Welcome to Resbang 2015, everybody! Before I start, I'd like to give a special thanks to my beta therewithasmile. Be sure to check out my artist Haleyham's work on tumblr, too. We've all worked hard on this, and I'm proud to present you with the final product.
Cronashy-absentia presents to you:
From Blue to Red
Chapter 1: Bicycle
His every breath was a struggle. Oxygen no longer freely passed through his lungs, and the water that was constantly washing over him didn't help.
"Don't worry, boy," She cackled, holding him down. "You won't drown, I promise. Just stop fighting it."
He squeezed his eyes shut to shield them from the rushing surf. He wished to close his ears just as tightly, but his hands were bound behind his back.
"Your mother gave her life so that this wouldn't harm you. Why don't you use her gift?"
His mouth opened to speak, but salty brine rushed into his jaws. Every drop that touched his skin was turning it pale and rough, and the water that poured down his throat was altering his lungs.
The woman's eyes narrowed, and she then lifted his head from off the sand. "You're tougher than you look," She said. "All this time, and you still won't give in. We've been sitting here for hours."
The man coughed, expelling the saltwater from his lungs. He opened his eyes, catching the woman in a fierce red gaze. Her amber eyes blinked, unfazed.
"Still adamant, are we?" She sighed. "You can't fight it for much longer. Soon my counter-curse will take over."
At the words "counter-curse," a harsh, animal-like scowl took over the man's face. Rage began to control his consciousness and his irises became wild with hatred as he whipped his head around to stare her directly in the eyes.
"It's not a counter-curse!" He spat, "It's just another curse! I'd rather drown than-!"
Abruptly, his voice was silenced by the ocean as the witch tossed him into its waves, his entire body submerged beneath the dark, disquiet sea.
The teen thrashed beneath the tide, as the binds around his ankles and wrists prevented him from doing anything other than struggle. He turned his head upward, the water's surface mere inches away from his face, but that distance continued to grow as the waves carried him out to sea. He held his last remaining breath tightly in his cheeks, not daring to let go of it. But he could already feel his body changing: the scales were growing back, and his legs had begun to blend together.
The second he could no longer sustain himself with what little oxygen remained in his lungs, the sides of his neck split open and formed into gills.
The transformation had consumed him.
"Alright class, I want to make three things very clear from the beginning," the professor uttered the first words his students heard from him, right before he slammed a large textbook down onto his desk. Scars that resembled incision marks littered his face. His blasé olive eyes swept over his class behind the ellipses of his glasses, and he possessed a ragged mop of grey hair which caused him to seem older than he probably was.
"First, I hate icebreakers, so we won't be doing any more of those, even though it's your first day. I'm sure you already had your fair share of them in Ms. Mjolnir's class, anyway. Second, my name is Professor Stein," he said.
From their seats near the back of the class, Maka Albarn frowned.
"The first thing he says about himself is what he hates, and then he tells us his name," She thought to herself. Even so, the sociology professor, Ms. Mjolnir, did have them do a lot of icebreakers. She didn't teach anything until the last ten minutes of class.
Glancing to the side, Maka could tell that her friend Crona was already feeling intimidated by the stern-talking teacher. She rocked a little in her seat, her jaw pulled tight.
Stein continued, "Third, I'm smarter than any of you, which is why I'm the teacher and you're not. Now that we've got that out of the way, I figure that we'll start with something simple," He said, grabbing a small remote from on top of his desk. "As I hope you're all aware, this is Biology 1. However, most of you are undoubtedly here for a marine biology major, seeing as this is Morte University, and it's what we're famous for. So, I'd like to ask you all a question."
At the click of one of the buttons on his remote, a PowerPoint presentation began on the whiteboard. Stein pointed to the photograph on the screen with his laser pointer.
"Can anyone tell me what this is?" He asked simply. Immediately, the rambunctious blue-haired teen who sat a few rows ahead of Maka began waving his hand. Stein straightened his glasses. "And who are you again?"
"I AM THE MIGHTY BLACK STAR!" The brash student shouted loud enough that the elephants in Africa probably wished they could cover their ears, thought Maka ruefully.
Their teacher merely blinked. "And what is the answer to my previous question, Black Star?" continued Stein, entirely unfazed.
Maka was contemplating the oddness of the man's name as he blurted out: "It's a shark!"
Stein wasted no time in picking up one of the whiteboard erasers before promptly throwing it into Black Star's face.
"No," He said, his steady tone beginning to unnerve Maka. "You're in college now. Be more specific."
While the tall, dark-haired girl next to Black Star began doting on him and his new injury, Maka raised her hand confidently.
"Yes, and who are you?" Stein said.
"Maka Albarn," she stated, "and it's a tiger shark, sir." Stein nodded.
"Good," he said, but the pitch of his voice implied boredom rather than appreciation. "This is a picture of a tiger shark that I took myself while scuba diving."
Having seemingly recovered from the large bruise on his forehead, Black Star yelled loudly, "Did you see the White Shark?"
For the first time, Stein's face showed the slightest hint of irritation. "No," He said sternly. "There is no White Shark. And I hope that's the last I hear of an imaginary creature in my class."
For good measure, he threw another eraser at Black Star.
Maka's attention was piqued. "White Shark?" She wondered, picking at her pencil's eraser with her thumbnail. After a moment, however, she dismissed the thought as Black Star merely being ignorant and didn't think much more of it.
The remainder of Stein's class went relatively smoothly. At least, no more erasers were thrown. Even though Maka understood most of what was being said, her professor had a habit of speaking over the other students' heads. She would have to go back to her dorm later and read over the textbook to have the lesson explained in simpler terms, and she imagined that the other students would do the same if they were serious about passing the class.
At the sound of the bell, Stein shut off the projector. "Remember everyone," He had to shout slightly to be heard over the sounds of scraping chairs and rushing students, hurrying to be free from their sadistic professor. "Read pages one through thirty-two before our next class."
"Forget reading!" exclaimed Black Star, "I'm outta here! Later, sicko!" He then bolted out of the classroom like a blue comet. Maka observed that the dark-haired girl followed him, squeaking out an apology to Stein before dashing into the hallway.
"Are you ready, Maka?" Crona asked quietly after she finished putting her books back in her bag. Maka nodded, casting one last glance towards the tiger shark that once again filled up the whiteboard, before she followed her friend out the door.
Maka took in a deep breath of ocean air. The pedals of her bike flew in circles underneath her feet, its rhythmic ticking almost drowned out by the melody of the nearby sea.
"Isn't this fun, Crona?" She called behind her, turning to watch her friend. She nodded, easily keeping up with Maka even though the pink-haired teen wasn't pedaling very fast. Her long legs made up for her low speed.
Maka beamed as she pedaled over the street. Port Morte wasn't a very busy city aside from the campus, which was separated from the main town by backroads, so the streets were clear of cars as the two friends toured the town for a bite to eat. Maka loved the fact that she'd get to travel like that all the time there; she loved biking.
The only thing she didn't enjoy about it was that she had next to no idea where anything was.
Her bike skidded to a halt as Maka grabbed the handle brakes. The road forked before her: one side was paved, the other was sand and gravel.
"Maka?" Crona said, coming up beside her, "Why'd you stop?"
The blonde twisted her head back and forth, childish pigtails swishing across her shoulders with each motion.
"I'm not quite sure which road we're supposed to take," she admitted. "I mean, there aren't any road signs."
Crona followed her gaze down each road. "Well… I'd pick the paved one," She said. "I don't think that a dirt road like that would lead to town," She offered, but Maka wasn't convinced.
"I don't know," She sighed. "Tell you what. You go down the main road, and I'll take the rocky one. I'll text you if I find the town, and you text me if you do. All right?" She suggested.
Crona's eyes shifted back and forth between the main road and the other one. Maka could see that she didn't want to be separated from her, but her friend's eyes took on a frightened air as she looked down the ominous-looking path.
"Okay," Crona agreed quietly, beginning to pedal once more. "I'll see you in a little bit, I guess."
Maka waved. "Remember to text me if you find anything!" She called, staring down the back road. Immediately, her bike began bumping back and forth on the gravel. With a grunt of effort, she pushed forward. The path began to slope slightly after a minute, and when she looked ahead of her, Maka could see that it descended down into a passage through two large sea cliffs.
It definitely wasn't Main Street, that much Maka was sure of. There were no houses, no commotion; only rocks with more rocks, save a small blotch of orange that caught her eye. Against her better judgement, her curiosity won over her. As she tried to cycle her way down the steep path, she noticed the shape of a cabin. Perhaps the occupants knew where Main Street was, she thought as she braked quickly - hitting the wrong rock with her tire would thrust her down the hill and plant her face-first in the gravel. Eventually she decided to continue on foot, walking her bike alongside her.
"Hello?" She called, leaning her bike against the beach house. The building's bright orange hue was a sharp contrast to the rocky surrounding landscape.
"This shade of orange would stand out against anything," she added to herself, stepping up on the porch. "Hello?" She asked again as she knocked on the door. "Anyone home?"
"Mew."
Maka turned around at the noise, only to find a small black cat staring back at her with luminescent amber eyes. It sat upon the porch railing, and the evening light that caught its fur caused it to appear almost purple. Maka smiled at it.
"Hi there. Do your owners live here?"
"Mew," the cat seemed to reply, before jumping off the porch. It padded into the gravel road and then looked behind itself, as if to see if Maka was following. "Mew."
Maka's sight traveled down the remainder of the road. There was only another short distance down the path before it ended in a small beach and bay secluded by cliffs, with a weather-worn pier jutting out from the sand. The area was kind of dismal and colorless, littered more with rocks and boulders than otherwise.
Maka sighed, about to turn back and head back to the main road.
"Mew."
She sighed. "Look, cat, I need to go back meet my-"
When she turned around, she was cut off suddenly as something caught her eye. In the thin area of water she could see, a large entity approached the beach. A large, pale shape poked its way out of the surf, gaining speed as it made its way under the pier. Maka couldn't tell quite what it was, but from a distance, she could make a guess. Unanswered questions from earlier that day resurfaced in her mind and fed her imagination, causing her to gasp.
"It's the White Shark," she breathed.