Chapter 1: A Pink Haired Survivor
An old man grunted as he pushed against his cane, finally reaching the peak of the hill. His green eyes scanning the hills beyond him, once he found the path he wanted the old man slowly turned behind him.
A younger man with blonde hair and green eyes looked up at the man, "How does it look Sora-san?" The younger man was of average height and build. He wore a white cloak with tan sandals, on his waist he had a black leather belt that carried a canteen of water on the left side of his hip and a knife on the right.
Sora gave another long look at the endless desert before turning back to the younger man, "Not bad Haru-san, we should be able to make J'skar in a couple days."
Haru gave a large smile at the old man and nodded, he then turned around and began to spread the word. The old man looked at the scarlet sky above him and sighed, at his rate he would never be able to get through the desert. He slowly made his way back down the hilltop and joined back up with the rest of the caravan.
Somewhere else in the desert a man with pink hair gazed at the night sky above him, his head pounded and his mouth was dry. His eyes hurt whenever he moved them and his body felt numb, all in all, he felt horrible. His thoughts felt like they were stuck in a fog, never really knowing where they were. Speaking of not knowing where they were where the hell was he.
The man sat up, wincing as a pain suddenly flared in his abdomen, he ignored it however as he stood up to scan his surroundings. All around him were hundreds upon hundreds of rolling sand hills, one, however, seemed to have a light source on the other side.
Choosing to follow the light, Natsu began to make his way towards it, but as his foot took its first step pain flared up in his leg and it gave out, causing him to fall flat into the sand. With shaking arms he rolled over and spat out a mouthful of sand, "What the hell is wrong with me?"
Throwing that thought out of his mind, Natsu stood up once more and attempted to make his way to the light source. With a steady step, he continued to slowly but steadily make his way to the light source. He let out a hiss of pain and took a few more steps, "When I get there they better have a spare bed open for someone."
As he slowly made his way over the hilltop he basked in the light. In front of him stood scores of tents, lit by torches and spells. It seemed as though many had settled in for the night as not many people were wandering outside of their tents. Actually, outside a nearby tent, there was a lone man wandering outside his tent, walking stick in hand. With wobbly legs and unsteady steps, Natsu made his way down the hill and toward the old man.
Sora quirked his head sideways at the sound of moving sand behind him. He slowly turned around and found a man face down in the sand, he had pink hair, a torn shirt, and scars all over his back, Grey pants that were tied around his calves with a black ribbon, and two very worn sandals around his feet. Quickly moving to the unconscious man, Sora laid a hand on his scarred back.
"What did this to you?" He whispered to himself.
A faint green glow surrounded the old man's hand, and Natsu's back began to rise and fall once again, and Natsu took in a long breath.
"Who is that?" Sora jumped at the sudden voice and glanced up to its voice. Haru stood above him with his arms crossed, "Why is his back so scarred?"
Sora sighed and looked up towards Haru, "I don't know who he is Haru-san, all I know is that we need to get him out of the elements, and fast!"
The two men grabbed his arms and legs and began to carry him into Sora's tent. After a bit of deliberation from the two men, they decided on leaving him atop of the old man's sleeping bag. Haru gave Sora a nod and left the tent, leaving Sora to watch over the injured man.
••••••
A pair of brown eyes slowly opened, finding what looked like tan cloth above him. As he pushed to sit up a hand grabbed his right shoulder, causing Natsu to jump and look at the person holding him down.
Looking down at him with a kind gaze was a woman with long black hair that was tied into a ponytail with a blue ribbon, green baggy eyes, and a tan desert cloak.
She looked down at him with a curious expression, "So, you're finally awake."
Natsu looked up at the girl, "I need to get up!" He tried to stand up only for the woman to push him back down to the sleeping bag.
"No! You don't!" She took a breath, and looked back down at the pink haired man on the sleeping bag, "My name is Sara and I am the chief doctor here. That means that you need to do what I tell you."
Natsu crossed his arms, and began to whisper to himself, "I don't live here so you don't have any say on what I do."
Sara shook her head in disbelief, "It doesn't matter where you live, why would you think that?"
Natsu stayed silent.
The woman signed and crossed her arms, "Anyway, as I was saying, my name is Sara, I'm the main doctor here and you should be getting as much rest as you could before we start moving again."
Natsu's brow furrowed, "Why should I rest? What do you mean 'before we start moving again'?"
Sara smiled, "You need to rest because of the wounds all over your body, and by 'moving' I mean before we pack up camp and make our way to The Ember Trail to the mountainous Kingdom of Joya."