Was she really like this back in the old guild? Phecda's memory was starting to fail him now. "Well...you seem rather optimistic that he won't get lost at sea," he commented with a lopsided grin. "Ah well, if you really wish, I will be keeping tabs on wherever Fortune is going. But it's hard to say his new...companions...won't be intending the worst for him."
Suddenly, when he spoke of monitoring on Fortune's location, he remembered something else. "Hold that thought for a moment..." he muttered, turning around, draining his cup of sweet-tasting tea, and setting it down. Placing his mask back upon his face, he began sensing for, not Fortune, but Hyuna. And it seemed she was going towards the Gangamai Desert...
...but what was this? Terra and the rest of Fortune's new Guild had just emerged in an underground city at the edge of the desert. Interesting. He'd at least have something to do, if Kaede was planning to wait until Fortune got back to the mainland. "So, what will you do next, my friend? Even though I don't technically have a job, I've still got quite some work on my hands."
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As Terra's eyes fluttered open, the first thing she noticed was that, while the pain was still there, all her injuries from the past two days were completely gone. But immediately after that, she noticed something else: They weren't in the desert temple anymore. Instead, small sandstone houses stood around them, illuminated by torchlight and the desert's afternoon sun piercing through...holes in the sky?! But she quickly realized that they were underground a few moments later. So...they got here while she was sleeping. Ugh, why can't I ever have the slightest clue where I'm going these days?
Pulling herself to her feet, she landed directly next to the beast-girl who had joined them just that previous night...it took her a bit to remember the wolf girl's name, though. Rune, was it? "M-morning...or whatever time it is, Rune," Terra greeted, still a little bit bashful. "W-where are we now?"
However, as she walked, suddenly someone slammed into her from the side--Terra let out a scream as she was roughly knocked back a few inches, directly in front of the wolf girl that she had been talking to. "H-hey! Watch where you're going!" she began to say. But when she saw the face of the person who ran into her, her voice faultered. Was that really him?! Why was he here?!
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Umi had been in such a hurry to get away from the area in which that woman screamed for the guards to arrive, that he hadn't paid much attention to where he was going. Before he knew it, he smashed into a very small girl while he was turning a corner. Just as the girl began to reprimand him, and Umi was already preparing some sort of sarcastic apology out of habit...the girl's voice suddenly stopped. Confused, Umi took a better look at the girl...
When he realized who she was--despite her having grown slightly taller, her face hadn't really changed--the response he had suddenly evaporated from his mind. She was right here. Terra was alive and well. And he had finally found her.
"...U-Umi?" Terra finally stammered. "I-is that really you? B-but...h-how did you find me?"
Then, Umi finally found his own voice. "Y-yeah, i-it's me, Terra! I...well, I came back from Onium...j-just a few days ago. But, well, when I got b-back to Lindas...um, well, you had already left...for the Yune Empire. A-and, I-I was worried about what happened to you, so...well, I, uh, I went looking for you. I-it took me a lot of searching, b-but...yeah, I-I'm here now!" God dammit, what the hell am I doing?! I usually...don't, uh...stumble on my words like this...geez, now it's happening to my thoughts, too! Ugh... Despite all the thoughts racing around in his head at the moment, though, he had a broad smile on his face, glad to have finally found her...
But the same expression wasn't really replicated upon Terra's face. "Y-you s-seriously c-came all this way...j-just for...m-me, of all p-people?" The words were said with...much less joy than Umi's words had carried, even in their jumbled state. "I-I...w-well, um...t-thanks, I guess." Wait, what was with those words? They sounded so half-hearted to the boy's ears.
"H-hey..." Umi leaned so that his face was in Terra's field of view, for she had turned her head away from him when she thanked him. "I-is something wrong? Y-you didn't get hurt by someone, right? I-I mean..."
Terra, however, quickly turned her head in a different direction again. "N-no...I-I'm well, t-thank you. Th-there were some...um...n-nice people that h-have been taking care of me f-for the past few days, s-so..." A pause, and then she swallowed hard. "B-but...Umi...I-I, um...did I really m-matter that much t-to you? S-so much t-that...a-after coming back, f-fighting so hard for Gwan, y-you'd just throw yourself out there just for s-some girl y-you trained a few years ago?"
This took Umi aback, so much that he actually stopped smiling. "I...uh-what do you mean by that? O-of course you'd matter to me! I-I mean, I didn't have very many chances to write home...i-in fact, not a chance at all for the l-last 3 months...s-so...I..."
But he couldn't really finish what he was saying. After a long pause, Terra finally responded. "...w-well, I missed you too, b-but...Umi, e-even if you really liked me t-that much...t-to me, it just d-doesn't make sense you'd follow me here! N-not even for my sake, I mean..." At this point, her voice dropped to a whisper, as though she were afraid to say the words. "...I-I don't mean t-to hurt you by saying this...but, it seems more to me...like you went after me, into the Yune Empire...more for yourself than for me."
These quiet words had the effect of lightning on Umi's mind. At first, he tried to deny it, but the more he tried thinking about it, any arguments he could think of seemed silly and unworkable. Then, just why did he come here?
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It seemed as though the last few words she said were causing Umi to actually stagger in what seemed like pain. Part of Terra wanted to rush up to him, hug her old friend, and deny she meant what she said...but, the way she saw Umi now, she couldn't tell if it'd make things even worse. And also, doing that just felt downright wrong.
"...but now that we're here, Saaklemore, I'll accept working with you on one condition." The two suddenly were aware of Sunaarashi speaking to an unfamiliar man who seemed to be their guide. The bald member of Fortune, however, was speaking in cold, almost bloodthirsty tones. "Every slaver in this town dies."
The girl in the ruined green kimono stared at him in shock. "S-Sunaarashi...a-are you serious?!" Her mind was already strained from her conversation with Umi, but this was sending her into panic mode at the worst possible time. "W-we can't take on e-every slaveholder a-at once!" And yet, the guide agreed to this idea. What the-?! "E-everyone, p-please, this is just suicidal!" Terra pleaded, trying to reason with them. "I-I know, slavery is terrible, b-but-" But no one seemed to listen to her...
"...if we do have to fight them...what will you do?" The weary voice of the boy in the long blue jacket came from behind her once again, as though it had lost all of its strength.
Once again, Terra wondered if she should support him or something, but something was still telling her not to. It was really strange... "I-I...well, if w-we really have to, t-then...I-I really don't know, Umi. W-whatever plan they've got, it probably won't work...right?"
"...y-you just said yourself, that slavery is wrong." As he said this, Umi started to pull himself up straighter. It seemed as though a dying fire burned in his expression...but a fire nonetheless. "I'm sure a lot of us think it's wrong, too. And if that's the case...I think we should take action, just like your bald friend. We just need a plan."
After staring at him as though he had turned into a pegasus (which, to her knowledge, doesn't even exist) or something, Terra sighed, figuring she probably was outvoted on this issue. "Alright...I guess, then, both of us will go along with it. Umi...I, um..." Her voice faultered once again as she tried to get out the last words. "...t-thank you for helping us with this," she finally managed, giving a weak smile.
Silence fell between the two, before Umi gave his own weak smile. "Hope I can be of use in this crazy plan," he replied.