Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

About two years after the British plane crash-landed on the island, killing everyone except for a handful of boys, two more planes, this time American, touch down in the dead of night on the other side of the island. The nearly four-dozen boys who disembark from the plane were told to start a colony since roughly half of the boys are what the American government are calling “carriers”; the result of experiments done on their mothers to produce a stronger, healthier human. The boys begin to look for shelter, finding a series of decently sized caves to inhabit.

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When morning arrives, the teens start pairing up as well as establish some sort of proper colony. They decide to run things like a democracy, setting up a ten-member council and appointing two joint rulers over them. Deciding that the best people to appoint would be people who gel well, but are still their own person, they elect twin brothers, Dustin and Aiden, who then elect the councilmen. Dustin’s chosen partner is a petite brunette named Elliot. Elliot is soft-spoken with large hazel eyes, giving him a demure aura. On the other hand, his twin’s lover is the complete opposite of Elliot. Also a brunette, where Elliot is meek and almost submissive, Jesse is sassy. He exudes confidence; he’s gorgeous with deep, dark sapphire eyes that are almost midnight in color, and a smile that, at times, borders on mocking defiance, and while he knows that he’s good-looking, he won’t parade about it. That’s one of the things Aiden likes about him. The confident ambience that seems to pour off him in waves is really almost like a wall put up to protect him. From what, Aiden has no idea, but he intends to find out.

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The colony thrives on the island, expanding steadily. Soon, Aiden and Jesse have their first child, a girl they name Ashton. Ashton has Aiden's emerald green eyes and smile with Jesse's hair color and temperament. Dustin and Elliot's first child, also a girl, is born soon after.
Births are celebrated fervently in the tribe, after complications in one particularly hard birth nearly resulted in the deaths of both the mother and child. Fortunately, both pulled through and make a swift recovery. Things were going well for them, but they wouldn't stay that way much longer.

Chapter Text

The hunters prepare to head deeper into the jungle to hunt for more meat, since something seems to be driving away the wild pigs and other sources of meat. “We'll be fine,” Jesse promises to Aiden, who's set on assigning a guard to protect their families.
“But we're going to be away for at least a week,” Aiden protests.
Jesse turns to the toddler in his arms, nuzzling his nose against her cheek. “We'll be fine,” he coos. “Won't we, baby? Tell Papa that we'll be fine.”
Ashton giggles, looking at her father with large emerald green eyes. “Go, Papa!” She cries, trying to shove Aiden away.
Aiden sighs. “Fine, but I have a feeling I'm going to regret this.”
Jesse rolls his eyes fondly, leaning in for a kiss, which Aiden gladly accepts. They only separate when Ashton whines at the prolonged loss of attention. Aiden smiles at his daughter and kisses her forehead. “Be good, Ash,” he says before turning to go.
Aiden joins the other hunters who have finished saying goodbye to their families at the tree line where they check to make sure they have their snares and other hunting gear while they wait for the rest of the hunters. Eventually, the hunters disappear into the jungle. One of the other carriers, a redhead named Adrian, walks over to him. “We’ll be alone for about a week or so. Nervous?”
Jesse shakes his head. “Nah. Things will be fine. Where are the kids?” He asks out of curiosity.
“They're sleeping,” Adrian replies. “The baby kept us up late.”
“Have you tried singing him a lullaby?”
“You know I can't sing, Jess,” Adrian scoffs.
“Of course not. Well, what about telling him a story?”
Adrian shrugs. “Maybe tonight I'll try.”
“Kat!” Ashton cries, squirming in her mother’s arms and making grabby hands towards her friend.
Jesse puts her down and watches as she runs off to Kat, babbling to her animatedly. The two toddlers wander around, looking for things to play with quickly giving up and joining the other children. Since Elliot and a few others are watching the kids, Jesse, Adrian, and the others head off to do whatever laundry needs to be done as well as forage for fruit and nuts to eat with the dried and smoked meats stored away.

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As the sun begins to set, Jesse and the others head back to camp. They're met by a worrisome sight. “What happened?” Adrian asks.
Chris, the community’s resident healer and herbalist, looks up from the wound he's tending to. “I guess not all the pigs were scared away.”
“Are the kids alright?” Another asks.
“Oh yeah. A bit shaken up, but they're fine.”
“Storm, did you cut your leg somewhere?”
Storm, the platinum blonde that Chris is tending to, looks down, nearly gasping at the sight of the blood running down his right leg. He knows exactly what it means. He's lost the baby. The baby that Ryder would have been ecstatic about had he known. “Miscarriage,” he mutters. “Those damn hogs…”

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The rest of the days go by smoothly. The night before the two week mark, the boys are getting the kids to bed. It takes a bit longer than usual to get the kids to sleep, but they sing a few songs and the kids are out like lights. The carriers stay up for awhile after the kids fall asleep chatting among themselves, casting glances at the kids who are sleeping soundly towards the back of the cave before eventually drifting off to sleep.
It's the screaming that wakes Jesse and Storm. The two of them rapidly sit up and are met with chaos. A mass of black humanoid shadows with eyes of blue fire are making their way into the cave. Immediately, Jesse's mind goes to the children sleeping in the back, panicking when more shadows come from deeper inside the cave towards the children who are now awake and screaming for their mothers. Upon seeing the shadows, the children scatter. Most of them run towards their mothers at the front of the cave while others run deeper into the cavern. Elliot walks over as Jesse is making a run for the caverns. “Save as many as you can,” Jesse yells over his shoulder.
It's clear that the shadows enjoy tormenting their prey, letting them think that they've escaped before actually striking. One by one, the carriers fall as Jesse and Chris herd frightened children out of the caverns they've run into. They attempt to save as many kids as they can into safety but are constantly met with disaster as the children are torn from their arms or pulled from hiding places and killed right before they reach them. After taking as many children as they can to Elliot and Storm, Chris and Jesse make one more trip down the caverns. Kat and Ashton are crouched down together behind a large boulder. Chris scoops up Kat and makes a run for it while Jesse grabs Ashton and follows. Unfortunately, the shadows surround Jesse. He clutches Ashton closer, utterly helpless and terrified. The shadows seem to laugh at his fear. Ashton tucks her face into his neck. A shadow seizes Ashton, ripping her from her mother’s arms. She struggles, screaming, “Mama!” over and over. Another cold, dark arm wraps around Jesse's waist as he begs and pleads for Ashton to be spared; take him, but please, not his baby.
The shadows taunt them before one rips open Ashton's throat with a clawed hand. Jesse is sobbing by this point as the shadows drop Ashton's dying body to the cave floor before releasing him. Immediately Jesse wraps his arms around Ashton, holding her close and singing her favorite lullaby. When Ashton clutches her throat with a tiny hand as she gasps for breath, Jesse's heart shatters. “Shh,” he says softly. “Everything is going to be alright. Mama’s here,” he strokes her caramel-colored hair and continues to mutter sweet nothings to calm her down.
“Mama,” she rasps out in a harsh whisper. “Wuv ‘ou, Mama.”
“I love you too, cupcake.”
Ashton musters a pained smile before the life finally ebbs out of her. A soft cry brings Jesse out of his mourning. Laying next to Adrian’s lifeless body is his three-month-old son, Berlin. Jesse lays Ashton down gently, picking up Berlin and going to look for the others.

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The hunters are on their way home. The sun beats down hotly, but they've got a good several pounds of smoked and dried meat as well as a couple fresh kills. Ryder stops abruptly. “Something's not right. It's too quiet.”
“Maybe they're still asleep or they decided to stay in the caves,” one of the council members, a muscular Spaniard named Kristo, suggests.
“It's almost noon, the kids would never let them sleep this late. And it's a beautiful day. Why would they stay in?”
“Stop worrying,” Dustin says good-naturedly. “I'm sure they're just… oh my God.”
At the distress in Dustin’s voice, the others look up from their private conversations. Bodies litter the ground in front of the cave.
“Dios mio,” Kristo gasps. “What happened here? Mi familia!” He cries rushing over to three bodies. “Was it wild animals?”
Dustin shakes his head. “Animals would've eaten the bodies. How many bodies are there?”
“Fifteen,” Aiden replies. “Look for survivors and identify the dead. Killian, Jordan, Ryder, Dax, and Griffith, come with me. We'll check inside.”
They head inside the cave. Aiden notices the charred walls of the cave but stops when he nearly trips over a body. The body count inside the cave is higher than the count outside. They begin to carry bodies out of the cave and lay them in rows. The others help in between wrapping the bodies in the silk left for this very purpose. Aiden almost breaks down when he sees Ashton's body on the cave floor. He carries her body out and hands her to Dustin. “How many are missing?” Dustin asks.
“Ten carriers, and twelve children,” Aiden replies, numbly watching Dustin wrap Ashton's corpse in a piece of black silk.
Deciding that it's safe to head back, Jesse, Elliot, Chris, and Storm lead the surviving children out of hiding. Elliot speaks first. “Did you find the others?”
Aiden looks up. “Where are the rest of you?”
“Taken. At least I think that's what happened.”
Jesse hands Berlin to Killian. “I couldn't find the twins,” he mutters. I'm sorry.”
Killian just nods, kissing the top of Berlin’s head. The surviving children are reunited with their fathers. Graves are dug and bodies are buried in plots according to families. Funeral songs are sung and tears are shed.
It takes a week for anyone to be ready to discuss the events of that night.