Burn and Bloom - Phan

CHAPTER SIX

TW: there's kind of a near death experience that has to do with fire towards the end of the chap so just read carefully if that's gonna effect you

Dan slumped along at the back of the group, not bothering to participate in the conversation. He was too paranoid, constantly afraid that whatever had been setting the fires at night would appear. Dan felt queasy at the thought. He hated getting burned, hating the initial shock of the pain and the way the wound hurt for days afterward. He was barely getting any sleep anymore, constantly fighting to stay awake in case something came.

"It hasn't hurt us yet," Pj had said tentatively that morning, shortly after they'd all started running down the tunnel, Phil hastily extending it as they ran. He'd even collapsed the tunnel over the fire so they wouldn't have to look at it as they ran away. "So maybe we don't have to worry."

"Are you kidding!?" Dan had snapped. "We could be set on fire in our sleep and you don't want to worry about it?"

There was also, of course, the fact that the population at large now knew he was missing. He and Phil couldn't show their faces around any towns in case they were recognized, which was going to make it a lot harder for Dan to get a coat. Even worse, Dan was sure that everyone would know that he and Phil were traveling with Pj and Louise now. Dan didn't doubt that Peter and his cronies would relay the fact that he and Phil weren't alone onward. It was unlikely now that even Louise and Pj could go into a town safely, so they had to be extra careful. They'd even sprinted off the path and hid in the bushes when they'd seen other travelers coming to avoid being seen, just in case.

"You know what," Phil said now, stopping abruptly. "I feel disgusting. I need a shower. Or a bath, or something."

Louise groaned at the thought. "What I wouldn't do to wash my hair," she said longingly. Her hair was perpetually wrapped up in a bun, both because it was long and could be bothersome, and because she claimed that it was so greasy it had to be worn this way.

"Let's find a river," Pj suggested. Dan's body ached viciously at the thought, wanting desperately to be clean, but also at the idea of swimming with company. Most people didn't swim with their clothes on, did they?

"Isn't it too cold to swim?" Dan said hopefully.

"At night, definitely," Pj said. "But it isn't so cold during the day, and as long as we're moving, we'll be fine."

"How can we find one?" Phil asked, looking excited. They were all thoroughly caked in dirt and sweat, and it /would/ feel great to finally get it all off of themselves.

"It's not that hard," Pj said casually. "We just have to start heading downhill, and we'll come across one eventually. Plus, I can kind of tell when we're getting close. You know, waterbending shit."

"Pj, you're my hero," Louise declared dramatically, swooning against Pj. The three of them immediately started in a different direction, leaving the path through the forest and venturing randomly downhill. Dan reluctantly followed, worried that they might actually find a river.

It took a while, and Dan was starting to think that Pj had made up the whole thing about finding water, but eventually Pj stopped. "Hold on," he said intently, closing his eyes.

"What? Why?" Louise demanded, but Pj simply shushed her.

"We're close," he announced, and Louise and Phil both cheered, grabbing each other's shoulders and jumping excitedly.

Pj then proudly started to lead the way, until they came to a small, trickling creek.

"This is not a river," Louise huffed.