Chapter 2:
Scorching hot sun, sears the skin of the now trio: Jamin, Hikari, and Solomon. Jamin is especially tired, due to fact that Hikari has been forcing and threatening him to carry Hibiki's cold lifeless body.
"Jaamiiin! How much longer?! I'm really tired!" Hikari whines.
"Stop complaining, there's only a little longer" Jamin replies dryly.
"Buut Jaamiiinn! I'm hungryyyy! I wanna be there noowww!" Hikari continues.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought I was the one wasting energy carrying a lifeless body. Not you." Jamin remarks.
"Oh I'm sorry, I thought I was the one who froze a state, and prolly killed three people by mistake less than an hour ago," she snaps back glaring at him. "Solo's over there dying and he literally did nothing but walk. What's your point?" She points to her brother who was crawling behind them in need of water.
Jamin rolls his eyes and drops Hibiki's body with a hard thud. "Fine, if that's how you're gonna act then you can be the one to carry your boyfriend's corpse." The second the body hits the ground, she freezes Jamin's face to be fixed in the way it was and growls. Meanwhile, Solomon crawls up to Hibiki and pokes the corpse.
"There's water in a human body, right?" He asks, looking up to his sister and guardian, and successfully stopping them from fighting to focus on him.
"I swear, I will freeze both of you and leave you here to die." Hikari threatens.
"Wait wait wait wait, hold the fuck up. I got fire, so how the hell would you even do that to me?" Solo questions.
Hikari grabs Solomon by the neck and pulls his pathetic body off the ground. "I WILL find a way." She then let's go and drops him.
Solo then goes back to crawling on the ground, and then proceeds to dig and burrow his way down into the sand like a prairie dog.
Hikari tilts her head in confusion "Hoooooow?"
Solomon pokes his head up and out of the desert sand "It's a fanfic, anything can happen."
"Nigga, stop breaking the fuckin fourth wall!"
"Oh shit, you right." He pops his head back under the ground.
Solo jumps back up out of the sand and grabs Hibiki's body with his jaws and drags him under to the subterranean tunnel system with him. Jamin jumps into the tunnel after Solo, with his face still frozen from Hikari, knowing that she and Kalu would never let him live it down if he allowed Solomon to feast on Hibiki's body for water.
Instead of helping Jamin, Hikari just watched them fight over her other. "You know what? I'm kinda thirsty too... wait, what am I saying?!"
"Female! Stop conversing with yourself and help me get your brother!" Jamin called back to her.
"I mean it's not like he can do anything! He'll understand! It was for life support!" Solo interjects, still pulling on Hibiki's body.
Solo manages to take the body away for a brief moment, and holds him on his lap like a ventriloquist "Ugh, I hate my life. I'm so dark and edgy, just go ahead and eat me and end it already." He says controlling Hibiki, doing his best impression of his potential meal.
"SEE!? He's down!" Solo exclaims.
Hikari starts giggling before it becomes a full-blown laugh attack. "Wait, why am I laughing? That's not funny! I shouldn't be laughing at that!" she says suddenly after immediately ceasing her laughter.
Jamin just looks at the two in disappointment "Damn, you two really do need that water, because you're becoming more delusional than usual."
"Yeah..." Hikari says drifting off in a sad tone, before the two look back over to Solomon and see a very interesting sight.
He has a long dining table set up with chairs lining it, and plates at every seat. There is also a long thick tablecloth covering the length of the table. Solo is sitting in the main seat, it's at the middle, and it's the largest of the at least 20 seats. In front of him on the gigantic table, resting on a shining silver platter is Hibiki's body. The body has been seasoned with various spices, and marinated in hot sauce and lemon juice, all while laying in a provocative pose with an apple in his mouth. "Precisely why I have been insisting on having a meal to refresh us. Now, who would like to join?" He says in a fake sophisticated tone while sharpening two carving knives, and setting up forks that he probably won't use.
"The fuck?!" Both she and Jamin exclaim, and she walks over to the table just to pull the Apple from Hibiki's mouth, and begin to eat it. She then turns around and lifts up her hand. After a second, his body jerks slightly and lifts up from the table.
"Alrighty, time to go." she yawns, walking in the direction they'd been going, and the body floating behind her. Jamin glares at her, then pulls and drags Solo with them, leaving the random table behind.
"Bitch, why didn't you tell us you could do that instead of having me carry him?!" He rants.
"Because you're both idiots for not figuring it out on your own. He's frozen, dumbass," she rolls her eyes and takes another bite from the apple. "Plus I was hungry."
"But that was my apple!" Solo yells up while being dragged.
"And it is delicious. Thanks bro," Hikari responds.
Now in Egypt the group arrive at a bazaar to get supplies, and food and water, this time not from a body.
Jamin starts listing the supplies that they need to get. "Okay, so we need a sizable amount of food, water, extra clothes would be nice, maybe-"
"You do realize that we don't have any pounds, right?" Hikari says cutting off Jamin.
"We don't even have any American money." Solo interjects. Hikari randomly pulls a dollar out of Hibiki's pocket.
"I mean I found a dollar." She sticks the dollar in her own pocket. "But that doesn't help either. We need a distraction."
"Why?" Asked Jamin. And the siblings stare at him waiting. He caught on after a second. "Right, stealing, of course."
"It's for the charity of us not starving!" Solo chants in defense of the plan.
"Yea... oh, I know! We could start a fire!" Hikari yells out.
Solo nonchalantly throws a fire ball over his shoulder and lights an entire line of merchant shops ablaze. "There, I got you covered."
"Goddammit Solo, it was a joke!" Hikari yells "You do this shit every time! This is why we cannot have nice things!"
Citizens of the city start running and screaming as the fire spreads at an uncontrollable level.
Guards spot Solomon and start chasing him down. He immediately turns around, picks up the limp body of Hibiki, and runs as fast as he can away from the guards. "Take my advice, you better run! I've been in this type of scenario too many times, and I ain't getting caught again!"
Jamin and Hikari take quick glances at each other and bolt after him.
Solo, in the midst of running and not paying attention, collides into another person running. Hibiki's body falls to the ground, as well as something else. The person Solo ran into is wearing a hooded sleeveless shirt made of leather, and a pair of worn out pants.
"Dammit! Where is it?! I can't find it!" The mystery person yells.
The guards surround the two and point their weapons at them, and then yell.
"Riffraff!"
"Street rat!"
"Scoundrel!"
"Take that!"
Solo picks up a random roll of bread off the ground that was left behind from the burning rubble of the merchant shops. "Just a little snack guyzzz!"
The stranger stands up, and puts two fingers to his forehead in concentration. After a few seconds of silence, the guards all turn away without a word, which stopped Solomon from being a dingus any further. "Sorry for them," he apologizes to the three of his new acquaintances, shaking his head. "They just don't know when to quit."
The group wear a collective look of confusion on their faces, as the strange man chuckles to himself. Then his attitude flips a total 180, and he grabs solo by the collar of his hoodie and raises him with no effort at all. "Where is it!? You made me lose it!" he says furiously. He then pulls a kunai out of a small holster he had wrapped around his ankle, and his face grows into a even more livid expression "Either you're going to find it, or end up lifeless like your pal over there." He points with the kunai to the direction that Hibiki's body was, but somehow it wasn't there.
Hikari pops up beside the stranger randomly and grips his arm tightly. "Let him go, or I will turn you into a popsicle." They have a small stare off, but he rolls his eyes and releases him. "Solo, find the thing."
"Why do I gotta do it?!" Her brother complains, brushing off his hoodie.
"Just do it dammit!" she exclaims, not looking away from the guy who held him. He starts looking around after that, and she releases the stranger's arm. Before he could say anything to her, she turns away, looking in the direction of where she was with Jamin. While the guards were around, Hibiki had woken up, so Jamin had dragged him from the central commotion between solo and the stranger in the hoodie. He was sitting up now, rubbing his eyes. She quickly walks over and sits by him.
Hibiki smells the air and licks his arm. "Mmm, hotsauce... Wait! Hotsauce! Solo, did you try and eat me again!?"
Out of nowhere, sprinting through the flames that have taken over the city comes Eboni. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW HE WASN'T DEAD! AND YOU TWO!" She stands next to Hibiki and Hikari, towering over them. "You lied to me..."
"Eboni, what are you doing in our fanfic?" Hikari asks with a blank expression.
"Oh Shit, you right. I'm not supposed to be in here yet." Eboni slowly fades out of existence
"Well this has been an interesting situation so far" Hibiki says "I'm just scared to think of what I missed."
"You haven't missed much," Jamin tells him. "We got here, one of them destroyed a city and got chased by the cops. Ran into this random guy that threatened Solo for losing a thing. So pretty much a regular Tuesday."
Now jumping out of the burning hellscape around them, another female comes, landing on Solo's back as he is hunching over to find the missing item. She would be a beautiful sight if her face wasn't plastered with a look that was more terrifying than the flame and brimstone encompassing the area.
"Jesus, what now?" Solo says with the woman still standing on his back.
"QUIET!" she orders stomping on his back before stepping off of him.
He gives off a small moan at the feeling of being stomped on by the lady, who was wearing large boots.
The hooded man runs over as swiftly as possible and crouches on a single knee, before taking the lady's hand. "My word! It is truly a gift that I have the pleasure of laying my eyes upon you, let alone the ability to speak to you. And I am a gift giver as well, for I am bestowing to you the present of meeting I. A man who can bring all that you could ever ask for and more, a man who can do anything you ask of me, a man who can make you feel things you've never felt before. I milady, and yours. I am Can, but you miss..." He struggles to read the name tag that is hooked to the lab coat she is wearing. "You miss Mesta, can call me whatever you want. And that is a truly angelic name if I must say." And to finish it all off he kisses her hand, and gives her a wink.
Unexpectedly a can of diet soda falls from the sky and hits his head. A larger than usual owl flies down and sits next to Can, who is lying on the ground in pain from the hit to his head.
"Fuck! Ouch! Owlschwitz, you damn cockblock, you couldn't have waited 5 minutes to deliver the soda to me!?" The owl tilts it's head. "What do you mean she wouldn't have wanted me?! You don't know that... And did you really need to get a metal can?"
"OWLSCHWITZ!?" Hibiki yells. "That's fucking racist."
Mesta places her foot on Can's neck, pushing slightly down on it. "You are the one who stole the Heovyne. Do you have any idea what you have done?"
Can gulps loudly. He makes the same finger movement as before, but after a few moments nothing happens. He is confused, starting to sweat and worry.
"Return to me the metal that you stole and I might consider not snapping your neck, like the rat you are." Mesta threatens.
"I-I, uh.I mean, I can't do that at the moment. You see, he is actually the one who possesses the precious metal you are talking about." He gestures over to Solo with a shaking hand.
Mesta and the others look towards the direction that Can pointed at, but to see a completely different sight than what they expected.
A much more disturbing sight.
Solomon is pinned to the ground by a ornate spear that was stabbed through his mouth, as well as several other small ones jabbing through his body. Without a doubt he his dead, or at least will be. There is no recovering from those injuries. Standing above Solomon's blood spattered body is the murderer.
But almost as soon as the group turn their heads to look where Can pointed there is a blinding light and a deafening screech. By the time it fades the culprit was already gone. Nobody got a good look at them. There was no way to. Whoever murdered their friend was experienced. They stabbed in all of the vital organs perfectly, they had a diversion planned, and they knew that they could sneak up and kill Solo without a sound and before the others could've looked and realized what happened.
"No..." Jamin says quietly to himslef "I couldn't protect him."
Hikari is simply frozen. Stuck from confusion, and sadness. Anger and guilt.
Hibiki gets up and slowly walks over to his bestfriend's body, experiencing the same feeling Solo felt with him. He didn't even know what was happening before, and now this.
Just as he approached the body it bursts into flames.
Mesta pulls Hibiki away from the fire. "Watch out..."
In a few minutes the body is nothing but ashes.
The gang can do nothing more than simply sit in silence.
After several minutes of mourning Jamin grabs Hikari by the arm and starts walking. "C'mon, let's get going." He says.
"What? Are you fucking kidding me?!" Hikari asks yelling.
Jamin whips around with aggression. "I've failed too many times, and I'm NOT going to lose you too!" He says, barely restraining from yelling in her face.
Suddenly the ashes reignite again, even though there is nothing left to burn or fuel the flames. But the fire keeps rising and rising. Getting brighter and more vibrant. These flames are more yellow than regular fire, almost golden. The other five can't help but stare in confusion and amazement. It's almost unbearable to be so close to the raging fire, even from several feet away.
The gleaming blazes pick up even more raising several feet and widening as well. They keep growing and burning. Brighter, hotter, growing, all until it bursts in a small explosion of red and purple.
Miraculously in front of them stood Solomon once more right where the ashes laid... Two of him
The two Solos stood there as if the impossible didn't just happen. They stared at one another in disgust.
One Solomon decided he had enough and jumped, launched a fire ball and started running. The other Solo dodged the attack and ran in the opposite direction.
"Wait, Solo, no!" Hikari says chasing one of them.
"Get back here!" Hibiki yells running after the other.
Jamin tried to stop them both, but is unsuccessful. Not knowing what to do he just sat down to try and take a moment to gather his thoughts.
Mesta was mesmerized by what had just happened, but not in the same way as the others. She was fascinated by it all, and in great detail wrote down everything that just played out before her eyes I'm a small notepad.
The only ones not present were Can and his owl compantion, who must've taken the opportunity to flee sometime during all of the commotion.
After following the trails of the two Solomon, Hikari and Hibiki lose them, and to make things even worse, get lost.
On Hibiki's end things are quite. He sits worrying and thinking. Where is Jess? What just happened? Is this real? And what about what went down at the house before it went dark? Everything is running through his head, and there are no answers to be found.
On the other side of things Hikari is alone, and isn't well. Her head is pounding, she feels sick, yet she can't throw up because she never had anything to eat in the first place. She does need food though, and more importantly water. She is sweating it all out in what she assumes to be the worst timed hot flash ever. Unable to handle it all, she does the only thing she can and screams for her boyfriend to help. "JORDAN!"
Her plea for help is the last thing she does before she faints, falling onto her back and hoping Hibiki, or anyone else will come to help her. Otherwise, she could be stuck, and having nothing left but time before it runs out for her.