Chapter 11
All she felt was the vortex that was pulling her further and further down and the water that surrounded her, its warmth vaguely concealing the unseen force. At first She tried to fight back, to try and overpower it and hopefully come back up. But all her efforts were futile, every time she tried to push herself up, the vortex would just pull her back down stronger. "Is this is," she thought, her world slowly fading into black, "am I gonna die here…now." If she was crying she couldn't tell, she closed her eyes ready to accept her fate, the last image she saw was her beloved, "Akagi."
But then, she suddenly felt nothing, no force pulling her down, nothing entering her mouth, her throat, nor her lungs, she couldn't even feel the warmth or wetness of the water that was just around her; she felt nothing. "Am I dead," she thought, slowly opening her eyes, she didn't see swirling water, she just saw black, not darkness, just plain black. She turned her head from side to side and moved her arms and hands around, still she saw the same black and felt the same nothing. When she caught a glimpse of her hand and arm, she's surprised and decides to test how much she can actually sense in this new environment, she pinches her side wincing slightly. She realizes that she hasn't lost feeling but that there was nothing for her to feel. "Just what is this place?" She wonders out loud, surprised by her ability to speak even though again she was just completely submerged in water.
While still looking around she sees a sudden bright red light. After focusing on it, it starts to change. While it's changing, she trys to move and despite there being nothing interacting with her senses, she is still able to walk closer to the light. When she got close, the light changes into a more human-like form. A slightly older looking female figure taller than Fubuki becomes visible, the figure bears a striking resemblance to Akagi. "Akagi," Fubuki calls out, "is that you."
As the figure turned to face her, Fubuki could only see a blank bulbous slate where a face would be. At first it startled Fubuki but soon realized that the figure seemed surprised by her reactions so it seemed as if she could somehow read the figures emotions. After a few moments, the figure seemed to reach out its hand to Fubuki almost as if it had found a long lost lover. Touched by the seemingly sincere gester, Fubuki returned the it, slowly getting closer to the figure. Suddenly, a dark shape, almost like a hand grabbed the figure and quickly pulled it away from Fubuki. Caught by surprise and distraught, Fubuki quickly went after them. Fueled by sheer determination, Fubuki ran and ran but only seemed to either to slowly get closer or not gain any distance at all. As her desperation began to grow, she tried to push herself to go faster and faster, until seemingly she starts to float or fly instead of running. She soon began to get closer. After she got close enough, she lunged forward and tackled the figure free from the shadow hand, which immediately dissipated. Fubuki, relieved at her successful rescue, begins to tear up. The figure slightly rolled so that it was on its back and facing Fubuki, seemingly happy to finally be united with Fubuki. It once again slowly raised to hand to Fubuki again, this time, it reaches Fubuki's face and caresses it almost lovingly. As Fubuki touched the figure's hand with her own, the figure begins to glow and tiny specs of similar glowing light start to break off. The figure then, goes up and hugs Fubuki, surprising her. The figure's body broke apart, as if what was holing its body together had failed it and it broke into the many fragments of light. Distraught over the apparent death of the figure she just resuced, Fubuki soon noticed the tiny orbs start to move toward and start to enter her body. After all the orbs enter her body she again starts to glow like before, but it as she glows, she starts to feel a sudden warm feeling feeling and a rush of energy. Just then a bright light envelops her and she is suddenly transported again.