Mako woke up alone, to the smell of salt. It took half a breath before he could feel the ache creeping down his left arm. It wasn’t nearly as bad as when he’d first been stung, but looking down, he was sure he’d seen mangled fish in better shape than his arm. When he tried to roll over, something poked into his back and he quickly scrambled to the side. It was just a box, the kind he’d seen delivered to tributes in the past. His stomach hoped it was food, but he knew the cream inside was better. And it made for an idea pun that brought a smile to his chapped lips.
It looked as if the sun might set soon, and Mako knew he should leave before the darkness and high tide took over. The water already seemed to be rising. There was a strange crackling sound, but he wondered if that was just what it sounded like on the ocean floor to hear the water rising. Slowly, he pushed himself up, slathered on the cream, and took off at a leisurely pace. He wanted to rush, but he was hungry and thirsty and a little light-headed. His chest was starting to ache, probably a result of sleeping with his mouth open and coming close to drowning.
He paused and bent over, feeling as if he was about to wretch as the ache in his chest grew more painful. He tried to take a deep breath, but it felt like a knife dragging along the inside of his lungs. What the fuck was happening? He’d never experienced this before, not even after Anchor. He rubbed at his face, letting out a groan as he stood back up straight. He kept trying to take a deep breath, but his chest continued to ache. In the distance, he saw a ship. It was large, much bigger than the one and Zeppelin crashed.
“Zepp, you here?!” he called. No thoughts crossed his mind of being discrete. He watched as a raccoon boarded the ship, and the water began to break past the walls of the tunnel. He should’ve been scared, but he wasn’t. His chest already hurt with each inhale, he was probably already drowning. He might as well drown surrounded by water. “Zepp!” he called again, pushing off the ground to as he pushed an arm out, as if to swim.
He hit the ground hard. Had he belly-flopped? Apparently, that was what it felt like. And he’d sunk right to the ocean floor again. On the ground, on his stomach, hit chest hurt just a little less. He reached his hand up next to his head, digging his fingers into the sand and raking it back. The mound of sand that formed turn into a foot. Was it Zeppelin’s foot?
Mako blinked. It was dark. The sun apparently blinked, too.
A wave was coming. Where was his surfboard? There was still that ship, in a light lavender color, like that cake Kai showed him. Was the ship...made...of...cake?
Mako was hungry, so he’d eat the wave that was coming. He stood back up, in awe of how easy it was to walk through the water now. He kept walking toward the wave, reaching out when he finally caught sight of something colorful in the water. It was a piece of driftwood, with candy growing on it. Serendipity. His mother loved that word.
The jellyfish were back, but they were nice now. Bigger than he remembered, and less bright. He stuck his arm into the wave to grab the candy off the driftwood. It was apparently some sort of hot, freshly made candy. It burned as he touched it, burned right through his skin as it cut through his palm.
He managed to get to the other side of the ship before the pain was too much to stand - literally. He fell. A back flop this time, right down to the ocean floor again. It knocked the wind out of him, but what did it matter? His veins felt like they were calcifying and spearing his through his bones and skins. Calcifying, serendipity, his mother would be so proud of the language crossing his mind. His teachers certainly wouldn’t believe it.
There was a noise, but he was in too much pain to move. The jellyfish were coming to bring him more cream. That was all he needed, some cream to soothe the pain. Maybe some of that weird alcohol he’d taken a sip of from the lounge where he saw the kid from Nine. Just two killers enjoying a drink before they went to die. All they were missing were some cigars, right?
Had he been crying this whole time? Probably. What a guppy he probably looked like.
“H-How...emb-b-barrassing,” he tried to say when he noticed a shadow to the side of him. He couldn’t even hear if he said anything, the blood was rushing too loudly in his ears. He couldn’t even turn his head without wanting to scream from a throat that wouldn’t let him. Damn it, this was so much more painful than drowning.
Had the jellyfish done this? Probably, they’d been out to get him from the start. He really hoped he wasn’t dead. “I’m g-g-g-onna-AGH!!!! I’m...saying something,” he spoke through lips he couldn’t quite feel anymore. He had to pause to groan, to scream, to convulse in pain that only brought more pain. What the heck had these jellies done to him? “H-hey, hey,” he rasped out, curled up on his side and trying to look at the creature who’d approached. The tears in his eyes blurred the hallucination even more. “Knockkno-ugh!!!!! Guess who’s...who’s there.”
