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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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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