To the Middle of Nowhere to Hopefully Somewhere

'How long have I been running?'

The thought crossed his mind as he continued to put one foot forward with speed. He had no idea. All he saw was dirt... dirt for miles around; it looked to be never-ending. It didn't help one bit that he was beaten as well. The bruises on his body along with his fatigue seemed to be shouting at his mind to stop moving and rest. He really thought he could hear them. Being outside with nothing to be seen than dirt and the sun's rays relentlessly beating down on him, he wasn't shocked that his mind was slowly losing its grip on sanity. He slapped his face with get a hold of himself and ended up with a mouthful of dirt.

He coughed, the dirt greedily sucking up whatever moisture left within his mouth. He spat out the dirt, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. This was just great. He managed to trip over his own feet when trying to get a hold of himself; his balance was now turning its back on him. With a sigh, he laid there, his body eagerly leaping at the chance for rest. Sadly, it wouldn't be allowed the rest it needed. YongSoo picked himself up, his body protesting. He dusted off some dirt on his clothes and looked up, staring at the distance. Had he even made any progress? He could have been running in circles for all this time. It seemed like the term 'straight' was non-existent in the area. With a shake of his head, he grinned widely, determination brightening his brown eyes. There was no way he would let something like this pull him down. He was Korea for crying out loud. The nation where everything good originated from. There was absolutely no way in hell that something as small as this would affect him.

He started to run again. His condition, his surroundings, nothing... absolutely nothing will stop him from finding his family. A normal person would have given in. He wouldn't; he's been through things way worse than this.

Running for what seemed like a half a day without any rest, he let out a loud cheer of 'URI NARA MANSAE' upon seeing some buildings. Civilization! Finally! He knew that he would make and he did! There was no way that the makeshift desert could hinder him! He was brimming in pride. He had definitely shown that desert that he couldn't be messed with.

Unfortunately for him, his mind had relaxed completely upon seeing civilization. Without the support of his mind keeping him up, the body's complaints were finally granted. His knees gave out and he collapsed onto the ground, snoring softly. He had fallen asleep before his body even touched the ground.

-

YES. I FINALLY MADE MY FIRST POST! \o/ Hopefully it's not too bad! -fret fret-

Emma continued to run, not knowing where exactly she was going. She had run into an alleyway, and then back on the street. This routine continued until Emma tripped for the fifth time, and she had to stop because of the pain in her left ankle. Emma looked behind her, but the monster was nowhere to be found. It was terrifying to say the least, seeing a large monster made of... she didn't want to think of it again. But then it had split into four more monsters and her group ended up separating.

I'm all alone... the thought hadn't struck her until now. She was alone with no weapon, lying on the street. The blood on her clothes might have dried a bit by now, but still felt uncomfortable. Emma didn't even have that many injuries and she couldn't help but think that she was almost useless. Emma took some deep breaths to calm herself down. It was still dark, but she decided that she was still going to walk. In the worst case, Emma would have to pass out on the street...

She slowly got up and continued to walk. She had no clue where she was, but eventually she noticed that there weren't as many buildings as before. After what seemed like ten minutes, she thought she could see what might be the entrance of the town. At least, she could see that beyond the abandoned town was just a lot of dirt. How far as she run exactly?

Emma was almost desperate enough to walk onto the dirt road and hope that somebody came along, but she couldn't just leave everyone behind... especially after that monster attack. There were probably more of those things! She continued to walk straight, just to see if there was something else outside. Maybe there was a sign or something. As she followed the road and entered the outside of the town, she thought she could see something lying further away. Emma wasn't sure if she was seeing things, especially when it was dark and she was slightly paranoid, but she approached it anyway. The closer she was, the more it looked like a body on the road.
Oh god, I hope it isn't dead.

At this point, she had begun to limp a bit due to her ankle. She would have ran towards it if she could, the suspense was killing her. It had to be somebody, but who? Were they still unconscious? She really hoped it wasn't a dead body, that was one of the last things she wanted to see.

"H-hello?" Emma was close enough to see that it was definitely a human body, hopefully just an unconscious one at that. The outfit he was wearing looked familiar, but she knew that he was a nation like her. She bent down and turned him over to see who it was. It was one of the Asian countries, Korea? He was the loud one who claimed that everything originated in him.
I think his name was Im Yong Soo.

"Are you alright?" Emma asked, and shook his shoulder. By the looks of it, he was probably sleeping but she needed to make sure he was alright and if anything else had happened to him. She shook him harder.

(( Oh my god... long post is long. THIS IS MY LONGEST POST. OTL I'm so sorry /sob ))

A small groan of displeasure made its way out of his throat. His body was being moved back and forth, but strangely... he wasn't the one performing the action.

'Wait a moment... Moved back and forth?'

'.......... OH MY GOD. THERE'S AN EARTHQUAKE!!!!!'

His mind instantly came to that conclusion due to physical fatigue from running nonstop, mental fatigue from the seemingly never-ending 'desert' and worry about his family, and his body being in a battered state.

What the hell was he doing when there was an earthquake around AND WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF HIS FAMILY BEING IN DANGER? NOTHING, THAT'S WHAT. He instantly stood up, only to be brought down to his knees again, his mind whirling around.

"I have to... I have to-" his voice dropped into a low mutter before he roared out. "I HAVE TO SAVE MY FAMILY!" He stood up, his eyes burning brightly with determination as he ran off towards a random direction, ignoring the pain and dizziness. He wasn't even aware of the fact that there was a person next to him and was the cause for the so-called earthquake. He might have even possibly startled her with his actions.

-

I'm so sorry. I took so long to reply! And not to mention it's super short! STUPID WRITER'S BLOCK! OTLx100 AND I ENDED UP RUNNING OFF.

Emma was relieved once Yong Soo had woken up. She was lucky to find another nation so quickly. Though, she'd have to explain what she knew so far to him, such as the fact that the town was abandoned and there were monsters probably lurking about. Emma perked up when Yong Soo suddenly stood up, only to fall on his knees. Then he muttered something, which Emma couldn't understand until he shouted it out.

Right, now she was startled and a bit freaked out. It didn't seem like he noticed her, and he was probably exhausted. Before she could make herself known, Yong Soo started running. Emma wasn't sure what to do, and attempted to run after him. Sure enough, she couldn't because of her ankle. She resorted to shouting after him.

"HEY WAIT!" Emma cried out, "STOP RUNNING!"

It might have proved to be ineffective, but she didn't want to be all alone again. Emma stopped shouting and merely stayed on the ground. She could always just lie there until she calmed down a bit.


(( It's fine! Don't worry about it~ I had to work on some responses on another forum anyway. <3 ))

His heartbeat was beating loudly in his ears. This is so tiring; all this running. He loved it but right now he wanted to lie down and sleep. But there was no telling when another earthquake would happen again, so he had to keep moving. Too engrossed with his thoughts, he didn't see that he needed to make a turn and ended up crashing headfirst into a wall of a house. He fell back on his backside with a loud 'Oomph'.

'Well... that hurt...' He stared up at the sky, taking this as a small chance to just rest his aching body.

"-NING!"

He blinked in confused surprise. What was that? Could there be other people around? With a slight groan, he sat up and looked towards the direction of the voice. His eyes met with a blonde-haired figure lying on the ground. Tilting his head, he got up and headed towards the figure, his curiosity and excitement peaked.

"MANSAE! IT'S A PERSON!" he cheered, once he reached her. He plopped down in front of her, letting out a sigh a relief. "This is great, da ze! Other people are here as well!" He gave her a big hug in relief and then pulled away, grinning widely. "Have you seen my Family?"

-

TOOK SO LONG TO REPLY AGAIN. OTL BUT HERE IT IS~ Hope it's decent. :DD

Emma took this moment to go over some things in her head. She was positive now that all the nations were stuck somewhere in the town, and that there were odd supernatural beings roaming around. This was not an ordinary situation. How were they going to escape? Why was this happening to them? It scared her.

Emma thought back to when Yong Soo had run off just a short while ago, shouting about saving his family. She thought about her brother again. Where was Lars? She hoped that he was awake and had found a group. Being alone in that town... it wasn't safe. Although knowing Lars, he was probably already aware of this.

She closed her eyes, slowly letting her fatigue take over. Maybe a nap could clear her mind... and then Emma heard someone... Yong Soo? Did he finally hear her shout? Once she sat up and opened her eyes, she found herself being hugged by the Korean.

"I was with Kiku before, along with Gilbert and Feliciano, but we were attacked by--" Emma stopped herself for a moment. She wondered if Yong Soo would really believe that monsters existed here. "We were attacked and ended up separating..."


(( I would have replied sooner but I was at a convention this weekend and couldn't bring myself to do any roleplaying! c: ))

"AH! You saw Aniki?!" YongSoo exclaimed, his mind completely on the well-being of his family for the moment. "Was he okay?!" Then the rest of Emma's words dawned on him. "ATTACKED?!?! BY WHO?!" He sulked, fire burning in his eyes. "I'm going to give them a big whooping for even trying to attack my family!" He fumed a bit more before he noticed her slightly swollen and bruised ankle. He blinked and pointed at the limb.

"Hey... Are you okay?" he asked, worry creasing his brows. "That doesn't look too good." He tilted his head and gave a big grin. "I know! I can help you with that!" He ripped a bit of his right sleeve and started to wrap the cloth around the other's ankle. "It's a good thing that I had such over-sized sleeves, huh?" He grinned and ripped a bit more of the cloth. Almost one-third of the cloth on his sleeve had been ripped off. He tightened the makeshift bandages to make sure it was secure.

"There!!" he stated. He waved his right arm. "Hehehe. Look! I can see my hand now!" He laughed. "Okay and now..." He knelt, his back facing her. "Get on my back! I'll carry you! Do you remember the last time you saw Aniki?"

Emma hesitated again, and told him what they were attacked by. It probably sounded crazy, but if he wanted to know, she would have to tell him. When Yong Soo pointed out her ankle, she gave it a quick look. "Well, it is hard to walk..." The Belgian hadn't noticed how bad it had gotten, and watched as he wrapped her ankle with his ripped sleeve. She wasn't sure what to say and stayed silent for a bit. She couldn't help but observe how ... energetic (if that was the word she was looking for) he was. She smiled at his comments though. This was better than being scared to death.

"Ah no it's fine, really!" she said as Yong Soo offered to carry her, but when she tried to stand up, pain shot through her leg and she wavered a bit. Alright, she wasn't fine. She admitted defeat and got on his back. "T-thanks," said Emma. She didn't want to burden him, and she was feeling pretty useless with her swollen ankle. Actually, Emma had been feeling pretty useless the whole time. The ankle just wasn't really helping.

Emma tried to think back. How long had it been since the monster encounter? It was hard to keep track of time in these situations.
"Maybe an hour ago? I have no clue where he might have ran off to..." she sighed. She realized that they would have to go back into the town and she wasn't looking forward to it. They had to find everyone else though.

"So, what's the plan?"

"No plan what so ever~" YongSoo said, making sure he was supporting Emma fully on his back. "We just search for them!" He grinned and started running towards a random direction.

'Wait for me. I'll definitely find every single one of you!'


[Whoot. Shortest post of all time! \o/ -finally thought she should wrap this thread up after like... a long time- > <]