What was Lost

Alone

I woke up in a whirlwind of sand.

I was still high off the euphoria I felt during my little 'time travel' episode, so the fact that sand was getting into my eyes, mouth and god knows where else, didn't bother me.

Eventually, the whirlwind carried away, taking with it all the euphoria I had felt, and left me with stinging eyes. I was blinded due to the sand in my eyes, so, panicked, I deftly grabbed at my chest, trying to find the strap to my duffel bag.

Thankfully, I was still wearing it, and after opening it and shoving my hand in to search blindly, my fingers grazed over the shape of a bottle. I opened the bottle, and used my cupped hand to throw water into my eyes. After doing so about five times, I could finally see again, although I knew that if I were to look in a mirror, my eyes would be blood red.

A young sun was beating down directly above me, and I had to squint to get a good look around. I was in the middle of a vast desert, with nothing but sand in all directions for miles.

And I was alone.

I scrambled up to standing position and whipped around in a full circle looking for Castiel. We had both taken the potion, and had been touching each other-we should had ended up in the same place.

And yet he wasn't here.

It was irrational to do-it was clear that I was completely alone- but I did so anyway. I belted Castiel's name out, and each time I said it my voice grew higher in pitch and more desperate till at last my Wolf told me to stop.

"Stop. Ari. He's gone. Were alone," her voice sounded so sad in my mind, and I somehow knew she wasn't only referring to Castiel when she said we were all alone.

"What do you mean?" I prompted her gently.

The question wasn't meant to hurt her, but as soon as I said it, she broke down crying in my head. A few sobs later, she began to speak.

"Our mates. Ari. They're gone. While we were time-traveling, I saw all of my lives-all your previous incarnations. They were there. Sebastien and Requiem, and in our place, instead of us was Stacy," she wailed. "In every life. I saw them meet, fall in love, marry and have children. With her. Not us".

Her voice grew quieter, taking on a more sinister tone "we have to fix this, Ari. And once we fix this, we have to kill her. We have to. I can't let her live after I saw her with them, I just can't," she was silent for a moment, and then she spoke again.

"Castiel is gone. I don't know where, but he is gone. We have to find him, and we have to find our mates, but I am afraid I am in no condition to help you. I need to go for a while. I will return. I promise," with that she vanished from my mind. Not her usual kind of vanish, where she retreated to a far off corner of my mind where I could sense her, but not talk to her.

No.

This time, she vanished completely from my head. All trace of her disappeared, as if she had never existed. The only proof of her ever having been there, was the massive gap she had left behind.

Castiel was gone, Goddess knows where, and I was scared for him, wherever he was, but I promised myself I would find him, no matter how long it took. My Wolf, the only constant in my life, was also gone, and now, in the middle of a desert in a foreign land, in a time thousands of years before my own, I was completely, and utterly alone.

With no guide, or hope of anyone finding me wherever I was, I decided to begin to walk. I picked a direction and started walking, determined to reach the end of the desert, or die trying.

After walking for the entire day, I shifted into my wolf to continue moving in the night, when it was much colder and my fur kept me warm-in the day, turning wolf would have sizzled me.

I found that I could still turn, even though my Wolf was M.I.A but I was fully human-minded during wolf form. I was not aching to find a rabbit to rip into, nor itching to howl at the moon as I would have been had my wolf been present.

The next day, I still could not see any sign of vegetation, let alone civilisation. I pushed on, in human form under the blazing sun till night fell, and brought with it cool relief. I was overheated, and beyond tired and hungry. Yes, I had water and food, but I had to ration it as I didn't know how long I would be in the desert for.

Deciding that sleeping wouldn't harm me, I curled up on the sand, still in human form as I was too tired to shift, and feel into a deep slumber, dreaming of past lives I could not remember.

It was a long while later when I slowly came back to consciousness because of the sound of clothes rustling and the quiet crackling of a fire, accompanied by the smell of cooking meat. I wanted to tell the person to be quiet, although the meat did smell awfully appetising, before I remembered where I was.

I flashed my eyes open in shock, to find a figure wrapped in cloth standing above me, and the familiar, ice cold sensation of having a blade pressed to my neck.

I froze.

Becoming deathly still, I used my nose to take a sniff at the cloaked person-it was a male, going from his thick build. The sniff confirmed that he was human, which increased my survival rate significantly.

I may not have been much for a Were, even with Castiel's training, but a human? I could take a human.

I was used to having knifes pressed to my throat, actually, I was more used to knifes cutting my throat that just pressing against it, so his position didn't threaten me like it was meant to.

I leaned forward, which caused the knife to make a small cut into my neck, drawing blood. The action seemed to put the man off, and he slightly jerked back. The movement was minuscule, but it was enough for me.

I lunged, smashing the blade out of his hand, one second I was lying on the floor, the next I was standing, feet apart, sword drawn.

The man, who had fallen due to the momentum of my lunge, scrambled to a standing position, scared. Then he seemed to remember something, and visually relaxed. Bringing his fingers to his mouth he gave a clear sharp whistle, that my Were hearing did not appreciate.

My eyes were focused on him, but movement all around me caused me to turn my head and look. Ah. Of course.

No wonder the man was no longer scared. I would be pretty confident too, if I had my enemy surrounded by at least fifteen people, who were all armed to the teeth.