Nedden Week 2017

Day 5-- Fairytales/Mythological

Just a little warning before the story starts, there's some stuff here that's kinda nsfw and some blood, so be wary of that!

The sea was unusually calm, Mathias thought, as the ship sailed smoothly through an area of what was rough water. He had been on this route many times for trade, and didn't like the difference one bit. Smooth sailing was always a great thing, but this just felt too suspicious.

"Hey, Mathias!" His friend (if that's what he could consider him), Berwald, shouted to get his attention from where Mathias stared out at the water.

"D'you know this patch is usually rough?" Mathias asked, walking across the deck to see what Berwald needed. The other shrugged.

"Maybe we have luck on our side," Berwald replied. Lukas, Mathias' other friend, looked over the edge curiously.

"Hey, he's right-- for once. There's hardly a ripple out there." Mathias grinned.

"See? I-- hey, what do you mean for once? I'll have you know I'm a great navigator, and am right about a great many other things!"

"Like what?" Berwald asked unimpressed. Mathias huffed and walked away.

"I don't need this."

"Hey, wait! I didn' tell ya what I was goin' to say!" Berwald called after him.

"Oh yeah? And what's that? You wanna ask me how I manage to be such an amazing sailor?" Mathias grinned.

"No. I--" Berwald cut off by a sharp splash! from outside the ship.

"What the hell was that?" Mathias asked, looking over the taffrail to the side of the ship.

"That was wha' I was goin' to ask you about. Are ya throwin' stuff overboard? Lukas and I aren't doing it."

"So, I'm the cause of it, now? There's plenty of other people here!"

"Yeah, an' it doesn't look like anyone else 's out here..." Berwald said, gesturing towards the empty deck. Mathias looked around in shock.

"Where is everyone?" Another splash! brought him out of his reverie. He looked over again, and that's when he noticed him.

"Holy shit."

"Wha'?" Berwald looked over where Mathias was staring-- transfixed, actually-- on the water.

"Holy shit, somebody get to the helm! Turn away from him, but stay on course!" Mathias started running off, grabbing a bolt line and working to cut a length of it off to use.

"Who?" Berwald asked. Mathias scoffed while throwing his boots and heavy jacket off so he wouldn't be weighed down.

"What're you, blind? There's someone out there!" He hastily started tying the rope around his waist, handing the end to Lukas.

"Here, I'm gonna get him. Pull me up when I tug twice."

"What are you doing?" Lukas asked, unimpressed. "There's the dingy, use that." Mathias shook his head, shoving the end of the rope at him again.

"No time. Just come on, Lukas!" He took off running before leaping overboard.

"Mathias!" Lukas yelled after him, but Mathias barely heard over the sound of the wind and the waves as he plummeted into the icy waters. Mathias swam around, looking for the man he saw before. As he looked though, he couldn't see him. He took a deep breath before going under the surface and looking there. He kept swimming in search of the man he saw, stopping when he saw a chest. His eyes followed the figure up to the surface, where his head was poking out. Probably unconscious, he thought while grabbing them. He didn't think to look anymore, and pulled on the rope. The man seemed to become alert as Mathias swam towards the ship, jerking his head back to look at him. Mathias made eye contact for a second before continuing.