Cabre wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, but he woke up in a panic. His eyes quickly darted around his small camp, groggy and confused. At first, he wasn’t quite sure why he was panicking. That was until he remembered he had a target to be keeping an eye on. To his relief, Levy was still next to the speeder. Granted, he was lying flat on the ground instead of propped up where he’d left him, but he imagined it was more comfortable to sleep that way. The atmosphere was still dull and gloomy with the darkness of night, though the sun had started to rise over the horizon. Rays of light split through waves of thick grey clouds blanketing the sky. It promised to be a day colder than most, refreshing compared to the constant heat. He broke down camp, making sure to keep an extra eye on his sleeping captive. He rolled his tent and blanket into a nice roll before putting it in its place in his bag. He pulled out his bag of rations before flipping to flap of his rucksack back over to top, securing it with its straps.

“Maybe he’ll just sleep all day and I won’t have to sedate him again.” Cabre mumbled, taking a bite out of a stale bread roll.

With a sigh, he stood and made his way over to Levy, figuring it’d be better to let him eat now than have him wake up on the trip, complaining. With the back of his palm, he gently smacked the man's cheek.

“Hey!” Cabre huffed.

After a few more good smacks, Levy finally started to open his eyes. He squinted, blinking a few times as he tried to properly wake up. His body jerked forward as he tried to lift a hand to rub the sleep from his eyes. Then, he groaned.

“Oh, right.” Levy grumbled, pulling himself up to sit criss-cross.

He opened his mouth in a big yawn, rocking his body from side to side as he tried to stretch.

“Here.” Cabre pulled another bread roll and a slice of dried meat from the bag.

Levy raised a brow and leaned forward, taking a bite from both. Cabre continued to eat his as Levy took his time chewing, his face scrunching up as he ate.

“What is this?” Levy asked, mouth still full of chewed-up bread and meat.

Cabre glared and swallowed.

“Bread and some type of meat.” He pointed out the obvious.

He didn’t see any use in mentioning the man’s rude behaviour. It’d just start a pointless argument anyway and he was trying to start the day off on a positive note. He watched as Levy grimaced, supposedly forcing himself to swallow.

“That stuff tastes awful.” He rasped.

“It’s not that bad once you get used to it.” Cabre raised his brows, taking another bite.

Levy scrunched his nose and stuck out his tongue, shaking his head a few times.

“Well, maybe I don’t want to get used to it.” He grumbled. “Hey, you should grab some of my rations out of my bag.”

Levy turned his back to Cabre, waiting expectedly. Cabre shook his head and stood, cinching his ration bag closed before tucking it away in his rucksack. Then he extended his other hand, offering Levy the rest of his portion.

“I’m not taking that chance. It’s this or nothing.” Cabre wasn’t in the mood for arguing.

Levy pouted and rolled his eyes, leaning forward to take another bite. He took some time, but eventually downed the bite, swallowing roughly.

“I don’t think I can stand another bite.” He frowned.

Cabre scoffed. “You’re too spoiled.”

Levy wrinkled his nose, letting Cabre pick up him up by his ropes.

“You’re too stuffy.” Levy responded.

“Just get on the speeder.” Cabre grumbled, tired of holding up the man’s nearly-limp weight.

Levy sighed and swung a leg over, settling himself at the front of the speeder. He watched Cabre grab one of the handlebars and swing a leg shakily over to the other side. The vehicle tattered from side to side until Levy moved his feet from their resting place on either side of it, to the ground. Cabre gave a nervous glance over to Levy, his face flushed pink before he started flipping switches and pressing buttons on the console, trying to seem like he knew what he was doing. Levy sighed.

“You can’t trick the owner of the speeder into thinking you know what you’re doing.” He said, nonchalantly.

“So what?” Cabre said quickly.

“Need some help?” Levy offered.

Cabre quickly shook his head.

“I don’t need help from the likes of you.” He growled.

After a few more minutes of Cabre frantically fiddling with the console, Levy finally stepped in. His torso was still tightly secured, but he’d managed to wiggle his hands free from their bindings. Leaning awkwardly from side to side, he flicked the vehicle's on switch, and pressed a few buttons to activate the navigation, and the raionite core. Wouldn’t get too far if it wasn’t levitating.

“There.” Levy sighed. “It was getting a little sad just watching.”

He gave Cabre a sympathetic look, to which he received a well-earned glare. Without another word, they set out. It was an awkward and silent drive. Not to mention slow. Not only did Cabre not know how to drive very well but he didn’t have any protection from the sand and he hadn’t been kind enough to give Levy the courtesy of his goggles either. Both men squinted horribly against the gentle but steady stream of sand that crossed their path. Levy was sure if he hadn’t freed his hands, he would have ended up in the dust by now. Cabre was swerving and jerking enough to send anyone unprepared flying and Levy was glad he had the extra support of his hands. He knew his thighs would be sore when they next stopped but it was a fair sacrifice to pay for staying on board the speeder.

“You think you can-” Levy paused.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could’ve sworn he saw… No. He must be tired from last night. He had slept, but it hadn’t been very refreshing. His dreams were getting to him, probably.

“What was that?” Cabre asked, leaning forward to make sure Levy could hear him.

“Nothing…” He said quietly. “It was- LOOK OUT!”

Instinctively, Levy’s hands reached for the handlebars as a massive sand crawler burst out of the dune before them. Cabre panicked as the lizard-like creature sent a shower of sand raining down on them. It let out a horrible screech before letting its body fall to the ground, sending out another wave of sand towards the two on the speeder. Cabre pulled hard against the handlebars, trying to get the vehicle to stop, but it wouldn’t respond. With a wild jerk, he was sent flying backward, leaving the restrained Levy alone to try and stop it. As the creature dug its way back into the sand with its two legs, waves of sand surged forward toward the hole it had left behind. Levy gritted his teeth, struggling violently to free his hands to rescue himself and his beloved vehicle, but its engine eventually sputtered and let out a sickening puff.

“Damn it!” Levy growled.

With furrowed brows, Levy let out a pained sigh, lunging off the speeder as it continued to be sucked down with the waves of sand. What he didn’t realize was that he wasn’t safe yet.  With a firm yank, Levy was pulled back. He’d forgotten about the carrying cords. He looked behind him, desperately trying to see where he was attached but with sand flying up in nearly every direction, he couldn’t see. He tried as best he could to crawl away from the catastrophe, but no matter how hard he pulled, the cords pulled harder. This couldn’t be how he was going to die, could it? After years and years of searching for answers, would he really go to his grave with nothing to show for it?

No.

A pair of arms wrapped around his torso, trying desperately to drag him to safety, but they were no match as well. Levy watched Cabre grit his teeth, fighting against the sand and his own carrying cords. Levy turned around, facing his speeder to try and gain more leverage against the raging sea of sand the two now found themselves in. He watched Cabre abandon his place beside him to attempt things from the speeder side. Levy’s gaze quickly moved from where Cabre fiddled with something on the seat to the core of the vehicle. He watched it start to glow with energy and could feel the heat radiating off of it from where he stood.

“Get back!” Levy yelled above the torrent.

Cabre quickly turned to Levy, his gaze widening as he looked to the speeder before he pulled himself out of the sand towards safety. Not an instant later did the speeder explode, bursting into bright blue flames. He was sad to see it go, but now he had to be free. He tried again, digging his heels deep into the sand as he tried to pry himself away from the hole growing ever closer. Nothing. He’d made no progress. Levy squinted, looking into the sand. Pulled taught and just barely peeking through the waves were two blue cords.

“What are those things made of!” Levy growled.

Cabre looked from the hole to Levy before furrowing his brows. He pulled his hunting knife from its sheath and quickly cut the ropes that bound his captive. The pair spared no time scrambling their way out of the raging dunes.

As quickly as the uproar started, it stopped. The sand crawler had left and the dunes settled back over the holes in one final wave. Levy and Cabre sat, gasping for breath. Neither knew what to say yet and even if they did, they didn’t have the energy. So, they shared a moment of shocked silence as the sun peeked its way through the clouds overhead as if nothing had happened.