Chapter One:

Lost, but Never Forgotten

The next morning, when the majority of Van's friends groggily entered the mess hall, all of them were surprised to see a wide-awake Van and Fiona already sitting at the large table that the mismatched group had chosen for themselves when they had first moved to the new base. The ever loyal, silvery white Organoid Zeke was curled up by Van's feet, like a dog, snoring lightly. The two teens looked so awake that they had to have been awake for a couple hours at least, for Van was well known for being the last person to awaken in the mornings. So this new turn of events was shocking, to say the least.

When the group reached the table and sat down in their usual seats, they immediately saw that both Van and Fiona were looking over several large maps. Apparently they were zoned in on only the papers that lay before them, as neither even glanced up to return the sleepy 'good mornings' that they were greeted with. There were also about half a dozen other maps that were carelessly tossed aside, which made half of the table indistinguishable beneath all of the large charts. The busy duo only muttered a quick, almost careless 'good morning' back before swiftly delving their attention to their current chart, all the while muttering incoherently among themselves.

This strange set of events went on for a good twenty minutes or longer, before both Irvine and Thomas finally had enough of the duo's 'top secret' conversation and quiet arguments. Thomas was the first to bolt to his feet in aggravation, but Irvine beat the blond to confronting them. "Alright, I've had enough of this! Now tell us what's going on you two." Both Van and Fiona nearly jumped out of their seats at the sudden anger in their friend's voice, while Zeke jumped to his feet at the unexpected interruption of his nap. The two teens had been so busy trying to figure out where any dungeon-like cave might be located, that they had completely ignored their friends, who were now all starting at them like they had two heads or something.

"We're sorry Irvine, guys we didn't mean to ignore you like that. We were just looking for something…" Van quietly trailed off. He was greatly embarrassed that he had completely ignored everyone except Fiona, who was helping him. A faint hint of a rosy pink blush brushed across his face, which he unsuccessfully tried to hide by fidgeting with the edges of the map in front of him. Last night after he told her everything and had finished crying, Fiona had been the one to suggest that they borrow the maps that both the Empire and the Republic had brought to the new base and search for a place that might resemble the cave from his dreams and maybe, he would find a clue as to the location of his sister.

He hoped that she might be in that cave, if they could find it. No, there was no 'if' about it. They would find her. They had too. It had been far too long since they parted and Nali needed to come back home, where she belonged. She may have been lost for now, but she would never be forgotten, especially by him, her big brother. "Van, I think we should tell them. They have a right to know. If we are going to leave tomorrow, then they need to know why." Fiona told Van softly, knowing that if he told someone other than her about Nali and what had happened to her, that maybe he wouldn't have to hold all of the pain and responsibility on his shoulders anymore. They had friends who would understand and help, if only they knew. They would also help Van shoulder the guilt; after all it wasn't his fault, he was only a child when it happened and now he wouldn't have to fight alone.

"Yeah, I guess you're right Fiona. I owe everyone that much at least." Van spoke quietly, absentmindedly flipping the edge of the dark tan map to and fro. His mind was relaying over his dreams and childhood memories of Nali. But what caught his attention the most, and instantly caused his blood to freeze in his very veins, was her screams. She sounded so frightened and lost. If his heart could literally be broken in to a million pieces, then her voice from his nightmares was the very thing that could cause such a thing to happen. He had to save her. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It was just something that needed to be done and promptly.

"Well, when I was six…" Van proceeded to tell his friends about his baby sister and what had happened to her. As soon as he began telling his friends, the heavy weight that had settled itself deep within his heart began to gradually grow lighter and lighter, causing him gain a new sense of hope. With their help, he would definitely find Nali. He just knew it.

The mid-afternoon sunbeams harshly beat down upon a vast and desolate desert wasteland. The erg was a large, relatively flat area covered with miles of wind-swept sand. Nothing but rolling crescent-shaped sand dunes and the occasional boulder could be spotted, as far as the eye could see. The vegetation was exceedingly thin. Shade was virtually unavailable, and the water sources were sparse. How anything could possibly survive in such a desiccated and lifeless place was one of life's greatest mysteries.

The grainy, bronze colored sand seemingly tried to swallowed dark leather, boot-clad feet as the owner trekked slowly across the top of a tall sand dune. The individual was wearing a thin but resilient material ankle length shadow colored cloak, with the hood pulled over their head successfully shadowing their facial features. The young man, for it was a member of the male gender, wasn't quite sure as to why exactly he was trudging across a vast no man's land in the middle of the day. It was nothing short of suicide if he became lost and could not find his way back to his Zoid or his loyal, but moody Organoid partner. He did have a water canteen but it wouldn't last for very long in the sweltering heat.

Something had been bothering and constantly nagging at his mind lately. It was a slight pull that gradually became stronger as the days went on and now, here he was. He had been having strange dreams of this very desert. In his dreams he was strangely wearing the exact clothing that he now wore and even more strangely he was making the same trek as in his dreams. His feet just seemed to lead him unconsciously towards something deep within the desert. He didn't have a clue as to what exactly he was supposed to be looking for or find out here. It had been just on a whim of pure boredom and the strange tugging feeling that had made him stop and walk out into the desert. Suddenly the cloaked male stopped, his senses alert and his body tense.

Despite all impossible odds he had thought that someone had whispered his name. It wasn't possible… unless this whole thing was a trap or just an illusion of his mind. Minutes went by, before he decided that it was just his mind playing tricks on him and he went to move forward, but before he could even take one step, a soft warm breeze fluttered across the sand covered wasteland. The warm gentle wind seemed to dance playfully across his skin, making his hood and cloak tail swish delicately in the waft. The zephyr seemed to swirl around him for a few seconds before it moved away from him, bringing with it his cloak tail. It was almost like the draft was trying to lead him towards something, beckoning him forward.

If he unwisely followed in that direction then he would be heading deeper and deeper into the ocean of sand where he would surely find only a hot grave. Yet, he subconsciously took a step in that direction when he heard the soft whisper of his name come again. As crazy as it sounded, and it did sound very stupid, the young man came to realize that the wind was calling his name. 'Clearly, I have gone insane from the heat,' He silently mused to himself in dark humor as he followed the distant whisper of his name deeper into the deadly unknown.

The young man wasn't quite sure how long he had been following the whispering breeze, but somehow it had seemed like he had been walking forever, yet at the same time it felt so surreal, like he was dreaming. He knew that this wasn't one of his dreams though, because the heavily painful rays of sunshine beat down upon him like a million angry fists, and you weren't supposed to feel pain in you dreams. Or at least he never had. He had thought about turning around a while back, but now that he had come this far, turning back now would be completely pointless. Besides his curiosity had been piqued, if only ever so slightly and he had nothing else to do.

Suddenly the humid breeze that the man had grown accustomed to vanished, like it had never even existed in the first place. This instantly caused the cloaked man to stop and gaze around at his unfamiliar surroundings with narrowed eyes. The young man cursed quietly yet violently when he saw nothing familiar. He couldn't even spot his large bright crimson colored Zoid and he was standing on a tall sand dune, if not the tallest. Just how far had he traveled away from where he had stopped his Zoid? This was great, just great! He had foolishly walked off into a desert, lost sight of his Zoid and his Organoid and on top of it all, he had gotten himself lost. Who in their right mind would ever do something so incredibly stupid?

The young man scowled and narrowed his dark grey-violet eyes in anger. How could he have been so careless? With narrowed eyes the young man calculatingly observed his surroundings again, to see if he had over looked anything. As he raked his obviously irate gaze over the bronze ocean of sand once more, he suddenly spotted something strange and out of place in the sandy environment. What he had first assumed to be only a small boulder or strangely shaped rock now appeared to be something totally different. Curiosity drove him to get closer and further examine the abnormality. His steps were slow and precise as he ventured closer and closer to the lump on the sand. The closer he got to the lump, the more details he could make out about it.

Shockingly the thing started to look more and more like a clothed, human body. A human body, that appeared to have been partially buried beneath the grainy sand. The young man stood only about two feet away from the lump before he realized just how unbelievingly right he had been. It was indeed a body, and from what he could tell, its gender was more than likely female. His conclusion came from the waist length, straight dark brunette colored hair and the slender form beneath sand and cloth. Slowly he approached the body and was surprised to see that she was slowly breathing, as if only in a deep sleep. Though he very much doubted that she was asleep of her own free will. She had probably fallen unconscious due to dehydration and the heat.

Quickly he trudged over and kneeled down by the face down girl, before he reached out and turned her over, so her face was no longer buried in the sand. The young man was momentarily stunned when he caught a glimpse of the young girl's face. She couldn't have been much younger than he, possibly a year or so. Her youthful face was round giving her an innocent, adolescent image. She had thick dark eyelashes that were framed by delicately arched eyebrows, a small feminine nose that could have been considered cute and thin lips, which were cracked and dry from the heat. She was rather attractive, but the young man was considerably more concerned as to how long the young girl had been laying unconscious in the middle of the desert. By all rights she should have been dead already, but her pulse was strong despite her shallow breathing.

With great care, the cloaked man propped the young girl's head upon his knee and pulled out his canteen. The girl would certainly die if she didn't receive any water into her system. After he uncorked the lid of the canteen the young man carefully wet his pointed and middle finger with some of the water and gently ran them over her dry, cracked lips. He repeated this administration several times before he carefully placed the canteen to the girl's mouth and allowed a small amount of water to enter her mouth. Subconsciously she tried to swallow the cool liquid, but when she stated lightly choking the man lightly ran his fingers over the girl's throat to help her swallow.

After giving her another two small swallows of water, he placed the canteen back inside of his cloak and just stared down at the young girl's appearance for a few moments, in subdued wonder. He noticed, upon closer inspection of the meager clothing that the girl wore, he discovered that she was wearing what appeared to be some sort of old and ratty cloak much like his own. Only hers was much thinner and it also appeared somewhat rotted from old age. It was also the only clothing she appeared to be wearing from what little the thinned material of the cloak covered. She was also strangely barefooted and the skin that was uncovered was turning an ugly, blistering red under the unforgiving sun. What a pitiful sight she was, with no shoes, no water and not even a decent cloak to cover her thin body with.

With a tired sigh and a careful hand the man covered as much of the girl's skin from the sun as possible with her raggedy cloak, while also keeping her body hidden from his view, before he picked the girl up bridal style, mindful of her sunburned and blistered skin. Just as the man stood up from the sand covered ground, the same warm breeze that had lead him to the girl swirled around him once more and he silently followed it back towards the direction that he had come from and hopefully back to his red paneled Geno Breaker and his dark coal colored Organoid, Shadow.