Deluge

The rescue of the two groups went smoothly, as much was gleaned when Zen, Tom, and Ted returned within an hour with the rest of the members. Thankfully, none had been tagged, calming their frayed nerves on the other hand did not go as smoothly. Alex who had not had her turn for rest went as far as to 'bitch slap' a member who would not stop crying. Needless to say the cave was quickly falling into disarray and Kieren had once again disappeared. As Violet looked around it became clear that only Kieren's team -Ted, Tom, Zen, and Alex- had not slept, with a sigh Violet took over forcing them off the front lines and into bed.

The problem arose close to midnight in the form of rising water, Violet had spend the past three hours monitoring the front alongside James, a group member who, astonishingly, was proving to be very efficacious. James was adopted, he came from the lower section of the nobles and it took one look into his eyes to realize he understood wealth and power. The two stood together frowning into the floor. No matter which way they analyzed it the amount of rising water was illogical, true it had not stopped raining the past two days, but the entrance was in danger of becoming a swamp.

After some deliberation, and no sight of Kieren, Violet shook Zen awake and pulled him to the front showing him the beginning of theirs home's disaster.

Fourty-five minutes later the entire cave was packed up and they were all wadding through water. Violet had just finished donning her rain jacket and pack when Alex let out an ear-splitting scream, threw herself into Zen's arms, and managed to climb atop his shoulders. Eyes flocked to her in concern and she shouted, "There's leeches in the fucking water!" while yanking one of her ankle. Pandemonium ensued in such a manner as Violet had never witnessed before: shoving screaming, and downright fainting. It was a mark of his Zen's affections for Alex that he allowed her to remain on his shoulders as he walked them out of the cave. Any other day Violet would have found the entire situation hilarious, today it was not. It took them -her and Zen- four trips to drag the remaining members out of the cave, and final trip for the last of their supplies. In the twenty five minutes that took she retained several scratches, cuts, and soon to be bruises. Mera, in particular, refused to budge from a cave crevice. "Kill me here, I don't care, theirs no way I'm going in that water. KIEREN, KIEREN, PLEASE KIEREN HELP ME!!" Violet lost her patience, and in a particularly harsh swing punched Mera into deep sleep. She did not heal her.

The entire group now sat atop the cave, drenched, breaths coming out in frosty clouds, yanking leaches of their legs and arms, as the downpour continued. To the right of them a swaying tree announced the return of Kieren, who looked immensely displeased.

"This entire area is situated below the Eracles Dam, they're flooding everything. They're forcing us to interact, all four groups, will be be forced out into the open in a search for higher ground." He stopped suddenly as he watched James pull a particularly fat leech of his arm. "What the...."

"There's leeches." Tom supplied, "and clearly that's the least of our worries."

"It is," shaking his head Kieren continued, "Henbane has the transmitter, they're closest to us, look like they've taken several casualties, and are desperate. We need to move now."

The order from their leader moved everybody into overdrive, which is why at nine in the morning Foxglove found themselves sheltering in a serious of rocky outcrops, groups of five, freezing into their drenched clothing. The rain it appeared would be continuing its relentless downpour. Violet, hit with a sudden inspiration led Tom, James, and a few still abled bodies into desecrating some trees and placing them strategically, thus covering their makeshift shelters. James proved his value once more as skilled water worker, by freezing the turrets of water streaming down adding another layer of cover to their shelters. It was only then that Kieren gave the order for release and most raced to get out of the sopping clothes and into something slightly warmer.

Violet looked around, twenty minutes after their release had been permitted, most had crashed and were asleep littered on the floor, desires for beds long forgotten.

"I place my bet at twenty-five." Kieren muttered, once again appearing out of thin air. "Twenty-five?" Violet glanced to her side, haughty, like always, water dripping lightly from his hair, sliding down his skin enticingly.

"No, thirty, they'll go home as soon as we're back at the academy. Your take on numbers?"

Violet shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "the more the better." Kieren let out a low laugh, and Violet fought the urge to stare. She moved to walk away when his arm caught her wrist, unwilling to put up with his unrelenting banter Violet turned to shrug him off, but froze at the sight of exhaustion on his face. His grip relaxed as he moved his hand down hers, tracing her fingers, "Even I need sleep Violet." His statement brought into clarity the fact that he was now the only one who had not slept at all. "I don't know what you're asking me," Violet began. Kieren moved to sit leaning against a rock, motioned for her to sit, and whispered softly, eyes gentle and pleading. "Just hang tight will you? Just for a couple of hours?" Violet found herself nodding unwilling to trust her voice. Kieren smiled, pleased, genuine, show stopping. He pulled the hood over his head and closed his eyes arms folding over his chest. Violet cursed inwardly, those eyes were going to be the end of her.

After a couple of seconds soft breaths took over and his head leaned to the side, right into Violet's shoulder. Kieren let out a soft sigh and melted into her.