Garet closed his eyes as wind whipped around, mussing his spiky hair. It was getting late into the afternoon and the sun had begun its descent below the horizon. A light drizzle was left in the wake of the storm that had just passed through. A quick skyward glace promised another horrible storm to keep them deprived of the sleep they so desperately needed. Not that he thought they'd sleep well if the sun was shining, but it would be nice to get through one night without any thunderstorms.
He smiled to himself, enjoying the feel of the wind on his skin. It reminded him of Ivan. The wind adept had been great at manipulating the wind to his will. Sometimes, Garet liked to pretend that Ivan was still with them, manipulating the wind when it felt this nice against his skin. It was as if the Jupiter adept was assuring him that he held no ill will towards the group for his untimely demise. Garet knew it was more than likely just that—his imagination, but he found comfort in it. Like Isaac had earlier that day, he thought on better times.
-Ω-
"Man, I hope we get out this desert real soon," Ivan's voice echoed in Garet's mind as he relived a small part of their trip through the Lamarkan Desert which seemed to have been eons ago.
"Yeah, same here! I'm about to shrivel up and blow away!" Mia complained. Garet glanced at his friends, his mouth twisted into a mischievous smirk.
"It's not that bad," he teased them, though he was burning up as well, however loathe he was too admit it. Isaac punched him playfully on the shoulder.
"Yeah, right!" he exclaimed, calling his friend on his bluff.
"You know you're just as hot as the rest of us, even if you won't admit it," Ivan insisted as he cast a reveal spell, only to be confronted by an oversized, love-struck ant lion.
-Ω-
Isaac had found Garet against leaning against a tree, eyes closed and pleasant smile on his face. He had briefly debated leaving his friend alone, as he hadn't seen Garet look so content in such a long while, but he simply couldn't perform this next task without the other adept's aid. He stood there for a few moments in silence, hoping Garet would simply sense an extra presence there, but after a couple minutes, it had become an awkward situation for Isaac. Clearly, his friend was too caught up in his own thoughts to notice anything else. Isaac loudly cleared his throats, hoping to jolt his friend back to reality, but Garet still remained oblivious.
"Garet?" Isaac asked softly, giving his friend's shoulder a gentle shake. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked worriedly, his eyes widening in concern at how absorbed Garet had been in his own world.
He shook his head, pushing the past to the back of his mind, and focused in on Isaac. After a moment, his mind had cleared, and Garet smiled down at his friend. A sad and forced smile was offered in return.
Garet bit his lip, not liking Isaac's smile in the least. It was much too sad. Feeling like a fool, he decided it would be worth a shot to have an actual conversation with his childhood buddy. The past couple weeks, they had hardly spoken much at all, unless it was absolutely necessary. "How's it going?" Garet asked, knowing it was a pathetic attempt at conversation. He knew exactly how it was going, it had been going the same for the past couple weeks. It was just a deep, longing, social craving had planted itself within him. He desperately missed teasing, talking, and laughing with his friends. It felt like both Isaac and Mia were acquaintances that he felt uncomfortable around. Just the thought of Isaac feeling so distant from him despite their long, storied past had tears threatening to spill over. He quickly blinked them back, and forced his faltering smile to stay firmly on his lips. "It's still raining," he said, stating the obvious. It was just human nature to want to be social and after having nearly two weeks devoid of conversation, he thought his blond friend might be more talkative by now. Isaac, though, wasn't quite ready for meaningful social activity. He shook his head, indicating he didn't feel like making small talk. He did speak, it just wasn't anything a sane person would consider friendly conversation.
"We have to go find Mia," he stated dully, eyeing the twilight sky with disgust. This was his least favorite part of the day. Garet groaned inwardly before nodding. He wanted to continue dwelling on better times, but knew Isaac would need help convincing Mia to come back to camp, eat, and get a good night's sleep. Hopefully, that's all they'd have to do. He hoped she'd be in her right mind when they found her. At times, her grief would overwhelm her and she would morph in another person entirely, scaring the daylights out of both himself and Isaac. It was as if he were in a waking nightmare.
That's a whole lot of hoping, Garet thought resolutely. He prayed she'd get a good night's sleep tonight. If she slept well, he and Isaac would get a good night's sleep, but if she had her nightmares, it was a guarantee none of them would get much sleep, much less be able to travel tomorrow should the weather allow for it. She hadn't had any nightmares for the past couple nights. That wasn't entirely true. Garet knew she'd had nightmares; she'd just managed to wake up before she started muttering and crying out in her sleep. Garet held back a sigh as he continued following Isaac, his eyes firmly planted on the Earth's adept back. He wanted so badly to discuss matters more with his friend, but Isaac avoided speaking unless absolutely necessary and he definitely didn't want to go into any deep discussion about the current state of their female friend. Garet angrily pushed some low-hanging branches out of his way, feeling anger and frustration burn up within him, making him want to lash out at somebody. He wanted somebody to yell, scream, and beat into a bloody pulp for having been put in this situation, for having to see his friends fall apart like this, but he had no one to blame. The one at fault had been taken care of and this was just the aftermath of it all. He knew this and it only made him angrier, so he tended to focus all that angry energy into shoving and stomping the life out of hapless plants. He ungraciously uprooted another plant as they continued on their quest to find Mia.
Kind of funny how Isaac said we have to find Mia, Garet thought with grim amusement. We already know where she is.
-Ω-
Isaac continued trudging down the path, glancing backwards frequently to make sure Garet was still with him. He wondered what went through his friend's mind when they went to bring Mia in for the night. In his wake, the fire adept left dead plants strewn haphazardly along the trail. The dead plants were always blown away by the wind the next day. Isaac briefly shut his eyes as he thought wistfully of how he wished their problems could be like those dead plants, simply blown away from them. He knew Garet didn't like doing this anymore than he did, but it had to be done. They couldn't just leave Mia out, exposed to the elements. Nocturnal thunderstorms were just as frequent as the daytime ones, which meant they experienced a bad thunderstorm every night. It was if the rain clouds would never go away. Sometimes, their tent would topple on them, and more than once, they'd nearly lost it to the violent winds. Mia would grow sick if left out or worse. Isaac couldn't fathom what he would do if he lost another friend during his journey. The loss of Ivan was already quickly eating away at him.
He sighed as they rounded a corner and came to the tiny, circular clearing. Ivan's stone marker was on the other side of it and he felt shivers go up his spine. Mia wasn't there, staring at it, which meant she was somewhere nearby, napping. Isaac cut across the clearing and continued walking on the path that started up again on the other side of the small clearing. While walking across the clearing, he made sure to stay as far away from the stone as possible. Once he was on the other side of the clearing he let out a sigh of relief. He really did not like being in that area. It felt like the stone embodied all his current problems and feelings of inadequacy. Unlike Garet or Mia, he found no comfort in visiting Ivan's grave. He had come often, out of a sense of obligation but he had not found comfort or peace during the visits.
Garet watched as Isaac quickly disappeared further onto the path, after practically dashing across the clearing. He had stopped glancing backwards and was unaware that his friend had stopped following him. Garet stopped and stared down at the small stone, reading the one word word inscription silently. They had wanted to put more than just Ivan on the stone, but had been too depressed and shocked at the time to even think of anything. Not only that, but the stone was too small to fit much else on it. He balled his fists, feeling the usual frustration, anger, and remorse well up within him as he stared down at the stone.
Besides, Garet thought, we couldn't have found a stone big enough to allow us to put everything. He resisted the urge to kick something, not wanting to disrespect his deceased friend's resting area. It had been painfully obvious how quickly Isaac had passed up the grave site, hardly glancing at it. Garet closed his eyes, memories of the day they had made the site flashing through his mind's eye. He and Isaac had taken turns caring Ivan's limp and bloodied body while Mia trailed behind them, eyes wide, seemingly in shock. Once they'd found a clearing they had set Ivan down, and by Garet's flames the body had been burned to ashes. It had been surreal, watching the flames lick away at the body that had once housed their friend until there was nothing more. He could still smell the awful, burning flesh that had filled the air, as if the Earth itself was sickened by the loss of an individual that had walked the planet. They had let the wind carry the ashes away and set the stone where the cremation had taken place. He knew Ivan would want his remains dancing the wind. He knew that, yet he still felt sick to his stomach when he thought too much about it.
Garet pulled his hands out of his pockets and stared at them. He could hardly believe he'd used his power in such a way to totally erase the physical presence of a friend. He thought of the lifeless eyes, the limp and pale body, covered with blood and grime and knew he'd done the right thing. Just the thought of leaving Ivan's body alone to rot six feet under in this lonely clearing tore him up and made him want to punch somebody. He would've preferred to have buried Ivan, but, in his heart of hearts, Garet knew that Ivan would rather be in the wind than out in this lonely stretch of the world. Still, it tore Garet up inside it. Even so, his marker would still be out here, this was the last place his body had been in one peace, and hardly anyone would be able to come out and visit. Garet himself might not ever be able to make it back up here. He feared other travelers might just sit on the stone or disrespect the memorial, but he would be unable to do anything about it. What if they sat on it? Or, worse, what if they took off with the stone? Garet stared down at it, knowing that even if it went missing, he would never forget this exact location. It was the first and, hopefully, last time he'd ever watched a friend's body be licked away by his own flames.
Garet glanced at the dismal sky overhead before looking back down at his friend's marker. It's still raining. You and the earth might have been opposing elements, but you sure have made it sad. It hadn't stopped in nearly two weeks. I have go to help Isaac now. Rest in peace. He would never be sure if Ivan could hear him in the afterlife, but he felt closer to his friend like this and sometimes he really thought Ivan could hear him. He turned away and set off after Isaac, knowing the exact direction his blond friend had gone in.
Isaac felt relief wash over him as he realized Garet had finally decided to join him on the path. He had been beginning to get worried, but refused to backtrack. Not near the marker. Once again, he wondered what Garet had been thinking or doing. He knew Garet took care not to mess with any plants by Ivan's marker. d Relief quickly vanished and turned to dread when he heard a small whimper not too far off. He made a sharp turn and went towards it, mouth already set into a grim line.
Mia was on her knees, rocking back and forth, her hands tightly cupped over her ears as though she was trying to block something out. Her eyes were screwed shut tight and she was muttering apologies over and over again. Isaac still wasn't used to seeing his friend so unstable. She was barely aware of the real world over half the time. It was unsettling to Isaac and made him burn up with worry and agitation. Nothing he or Garet said seemed to ever get through to her. Lately, they had more and more trouble reaching her and he feared she might be completely lost them soon if things didn't improve.
Garet stopped beside Isaac and let out a low sigh. Like Isaac, he hated seeing his friend in this state and worried for her. They exchanged a glance, knowing exactly what to do. Both had danced this same routine repeatedly over the past two weeks. Isaac began calling her name softly, knowing she'd eventually come around. The gentler and softer you were, the quicker she came around.
Garet approached Mia and gently place his hand on hers, only to have her jerk away. He continued to do this, displaying uncharacteristic patience, trying to pry her hands away from her ears without hurting her or her freaking out and hurting him.
Not like she isn't already freaking out, he thought sadly as she jerked away from him and muttered another apology.