Rise and Fall

The Survivor

Hi, guys! Even though Cars will always be special to me, I'm not really into it anymore. I have a new fandom, so here I am.

This is a pretty self-indulgent fic and I'm still not used to writing Octonauts fanfiction, so if things are a little off and the characters are OOC, then that's why. Although, having said that, this is a situation we never see them in on the show. Besides, this fic is aimed at a slightly older audience than the show. So, I don't mind a little OOC for those reasons. Still, I don't want to abuse it. For the latter issue, I've found that the way I improve is to keep practising, so I'll do just that.

Okay, I guess I should probably just shut up and let you read this. *Takes deep breath* Here we go!

Chapter 1: The Survivor

It was next to impossible to see a thing. Thick, grey clouds made the sky appear dark as night, even though it was only four-thirty in the afternoon. Rain pelted down on her, making her blink, and the waves kept towering over her, further blocking her view. Salt stung at her eyes. The only light came when lightning turned the sky silver...

...and, in turn, from the brilliant orange flames created by the lightning.

The burning boat was being tossed around in the crashing waves, like a toy in a bathtub. Heavy, black smoke billowed upwards, mingling with the dark clouds. From where she was, it was near impossible to tell the smoke from the clouds.

It was just as well that she could barely see a thing. She didn't want to see. She couldn't watch the fire raging on, consuming her home, despite the downpour of rain putting up a good fight. She couldn't watch what was left of her parents and, presumably, her siblings being claimed by the fire and ocean. Yet, whenever her vision cleared, she felt like she had to. She just couldn't look away from the terrible sight, like a bad dream where you can't wake up.

"MUM!" she cried helplessly, redundantly. "DAD!"

Naturally, there was no answer. That could have been because of all the noise that the wind, rain and thunder were making, but she knew the truth.

Even though she felt like there was no point, she tried to call out to others.

"Grace! Benji! Skylar!"

Still nothing. Her whole family was gone. Only ten years old and she was all alone. And fighting for her life.

She flailed madly, clinging onto her backpack for dear life; not only because it contained what little she had left in the world, but because it was probably saving her life. She was not a great swimmer, despite living on a boat, and she would panic if her feet couldn't touch the bottom. At that moment, she hoped she wouldn't touch the bottom.

Every time a wave knocked her over, things would go quiet. A strange temporary calm washed over her, as if all of her senses had suddenly been switched off. Then she would resurface and fear would take hold once again.

She felt herself being pulled away from the blazing boat and her parents and siblings. Eventually, it was all just a tiny dot on the horizon.

"Mum", she murmured one last time. "Dad."

Yet, nobody and nothing was around to care. The ocean showed no mercy.

"No! No! No!" she cried out as the waves rose and fell on top of her. "NOOOOO!"

Another ginormous wave knocked her over again. By the time she'd found her way to the surface, she couldn't see the boat at all.

Hours passed. The storm passed. Although, the sky remained dark as the stars came out. The waves were much kinder and gentler to the girl once the storm had disappeared. At around midnight, as if it were a peace offering, the ocean deposited her on the shores of a deserted island.

The girl didn't have the physical or mental capacity to be grateful. She just lay there, soaking in the sand, struggling for breath. She couldn't stop coughing.

She also couldn't even begin to think about how suddenly and dramatically her life had changed. Her parents were gone. Her brother and sisters were gone. Her home was gone. All of her possessions were gone.

How could this happen?! she wondered. For nearly as long as she could remember, she'd been terrified of fire; having her house burn down had been her worst nightmare. Now, it had actually happened. And it was much, much worse than she thought it would be. Losing all of her things was awful enough, but she never thought she'd lose her family as well.

She had no time to grieve, though. She wasn't out of the woods herself yet. She shivered and coughed up some more water. Young and naïve as she was, she knew she'd be very lucky if she survived the night.

They say that the darkest hour is just before the dawn, but to her, it felt like the sun would never rise.

But despite the girl's tragedy, the world did not stop. The next morning arrived and she woke up with the sun (having only fallen asleep three hours later). She couldn't believe it! Somehow, she'd made it through the night. She may have been completely heartbroken, cold, hungry, thirsty and wet, but still very much alive.

The ten-year-old stood up tentatively. She was still sopping wet and her clothes clung to her like a second skin. So, she decided to peel off her jeans for the time being. She would have died of embarrassment if anybody saw, but she was all alone. Besides, the sun was out now; maybe that would dry her and her clothes out and she could put them back on.

Slowly, she rotated three hundred and sixty degrees. There wasn't much to see on the island: a few trees with coconuts tauntingly high up; a couple of shells and endless rocks. Her backpack really didn't contain much either.

It all led to one question.

How was she going to survive?