(A/N: Here we are, chapter three and I hope you're ready for it. There won't be too much in this chapter, it's mostly just Akami becoming more familiar with the stone world. That's not to say there's not going to be something though. :P
If you read the previous chapter, then you know this one takes place after Gen leaves the Tsukasa Empire for the Kingdom of Science. I won't give anything more than that because I don't wanna give any spoilers.)
O-V-U~I*I*I~U-V-O
As Ukyo led her through the forest to the group, she made sure to observe as much of her surroundings as she could. She looked for unique features in the landscape in order to imprint them into her memory.
It was basic survival training, looking for landmarks to use for emergencies, or to find the way to and from one location to another. Both reasons applied to her, because although she agreed to join Tsukasa and his forces, she did not trust him in the slightest.
She accidentally stepped on a small but jagged rock and gasped in shock and pain. She stopped following him to lift her foot and look at it, she knew it was over for her if there was blood.
He noticed that she had fallen behind and looked back at her, "Hey, are you alright?"
"Yeah, just stepped on a rock or something," she answered, still looking at her foot.
"Are you hurt?" he asked her again.
"I don't think so," she replied, setting her leg down.
She caught up to him, careful with where she stepped, and he offered his elbow, "Here. It might be easier if you stay close to me."
She hooked her hand around the crook of his elbow, blushing slightly as she did, "Thanks."
He continued to lead her to the group and she proceeded with her observations, while keeping an eye on the ground as well. It was different from the rough sand and flat plains she spent her early childhood in, it was mostly dirt and thick grass with leaves, sticks, rocks, and other debris peppering the area randomly.
He saw her staring at their surroundings, noticing how she paid close attention to the ground. He had seen her do the same thing earlier and he knew what it was. He was once in the JMSDF, or the Japan Maritime Special-Defense Force, survival training was second nature, especially in this stone world.
"Is there something wrong?" he questioned.
"No, I guess I sometimes forget that I'm in Japan," she admitted, though he could tell there was something else on her mind. "I grew up in America, I only moved here in middle school. Before that light petrified everyone, this was Tokyo, a huge city, nothing like where I spent most of my life."
He frowned, he could only imagine how much of a shock this must have been, considering that she had been in her home country less than twenty-four hours before the petrification. They had been talking to each other in English the entire time.
"Well, maybe that's a good thing," he uttered.
She looked at him in confusion, "Huh?"
"If you disassociate the fact that this forest used to be Tokyo and is instead somewhere you know or once knew, surviving this crazy world might be easier for you," he asseverated. He realized she was staring at him inquisitively and laughed light-heartedly, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck with his free hand, "Sorry about that, I guess that doesn't really make a lot of sense."
"Oh, uh, no, it does," she claimed.
He stopped scratching and blinked, "What?"
She gazed downward, "I'm never going to see the US again, and I don't think Tsukasa will give me that revival fluid stuff to bring my parents back. So maybe… disassociating myself from the old world is exactly what I should do."
"Yeah," he muttered with a frown.
Eventually, they managed to catch up with Tsukasa, but the rest of the group was still out of sight. Ukyo could hear them, they had already reached the encampment, which meant they were almost there themselves.
"Hey, Tsukasa," he greeted.
The taller man stopped in his tracks momentarily to let them walk with him, "Ukyo. Glad to see you decided to come with us."
She knew he was addressing her, it was almost snide the way he spoke, though she was honestly unsure if that was his intention. Seeing his face made her blood boil, so to avoid any conflict, she kept her mouth shut.
"Do you know where Minami and the others are now?" he asked.
"Yes, they're already back at base," he replied.
"How do you know that?" she questioned curiously.
"Oh," he chuckled with an almost boyish smile, pointing at his ear. "I used to be a sonar operator and I have really sensitive hearing as a result."
She remembered him mentioning it earlier, when she finally agreed to join them. Her own hearing was slightly stronger than a normal person, but knowing that his was even stronger impressed her.
"That's pretty cool," she smiled. "Was it on a submarine? I had an old classmate whose father was an engineer on a nuclear submarine."
He nodded, "Yes, it was. Sonar operators have one of the most important jobs. I was tasked with a lot of different exercises."
They carried on their conversation in English and Tsukasa wondered if that was intentional with the belief that he could not impart. He understood the language very well, he learned it in order to have greater international connections, but he was not vain enough to call himself fluent.
When they finally reached the base, he looked back at them, "We're here. Ukyo, do me a favor and show her around, if you don't mind."
"Not at all. Leave it to me," he gave him a thumbs up.
She was surprised to hear they had arrived so soon, she figured they must have been close for Ukyo to hear where everyone else had gone, but did not realize they were already almost there. Nonetheless, she let him guide her through the encampment so that she could familiarize herself with it.
Tsukasa and his people made their home around large rock formations, which she imagined would make for decent cover in an emergency. The most striking feature was a pyramid-like structure that sat on a plateau with open caves like a honeycomb, it seemed to be where they primarily lived.
The base sat very close to the ocean, which meant a freshwater source was likely nearby. On the western side, there was a field of dry grass, something she was confused about at first, until she realized what it really was.
It was a trap, the grass was very short and the noise created by walking through it would alert anyone who was in the area. For someone like Ukyo, he could pin down any intruder like a predator, locating their position with his sensitive ears. She almost shuddered at the thought of what someone like Tsukasa could do.
In contrast to Ukyo's arrows and Tsukasa's bare hands, everyone seemed to carry a spear. They were crudely made, constructed with nothing but sharp yet jagged stones and wooden rods. One man, however, who hid his face and seemingly kept his eyes closed at all times, carried a very different spear from the others. His was clearly metallic and there was a strange sleeve on the hilt.
As they passed the man, he opened his eyes and kept his sight on her as they left. A chill ran through her body as his dark blue-gray orbs lingered on her, and not because of the eyes themselves, but what they were hiding. He closed his eyes again once they were out of his field of vision, and she felt as if she had barely survived an encounter with Medusa.
'That guy might be more dangerous than Tsukasa,' she thought, her nerves utterly shaken.
Unconsciously, her grip on his arm tightened slightly and he asked, "Are you okay? Is there something wrong?"
"No, I- I think I'm just a little overwhelmed." It was not a lie, but she did not feel comfortable enough to tell him the reason why her hair was standing on end. "Being trapped in stone for so many years will do that, I guess."
"You mean, like you're still processing everything?" he inquired.
She nodded, "Yeah. How long has it been anyway? How many years have passed since we were petrified?"
He took in a deep breath, as though the answer he was about to give her was one he was still trying to comprehend himself. "It's been just over three thousand seven hundred years."
She was unsure how to react, she was shocked by the number of course, but she honestly expected it to be at least a few centuries. She may not have been an expert in construction, but she knew it took at least a couple hundred years for concrete and metal structures to wither away.
"Wow, I… wow," she could barely get the words out of her mouth. "I knew it had to be centuries, but I didn't expect it to be that long."
"Yeah, I have a hard time believing it myself," he admitted. "Sometimes, I think it's just a bad dream I'm going to wake up from, and, frankly, I wish it was."
"I think that's something everyone wishes. I wouldn't be surprised at all if I went to sleep tonight and woke up hoping that none of this ever happened," she uttered. "But I guess we'll just have to learn how to live with it."
"Yeah," he muttered in a soft, quiet voice.
He showed her around a couple more places in the area, including a mountain of still-petrified humans and a makeshift wooden cross in the ground, leading her to wonder if it was a grave. The burial ground and collection of petrified people scared her, how many people were revived? And how many killed?
The last part of the base he showed her was the feeding grounds, where several fires were already lit with people cooking food. Everything from wild game, such as deer, boar, rabbits, and even geese and fish, to something in clay pots that she assumed was stew or soup was being cooked.
"Why don't I show you where you'll be staying and then we can get a bite to eat?" he suggested.
"Sounds good," she replied.
He led her to the fallen building, navigating through the countless corridors and caves, all of which required a ladder or rope to climb. He found an empty chamber with a mat made of dried grass and other vegetation and furs on top of it.
"You can stay in here," he told her.
"Thanks," she smiled, "and I appreciate you showing me around."
He waved his hand, smiling as well, "No problem. I'll let you get settled in. You know your way down, right?"
"I think so, yes," she responded.
There was not much to navigate in the room, it was no bigger than the size of a normal office, and the only furnishing was the makeshift bed. The only thing she could call unusual was the log that led across the entire length of the room, she assumed it was to make walking easier with the building remains being at an angle.
A light breeze blew and she looked out the window, placing her hand on the stone surface to balance herself. Glancing down, she realized how high from the ground the room was, her best estimate was four or five stories.
"Well, at least it's a room with a view," she remarked to herself.
She watched as people walked back and forth from the route that led to the feeding grounds, many carrying something. Some held logs for firewood and a few had dishes, but most carried additional food. For a moment, she wondered if they were gathering as much food as they could to prepare for a feast or to preserve it.
Her stomach growled and she sighed, rubbing her abdomen, "I guess I can't stay up here forever."
Getting back down to ground level was no easy task, climbing down everything she had to climb up, it felt like a primitive jungle gym. She could only imagine how difficult it must be for most modern humans, especially those afraid of heights. She did climb trees growing up, but had not done so in five or six years before the petrification, and always found climbing up easier than getting down.
'It's like riding a bike,' she thought dryly.
She looked down as she went down another ladder and realized she was only a few rungs from the entrance of the building, she reached the ground. She jumped down since the distance could not have been more than a couple of feet, the pressure she felt in her legs from the landing impact was oddly nostalgic.
She started walking down the path they took to the building and more people than she saw earlier were making their way to the feeding grounds too. Unlike before, many of them carried nothing and were likely only going there to eat.
Ukyo noticed her as he was walking up and waved, "Hey, I was just coming back to check on you."
"Just a guess, but is everyone getting ready for dinner?" she asked, pointing at the path ahead.
He laughed and scratched the back of his neck, "You guessed right! I'm sure you're probably pretty hungry without having a meal for thousands of years."
She smiled, "Yeah. I didn't even realize how hungry I was until a little while ago."
He waved his hand, gesturing for her to follow him, "Let's go."
When they arrived, several additional fires had been lit with people sitting around them, most eating and others still cooking food. He guided her to one of the fires, one where no one sat around it.
She sat on her heels and he knelt down next to her, asking her, "What do you want to eat? Is there anything you can't have? Like, a food allergy?"
She shook her head, "No, no allergies. And I don't really have a preference. I mean, it's not like I have unlimited choices for food in the stone world."
"I guess you're right," he laughed. "There aren't any vending machines or restaurants." He stood up and started to walk away, "Alright, I'll be back in a minute."
As she waited for him to return with food, she heard someone walking behind her. With so many people around, it would not have been unusual, but it sounded as though the person behind her was walking towards her.
She looked over her shoulder and saw Tsukasa with a boar, one that was already skinned and ready to be cooked. She knew it must have been heavy for one man to carry a fully grown boar, skinned or not, yet he held it over his shoulder like it was a piglet.
"What do you want?" she questioned him coldly.
"Is it too much to ask to share your fire and cook this?" he smiled.
She wanted to refuse him, but she was hungry and she did not know when the last time he ate was. She hated him, but not enough to let him starve or eat raw meat.
"Sure, go ahead," she replied.
She watched as he forced two large sticks into the ground, flanking the fire pit, both of which were split at the top, likely with an axe. He set another stick through the meat with such force that she flinched as it was impaled. He carefully set the meat over the fire, letting it cook like a makeshift rotisserie.
"Oh, hey, Tsukasa," Ukyo acknowledged the taller man as he returned with food in both hands. In one hand, he held a few sticks with several Pacific sauries skewered on each one, and in the other, he carried a small pot. "I got sanma and oysters, is that okay?"
She nodded, "Yes, that's fine."
He set the sticks in the ground around the fire and the pot on top of a small mound of coals and ash. He took a seat next to her and watched their food cook.
She saw Tsukasa turn the meat to cook it evenly, noticing that his hands were wet, and she suspected that it was not water. "I hope you plan to wash your hands. I'm not too excited at the thought of E. coli or salmonella."
He laughed, almost boyishly, a very light pink flush briefly dusted his cheeks. He showed her a cream-colored block protected by a leather wrap.
"We have soap here, don't worry." He poured a bit of water from a ceramic bottle into his palms and rubbed his hands on the soap, as if showing her that it was legitimate.
She honestly expected that they had soap - or an antibacterial at the very least - all along, there was no way he could revive so many people without having a way to keep everyone healthy. Even if he despised the power structure of the old world, cleanliness was arguably one of the most important aspects of civilization.
"Hello," a calm, collected yet cold voice greeted from behind her, causing her to become rigid.
She looked behind her and she saw the man that frightened her earlier. She did not know what scared her more, seeing him closer or not hearing his approach.
"You seem to have enough for one more person, mind if I join you?" he requested.
She was frozen and she could not manage to say a single word. Even if she could, she would not be able to decline his request, not with his spear on his back.
Tsukasa shifted where he sat, moving slightly closer to her, "Come sit. The food will need a few more minutes."
Without a sound, save for the swing of his leather cloak, he sat down, directly across from her. For a fraction of a second, he opened his predatory eyes before closing them once again.
It could have been a couple of seconds, it could have been an hour, but time seemed to stop, as though it was as frozen as her body. She gazed down to keep her own eyes out of the sight of his, should he open them again. She was now more convinced than before that he truly was more dangerous than Tsukasa.
Ukyo pulled one of the fish from the fire, checking to see if it was done cooking. It had a nice char and when he picked at it, the meat was an off-white pinkish color and flaked nicely.
Satisfied, he announced, "The fish is done. Whoever wants one can grab one."
He expected the girl next to him to be the first to take one, but he was proven wrong when it was Hyoga's gloved hand that grabbed a skewer. He looked at her and he realized that she looked like she was in a state of shock, it was similar to how she was earlier that day.
He reached for her, nudging her shoulder with his hand, "Hey? Are you alright?"
She flinched slightly and blinked, "Huh?"
"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned. "You zoned out there for a second."
"Oh, I- I'm fine," she responded, her voice slightly shaky. She smiled nervously, "Must be a little tired or something. Is the food ready?"
He pulled a skewer out and handed it to her, "The fish is done if you want one."
She accepted the fish and took it from him, "Thanks a lot."
He checked the pot of oysters, but he was unsure if they were safe to eat, "I can't tell if these oysters are done yet." He scratched the back of his head and laughed, "I admit, I don't really have a lot of cooking experience, just enough that I won't poison myself."
She leaned forward to look into the pot, sitting back after a few seconds, "They're done. If you still want to make sure, leave it for another minute or two."
"How can you tell if they're ready?" he asked.
"Usually if the shells are open or if there's bubbling," she answered. "But if you want to be completely sure, then wait a couple minutes."
He decided to test them and took some out using twigs as makeshift chopsticks, putting them in a dish. He bit into the meaty insides of one and it had a firm texture, it was done.
He nodded in satisfaction, "Yeah, it's done. Thanks for the advice."
"No problem," she replied, smiling.
Tsukasa used his stone knife to cut into the boar, having noticed that the meat was cooking well. It was easy to peel off with such a dull instrument, but it still required a bit of force.
"If you're hungry now, feel free to eat," she told him. She grabbed a fish and handed it to him, "Here, you can have this."
"Thank you," he smiled softly, taking it.
"Don't think of it as a peace offering, I just don't want to see you go hungry while you wait," she uttered, honestly and bluntly.
'She might be cold at times, but she has a warm heart,' he thought, biting into the thin fish, a small smile still on his face.
"I've heard about the incident between the two of you today," Hyoga mentioned, breaking his silence. He turned his head to face her, "From what I was told, you were quite upset about Tsukasa trying to destroy some statues."
His eyes were closed the whole time, but with his icy and almost mocking voice, they may as well have been open. She looked down, clenching her skewer with one hand and her lengthy skirt with the other.
"Th- They were my parents," she managed to respond. "I love them, of course I would defend them."
"I see," he muttered.
There was only one person who could have told him about what happened earlier that day, and the white-haired man next to her knew who that was. Only two people talk to him regularly, and one of them was away watching the Kingdom of Science and their activities, the other flanked her opposite side.
'Tsukasa, I beg of you, do not tell Hyoga anything more,' Ukyo thought pleadingly as he took some oysters out of the pot and into a dish.
Though Hyoga was quieter than Tsukasa, he was still loud enough to be heard by his ears, but he had something the younger man did not, a fiercely loyal right-hand with dead silence. All she needed was a location and she would carry out the order without hesitation. If Tsukasa gave Hyoga the proximate location of Akami's revival and he gave that information to Homura, the promise he made to her would be broken.
"Would you like some of these?" he asked her, holding out the dish, trying not to sound uneasy.
"Sure," she answered, her voice still faintly shaky, "thank you."
She transferred some of the oysters onto a smaller dish and used her own makeshift chopsticks to eat. It had been such a long time since she had shellfish and eating these brought back many memories.
As a child, she would go to neighborhood parties with her parents and aunt, where they often served fresh caught fish and shellfish from the river some miles away. Her neighbors were the outdoorsy type, something her parents, especially her mother, could relate to, and they hosted parties several times a year.
After moving to Japan, those parties and friendly relations with their neighbors ended. She hoped to see them again one day, but the petrification stopped any possibility of that.
The memories that flooded her mind was enough to make the tears pool in her eyes, threatening to fall down her face. She accepted that this was the stone world, that she would likely never see her parents again, that she would never see her home country again, but she could not stop her emotions from overwhelming her.
Before the three men around her could see her cry, she stood up, "I'm going to turn in for the night."
"What? But you hardly ate," Ukyo mildly protested, both shocked and slightly worried.
She smiled down at him, trying to make it as soft and reassuring as she could in order to hide her true sadness, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine."
"Well, do you want me to walk you back?" he offered.
She shook her head, still smiling, "No, I think I'll be fine. See you in the morning."
She walked around Tsukasa and proceeded to leave for her room in the collapsed building. Hyoga did not bother to watch her walk away, while Ukyo frowned and looked at the ground.
Laying on the makeshift bed, Akami tried to relax, but she was far too tense and her heart was beating too fast. She turned onto her side, a pelt wrapping around her as it moved with her, looking out the window, staring at the nearly pitch black outside.
Even if she did come to terms that this was her new reality, a part of her still did not want to. It wanted to remain hopeful that this was not real, or that there was a miracle that could bring the world back to the way it was before.
She let out a soft exasperating scoff, 'Ridiculous. I'm such an idiot.'
Why did she even think of something so foolish to begin with? This was the stone world, society collapsed, there was nothing left. Why could she not fully accept that fact?
She tried to clear her head, hoping that would help her relax. When that alone was not enough, she decided to hum to herself, it always worked when she was a child.
Suddenly, she heard something weighted against the wood of the makeshift floor. She sat up, but she did not see anyone in the room, all she did see was a bowl.
She got out of bed to pick it up, she was slightly surprised to see that there was food in it. It was full of oysters and the meat that Tsukasa was cooking, and it was still warm.
"Where did this come from?" she asked herself quietly.
She looked down the ladder, but it was too dark to see anything. She expected to at least be able to see a light from a torch, but she could not see past the top rungs of the ladder.
She sat on the bed, wondering what to do with the food in her hands. Deciding not to waste it, she grabbed one of the oysters by its shell, and felt a strange lump under her finger as she was taking out the meat.
Breaking off the other half of the shell, she picked at the gray flesh and noticed something shine in the moonlight. She took it out of the shell with two fingers and discovered that it was a pearl.
Holding it in her palm, she admired the small rare find, "It's beautiful."
O-V-U~I*I*I~U-V-O
(A/N: Phew! Finally got this chapter done. I won't lie, I got stuck on a couple of scenes, but it all got done in the end, so I'm satisfied.
The pearl she found will be brought up again, but it doesn't have any real significance for a long time. As for who left her the food, that also won't be a while. :P
Sorry if I made you wait a little too long, but I hope I made it worthwhile. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to get done (though I honestly can't make any promises), so until then.)