The Dimension Break

FIVE

For the first hour, the desert sun didn't get to any of us. Mary and I, who had learned to brace ourselves through so much, were next to complain after the other Extants. The Apotropaics had never had the luxury of an air machine, so they were the last to drop sweat onto the thick layers of sand below our feet. It wasn't like they'd ever been out under the sun for so long before, so all of us seemed to suffer, and the sun seemed to remain in the sky in the same place for an eternity.

In the front of our scattered group was Dillan. Mun and Ace stood behind him, hands dangling beside their belt so that slipping out a weapon would take only a matter of seconds. Mary and I walked side-by-side, armor making us heavy and slow. Taking up the rear were Caleb and Oliver. The group, Dillan had explained, was sorted so that the weaker ones of the group took up the middle and there was protection on all sides. Even though that was the order and it stood to reason, there was a gap between the head of the group and the rest of us.

I loosened the silken robe under my armor, groaning. "Do you think that maybe we'll get a stroke and die? It's better than this heat."

Mary gave a tight smile. It was what she did when she didn't know whether to laugh or sigh. "Well, since Fango has been in Croma for a while and he represents the element of earth here, there's got to be some plant with shade that we come across later, right?"

I struggled to lift my shoulders. "If he came along in the first place, we could have a huge wall of rock folowing us for shade or something. Screw that! If we had Delta, he could make it cold the whole way."

"Yeah. . . And my legs hurt, like, a lot. How long have we been walking?"

"No idea. A couple of hours, maybe?"

"Ugh. . ." Mary's groan puzzled me. Where was the faithful optimism she usually had buzzing from her lips? Even when we'd lived together in the woods, she was an excitable girl who always kept us both on the bright side. Where had that glass-half-full attitude gone?

Then again, she's been training with Ace. It doesn't matter how happy-go-lucky you are, you don't walk away from that with a smile on your face; he's a complete asshole. Well, to me. Is he to Mary?

Oliver was behind me, only far away enough to avoid stepping on my heels. "With those shoes, I'm suprised that you two have walked this long without discomfort in your spinal column."

"I never want to hear about shoes again!" piped Caleb, rather happily. Delta was his Extant, and had a weird shoe fetish - or something of that nature.

My Apotropaic frowned. He was a rather serious person, hardly joking. Yet, when he did laugh or toss out a joke, it was a beautiful sight to see. My chest felt warm when he smiled - when he really smiled. When his lips creased and crinkles sided around his wide, joy-lit eyes. For me, it was witnessing a rarity more beautiful than anything Earth nature could offer. A frown was like watching a natural disaster. It caused me physical pang, and there was a hard twinge in my chest.

What? Does caring now mean I have feelings for him? I curled my lip at my own thoughts. I can feel without it being romantic. God damn it, I'm becoming like one of those other girls in, uh. . .

"Seriously, though, my back does hurt," Mary muttered. Her hands went to her hips. "When do you think we'll stop?"

Caleb, a wide smile on his voice, practically leaped foreward beside my best friend. "I'll ask Ace when we'll stop for ya!"

"Thanks. . ." Mary gave a smile mirroring his. The expession I'd never seen on her before. Sure, I'd seen her smile, but not so openly with that little thrilled glint in her eye. . . Was it my imagination?