The walk across the plains was far less stimulating than those through the mountain or the forest had been. Nothing except rolling fields of flat dirt existed within the visible spectrum for the group. Though at times the difficult terrain of the mountains or the stretching trees set Jake on edge or made it difficult to walk, it was at least interesting to look at while walking. Now, Jake felt only boredom, combined with an ever-growing sense that the group was lost.
Despite Leopold's reassurances the night before, and Rick's confident demeanor today while strolling forward Jake still couldn’t shake the feeling they were hopelessly lost. Looking back, their footsteps behind them continued forward in an unbending straight line before fading off into the dark. Jake doubted they were walking in circles but even with how skilled Rick had proven himself to be, navigating through barren emptiness seemed impossible to Jake.
He was the only one worried about this, as Leopold and Rick casually chatted among themselves in short bursts at the front of the group. Jake couldn’t hear what their conversation was about, he could only see the annoyed expressions Rick would flash and hear the loud laughter echoing from Leopold. This left Jake and Lana walking alone together in the back of the group.
Lana seemed to be in much higher spirits today than during yesterday’s journey. Though her eyes still seemed to carry a sort of tired sadness she wore a smile and walked with her head high, no daze about her. Walking beside her for a bit, Jake leaned over to her and whispered,
“Are we lost?”
Lana let out a short laugh before shaking her head and saying,
“I don’t remember the forest very well, it's been ages since the last time I passed through it. But Leopold used to patrol it regularly when he was still with the army, and Rick told me he would always pass through to trade with Largo. If they aren’t worried, I wouldn’t be either.”
Jake gave a nod, unsurprised by her answer. In truth, he was expecting an answer of some kind like this from her, and it was very similar to what he had already been told by Leopold. Though he was still personally worried about getting lost as he stared into the unending abyss, he’d already decided to trust in Rick and Leopold to guide him. His true aim in asking Lana wasn’t for reassurance, but rather as an excuse to start a conversation with her.
Things had felt odd between the two for the past few days now. Jake wasn’t quite sure why, but he found it difficult to talk to her now he was healed, and while he felt he could strike up a conversation with Leopold or Rick the same wasn’t true for Lana. As for Lana, she hadn’t been unfriendly but she’d kept her distance never going out of her way to strike conversations.
Looking around the barren landscape surrounding the two, Jake asked,
“You’ve known Rick a while then?”
“Two or three years? Ever since Largo fell. We ran into him while we were fleeing, it’s hard to remember the exact date we met what with the chaos of the cities collapsing and…” she gestured wildly around at the darkness that pervaded the air.
“So, you and Will ran into him together?” Jake asked without much thought. The question sort of slipped out as he was trying to connect the pieces of information he knew about his traveling companions together in his mind. However, he regretted it as soon as he said it. He’d meant to broach the topic of this ‘Will’ Leopold had mentioned in a much gentler fashion, and seeing the sudden shift in Lana’s face he could tell he made a mistake.
Her face hardened like a statue, the smile she wore instantly dropping and her eyes hardening to something of fury and despair as she glared at Jake. She stopped walking and just stared at him, uncaring that the others were walking ahead and the light around them was fading.
“How the…” Her gaze suddenly snapped to Leopold who still obliviously strolled ahead, chatting with Rick. A sort of snarl escaped her mouth as she suddenly snapped her head back toward Jake, grabbing his shirt and pulling him close.
“Don’t you… Don’t you ever…” She was stuttering, stumbling over herself to express the emotions racing through her.
“I understand, I’m sorry,” Jake said, quickly raising his hands in a sign of surrender. A million excuses to defend himself started swimming in his head. He was only curious, he hadn’t known what he was talking about, he’d heard Leopold mention the name and wanted to know more. But none of those escaped Jake's lips. None of his excuses mattered right now, they’d only further taint the situation and ruin what little worth his apology had to Lana.
Lana held him there a moment longer, glaring down at him before releasing him. She then turned without another word and stalked after the retreating light of Rick and Leopold. Jake rubbed where Lana had grabbed him before also hurrying to catch up to the pair, not wanting to be left in the dark.
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The group walked in an awkward silence after that, Lana acting icey to whoever dared try to approach her. Not that many tried, Jake already knew the cause of her anger, and Leopold stayed away after getting a sudden scolding after he tried to drag her into a story. Only Rick seemed uncaring of her mood, asking her an occasional question as needed or talking to her normally.
The group walked far longer than yesterday, but in the end, after hours upon hours of walking the surroundings failed to change from anything more interesting from decaying mounds of dirt. When the group finally made camp, a short dinner of dried meat followed. The group was now outside of the hunting range and could no longer expect to hunt fresh food to cook nightly, instead having to subsist on the dried meat prepared for this stretch of the journey.
When it was time for the first watch, the rotation changed this time to Jake and Lana taking the first shift of watch, with Leopold and Rick stalking off to sleep. Rick walked away from the group without another word, looking noticeably more haggard and tired than usual to Jake. Leopold, however, first grabbed hold of Jake’s arm and pulled him to the side whispering,
“I don’t know what you did today with Lala but fix it before morning kid.”
He then left to sleep, leaving Lana and Jake standing alone for the first shift of watch. Jake didn’t dare say anything as he stood next to her, not even sure how he could begin to approach talking to her again. He already had a few ideas on who Will could be yet still bumbled into bringing it up to Lana like an insensitive moron.
According to what Leopold said, this Will held the key to why the trio was journeying to rescue the sky together. More important than that though, it was clear he meant a lot to Lena. Jake didn’t care about solving the mystery behind their journey anymore, he just wanted to somehow find a way to repair the damage he’d done to the woman who saved him. But he feared that task could already be impossible.
As Jake stood there, pondering over how he could even begin to try and talk to her again Lena spoke first, staring off into the darkness. Her tone was neither angry nor happy, simply sounding serene as she said,
“When I was young, younger than you are kid, The Largo Academy hosted its annual field trip. All the 3rd years would be gathered and shuffled outside beyond the city’s walls to spend a week studying in the forest. I hated every second of it.”
A small chuckle escaped from Lana as she turned to Jake with a small, near-invisible smile.
“The whole point of the trip was to force the students to get closer to nature and learn practical skills. It was supposed to somehow hone our magic. Never really understood the theory behind it, still don’t to this day. To me, it was just a boring trip stuck out in the woods. We weren’t allowed to bring anything with us save a few changes of clothes and school supplies for supplementary lessons. All our food, our water, everything we had to find ourselves.”
“I didn’t struggle at all; I just found the whole thing so boring. Figured I could be reading or relaxing in my room but instead, I was stuck sitting in the woods gossiping with my friends and staring off into the mountains talking about the day I’d finally graduated and escaped from Largo. Then one day, while strolling aimlessly through the woods I bumped into Cal. He…”
Lana stopped for a while before letting out a small sniffle and whipping her nose with her arm. Staring at the floor she continued,
“Calvin, I mean. Cal’s just what Leopold called him. He used to call us Calala. Always used to tell him that didn’t mean anything, but he’d just chuckle to himself and ignore me. Anyway, I met him here for the first time. Short black hair, sort of like yours, and he was bumbling around clueless. I was amazed he’d survived that long. I helped the guy out, just felt so bad for him. Then we just… started talking after that…”
Lala looked up again, gazing out into that dark,
“When I was younger, I would always daydream about leaving Largo, running away. Leopold, he followed through. Ran away and never looked back. But when I got older, I found all my memories, my best and worst times were all tied to the place. I may not have been perfect, but it was my home. I couldn’t leave, I didn’t want to leave. I decided I was going to raise my family, right here where I’d been born, where I grew up. Someday, they’d get to stroll through the woods bored out of their minds too.”
Lana let out a little laugh, before turning to stare at Jake, small tears staining her eyes her smile forced and pained on her face.
“In the end, Cal died long before The Corruption claimed the world and Me and… Me and Will were forced to leave our home behind. I never really thought about what would happen to Largo after we left, I guess some part of me still held on to that fantasy. But strolling through these plains, the ruins of where I met him… It hurts more than I ever thought possible.”
Jake stood in silence, unsure of what to say, or how to possibly comfort her. After a while, he sat next to her and looked out into the dark as well.
“Lana, I just… sorry feels too hollow to say but I truly am sorry. I don’t understand what you’ve gone through Lana, I don’t think I can ever truly understand what any of you have gone through. The pain, the loss. It’s not something I understand and, to be honest, I hope I never have to understand it. All I can say is I’m sorry for forcing this out of you.”
It was the truth, while he may be separated from them Jake’s family was still alive. He would see them again someday. But for these three the losses they’d endured so far seemed unimaginable to Jake. Lana sat in silence for a while after Jake's proclamation, before letting out a small chuckle and saying,
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while now since you brought it up, and though I trust Rick I’m not so confident in Leopold. Maybe we should double-check we aren’t lost.”
Her voice sounded weak and shaky, but Jake ignored that letting out a small laugh before nodding and saying,
“I think you’re right, I’m pretty sure he’s leading us totally off course. Not that I can tell, it all looks the same to me.”
After this brief exchange, Lana and Jake’s chat became a bit more relaxed, discussing nothing in particular for a while before Jake hauled himself up. He figured it was time to wake Rick and get some sleep. As he was about to walk away though Lana grabbed hold of his sleeve and held it for a moment before letting it go. Her face looked conflicted. Jake walked away without pressing the issue. Whatever issue Lana wanted to talk about, she could bring it up when she was ready. Jake was done trying to pry anything out of her.