They trudge through the blistering heat; Soul carrying Maka's minute frame over his shoulders. With every step, he's acutely aware of her vitals reaching a fever pitch. There's a distinct lack of speaking or even non-verbal communication among the conscious.
Patty and Liz take it in turns to carry each other in their gun form. Minutes become hours as their muscles grow weaker, their bodies becoming more and more in need of water; of a break. They don't stop the whole time, they can't stop. Soul concentrates on putting one foot in front of the other for as long as it takes; keeping Maka's limp figure cradled around his neck for at long as he needs to. He's monitoring her heartbeat, he can feel it through his neck and shoulders.
His body; his mind switches to survival mode. Nothing matters, not to him. Nothing except keeping his heart beating and his legs moving.
Patty attempts to keep spirits high and conversation flowing at first, but after a few minutes it becomes clear to all them that they need to preserve their energy.
After just one hour, Soul's legs begin aching. His bones feel like they are about to just bend under the sheer pressure; the desert just stretching on and on and on, full of false horizons. It feels infinite. Being in the car feels like days ago. Being in the hot springs feel like weeks have passed.
After two full hours, Liz swears that she starts to hear voices. Blurred sounds buzz in her ears, speaking to her directly. She shakes her head, tries her best to ignore it.
Their faces hurt from the blistering heat and beating sun burning their skin every minute.
After they lose count of the hours, Soul begins to quite seriously question his memory of Shibusen and his sense of direction – allowing the niggling doubt to creep in; wondering if they've been heading in the wrong direction this whole time. For hours, all he's been able to see is desert. More desert. Occasionally, the odd desert rock but even those become sparse.
Paranoia, he tells himself. That's all it is.
It becomes a mantra.
Eventually, the darkness descends on them, offering at least a little cool wind through their exhausted bones. At first, it's almost refreshing. But the desert gets cold at night.
"S-soul," Patty shivers from the sudden wind – the first word that any of them has uttered in about six miles. "Soul," she says again, her voice getting louder. "I can't. I can't walk anymore," she rasps out. "I… I…"
She falls dramatically onto her knees, the impact making a small puffy sound in the sand and falling over onto her side. Soul's eyes widen with alarm and he lifts Maka from his shoulders temporarily. He places her down, stretching her grey body out in the sand.
His shoulders slump down as he reaches down to help Patty up from the rough ground. "Patty?" he calls, concerned. She doesn't respond.
She's passed out, he realises. Liz, in gun form, now transforms – and immediately bends over her sister. "Patty," she half-sobs. "What's wrong with her, Soul?"
He doesn't know the answer to that. He makes something up. "She's just dehydrated. She probably has sunstroke. She'll be okay, Liz," his voice is soft, sympathetic, but not overly convincing.
"Jesus, Soul, are we going to die?" Liz asks, terrified.
"I… I…" he stutters, completely unable to provide an adequate answer. "I'm… going to keep going. Look after Patty and Maka. M-maybe if I can get to Shibusen, I can send some help," he shivers.
The desert winter bites at them; nips at their skin in freezing bursts of cold energy.
"No!" Liz clutches his arm, not letting him leave. "No, you can't leave me on my own!" she cries. "Please!"
He shakes his head. "M-Maka needs medical attention," he croaks out through his bone-dry lungs. "They'll have what we need at Shibusen," he says, looking determinedly at the horizon.
"S-soul," Liz gasps through her sobs. "What if this place… shut down? What if everyone is dead?" she pauses, sinking even lower. "If we're going to die out here, Soul, I don't want to die on my own."
Soul runs a hand through his hair for the last time, but he just shakes his head as he focuses on Maka's unconscious body. He purses his lips. He wrestles out of her weak grasp. "I'm sorry, Liz."
He can still hear her crying over her sister as he continues on through the desert. He's lost the weight of Maka on his shoulders, but strangely, he doesn't feel any lighter. He keeps his footsteps going. He decides to count them, after a while. One, two, three, four.
Inside his mind, he composes a symphony from the beat of his footsteps. He tries with all his effort to concentrate on the symphony; one, two, three and four. He sticks with it for a few measures; wondering where he's heard that song before. Wondering if he just made it up. Wondering why the beats are beginning to drag and looking down, realising that he's involuntarily dragging his feet with every step.
He looks behind him, but the girls have ceased to be visible - it's too dark now to see anything. In front, he still can't make out the lights of Death City; of Shibusen; of anything.
His mind tells him to fall asleep, standing up.
He forces himself to keep thinking of Maka, and keeps going.
Maka.
"I infected you, Maka, I'm sorry. I'm going to make it up to you. I swear." he repeats, another mantra.
Twenty minutes later, he feels the sand hit against his face long before he intellectually realises that he's fallen over in it. For a second, it feels like the world's fallen upwards, but that's not the case.
The darkness that's been kept at bay for this long begins to close in around him, suffocating him. His legs stubbornly refuse his efforts to get back on his feet and instead insist upon curling him up in the sand; like a concertina. Like an embryo.
He knows nothing but sand and darkness and pain and cold. He can't move; he can't even think. Should he just wait for death? Is this what Liz was talking about, dying alone?
Wait...
There's a pinprick of light in the distance. Is he imagining that?
There's a tiny glimmer; a sliver of something permeating through the dark - what is it?
It's blinding...
Thanks for reading this story so far, guys.
I feel like this is probably the end of 'Part 1' as it were. Not sure whether to continue on in another fic or continue on in this one.
But yeah- specially thanks to DarkHazen and Lennox13 for being consistent reviewers. I don't care if nobody else is reading this except for you guys - you've been amazing reviewers :)
