Flood Me Like Atlantic

Along The Shore

Content warnings: Implications of suicide, attempted suicide, mentions of death, implied self harm, not kinky choking, mentions of drowning, implications of suffocation, mentions of blood, loving threats
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It was something akin to peace, perhaps a dream, perhaps something far more or far less. The raging waves reduced to a hushed white noise, lapping at his ankles. Something deep within the back of his mind said he wasn't alone here, something cold resting on his shoulder confirming that suspicion.

"Foolish mortal." A voice so familiar, one he thought he would find reassuring, comforting maybe, but only feeling his stomach churn hearing. A familiar voice that made him feel sick.

"Your death is not your choice." A voice filled to the brim with the same poison he'd been drinking in for years.

"You will survive." A voice of a god with bad intentions. The pain hit suddenly, a suffocating pressure on his lungs that sent him down to the damp floor below. It was hard to breathe, he couldn't breathe. It was a vicious reminder of just whose thumb he'd found himself under, the concept of death becoming just a bit too comfortable in the past few weeks.

"Let this serve as a reminder." Their voice dragged his consciousness back to the waking world, the water, and them dragging him out of the depths. His god's grip was tight around his body to the point that it hurt, the salt just as suffocating as it had been when he initially went under.

There was no way to tell time here, like he would have wanted to anyway.

The rocks of the shore served no other purpose but to rough him up further, leaving drops of red to color the rain soaked stones for several seconds at a time. Several seconds passed before the realization of where most of it was coming from hit, the salt stinging into freshly opened wounds on his wrists. Another several seconds and there was a hand around his throat, stopping him from breathing all over again- like he could to begin with.

"You are nothing without me." His own hands gripped their wrist, wet and slick and stained red- he didn't want to know what from. They towered over him so easily, the only thing he could make out with rapidly blurring vision. They'd made their intentions clear, their message clear- they said what they wanted and now they wanted him gone. Surely that was the case..?

Either way, they didn't let him go until the dark took him again- at least he could assume as much.

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"Are you sure he came this way?" II asked again, his anxiety having long since bled into IV's own consciousness.

"Yes, I saw him earlier." It took all he had not to sigh, IV couldn't blame II for the anxiety that raged on the surface. It had been just a few days prior that Sleep had warned him against helping Vessel, IV can't blame him for worrying about the worst case scenario.

"I'm sure we'll-"

"What's that?" II cut in, kneeling down and leaning over the cliff side. IV grabbed the back of his hood to make sure he wouldn't go over.

"There's something down there.." IV followed his gaze, his eyes locking on a dark mound rather human shaped lying amongst the wet rocks. He felt his heart skip in his chest, gathering his thoughts quickly to stay calm for II's sake.

"Let's get down there slowly ok? It won't help if you fall." He tugged II to his feet carefully, leading both of them down the path that led to the shore below.

II rushed ahead as soon as they reached solid ground again, squirming out of IV's grip. IV sighed but followed, straying just a tad behind the shorter of them.

"Holy shit.." It was quietly spoken, II kneeling down next to his taller friend- lying with the water around him soaked red.

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