t w e n t y f i v e ;

Roseanne read the letter to him next, in which they told him that they were proud of him and were wishing him a quick recovery. She noticed the way Raven got tears in his eyes as she finished reading off the letter to him. Roseanne then silently folded the letter neatly and handed it to him, to which he responded by grabbing it with his good hand and clutching it to his chest. His mobility in his new prosthetic arm was very limited. He still could not figure out how to send signals for movement from his brain to his new limb. Both of them knew it would take some getting used to.

As it got further into the afternoon, Roseanne started to wonder why Ciel was taking so long to come back to his dorm. He rarely liked to leave his room whenever they had free time. She decided to look out for him as she went up to the cafeteria to get some dinner for her and Raven. She spotted him sitting at the table with their group. They all looked up when they saw her walk up to the line and picking out something she thought she and Raven would like. For her it was a ham sandwich with lots of veggies. For Raven she picked out a plain spicy chicken sandwich, since it was what she mostly saw him grab when it was available at dinner. She had to pass her group's table to leave the dining area and as she passed them, Ciel perked up and rose from his place at the table.

"Hey Rose, I have to talk to you. Do you have a minute?" He asked her, following her a few steps away after she passed them. From the table, both Scarlet and Ivory watched her intently. They were the most interested whenever any of the boys seemed to talk to Roseanne.

She nodded and he went past her to leave the lunch room. He had spent the whole day talking to the members of their team, excluding Cedar, Ivory, and Scarlet. They had all agreed that they would do a big switch around in the dorms so that Roseanne could stay the remainder of their week and a half with each other. They had all agreed and they would move their things around after curfew hours, and in the dark so as the other three members of the team would not find out.

With her dinner and Raven's neatly packed in boxes and tucked away in a bag, she leaned against the wall tiredly and heaved a sigh. She didn't much talk to Ciel. He was more of Indy and Mauve's friend, he was very close with the two of them. Third closest to him was Raven, then Seville and Cedar, then maybe Roseanne. He clearly didn't like Ivory and Scarlet at all and he never even looked in Honey's direction. She thought Ciel was nice, but she just felt like they had absolutely nothing in common. They didn't like the same things, and it made her wonder if her crush on him so long ago was merely superficial. She thought she was handsome, so she had a crush on him. That was all there was to it, with absolutely no depth. Ciel was a good person, and they got along with each other. She heard things from Raven, how he was always trying to help out and give him advice despite them being the same age.

When she said nothing to him and waited for him to explain, he finally spoke. "So I was thinking maybe you can just stay in my room the remainder of our time in the Garden so you can watch over Raven." He said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. He thought it was a good idea, but he wasn't sure how well received it was going to be by his team's co captain. "Its only a week and a half and I already talked to everyone about it. Seville's staying in your room with Honey, and I'll be staying in his room with Mauve. I can help you move your things in tonight after curfew."

Roseanne's eyes widened and she lowered her voice into a whisper. She looked both ways up and down the hallway before proceeding to speak. Luckily for them, everyone was currently in the lunch room having their last meal of the day. But they both knew there were cameras all over that caught everything. And what was worse was that Ivory had it out for her and she knew nothing would make her happier than to see Roseanne and Raven get in trouble. "You do realize that's not allowed, Ciel?"

He gave a nod of his head, matching her energy and her whispering tone of voice. "Yes. But if we keep it on the down low, no one will find out."

Still looking both ways, checking for the coast to be clear, she told him. "We can discuss it in your room after dinner. There's no cameras in the dorms. And...if Raven's okay with it, I don't have a problem either."

At that, Ciel smiled. She then turned and made her way down the small hallway towards the exit that led out to the patio and to the dorms. He turned and jogged back to the lunch room to continue eating his meal with the rest of the team. As he sat down, everyone was already staring and just bursting to ask him questions about what just happened between the two.

Since Mauve was Ciel's first and closest friend in the team, he broke the silence first. Wiggling his eyebrows at his friend, he asked. "So what were you and Rose talking about?" The question was rather pointless because everyone at the table knew what was really happening, except for three members. Mauve had only planned to make a thing out of it to throw them off, and make them believe he was teasing his friend for no reason.

Scarlet and Ivory watched their cyan haired friend, waiting for a response. Ciel gave a small shrug of his shoulders. "She's been in my room all day, taking care of the boy Raven. I was just asking her how he was feeling. She said he's a little drowsy, but mostly fine." He poked at the food on his tray like it was nothing eventful. But the girls seemed to believe his words and continued eating.

He had already talked to Mauve and Seville, and they were going to move their things around after dark.

-

It seemed that for the moment, things were going well on the team. Ciel discussed the plan in detail with Raven and Roseanne. Both were in agreement to make the room switch and the other boys took care of everything else. His recovery was rather quick, especially considering they had the most advanced technology in the Garden. His body took a few days to reject the white blood in his body. But once his body replenished itself with the blood that came from his province, he seemed to be all better. When it came to his arm, though, it was still taking some getting used to. He still felt little glitches of pain here and there, but he mostly hid that pain away so as not to scare his new room mate.

Staying in the same dorm was nice, but it was also strange for them. Their whole lives they had lived with someone of the same sex as them. Now they were living with someone of the opposite sex, someone they were extremely close to, no less. They now had to be more careful and set more rules and boundaries to make each other comfortable. She still always made sure that he was feeling okay, since he had spent several days weakened from his injury and at times couldn't even get out of his bed.

By the weekend, he was feeling much better and pretty much fully recovered. He was getting therapy to use his new prosthetic arm with one of the nurses in the Garden who always looked at Roseanne suspiciously. No doubt, she wondered why the girl with pink hair was always in the room when Raven was getting his therapy sessions. Roseanne later made it a point after about the third day to leave whenever she knew the nurse was coming. She'd spend the two hour session watching Indy and Ciel play basketball or getting a work out in at the physical training building. That seemed to calm the suspicions of the nurse, and Raven said she was a bit nicer to him when she went for their sessions.

With four days left before take off, their main teacher Instructor Violet called them up with an announcement. The ten members of the team were sat in the lounge room waiting for her to begin. The smile on her face was wide and brimming with excitement.

"So...my perfect little team. Administration has a present for you all." As she said that, Roseanne noticed she had been holding something behind her back and she pulled it out to reveal a set of tickets. "Since you guys have all performed so well, and you're essentially the pride of this facility, administration thought you could all go on a trip to Adventure Land!"

None of them seemed to know what that was, none but one, and that was Mauve. His eyes seemed to light up with excitement at the news. "You're kidding!" He shouted.

She gave a shake of her head. "They asked me what I thought would be a good present for you guys, and I suggested this, and they got you the tickets."

Mauve had been sitting next to Ciel on one of the couches and he mentioned to his friend that Adventure Land was a really big amusement park in the capital of his home province, the Province of Technology. He mentioned that he had always wanted to go there when he was a kid, and he completely forgot about it when he got sent off to the Garden. It was also an opportunity to see his home town and see how much had changed since he left all those years ago. Upon learning that it was an amusement park, everyone else in the room lit up. But Roseanne wasn't sure. Raven was still recovering from his injury and she didn't want him exerting himself too much. But she knew too that if he wanted to go, she could not stop him from doing so. She was merely concerned that something would happen and further cause him injury.

She was sitting next to him and she leaned over to whisper into his ear. "You thinking of going?"

He gave a small shrug of his shoulders. "I'm feeling pretty good. But I don't want to risk it. I don't know if I should go."

To his other side was Ivory, who always sat next to Raven whenever she got the chance. She had overheard him saying he was thinking of staying behind and she placed her hand on his prosthetic arm, giving it a light squeeze as she said in a whiny voice. "You have to come with us. This will be our last group activity before spending the next eight years in space." From across the room, Scarlet nodded in agreement. She hadn't fully heard what was going on, but if Ivory was talking, she was always likely to agree no matter what it was.

In the same moment that she grabbed his arm, he moved it away, and when she tried to grip his hand after that, his hand closed around hers tightly, locking her hand in his hold.

She immediately winced in pain. "Wait. Let go."

From the next seat a few feet away, Cedar jumped from his seat, rushing to her rescue. Raven tried to concentrate on letting go of her hand. But the more he concentrated on letting go, the more his prosthetic hand closed tighter around Ivory's small hand. "I'm trying." He said to them, and he was genuinely trying. The longer it took, the more nervous and anxious he became about it, and soon they all heard the snapping and grinding of her bones in his hold. Ivory screamed in pain at the top of her lungs and Cedar rushed towards them, but Ciel and Indy held him back, knowing well that this was all an accident and Cedar would only make things worse by interfering.

Instructor Violet watched silently in horror, as did the rest of the team. Roseanne grabbed his other hand and gave it gently strokes to try to calm him down. Ivory was in such pain that she wriggled on the couch next to him, barely conscious now. It took about a minute, and every bone in her hand had been crushed to bits, before he was able to let go. When he did, Seville stepped in and picked up Ivory, rushing out of the room to take her to the hospital wing.

Cedar looked to Raven with brown eyes full of hatred. "What the fuck is wrong with you? You're a fucking monster!" He then turned and raced out of the room to follow Seville.

Scarlet and Honey left the room soon after, not being able to look at Raven.

-

more drama because that's what i love tbh. so finally i was able to upload the picture. so these are the couples irl -- seville & honey, ivory & cedar, ciel has a girlfriend who he tried to bring into the friend group. we went to a party with them once and then we never saw her again, but they're still together from what i've seen on snap. mauve is talking to a nice girl from the restaurant. im trying to incorporate her into the friend group.

indy had a crush on ivory. but then he started dating a nice girl from the restaurant. when she moved away, they broke up. now he's talking to some other girl from outside work. scarlet DID have a boyfriend until like november of last year. he was pretty handsome. tbh he looked almost exactly like cedar. now she's single. then there's raven and me.

we're not dating. but sometimes i feel like there's something there. and sometimes i feel like there's no way. he must be messing with me. i have self esteem issues and body image issues. and honestly he's so handsome and nice.

i always tell myself there's no way he's interested in me. but it would be nice. a girl can dream. hopefully raven and i haven't disappointed you. he's definitely handsome. in my opinion.

-clary