melodiesoflife | On That Day, Five Years Ago - Black Water

On the bright side, Cloud hadn't thrown up when the ship went down. Of all the things that went wrong that day, at least the fortitude of his stomach remained intact.

He'd braced himself for impact and after that it was fuzzy. Dream and memory intermingled. When he and the other Heroes blacked out and later he wouldn't be able to recall which parts actually happened and which were just projected assumption. He even thought he saw Zack running around on the deck trying to help, as absurd as that mental image of a chocobo trying to help keep an airship in flight was.

The next thing he was aware of was the feeling of thick water lapping against the side of his head. That and a sense of cloying scruffiness around his face. Grunting, he pushed himself up to sitting, half in and half out of some water. The dry ground wasn't very much so, more mud. Looking around blearily he could make out shapes moving in the fog around him. Things slipped into focus bit by bit from there. This was a swamp of some sort, or a marsh, whatever. Same difference.

Next he noticed three bodies laying near him; Reno, Johnny and another he knew was a fellow Hero but didn't really know by name. Dylan or something? His mind more latched onto the fact that the way they were laying was that it was almost like Johnny and Reno were reaching for each other.

The last thing to shuffle into focus were the shapes moving in the distance. They were a bit far off, too far, hopefully, to see or smell or hear them...but there were Malboros sloshing through the marshwater and mud in every direction.

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"She's not here," he told Dylas -- or, at least he assumed she wasn't. "Doubt she'd wanna be poking around in this place..."

The swamp was gross and muddy, wet and smelly. Their clothes were filthy. Reno ran his fingers through his bangs and flipped them out of his eyes, the long red hair draping off the side of his face.

"Those things over there, though..." he murmured, catching a glimpse of movement in the distance. Tentacles? Been there, done that, did not enjoy it.

Johnny returned to see the forms coming their way. They were all exhausted and disoriented. This was no time for a fight.

"Yeah, let's figure that part later. We should get movin', uh, somewhere."

There was swamp all around them. There really wasn't much clue on where to go other than away from the monsters.

"More of a train I think..." He touched his sides. He couldn't quite figure if he was actually sore or remembering being sore or just assuming he should be. No matter what he didn't feel great. It also started to slot into place in his memory that Johnny got thrown from the stage when they were fighting Chaos. He was glad to see him back with them but he was a bit more concerned with where they were now.

He peered into the mist, trying to will the hazy shapes to come into focus. Unfortunately one did, slithering in their general direction but still a ways off. The squirminess of the shape was bad enough but then he got a clear look at its maw as it turned.

"Malboros...definitely something we should avoid." They mostly seemed to be keeping to the water, so as long as they didn't splash their way through they probably wouldn't attract attention. "If we keep our distance and don't make too much noise we should be fine I think...There." He pointed at the way the shallows curved off into the swamp, a few trees dotting the path, "That way maybe?"

Dylas ignored Reno because ignoring Reno was both something he figured might be fun and because he was focusing on something else. His eyebrows were furrowed as he scanned everywhere. Stupid sunlight, making him feel so tired. There was something else missing.

He hopped off where he'd stood and landed directly in one of the puddles. The water splashed as he did, soaking the ankles of his pants and his hooves in muddy water, but not a sound came from the movement. At least his Silent skill was reliable whenever he felt awake enough to use it.

"This is bullshit. Where the hell are the Moogles?" And where was Midna? His heart would have raced in his chest if that were still an action it was capable of performing. His ears swiveled back into an anger stance as he started walking the way Cloud had pointed. "What the hell happened," he thought aloud, his mind racing.

Cloud lost track of time as they walked. It was pretty easy to do as their surroundings faded in and out of the murky mists. They were lucky enough to avoid the monsters, though sometimes there were a few close calls as a large shape shambled past them. Mostly it seemed the malboros were content to keep to the deeper waters, letting their vines rest in the mire while the wandering Heroes kept to the higher ground.

When he wasn't carefully minding his step and trying to avoid any mud that was deeper than it looked, Cloud found himself compelled to toy with his beard. It just felt so weird to have it there. He kept thumbing it, feeling the bristles run under his fingernail. The bristle was nearly as spiky as the hair on top of his head.

"How long...." He mumbled to himself.

After some time some new shapes faded into view, but not like the organic ones they had been seeing so far. More sharp angles. More squares and straight lines. First broken walls and crumbled houses, starting from waist high and then bigger and bigger until complete but still ruined homes made their appearance.

Cloud stopped, looking around and tried to place where they were. He hadn't been to this city much, but as the mist from the swamp began to fade behind them the rest of the city ahead was clear to make out. It was what was left of Esdham. It didn't just look abandoned or ruined. There was a feeling to it too. Like they were being watched by the remains themselves.

Reno stopped beside Cloud, likewise rubbing his fingertips over his own new facial hair. It always grew so slowly before, so fine -- and it still was very fine and short, but it was still there. Consistently. Reno didn't know how long it could have taken, but it must have been quite awhile.

"Fuck..." Reno's brow furrowed, perplexed as he looked over the broken-down city. "Where is this?"

"...How long were we asleep?"

This place didn't even feel like Crystallis anymore. It was like they awoke on a whole other planet. Johnny wouldn't be at all surprised if that had happened, really.

In the distance, among the ruins, dark shapes moved and flitted about. It was impossible from this distance to make out what it could be, though.

"We better keep quiet. There's someone or somethin' up there, I think."

Whatever it was didn't give him a good feeling.

On That Day, Five Years Ago - Black Water - Misery Marsh near Esdham

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omfg we need to do ALL THE THINGS

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