The Sea of Decay and Pejite

I hope that I'll do a decent job of the whole character thing. I think Asbel and Nausicaä would make a really cute couple, plus Asbel's cute. Yeah I know what a lot of you are thinking: Eww, she likes an anime character that isn't even real?

But hey, that's what my sister says, and it doesn't bother me. But read it, enjoy it (or not), and review it. Thanks!

The wind rushed past my hair as I squinted through the goggles to see what lay beyond. Fields rolled by, and soon, the only thing in sight were towns filled with white spores that if you breathed in, even a single spore, it would kill you.

My heart twisted as I saw the pain and destruction that had been the final thoughts of the villagers living there. My fox-squirrel called Tato snuggled into my chest to try and escape the winds.

Carefully I let go with one hand and placed another on the lump that was my pet, I spoke gently, "It's alright Tato. We're almost there, as soon as we clear this village; we will be in the Pejite Kingdom. Just a little while longer." I remembered vividly, at how three years ago, the Tolumekians led an enormous herd of Ohmu's to the Valley of the Wind, using a baby Ohmu.

What had been done was not right, and the Tolumekians knew it.

But in their greed to gain control of a giant monster that had crash landed, along with a plane, they had destroyed the Kingdom of Pejite. I had met a boy called Asbel who was avenging his twin sister's death, who had been taken by the Tolumekians. Along with the demon, she had come to the Valley of the Wind during the night. And there, she died.

Sadly I could do nothing to save her, and she left this world. At the moment, I was fulfilling a promise to Asbel to come, no more, no less than 3 years after the terrifying stampede of the Ohmus.

I was almost there, and ahead I could faintly see the outline of the once great city of Pejite. This was the price of greed, war, and anger. It was wrong.

But everything had grown quiet and tranquil since the Tolumekians had left and gone back, their Princess had left as well, giving a hesitant apology for what had happened.

My people were going back to their old life, and I was continuing my research to cure the poison of the spores in the Toxic Jungle. The clouds rolled by, and the wind was calm and steady.

Up ahead I saw a figure, standing atop the tower, waving in my direction. Gasping, I realized that it was Asbel, and I waved back. I urged my glider to move quicker, and carefully I landed it at the foot of a tall column of steps.

Rushing up I threw my helmet and mask off and ran to the top and looked around for Asbel. Above me I heard my name, "Nausicaä, up here!"

I backed up and saw a familiar face readying to jump down the meters to my side. He pushed off and sailed through the air and landed on his feet. Rushing up to him I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed tight. He returned my embrace, and then we parted and looked at each other. "Nausicaä, how've you been?" I smiled, "Wonderful, the trees have begun to grow back, and I think I'm close to finally discovering how to cure the sickness of the spores! How about you, it looks like Pejite is coming together again."

He nodded and waved an arm out across his old city, the dead bodies of the insects and people were gone, and a flag indicating that city was at last recovering. Clapping my hands together I gazed about at the city, "Oh my, Asbel, it looks wonderful. I do hope Mito and Lord Yupa have been helping." He nodded, "Yeah, they've been a big help."

I let Tato out of my shirt and let him scamper around on my shoulders, "That's good news. Are you ready to come to the Valley of the Wind again?"

He nodded and started running down a flight of steps to a large room. "Of course, together Mito, Lord Yupa, and I have put together three gliders. Similar to yours, have a look." He moved aside and tossed off a cover, white paint covered the handles and floor. An engine was at the back, a brown loop rested between the handle bars, and wide wings sprouted from the sides of it.

It shone and flashed like it had been constantly polished time and time again. Gingerly I touched the handlebars and flexed the leather stomach rest. Turning to him I exclaimed, "This is amazing Asbel. It's almost like a duplicate of the glider. You did a splendid job."

He blushed at my praise and turned around, "W-well come on, let's go and tell Mito and Lord Yupa that we're leaving for the Valley. And that they can join us later."

Nodding I followed him down through a door and over to a room where both of my old friends were laboring to fashion candles to light various parts of the room. They looked up at the creak of the door and jumped up from their spots as they saw me. Lord Yupa rushed up and embraced me tightly, I hugged back and whispered into his cloak, "It's good to see you again Lord Yupa. How has Asbel been treating you?"

The swordsman looked up at Asbel who was resting against the door, "Asbel? Oh, superb! Work here is nearly completed. Isn't that right Mito?" Mito hugged me tight and looked at me with his good eye, "Well Princess. You have certainly grown in the past three years." My hair had indeed grown longer and I had a sense of wisdom glowing in my eyes.

"Come, we should get back to work, as soon as you are ready Asbel and the Princess can set off. We will join them later." Yupa told us.

We nodded and Asbel pushed the door open again and put a hand out to me. "Nausicaä, I still need to get some food together. Will you help me?" He asked, I smiled and followed him, "Certainly Asbel, I can't wait for you to see the village again."

He pushed through a door into a house and ran to a cupboard and opened it. He grabbed bread wrapped in blue cloth, and put it into a backpack. I fished bottled water from my own pack and showed it to him. "This is from our wells; lately the water seems cleaner than ever. I am glad." He slung it onto his shoulder and pushed through the door. "Great job Nausicaä. Now I really can't wait to see your Village again."

"Well let's go!" I called from behind him. He ran to the glider and held the white one above his head. He went down the steps one by one then gently laid his creation down onto the soil. Grabbing a helmet from the handle, he fit it over his head and slipped his mask on.

I did the same and kicked off of the ground.

Abel followed and together we turned in the air and sped off towards my home, The Valley of the Wind. On my shoulder Tato squeaked against the wind and pressed himself closer to my neck. I laughed and stroked his little furry head gently. I shouted to Asbel through my mask, "Asbel, I need to find something inside the Toxic Jungle, can we make a stop there for a moment please?"

He nodded, "Yeah, of course Nausicaä."

I blinked appreciatively and turned towards a giant forest of the white killing spores. I stopped my glider outside of the forest and waited for Asbel to land as well. When he did I grabbed my flare gun and ran into the forest only hesitating a moment to wait for Asbel.

As he ran beside me he panted to me through his mask, "I don't know how you can be so trusting of this place, especially when it's home to the animals who were responsible for your death." I looked at him, "What're you talking about? They meant no harm; they were blinded by rage because one of their babies was stolen. I bear no ill will towards the Ohmus. And you shouldn't either; you know what they're trying to do."

Jumped over a root I landed in a field that had tree roots zigzagging in and out of the ground.

I took off my helmet and goggles and looked about in amazement, no matter how many times I came to the Toxic Forest, it never ceased to amaze me. However, Asbel had his gun at the ready, and looked around warily at the forest.

Sighing I walked over to his side and placed a hand on the gun to lower it. He looked at me in question, "This forest is not trying to harm anything or anyone. You remember that petrified forest underground here don't you? How the air was so pure, as was the water? The creatures have good hearts, no matter how easily they are angered. Give this place a chance, even if they did kill me once before. They revived me, and that is enough of an apology for me, it should be for you too. There is nothing to fear from this place Asbel."

Asbel fidgeted slightly, "I know, I'm sorry. It's just that this place is what harbors the insects that destroyed Pejite. I don't mean to hold so much hostility against them."

I smiled, "I know Asbel. You're trying your best, but think of how insects must feel, trying to cleanse the earth. And we're here destroying all their precious work and time. That is why if somehow clean water was allowed to be sucked up by the trees, then this place wouldn't be a Toxic Jungle anymore."

He smiled and I looked at him with twinkling eyes, "What's so funny?" I asked him as he stared at me, red blush covered his cheeks underneath his mask and he looked away, "Huh? Oh, uh, nothing Nausicaä." I faced away wondering to myself, what's wrong with Asbel? I forgot about Asbel's strange behavior when I saw a small blue flower with lighter blue puffs around it.

Dropping my flash gun I ran over to the flower and knelt down in front of it, and from my chest pocket, I withdrew a small glass tube.

Carefully I placed the tube underneath the blue spores and tapped the branch gently with my gloved finger. Three spores detached from the flower and floated gracefully into the tube, and closing the lid I let out a satisfied sigh.

I looked at the tube and the spores inside of it, "Wonderful, I got what I needed." Standing up I called out to Asbel, "Asbel, I got what I needed. We can go now." He was running his hands over his weapon when he heard me. "Alright Nausicaä, let's go." I nodded and made my way through the forest with Asbel following close behind. Sudden tremors ran through the ground and I stopped, placing a hand behind me to stop Asbel.

Looking around I held my insect charm at the ready, Asbel whispered in my ear, "Nausicaä, what's wrong? Is there an insect coming?"

Nodding I moved through the forest with my eyes and looked for any signs of movement, from the shade of the trees I saw a red light flash, and glow bright. My arm was itching to start my charm, but it would do me no good unless I knew if it was an insect or not.

Crashing followed the tremor in front of us an enormous Ohmu passed by, with its eyes red with rage. It noticed Asbel and I standing there watching it, and slowly the Ohmu turned to us, Asbel was almost shaking and was about to raise his weapon when I put an arm out and held the gun tightly. "Asbel, something is wrong, it is angry. I need to find out what, stay here, and please don't attack anything."

With that, I moved away from Asbel and cautiously towards the Ohmu. With my right arm I started to swing the insect charm in circles until it emitted a whistling sound, upon hearing that, the Ohmu followed me, and came closer.

I moved in the same direction it had been going to with the charm still moving, the Ohmu's eyes flickered from red to blue, then finally to blue again.

Moving aside I pressed myself against a tree and let the magnificent creature pass through. As it left I whispered, "That's a good boy." It finally left and I turned back to Asbel who stood there with his gun in his hands. I sighed thankfully as I noticed it was not raised nor set to fire, "See Asbel? Nothing to fear."

He sighed, "I wonder what made the Ohmu become so angry all of a sudden." I nodded, "Yes, I was wondering that myself. We should go in the direction that the Ohmu was coming from, we need to check it out. Reluctantly Asbel nodded and followed me through the forest; I jumped over a tree trunk and waited for Asbel to follow. As soon as he did I set off again and looked around quietly.

My mask inflated and deflated as I took in breaths, I stopped as I came to a stop in front of a large tree. The empty path that had just been before us was gone.

Behind me Asbel asked, "Nausicaä what's wrong?" He too stopped behind me as we both stared at the giant tree blocking our path, strangely enough, it was still standing upright, and looked perfectly healthy despite the spores that had begun to grow on it.

In the bottom of my heart I knew something was amiss, never before had I seen a tree that was so tall, and was least covered with spores. I approached and ignored Asbel who reached for me, "Nausicaä, what're you doing? This could be dangerous." I whispered, almost in a trance-like tone, "I know Asbel, this tree, something about it is wrong." I proceeded towards the tree with Asbel close behind me, and as I got nearer to the tree, its bark seemed watery.

Reaching a hand out to the tree, and as I touched it a painful shock coursed through my body. In the background I could hear Asbel's cry of fear, "Nausicaä, get away from it! Nausicaä!"

I could feel hands wrap themselves around my waist and tug me away from the tree.

Together Asbel and I fell to the ground with a thump and a grunt. Asbel scrambled to my side and cradled my head in his arm, "Nausicaä, are you alright? What in the world happened?" I could only manage pants as I felt the last of the electrical charges leave my body. Inside my shirt I could feel Tato quivering with fear, and painfully I reached up and touched the lump whispering in a hoarse voice, "Tato, it's alright. You're okay."

Asbel held my shoulder with his other hand, "Nausicaä, can you get up? We need to get you to the Valley of the Wind, now."

With much effort I nodded and held Asbel's shoulder as I struggled to my feet, my limbs still quivering from the shock. He put a hand around my waist which made my face feel like it was heating up, why do I feel so embarrassed at his touch? I've never felt that way before, not ever.

His hand went up to my head, "Nausicaä, are you feeling alright? Your face looks red." He said, I nearly jumped and slowly I peeled his hand off my forehead, "I'm fine Asbel, we should get to the gliders." With that I took off through the forest, Asbel at my heels.

As we came to the edge of the forest I let Tato crawl out of my shirt and onto my shoulder where he nuzzled his little face against my cheek affectionately.

I tickled his chin and climbed onto my glider, holding onto the handlebars, ready to flip the lever to rise up into the air. Looking back at Asbel I called, "Asbel, are you coming?" He looked at me from the edge of the forest and nodded, running up to his own glider.

He jumped on it and flicked the switch which caused him to rise up into the air, "Let's go Nausicaä, we should get you checked my Obaba (sp?)." As I followed him into the sky I shouted after him, "I told you I'm alright Asbel. We don't need to bother Obaba." He persisted, "Nausicaä, something like that isn't good. We need to tell Obaba about this and check you for any wounds. Alright, we'll do that much at least."

Sighing I agreed, knowing Asbel he wouldn't give up until I said yes to something.

The wind rushed past, and my earring jingled at the base of my earlobes, there was not a single cloud in the sky, and everything was calm and peaceful. Still, I did want to ask Obaba a question, a question about why, I, Nausicaä, the Princess of the Valley of the Wind, seemed afraid at Asbel, Prince of Pejite's touch.

Inside, I had a sneaking suspicion of what it was, the same thing that caused my deceased mother and father to meet, and have me, the Princess. I shook off the feeling and concentrated at soaring over the rest of the wasteland to my home. Still, I could not help myself from frequently looking at Asbel from time to time, and red creeping over my cheeks every time he almost caught my gaze.

I have found something new to obsess over. Besides everything else, this'll probably be the story I'm going to be concentrating on most. Nausicaä has now taken a place as one of my favorite anime's. But that might come as no surprise; I like almost every other anime as well. Lol.

-PurificationArrow