Separate Ways/Worlds Apart (JJBA: Battle Tendency)

Chapter 9: Higher Place

 Santana sniffed the air recognizing a particular inhuman musk that he never believed he would encounter again. There was another of his kind nearby. Had he not been near godlike himself he'd undoubtedly have prayed that it wasn't Kars and his subordinates. He may have served under them once, but two thousand years of sleep after being abandoned on this continent as a guard dog gave a lot of time for internal reflection. He no longer cared about viewing a sunrise or becoming Kars's definition of perfection, it sounded like too much work to him. It would be better to stay here on the mother continent and sleep and eat, he had no drive for anything more than that.

He inhaled deeply, a hefty eyebrow twitching ever so slightly to reveal his surprise. It was not one of the big three, but this presence could prove to be problematic depending on the being's mood, which was most likely sour as usual.

Santana contorted his arms over his head to scratch his back rather casually, a pleased groan coming from his lips. It had been a couple millennia since he had seen them, was he still expected to greet a former superior? Perhaps it was better to leave them alone. His eyes traveled up to where his observers sat. Foolish little humans, always forgetting their place on the food chain. A hand flew up to his temple as a horrid noise suddenly racked his auditory nerve, Stroheim, his name seemed to be, was yelling, again. Even he really did decide to find the other of his kind he would need to go through them, at least he was hungry enough for the job.

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Joseph helped Sharena get to her feet, he was now fully shoved into a German uniform, a metal helmet covering up his hair. Sharena was still wearing her poncho and embroidered dress but was now also covered in sand. She had considered donning the other soldier's clothing, but decided that her chest, while not anything larger than average, would have still be noticeable under the fatigues. Instead, she had grabbed her basket from earlier and decided it was best to continue with the original plan.

"Where do you think they are holding Mister Speedwagon?" she asked, following closely behind Joseph as he entered the walls of the hacienda. He held a hand to his chin, eyebrows furrowed before he stopped walking and looked at her.

"Where do you think he would be?" he replied with a question.

"I have no idea that is why I asked you." She grumbled, eyes narrowing.

"We should probably split up then, you can search one place and I another."

"Joseph, I have never met him, how would I even recognize him?"

"Well-" he seemed to have just realized this fact, his face scrunched recognizing his error. Without warning, he crouched down near a small patch of sand and began to draw something in it with his finger. Sharena looked over his shoulder as he spoke, "He is really old, even older than Granny, and he has short gray hair," he dragged his finger through the face, "his most prominent feature is a long scar across his face, I doubt any of the cowards around here have something like that so it should be a dead giveaway."

"Should be easy enough," Sharena replied. Joseph stood back to his towering height and look down at her for a second, his face still uncharacteristically troubled. "Are you alright? We know Speedwagon is alive in here so we just gotta find him and get out, no big deal. Especially with that super technique of yours."

"What technique?"

"Running away."

"You are completely right, but to be honest I'm more worried about you."

Sharena's face went red. Despite his concern probably being placed more in the fact of her getting into trouble and that he must save her from again, but she still felt a bit happy that her safety was on his mind at all. She gave him a thumbs up and a wink to assure him, "I'll be a-okay. Just get find Mister Speedwagon, we can meet back outside a little before noon okay?" she looked up at the sky briefly, "From the sun's current position that should be about two hours tops. That way if one of us finds him we will have an assured way to contact each other."