AN: I realised I did something stupid one the last chapter - I put (1) twice and didn't actually say anything for one of them. Oops O_o
Anyway, I more than doubled the length of this so it wouldn't seem so short, but it's still pretty short. Oh well, I feel it needed to end where it did so...yeah
This chapter is a pretty sad one. That's all I'm going to say.
I stand there for over a minute. Just stand there, like my big brother told me to. I hug my arms to my chest; it isn't cold – it's still early afternoon and above any temperature it ever get's to in England – but a shiver goes through me none the less.
I look up at the sky, my eyes wide and scared, and fail to see anything that would make Mat react like that. I sit down, knees hugged to my chest and the back of my head resting against stone. It's surprisingly cold against my skin. I close my eyes, tears leaking out from underneath my lids.
For a long time I sit there, watching the clouds travel across the sky. It's strangely peaceful. It's quiet too, almost eerily so.
I finally decide that whatever Mat saw, I'm going to go find – I'm going to go help him. I stand up with a sudden determination, wiping the back of my hand across my eyes, and clamber up the slope of sand. I fall more than once in my rush to find my brother, my best friend. My eyes sting again, why did he leave me?
When I reach the top I pause to glance around, and my breathe catches in my throat. I see what I had been too short to see down by the tomb...smoke. There's an unimaginable amount of it, coiling across the sky.
The wind is picking up, whipping the black mist away from me. It feels like there is a storm coming, and a storm in Egypt is never good news.
I shudder, then look back up; the strong wind isn't stopping the smoke from blackening the sky. And even at this distance I can see the flicker of fire.
"Oh god" I murmur, and set off at a run.
Minutes later I'm still running. My breath comes in short gasps, tears stream down my cheeks. I'm sweating more than I ever have in my life and there's a stitch in my side that makes it hard to think, but I won't stop running. I have to keep going. I have to.
I don't know what I think I can do to help, but somehow it seems to link up. Keep running and everything will be fine, I tell myself. I know that isn't true, but some unknown part of me believes it, and that small, scared part of me is telling me to keep going. Keep going because there's nothing else you can do.
I charge through the sands, dust forming at my feet and choking me, but I don't care. All that I care about is getting to my family - the only family that I have.
As I run, I try to think a little more rationally. I think of calling 999, but then remember that the number won't be the same here. Besides, I think to myself bitterly, Mum never did let me have my own mobile. She'd said I wouldn't need one. What did she know? Anger and frustration builds up inside me, only to be replaced by guilt as I realise I should be worrying about my mum, not getting angry at her.
More tears drop onto the sand as my fear is renewed. Not fear for myself, there is too many much emotion inside me to leave room for that, but fear for those I care about. Fear that I'll never see them again...
I trip over a rock protruding from the sand and my momentum causes me to fall to the floor. I sit there for a few seconds, crying harder than I have in years. A sense of helplessness washes over me. There's nothing I can do.
But then I think of Mat. I think of the promise he made to me not much more than an hour ago.
"I love you more than anything in the whole wide world, little sister. I will never leave you."
A small smile works it's way onto my face. I have to believe in my brother, like he would believe in me.
I get back to my feet, my tears gone. I focus my eyes on my aching feet, and take a deep breath, then another. When I look back up, my eyes are calm and determined. My mind is clear. I carry on running.
Finally I see it, the small, simple building we had been staying in for a month. The building that had become my temporary home, that had housed all my possessions, that I had come to know so well...and I know instantly it's too late. The house is completely engulfed in flames, half hidden by smoke. It's beginning to crumble at the roots; the foundations folding in on each other.
"Mum!" I yell desperately. "Dad? MAT!?" I cry, sobbing. My yells turn rapidly into agonised screams for my loved ones. I circle the fire despairingly, searching, screaming, ever more frantically.
Finally I stop, staring dismally at what was once a front door. I step towards it, zombie-like, and then stop myself. They're dead I tell myself firmly.
As that sinks in, I fall to my knees, my wretched sobs merging with the spitting and crackling of fire to form a sound that I would later link to that of hell.
AN: I warned you it was pretty sad...I made myself cry when I was writing it :'(
I haven't even started writing the next chapter yet, and I have school tomorrow so it'll be a few days before it will be up. I think it will be a pretty long one though! :D
And next chapter I'm going to introduce some Yugioh characters! Then you'll see why Crystal is so young at the beggining. You'll also see how long it's going to take me to write this whole story, considering I'm going ALL the way through the five seasons of Yugioh...ergh, why did I do this?