fly me to the moon — day 4 | ike & jacob vs. mutts

[This is where there will be something between Claudio/Kassandra/Ike so wip]

---

The sound reverberates through the clean room, over the walls of white, until the blue light echoes across the place. The capitol's official seal glittering to life among the shards of glass in their nests and the silence breathing of the three of them. A death of hero glitters to life before his eyes. A gasp almost escapes his throat at the sight of someone who had made him worried in the place he currently was.

Harper Levesque.

Dead.

The silence of the lab feels all too familiar as he glances towards the spot where Harper and her alliance had once been. The sparing of himself by her hands had been lucky, friendly, and he respected her a lot more than he originally thought he would. A silence falls on him as he holds his breath, feeling more heartbroken than he thought he would feel. More deaths meant the closer to going home to Klein. Except, the closer they got, the harder it was to continue moving. The breaths on his chest feel heavier and heavier with every moment. Fingers tighten around his side trying to ground him. The breaths becoming more and more shallow as he thinks of what family Harper must have. What they must be feeling. What his own family would feel if he were to suffer the same fate.

Kit La Roux.

His youth was put in a casket, the magic of innocence having gone away from someone like Kit La Roux. Ike's heart felt like it was tearing piece by piece as he could remember their messages. Stay safe ok? I want to see you again. The words felt empty now as death had taken Kit La Roux to some other place. Tears prickle at the edges of his eyes as he will never get to see Kit again. A moment of letting himself feel something other than the complacence of his own ideas of being strong. Fingers tighten into fists as he wants to throw punch after punch at a wall or anything else right now, but he bites down the feeling.

Jacob was alone out there.

Kit was gone now.

Jacob was alone, just like him.

The anthem shows Royce Benstaloe, another life lost in this metallic cavern of pain. GUNNE stares back at him with those red eyes making him feel less and less lonelier. A small tearful smile pulls on his lips before he focuses back at the white walls of the lab and letting himself process. Letting the idea of Kit and Harper and Royce being dead fester like the poison that once was in his veins. Glass brass knuckles stare back at him as he fiddles with them to calm himself down faster and faster before his eyes begin to droop.

The hum of machines and lights fills his ears before everything goes black and he dreams of Klein, Jacob, and his parents.

---

Morning comes.

Ike stretches himself out, letting the muscles in his body ache openly. The bones crack soothingly as he comes to a halt at the state of the lab. GUNNE stares at him before going back to stare the other way at some other robot friends. A small smile fills his face before he goes to greet Claudio and Kassandra. A silent nod as he notices them, awake and preparing to go to the next place for the day. Ike's eyes reach over to his own stuff as he stares at Emily's broken body wishing he had someone again.

"We'll see what today holds for us, Em."

Silence.

Deafening silence.

Ike follows Claudio and Kassandra through the door of the lab and down the hall, quietly, he walks with a heavy step. Eyes staring at his own feet as Emily's weight soothes him. Harper was dead. Kit was dead. Jacob was alone. Jacob, with his pretty face and comforting presence. Able to throw a decent punch at himself and always looks like he's deep in thought. A hum on the tip of his lips as he remembers the way they had fought one another, leading into the most awkward sexual tension Ike's been through.

He was a boxer.

He's experience enough sexual tension from that alone.

A sigh from his lips as he gives a chuckle to himself before speaking out loud to Emily, hoping Claudio and Kassandra don't look at him like a freak for talking to a robot.

"I hope Jacob's okay. He's a cool guy. Kit was with him... but Kit's gone now."

No beeps.

"I-I really hope I get to see him. He's different. A good different though. If things were different, I'm sure I would make a complete fool of myself to Jacob."

Klein.

The name rings through his head.

"T-Though, Klein needs me and I should focus on h-him."

Eys glance up for a moment as he notices the place, he's in. The Cargo hold looked exactly how it was the day he had been here, or well it would have if there wasn't as many opened boxes now. A sigh from his lips as he knew others had been here. Others had followed him through those same doors into the cargo hold to grab items. A chuckle on his lips as he lets a finger swipe over a dust covered box before stopping again.

Nothing else that he had wanted.

A moment of a mesmerizing view of the piles and piles of crates and boxes is all he needs before realization hits him.

"Dio? Kass?"

No one.

Almost as if this were a nightmare, they were gone. Out of sight in this pile of boxes and crates. Panic starts to hit as he raises his fists defensively. There's nothing he can see of them. No red. No purple. No war paint. Nothing. A deep breath and the panic is still continuing in his chest. Worry sets in now as he prays to whoever would listen that they're still alive and well somewhere.

Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead.

Instead of waiting, he runs to the door on the other side of the cargo hold. They had to have just continued on to the next area. There was no way that they would ditch him. A quick glance around the room, gave him nothing as he sprints down past crates and boxes, knocking some things to the ground with a metallic clang. Panic and worry setting in before he makes it to the door, swiping his pretty pink princess watch at the door.

The door opens to a new room as Ike pushes through.

An airlock is all he can see now. The silence of this room echoing in his head as he stares at the lockers. Numbers from one to twelve lining them as he watches for a moment. There was no mistake of what the outfits were. No mistake at all of what this meant. Spacesuits. Ike only knew of them from books he used to read as a kid. Books of the stars and the moon and spacesuits. The thoughts in his head were connecting the dots of everything. The lab. The cargo hold. The residential quarters.

Space.

They were in space.

"Shit, Emily, I didn't know we were in freaking space! Why didn't you tell me?"

The suit is perfect as he slides into it, closing the zipper up.

"When we fix you, tell me about what you know of this place. Now let's go find our friends!"

The airlock opens calmly as the oxygen floats away into the abyss around them. The area begins to come into focus as he feels the awe in him grow slowly. Wind rushes at him as the chill sets in his skin. The bridge of cables and metals stand before him as his feet stay firmly planted to the metal. The icicles along the cable look dangerous to even touch. A moment of openly staring at the place he was at is all he needs before the stars get his attention.

The sky of stars makes his chest beat softly as he forgets why he was even here. The glimmering hope of stars across the sky fills him with a sense of childlike wonder he had. The golf course forgotten over the sight of real stars across the sky. Pointing towards the sky, he points to the glimmering hope of the sky and speaks to Emily again.

"Look, it's the stars."

A moment of awe disappears as he can see the ice shelf the metallic ship is on. A space ship hanging over the edge of an abyss. Who knew what was down there? Ike didn't want to know. A moment of silence as he takes in the sight of the stars and the icy chill of this place before he continues on his path. The memory of this view would be added to his mental vault of things to live for. He wanted to see these stars again someday. First, he had to find Claudio and Kassandra.

---

Instead of finding Kassandra and Claudio, Ike finds something much more appealing.

Jacob Fel is across the way. The sight of Eleven making him feel comfortable on this metal death trap. His hand almost goes to wave at Jacob, but time seems to move a lot slower than he expected it to. The sound of metal ringing across the icy winds as the creature comes out of nowhere. Goat-like in every possible way, Ike can see it slam into Jacob's shin. Something in his chest takes over as the adrenaline begins to take over and his feet slam across metal over and over.

Jacob Fel was there.

Alone.

Ike knew what that was like. He couldn't leave him to deal with the creature on his own. Claudio and Kassandra had one another. They didn't need him like Jacob did right this moment. Metal and glass around his knuckles feel cold against the suit. Emily's weight is heavy in his bag as he shoves himself forward with the steady beat of his own heart. The guy had quite the punch, but Ike had been able to do more against Jacob in the training center. In this place, it was life or death. No more games. No more titles. Only live or die.

Ike wanted to live.

Ike wanted Jacob to live.

This game they played was difficult, but he had to help him.

A smile on his lips as he reaches the goat-like creature and Jacob Fel. Eyes glance appreciatively at the eleven male before he lets himself speak with a certainty. Just like the day before, these creatures were created to kill. Ike could deal with them. Jacob didn't have to face them alone now. The words fall from his lips as he holds himself steady.

"Hey, handsome. Thought you could use some help."

The strangest creature he's ever seen appears in his vision as he stares at it for a moment too long.

"Not that I don't uhhh doubt you're abilities, but two against one seems a little annoying."

Red flushes his cheeks before he steps towards the weird long furry creature.

"Hope you don't mind, but I'm gonna help no matter what you say."

A wink towards Jacob is all he can muster before he starts pushing on the furry long creature. Fists tight and glass cold, he swings with all that he can muster for the first hit. His father would tell him he was more of a man than he could ever be, but that was not true. All people were different, Ike just had a little more interesting the physical rather than the mental. Something in his chest burns like a fire.

He wanted to kill these creatures.

He wanted to show Jacob what his fists can do.

He wanted to show off what he could do.

Why?

Ike didn't really know.

A-Tay
With a shriek it falls.
Never had a chance.


Four-sooth
The creature steps back, arms outstretched and Four-sooth's eyes narrow. This is their home, their land - to claim it as one's own is treachery. Retribution ends with one of two options: yield, or die.

He sees a slithering of another, perched just behind the prey. If it could smile, it would - but then, ambush.

They fight with limbs of steel, objects with the same infernal sounds as the walls that block the wind and snow. It is a danger that he did not account for. But no matter: when the rocks become too steep, you wait to find a ledge. He lumbers to the side once, then twice, scraping the ground as he lowers his head and charges.

With fire laced in his throat, he yells a hoarse call to arms. A start of a battle.

It is for no one but himself.

It's not a direct hit. Not to the extent that it had been with Cedar, anyway. Which was to be expected, as this thing is all long and no width. But it does hit, and it gets the job done.

"I weakened it for you. Could have killed it too." There's a cocky humor in Ike's tone that I'm not accustomed to hearing directed at me by, well, anyone, and it amuses me as much as it burrows uncomfortably in my cheeks.

"Could have?" I ask, half-grin crossing my face as I reload the gun for the next blast of energy. "Why didn't you, then?"

There's no time to savor the look on the other boy's face, however, for the goat thing does not appreciate being forgotten. This time, when it charges, it doesn't try and barrel me over like it did the first time - which I appreciate, I guess.

Instead, however, it decides that my foot is a more tempting target, if the shock of pain that causes my eyes to bug out and a cry to escape my throat is anything to go by.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!" It's not easy business, trying to hop on one foot while you're stuck in a spacesuit, but somehow I manage as my free hand cradles my trodden foot. "What did I do to you to deserve this, huh?"

A thought crosses my mind, and I instinctively press a button on my jet pack. It's not the first time I've used it, since navigating this place back on the second day was no easy feat without it, but it's the first time I've done it in the heat of battle. Impulsively, even. And the lurch is sudden, but even with food and water in my stomach, I manage to keep its contents within my body.

I land several feet back from where I was, fully expecting to see Ike pull out a gun of his own or some more conventional melee weapon (for some reason, I imagined a mace of some sort) to take the second goat head on.

Imagine my surprise, but not my shock, when instead he rushes at the goat thing with nothing but his bare hands and-

Well. I've never seen someone push a goat down before, but it's a comical sight.

"I'm good with my hands," Ike boasts as the goat struggles to right itself. "Wanna see how good I am with them after this, Fel?"

And trust me, I don't miss the overly not-subtle wink sent my way, either. Were it some other day, some other place, no doubt I'd let my nerves get the better of me and I'd just be a hot, stuttering mess.

Right now? I just want to kill this damn piece of oversized mutton and take a nap for like, three days.

"Good? Like that?" I ask, motioning towards the mutt. Already, it's mostly righted itself. "Amazing work."

But though I might be tired, I'm not completely overtaken by the sarcasm gods just yet.

"Tell you what," I say, the half-grin returning to my face. "You help me kill this thing, and I might just give you an opportunity to redeem yourself."

Again, I ignite my jetpack, and with a flying leap, I sail over the goat.

Only this time, once I reach the apex of the jump, I send another blast of red energy its way.

The goat falls over comically from his punch.

Awkwardness fills him as a blush takes over his cheeks. Ike meant for that to do a lot more than just knock the creature over. Klein would have laughed and told him to continue practicing, despite the both of them knowing Ike had the better jab than him. Fingers stretched out as he stares openly at the creature and then back to Jacob who had just used the one thing Ike didn't know. The one item he got on the first day had been a device. A device that let them fly upwards. Would have been useful to know before he climbed all of those residential balconies, trying to find a safe area to rest.

"Good? Like that?" The mutt starts to right itself as Jacob motions to it. "Amazing work."

Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. Ike was going to beat himself up about that hit for the next few hours, he was sure of it. Give it up to him for feeling good and trying to kill the goat. He was going to do his best though. Even if Jacob did most of the work, he would do his best to impress Jacob. A shiver runs down his spine as he stares at Jacob for a little longer. The stars seem to glitter just right on Jacob, almost as if he's the center of a galaxy, swirling the lights around him. Beauty comes in all forms and Jacob was beautiful. Ike could remember than Klein had loved him, but here and now, all Ike wanted was Jacob.

The feeling felt both great and terrible.

He couldn't imagine the heartbreak Klein would have, but in this place, he didn't care.

He could die any second now.

Nothing mattered more than living.

"Tell you what," Jacob's half grin sends a chill through his body. "You help me kill this thing, and I might just give you an opportunity to redeem yourself."

Jacob sails through the sky like an angel in that jet pack. Ike swears the stars form wings along his back before he fires a red blast that slams into the goat, cutting deep into it's flesh with a sizzling sound. The graceful landing makes Ike's knees feel weak for just a moment before Ike decides to shake his thoughts free of Jacob and begins to strap his own jet pack onto his back, thinking of what more he could do with it.

"Only if it comes with a kiss, Fel. I don't do anything for free."

The sarcastic grin on his lips is a front for the truth behind his words. Ike goes to strike the goat, but instead, notices the goat rushing him, a moment too close for comfort as he ignites the jet pack to go straight up. The goat completely missing him by a second. A sigh comes from his throat before he lands back on the bridge carefully. No one told him he'd be able to fly like the birds and escape the solid ground. The feeling sent excitement though his veins.

"I'm sorry about Kit. I wish I could have been there for you both."

The sorrow mixes with the excitement for a moment before Ike lets the sorrow go. The small creaking sounds of the bridge sends him in a slightly worrying feeling as he stabilizes himself a bit more. The magnetic boots plus the jet pack were cool. His younger self would have loved to see this on the screen, even if it were the Games. Mother and Father still watched it every so often, but avoided watching the District Eight tributes. He wondered if they would watch him this time. Would his parents see him die? or see him win?

"I'll redeem myself to you, Jacob. I promise."

The jet pack ignites as Ike leans ever so slightly more forward, letting the jet pack create momentum in his strike. The blast feels heavy on his back, but nothing self-injuring. The heat must be felt easier due to the area being way colder than anything. The boots don't touch the ground as Ike pulls back his fist and pushes forward in his own charge towards the goat.

"Two can play this game, goaty."

The smirk on his lips as he boosts forward faster.

Ike O'Nyle had titles.

He needed to show Jacob he could help out.

Ike wasn't just a dumb, stupid, beefy fool.

He was strong.

He needed to be strong.

Four-sooth

Don't mock me.

When the forebears came to this land they did not have to deal with such ilk. When his fathers, his mothers, fought horn-to-horn to claim this land for their own - it was never against such proud, entitled, overbearing figures. They are smaller and more fragile, but they still stand against him. What blasphemy: to not only avoid his charges, but to take shots at him from afar.

The situation was never fair. But life is not fair. The scales will turn as he takes his stance, eyes narrows and head bowed. Their horns are not worthy to scrape against his own.

He will trample them like the worms they are.

Well. I try to, anyway.

This blast is more like my strike on the long thing than it was like those on Cedar, merely singing instead of hitting straight on. And slow, easily unbalanced, suicidal, whatever, this mutt was clearly not lacking in stamina.

Or luck, for that matter. When Ike and it go head to head this time, this time Ike isn't so lucky. A second CRACK sounds through the air, and the howl of pain that follows is more human than animal.

This time when I land, I'm less sure on my feet, more worried about my newfound partner in crime than making sure I look badass for the cameras. And indeed, one of Ike's hands is now leaning at an unnatural angle - and my insides freeze as I realize that effectively, the boy from eight has been disarmed.

Well. Not literally. That would be messy, and neither of us have the tools capable of dealing that to the mutt. Luckily, the same seems to be said of the goat thing. It's predictable, really. All you have to do is avoid the charge, maybe not meet it head on, and boom. Instant win.

"I can be chill. We could be chill. I'd like to chill with you."

Plus, it looks like the fluster war isn't entirely onesided after all. I call that an absolute win.

"I uh I uh I uh mean if you'd like!" That draws the first genuine laugh out of me ever since Kit and I had messed around in the cargo hold way back on the first day. Goddamn, this fucking boy from Eight.

"And what makes you think I wouldn't want that, Mr. O'Nyle?" I respond, trying - and probably failing, since it's, well, you know, me - to emulate his flirtatious winking.

To think that before I'd stepped foot in the Capitol I'd never done so much as blush at any attractive guy that crossed my path. I guess the ever looming threat of death over your head can cause you to act in mysterious ways.

Though, given who Ike is, I doubt it's only death causing that.

The goat reminds us of its presence, and following what has since become our pattern, Ike moves to head it off while I hang back. This punch is understandably sloppier, weaker - if I was trying to hit something when the bones in one of my hands were freshly cracked, well, I'd probably be curled into a ball on the ground trying to nurse it to the best of my ability instead of trying to square up with a mutt.

But that's who Ike is. And I find myself not surprised in the least.

"Alright, beast," I mutter. This time there's no fancy jetpack tricks, no pandering to the crowd.

Just me, standing my ground. And the gun that, with any luck, will be the end of at least one of my offenders.

"You kind of attacked me out of nowhere, you know." I highly doubt that the beast understands a word that I say. "And, you did hurt Ike. And I think we both prefer it when he has two working hands, ya feel?"

Almost immediately, I realize what I had just said, and once again my face flushes. "So, uh..."

Quit stalling and kill the damn thing, Fel.

"Just die, already? Please?"