+[]Deserted[]+ (Keitor)

+{}Chapter 10: Feel{}+

The man awoke, an unfamiliar sound wandering into his ears. He slowly turned over, quietly avoiding touching Keith's feet. With his eyes adjusting to the darkness, he saw his mouth moving, eyes clenching tight. He thought to reach out and touch him to comfort him. but he was scared about waking Keith. Ever so slowly, he extended a clawed hand, and put his fingertips on his forehead. He lightly traced his features, collecting cold sweat and worry from his reaction. Emotions of sympathy wash over, and he adjusts his position for his upper body to be raised above the sheets. He starts to stroke Keith's hair, claws sweeping and admiring the messy, black hair. As an unconcious smile starts to creep across his face, Keith's face starts moving to ease the feelings on his face. The man jolts back, hair getting in his mouth waking Keith more with the sound of trying to get it out of his mouth. He flops back on the bed, becoming still and internally panicking. 

"Why did I do that?! Please, go back to sleep ...." 

Luckily, Keith fell back into a wordless slumber, and the man wide awake in aftershock. He crept out of bed, slipping into the pants and top of his stealth suit. He strode past the bed, rooms and entrance to the inn. Stepping outside, his nose filled with the scents of salt and fish. He walked around, letting his feet wander throughout the grains of red below him. When walking alone, he talked to himself as he thought of his past and futures. 

" I wonder...why doesn't he remember me..." he thought aloud. The sounds of the waves carried to his ears, calming him down from moments earlier. He knew the next mission would be hardest, the injuries he sustained were trying to heal. The man sat down, feet brushing against the crimson waters and hands toying with the sand. His eyes, began to close, and soon he was in an unmoving state of resting.

Keith lifted his head, letting his eyes adjust to the sun leaking into his room. He pat a hand on the other side of the bed, expecting the man to be asleep, only to feel creases of sheets recently moved. The panic started to energize him. He messily equipped his stealth suit, tripping twice while putting on the pants. He started to run, only to wince in pain at the wound still carved into his stomach. Keith tried speedwalking, affectively making progress before stumbling face first into the red sand. 

"Why me......" he mumbled. 

Keith continued limping on, creating a trail in the red sand from the inn to wherever the man was. Hunger was gaining on him, so with the little of his last money, he bought two rose wraps from a bony woman with one eye. He ate one slowly, burnig his tongue on the steamy fish inside. Keith admired the scene, the swaying trees, kids laughing on the shore, and telling himself the ocean isn't made of blood.  He found the man, about to take a step before talking. His white hair flowed gently, each strand glistening in the light. The parts of him not covered in bandages or cloth shone a beautiful lavender. Keith felt his face getting hotter, his eyes not able to look away. As he stepped closer, he stepped on a twig and the man turned around. 

"Oh....hello."

Keith too shocked of embarresment, stutterd, "I have food for us, until the next mission."

He waved a wrap at him, and the man stood up to eat. The air felt akward, only the sounds of chewing could be heard for miles. After eating, the man took out a prism, this one pink, and threw it up in the air. A cascade of screens shone in the sand, and the briefing began.

"What we need to get here is not something, but someone. A rare breed of animal that can help  me, you and possibly all of the cosmos. Rumor has it that it's being sold in 2 days in the undersea part of the planet. We must retrieve the animal without getting attention or any more injuries."

"How are we supposed to get underwater?" Keith asked.

The man pulled two circular devices entwined in saphire cords. Each one was attached with a small vial containing a teal pill. 

"These help with breathing and the pill is a backup. Put it around your neck as soon as we go under."

They took the devices and headed into the small town, avoiding eye contact with the locals as they headed into the small tunnel decorated in red scale markings. The bronze covering to the underground lay ahead, and the man pencil dived straight in. Keith panicked, looking downward and hitting his head as the man came up again. He held out his hand, and Keith rocketed downward into the water inside the tunnel. 

Keith opened his eyes to a forest of coral and fish dyed in hues of fuschia and rouge. He was awed, until the man kept pointing behind him, eyes bewildered. He turned around, and met face to face with the teeth of a scaled worm. It had eyes surrounding the gallery of teeth it held, and 6 fins. Keith panicked, and the worm latched onto his chest and started swimming away. He heard something breaking, and felt salt water trickle into his mouth as he thrashed against the worm's grip. It started to dig it's teeth deeper, strechting the suit and grazing his skin. 

"I'm going to die.... not....now...." he mumbled. 

As his vision faded, he saw the purple and black sillouette of the man rapidly swimming toward him. He reached out with the last of his strength as he drifted away. The man wrangled the worm off using his breathing device, and grabbed Keith. He saw the underground, encased in a large air bubble, but the man could only hold his breath for 3 minutes, and his backup pill was lost somewhere in the sea. He swam fast and hard, brushing against fish and coral alike until falling into the bubble. The man fumbled in opening the pill bottle, his hands wet. 

Keith coughed, salt water dripping from his mouth. He saw the man, struggling, but his chest forbade him from moving. He tried to yell to him, but more water came out. He heard feet approaching, and felt something sweet and soft pressing against his mouth.