CLOUDS.
( in an hour, sunflower )

OCTAVIA COULDN'T FOCUS ON ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE SMELL OF HAIR DYE. The scent of chemicals with a small mix of vanilla surrounded her as she sat on the bathroom counter, watching Vida put on her "war paint," as she liked to call it. Splotches of blue had made its way onto Vida's face, but the girl hadn't noticed and both Octavia and Jude kept it to themselves as they both held back smiles. This had become a monthly thing for the three teens, Vida because her blue hair was sacred, Octavia because she wanted to make sure the girl didn't pass out from the smell, and Jude simply because he was bored.

"Can you do my hair next?" Jude asked from the spot on the floor he was sitting. Vida simply scoffed and ignored him, which only led him to pout.

"Cate would kill us, Jude. Besides, blue isn't really your color," Octavia replied.

"Um, I beg to differ. I think I look great in blue!" Jude said while he points proudly to his blue jeans with a smug smile. Octavia can't help but laugh at just how innocent he was, she always found herself enjoying his company just for the sake that somehow kids like him still existed in this more than awful world that they found themselves living in.

"What do you think, Vi? Think he looks good blue? Or should we try a pink dye—"

"No!" Jude yelled, eyes wide. "I don't want pink hair."

Vida finished rinsing all the extra dye out of her hair before giving the boy a once over, seemingly thinking about what Octavia said. "Come on, Judith. Blue would look okay, but you could totally pull off pink. A real mans color."

Jude continued to shake his head, not picking up on either of the girls sarcasm. "Now, I don't actually have any pink dye but I have red, and a light blonde, so we could for sure mix them together to make pink, isn't that right, girlfriend?" Vida asked Octavia, who nodded in return.

"For sure. It would look really cool, Jude."

Before anyone could say anything else Jude had already unlocked the bathroom door and bolted for it. "You can run, but I know where you sleep, Judith!" Vida yelled after him. "You will have pink hair by morning!"

A scream was heard down the hall, followed by a worried, "Nico, help me! Vida's gonna dye my hair!"

Octavia shook her head with a roll of her eyes. "Great job, Vi. As if the kid needed another reason to be scared to fall asleep."

"He'll get over it, and if not he will pass out eventually," Vida shrugged, before walking out of the bathroom. Octavia was about to joke back before a throat was cleared behind them. They turned to see one of the agents, Jarvin, and he did not look happy.

"Would you kids stop messing around and get to work?" He scolded, before turning his gaze to Octavia. "Stewart's looking for you, he's taking you to your Op. Get moving."

He walked away just as fast as he came and both girls stood still for a moment try not to yell after him. He was always one of the agents who didn't like having the Psi kids around, and he wasn't one to hide his feelings towards them either.

"Fucker," Vida whispered as she turned the opposite direction he walked in. "How long are you gonna be gone for? If I have to deal with these assholes by myself for too long someone's going to lose a finger."

Octavia threw her arm around the girls shoulder, trying to keep her temper at bay. "Not long. A day or two max. I'm just meeting Cate and driving back to LA with her. Nothing crazy."

"I still don't get why you even have to go, Cate can handle anything."

Octavia wasn't sure if the information about the Orange girl was classified or not, and she didn't want to risk getting in trouble for it, so she decided to keep it to herself. She was Team Leader, and if she did something wrong it reflected on her whole team, and she wouldn't let Vida, Jude, or Nico take the backlash for something she did. Not ever. "I'm
not sure, something about Cate not being able to sleep at all to make sure everything is ready for the camp breakout. No one wants her falling asleep behind the wheel."

"Cate would never—"

"I know she wouldn't, but I can't say no. No harm done, just a little escort Op and both Cate and I will be back in no time. Besides, I think you can last two nights playing bunkmate with Jude."

"Ugh!" Vida whines. "If that kid crawls into bed with me when he has his own room, and his own bed, I'm tossing him off. I don't care! He is fourteen, I think he can sleep without a buddy by now."

Octavia shoves her slightly before giving her a mean look. "He's just a kid, and he's scared of the dark. Leave him alone."

"How's someone in the Children's League supposed to be scared of the dark, O? What happens when he becomes of age to go on Op's and he starts boohooing about it being dark? I'm not trying to be mean, I love the little jerkoff, but I'm just trying to be real, girlfriend. He needs to put his big boy panties on before it gets him killed."

Octavia simply just sighed, knowing Vida was right,  but also not having the heart to turn him away when he comes into their room in the middle of the night.

The two girls walked to the main room where most people spent their spare time. Jude was in front of the t.v, while Nico was messing with a Chatter right beside him. Vida made her way over to them, but before Octavia could follow a voice stopped her.

"Nuh uh, Doll. We got places to be, let's go." Cole said in his usual southern charm, and Octavia sighed annoyed not knowing why he of all people had to drive her.

"And you're playing chauffeur because?"

"What? You don't want to be in a car with me for fourteen hours? I'm hurt." He said, his hand shooting to his chest in the worst mock pain the girl had ever seen.

"Just don't know why the golden agent would ever stoop to the level of driving a sad little Psi like me all the way to Virginia."

"Let's just say I'm about to go on a very long Op, and maybe I wouldn't mind driving my favorite little Psi one last time before I go." He shrugged, before a smile broke out onto his face. The man wiggled a set of car keys right in front of her face.

"I am so touched. The Cole Stewart? Wanting to drive me? I don't know how I'll ever make it though such a long drive without fainting." Octavia replied, before she snatched the keys from his hand while he was distracted.

"Yeah, that's not happening, Doll. I want to live through this, thanks." Cole said before grabbing the keys right back.

"How am I supposed to become a good driver if no one ever lets me drive, Stewart!" He winked at her before he walked out of the room, Octavia scoffed before turning back and walking towards her team.

"Are you guys going to be okay for a few days? I know Cate and I are both going to be gone, but you'll find a way to survive, yeah?"

"Just hurry back! It's soo boring without you." Jude whined. Nico continued to ignore the world and focused on the electronic while Vida gasped in offense.

"Excuse me, what? You don't think I'm fun, Judith?"

"Maybe I'd find you more fun if you stopped calling me Judith!"

"Well that's your name, isn't it?" Vida said.

"No! That's a girls name. My name is Jude. Just Jude."

"Okay Just Jude, if you really think that sounds better I'll call you that from now on."

"No! Not Just Jude, only Jude."

"Whatever you say, Just Jude."

Octavia smiles, knowing they'll be just fine. She didn't know just how much these people grew on her the last two years, but seeing them all here like this made it obvious that this was where the girl was supposed to be. The girl turned around and started making her way towards the car, but Jude didn't allow it and fumbled his long limbs to her to wrap her in a hug. "You'll come back safe, right?"

"Safe and sound. Promise." Octavia told him before returning the hug.

The boy pulled away with a smile before calling out a "Later Gator!" as he ran back to his spot besides Nico.

"In an hour, sunflower." Octavia whispered in response.

For some reason she stood there for another minute just watching him and making sure he was okay. The girl hadn't felt any type of nerves for this Op, knowing it was just an easy escort mission, but somewhere deep down in her knew something felt off, but she had no choice but to shake the feeling off like she always did, and walk out the door.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

"ARE WE THERE YET?" Octavia whined for the tenth time this hour. When she said that the past fourteen hours had been a car ride in hell, she wasn't lying. She never wanted to listen to any rock song ever again. Cole had been blasting it the whole way here, refusing to let her even turn it down. About seven hours in, Octavia had asked him to pull over to a bathroom since she had to pee, but the man had refused because "time is money" and it took two hours for her to convince him to stop. It came to the point of her telling him she was on her period (she wasn't) and that she would bleed all over the goddamn seat if he didn't pull over. That finally got him to cave, and she even got him to buy her some snacks too.

Everything was going good until she had started to doze off, only to be woken up by Cole screaming and slamming on the brakes only to scare the shit out of her. His joke turned out to be not so funny when Octavia accidentally let out a burst of her power and killed the cars battery, which led him to having to fix it with a spare one from one of the cars left on the side of the road. She didn't talk to him for three hours after that, then the only thing she had said the last hour was her asking if they were almost there.

"Would you please shut up, holy shit!" Cole yelled.

"I would shut up if you just answered my question, asshole!" Octavia yelled back.

He continued to ignore her so she continued to just ask him nonstop, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" The car suddenly swerved to the right and Cole slammed on the brakes before putting the car in park. Octavia was about to complain, but she looked up and saw the sign to the gas station. "Oh look we're here!"

"Oh look we're here!" Cole mocked before throwing his seat all the way back. His hands went down his face in frustration before he turned to glare at the girl. She suddenly felt bad for being so annoying, knowing full well he had a lot on his plate already, and had to drive fourteen hours back.

"Sorry." Octavia muttered. No other cars were there yet which means even after all the catastrophe the car ride consisted of, they were still early. The girl set her seat back too and turned to look at the man beside her. Sometimes she forgot how young he really was, only three years older than her, but he seemed so much more than that. And in that moment she saw a stressed out teenager with too many problems on his shoulders. "Wanna talk about it? The Op?"

Cole threw his arm over his eyes before turning his body toward the girl. "You really wanna know?" He asked.

"Yeah." Octavia replied, now more worried than before. "Is it really that bad?"

He didn't answer for a long time, and Octavia didn't push it, but he finally seemed to find the words because he looked at her again. "I'm going into Leda Corp."

The girls brain didn't seem to quite put together what that meant, not at first at least. She knew what Leda Corp was, a research center based on IAAN and how it started, and more importantly on how to cure it. But she couldn't figure out what exactly Cole would be trying to do, and the man seemed to sense that because he explained more. "Basically I'm going in undercover, and trying to find my way in as deep as I can without raising suspicions. They want to see if I can get the kids out of there, the ones they're testing on. Also try to gather any information I can while I'm there."

Octavia shook her head. The fact that the Children's League was getting brave enough to try and infiltrate their way into Leda Corp meant a lot more serious things were about to start happening too. "But you'll be okay, right? A whole secure background story and everything? A way out if something goes wrong?"

"I have a cover story and an apartment in my name. But I'm all on my own for the next few months, if I fuck up before my extraction then I'm done for. And you know the rule, if I'm caught then—"

"Then no one is coming to get you. Yeah, I know." Octavia whispered. That's the biggest rule The League had when training their agents, that if you got caught, no one would be able to come get you. No one was worth the risk.

The car was quiet for a minute, but then a smile spread across Cole's face. "But hey, if anyone's gonna be able to pull it off it's gonna me, Doll."

Octavia laughed at that, knowing only he could be that confident in himself. "The brilliant Cole Stewart. The Leagues greatest weapon." She mocked, before pushing his grinning face away. The sound of tires caught both of their attention, but Octavia immediately saw Cate's blonde hair and relaxed. "Well, thank you for driving me. And you will be able to pull it off, I know it. Now I'm off to my super secret top mission."

"Oh yeah? Escort missions really are just unbelievable. I'll never understand how you aren't getting hazard pay." The girl rolled her eyes at him before reaching for the door handle, but he gripped her wrist and pulled her back before she could get out of the car. The look he gave her was nothing like she had ever seen, not on him anyway. It wasn't until then just how worried she realized he was. "Hey, can you promise me something?" He whispered.

The look in his eyes was terrified, like he would never get the chance to say it ever again and the girl couldn't do anything but nod. "Just promise that you'll forgive me."

"What?" Octavia asked. "Forgive you for what?"

He shook his head and turned away from her, he hadn't let her wrist go, almost in an attempt to make sure she didn't leave before he said what he needed to. "Doesn't matter. But just... if something comes up, do you think you could forgive me?"

"There's nothing you need to be forgiven for, Cole." Octavia whispered to the man, he refused to look at her, but she could see his reflection and he looked actually pained. Whatever was on his mind was eating him, and Octavia didn't know how to help.

"You don't know that, O. If you remem— fuck." He stopped short to hit the steering wheel, then he turned to look at her, and he really looked at her. "Just promise me, please. No matter what. If something happened, and you knew it was my fault, just say you'd forgive me because you know deep down that I would never do anything to hurt you, not on purpose."

She could see his hand twitching as he gripped the wheel, but he wasn't paying attention, he was waiting for her to answer him like it would set him free from something that had been gripping him for way too long. She had no idea what was going on his head, had no clue just how worried he was about the Op, how terrified he was about never coming back, or even how exhausted he was, but she could see this look in his eyes that let her know that he wouldn't be able to live if she didn't say yes, so she did.

"I promise, okay? On my life. I would forgive you. For whatever it is that you did, I'll forgive you." Octavia told him, and she could see his shoulders relax just the slightest bit, but Octavia could still see the fire beneath his skin, could still feel whatever was bothering him boiling away, so she told him what he needed to hear. "I'll forgive you even if you can't forgive yourself."

His eyes closed, and the girl could swear that for a second a tear slipped, but just like that he was back to being Cole Stewart and a smirk found its rightful place. "Now go on your super top secret mission, Doll. And I'll go on mine, huh?"

Octavia nodded at him one last time before climbing out of the car and making her way to Cate. She wanted so badly to get back in the car and refuse to get out before he talked to her and explained what he meant, but that was just the way Cole was. He would let himself slip for one small moment, then refuse to talk about it the next. He's been doing it for years, and Octavia knew he wasn't about to stop now. So she watched him drive away without giving her an explanation, and it was her first mistake.

Because she would never get one.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

okay so a couple things, first of
all sorry for the long wait. i'm
just like that. my bad. but here's
an update, and the storyline for
the darkest minds will start at
the beginning of next chapter!

i know i said ruby would be introduced
this one but i lied oops this turned
out longer than i thought it would.
also, secondly, i KNOW there are
details that are wrong in this story.
i know liam was never at the LA
headquarters but i wanted octavia
to be close to all of them so i changed it,
which isn't that far fetched considering
that's where cole is before he leaves for
leda corp. also i know nico wouldn't
be there yet but i decided to just add
him because i doubt i'd ever get into
never fade and i want him to exist in
this story.

also ignore my time frame for the drive
i know there's no way to get from LA
to virginia in fourteen hours but we just
gonna ignore that my brain wasn't working
and i'm too lazy to go and fix it.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───