Gura is lost.
It starts with a simple boat ride – head out into the ocean a bit, and do some deep sea diving for old time's sake. The problem is, upon resurfacing, her ride is gone, along with any maps or navigation.
Gura stretches, arms high above her head, as she stands up on the small boat she's taken out here. The sun is bright overhead, and feels wonderful on her skin. Heading out on the ocean to revisit her undersea life during her break was a genius idea. She lets her arms fall and swing by her sides. She's smiling. The clear blue ocean is gorgeous to look out upon. She steps to the railing lining the edge of the small boat and takes a deep breath of the ocean air. It smells like home. Without hesitation, she dives over the edge and into the cool waters. Her shoes and outer clothing are left back on the boat. Even in deep ocean waters, she wouldn't be cold, not like a human would be. Her eyes open to a wonderful world she had been apart from for what felt like centuries. Dark blues all around, fish swimming by in schools, and even a turtle here and there. Looking down and around, there's no sign of ground anywhere. She grins, and dives deeper, eager to see more of what she had long since left.
After a few hours of exploring the dark of the ocean, she comes back up. She's a little disappointed if she's honest with herself – there really wasn't much for miles, and having adjusted to the business of life on the surface, her distractable mind just couldn't take the emptiness for too long.
Gura laments this loss.
She breaches the surface with a splash, and has to quickly cover her eyes as they are assaulted by the light. The sun isn't yet setting, but is high in the sky, and the contrast of water diluting light to it shining full force is blinding. Paddling around with one arm a bit, she squints from underneath her arm, trying to find the boat.
Not that way. She turns. Not that way either. She spins in a circle and anxiety wells up in her as she doesn't see her ride, along with the navigation on board. It's gone, No way it's gone! She starts to panic. I made to sure to mostly just swim down, right? There's no way I went so far away I can't see it! Her heart starts running a mile a minute and she chooses a direction at random to start swimming.
After a few minutes of swimming she stops, treading water. Her tail twitches anxiously. She sinks until her face is halfway under. Calm down Gura, just... calm down. You're a big shark. You used to live in the ocean. You can find your way back. Except the ocean was big. Really big. Way bigger than she'd ever been able to explore the tiniest fraction of. Her mind echoes back words from thousands of years ago, Don't stray too far from the city. Don't go too deep. If you get lost, you'll never find your way back. She shivered despite not being cold.
I just gotta find a shoreline, right? Which way did I come from? Gura thinks long and hard, trying to remember. The sun was... behind me, when I left? Yeah, I left... west shore? Sun behind me means west, right? She struggles with herself about directions for a while until a fish brushes against her leg and she yelps, nearly jumping out of the water. Her heart hammers. "Right, west, let's go west." She swims towards the sun.
It's nightfall and the sun isn't there to guide her anymore. She realizes she needs to rest and dives down, looking for any kind of cave or alcove. It takes minutes before she even finds any kind of ground, and after a few more minutes of searching she simply gives up and decides to float on her back on top of the water. Despite the occasional wave splashing water into her face and the tiny pinprick of fear that maybe she'd be attacked just floating there like a sitting duck, she can't help but feel herself relax as she stares up at the vast expanse above her. Countless stars shine in the sky, a beautiful light she could never truly see and appreciate in the city. The moon isn't obscured, shining brightly overhead. She's lost, and hungry, but despite all that, she feels some measure of peace, and allows herself to drift off to sleep.
She wakes up to her stomach grumbling. Gura groans and covers her face with an arm to try and block out the light. "Five more minutes, I don't wanna go to school yet..." No person or alarm clock criticizes her for laying there for another five minutes. Or ten minutes. Or twenty minutes. Gura really doesn't want to have to face her predicament. She feels pains of hunger. It's enough to finally get her to stop laying back and lean forwards, treading water again. Squinting as she looks upwards, she sees the sun rising. What way was I going? West? She takes a deep breath again and starts swimming. Her muscles are a little sore from yesterday – she become used to sitting around a lot on the surface, so as natural as it felt, swimming long distances for nearly an entire day was still tiring. And hunger inducing. She swims for about an hour before she can't stand it anymore and dives down to see what she can find.
She hadn't really been one to partake in hunting much back in the day, and she certainly wasn't used to raw food. The idea of having to catch and eat something raw made her jumpy.
There are fish around. She's surprised to find how little fear they show, She can get within nearly a meter proximity to them before most swam off.
Gura feels nervous. It's been, what, hundreds of years since she had to do this? She can't remember the last time she's had to eat catch like this. The few times she did catch anything it was brought to shore and saved to be cooked later.
Get a grip, Gura, She chides herself, you're an apex predator. Don't forget it! She steels herself with a determined glare. The pain in her stomach is the motivation she needs to do this. Seeing another group of small, blue fish, she slowly closes the distance. Her heart is pounding and she licks her lips nervously. Definitely just nervously. One... two... three! She darts forwards, whipping her tail behind her for a burst of speed and reaches out. The fish scatter but she grabs one by the tail. It's about half a foot long. The other fish flee and leave the one she grabbed to its fate. She stares down at the struggling thing. She hesitates. Her instincts are screaming, Kill! Eat! Kill! The part of her that's grown soft over the centuries holds her back. Every flop it does in her hands magnifies both voices. She struggles with herself and she feels as though her vision is turning red. Kill! Eat! Kill! Her stomach growls. She relinquishes conscious thought to the raging voices in her head and bites down with her fangs.
Gura is floating on her back atop the water again. The blue water is marred by a few red patches around her. She can still taste irony crimson in her mouth and she shudders. What happened to me? She fearfully ponders. For a while there she had just... lost herself, tearing the fish to shreds. Her stomach no longer feels as empty, but does have a pit of dread in it. Apex predator... She closes her eyes slowly and sighs, a long, sad thing.
She's still lost. She doesn't know where to go. By now she figures her friends will start wondering why she isn't back yet and might try looking for her. There isn't any way they'd find her though, not now. Finding one shark in the middle of an entire ocean? Unlikely.
"Just... just gotta keep swimming."
So she does.
Days pass. At least, she thinks it's been days. It's hard to keep track anymore. She's becoming too hungry to think. She wants to eat again, but she fears the voice in her head that screams whenever another creature comes near her. Kill! Eat! Kill!
So she doesn't.
Her stomach hurts, and so does her head.
Gura is laying on her back again. She doesn't have the energy left to move. Even the raging voice in her head has quieted down, no longer having the energy and intensity. She's hungry. She doesn't think she's ever been this hungry.
She sniffles. There's tears in her eyes. "I want to go home..." Her mind travels to her home. Her warm bed, her favourite drinks. Fridges, ovens, and food. She thinks of her friends and how worried sick they must be. How hopeless they must feel at this point. She closes her eyes and let the tears fall into the salty ocean. It feels hopeless to her, too.
After a while her vision starts blurring. She can feel her heart slowing down. She feels cold. The pangs of agony in her stomach drown out everything and she feels her eyes close.
I guess this is it. She goes limp.
Until she feels a hand grab her arm and yank her up out of the water, a startled gasp exploding from her throat and her eyes fly open. She sees blonde hair and blue eyes, which are staring at her with immense worry and a twinge of relief. "There you are! Oh god, you have no idea how long I've been looking for you!" Gura can barely comprehend what's happening and just lets her mouth hang open in shock. Here Amelia is, holding onto a rope ladder hanging down with one arm, and holding up Gura with the other. Tears spill over from Gura's eyes again in disbelieving happiness. "A-Ame...?" Her voice cracks.
"Shoot, let's get you up outta here and get some food into ya."
Gura can barely follow what's happening and just nods. She reaches out and holds onto her friend for dear life as the ladder is pulled up. She realizes, in the back of her mind, that's it's connected to a helicopter.
After an agonizing couple of minutes, they're up inside the small aircraft. Gura drops off Amelia onto the floor. Solid ground. Solid ground. Gura has never been so happy in her life to be out of water.
Amelia quickly steps over to a couple of seats and opens a small bag. "I've got food here for you, okay? Don't die on me, please, not again." Gura vaguely notes the 'again' part in the midst of the promise of food. Kill! Eat! Kill! rings through her mind. Gura decides to listen to the second of the three commands. Amelia gives her a small bowl of cooked vegetables. It looks like to greatest food ever made to Gura''s eyes.
After a feeding frenzy, Gura is leaning back in a seat, eyes drooping. She's still hungry, but Amelia says if she eats any more she'll puke and get 'refeeding syndrome' leading to her body getting destroyed, so she settles to wait until they get back to land. The food she ate alone already helped immensely.
With her immediate needs taken care of, she hugs Amelia tightly. "Thank you thank you thank you! I thought I was gonna... it- it hurt so much, I was so lonely, I thought I was gonna die alone, Ame-"
Amelia gives a small laugh and tries to avoid being hugged to death. "I won't let that happen to you, Gura. I won't. You're safe now..." She has a happy tone of voice but a pained look in her eyes. Gura lightens up her hug but doesn't let go. "How did you find me...?" Gura asks quietly. She feels as though the answer won't be one she likes based on the look Amelia is giving.
"You..." Amelia swallows and looks away. "You died." Gura feels a chill. "Ame, did you-"
"Yeah." Amelia answers. "I went back in time. Tried really hard to find out where you ended up but it was impossible. I kept running out of time and having to start again. In the end I... I'm sorry Gura." Amelia sounds guilty now. "I had to let you die," Gura is confused. Concerned and confused, waiting for Amelia to continue.
"I had Cali tell me... where she found your soul, and how you died. Then I had to wait until you almost died just so I'd end up where you were, and... I wasn't on time, for a few attempts." Amelia has this haunted look in her eyes. Gura hugs her tightly again. "It's okay. You did what you had to do, I'm- you saved me Ame, you saved me in the end. Thank you. I'm okay now." Gura tries to comfort her. Amelia hugs her back. She whispers , "I'm really glad you're safe..."
Gura doesn't ask how she died. She already knows. Starvation.
Kill. Eat. Kill.
She ignores the voice and hugs Amelia. She's safe and alive, and with her friend. The voice could shut it.
Gura finally rests as they head back home, to solid ground.
