All Maris could see was black. Her eyes slightly hurt and her ankle definitely did, and she felt sticky...sweaty. She was dripping in sweat, in fact. At least the wall blocked the pounding sunlight. "Why...what happened...can't see." Maris started panicking and didn't even know where she was or why she couldn't see.

"Open your eyes."

"What?" Maris was unaware her eyes were closed and she felt rather foolish, but she cracked open an eyelid and saw the blurry outline of Karin's geometric pants. Maris opened her other eye and blinked until the blurriness went away. The wall providing shade was rather helpful. "Wha-what happened?"

"You jumped."

"And I..I'm not de-dead?"

"No? That was like...two feet." Maris squinted and looked up at Karin, mouth wide open. She wanted to smile but didn't remember how to move her muscles for that kind of movement. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I, oh, sorry." Maris closed her mouth, but continued squinting. She couldn't help that part. Maris turned her head and looked at the wall. From her viewpoint, it was purely cement, but with the slightest bend of her head, she could see the sky and top of the wall. The wall that disconnected her from everything she ever knew in life.

"Stand up so we can climb the next wall." Maris forgot there were more of these to climb. She remembered Karin's description of being sore and suddenly felt motivated to get up and climb the wall. But motivation didn't account for energy, and she definitely didn't have that. "Oh, almost forgot. Drink some water."

Maris felt the plastic hit her fingers and she numbly picked up the bottle, struggling to take off the resisting cap. Her scratched fingers felt raw after getting off the lid and Maris drank the water, forgetting the sensation of not being thirsty. She hadn't even realized how thirsty she was until nothing was left in the bottle.

"Wow. An entire bottle after one wall. Good thing we grabbed like, two backpacks worth." Maris tore her gaze away from the wall and dug her hands into the dirt around her, giving support to her weak body so she could stare at Karin.

"I don't know that I can stand up. This..." Maris darted her eyes around their surroundings, "this is a lot. For me at least." Karin sighed and shuffled around the dirt and dead grass.

"Look. I know your poor health and no athletic ability is really a burden on this whole journey, but I'd rather see you struggle in pain to get up two walls than sit here and wake up tomorrow sore and unable to move. Remember soreness? Yeah." Maris definitely remembered soreness. She felt motivated from the possibility of escaping it earlier, but now she was just...tired. Maybe Karin was over exaggerating.

"I don't think it'll be that serious. Let's just take a nap." Maris patted the ground next to her and smiled at Karin.

"No." Her smile dropped quickly.

"Please? I may be weak, but not so weak that this 'soreness' will kill me. Ok, so come on. Take a nap." Maris smiled again, a little fake this time, but she tried her best to persuade Karin.

"Doubt that. Just stand up." Karin walked in front of Maris and offered her hand. "Let's go. I don't touch people everyday." Maris groaned and moved her body around, shifting her support so she could accept Karin's assistance. Karin easily pulled her off the ground and Maris immediately felt a pain shoot through her leg.

"Ow! Oh my gosh! What is this? My, my ankle. Hurts. Is this soreness?" Maris almost fell over before leaning against the wall, gasping at Karin. She rolled her eyes and let out a laugh.

"Not even close. You probably twisted your ankle falling off the wall. Which, by the way, we'll have to work on your jumping skills. You can't fall like you did that time, every time. You'll break something."

"How do I heal my ankle? I am most definitely not climbing with my ankle feeling like this."

"Well you should be resting, elevating it and all this other jazz, but we don't have the time. Just roll it around a couple times and walk it off." Karin walked up to Maris and bent down, grabbing her ankle and examining the injury. "It doesn't look serious at all. Just sounds like you jumped badly. Well doesn't sound like...you did jump badly. Anyways, just jump better next time and roll your ankle."

"Sorry that I am not a trained jumper." Maris' voice dripped sarcasm and she scoffed towards the sky, resting her head uncomfortably against the rough cement. She felt the familiar, sticky patch forming around her back on the side of the wall that had formed around her at the top of the wall. She missed the cool temperatures in Three. The day this all...happened...had the sun at its worst and Maris wasn't used to heat and exercise to this extent.

"You know. It is completely unbelievable how unfit you Threes are. Rather disgraceful to be completely honest." Maris closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Why couldn't Karin be like Jax? Competitive, yes, but still nice. Maris felt her ankle move and the pain come back through her leg.

"Ow! What are you doing?" She snapped her head down and looked at Karin move her ankle around in circles. Is she trying to break it? "Are you trying to break it?"

"Helping to relieve your ankle." Karin kept rolling it and Maris winced every so often. She finally stopped after a couple of minutes, standing up and rubbing her hands on her clothed hip. She gestured Maris to walk close to her and Maris was more than happy to get her back off the cement. She lifted her body off, relieved by the rush of cool air on her back.

Maris took one step, which was fine. She took another step but was suddenly a couple inches lower. "Ooh. Oh no. I can't walk. That hurts." Maris waved her hand in the air in defeat, her brunette hair falling in front of her face.

"Suck it up. Take a deep breath, work through whatever minimal pain you think you have and walk."

"It isn't minimal. Not every is a trained ninja."

"I'm not a ninja." Maris rolled her eyes - saddened by the new habit, but annoyed at Karin. She hadn't grown up a One and Karin should be more accepting towards their differing abilities. But, there wasn't time for self pity and Karin was right on a certain level.

Maris moved her good foot then the hurt one, slowly walking past Karin and trying to ignore the pain to get rid of her limp.

Maris walked around in circles before her ankle felt rather normal again, and she hadn't even noticed that Karin was gone. "Karin?" Maris shielded her eyes and looked up at the sky. There she was. Sitting on top of the wall. Of course. Maris looked at the ground and around her. All the bags were gone, too. She carried multiple bags up a wall in the short time it took Maris to walk around on her ankle. It would have been amazing if she weren't so difficult to get along with.

Maris was drawn out of her thoughts at Karin shouted down at her."We can't be wasting time. Let's go. Climb up the wall."

"But my ankle just got better. I shouldn't strain it!"

"What?

"My. Ankle!" Maris cupped her mouth and shouted up.

"Can't hear you." Karin wasn't even looking down at Maris. She was picking at her nails and kicking her feet as if she were on a swing.

"My ankle! It just got better!" Maris pointed to her ankle but it didn't help as Karin wasn't even paying attention.

"Oh! Your ankle? Yeah. It should be better by now. Which means you can climb."

"Yes that's what I just said! Maris relaxed her hands and looked back down at the ground, running her hand through her hair. Everything was so stressful at this point. She just wanted her mom. And Kevin. And Jax. And her friends, school even. Her other siblings. "Are you crying?" Maris touched her cheek and quickly wiped away the stray tear. She didn't mean to cry.

"No."

"Yes, you were."

"No, I wasn't. You can't even see my face."

"Whatever. I can hear your sniffles. Just toss the rope and let's. Go." Maris forgot about the rope around her waist. She fumbled around her waist, feeling for the extended piece. Maris knew she would have to climb the wall no matter what, so she stepped back and whipped the rope up. Eyes wide open this time.

Karin was caught by surprise and quickly caught the rope. She looked down and saw Maris' brown haired head inches away from the wall, one hand resting in a crack. Karin gently tugged up and heard a slight hiss. "What? What's wrong?"

"I...I don't know. When you tugged it hurt."

"Oh-" Maris couldn't hear the next part, but she was sure it wasn't very appropriate, "are the ropes completely over your shirt?" Maris looked down, confused, examining the ropes. They were completely over her clothes.

"Yes? Why does that matter?"

"Just checking. They may have burned your skin."

"It's rope, not fire."

"Hush, smart alec. It's from friction."

"Right. I knew that. I'm just frustrated." Maris sheepishly fumbled with her fingers, embarrassed that she was so oblivious at the moment. Of course she knew what rope burns were, she was just stressed out.

"Sure." Maris could practically hear the smirk in Karin's voice. "Feel around your waist to double check. Is your shirt really thin?"

"Yeah."

"Ugh, well that's it, idiot."

"Hey! Name calling!"

"Well, if your shirt is thin material then the rope could have easily cut through! You are what you are. Feel everywhere near the ropes and check to see if it cut through." Maris rubbed her hands around her stomach and didn't feel anything at first, but when she pulled her fingers back and saw red, she grew worried.

"What? What - why did you gasp?"

"I didn't gasp." Maris quickly regained her composure and wiped her fingers off.

"Yes you did. Gah, stop arguing with me! Did you find the cut?" Maris wiggled the rope until it loosened and felt back to the spot that resulted in blood on her fingers. There was a wide cut in her shirt, that was in fact made of thin material, and then an equal gap in her skin from the rope.

"H-how how did I not feel this?"

"I don't know. Adrenaline? Exhaustion?"

"I can't climb the wall like this."

"Oh yes you can and yes you will." Maris backed away from the wall and kept touching the gash. "Ew! Don't mess with it! You'll infect it!"

"What am I supposed to do! I have a huge gap in my skin and you expect me to just stand here and climb a wall?"

"Pull down your shirt and bundle it up over the spot. Put the rope back, climb the wall quickly, and I will patch you up." Maris was overly hesitant. She knew Karin wasn't a doctor, but she had been primarily right about everything else. She helped fix her ankle, set up the memorial for her mother and Three, get past the first wall...and despite their differences, she was in short, right about everything.

Maris bundled up her shirt and stuffed it under the rope, taking in a deep breath as she wiped the sticky redness off her hands once again. Maybe that was why the wall felt so sticky. Maris looked back to the other wall and was more than relieved that it was only a sweat stain left, and not drops of her blood. That would have been horrifying.

"Hello? Daydreamer?" Maris blinked and shielded her eyes, looking at Karin's impatient figure. "Get to climbing. The longer you wait, the more chance you have for infection. That'll be worse than being sore." Maris definitely didn't want that.

Maris put her hand in the crack once again and looked up the Karin, nodding her head. Karin began tugging on the rope again and Maris breathed deeply, grateful that she didn't feel anything more than deep padding hitting her skin. She lifted her other hand up to a crack and repeated the movement that she had on the first wall, only this, Maris was much more tired. Every movement seemed like it took an hour and her breathing was more irregular than ever.

"Breathe with each step. Long and deep. I can feel your shaking from the rope right here and let me say, it is rather annoying." Maris complied with no second thought and it seemed like hours and hundreds of scratches later that a warm feeling enclosed Maris' hand. Karin pulled her over the edge and immediately stripped her of the ropes, emptying water all over Maris.

"What are you doing!" Maris shuffled around, thankful for the wide top, ungrateful for the rough surface that was forced upon her body.

"I am pouring water over your injury! Stop moving and let me try to clean it." The water felt disgusting yet nice against her injury, but Maris stopped moving around and let Karin do her thing.