Blood and Gold: Chapter 15

[jiminee]

 Hi! In this chapter, we discover the fate of Blame... Y'all had some good theories last chapter, but lets see what happens. c:
Chapter list | Map

In the back of his mind, Vechs knows that Zisteau and Aurey, and probably Nebris too, would murder him for following Blame, but that doesn’t register as a big enough worry to him before he’s out of the hideout and racing through the forest towards the edge of the desert. Vechs’ feet skid on loose sticks and leaves and he begins to lose breath but doesn’t stop. The deep green forest gradually fades into hardier shrubs and brown bushes, scattering into a thin line marking the beginning of the vast Orskard. The only landmarks in the desert are scattered bushes and the remainders of old, now obsolete mineshafts.

Vechs stops for a minute to catch his breath. He knows Blame would have headed north, and slightly west to get to Mes. Taking his bearings by the sun, Vechs adjusts his course and sets out across the sand. He wants to keep running, but knows he must conserve his energy, so walks quickly. His feet sink into the sand as it deepens and he breathes in shallow pants. Maybe he underestimated how long this would take.

Vechs has been walking for what feels like hours with no sign of Blame when, standing atop a dune, he sees what looks like the entire desert rising vertically a few miles in front of him. He squints, taking off his goggles.
In billowing clouds of sand and a haze of dust, the sandstorm advances towards him.

“Blyx.” Vechs curses out loud and notices how dry his mouth is. If Blame’s lost in that maelstrom of whirling sand and wind, he might not get out alive. He grits his teeth and pulls his goggles back on, wiping dust off the lenses. He wonders if the night vision will work in the middle of a sandstorm. He takes a quick drink from his flask and begins to descend down the side of the dune, heading towards the churning sandstorm before him.
At first things aren’t bad, and Vechs wonders if the storm might pass over him quickly. He keeps walking and as the wall of sand nears, he pulls off his shirt and ties it over his nose and mouth. Something tells him that breathing in the sand will result in a coughing fit, or worse. Taking a deep breath, he steps into the storm as it rolls over him.

It’s dark, not pitch black but a deep red filtered through the green of Vechs’ goggles into dark brown. The night vision seems to help marginally, but the whirling sand whipping around Vechs makes it difficult to navigate. It stings the skin of his face and torso, and the pain as it hits the bruises on his face almost makes him want to stop. Nevertheless, he keeps going.
And then he spots the figure collapsed on the ground before him.
At first Vechs thinks it’s just a rock or part of a mine, but the shape is distinctively human – a human lying face down in the sand with their arms over their head. His heart jumps a little as he approaches, scared to let himself believe it was Blame. He kneels down next to the prone figure, and gently taps their shoulder.
The person turns their face towards Vechs and it is Blame and Vechs grabs his arm and pulls him to his feet.
“We have to get out of this!” he yells over the roaring wind. Blame covers his eyes with one hand and nods. Vechs realises that Blame has no protection for his eyes, nose or mouth. He points to his own face mask, then back to Blame’s shirt.
Blame seems to understand and pulls off his shirt, tying it over the bottom half of his face. He still squeezes his eyes shut against the stinging sand.
“Keep your eyes shut!” Vechs says. “I’ll guide you!”
He is surprised when Blame nods, but pulls the man’s head close to his chest and puts his arm around his shoulder and turns around to walk back the way he came.

Vechs soon finds that walking out of a sandstorm is not as easy as walking into one. He’s not sure if he’s even going the right way; he feels so disoriented in the swirling sand. Keeping an eye out for any landmarks or a sign of light, he struggles through the stinging haze, guiding Blame.
Eventually the broken rectangle of a mineshaft looms into view, partially concealed by a sand dune. Vechs has no clue where he is, but any shelter is good enough for now. Pushing against the pain and the dryness of his lungs, Vechs half-carries Blame into the structure.
It’s dark, made of dry wood, an old hut that leads to the mineshaft that plummets straight down into the earth. Vechs collapses just inside the entrance. Less sand is blowing in here at least.
“Blame, you okay?” he asks, coughing.
“I’m…” Blame stops. He props himself up against the wooden wall and coughs for so long Vechs is worried he’ll start bringing up his own lungs.

“Blame?” Vechs asks again once the coughing stops.
“Vechs, I’m so sorry. You saved my life.”
Vechs bites his lip, hard. “How stupid could you be! To try and cross the desert without a horse?”
“I did have a horse,” Blame says indignantly. “Do you think I was planning on encountering a blyxing big sandstorm? She reared in panic when it hit and I fell off, then she bolted to who-knows-where. Had my water and food in her saddlebags too.”
Vechs pulls his goggles to his forehead and stares. “Where did you get a horse?”
Blame sighs. “Doesn’t matter. Anyway I just want to say… I’m sorry I tried to leave. But I have to.”
“Why?” Vechs says forcefully. “It’s because of me, isn’t it?”
Blame turns to him and narrows his eyes. “No, Vechs. You have to stop assuming that all anyone ever does is because of YOU!”
Vechs blinks and shrinks back, surprised at the outburst and at the anger still present in Blame’s eyes. He wipes a thumb across his eye and looks away from Blame.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbles. “I just thought… I thought you hated me so much that you couldn’t stand to stay.”
“Vechs! I’m still angry at you. But I don’t hate you.”
“Ok,” Vechs says. It’s all he can think of to say. He has so many questions, but none of them seem appropriate for the time.

“Vechs, sometimes I just want to be done with this whole thieving stuff. You know? The lying, the corruption… it messes with our heads,” Blame says after a while. “That underground place gave me a bad feeling, which is why I wanted no part of it. Actually… just being near Corax, it made me feel unsafe. I didn’t have to go into the city to know that it’s bad news. I needed to get away as soon as possible.”
“Mhm,” Vechs says quietly, contemplating.
“And sometimes I think we deserve every bit of bad luck that comes our way. And that one day something terrible is going to happen, some sort of huge karmic punishment.”
Vechs nods, forgetting Blame can’t see him in the low light. He begins to speak, but a loud noise interrupts him. It sounds like a slow, loud hiss and then the small amount of light in the little hut disappears as a whump echoes through it.
“Oh blyx. Did the sand just collapse?” Vechs says.
There’s a shuffling noise. “I’m half buried in sand, Vechs, so what do you think?”
“Oh.” Vechs says. The noise of the sandstorm outside is much quieter now. “Are we trapped then?”
“Stop asking stupid questions and help me try to dig out of here.”

Vechs crawls towards the entrance and feels with his hands the large pile of sand. Digging into it proves extremely difficult. Every time Vechs scoops out a handful of sand, more slides down to replace it. It feels like the entire desert is blocking the exit to the mineshaft, and it seems impossible to get out.
“Blyx,” Blame says. “We are trapped. There’s no way we can dig through this.”
Breathing heavily, Vechs leans back. He sits back against the wall, defeated. “What the blyx are we going to do?”
“Wait for someone to work out that we’re missing, come looking for us, miraculously figure out that we’re buried under this particular pile of sand, and figure out how to get us out of the pile of sand,” Blame says, with an irritated edge to his voice. “Or, stay trapped in here until we die. And which of those seems more likely?”
“There’s always down,” Vechs says.
“What?” Blame says, and Vechs can tell from his voice that he thinks Vechs is crazy.
“We could go down into the mine,” Vechs replies. “See if it leads us anywhere.”
“That’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard,” Blame says. “All it’s going to lead us to is a dangerous, abandoned mine system. One that we possibly might never get out of.”
“Fine,” Vechs says. There is silence for a bit and Vechs listens to the muffled sound of the sandstorm outside, the only sound other than his and Blame’s breathing.

“Vechs,” Blame says. “I’ve decided not to leave. If we ever get out of here, I mean. I’d like to stay with Naziv.”
Vechs’ breath hitches, and Blame’s earlier words echo in his head. You have to stop assuming that all anyone ever does is because of you.
“But, only if you do something for me.”
“Oh?” Vechs says, looking to where Blame would be, if he could see him in the pitch black.
Blame pauses, then says, “You have to convince Zisteau and the others not to try and break into the palace with Bdubs.”
“What?!”
“You heard me. Please, Vechs.”
Vechs is surprised to hear pleading in his voice, betraying something bigger behind the words. He doesn’t comment on that. “Why should I do it? Why don’t you try yourself?”
“You think they’d listen to me? Listen, Zisteau still thinks of me as a handicap and I bet… he’d be happy that I left. You’re a bigger part of the team and you know Zisteau better and you have history with him. He trusts you.”
“Why do you want me to do that?” Vechs asks slowly. “What difference does it make to you?”
“Vechs,” Blame says. “Do you not remember what happened last time we tried to break into a high-security facility!”
“Feretan, yes I know. Listen, you don’t have to participate. If any of us get caught, you can say ‘I told you so’ to the survivors.”
“Vechs, stop being stupid for one second and listen.”

Vechs stops, and though it’s pitch black, turns his face from where Blame is. He stares into the dark, waiting.
“Vechs,” Blames voice comes, remarkably softer than it had been, “don’t you understand? I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to lose anyone in another botched raid. Last time, we came so close to death that I thought we’d never make it out, even when we had an escape plan. And what happened? You left me behind. The only reason I escaped again was because I was so afraid of never seeing you again.”
Vechs doesn’t say anything for a long time. He’s still staring into the darkness, holding onto the thoughts that Blame has planted in his mind. He feels a lot of things.
“So you did come here for me.”
Blame sighs. “Yes. Mostly for you, I did. I guess I won't lie about that.”
“I’ll try to convince Zisteau not to do it,” Vechs says, “I’ll try.”
“Thank you.”
There’s silence, and darkness, and Vechs closes his eyes, although it changes nothing from the darkness before them. He doesn’t want to sleep but he’s suddenly exhausted, and staying awake seems impossible. 

Comments

[jiminee]

and LET ME TELL YOU people FROM EXPERIENCE
Sand fucking stings. LIKE A BITCH when its flying at your skin do not take this lightly.
(Also i had a lot of fun writing this scene, ive been excited to for ages)

[ruddiestbubbles]

If its anything like hail, not the tiny pebbles either, pelting you as you march, then I can imagine how bad that is

[koijuly]

Hail ain't got nothing on sandstorms, they bite and hit from angles the body isn't made to defend from. And the sand continues to irratate after the fact where hail melts away, it can take weeks of painful eyes to truely get the sand out of them, even with crying. friggin' sand.

[scara]

As annoying as Anakin is he's right about sand "I don't like sand, it's course and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere"

[(Anonymous)]

Yay Vechs is forgiven kind of I think.
-Observing Anon

[(Anonymous)]

I have a feeling Nebtho won't happen, but they will still be good friends. I could be wrong. I hope that I'm wrong. But it will be interesting, no matter what happens.
-Observing Anon

[koijuly]

Nebtho friends.... Well that's new

(says the person who wrote something centered on that...But that was gen...)

[ruddiestbubbles]

Ohhhhh Blame still has feelings for Vechs! Totally called it! Still wanna see some Nebtho :3

I have another theory..... Zisteau won't listen, because he's a butt, and they go through with it, and in the end, Vechs' life is on the line and he's about to get thrown in jail, and Blame sacrifices himself for Vechs with some sappy line like "I'll find you again Vechs.... I love you." And this time Vechs won't leave without Blame and tries a daring rescue mission which gets both of them killed, but they die together so everything's ok, sorta. And Nebtho happens in there at some point.

[ruddiestbubbles]

But maybe not the type of Nebtho we all hope for.... Maybe a heated rivalry that takes things to a personal, relationship esc, level

[(Anonymous)]

Ooooh that would be interesting.
-Observing Anon