A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Sorry it took kind of long for me to update, but I think my update day is going to be every Sunday at least. Please review!!! I'm working hard so you can have enjoyment, please help me by telling me if you like it or if you don't.
Disclaimer: EVERYTHING IS MINE!!.....Except,...ya know....the characters...and the previous plot...and...stuff...
Setting Sun
Before, when I had awoken after being blacked out, I would hear many close voices and then I would choose to "officially" awake. But this time was different. No one was talking, I couldn't even feel the presence of someone except for a pressure and warmth in my hand. If I listened hard enough I could also make out faint snores near by. I was scared. Why was no one here?...Wait, who was here? My mind was so foggy as it tried to back track. I don't know how long it took me, but somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes had I realized what had happened, and when I finally did, the snores stuttered. This body next to me was probably Ian.
"Ian?" I whispered testing my voice, "Ian?" I was getting louder; I wanted answers.
He shook his head then replied, "Wanda? Are you awake?"
"Yeah, where am I? There was a...fire? There was something on fire in the kitchen!" I tried to warn him.
"Don't worry, Burns got you before he flame could spread," he said stiffly "Doc took care of your arm with heal, but he wanted to wrap it up just to be sure."
"You know that's not really necessary-"
"Yeah, he just has his old habits..." Ian stated trailing off. He lowered his head so that I could not see his midnight blue eyes.
I frowned, and moved my good hand to tilt his chin up so I could see them again. He wrapped his impossibly warm hands around mine. Something was wrong.
"Ian? Are you okay? You seem kind of distracted." I informed him.
He sighed, "It was just really weird. Why did you grab at it?...The fire, I mean," he added when he saw my confused expression, "don't you remember what it is? I know you haven't really been in the kitchen since your...insertion, but I would think you would have remembered what it was."
He was scaring me now. I hadn't really thought of why I didn't know what it was, just that...well...I didn't! My heart was slowly starting to race. Maybe there was something wrong with the body? I had encountered something like this in the spiders. My brain wasn't as fast as some of the others; in search of a solution, I had gone to Weaving Through Minds for help. He said it had something to do with the spiders brain, that perhaps I should switch hosts? But this didn't seem like that.
I said quickly, "Um, I'm not exactly sure. It could have to do with the fact that I'm switching hosts, that some information was lost, or maybe my host really hadn't seen fire before. We don't use it for cooking, we use heated metal. Or maybe the host was damaged."
"Damaged? But that couldn't be right... Didn't Melanie fall down an elevator shaft? There was nothing wrong with her, I bet Pet just didn't-"
He didn't get a chance to finish. Just then, Melanie, Jared, and Burns walked into the room. I smiled and sat up. My awkward gauzed-up hand lay beside me. Ian also, at the sight of our visitors, straightened up, but maintained his close, almost protective, distance.
"Well, you missed one heck of a day Wanda. There was a ton of work to do, and once again you disappoint; you know, I had higher expectations." Melanie teased. She smiled, "No, but really, are you okay? You gave us a scare. Especially Doc, he was having a fit on how to treat your injuries. He's never healed a burn before. Lucky Burns was there."
I glared at Melanie while she said this and then replied to Burns, "Yes, I was very lucky. Thank you very much."
"It was nothing. I am just glad you weren't hurt," he said. We exchanged a smile and the pressure in my hand strengthened.
"**clears throat**" Jared cleared his throat, "Wanda, we know you just were hurt, but we are still running out of supplies. Jeb sent us down here to check if you were still up to go."
"Oh, yeah. I'll be fine. I'm healed." I said.
"Okay then, in that case. We'll be leaving after dark. Burns, you should probably go tell Nate and everyone else, they'll want to say goodbye. I'll just go and tell Jeb." Burns nodded as Jared finished and they both proceeded to leave.
Melanie watched them leave and then sat next to me. We started to talk about where we were going this time. Mel said that Jared planned to go south and go over the border into Mexico. Ian was excited, he hadn't had real Mexican food in a while. Neither had Pet, but I was a little hesitant. She, well, I had little tolerance for spicy food. Slowly, the light in the cave dimmed and we went to get dinner. After all, I had never gotten that second roll.
By the time we met up with Burns, Nate and the other raid members it was dusk, and as we crept out of the caves into our larger cache, we got to watch the sunset. The clouds were arranged in rows of color, lightest to darkest. In the center was a blazing red half-circle I guessed was the sun.
I paused and so did Ian.
"Rather pretty isn't it? It's the one thing that reminds me of my home on the fire planet," Burns said behind us.
"It's beautiful," I stated, "There wasn't really much of a sunset on any of the other planets I've visited except the flowers, especially not on the Mists Planet, but it was one thing that I really missed in my time with the See Weeds."
"Yeah," Ian sighed, "It's one of my favorite things too, watching how the world changes so much in the minute it takes to set."
We all took another moment to admire the sunset, each one of us making our own connections to our home planets. It was rather ironic that one small could connect different people so easily. I giggled, Ian looked at me with a slight smile and raised eyebrows, but I shook my head. He was so amused at how my body gave way so easily to laughing.
We started heading back to our cars. We were taking the van and the moving truck. It turned out that Nate worked for a moving company before the invasion and he had used this and two other cars to raid.
As our groups started to pack the cars, we said our goodbyes.
"Thanks so much for letting us stay here, ya'll really helped us," Nate said to us, smiling.
"You're very welcome," I replied.
"Yeah, drop by anytime," Mel said laughing, you know where to find us.
To my right I see Jamie hugging Nate's daughter, Lyla. She was two years younger, and they had gotten close the week or so they stayed here. They were cute together. As everyone started to head for the buses, I told Ian that he could go, that I just wanted to say goodbye to Burns. He pecked me on the lips, leaving me blushing, then left. I turn to see Burns, saying his farewells to Lily.
When she left, I strode up to him and said, "It was truly wonderful to meet you. To talk to someone who's been somewhere I have not was really...refreshing." I smiled.
"Yes, you have no idea how great it was to see you and Sunny. I was..well..I felt guilty about leaving society. I hope we see each other soon," he replied.
My smile widened when he said this. I gave him a friendly hug. Now, noticing we were the only ones still outside I waved and opened the van door. Sliding in next to Ian, I faced Burns's car to see a flash of red hair inside the vehicle. I gave a little wave while I watched them drive off.
Thankfully, I wasn't driving first, so I put my head on Ian's shoulder and looked out the window. Jared whipped the car around, and I saw the most peculiar thing. The entrance to the caves, which is hidden behind a small ravine and a boulder, flashed a bright, white light blinding my eyes. I was startled and jumped a little.
"Are you okay?" Ian mumbled, circling his arms around me.
"Uh, huh," I said and laid back into him. It was probably just a trick of the light from the sunset; but it was so bright... Sleepy as I was, I didn't have long to think about it.
A/N: Yay! Okay so that's it! Hope it was worth the wait. If it was or if it wasn't, please tell me in a review. I hate to be one of those annoying authors that beg for reviews, but I am. ;) P.S. This is not the ending, case anyone was wondering...hence the mild cliffhanger...