we were still lions | emerson au

post day one;

"i'd die for you," that's easy to say // we have a list of people that we would take // a bullet for them, a bullet for you

- twenty one pilots, ride 

She’s never been one for doing things in half measure and as she sits at the fire, striking flint against Love’s axe, her mind takes her away from here. They can celebrate the day and mourn those lost, but they need to keep moving. They need to get food and water. They need to find higher ground and a break in the trees.

She keeps her eyes on Love as she sharpens his axe. The blade sings against the whetstone, a loud cry that fills the air. Julian and Waverly are off picking through the sponsorship items, like buzzards over carrion.

“What?” Love says, his lips curling upwards in his favorite smirk. “Is there something on my face?”

“Not yet,” Emie replies, eyes tracking him rather than the line of the axe’s blade. She knew what she was doing. “But a black eye would look pretty great. It would really bring out your eyes. And you'd get the sympathy vote from the sponsors.”

“Careful,” Love warns, voice low, eyes moving around the treetops. Emerson follows his gaze, the familiar whine of the camera drones a hum around them, almost like cicadas hidden in the brush. “We’re family, remember?”

Emerson wished he wasn’t so skilled at getting under her skin, but he’d be bored of her already if she didn’t react and rise to his bait. She'd be bored if she didn’t react and rise to his bait. She rolls her eyes, nearly gagging, but responds, “I don’t see a ring.”

“Maybe after you’re done sharpening my axe you could make me one,” he says with a grin. “I’ve got a hunting knife I’m not going to use.”

“We both know that the knife would look better in your back,” Emerson whispers, tongue massaging her incisor as she grins at Love. “You knew he was going to stab me,” she finishes, the tightness of her neck from the stitches a reminder and a caution to be faster next time. To be better next time. She'd been slow, looking for curls and brown eyes in the trees. Her skin's forever marked and she's thankful she didn't get cut any deeper.

Two inches to the right and she'd be dead. Love didn't need to know that, though.

"You weren't watching your back. Didn't they teach you that in One?"

credit to pogue for love's quotes