Awakened Emotions (Ferriswheelshipping) (N x White/Touko/Hilda)

Chapter 25

"You're right, she can't be too far... Let's go find her!" N attempts to calm himself, his voice cracking at the end with his perpetual sanity. He definitely couldn't stay calm in this situation. He wanted to tell himself that she was probably nearby, and that she wouldn't have been able to get very far with her injuries. But, he didn't know. The only thing he had to go on was her little footprints in the sand that led into the unknown and eery looking jungle.

Pulling himself together mentally, N dashes abruptly into the jungle, the branches slicing at his face and appendages. Steven calls his name, but N is already taking off. He keeps his eyes peeled desperately for a sign of her fluffy brown hair.

"WHITE!" He screeches, his anguished cry ringing throughout the jungle. He stands still for a moment, listening for any sort of response. The only thing he hears is the soft waves of the distant ocean, and the bugs chirping in the night. Tears of frustration and despair prick at the corners of his eyes and flow quickly down his cheeks like little rivers.

Suddenly, he hears footsteps. His entire body clenches in relief, and he hopes it is White who had heard his call. He turns around, knowing that was where he had heart the soft steps. He is greeted with the sight of a rather bedraggled looking Steven. His entire body sags with disappointment, and he takes off in the opposite direction without another glance at the other man.

N continues to dash throughout the jungle aimlessly, searching for any sort of disarray that could hint at her presence, or at least prior presence. He wanted anything. A hint, a trail, a torn piece of clothing, it didn't matter. He needed something to find her.

After a much longer time of searching, he feels something wet upon his face. He looks down quickly, seeing that his feet were covered in blood. He realizes in slight surprise that he must have lost his shoes at some point along the search and was too distracted and determined to notice. The blood seeps from the various large gashes on his heel, painting the grass on the ground a vivid red. He dully notes that it hurts, but decides that the wound will not hinder his search. He continues onwards on his fruitless search, desperately whipping his head around for any sort of clue. His entire body felt like it was on fire from all the scratches he retained from running so fast in the branches, but he also felt numb at the same time. It was a strange sensation.

Suddenly, a sight for sore eyes. But not a particularly good sight. Upon a low hanging leaf of a tree, N had noticed a large glob of blood upon it. It looked to be relatively new, and in the process of drying.

N hopes that the blood was not White's, or that even if it was, that she could at least be not too seriously injured. The blood smear seemed to draw towards the north of the jungle, the path of the smear growing lighter towards that direction, indicating the person or animal had continued onwards from that point. N continues down the path, keeping his eyes peeled. His heart beats at what feels like a million miles a minute. He was scared, skittish, and absolutely strained. His mind was already painting the worst images of what could have happened to White now that he found this blood trail. His mind formed images of her broken body laying lifeless on the jungle floor, and tears continue to slip down his eyes as he trudges forward through the bushes.

As he continued north, he found more blood. There was a bit more this time, but not an abnormal amount. It was on the ground smeared on a large fallen stick. He knew he was getting closer to something, he just didn't know what. It could be a ravenous wild animal, or it could be an injured White. He increases his already exhausted pace, diving past the vivid green leaves and trying to avoid the branches to go faster. It wasn't the fear of a possible ravenous animal awaiting that scared him, it was the thought of White's crumpled body upon the dirt, lifeless and cold. He couldn't let that happen.