Had no time to edit. So sorry for anything that doesnt makes sense, or spelling errors.

IMPORTANT I know that in To the Sun it said sunrise but pretend it said sunset, it makes more sense for the story.

*cough* I actually planned To the Sun to be important in a future chapter *cough* this one.

Anyways, I got grounded, so this is all I can probs do for you guys this week. Sorry, I will try to do more during school since I will have a conputer and maybe phone, during then.

Until then, enjoy!

~~~~~

Falling to Rise

Chapter 18

"It's hard to move on when memories are pulling you back."

Seto woke up, he squinted his eyes as he opened them, it was dark but light could be seen coming from the outside. Seto sat upright and held a hand over his head, it hurt to breathe. He brought his hand to his neck and tentatively touched it. He could feel the bruises.

Seto could tell he was in a cave, because of the stony surroundings and the cold air that seemed to continuously blow his way from deeper down the systems.

Seto shivered, not from the cold, but because of the memories. He could not get them out of his head. He wished he had the power to erase his own memory. He had magic, right? So why not, magic could do anything it seemed, but spare him this agony.

His mother.

His father.

It was all he could see. Their bodies as they hit the platform and crumpled like neglected dolls. The sickening snap as his father's lifeless form slid and fell off. He could almost hear his mother's voice. Just before he left for Emedo a few months back, Don't eat them all at once. He would do anything if he could hear her voice again, even if it was just that one phrase. That one little phrase boding him to eat his cookies in moderation, to save them for the future.

He would never again get to hear his father's calm and intellectual voice, or taste the rich sweets his mother would bake.

And what of Ty.

Would he really say such things to him, was it even real. Perhaps the dream, was only a dream. But even though he tried to reassure himself that, he knew that it was very real, as real as the pain in his arm.

Wait. His arm? Seto glanced down at this arm, a bit of his cloak was torn revealing the shallow cut in his arm. The blood around it was dry, but as he moved his arm bits of red drops were squeezed out and trickled down slowly.

It was a small cut, but he had been lying on a relatively flat-sloped surfaces with little to no rocks or derbies around him. There was nothing for him to cut his arm on.

"Why are we even arguing, our best bet is to head to Eflido. No, Seto's best bet is in Eflido." Seto looked up from inspecting his cut to hear Jerome's voice outside the cave.

"Seto? Seto is the reason we're in this situation. If we had left him we wouldn't be in this predicament. You do realize there is no way for you or Mitch to get home without going through Emedo or Keuta."

Silence.

Seto looked down at his legs, it was his fault. They didn't have to come for him. Adam didn't have to give up everything for a promise, a small insignificant promise made on whim. It was only a promise, nothing special, as easily as they were made, they could be broken.

So why would they do all of that. It was his problem, right? Ty was his friend, so it was his problem to save him. Being a sorcerer was his problem, no one else had to get involved. It was all one big sticky situation that concerned his father and all of Emedo, a situation he had unfortunately gotten into with little knowledge on how to go about handling it. Even though he wanted their help, there was no reason for them to help him.

Ian didn't like him, Mitch had his own problems in his kingdom, Adam was the prince of the kingdom determined to ridding the kingdom of sorcerers, and Jerome was basically a criminal on the run. Neither one of them should logically be helping him.

Seto sighed and looked at his shoes. Their tips were a bit dirtied and worn from the constant use. He folded his legs and brought his right shoe closer. He had hidden his father's little journal into his boot. He had nothing to store anything in but his boots. He realized after he and Adam left for Duhita, he'd left all his belongings in the satchel in his tent. How careless of him. So his boot was his only option for storage.

The small book was old and dull in color, the surface was smooth, like his father had run his fingers over the surface countless times in concentration, to the point the cover had been worn down. Without opening the book Seto could see the numerous numbers of folded pages and color-coded bookmarks. His father must've spent much time writing in this book, but what was inside it.

As much as he wanted to quench his curiosity, he could not bring himself to open the book. He would not cry either. He would even promise, even though a promise was as easily broken as they are made. Anything, if he could remain strong enough to save Ty.

Seto barely realized the arguments had ensued once more, until more yelling had interrupted his quiet thinking. Seto placed the journal back within his boot and tucked his pants back in for appearances sake .

The cave exit was only ten or so steps away, he could do to stand up. In fact, now that he thought about it, his legs felt stiff and out of use, he wondered just how long he'd actually been unconscious.

Seto ignored the slight pain that came from his arm as he turned his body to push himself up using his arms. It was easy getting up, but the problem--

Seto felt dizzy as he clutched his head and fell backwards against the rough cavern wall. He winced as he felt a piercing headache. The only problem, was staying up, of course.

Taking slow and cautious steps, and using the wall for support, Seto made his way slowly out of the cave. He squinted his eyes up at the glaring sun nearing the horizon, then pulled his hood over his head. The air was still warm, but it was quickly cooling, nighttime was soon approaching.

It seemed that they were in the deserts of Keuta, but far from any paved road or city. Understandable since they were probably wanted, but that also meant the lack of fast transportation, their horses would not fare well in the sands.

Seto could spot Adam over by their possessions checking through them, no horses in sight, and Ian, Mitch, and Jerome a bit farther away from Adam and the cave entrance. The three of them were yelling at each other.

"We can't go to Eflido," Ian bluntly said.

"And why not? Even Seto's cousin said it's the only place that is safe." Jerome countered.

"Oh, don't start about what Seto's cousin said, or even about Seto."

"Well, we can't go anywhere else. Not only are we within dangerous territory at the moment, we are practically surrounded by it, Neim and Emedo are obviously off-limits. Duhita is to close to Emedo, Vragan is too far to go to with our current supplies." Mitch joined in, pointing in each direction of each kingdom as he named them off.

"Exactly, like he said. Where else would you have us go, underground. There's nothing to eat down there."

"Shut it morvic, you only ever have your mind in food, anywhere would be better than Eflido--Adam! Help me out here." Seto watched as Adam stopped checking supplies.

"I have to agree with--" Adam's eyes met Seto's, "Oh! Seto! You're up!" The other three turned to see Seto standing by the cave entrance, now fully supporting himself with no help from the wall.

"Seto!" Jerome said, "You're awake, are you feeling ok?" Jerome quickly reached his side in a matter of seconds.

Seto nodded, "That's good. Did we wake you? We may have been arguing very loudly." Jerome laughed.

"No, it's fine."

Adam and Mitch walked over, then slowly Ian trudged over too. Adam handed Seto a cold mushroom stew, "Sorry it's not hot, can't risk a fire at the moment."

Seto smiled and graciously took it. He sat down by the cave entrance, the sand around him moving to accommodate his shape.

"Hey!" Mitch said, "Why don't we let Seto decide."

"What?" Ian and Jerome both said.

"I mean hey, this is Seto's problem," he laughed light-heartedly, obviously trying to bring up the silent-tense mood. He just didn't notice as Seto flinched at his words, it was his problem, like he said. "He should be the one to decide where he wants to go, in one way shape or form, we agreed to help Seto, and as such we should support him in whatever decision."

"I mean, sure?" Jerome said after a few moments.

"Oh this is absurd, you can't let him decide." Ian spouted.

"I don't have a problem with it." Adam joined in.

"That's 3 out of 4 Ian," Mitch punched him lightly on the shoulder who mumbled don't touch me quietly, "Unfortunately, you are out numbered."

He sighed and walked away, well only a few feet away. Only really making the point he wasn't dealing with this anymore.

"So~ Seto, where should we go? What direction, what destina~tion?" Mitch began to sing, sure he may be a bit spoiled, or a show-off, but he did have an attitude about him that could make people smile. That, or he was a good actor.

Seto felt Adam, Mitch and Jerome's eyes on him. He stopped eating his stew and stared down at it. What would he say.

This situation reminded him of something that happened just over a year ago, around the same time of day, in a similar situation.

~~~~~

A new year. Seto was 17, turning 18 this month in 11 days. Seto was waiting for his friend to make an appearance, if he didn't hurry, he would miss the sunset.

Seto sighed and gazed at the setting sun. The day itself was slinking away, and thus would mark the first passing day of the new year. Seto liked the new years. Not because of the festivals, or the abundance of food, or because it was a time of cheer, but because it was the one day he could spend with his friend, no distractions.

On most days he had studying and had errands to run, though Tyler would often tag along whenever Seto had to go to the market. But it wasn't like they were 8 anymore, Seto had responsibilities as a Magi, and Tyler, well he didn't really know. He assumed Tyler was doing something, but he never spoke of anything.

"Ah! Sorry I'm late!" Seto looked to see Tyler rushing up to him, running and slipping through the sand before plopping next to Seto.

Seto nodded silently, the two of them sitting in silence. Tyler broke the silence, "Do you remember twelve years ago?"

"What?" Seto looked up as Tyler laid on the sand staring up at the sky.

"When we got into that argument, just a week before new years."

"What? What argument?"

"....Oh, right, you don't remember..." Tyler sat up and frowned sadly.

"Hu--"

He laughed, "Nevermind, but what I was going to get at, was what came after, on new years."

"Oh."

"Do you remember the promise made?"

"The pro--"

"I know we were like seven, but..."

Tyler trailed off and watched as the sun sunk below the horizon. Leaving the dark sky to cast shadows over their faces.

"We can still follow through with the promise. I know we said 'we'll travel to the sun' and what not, but it doesn't sound half bad, honestly."

"But why?" Seto looked at Tyler, he rarely saw him this tense and serious, "We cant leave our families, and what about next year, we still have a year to serve in Emedo."

Tyler's face turned into a scowl, "Emedo, nothing good comes from there. We shouldn't help them, what good have they done for us but come in and claim everything."

"T-that's not true."

"You've lived a privileged life Seto," his voice softened, "I wouldn't expect you to really know."

"But, we can't leave, what about our parents."

"Your parents. I lost my mother 11 years ago, don't forget, I know your family has treated me like their son, and I thank them, but my family left a long time ago..."

"But--"

Tyler stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets, "I don't know about you, but I'm spending this year preparing to leave, you should come with, your parents will be fine, not like they have to spend a year in Emedo."

"I-I can't..." Seto said sadly, "I can't just leave like that," Seto stood and reached towards Tyler, "Please reconsider."

Silence.

"Is that your final answer?"

Seto didn't answer, he kept searching Tyler's face, for something, anything. A sign of regret, or Notch he begged, his usual toothy grin. His smile telling Seto that he was joking, playing a small new years prank on him. Moments later he'd laugh and say 'You should've seen the look on your face' then he'd tackle Seto to the ground or punch him lightly on the shoulders.

"I see..."

Seto watched as Tyler avoided his pleading look, "Happy new years Set, I hope it's a good one." Seto watched Tyler turn away and walk back into town.

He could've stopped him.

He could've shouted for him to wait, or run after him.

He could've done anything to stop his only real friend from leaving.

But he didn't. And the next day. When Seto walked through town to talk to Tyler, to apologize, maybe get him to change his mind too, he found Tyler's small two room home abandoned.

The door unlocked, the place cleaned of belongings.

One small wood box filled with rocks and sticks, and carved into the side 'Git wel mom' remained in the middle of the room.

He built that with Tyler...it was the only thing left. And he left it there, he didn't even say goodbye.

~~~~~

Seto didn't like to think of that day. He held back the tears, the only reason that memory came up was because he was reminded on being relied on for a desicion. It's stupid really, something as small as this made him think of that.

"Seto, where should we go?" Jerome interrupted his thoughts.

Seto opened his mouth to say he didnt know, but stopped and thought. Maybe such a memory wasn't stupid to be thinking about right now. Maybe for a reason he thought about it, even though in the end, it turned sour. He destroyed that little wood box he and Tyler made, because he was upset. More angry than he ever got before.

"To the sun."

"Huh?" Mitch said.

Seto placed the empty soup bowl on the ground next to him and stood up. The sun had already set, just like in his memory, but this time he would make a desicion that he should've done a long time ago.

"We'll head west, towards the direction of the setting sun."

Hooo, now gtg be grounded.

;-;

~WrittenDarkness