CLOUDS.
( the boy with blue eyes )

THE DREAMS ALWAYS STARTED THE SAME. Blurry images would circle around, all of them merging together until they slowly started to clear of the cloudy haze clinging to them. At first glance, the image seemed to be a bright blue, perhaps the sky, or the ocean, but as it cleared and edges sharpened, it was obvious the blue the girl was seeing shaped into a pair of eyes.

Octavia's dreams were always in fragments, first beginning with the eyes she swore were as bright as the clear skies, then the dream would shift onto the boys smile, a small scar lining the side of his lips, then she would see scattered freckles, blonde hair, short glimpses of pale skin, the boys jawline. All of them would start to morph together until the girl could no longer tell anything apart, but she knew all of them belonged to a boy. The boy with blue eyes, as Octavia had started to call him.

Now the problem was after the dream stayed reoccurring for months, it became apparent to the girl that she had no idea who she was dreaming of. The first time she had the dream she could have sworn it was Cole Stewart, the jawline was ungodly similar, as well as the hair and even the eye shape had her almost convinced. For the first few weeks she actually was convinced she was dreaming of him, which led her to become very awkward anytime they would have an Op together. She'd avoid any type of eye contact to prevent a blush from rising, terrified that just a glance would reveal she was dreaming of him. But after weeks of careful, and maybe not-so-subtle observation, Octavia came to the conclusion that Cole Stewart was not the boy of her dreams.

There were many similarities, but after a closer look the teenage girl realized that Cole's eyes were more of a light blue then the bright color that had been engraved into her mind. And just to be sure, she had quadruple checked to see if Cole had the small white scar just at the edge of his lip like the boy — he didn't. And so Octavia Reyes was stuck in a constant state of confusion, wondering who she could possibly be dreaming of, and more importantly why she was dreaming of him. But she could never find the answers she desperately wanted, and night after night the girls eyes would close, and she would be met with a pair of blue ones, and it made her heart skip a beat every single time.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

OCTAVIA WOKE UP TO SOMEONE POKING HER. Still half asleep and confused, she quickly swat away whatever was touching her face, but the feeling insisted and with a final jolt from sleep she opened her eyes, the blue eyes from her dreams fading into brown ones that appeared in her line of sight.

A groan slipped past her lips once her vision settled on the curly haired boy, knowing it was a sure sign she would have to get out of bed. "Go away, Jude. Let me sleep in just once, that's all I ask."

The young boy ignored her and continued to poke his bony finger on her forehead, and when she would swat him away he continued to poke her nose, or her cheek, desperate for the attention he craved from the girl. "Yeah, that's what you said yesterday," Jude said. "And the day before that, and the day before that . . ."

"Okay, just stop poking me before I poke you back," Octavia sighed defeated. The teen sat up in her bunk, noticing the pillow at the foot of her bed, and she sighed again. "Did you sleep in here?"

Jude's cheeks flushed a bright red at the question, before he slowly nodded, his mess of curls moving with his head. "Yeah, I'm sorry. Nico was helping one of the agents with something all night and it was really dark, and quiet, and I just got scared. Please don't be mad! I know you really want me to try sleeping on my own, I tried, I swear, but—"

"I'm not mad, Jude," the girl answered. And she meant it. Looking at the young boy in front of her, so scared and anxious, always brought her close to tears. A boy his age should never go through what he did, what all the kids did, but IAAN was deadly and didn't spare a single soul. "I was just wondering. But I'm glad you tried, honestly."

"Promise?" Jude whispered.

"Promise," Octavia replied, hooking her pinky with his small one. The boy smiled brightly and Octavia quickly began poking him, a childish act she allowed herself that day. After IAAN spread across the country and stole any chance she had of a happy childhood, the girl allowed herself one childish moment a day. One small act that she would steal back, even for just a minute. Everyone was forced to grow up way too fast, Octavia included, and the girl would be dammed if she let the disease steal anything else from her. She would take this moment, this one happy moment, even if she knew better than anyone it wouldn't last.

"No!" Jude yelled. "You don't get to poke me back." But he was laughing, and his laughter caused Octavia to laugh until both of them were in tears.

"Well are you going to stop me from poking you, huh?" Octavia mocked before poking his nose, letting his face become squished, and the teen laughed harder.

"If you guys don't shut up, I'm going to poke both your eyeballs out!"

Jude and Octavia looked at each other at the sound of the angry voice coming from the top bunk, but they both began to laugh harder, and an irritated groan echoed off the bedroom walls. "You woke The Beast, Jude!" Octavia said through her laughter, but she was cut off by an arm swinging down and
hitting her straight in the face.

"Oh I'd show you a beast, Tavia," Vida said as she jumped down from the top bunk, a glare already on her face. "But I wouldn't want to scare poor Jude, he has a hard enough time sleeping as it is."

"Hey!" Jude whined. "I'm not scared of monsters."

Vida smirked, loving to tease the young boy any chance she got. "Oh right, my bad. You aren't scared of monsters, just of the dark, when it's quiet, sleeping alone, going on missions, and Cole Stewart—"

"I'm not scared of Cole! He just. . . is intimidating. That's all."

Octavia rolled her eyes at the bickering, but she knew the boy would mope all morning if she didn't at least try to defend him. "That's alright, Jude. Cole is pretty scary, I don't blame you." The boy just groaned again before standing from the bed, seemingly tired of being teased, and walked out of the room with a huff.

"You wanna know what's scary," Vida said. "That bed head you got going on right now, girlfriend. I mean, do you even own a hairbrush?"

A sarcastic smile spread across Octavia's face, before it turned into a smirk, mirroring the blue haired girl in front of her. With a slight raise of her hand, Octavia felt the small electric current coming from the lamp that sat on the desk, and focused it toward Vida. A small yelp escaped the girls lips as she got shocked, before a glare made its way back onto her face. "What's with the hostility?" Vida asked, rubbing her arm where Octavia had zapped with her powers. "It was just an observation."

"Maybe keep your observations to yourself, it might be detrimental to your health."

A wicked grin spread across Vida's face as she slipped into her shoes and jacket. "Just trying to help out my best friend, that's all." But Vida could never stop herself from pushing Octavia's buttons and her hand moved in a tugging motion, which led the brown haired girl to yell out as her hair got yanked in a similar fashion.

"Vida!" Octavia shouted, but the blue haired girl was already out the door. The teenager sighed and threw herself back into her bed, wishing she could just get one day of peace and quiet.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

"MORNING, SUGAR." CAME A VOICE TO THE RIGHT OF OCTAVIA. At the sight of blonde hair and blue eyes, the girl sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time just that morning. Of all the times she could deal with Cole Stewart, this early in the morning, especially after just dreaming of someone who looked so similar to him, was not one of them.

"Cole," the girl replied nonchalantly.

"Ouch, cold shoulder today, huh?" Cole asked, his southern charm present, like always.

"Just one of those mornings, Stewart," Octavia said. The girl really didn't have that bad of a morning, the antics with Jude and Vida were just a given at this point, but Octavia could tell the day was about to be a long one from the serious looks on all the agents, and she really, really just wished she could go back to sleep. "But looking at all your agent buddies expressions, I'm guessing it's about to get a lot better, yeah?"

Cole smirked at the girl, before plucking a strawberry off the girls plate. "Both Rob and Cate are taking the kids they found out of their camps," he started, chewing her strawberry slowly knowing it would just irritate her further. "Tonight."

"Wait, tonight?" Octavia asked in disbelief.

"That's what I said, Doll."

Octavia gave him a look at the second nickname of the morning, her patience already worn thin, but she couldn't help but wish he was just joking with her. Both Rob and Cate, agents of The Children's League, had snuck their way into Psi Camps, posing as either a PSF, or a doctor. They had only been gone a week, hardly enough time to get a good idea of the entire camp layout, let alone a safe way to escort the kids they needed to out of the camps without being caught. Whoever they had found must have been important, and Octavia didn't know if that was a good thing or not. The girl groaned and pushed her plate toward the man beside her, not caring if he ate anymore of her strawberries. Whenever Cate, or one of the other League kids, went on a dangerous mission like this, she couldn't help the terrible worry that inched its way through her entire being. What if they got hurt? What if they got killed?

What if she could have helped them?

"Now don't get all pouty on me, that's actually why I'm over here. Not that I don't adore our conversations—" That was a lie, Cole tended to try and avoid any conversation with the teenage girl, not necessarily because he didn't like talking to her, because he did, but all their conversations seemed to lead to topics he did not want to talk about.  The only time they really ever talked was during an Op, or a League meeting, or during random meals like this one. The man tried to steer clear of any personal conversations, and Octavia let it slide because she hated how every time she looked at him she was reminded of the boy in her dreams. The two chose not to be around each other for their own reasons, but at the same time they could often tell what the other was thinking through the looks they gave. "You're actually going to be meeting them tomorrow morning. They're getting their kids out tonight, and both of them are meeting at an abandoned gas station before driving the rest of the way to Headquarters. You're going to be driving Cate and her Psi back."

Octavia's face turned into a deep frown, why did Cate need her in the car with her? The woman could easily handle herself, while keeping whoever she was escorting safe. It seemed more of a hassle for Octavia to go meet them than it would be for both agents to just meet themselves.

"Why do I need to drive Cate?" Octavia asked him, trying to form any missing information in her head.

They made eye contact, and Octavia could see him trying to think of what to say to her, which meant it was most likely going to be a lie. "Cate's going to be driving all night, she's going to need the rest."

The girl scoffed at his words. "Cate? Needing to rest?" Octavia said. "I've seen that woman stay up three days straight just to watch security footage with Nico. I think she'll be fine."

The man sighed, leaning closer to her so their conversation wasn't overheard. "Alright, it's not that you have to drive, necessarily, you just need to be in the car."

Octavia raised her eyebrows, not impressed with the amount of information she was getting. "Because?"

"Come on, O. You're smart. You don't think we would push plans this early if it wasn't essential, do you?" The man whispered, his mint toothpaste filling her senses. "The Psi that Cate's getting from Thurmond, is well, rare. She'll be passed out for most of the night, but after that we just want to take an extra precaution. Just in case."

"And by extra precaution, you mean my powers?" Octavia guessed.

"Now you're catching on, Doll! We just want you to make sure the girl doesn't try to use her powers on Cate and escape," Cole stated, before he leaned just a tad bit closer. Octavia could see every freckle on his face, she could count every blonde eyelash, and she could see every little thing that was similar to the boy in her dreams. But she could also see everything that was different. The man must have noticed her staring, his famous smirk crossing his lips, but unknown to him she wasn't really staring at him, not really. And it definitely wasn't for whatever reason he thought. "The girl is an Orange."

An Orange.

The thought of that made her skin crawl. Octavia had only ever met one Orange, and that was when The League had brought in a girl from camp, but she was randomly transferred to another Headquarters a year ago without Octavia ever knowing why. She always brushed it off, but anytime someone brought up Oranges she always had this feeling on her skin she could never quite get rid of. She always felt a somewhat sense of panic, of confusion. Sometimes she would even feel as if she was trying to remember something, and it would take hours for the feeling to fade.

She cleared her throat, trying to shake off whatever settled in her mind. The girl could feel Cole's eyes on her, and it definitely did not help the ice in her veins. "Well alright then, when do I leave?"

"Probably around five this evening, it takes about fourteen hours to get to the gas station. You'd get there by seven, and they should be there by seven-thirty." Octavia nodded at his response, watching as he was now leaned back and relaxed, finishing her breakfast. They both sat in silence, watching everyone around them mill about, focusing on their own missions and tasks of the day. The quiet was much needed as Octavia still attempted to swallow the feeling she got from talking about Oranges, and Cole seemed pleased to just get a moment of peace without everyone hounding him. But of course the calm never could last, not with them.

Out of the corner of her eye, she faintly saw Cole's hand twitch, barely noticeable, but then it twitched more violently and her eyes focused on his hand as it grabbed onto the nearest utensil he could. The man grasped the metal spoon so hard his knuckles turned white, his usual relaxed atmosphere trembled until a few seconds later, the twitching coming to a slow stop. Octavia tried to meet his gaze, but he avoided it like he always did. This was one of the topics he refused to talk about, no matter how much the girl would try to push it out of him. The thing was, Octavia was never supposed to learn of his very well kept secret. The girl was a Yellow, and she could always feel all the electronics around her, but her abilities were also unlike any other Yellow she'd met. Most Psi of her color could create an EMP to turn off or fry any electronic within a certain radius, but Octavia was also able to somehow manipulate the electric current inside other Psi's brains, making it so they couldn't use their abilities either. But that also meant she could feel all of the Psi around her. She could always tell when another person had powers.

So imagine her surprise when she had learned to control the ability inside of her, and she could feel the power inside of Cole Stewart, someone who was supposedly two or three years above the age limit of the kids affected by IAAN. He wasn't supposed to have any abilities, it was impossible for people his age. But he did, and he refused to answer all the questions the girl threw his way. To her knowledge, he never told anyone, and she only knew by mistake. He was hiding in plain sight, in a building full of Psi just like him. And just like all the times before, he simply clenched his jaw and quickly walked out of the room. Octavia didn't understand why he wouldn't talk to her, or why he didn't think he could tell the dozens of people who would actually understand what he was going through. But it wasn't her secret to tell, and so she kept her mouth shut and hoped he'd one day trust her enough to let her know all about his secret.

But one thing Octavia didn't know was that he had another secret, one that was much bigger than hidden Psi abilities. A secret that would for sure break Octavia Reyes' heart.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

hi, this is mostly just a little
background info on octavia and the league, as well as the side characters. i'm sure if you're reading this then you've already read or seen the darkest minds, which is why i didn't really go into detail about iaan and all the colors/powers because i figured i didn't really need to?

also i apologize for any spoilers given for the second book. all these characters are from never fade, but i needed to add them into this story because octavia IS with the league at the beginning. again i'm sorry for spoilers, however small they were. i'll be probably going off the movie, at least for dialogue just because it's much easier when writing, but most details and characters will be coming from the books. this chapter, and maybe the next, will probably be the only ones heavily relying on the second book because this story will be following the darkest minds, obviously. so you don't need to read the second book if you haven't already. all you really need to know is vida is a blue & jude is a yellow & rob is an asshole periodt & cole stewart and cate try their damn hardest and deserve the world.

also a heads up that the timeline is most likely going to be messed up just because i can't really find one for when liam was in the league. i have no clue how long he was with them or how long he was in the camp before he escaped so i'm just kinda winging it lmao.

ruby will be coming in next chapter. okay that's all uwu.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───