Ryuji's eyes fluttered open, then stared complacently at the broad clear sky. He felt sick as if at any moment he would hurl everything inside of himself onto the ground. As he smacked his cracked lips, he had another thought, his mouth was dry. So dry that not even his tongue held a bit of moisture. Just as he was about to get up, something pushed him down. Nectar from the gods flowed onto his lips and down his gullet. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he thanked every deity he knew for the bountiful water being guzzled by him. After a minute of being bathed in ambrosia, Ryuji decided that he had better stop before he got sick.

"Gugh! Stop! Guhk, please, uh, stop!"

Just as he was about to sock whoever was waterboarding him in the face, the torture ceased, and he was finally able to sit up. Looking around in front of him, he saw sand, sand, and more sand. He turned on his butt a little to see a blue heavenly visage. In front of him was an oasis. There was barely any green, but he didn't care about that; he cared about the azure before him. Only after a minute of longingly gazing at the pond did he notice the boy from before. He stood there staring at Ryuji as if he was trying to gauge his next move. Ryuji's eyes focused on the sword the boy had in his arms.

"Hey, thanks for that. I feel better now."

"Is that so?..."

Ash remained quiet as his eyes rested on the sand beneath his feet. Ryuji thought about how scary he must look if he was about to make this guy in front of him piss his pants.

"Uh yeah. Anyway, can I have my sword back?"

"You can have it once I trust you."

Ryuji sensed the naivety in that statement and wanted to make sure of something before he did anything rash.

"Just how old are you?"

"I'm fifteen."

Ryuji nodded and thanked past him for not instinctively attacking the poor boy in that storm.

"Makes sense. Look, kid, I really need you to give me that back." Ash backed up while cradling the blade with one hand and facing his palm towards Ryuji with the other. "If that's how it's going to be."

He sighed before standing, after which he looked down to see his legs wobbling. "Great." With more force than necessary, he slugged his legs.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm about to get my sword back."

Ryuji entered a runner's start and took off without warning. The kid panicked and pointed his palm in Ryuji's direction. Ryuji's feet slipped slightly off the sand as if some kind of wind was pulling him away, but it was too weak to do anything once he really put his feet down. Then he was on the kid. His hand effortlessly ripped the sword away, and with a kick, he sent Ash sprawling a few feet away.

"Sorry about that kid, but I just got this as a present, so I'm a little sentimental about it." He saw fear welling up in Ash's eyes as he stared at the sheath. "Don't worry. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it earlier or right now."

Rising to his feet, he sighed while frowning at his hand. Seeming to trust Ryuji's statement, Ash relaxed.

"I'm not a kid, and my name's Ash."

"Is that so? Sorry, Ash."

Ryuji stared listlessly at the storm that was escaping to the horizon. It looked gigantic, dominating the entire skyline. Another sigh escaped him. He didn't fail to notice the eyes observing him.

"What?"

"I was just thinking how scary you look, mister."

"Scary?"

"You're eyes... they look dead."

Ryuji sighed exasperatedly before stomping over to the water. When he looked down to see his reflection, he didn't like what was waiting for him. His eyes indeed looked dead. He had heavy bags under them, and his face was taut. He was pretty sure he even had veins bulging out his head as if he was about to explode. His image right now was too familiar to Ryuji. It was a face he had seen too much of.

It was the same as the one he would see after work. How many times had he seen it? He couldn't remember. He thought he left that face behind in his old world, but even that had followed him here.

'How long? Since I got separated? Since we entered the desert? When I was giving my plan? Damnit since when!?'

He slapped himself as hard as he could and began to breathe deeply. The boy behind him was startled at the outburst but still inched closer to him.

"Are you okay?"

Ryuji continued to breathe deeply before pausing. "Am I... okay? Okay? OKAY!? I'm doing absolutely awful! Thanks for asking! I go through all that shit, suffer through all that pain! I bleed buckets upon buckets of blood just so I can be with everyone. Just so I'm not alone anymore, and what happens? Not even a week has passed, and I'm already getting the metaphorical shaft up my ass yet again! I have to survive in a desert that I know nothing about, where I don't even know where I am. And to top it off, I have to protect some kid I ran into! I am this close to unraveling right where I stand. So no! I am not OKAY!"

With every shout, the kid backed away, cowering more and more, growing ever smaller into he was in a ball. Seeing the boy quiver made all the anger welling up in him evaporate. He was empty besides the pity he felt for Ash. He realized something simple that he couldn't see in his rage. It's not like Ash wanted to be stranded with him.

"Look, Ash, I'm sorry that I kind of blew up at you. It's not your fault I'm in this mess. It's mine, and as the adult here, it's my responsibility to see to your safety. I know you probably hate me at the moment, but I hope we can get along." Ryuji plopped down in front of the water with his back turned to Ash. 'I haven't been so polite in ages! I hope my Japanese upbringing hasn't faded.'

Footsteps sounded until Ash stood right next to him, then he sat down as well. "It's alright. It's partly my fault for saying something so insensitive."

Ryuji was stunned. This was one of the first times in his new life that someone he met had manners and humility. He had thought of Rhea as the sole exception to this rule, but here he had found another.

"Don't worry about it. Tell you what, you look awful, I look awful, how about we do some self-care and take a bath? Just soaking should take off this sweat, and we can clean our clothes a little. Oh, are you alright bathing with me? I mean, we're both dudes, right?"

"Yeah. S-Sure!"

"Alright, let's head over there." Ryuji pointed to a smaller pool of water separated from the other ones.

Ash simply nodded, and when they made their way over, Ryuji started stripping. Ash watched for a few seconds before realizing that he also needed to strip if he wanted to bathe. After a few moments, Ryuji had entered commando mode and dipped into the pool.

"Ah! That is colder than I thought it would be! Be careful when you get in, Ash..."

Ryuji turned and stopped his thought when he saw Ash naked.

"What?"

His cheeks turned red at Ryuji's continued staring.

"Can I ask you something?"

"???"

"You're a boy, right?"

"Yeaaaah?"

Ryuji put his chin in his hand and nodded with understanding.

"Oh, okay. Then why do you have a vagina!?"

The swordsman's finger pointed toward's Ash's lower extremities.

"That doesn't matter; I'm still a boy."

"Did you not get the talk growing up!? Boy's have this! Girls have that!" Ryuji continued to aim at things to exemplify his point.

"I know that! And I'm saying I'm still a boy! I like girls and everything!"

"Girls can still like girls!"

"I'M A BOY!"

Ryuji put his hand to his forehead to squeeze his temples. "Okay, whatever." With a wave, Ryuji dismissed the misunderstanding and started to soak in the water once more. It wasn't all that surprising once he thought about it. Ash's voice had been going from deep to high-pitched pretty randomly, but he just chalked it up to puberty.

Ash stared at him as if waiting for some further rebuke, but when none came, he stepped into the water and spoke sheepishly. "Is that all you have to say?"

"Yep, that's all I have to say. As long as you understand what you're talking about, then it's not up to me what you do." Ryuji sighed for the umpteenth time today. 'It's not like it's a foreign concept. There were plenty of people in my old life like that. But to think someone from here is already trying to cross that bridge, this world sure does evolve rapidly.'

"So you won't, um, get mad at me or anything?"

"No, I won't get mad at you. It doesn't even affect me, so why would I care?"

"You seemed to care a second ago."

Ash's retort was short and sharp.

"That's because you didn't even bother to tell me, and I was caught off guard! How else am I supposed to react when I suddenly have that in my sight?"

"...You're right. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, just don't do this with anyone else, alright? I'm cool with it, but I doubt a lot of other people are."

When Ryuji turned to face Ash, he thought that he saw something akin to admiration in his face. Ryuji sensed embarrassment coming on, so he decided it was high time to make a fool of himself.

"Well, it's a good thing you learned this lesson with me! I have the soul of a sage and would never get turned on by a fifteen-year-old. Behold my sage-like power!"

Ash giggled a little and clapped at the sight of Ryuji's buddha impression. Ryuji smiled slightly and felt as though he might be able to get along with him after all. They sat in the pool, scrubbing their clothes and themselves with their bare hands. It wasn't enough to get the stains out of their clothes, but it was enough to make sure they weren't disgusting.

"Whats your mantle made out of?"

"Skry poppers, I think." Ash made a face like he had no clue what that creature was. "It's a red lizard that breathes fire. Its hide is super resistant to flames."

"Is that why you wear it."

"...Yeah. By the way, kid, why the hell are you out here, and better yet, why are you alone?"

"I'm trying to get to Dengal. I came alone because I had to."

Ash's voice was quiet as if he was ashamed of himself.

"What's so important in Dengal that you had to come through this hell just to get there?"

"You won't laugh?"

Ryuji's hand scratched his cheek while his eyebrows raised. "I promise I won't laugh."

Ash exhaled and relaxed, then looked to Ryuji with determination in his eyes. "I want to become an adventurer!"

Ryuji wasn't getting it. The adventurers guild was pretty much everywhere from his understanding. There was no reason to go specifically to Dengal.

"So I'll reiterate here, why Dengal?"

"It's the home of adventurers, right? They even have that academy that people from around the world go to." Ash's shining eyes faded, and a weary smile took hold. "Plus, it's the only place I can go to."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't go to South Kevic because of my occupation. There are no guilds in North Kevic. And I'm kind of really scared of boats, so I can't go across the ocean."

"I see, but then how do you get this far into the desert? If you came from North Kevic, you would have had to cross miles upon miles."

"I was using a transport, but it broke down yesterday, so I had to start walking. By the way, mister, are you an adventurer?"

"Transport?" Ryuji thought he heard something pretty interesting there but decided to answer Ash's question. "You know I too have a name, and it isn't mister. But yeah, I am an adventurer. I'm currently A ranked."

The stars in his eyes were blinding to Ryuji. It seemed like the kid was starting to hold expectations of him, which was regretful. Ryuji liked it better when people weren't expecting anything from him. That way, when he did the bare minimum, it seemed impressive.

"That's so cool! So you were with your party and you got separated?"

"Uh, yeah, I was."

"Well, then I have great news!"

Ash pointed to himself with a smug grin on his face. Ryuji leaned in excitedly and pumped up and down.

"Don't hold back! Lay it on me!"

"Earlier, I saw a group of people pretty close to here. They were scary, and I ended up running this way and found you." He looked to the mess on the horizon and pointed. "The storm only passed recently, so they probably haven't moved yet. Do you want to go see if it's your group?"

"Hell yeah!"

////////////////////////////////////////

"Yeah, that's not them."

On top of a dune, with the sun starting to hang low, Ryuji looked down to see thirty-some-odd men and women walking around. They seemed rather busy tearing down their makeshift camp. Ryuji was about to be on his way when he spotted something. Leaving a tent about that was being dismantled was a woman with pink hair and cat ears.

"Nyanjo?"

She walked forward, being dragged along by chains and a blonde smirking man. Emblazoned on everyone's chest was a strangled phoenix.