, Mathias laughs, unable to stop himself, because it doesn't matter who or what someone might be. The vines certainly didn't care before and they won't care now. They'll only use it against Danny, and Mathias waits, listening for the sound of them mocking him.

He wants to ask Neil not to go, but there's no logic in that, so he forces himself to stay quiet, focusing on breathing, like Danny has said. His leg hurts less with each passing moment, but he notices he's shaking and wonders if he's going into some kind of shock. "I need to get out," he mutters finally, his hands touching his legs, looking for vines that may have looped around them.

[little_moons]

"You got your packs, right?" I call out, already getting to my feet and shifting the weight of my own pack on my shoulders. I can hear them murmuring to each other, but I can't make out what they're saying. Anyway, I'm already figuring how long it'll take me to get back, how long it'll take me to get help, and how long it'll take us to get back here.

I gotta get movin'.

[haolehothead]

"Yeah, I've got some food!" Danny shouts up at the top of his lungs -- which has been an impressive feat, but one that he's been capable of since he was a younger boy. Give a boy four siblings and he has to shout to stand out, especially when he's right in the middle. "Okay, Mathias, okay, let's talk," Danny says, adjusting to get comfortable.

"Tell me what you think is happening."

[plantfood]

"Ruins, a mineshaft," Mathias murmurs, looking up for Neil, although he thinks maybe he's already gone. That he can leave at all is good. It's a good sign. He only hopes there isn't anyone waiting for him in the jungle, standing guard with a rifle or a bow and arrow. As he thinks about it, his heart starts to hammer again, loud in his ears.

"It's like before. Like Mexico," he says, touching his legs again, his fingers groping and finding plants that weren't there moments ago. Tearing them out of the ground, he throws them into the darkness and he's almost sure he hears something skitter away in response. The vines, of course, moving away from what he's just throw at them. "They're out there. Can't you hear them?"

[haolehothead]

Danny scampers over to his side, closer, rubbing a hand over the midpoint of his back to try and soothe him, even though he's not sure he can do that when Mathias is in this kind of a state. "All I hear is you and me, Mattie-boy," he assures, hushing him softly. "It's you and me down a well and I think maybe you hurt yourself."

[plantfood]

"My leg is broken," Mathias agrees, but it's almost absent. It doesn't hurt as much as he thought it might, though he's never broken a bone before. Henrich was always the one doing dangerous things and ending up in a cast or a splint. He'd even had a concussion once, but Mathias has always been careful. Even in his spirited adventures, he's been cautious. Until Mexico. Until the ruins.

Until now.

"It smells down here," he says. "When Pablo fell down the mineshaft, he broke his back. It smelled, we could all smell that he'd shit himself."

[haolehothead]

"Okay, well, Neil's gone to get help," Danny explains, always a big fan of telling a person exactly what's going on with the situation. Better to keep him appraised than to make him worry. "And I can smell things, but it definitely doesn't smell like shit. You've got some dignity left, buddy."

[plantfood]

"Not me," he murmurs, because he knows his back isn't broken. That isn't what he's worried about. That Pablo will start to scream soon, that the fact that it's his fault -- and it is, he's the one who's brought them here again -- will come out and everyone will know. He's the villain.

They'll leave him here in the dark with the vines and he'll never go home again.

"They called me a Nazi," he says, speaking in German again. "Eric and the vines. I know I was the bad guy, but I didn't mean to bring anyone here. I never meant for anyone to die.."

[haolehothead]

Danny has never known any German worth a damn and that's not exactly helping him out in this situation. He sighs heavily and keeps rubbing his palm over Mathias' shoulders with constancy to give him the relief that at least someone is there with him. "English," he says, off-hand, like he's speaking to someone else.

His cut is still sluggishly bleeding, but it's nothing compared to Mathias. "There'll be help soon enough, okay? I need you to focus on that. Focus on me being here and help on the way."

[plantfood]

Mathias falls silent for a long time, nodding his agreement to Danny, but still feeling trapped and anxious. He wants to scream for help, but he knows that won't get them anywhere. Neil has gone to get someone to rescue them, that's what he has to keep telling himself. Neil has gone and he'll come back with someone who can get them out and everything will be fine.

From across the small clearing they've fallen into, he can still hear the vines whispering and as the minutes drag by, he becomes more and more convinced they're going to wait until Neil returns with help. Then they'll strike, making sure he and Danny never see the surface again.

It's a long time before he hears movement above, but eventually he does hear it and he reaches out in the dark, groping for Danny's hand. It's childish, to need someone to hold onto, but he doesn't care. He wouldn't care in the light of day and he doesn't care down here in the dark.

[little_moons]

It takes too fucking long to get back.

By the time I do, sweating and aching all over, sick with worry and hollow-eyed in the boat on the way back, Tom and Danny's unsurprisingly hot boyfriend in tow.

When we dock on the shores of the second island, I have a moment of stupid paranoia, that I won't be able to find the place where Mathias and Danny fell, but it's easy enough to retrace our steps.

"Right down here," I say, hurrying up the gentle slope leading up to the rotted wood hatch they both fell through.

[newkindofcop]

Steve only has to see the look on Neil's face to know there's a problem.

He already knows where Danny's been, had even been the one to see him off before his camping trip, but Neil's back too soon, too early for him to assume that something hasn't gone wrong, and he barely hears the news before he's packing some things into a bag, changing into clothes meant for trekking in the jungle before heading out. Someone else joins them too - Tom, a familiar face from ITF - and the three of them set off in no time at all.

He's got a rope in his pack, and he takes it out as they reach the slope, crouching down by the opening of the hatch and leaning out to look over once he's got his footing.

"How's it going, Danno?" he calls out, trying not to let his nerves seep into his voice.

[out-of-realm.livejournal.com]

Tom is tired, keyed up, and hanging too close to Neil, touching the small of his back as they retrace his steps. It's stupid, selfish, but Neil was okay, okay enough to make it all the way home and back out here insanely fast. Little blessings, he thought, swinging his pack down, a few coils of rope, a canteen.

"You guys need water?" he asked, peering down the jagged hole in the ground. He's already tying the canteen to a rope, lowering it down, lest he toss it in blind and give someone a concussion on top of everything else.