𝕽𝖚𝖓 𝕽𝖆𝖇𝖇𝖎𝖙 𝕽𝖚𝖓 -Yellow Jackets

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓢𝓲𝔁𝓽𝓮𝓮𝓷

It had been a solid routine at this point. 
Natalie, Elizabeth and Lottie all woke extremely early, Elizabeth and Natalie did everything to try and shield them from the piercing coldness and the wet snow as they went out to try and find something for everyone to eat so they could survive. 
They would walk as quietly to the door as possible, waiting for Lottie to do her ritual. 
They put their hands out, allowing Lottie to smear ash on them, Elizabeth holds her breath as Lottie sage's them, the smoke from it burning her nostrils and making her feel tingly. 
She also tries not to gag every morning when Lottie mixes in a drop of her blood to the tea their suppose to be drinking. 

"It's not like this Wicca bullshit is doing us any good,"
"Well, you keep coming back alive, don't you?" 
Natalie looks her up and down before hesitantly sipping the drink, passing it back to Elizabeth, who also takes a sip. 
"Thanks Lott," she whispers. 
Lottie nods, "You're welcome Liz, be safe," 

Natalie and Elizabeth put their makeshift masks on, heading out in the freezing cold.
Elizabeth reached for Natalie's hand, who gladly held it. 
"I swear it gets colder and colder by the second," Elizabeth shivers. 
"When we get back we can sit by the fire," 
"Aw, cuddling by the fire?" 
Natalie smiles under her mask, "Anything you want Liz," 
The couple wandered, looking for something, anything, while also trying to find Javi. 

"Do you think he's still alive?" 
Natalie looks over at her girlfriend, pulling her mask down, Elizabeth doing the same. 
"It's been two months," 
"Yeah, I know but-" 
"But?"
"There's a chance," 
"Well Jackie was out for one night and she still died," 
Elizabeth tensed, she knew Natalie was probably right, but there was still a chance. 

"Sorry, It's just killing me seeing Travis so distraught over this," 
Elizabeth nods, "Yeah, you too have been pretty close lately," 
Natalie looked over at the girl, a small smile creeping onto her lips. "Are you jealous Sullivan?" 
"What? Of course not," she quickly replies. 
Natalie laughs, "Oh my god you totally are," 
"Am not!" 
"It's kinda cute," 
Elizabeth playfully roles her eyes,  "Come on, we should start heading back, it's going to be dark soon," 
Natalie nods, "Yeah, lets go." 

~~~

"Did you guys find him?" Travis had been waiting outside, asking as soon as he sees the girls. 
Natalie shakes her head, "No, I'm sorry," 
Travis bites his lips, "You guys need to be out longer, starting earlier, scanning more of the area-"
"Travis, we are doing everything we can-" 
"Well you aren't doing enough!" Travis gets close to the girl, her heartrate increasing. 
"We could probably start another hour before sunup," Natalie begins. "If Javi's still alive..."
Travis shoots her a look and Natalie shudders a bit. "I-I mean farther out makes sense." 
Travis just nods, turning around and heading back inside. 

~~~

Elizabeth put on one of Natalie's sweaters, walking over to see Mari getting mad at Misty for stirring the soup. 
"Get away from that. You know the rules." 
"It's not like I'm going to poison anyone. Again." 
"You drew the four this morning Misty, you have to get water," Akilah says. 
Misty tried to argue with the girls, but they remained firm on their decision, making Misty huff, grabbing the basket. 

~~~~

"Hey, how did it go?" Coach asks as Natalie and Elizabeth walked into his bedroom. 
"Great. Except the part where we failed for the millionth time," Natalie says. 
"But," Elizabeth pulls a piece of paper from the pockets of her sweater. "At least, there's this," she hands it to Coach. 
"Wow, these are getting pretty good." 
Natalie nods, Elizabeth rocked on the balls of her feet. Coach passes it back to Elizabeth, Natalie helping him pull out the giant board the trio had began to make. 
Elizabeth places it on the spot Coach pointed. 
"Okay, so like seven miles in each direction?" 
"Ballpark, zero sign of game," Natalie sighs. 
"Or Javi," Elizabeth looks at the two. 
"You know...At this point...I mean...There's no conceivable way" 
"We know." 
"But, you know, Travis"
"Yeah, Yeah that's gotta be tough," 

~~~

Elizabeth sat in front of the fireplace, Natalie's head in her lap where the girl had fallen asleep. 
She gently played with her hair, her roots a lot more grown out now, a reminder of how long they've been stuck here. 

Elizabeth looked up as Travis sat beside her. 
"Are you going to insult me some more?" she whispers. 
Travis doesn't respond at first, looking at the blonde. 
"You know..." Elizabeth began. "I've never understood why you don't like me so much. I mean you could argue that I stole Natalie from you, but you've hated me pretty much all of high school," 
Travis sighs, "It's just hard," 
"What is?" 
"Seeing you everyday. Pulling up in your expensive car, a smile on your face as you paraded around the hallway like there was a fucking crown on your head. You had everything, including my fathers approval, and that's what hurt," 

Elizabeth looks at him, conflicting emotions running through her head, instead she just let Travis continue. 
"I mean, you just had everything. My father always brought you up. The hard working, Straight A student who got into Stanford and Harvard on soccer scholarships, I mean my dad wrote you those recommendation letters. You had my fathers love and the love of your own parents-" 
"You don't know fuck about my family," Elizabeth suddenly snapped, a fuse going off. 
"I'm sorry Travis, I feel for you, I do. You however, don't know anything about my life or my family." 
"My father didn't even like me Elizabeth," 
"Neither did mine, mine fucking hated me, and I fucking hated him" Elizabeth lets out a shaky breath, focusing on the feeling of Natalie's hair in between her fingers.

"What? Did he not give you your weekly allowance? Took away your car?" 
"He would fucking hit me Travis," Elizabeth looks at Travis, tears welling in her eyes. "He would hit me all the time, over every mistake. I know you and a lot of other people think my life was perfect, in a lot of ways it was. A lot of that was built off fear. The fear of not getting a perfect score or slipping up in practice. The fear of going inside to hear our dad calling you to his study when he's already a bottle of scotch in-" she paused to take a breath, tears streamed down her cheeks. "I'm sorry you had a shitty relationship with your dad. I really am. Just, please, please stop making assumptions about me and my life," 

Elizabeth flinched slightly when she felt Travis' hand on her arm. "I'm sorry you had a shitty father too. I'm also sorry for treating you like shit, especially when it came to you and Natalie. If it's any correlation, I think you and Natalie are good for each other. She really likes you, she practically never shuts up about you,"
Elizabeth looks down at her girlfriend, smiling at how peaceful she looked asleep. 
"Thank you. I'm sorry about Javi, Nat and I are trying our hardest," 
"I know you guys think he's dead," 
"It has been two months Travis, and it has been really cold," she says as softly as she could. 

Elizabeth looks over when he doesn't respond. 
"Travis?"
Travis begins to hyperventilate, "Travis, hey you're okay," she tries to soothe, but his breathing gets more erratic, waking up everyone. 
Natalie stirs, sitting up, "What happened?" 
"He's having a panic attack,"  Elizabeth informs. 

Lottie stands in front of him. "Breathe with me Travis, come on you can do that. Breathing is the only thing in the world right now," 
Elizabeth watches as she calms him down with ease, Natalie got up to get him water. 
"Your brothers alive." Lottie informs before getting pulled aside by Natalie. 
"Are you alright?" Elizabeth softly asks.
"I'm alright, thank you, Liza," 
"Aw, you called me by my nickname," 
Travis glares at her, but failing to hide the smile that creeped up on his face. 

~~~

Natalie and Elizabeth hiked up one of the bigger hills, Natalie having to help Elizabeth up when her sneakers began to slip.
"Weird," she says as she looks at the moss that wasn't covered in snow. 
"Come on," Elizabeth helps Natalie up, continuing the journey.