Across the Seas: Prelude

Perish

Andy couldn't speak to Ocean when they'd gotten back together to leave again. Ocean had least made Andy pack Sharli's back with some food for the road. It was going to take them some time to reach Seaffi, the name of the place Ocean had told Andy she'd take him to. He wasn't exactly sure how long it'd been at this point, but he'd never been paying attention to anything Ocean said at this point, nor focusing on his surroundings to see where they were. He couldn't speak after his time talking with Xatu, and he was starting to paint a pretty good picture of this world. Everyone wants something. Sharli wanted a kid to raise, Whisper wanted a way to get to a legendary for whatever reason, and Xatu wanted answers. Only those with actual good intentions might be the only trustworthy people, and as much as he wanted to trust Ocean right now, he didn't know what she wanted. Andy had no way of telling whether or not he was overreacting, but he didn't want to prove he was wrong. He grabbed Sharli's bag, and flipped the belt off of it that held it shut, opening its top, and reaching in, desiring to grab one of the little chip snacks he'd picked out, and just had those right now. One of the things he kept looking at was his tail fire, trying to find whatever trigger could change its flame. It seemed whenever he stopped thinking about things, it would change into its ghost purple. However, the recent events with Xatu have set his mind into a strange mode where he can't clear it of all thoughts, and thus, since that time, he has never seen the ghostly purple flame return.

Days has been dragging along as well, Andy and Ocean basically never talked. Andy could still recall what Ocean had been saying as they got back together. "Please, Andy. Say something. Did I do something wrong? What happened at the café?" Andy had chosen to exclusively remain locked down, not saying a word, or even acknowledging that Ocean was speaking to him. "Andy, you're a good man, I just, wish you could talk to me. I know I'm not the most trustworthy individual you've met, but I promise I've got your best interests at heart." When Andy still didn't say anything, Ocean had given up, and for the next few days onwards, they'd never said a single word to one another. Whenever Ocean needed sleep, she'd simply just stop herself in the water, and let herself rest for however long she needed. Andy would just lay down on the shell and find some calm noise, such as the ocean water sounds, and fall asleep to those, which was exactly what he planned to do now. He closed the bag, and set it down to use as a pillow, before lowering himself down with his hands, and closing his eyes, letting the sounds around him lull him to sleep, hoping he could just ignore everything for the time being.

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His dreams were filled with water. Water that surrounded him. Water that was filled with blood. His blood. He didn't know what was going on, this was all he opened his eyes to. He decided this wasn't the dream he wanted, so he started to kick up, trying what he could to wake up. Even though he knew this was a dream, the fear of drowning was still controlling him, and he didn't want it.

The moment he was about to break the surface of the water, something dragged him back down, something he couldn't feel, see, or even hear. Once he was pulled so far down, that all light was gone, he crashed onto some sort of black void that he couldn't see in. It was a very rough landing, but Andy didn't feel any pain from it. It was a dream after all, why would he? Andy slowly stood up onto his two feet, and once he straightened himself out, he turned to look into a mirror. Or at least, he assumed it was a mirror, because the individual on the other side was moving just like he was, but their body was much different than his. He couldn't make any details out from the shape except for the eyes, but the shadowy shape resembled a human. On his side of the void, it was pure white, while Andy's was nothing but darkness, the only light source being the flame from his tail. He walked up to the mirror, and planted his hand against the glass. The human had done the same thing, kneeling down his hand was where Andy's was. The reflection's hand was much bigger than Andy's, but that was expected from a different species from himself. Andy understood what he was seeing.