2:25 AM

John threw up on the ground.

Nothing but water came out.

It was all he needed, and that was what made the situation that direr.

Levi watched guard as John threw up on the ground, and John knew his time was near. He was about to wilt, and he didn’t have any more water.

They were both at the side of the road, trying to make their way toward the Training Center, where there was an armory, a hospital, and a train to safety. The trek was long without a car, and the many fights they had on the way there slowed them down.

John had finally gotten everything out of his system, and he started to shake.

“Levi, I need you to bury me in the ground.”

“Are you insane,” Levi shouted. “I’m not letting you die out here!”

John wiped the spit and water off of his mouth. His slightly green skin now looked brown, and his entire body was slouching. His curly hair seemed to be falling out in chunks.  He stumbled over and held onto Levi, who looked down at him and started to worry that he had no choice but to bury him anyway.

“If you bury me I won’t die,” John rasped. “You can leave and come back with some water.”

“Is this because of your ability?”

“Yes,” John replied. “Not all of us have the nice side effects.”

John’s ability had made him more plant than human over time. He no longer ate food but simply drank a lot of water and made sure to go for walks daily to photosynthesize.

Levi took John and placed him on his back. John held on and Levi carried him piggyback style, deep into the woods, trying to find a safe place for him. The dark forest that usually would look intimidating in the dead of night now felt like a haven from the violence they had just escaped. John sighed, enjoying the smell of dirt instead of blood.

Levi found a tree with the carvings M S+ SA surrounded by a heart and decided to use it as a marker. Levi gently laid him on the ground and then realized he had no shovel to dig with.

“I can’t bury you,” Levi said. “What are we going to do!?!”

“It’s okay. I got this,” John mumbled.

He rummaged around in his brown satchel and got out a purple foxglove flower. Little bits of dirt fell out of his satchel, and John held the flower close to his ear.

“You need to speak up, Nora,” John mumbled.

Levi wondered if he could really talk to plants or if it was the lack of water affecting his brain.

He could.

The plants would emit chemicals and communicate with John. John was worried about what would happen to his small friends if he died. He knew all of them personally, what time they liked to be watered, what their favorite kind of music was. He named each and every one of them and made sure that they were comfortable inside his crowded dorm apartment, filled to the brim with bright flowers and small succulents.

Nora didn’t want to help Levi. She was a stubborn foxglove, and she didn’t want to be mishandled.

I don’t like him, Nora whispered. He is dating the woman you love.

“Now is not the time for this Nora,” John whispered. “If I die then I can never have her.”

Nora was silent and obliged John’s request.

She grew large, her stem curving and rigid. John leaned back onto the tree and tried to stay awake as long as possible. He knew that the moment he fell asleep the flower would shrink. Levi picked up Nora by her stem and was amazed at how light and sturdy she was. He began to dig at the ground, using her now rigid petals to scoop the dirt out.

It wasn’t long before John passed out.

Levi didn’t get very far, and he started to shovel the dirt quicker, but it was no use.

Nora shrunk back down to size, more preoccupied with the death of her father than being used by someone she saw as an interloper.

“Don’t die,” Levi pleaded.

He gently smacked John on the face, but he didn’t wake up.

Just do what he told you to do. Bury him and get water.

Levi cried great big tears in the dark forest as he buried his friend in the dirt. He left his face poking out of the ground just in case he couldn’t find him later on.

Levi placed Nora on top and said the Last Rights in case John had truly died.

“I’ll be back,” Levi whispered. “I promise.”

Nora did not believe him.

Levi ran back to the main road and followed in the direction of the training center. He simply needed water of any kind, and he was desperate. Lake Sarai was on the other side of campus, and it had not rained in several days.

Levi kept running as far as he could, but he couldn’t keep up his endurance. He was in great shape, but like everyone else, he couldn’t constantly be fighting and running without sleep.

He slowed down to a light jog and tried to keep going, worrying that the slower he went, the faster John would die. He stopped running and collapsed near a bush, heaving and exhausted.

He had no water as well and was about to pass out.

He stumbled upwards and tried to run again but stopped. He felt someone familiar nearby. Levi thought he was going crazy, that in the dark he could feel someone, but he knew she was near.

How do I know it's a woman? Who could it be?

“Turn to the right,” Tair commanded.

Levi jerked, the sudden voice booming loud in his ear.

“Quiet,” Trom whispered. “He is tired. Be gentle.”

God help us. I cannot deal with more problems tonight.

The twin souls inside his earrings began to squabble over why one should give manners to mortals.

Levi ignored them and went to the right, back into the thick trees. He could see a bright light emitting down the forest and got excited.

“Over here,” he shouted. “Do you have water!?”

The light got brighter and brighter, and through the trees emerged a group of people. They were all trainees from the Defense program, the ages of 14 to 19, and they had created their own group to survive the night. The bright light was their cell phones and flashlights.

“Oh do you want to join us,” a boy asked. He was dressed as a robot, a silly homemade outfit.

“Yes,” Levi begged. “First I need water and-”

“Levi!”

Levi turned to see Harmonia and Casey, and he had never been so happy in his life to see her. Harmonia ran up and hugged him. Levi hugged her back, and suddenly he knew who he could feel from far away.

“Harmonia.”

“Yes?”

“How did you get a celestial object?”

Harmonia was still clinging to him. She knew she was holding on too long, and the others were now watching their reunion turn into something awkward and strange. She bit the inside of her lip, as she had slipped up. The celestial object was not hidden, but in her hand, disguised as a toy wand, and now Levi could feel its strange energy because he had one as well.

“I don’t have one,” Harmonia lied.

She let go of Levi, and Levi looked her dead in the eyes, knowing he had caught her in a lie.

“You never asked what it was,” Levi replied. “If you didn’t have one, how would you know what it is?”

Casey stood between the two of them and was silent. His face however said enough of how he felt about Levi. He hated him with a passion, and he would gladly use any chance to tear him in half.

“If I give you my water bottle, will you leave,” Casey asked.

“Yes,” Levi shouted. “I need all the water I can get!”

“There’s a pond back where we came from,” Harmonia said.

She pointed behind into the dark, and Levi’s heart raced.

“Thank you,” he said. “I can save John.”

“What!?”

Levi ran off and Harmonia was grateful that he stopped asking so many questions. She worried about John but knew that if she went with Levi her cover might be blown.

So she put him out of her mind, knowing that her job was what was most important.

Harmonia hoped that she could find Ace before he died.

She needed Invictus.