Lincoln screams his lungs apart as he zooms through dark oblivion that does not seem to have an end in sight, but only, it sounds distant. Like he is looking at himself from the outside, but the searing pain on his skin that he can only describe like blades ripping his flesh from the inside reassures him that he isn't.
The exhaustion from the very long day is lulling him to sleep, this and the thought of Dirkan's lifeless body, kneeling in the hands of the enemy, keep him up along with an echo in his head that keeps on screaming betrayal.
Not long after, a thunderclap crashes them in the middle of the jungle. Humid and wet, and with his vision blurry, he is left in a daze causing him to cough the insides of his stomach, but he tries to stand up, stubbornly ignoring how dead all his limbs are while he sees Shinyo effortless standing, looking on ahead, with his back against him. However, the cracks in his sanity shows when he looks on his blurry outline seemingly shows no disturbance in his composure and this sends him into a loud wail.
"Dirkaaaaaan!" with tears running down his cheeks. He becomes a child that lost his favorite toy, and as soon as the grief steps aside for the anger to resurface, Lincoln directs his anger to the only person that is around him.
He charges loudly towards Shinyo, the killing intent palpable in his dash. Shinyo feels this dangerous atmosphere towards him. His first reaction is to extend his arm to its full extent, the crucifix-like sword in his hand. His reaction is of shock when he sees that it is Lincoln running towards him.
Out of time and with the distance between them shortening, Shinyo knows that he does not have enough time to pull his sword back.
"Sorry," he whispers.
In a blink, his eyes slowly become red with tentacles creeping towards the edges of his eyes and as soon as Lincoln looks up, he halts his advance. His body sways lifelessly to the breeze blowing through the jungle before the earth pulls it to the ground.
---
The entire world is pouring when Lincoln wakes up from his poisonous slumber. Shinyo does not take notice even when his groans are the only noises that fill the vast jungle. His selfishness shows as this triggers Lincoln – a mixture of anger and the feeling of betrayal light his sudden combustion.
"You!" comes out his hoarse scream as his throat tries to adjust to the strain that he is trying to put it through. Every effort to breath is painful.
"Why?!" every effort put into every word, "You left him! With t-the enemy and you had the gall to put in a coma all for your benefit! You might as well have killed me!"
Shinyo shrugs the harsh words from Lincoln, but he continues to avoid eye contact as he looks at the bonfire's flames with a crestfallen face. In spite of this, Lincoln presses on.
"I thought you were his friend!"
Shinyo warns him to stop.
"I will not! He was the closest one to family that I know! And now, he is gone! So, hell if I stopped!"
Shinyo tries his best to control himself and grits his teeth all the while reminding him to stop pressing, but Lincoln does not listen. He pushes him further until he is at his limits.
"He was my family too!" towering the stumbling Lincoln who he surprises when he gives him a piece of his mind, "My only family since we were children! So, you do not have the right to assume that I betrayed him."
Lincoln falls silent. Shinyo's full height intimidates him but not long after, what Lincoln thinks is raindrops are tears that have been rolling off Shinyo's cheeks.
"It was not my choice," he continues to explain, still in full height, "It was his. He made me promise that if there comes a time when we are under attack and I had the chance to leave him to save you, I should choose to do so."
"Promises can be broken," musters Lincoln, gathering the courage to talk back.
"Then what does that make me? Will that make me a better friend? If I broke that promises, I will be failing two friends all at once."
Only then does Lincoln stop pushing.
"C'mon. We still have to figure out what our next steps will be," offering his hand to pull Lincoln back to his feet.
---
Both are now around the bonfire, keeping themselves warm where silence is filling most of their time together.
"So," Lincoln starts, when quiet becomes too much for him, "What's the plan?"
"I'm still thinking," answers Shinyo, eyeing the bonfire deep in his thoughts.
"Do we have anywhere to go to?" Lincoln continues.
"I. AM. STILL. THINKING."
"Do we even HAVE a plan? Do we have anyone else to run to?"
Shinyo stubbornly bombards Shinyo with questions, disregarding the events from earlier and ignoring the bad look that Shinyo is starting to give him.
"You know what, I may be able to --,"
"Would you, for the love of god, shut up for once," cuts in Shinyo, when he reaches the peak of his patience, "As I said, I am still thinking what our next move will be, and I cannot do that with your –"
He stops mid-sentence. He diverts his attention elsewhere. With shuffling eyes, and his ears twitching violently like an animal catching sounds from the distance, Lincoln is not sure whether Shinyo is having his defenses up by heightening his senses or is it just a matter of having something worth his attention.
The longer the silence becomes, the more nervous Lincoln becomes that he decides to be safe and puts his guard up.
"A city is nearby," Shinyo starts, his attention returning to the moment and it puzzles him why Lincoln is crouching very closely to the ground.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Being safe," realizing how ridiculous he might look, stands to his full height and turns his notice back to Shinyo, "So, what is this about a city being nearby?"
Shinyo gives him a mocking look and may have nearly let a soft guffaw escape his lips, before he starts explaining.
"I was once part of a group that lived where we existed between the modern age and ta much older time and the entrance was always where both of these meet, and our masters said that it was done so that we can train away from the distractions when we needed to but also close enough that we do not get out of touch."
"And you think you can find the entrance?"
"I think I can," Shinyo responds, which is not inspiring confidence in Lincoln.
"Are you sure?"
"I am not having this from you," he snaps, bipolarly shifting from one mood to the next as Lincoln is pushing him with his childish tendencies, "If Dirkan tolerated these kinds of behavior, you are not having that from me."
However, Shinyo's face is brimming with hope that hips lips shows a slight curl at the edges. His movements quicker, that Lincoln dares to hope, even the slightest.
"Lead the way, then."
---
The hope he has earlier is slowly waning.
They spend hours going through a series of turns and dead ends of the jungle, and as the day gets lower with the sun slowly kissing the horizon, taking one last look of the land it shines with its glorious rays, the mosquitoes and flies take over. The air has become more humid, and for Lincoln, it has become harder to breathe.
"Sweaty," he complains, "Hours without food. Our water has dried out."
Shinyo takes no notice and carries on leading the way, but even he is tiring, but he refuses to show it.
"Are we there yet?" inquires Lincoln when Shinyo gives him none of his attention.
"No," a quick response.
"Can't we rest? Even just for a while."
"No, because if we rest, even in the slightest, that gives our enemies a chance to catch up to us and being out in the open without any sturdy means of hiding ourselves means making ourselves vulnerable to attacks."
A pang of admiration for Shinyo plants itself at the back of Lincoln's mind. The way he plans and thinks ahead compares to no one that he knows.
"We can hide in the bushes."
"No."
The same exchange goes on until the night sky blossoms into full darkness. The exhaustion creeps into both of them, but this only makes Lincoln continue his incessant questioning until Shinyo reaches his tipping point.
"We'll get there when I say we're there!" bellows Shinyo, sending nearby birds flying.
"What are you doing?" cluelessly asks Lincoln, "Are you trying to give away our location?" but adds a smug smile, getting back at Shinyo for the mocking grin earlier.
This only irritates Shinyo, but this also plants a seed of admiration of how his intuition is slowly growing, but just like Lincoln, he does not know this yet.
"WHOOOO GOOOOES THEEEERE?" a booming voice asks, echoing throughout the forest that startles both Lincoln and Shinyo.
Lincoln panics. It sends him in a frantic search of its source that he spins his head on a swivel too quickly that the world continues spinning even when he halts.
(Oh shit! I think I am about to --- )
After regaining his composure, Shinyo realizes what is happening and his face lights up and responds to the voice as loud as he can, "This is Shinyo Himura, once part of the same unit with Shadow, and with me is…"
Lincoln heaves his stomach's contents on to the ground. Cold sweat dotting his forehead, but this fails to receive sympathy from Shinyo.
"Child."
"And this embarrassment beside me is Shadow's."
Interest picks up in the forest. The whispers around them grow louder sending shivers down Lincoln's spine and the more he listens to it, and the louder it gets, the longer he stays still.
When the booming voice asks for proof, the whispers quiet.
Shinyo's eye twitches when they express their doubt, but Shinyo reaches his hand out to Lincoln who is unaware of what he is asking for. Shinyo groans, rolls his eyes and grabs him by the collar when he fails to provide what he is asking for. He presents him to the invisible crowd whose whispers pick up once more when they see the Stygian iron from his waist.
Silence. This unsettles Lincoln, but there is a thick air of scrutiny that hands over the greenery while they wait. Then, a sliver of light comes from the darkness. A smile underneath black robes that wraps him well, covering his face. The fiery illumination from the torch he is holding gives off warmth that helps settle Lincoln down after a cold, tumultuous day.
His body lets loose until the man welcomes them with a cold and shrilly voice, a mischievous smile, and in an instant, Lincoln's guard goes back up.
"Follow me."