[The Dark Ocean]
Solo
Words: 530
Points: 1/1
Solo
Words: 530
Points: 1/1
Valeriu would never be a sailor.
Well, he wouldn't be a lot of things. But sailor was at the top of that list, right beneath human and just above father. Following that was in a stable, healthy, loving relationship and able to beat Tezcatlipoca at ping pong. After a single hour of gazing into the black and terrible waters they floated upon, he didn't think he'd ever be willing to set another foot upon a boat ever again without flashing back to the dark waves and the things that lay beneath.
Faces floated by. Hundreds, thousands, millions. He held his breath, staring hard, wondering-
Is it someone I know?
My coworkers?
My friends?
My parents?
Tepin?
Each time the soul drifted by without recognition, he swallowed hard in relief, short-lived and unwarranted as it was. The river was wide, so wide; they could pass by and he would never know.
But it was nice to hope.
Sometimes the people that passed would be in agony, and he would reach out his fingers as if to skim the waters and somehow dispel their pain, but always stopped scant inches from the ripples of the surface. Unwilling to break the watery barrier out of caution for the dangers of the river.
Best not to touch, even if it might do nothing to him, knowing what he was. Though he imagined his shadows were nowhere near as black as the waters around them.
The trip was not without its surprises, he dimly acknowledged. Godlings he'd assumed were long dead had appeared for the trip, and bitterly he wished the young fools had stayed dead - their nervous chatter and safety in numbers mentality only grated on his frayed nerves, ruffling his instincts as if egging him on to permanently shush them.
There were other people he'd wished had been on the boat instead of these halfhearted Players - kids who only thought the Game useful to them when it could save their lives. And now, in a new city, they would simply blend back into the scenery once more, taking advantage of the gifts that had been given to them with no regard or responsibility.
A growl rose in his throat.
Valeriu had never had the leisure of being that uncommitted and selfish.
His gaze inevitably drifted from the waters back over to where Sydni sat, drawing on pieces of paper with Quinn.
The weeks before this had, in some ways, been more terrible, and the weeks ahead of him looked worse. Releasing her into the Carnegie's care had been heartbreaking and more difficult than he could've imagined. But she needed normality, a family, and safety.
He didn't think it would be so damn hard to let her go.
Or to let her go, his mind whispered, reminding him.
His stare skittered back to the waters, head bowing wearily as something like panic bubbled within his rib cage, terror fluttering weakly as his instincts lashed out at the very memory.
He searched the faces passing by, once more. Hand ready to snap out, grab, drag and clutch the soul that he didn't want to see swim past.
I think I still need you.
