Into The Darkness ↠ Ryan Clarke

09

𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐃
i wish i could protect you from everything

HOPE BEING THE kind person she is, held Clarke in her arms until he fell asleep again. They stayed in that position for at least four hours before Clarke awoke from another nightmare. So, they decided to keep moving.

While they were walking, their hands stayed intertwined because Hope wanted to make sure he didn't feel alone. She kept glancing over at him with worried filled eyes to find him looking at their combined hands every time. It was probably because of the warmth that was spreading throughout them and getting warmer the longer they stay connected, but either way, it made her heart do flips.

"If you need to rest," came Clarke's soft voice, "we can take another breath." She could feel him moving his thumb rubbing the back of her hand, and it made her thoughts all jumbled. "I know you didn't get to nap because of me, so—"

"I'm fine," she told him with a small smile as they stopped, and she turned to look up at him. "You needed it more than me."

"But, I—"

A roar interrupted Clarke from saying anything further. They both froze and turned around to see a huge green monster — an ugly version of teenage mutant ninja turtles — and it was charging right for them.

"Clarke!" Hope shouted out and pushed him behind her before she charged towards the large monster. She jumped up into the air and was about to land on it, when it reached its hand out, and caught her by the neck. "Gah!" She clawed at its hands just like she did Clarke's hours before.

"Hope!" Clarke shouted out and threw her a broken branch, and she caught it in her left hand before stabbing the monster in the neck. It stumbled back and then fell to the ground.

Hope landed on the ground with a thud, and Clarke was quick to run over to her, checking the slowly disappearing bruise on her neck. "That's amazing," he murmured as he delicately traced the disappearing bruise. Hope took in a shaky breath and he moved his eyes up from her neck, to her blue eyes. They held contact for a second before a growl was heard, and Clarke was snatched by the green monster.

"No!" Hope shouted and flung out her hand towards its head. "Incedia!" It's head caught fire and dropped Clarke to the ground who was quick to scramble back. "Stay back!" She shouted towards Clarke who simply nodded and scrambled further away. He wasn't much of a fighter, he was more of a researcher than anything.

Hope craned her neck and stared up at the monster that was revealed to only have one eye. The branch was still lodged in its neck, and she was surprised as its blood was shown to be glowing.

"Cyclops!" Clarke shouted at the eighteen year old, and she dodged the monsters hand as it swung at her. "You gotta go for the eye!"

"I can do that." Hope nodded and flipped over the Cyclopes' swinging arm, and then launched herself at it. It stumbled back she she yanked out the branch from its neck and stabbed it in the eye. It let out a late roar before he fell back, bringing Hope with it. She pushed her hair out of her way and then looked over at Clarke who was staring at her with wide eyes.

"You're... amazing," he breathed out and she simply chuckled before pushing herself off of Cyclops.

"Why thank you." She mockingly bowed and they both chuckled before she winced and looked down at her hand, seeing a pretty huge splinter.

"Here, let me." Clarke stepped forward and took her smaller hand in his larger one. While they were staring into each others eyes, he was quick to pull the splinter out, and she barely winced seeing as she was too lost on his eyes. "As good as new." Without thinking, he leaned down and kissed the palm of her hand. He smiled and blushed as he felt her pulse pick up.

"You're being annoyingly cute," Hope said with narrowed eyes before pushing his shoulder lightly. He laughed and tucked his hand in his pockets, sheepishly looking down at his shoes. "You're smart," she said which made him look at her with a raised brow. "If you weren't here, I might not have been able to do that," she told him with a small smile. "I'm glad you're here with me."

Clarke smiled and then looked over at the Cyclops' dead body before clearing his throat. "We should continue just in case it's roar brought attention to us."

"You're right." Hope nodded and then grabbed his hand, and they began walking again.