Courageous Compassion | Illinois x Reader |

Red like blood

My body went into a complete shock. I felt energy go through every little piece of my body. Like electricity going through onto your finger when you combine friction and legal together. My eyes shot wide as I sat up, breathing like I went on a full on sprint.

[Illinois] (N/N), slow down!

Illinois put his hand on my shoulder, but my instincts came on and I immediately punched him in his stomach. He was knocked out of breath as he fell onto the ground.

[Y/N] Shit! I'm so sorry!
[Illinois] Nice punch.

His sentence was strained as he was laying on the ground, holding his stomach. I went to his side, trying to calm him down.

He recovered soon.

[Y/N] What happened?
[Illinois] You passed out on the ground. I was scared for your life. We were too close to the crash and we had to move. There wasn't any trees nearby, but I eventually found one.

He slowly got back to his knees and examined my arm. I was not sure why but when I looked down, I remembered.

[Illinois] You keep on getting the wounds.
[Y/N] Yeah. What's up with that?
[Illinois] You're probably not skilled enough.
[Y/N] I saved your life once.
[Illinois] Once. I saved YOUR life multiple times.

I grumbled as I saw the clothing on my arm starting to unravel a bit.

[Illinois] Shoulda changed it sooner.

Illinois opened his small satchel and got out a bandage. He took off my clothing and wrapped the new bandage around my forearm. After that, he tucked the end of the bandage under the rest.

His gaze then went down to my leg.

[Illinois] How's your leg?
[Y/N] To be honest, I didn't notice the wound on it for a while. I probably limped? Maybe?
[Illinois] Doesn't look like it.

Some of my blood had dropped onto the soil below. The soil absorbed the crimson liquid, making a red splotch.

[Y/N] What now? It's the second day and we have 5 more days to reach the temple.
[Illinois] Do you still have that paper?

I got it out of my pocket and handed it to Illinois. He unfolded it and began to scan through it. He gave out a sigh and rugged at his hair.

[Illinois] This is so complicated.
[Y/N] Is there, like, a town or small village nearby?
[Illinois] There may be some village near. But the only problem is we don't know which way.
[Y/N] You have maps, right?
[Illinois] I do. But they are burned in that crash.
[Y/N] Then why don't you remember which way?
[Illinois] Because I mark them so I won't HAVE to remember.

I sighed as I struggled to get up but succeeded. The sun was almost in the middle us and it was burning hot. So that means, the horizon on my left was west and the one to my right was east.

From what I learned in archeology class, before Illinois worked there, villages tend to go near source of water which means they set up west. That way, when the weather gets cooler, water is a cool crisp.

So west is where we go.

I looked to my west to see several mesas. A heat wave could be seen from there and I pulled up my sleeves to my upper tricep.

[Y/N] West is where we go.
[Illinois] And tell me why?
[Y/N] Just....trust me.

I picked him up, grabbed the paper out of his hands and began to walk on the sand.

As we walked and walked, the sun above us kept on going higher and higher. Soon, it was right above us. At that time, the temperature began to rise along with the sun, getting hotter at the hour.

I was sweating like crazy and I was panting, trying to cool myself down. If only I had something to shield me from the scorching sun. It wasn't helping that Illinois had a hat of his own. But I could still hear him breathing out and in from his mouth.

Time passed away as we still walked and walked. Soon, the sand turned into hard, solid ground. The bottom of our boots made thumps as we set foot.

Now, trees started to form around all of us, which is lucky because if we needed a break soon, we could stop and sit in the shade.

There was one thing I did notice though. While walking, the ground below us started to turn into a shade of red. First, it was like an orange red. Now going into it, it started to be red like blood.

[Y/N] Should we rest?
[Illinois] Yeah. It's hot.

We walked to a nearby tree and sat below it. Illinois grabbed his hat and fanned it to his face while I had to use my hand.

After cooling down a bit, Illinois got up first and I did second.

I was curious to what made the ground so red. Even the mesas around were the same color.

[Y/N] Hey, Illinois?
[Illinois] Yes?
[Y/N] Why is the ground so red?
[Illinois] That is what I asked myself when I first went here.

We slowed down his pace in walking and gestured out to the whole thing.

[Illinois] About a century ago, there was a fierce and brutal war here. They wanted control over this land and they thought the only way to settle it was violence. They meet here on this land and fought. A real blood bath. They say the fallen warrior's blood was adsorbed in the soil, making it this color. They saw when you touch the ground with your bare hands, the red stain won't go away for a week. This war raged on for several days, the soil still collecting the blood. And, if you dig here deep enough, you can probably find bones of the warriors.

I was amazed by this story. A war on this ground and the blood of brave warriors were soaked into the soil as like some sort of memorial statue or something.

-

We have taken some minutes to cool down and we are now back on the road.

We came across a heat wave and that was the worst. With it blazing hot alone, the heat wave made it feel as though we had like a drop of lava poured onto our skin.

But, thankfully, it was very short and we had not been more graceful to let the temperature drop down.

I held my hand over my eyes, trying to look more into the distance. I am not sure, but further ahead, I could see small faint blocks. It was a small bit darker than the blue sky, and the heat waves ahead made it all wavy.

I was not sure if it was a mirage, but if it's a small town, then we have got to take the risk. I was thirsty and in need of sustenance to cure my dry mouth. I turned around to Illinois, who's face was dripping with sweat.

[Y/N] I think I see a town ahead.
[Illinois] Huh. I didn't see any towns while my last time here. Though, it was a long time ago and my memories aren't that great based on the adventures.
[Y/N] If we get there, we could probably find someone to help us.

We both began to walk at a fast rate. But not too fast as it will take our dryness further and it'll become too hot.

. . .