Almost home.

[golden_hawke]

The wastelands of Ariel was little more than an arid desert. The hot sun beat down on Hawke's form, drawing out his fluids as easily as a fire would. He refused to go back. He needed to find the natives who have tried to rebel against the government of Ariel, to learn their secrets and hopefully find a clue as to how to escape. His friends needed to return home. He wanted to see his family again. The problem was that however method that was used to bring them here was not used to send them home. It didn't seem as if anyone knew how they were sent home. Some people called it a fluke. Hawke wanted to find the power of this Fluke and get it so that it could be controlled.

He didn't tell anyone save Raphael that he was going. He owed his friend at least that much. And when Hawke returned with the Fluke, Raph would want to use it to get everyone home. He just needed to find it and then they could go on from there.

Yet the sun was hot and draining and Hawke still didn't have his powers. It was a physical pain at times, to not be able to feel the blood around him and within him. If the government wanted to effectively cut off his ability to go against them, they pretty much did it as soon as he arrived. The small, thin scars on his body from his 're-education' was proof enough of it. He hated those scars and wanted them gone, but the others in Ariel grew fearful and anxious around him when he tried to obliterate them himself with a knife. One day he would be able to get rid of those marks by methods of his own choosing.

The sun was so relentless that he didn't notice if people following him out of the city compound. He was focused on one thing and one thing only: to find the natives. So when the air shimmered like a heat mirage and he grew dizzy, he didn't think it was anything more than heat exhaustion. When he fell face first into the sand, it was too much of an effort to force himself up again. The breeze was light and teasing, promising a relief that he knew wouldn't happen. It doesn't happen in the desert. Not even at Four Winds where the breezes were constant because of electromagnatic influxes. With great effort he turned over so he didn't suffocate in the sand and squinted up at the suns over head.

Suns?

He knit his brow, trying to figure out if that too was some hallucination. He had to be seeing double. No...one sun was definitely larger than the other. They looked just like the suns he was used to back home.

....Home?