I'm back again!

I told myself I wouldn't write another story for a while, but I got this idea stuck in my head, and kinda had to write it down.

Anyway, the story is set in the mystery dungeon world, but it won't be following the MD plot.

Enjoy!

Dante looked up at the moon, her soft rays washing over his skin. It was a clear night. There were still a few clouds around, but the stars were out, as was the moon, its reflection distorted in the water. Dante liked the ocean, especially at night. He would stare at the moon for hours at a time, sometimes. The warm light it brought to the night soothed him, and he felt at home amongst the stars and the soft undulations of the water. He felt the boat rocking back and forth, gently, beneath his feet, and began to wonder why he had even come on this stupid expedition, well, that's what they called it anyway.

Dante had always been alone. He never knew his parents, and neither did anyone else. There was never any trace of anyone vaguely resembling a parent. Nobody came forward when he was found on the side of a road in a small coastal suburb of Sydney, lying in a Dante and Co fruit box – the origin of his name. He didn't have any brothers or sisters either, none that he knew of anyway. Eventually he ended up at a Christian orphanage just west of Sydney, run by the aptly named Miss Stone. Dante was never much of a people person, but Miss Stone was someone he especially despised. She took no prisoners when it came to discipline, and Dante knew this only too well. Too many times he had been on the wrong end of the cane for sneaking biscuits or being involved in a yard fight. He hated her, but at least he had shelter and food at the orphanage. Every year, the orphanage hosted an "expedition"; a lame trip to nowhere to visit some boring church to 'find peace with God' or something. Dante was never into that Christian business. He felt that, if there was a God up there somewhere, it had deserted him long ago.

The annual trip was not compulsory, of course, and Dante usually opted out every year, but this year, he had grown sick of the routine life of the orphanage, so he decided to go just this once. To break the routine and clear his head; he had told himself. This year's trip was to another boring place in New Zealand somewhere, hence the painfully long boat trip. A week, they had said. It had only been three days and already it felt like years had passed.

Dante heard the doors to the cabin lock. It was past curfew, and the doors were always locked after ten. Dante didn't mind. A few whacks with the strap were a small price to pay to stay out in the cool for another hour or so. Everyone inside had probably forgotten about him anyway. Clouds had begun rolling in, and pretty soon the moon had disappeared behind the tumbling mass. The wind had picked up, and the sea had become a mess of restless waves. Dante shivered and put his glove-clad hands under his armpits, to keep them warm. "Why did these stupid trips have to be in winter?" he asked himself in his mind, as if expecting an answer. Soon, the stars were completely snuffed out by the mass of dark, menacing clouds, and the waves struck the side of the boat with more venom, spraying onto the deck. Dante decided that it was far too cold and dangerous to stay outside anymore, and walked towards the cabin. As he reached for the handle and tried to open the door, he remembered that it had been locked at ten.

"Shit" he muttered to himself. The boat was rocking violently now, and Dante was struggling to stay on his feet. He stumbled his way to the other side of the cabin and tried the other door. It was locked too. Rain had begun falling now, each little droplet throwing itself at the deck of the boat, like tiny kamikaze pilots on their final flight.

"Hey!" Dante yelled as he hammered the door with his fist. "Let me in!" He could barely hear his own voice over the clattering of water on wood and tin. Dante knew that nobody inside could possibly hear him, but he slammed his fist into the metal door anyway, out of desperation more than anything else.

"Please!" He yelled again. "Let me-"

The wave struck him square in the back, slamming him against the metal door, before dragging him towards the side of the boat. Dante gasped for air, floundering for purchase on the slippery deck. He managed to bring himself to his hands and knees, weighed down by his soaked clothes, before he was struck by another powerful deluge of water. It dragged him away from the cabin, and towards the double-bar railing of the boat. Sliding backwards, Dante was unable to find a purchase on the metal floor, his hands scrabbling desperately for something to hold onto. Suddenly, he felt his legs leave the metal floor altogether, as they travelled off the edge into the open air. Almost simultaneously, Dante felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. He had collected the bottom bar of the double-bar railing on the way under. Dante couldn't tell which way was up, and everything had just become a blur, a thousand pictures melted into a single, unrecognisable one. He barely felt the cold embrace of the sea as he plummeted into the churning waters. The waves seemed like they were pulling him down, like it was their only purpose.

Dante let out his last remaining breath of air, as the darkness closed in and the world slipped away…