Hello people of the interweb, it's time for a new chapter, even though I should be writing at all. Stupid looming school deadline and sever procrastination that I'm going to end up regretting later. Ah well, what's done is done, at least I'm aware of my decisions.

Chapter 15 - Of Brothers and Wondering

Keane stared at the growling dog in front of him, not sure if he should make the first move, or let the animal attack instead. It didn't take the golden dog very long to decide though, lunging towards him without any warning.

"Ah!" the redhead yelled, slashing on instinct and managing to catch the dog across the mussel. Whining it took a few steps back before taking up it's growl again. Straton has backed up even more when the animal had attacked, which Keane was thankful for. The farther he was away from the danger, the better. When the dog ran forward again, he managed to jump out of the way this time, slashing the animal along it's side. He couldn't tell how much damaged he'd done though, it turning around to face him again too fast.

Once again the animal charged, and Keane repeated the same exact move, although he could tell that it hadn't caught the animal quiet as well this time around. He didn't know where Straton was anymore, but that might have been because he was solely focused on the dog lunging at him for a fourth time.

He managed to get out of the way in time, but it'd been much closer than the other attempts by the dog. Panting slightly, the redhead tried to keep his focus clear and on the animal. Despite this, a loud and intimidating bark echoing around the rocks caused him to flinch, giving the dog a chance to strike.

Before he was able to recover from the shock he heard the dog now whining again instead, and noticed a rock flying past his head.

"Get away! Go!" Straton yelled, continuing to throw stones at the animal. He sounded absolutely exhausted and Keane could only stare in shock for a few moments. That shock quickly wore off when the dog decided to target the blonde instead. Keane quickly jumped in it's path, slashing at the rabid animal's neck, and through more luck than skill, managed to hit his target. Before he could comprehend what was happening, the dog fell to the ground, blood dripping from Keane's claws.

Staring at the animal on the ground, he barely acknowledged the sounds of Straton rushing towards him.

"Keane! I, I mean, you… are you okay? What… huh?" the blonde asked, sounding a bit like he couldn't remember how to formulate sentences. Keane just nodded, whipping his claw on his pant leg. What was a bit more blood staining his clothes anyway?

"I thought I was suppose to be the older brother…" the redhead mumbled to himself, only managing to confuse Straton, who just blinked and cocked his head to the side.

"Huh?" he asked, but Keane just shook his head and turned towards him, smiling slightly. He felt bad that he hadn't noticed it before, but there was something seriously wrong with Straton, and he was going to fix it.

"It's nothing," he said, looking the younger boy over a bit. "We should get some sleep," he said at last, starting to walk to the opposite side of the stone circle, away from the dog carcass. Straton just nodded, following him obediently. When they sat down, Keane looked him over once more before sighing. "Have you slept at all since we left?" he asked, startling the blonde slightly.

"No," he blurted, before widening his eyes when he realized what he said and shaking his head repeatedly. "I mean, yes. Yes. I-I've slept just fine…" he tried to recover shakily, the fact that he was lying obvious. Keane just sighed again, halfheartedly trying to get himself into a comfortable position on the rocks. He was still in his anima, but it'd be better this way, if something happened during the night, there'd be a greater chance of him to notice if he had his more advanced senses out.

"Just make sure you sleep now, alright? You sound like a zombie," he said, and hesitantly the blonde nodded.

"A-alright," he mumbled, lying down on another rock and closing his eyes. It wasn't long at all before any of his remaining determination to stay awake finally gave in to his exhaustion, and the eleven year old was finally asleep.

Once he was sure that the younger boy was asleep, Keane sighed and laid down again, staring up at the sky, his mind on what he'd mumbled earlier. This was the second -no wait- third time Straton had saved him. Straton was smaller and weaker and younger than him, he should be protecting him, not the other way around. Yet the first thing the blonde had ever done for him was save him.

The sky was starting to turn a shade of gray in the east, but Keane could see that most of the stars were still out. Pushing himself up, he stared across their rest area towards the body of the dog. Gulping, he felt his stomach growling. W-well… it was meat, after all…

Slowly he got up and walked over to the dog, careful not to wake Straton. The ground didn't actually hurt as much with his anima out. It'd probably be best to stay like this when they started moving again, so that Straton could keep his shoes.

Once he reached the carcass he leaned down next to it, looking at what remained of the creature over in the low light. It was definitely dead… How was he suppose to do this? He'd need fire, to cook it… and a knife, but they didn't have anything like that. Well, there was always his claws… Glancing down at the curved blades that replaced his finger nails, the boy shuddered.

Standing up, he started back towards the rocks where Straton was still sleeping. He… he couldn't do this. He knew they had to eat, but even if he could get up the courage to slice up the animal with his hands, where were they suppose to get the fire to cook it? They couldn't eat raw meat. They'd find a town tomorrow night, and then they could eat. Hopefully…

It wasn't very long before Keane managed to fall asleep. He still wasn't used to this sleep schedule, and the lack of food was just messing with his body even more, but it'd be okay. They could get through it.

When Straton woke up the sun was almost set once more, and this time he'd found Keane awake, instead of the other way around. He could just barely remember waking up a few times during the day, nightmares that were actually just memories the cause, but had simply been too exhausted to keep himself from falling back to sleep and back to the nightmares.

"Hey, how you doing?" Keane asked as the blonde pushed himself into a sitting position. He had to admit, he did feel a lot better now that he'd allowed himself some sleep. At least he could think straight now. Well, straighter.

"Alright I guess, hungry…" he said, adding the last part as his stomach decided to remind him that they'd hadn't eaten in a little over a day now. Much longer than either of them had ever had to go without before. Keane nodded in agreement before standing up and looking out towards the setting sun.

"Yeah, same here. We should probably head out early. No one's gonna be out to actually see us, and the sooner we manage to get to a town, the better," the redhead said, and Straton nodded in agreement, standing up as well. That sounded like a good plan. Walking out of their enclosing and staring across the vast desert in front of them, it was only now starting to sink in just how bad of an idea it had been to head out completely alone and without any supplies was. If they didn't make it to a town, it'd be his fault…

"Well, let's go," Keane said after a few seconds, and the two started walking in the opposite direction of the sun. It was the only sort of direction they had, and it was quickly dawning on the two that it just wasn't enough.

It wasn't too much later the sun was lost behind the horizon, and a thought occurred to Straton as he glanced down at his feet. "Oh Keane, do you want your shoes back now?" he asked, but the older boy just shook his head and continued walking along what constituted as their path.

"No, the ground doesn't really hurt with my anima," the redhead explained, and Straton had to wonder how he hadn't noticed before. Well, it seemed like he wasn't really thinking as straight as he thought he could.

"Oh, alright," the blonde said, and the two continued to wonder along the open desert. Several hours later, the sky was pitch black with the exception of the stars and moon, and it felt like they had made absolutely no progress. Keane knew that it'd take a long time to get to Asteria, but that it'd take this long to get to a town? Who knows, they could have passed the closest one by now. Either way, both boys were starting to get very worried, but neither wanted to be the one to say it and make it real.

"Hey Keane?" Straton mumbled after about ten more minutes of walking.

"Yeah?" the redhead answered, straining his ears to try and pick of the sound of anything that might lead them towards civilization. Of course, he wasn't all too sure what that would sound like, but mainly just anything other than the nothing he was getting now.

"What should we do if we don't get to a town or something by morning?" the younger boy asked, and Keane just sighed and shrugged. He wished he'd asked something he would have been able to answer.

"I don't know… just keep looking until we find something…" he said after a while. Straton just nodded, it wasn't like there was anything else they could do, after all. About an hour later the regular noises of the desert that Keane was beginning to become accustom to were interrupted by something, but it didn't exactly sound like a town.

"Hey… do you hear that?" the redhead asked after a few seconds, looking around them slightly. Straton stopped walking for a moment to listen, but shook his head when nothing came to him.

"No, you have mouse ears," he said and Keane nodded as he remembered that little fact and started to explain what he thought he was hearing.

"Oh well, it sounds kind of like bird wings I guess," he said, still looking up at the sky. They sounded huge, but he wasn't sure whether or not to tell the younger boy that, since he didn't want to end up worrying him. Straton frowned slightly and started to look up as well. There wasn't really much they could do with a bird though, even if they did end up seeing it in the black sky.

"Keane…" Straton said quietly, his eyes widening when he caught sight of what he was pretty positive the source of whatever noise his brother was hearing.

"Yeah?" the redhead answered, turning towards him. The sound was getting louder, but he couldn't really pinpoint it yet, he still wasn't that used to these ears. Straton just pointed past him towards the sky, and Keane turned around to look at whatever it was he saw before he spoke.

"Is that what you're hearing?" the younger boy asked, and Keane nodded just slightly, his eyes not leaving what looked like a huge bird sailed across the night sky towards them. The closer it got, the more clear it became, until Keane could tell that it wasn't actually a bird, but what looked like a person with bird wings. He knew he could see better in the dark than Straton could though, so the boy was still probably still confused as to what it was. "Anima…" Keane whispered quietly, and Straton nodded.

Keane briefly thought about taking his brother and running to hide somewhere, but ended up staying glued to his spot. It was pretty clear by now that whoever it was had spotted them anyway, and it wasn't long at all before the person was landing in front of them, both boys backing up a bit in fear.

The first thing he'd noticed was his wings. They were huge, but he guessed they had to be. Whoever this was happened to be a whole lot bigger than the two boys staring up at him. Keane briefly registered the long, pointy, deadly looking talons that were in place of the man's feet as Straton quickly took a hold of his arm, standing behind him slightly. He was glad he was, but if this anima decided to attack them, there was no way in hell he could fight him off like he had barely managed to do with that dog. The best he could do was serve as a distraction while Straton got away.

The black haired man looked them over, a look of confusion of his face, before smirking slightly. Keane had no idea if this was a good sign or bad one, but before he could figure it out, the young man started to talk.

"Now what are a couple of kids like you wondering around the desert all alone at night for, hm?"

Yay, finished the chapter, and super early thanks to writers block on my other stories. Not sure if that's entirely a good thing. Well anyway, who is this mysterious mystery anima that's happened upon our heroes? Chances are it's not going to be that big of a surprise to anyone.
Also, you wont believe how many times I ended up writing god instead of dog. Almost every single time, it was very annoying.

Well, I hoped you like the early chapter, and please review.