A/N: Ah, sorry for taking two weeks!
The Story So Far
Gray was informed of a suitable location for an ambush whereby he could intercept the dark guild caravan. Ultear and Crime Sorciere have been tailing this caravan for several days. Whilst confused about its disappearance, she observes Gray confronting several of the dark wizards – only to get taken hostage in the hope to lure Crime Sorciere to them. However, before anything could come of the situation, an abnormally powerful storm appeared and split everyone up. Now, Ultear searches for her missing comrades and Gray.
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.: Before Her Time Runs Out :.
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.: Chapter 7 :.
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.: Lost, Found and Missing :.
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Currently
How was it possible for a storm to hold so much power? It wasn't normal for a storm to simply lift one up off their feet and throw them around like they were made of cotton. This thing was like a freak of nature.
It just served to remind Ultear of how insignificant she is in this world.
Sure she could reverse the time of objects at her disposal, propel crystal balls from multiple parallel universes into a single future and create ice sculptures designed to kill... but just looking at the vastness, the emptiness and the loneliness of this untouched space made her feel like an ant. Just feeling the loss of control, suspended in the air like a puppet... what a nerve racking experience.
"MEREDY!" She called out.
No response.
"JELLAL!"
Once again, she had no luck.
Hesitantly, she thought of someone else.
"GRAAAAY!" Her hopes of finding her comrades—like her voice—were lost as but a whisper upon the dwindling desert winds. The shout resounded across the void, echoing as she expectantly observed the surrounding expanses from her vantage point atop a rocky outcrop. Sadly, her efforts were in vain. There was no sign of movement, and the solitude—the full effect of the reflective calm after the storm—engulfed her.
What exactly had happened?
All she remembered was looking upon the man with the knife to Gray's throat before the wind began to pick up and then... a cascade of sand...
She must have lost consciousness at some point after the initial strike of the storm – it was the only explanation as to why she had awoke with her head buried in dirt, a terrible headache and bruising all over. The injuries weren't that bad – she'd suffered a lot worse before. So, after that, she'd dusted herself off, repaired her clothes using Arc of Time and set off on her search.
Her fruitless search.
Hours of trekking through the dust cloud had yielded nothing but sore feet. The most frustrating thing is that she'd been so close to... something!
She didn't really know what exactly she would have encountered... but she heard an ear splitting wail – one which was definitely not human. Not that she particularly wanted to see the source of said noise, but any lead was a good lead. Finding anyone out here would be progress—whether it be friend or foe—it didn't really matter. If it be friend – she could regroup, and if it be foe then she could defeat them to gain information that would help complete Crime Sorciere's objective – the reason why she was out here in the first place.
However, to know that she had been so close... how had she not found it – it must have been something big in order to make such a ground quaking scream.
Well, not much point in dwelling on it. Now was the time to... continue searching.
Ultear was just about to shade her eyes with her hand when suddenly—if only a pinprick against the backdrop—she saw movement in the distance. Honing in on the direction she tried to pinpoint the location and source. About to resign the occurrence as a figment of her imagination, she turned to descend from her vantage point before suddenly, the minuscule movement was anew.
This time she saw it more clearly – a tiny silhouette amongst the otherwise static red dunes. Putting the direction in her memory, she rapidly scrambled down the rocks and onto the sharp, sandy incline, not caring as to how sloppy her movements as cause of her feet's ever-shifting purchase.
She had to reach this person. In this, she could not fail.
The rest of her journey was a blur, tripping several times the time mage kept pushing herself back up before running some more. The process repeated itself, and each time, just a little more strength left her. Each time she stood on her knees, they felt a little more shaky. Each step was a little more precarious, with a higher chance of her falling.
It was when she was collapsed atop the crest of a particularly large slope that she thought that she could truly go no further. Her pants were too heavy, her lungs craving for a level of oxygen that could not be sated, especially when each mouthful was the desert itself – hot and dry. Running across sand was really on a whole other level. Her head sunk itself in the ground as she let the granules sift between her fingers while incrementally increasing the pressure in her arms required for... getting back up.
Easier thought than done. Her body rejected the process and all she could manage was a lift of her head. But it was worth it.
"Gray..." she whispered to herself.
She wasn't entirely sure of it herself... but if the mop of jet black hair and the same orange clothes as he was wearing when last she saw him were of any indication then she had located Gray.
For some reason that realisation filled her with more elation than if she'd found Jellal or Meredy. Weird. It could be that she just wanted him to know that he wasn't alone out here or it could be something else entirely... Maybe it was just her acting protective – after all, Gray should surely be like an adoptive brother or something. Maybe it was her duty to protect him – following the footsteps of her mother. That had a nice sound to it.
Yes, that was her duty. Gray had given her a second chance in life and she was not going to let it go to waste.
Which is why catching up to him was of paramount importance. Who knows what the members of that creepy 'dark guild' would do him – after all they had clearly wanted him for something twisted. Gray had to know that he was not alone in his struggle.
Knowing this gave her new-found strength to push forward. That was what this was about; it was a mentality – this space was not impossible to move across, one just had to break it down into small achievable goals.
The first goal—getting up—was complete albeit not without a lengthy struggle. Once standing firmly, she reassured herself in seeing that the ice mage had not managed to walk much further during the time taken. The second goal—getting Gray's attention was next.
"GRAY!" Ultear pushed the word out of her overworked lungs. There was no visible reaction from him. Not one to be deterred after her initial attempt failing she tried again, "Gray!" It was a little weaker this time.
Resolving the lack of reaction to mean that Gray was out of earshot she commenced her third goal – simply catching up. This time she was stronger in her strides. Each time she felt like collapsing she paused to catch her breath and take a gulp of water from her canteen. Her mindset and method kept her rooted and strong.
"Gray! It's me, Ultear!" She tried to catch his attention before he disappeared from view over the horizon of the slope before her.
"Damn..." she cursed under her breath. She was so close; enough that she couldn't afford another break. Her advance continued up what seemed like the millionth dune today. She got on all fours in order to scale the steepest part of the incline; emerging on top panting and drenched with sweat on her sunburned skin, she was successful.
She looked up to check on her process only to be pelted with a sudden burst of wind and sand straight in her eyes.
It stung. A lot.
Muttering a string of profanities, she rubbed the irritating granules free from her bleary, tear streaked eyes, her vision returning shortly.
Impossible!
Gray was gone. Ultear rubbed her eyes as if that would dispel what she considered to be such a depressing illusion. She was so close to him; he was only a few metres ahead of her! So how? How did he just go?
This revelation made her question her own perception of this space. How could she know what was real and what wasn't? As far as she knew, her sighting of Gray could not be classified as a mirage – she'd never heard of the resulting illusion of such a thing to depict a person. So was she hallucinating? She wasn't dehydrated but she'd certainly hit her head pretty hard. Why would her mind play such a hope-crushing trick?
The question that remained though: was she hallucinating before or now? Which reality was true and which was a figment of her desperation addled imagination?
The result of all her pent up frustration came in the form of her dropping to her knees and aiming a fist at the ground. In her brief spout of frustration she failed to notice the fresh footprints in the ground before they were carried away by another strong gust of wind.
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Gray swore he just heard someone calling out his name. He turned his head back to the dune which he had just recently scaled and looked up hopefully to where he assumed he would see a person.
He shielded his eyes from the dazzling sunlight which had recently returned when the dust cloud had finally cleared up.
Must have been my imagination, he thought.
There was no one there. Just the same dusty old, lonely desert. What was he expecting anyway? His mind was just playing tricks on him.
Gray sighed as he continued to hike on to his destination at a comfortable pace. He observed how the fluid, sandy dunes were giving way to the rockier, more baked terrain that signalled he was approaching the location of Terraminos.
He wondered how the villagers would react upon hearing that he failed to complete his objective. He'd stumble in all beaten up and dirty, the mayor would scold him, pack him on his way either back home or straight out to try again. Andriaa would probably give him a disappointed look from behind her veil.
It wasn't his fault though! How could he be expected to continue his mission under such weather conditions and without a clear purpose in mind?
Hours Later
Well, at least one thing could be confirmed. The map had been correct. That much was true, if the familiar rounded stone buildings, columns and arches of the village were of any indication.
The mellow darkness of the night had begun flooding the settlement; shadows clung to to the monolithic walls and crept up across the fronts of houses in the absence of the bitterly defeated rays of sunlight.
Eventually the full presence of night time had descended upon Gray and captured him in its icy fingers.
Gray stepped through the hardened dirt streets of Terraminos causing loud, echoing footsteps. The sound of which was the only breach of the quiet, still atmosphere.
It was all too similar to the very first night he had arrived at Terraminos. It felt abandoned, empty and lifeless.
.
.
.
Only this time it really was abandoned, empty and lifeless.
Not more than an hour before, Gray had stumbled into the sunset village just like he'd expected, devoid of any energy. Only, all of his other expectations had been amiss. He had not received curious stares, crowding or disappointment. Not when there was no one around to do so. He'd tried shouting out for some one to come, but he had not been graced with a single reaction to his calling.
He'd pounded on the door to the town hall only to stare hard at the wood. He shouted for the mayor at the door, knocked harder and still nothing.
He'd turned away and walked to the village well where he half expected to see Andriaa working away at the ropes but instead the bucket lay by the side, half filled and abandoned, with the children's canteens lying around discarded and disused. The water inside glowed with some of the last of the golden glimmer of sunlight and as he passed by the well on the way to the Rozova hill it had all but gone.
Maybe they were all just having a late evening harvest session with every single person involved? Not likely. No, it was here that the sun bode farewell as Gray watched it sink beneath the horizon.
He'd even tried peeking through house windows and at his wits' end had bust inside the town hall but there really was not a single soul residing within the village. Was this some kind of cruel joke? No, worse: what if the villagers had been taken by Burgundy Scimitar? Not like he was going to get an answer any time soon, so these were just more questions added to Gray's long list which had been building up over the past two weeks.
Finally, with not much else to do, Gray had wandered back to the well and chose to lean against the cool stone wall and simply stare into its deep black pit. Like the moonlight, it reflected the sinking sensation he was now feeling.
More accurately; the feeling which best described how he was completely alone and lost, with no clear way of getting back to the nearest civilisation—Ammos Fontana—would be:
Stranded.
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.: End of Chapter 7 :.
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.: To Be Continued :.
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First of all, sorry about the pathetic length of this chapter. Sorry about the long wait as well but most likely the next wait will be even longer – most likely three weeks this time. Again, if I am going to update this, it will be on a Saturday.
Secondly, next set of questions:
1) What do you think happened when Ultear was chasing Gray? How did she miss him?
2) Why did the villagers disappear?
3) What do you think of this chapter? How are the descriptions? As in: they're not too much?
I guess what I was trying to convey in this chapter was the difficulty faced by Ultear even when not in a fighting situation, simply due to the conditions of the environment. I was also trying to build up the complete effect that the solitude of this desert has before I can go into any more action. If I failed this, feel free to criticise. I myself felt a bit iffy about the chase scene – especially that I had to keep repeating the word 'dune,' and also the whole climbing, descending, running thing. Ehhh, I feel exhausted from writing it. On the plus side, I feel like my vocabulary and figurative speech has levelled up or something...
Review Time:
StuffStuff: Thanks for your support. I'm glad you felt bad for Sasho but I can't say whether he's coming back. On the topic of the spirit; it is a very important aspect of this story but is not plot relevant so I'm not sure whether I'm bringing it back or not.
AsDarknessSpreads: No secrets revealed just yet, only more suspense (I hope...) Glad to hear your opinion about flashbacks. I'll just have to explain more detail later probably through conversation.
BlueAztec: Never said it wasn't a spirit but that question is all part of the mystery! And yeah, I'll explain more later.
Sal: Wow, that review really made my day! Sorry you have such an aversion to centipedes. But at the same time I am glad that my writing could cause such a reaction. Sasho is used indeed but it's not like he isn't strong it's just that Gray is stronger and I don't think that every single enemy encountered should be a hindrance to a character's progress – rather, I prefer them to be more like something which contains a puzzle piece to the mystery. But there'll be plenty of more difficult enemies later.
CometothinkofIT: Cliffhangers indeed. Not a trap exactly though.
Well, that's it for now. I can't distract myself with this story too much! Honestly, I just keep thinking up new stories that I desperately want to start writing – like I really wanna start writing a GraTsu! Stupid exams...