A/N: This update is part of my celebration for being on the site for 5 years! That's right; on April 30 5 years ago I made this account, so today I have decided to update all of my stories that are in progress. This does not mean that more updates will be coming soon if ever though.

And here is Blaze. Out of all the stories I abandoned, perhaps this was the worst place to do one. I mean, after the cliffhanger at the end of 4 and 5, there had to be more. So this answers a few questions. Granted it asks about 10 times as many. I had wanted to try to get this story to progress further, get to a point where I could close things up without too much longer, but I can't see it happening with a story like this. There might be more updates someday, but probably not anytime soon. Thanks for all the support you have given me for this story, and sorry for leaving you like I did.

Thanks to Wyntirsno for betaing.

Blaze Chapter 6: Wasteland

Eyes flashed open, pain filling each nerve.

Was he sleepy?

No.

Then why was he asleep?

He wasn't sure.

All he knew was the pain. All around him, it was as if he was burnt all around. Each movement triggered another stinging sensation, his jeans rubbing against his legs, even his shirt against his chest. Something was terribly wrong; he couldn't even get up from his position on the ground.

"Cody?" the voice questioned, one he instantly knew as Zack. He turned, nearly crying at the pain as it erupted along his shoulder.

"What?"

"Can you walk?"

He shook his head.

"Come on," Zack said, bending down beside his brother, lifting him back to his feet despite Cody's cries of pain at the movement. "You'll be fine."

Cody didn't know how that could even happen, every part of his body was scorching, it was as if he was on fire, the flames digging into his flesh, tearing into his bone. He closed his eyes, while his feet hit the ground, slowly moving forward with each step.

He knew he wasn't moving himself; Zack had to be carrying all the weight. Still, he tried moving, not wanting to be that much of a burden, but knew he didn't have much choice. He felt the rock beneath his feet, the almost unnatural hardness to it. Through his shoes, he could make out some sharp places, sure that were he to be barefoot, they'd slash him.

"Almost there buddy."

"Where?" Cody asked, his voice hoarse, barely a whisper. Only then did he notice how thirsty he was, parched for anything to drink. Opening his mouth letting some sweat drip into it, the saltiness making him crave water.

"You'll see."

Cody tried opening his eyes, the pain still there just as bad as before. He tried not letting it get to him, pushing it out of his thoughts, but every time he did so, it just came roaring back, burying deeper into his soul. But still, he knew he had to find out just where he was, even if he could only open his eyes for seconds at a time.

He saw he was in a vast wasteland, the ground below him an orangish red; as if it was on fire itself. The rocky terrain was uneven, fragments of what used to be plants were spread out sparsely. He tried raising his eyes toward the horizon, but much to his dismay, nothing changed. A red sun beat down from behind him, its rays already scorching the back of his neck and arms, the only things not covered by clothing. He got sunburnt easily, and knew it was just a matter of time before that would happen to him if they didn't find shelter soon.

The blistering sky, dyed with an orange much like the ground, was almost too much as a small cluster of clouds danced by, providing no relief.

"Here," Zack said, letting Cody fall off his shoulder and onto the ground below. He tried stretching out to loosen his stiff muscles, but only felt his arm torn by sharp rock sticking out. He recoiled back from it, the swift action only causing him more pain.

"What is it?" he asked, his head spinning as he tried to not fall over again.

Before Zack could answer, a torrent of water overtook him. Where it came from Cody couldn't tell, nor where it was going. But with it came relief, awakening, calmness, and a sense of peace. For the first time, he didn't feel like fire was burning his soul, and he took in heavy breaths, just allowing the water to wash over him.

But then he remembered.

He questioned.

He asked, "What happened to us?"

"I don't know man," Zack said with a distant shrug of his shoulders. I mean, we were going to get you flowers for your date, and then all of a sudden that place caught fire, and then we're here."

Cody looked around, this place not looking like anything that could exist on earth. Even if this was one of the deserts, the sun and sky being this color didn't make any sense.

"Do you think," Cody gulped, fearing that he could be right, "We're dead?"

"Nah, it can't be," Zack answered, more out of hope than reason. But not even he could deny the possibility that they had passed out from the flames, and that no one had come to rescue them in time. It made perfect sense after all. Too much sense. "But if we were dead…"

Cody knew the unsaid conclusion. "This can't be heaven." Everything he had heard about heaven was that it was a place of peace, a big place in the clouds, or a city beyond his wildest imagination. Even if he wasn't that religious, he couldn't deny being interested in the study of what happened after death. But this, it was nothing like any heaven he could imagine.

"I know. Are we in hell Cody?"

"Maybe." Cody didn't want to consider that possibility. But it was sure possible. It wasn't something he ever thought could happen. Even if there was such a thing as heaven and hell, surely he'd go to heaven. He was a good person, he hadn't killed anyone, hardly even lied. He wasn't perfect, but he deserved something better than everlasting punishment.

As Cody thought about this, where they were, what they should do from here, the water that had covered him faded away, something Cody was sad to see happen. But it made him feel better, at least he wasn't in pain any more, and he was able to get back up to his feet. As he fully took in the environment, he knew that things wouldn't be easy. He still had the scratch on his arm but it had stopped bleeding.

"How'd you know to bring me here?"

"A guy told me to," Zack answered. He knew it wasn't a good enough answer to satisfy his brother's curiosity, it didn't even satisfy his own. But when told that it could help his brother, Zack didn't think about questioning it.

"Any idea where he went?"

"Nope, sorry."

The two of them stared out in the distance, looking for what to do now. Was this hell, just an endless expanse of nothing? Or was there something they were supposed to find? Of course, that was assuming this really was hell. Could it be they were just jumping to conclusions, giving into panic?

"We shouldn't just sit here doing nothing though," Zack said and Cody nodded. Heck, Cody had a date he had to get back for. After all that time, he actually got her to go out with him, and there was no way he was going to stand her up on their first date.

"Where though?"

Zack looked up to the sky, seeing where the sun was in the sky, over the horizon. "Well, it appears that the sun is setting, so that means that way is west. Because of how hot it is here, we should probably try heading east, until we find something."

"Wow Zack, you actually paid attention in class to know that?"

"No, saw it on some kind of zombie movie, and figured it made enough sense to try it." Zack started walking in a direction, and Cody saw how hot it really was here. At first, he thought it was due to burns on him, but it had to be at least 90 degrees here, possibly even more. After resting in that water for a while, he wasn't thirsty, but was sure they'd need to find a stable source of water soon, and there was no telling how cold it could get at night.

"Good enough for me." Even if Zack's guess were just that, a guess; it would get them somewhere. Maybe not anywhere helpful, but at this point, standing around wouldn't get them anything.

As they walked, Cody noticed that the place of death he thought was so stagnant contained life. Bugs of some kind came out for a few seconds among the rocks, some bigger than spiders, some so small he could barely see them. He heard a caw of a bird in the distance causing him to jump back. But they kept going, the endless desert continuing no matter how many miles they walked. And it wasn't long before their legs began wearing out.

"We need to rest soon," Zack said, his body completely covered with sweat.

Cody agreed, though at this point, there didn't seem to be any safe place to rest. He hoped they could find a town, or a cave, or at least some type of oasis. Though searching the horizon, there was no shelter to be found, of any kind, for as far as the eye could see.

"I guess this is as good a place as any."

"Sounds good to me," Zack said, lying on the ground, grateful for the pressure off his legs. He took his shirt off, using it as a pillow, far more tired than he had been in a while. He had thought about having one of them stand guard in case something, or someone found them, but knew that they wouldn't be in much condition to fight if that's what it came to.

"Night Zack," Cody said, not as willing to fall asleep so soundly. There was something more that happened to them than just appearing in this hell. He knew from studying religion that people shouldn't just be placed here with nowhere to go. That's not what happened in Dante's Inferno, there was no record of this in the Bible. This wasn't what would normally happen when someone died, of that much he was sure.

But what did happen?

And he was still with Zack? Was there some bond twins shared that placed them with each other? Was it only because they died together? He'd rather not spend all of eternity with Zack that much was for sure. And his body felt like his normal one, he felt like he could die still, so if that happened, then what? Maybe that was just an illusion brought on by his own assumptions, maybe he was reading too much into it. Still, Zack might have had the right idea. It would be better to rest now, so they could continue their journey tomorrow. They'd sure have plenty of time to discuss it then.

Cody rested on his back, looking up at the twilight sky. As the red sun disappeared over the horizon, the sky above was filled with streaks of blue and green against black. Even the stars that shown in the distance seemed to be of different colors, some blue, a few red, even some scattered greens. He tried thinking about light, and what could be causing that strange phenomenon, but didn't have time to dwell on it long. He rested his head in his arms, and then fell asleep beside his brother.

…

"Master, they've arrived."

"Is the plan set?"

"Yes, they are still too lost to suspect anything."

…

Crickets.

Only thousands of them.

That was the sound that broke Zack out of his slumber. He had forgotten where he was for a moment, wondering why his alarm was set to such a strange tone, but upon opening his eyes, he saw how terribly off he was.

"Cody!" Zack yelled. In a semi-circle, half a dozen bugs stood before them. They were like locusts, wings beating loudly, but they were nearly four feet tall, six feet long. Their claws seemed to carve their way through the rock as they inched forward.

Cody's eyes opened at the sound, and he saw what terrified Zack so much. He stumbled back to his feet, nearly falling, but Zack's hand around his arm stabilized him.

"Think their friendly?"

A mighty roar from one of them was all Zack needed for an answer.

"Run?"

"Sounds like a plan," Zack answered.

The two of them took off, not caring what direction they were heading in, only hoping that the giant insects wouldn't follow them; but only a few feet behind them, the creatures pursued them.