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Thomas needed to find Saparata.
Who would have thought he was so elusive? Almost a month had passed since the leaders' deaths at that trap meeting, and the prime suspect still hadn't been found. He had last been seen at that meeting when he fled after proclaiming, “I didn't do that” It was a pretty stupid move, as it only made him look more guilty and helped The Conspiracy's plan.
All nations had sent search parties, but without success. Fluixon himself entrusted them with finding the fugitive, but his order was slightly different from that of the other nations: “Search for him, find him, and bring him to the bunker.” Unlike the other nations, Fluixon did not seek to kill Saparata immediately, and no one in The Conspiracy knew what their leader's plans and intentions were for Saparata once he was in his hands.
That night, Gotoga, HvyRotation, and he were chosen to search for the fugitive. And by order of Flux, he was assigned to inspect the small northern portion of the Southern island that remained. Meanwhile, Gotoga returned to search the central island, and HvyRotation searched near Tricolor.
The newly consolidated New Dawns remained calm, its only sound coming from those who were talking late into the night or finishing their construction projects. Thomas passed them by, seeking to escape the thick forest where he had been searching tirelessly since the sun had set on the horizon.
Near the edge between the sand and the grass, the beach and the forest, he heard the faint crackling of a fire. Someone was nearby. With light steps and holding his breath, Thomas approached the light on the beach.
And there he was, the man he was looking for.
He looked pathetic, to say the least, sleeping or perhaps dead, on the sand leaning against a log that the sea had washed ashore, that fire he heard belonging to a poor attempt at a campfire that was already in its final moments.
Thomas knelt down to the right of the motionless body in the sand, not bothering to have his sword ready in case the other man was faking it. Saparata would be too weak to even attack. A month in hiding, living in constant fear and on meager rations, would have left him quite weak by now.
He was alive, but his breathing was irregular and his face was twisted in unfathomable pain, his lips were dry, and an abnormal amount of sweat dripped down his face. The Engineer from The Conspiracy placed the back of his hand against the fugitive's forehead and was surprised at how terribly hot it was. Saparata would die of fever before any of the nations could even catch and execute him.
Two deep black eyes were staring at him, and a weak voice asked dryly, “How did you find me?”
Saparata didn't have time to move away and retrieve his diamond sword, which was less than a meter away from his body, his weakened state only allowed him to retreat from the stranger's touch, like a rabbit about to be hunted or like a frightened dove at the slightest movement.
“What? Are you going to take me away to be executed, or are you going to kill me right here, Thomas?” His throat hurt when he spoke and his voice sounded raspy, but he couldn't allow himself to look weak, not here, not with him.
“You look awful” Thomas backed up, searching through his inventory for some mysterious item, under the watchful gaze of Saps, who was waiting for the right moment to grab his sword and flee.
A golden glow caught his attention. The brown-haired man placed a golden apple near his face, it looked so appetizing.
Over the last month, he had been feeding on fifteen baked potatoes that he had in his inventory when he fled —though they lasted him less than a week— as well as edible plants he was able to find in the forest, and raw meat, since he didn't want to risk lighting a fire and revealing his location. That's how he ended up in that state, sick and nearly dying.
A golden apple would do him good, but he wouldn't accept it from that lying traitor.
“Come on, eat the golden apple, Saps” Thomas insisted, bringing the apple closer to the other man's face. Strange as it may seem, he didn't want Saps dead, not yet.
Saparata turned his head to the left, stubbornly avoiding the gaze and help offered by the one he once considered his friend.
But Thomas had no desire to get into a pointless fight with a dying man, he was tired, fed up with searching tirelessly across much of the Southern Island, Gotoga and Hvyrotation had surely finished long ago and were now resting in Luminara.
"Eat, please" a hand placed on his chin, forcing him to turn his head back to its original position. The golden apple pressed against his lips with more force than he would have liked. His insides protested for food, but his mouth would not open.
The grip on his chin tightened, forcing his jaw open under the force, the apple was shoved into that gap cutting a piece off under the edge of his teeth. He didn't want to do it, but he ate it and immediately felt the heat in his body decrease and his health slowly return.
Thomas seemed satisfied. “It wasn't that hard, was it? Go on, eat the rest, or do you want me to help you do it?”
It was humiliating to eat the rest of the golden apple, but it would have been even more humiliating if Thomas had forced him to do it again. He tossed the apple core aside when he was finished, glaring at the other with loathing as he tried to regain use of his numb limbs.
Perhaps it was the unusual tranquility of the night and the faint light of the campfire that brought back memories of the first few weeks when both of them, along with The Conspiracy group, had been busy building Saps's house, stew dishes held by hands dirty with sandstone, stupid jokes, and the warm light of torches.
Thomas looked at Saparata, observing his figure more closely, the deep circles under his eyes, his long, lustrous white hair, now unevenly cut and dirty with dirt and leaves, the weakness in his body despite having eaten the golden apple, the neglected state of his clothes, the small wounds visible on his exposed skin, the pain in his soul. But despite everything, he still looked beautiful.
A couple more golden apples were dropped onto Saps' lap, who didn't have time to reproach before his enemy (?) rose from the ground.
Thomas knew his orders were to capture Saparata and bring him before Flux, so why was he walking away, betraying those orders and his own people?
He vanished between the sand and the sea, ignoring the words or insults that Saparata shouted at him to come back and explain his strange attitudes and actions.
He knew Saps would die eventually —he had to do it, for Pandora's sake.
Thomas only granted him one more night.