Mostly fun and games.

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Chapter 9: Go Fish

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"Yo, Kid, come check me out!"

Kid was fairly certain he couldn't get a heart attack, but such belief was currently under heavy fire.

"Black Star, get down from there-!"

"Yo!" Black Star yelled back with a wave as if he couldn't hear Kid when the Grim Reaper was completely certain he could. "Isn't this like, the coolest place to jump off from?!"

Yes, Kid was definitely having a heart attack. "Jump off?! That… thing you're on is barely standing upright!"

Black Star only responded with laughter and Kid cursed his luck as he run to where Black Star was standing. Or more accurately, where Black Star was currently balancing on, because the structure was anything but stable. The tall tower of stones, perhaps a former lighthouse of some sorts, was on the brink of collapse, its stones having fallen away and torn off by the sea. Some areas looked as if entire structurally important sections were missing yet the whole thing remained precariously upright, like a Jenga tower moments before collapsing.

Maybe Kid was overreacting, since the only thing that was left of the structure was the tower itself, any dams or walkways having been long eroded by the sea. However, the tower was at least a dozen meters tall and there were sea urchins in the area. Kid supposed he could fly up and get Black Star down. However, he feared that if he did do so then Black Star would jump down just to prove he could. But… Black Star was at least now talking to him.

Kid craned his neck to look at Back Star and cupped his hands like a megaphone. "We can go for a swim if you'd like," he yelled back, as if he was a negotiator in a hostage situation. "But please, get down from there."

From what little Kid could see of Black Star's frame, most of it obscured by a brilliant setting sun, he took a moment to ponder Kid's suggestion. "Alright!"

Kid sighed in relief. "Stay where you are! I'm coming to get you down!"

Black Star gave him a thumbs-up, and Kid, somewhat reassured, stared at the sea between him and the crumbling tower. He supposed he could still fly, but since he was going for a swim anyways, he might as well swim to where Black Star was.

Kid quickly undressed, not wanting to ruin his clothes any further by saltwater, keeping only his underwear on. The sea before him stretched wide, blue, calm and oil-like smooth.

With a running start, Kid ran in, dived and swam breaststroke towards the tower. The water was wonderfully chill against the afternoon's warmth and the hot northern wind. Below him, the bottom of the sea descended, was then covered in a thick layer of black seaweed, and eventually disappeared.

As Kid approached Black Star he noticed the occasional series of boulders poking from the depths like mountain ranges, with a variety of clams, sea urchins and various crabs busying themselves across their surface. Schools of fish would briefly ascend only to quickly moved out of Kid's away.

Eventually Kid reached the edge of the tower and looked up at Black Star. "Alright, stay where you are and I'll come up-"

"Wahoo!"

Before Kid realized what was happening, Black jumped off, curled himself into a ball and cannonballed right by Kid, making the water explode. Kid moved out of the way and found himself underwater. Mildly disoriented, Kid swam around and just when he was rising up, he glanced at the bottom of the sea, of the rocks stretching down into a dark welcoming abyss-

Kid resurfaced with a gasp and glared at a grinning Black Star. "What was that?!"

"You didn't tell me how to get down from there," Black Star said with the nonchalant air of someone who had knowingly broken an unwritten rule.

Just when Kid was considering whether he should hold Black Star underwater for a few seconds just so he could experience a glimpse of all the stress Kid was put on, a horrible creaking noise came from the tower.

Black Star's smile faltered as he and Kid looked up at a now-leaning tower. "Uh, is that-?"

"It's collapsing!" Kid yelled as he grabbed Black Star's collar, activated his jets and propelled them out of the way. They were pelted by small debris, larger stones hitting the water next to them until they went out of range just when the tower fully collapsed. The heavy stones sprayed water everywhere and created a series of waves that disrupted the sea's otherwise calm surface.

Black Star's mouth formed a perfect 'o' as he watched the destruction before breaking into a wide smirk. Kid only despaired; Grim Reaper or not, he swore he was going to leave his last breath in this accursed island.

"That was awesome!" Black Star yelled as he wrapped his hand over Kid's shoulder and pulled him close. "It's like we were Indiana Jones chased by that giant boulder, only at sea and with an ancient lighthouse!"

"Including the almost getting crushed part," Kid muttered.

"Yeah thanks for that quick thinking. I mean, I was gonna punch all the pieces out of the way, but with your way we got to see the thing collapse!"

Kid didn't know what was worst; that he agreed with Black Star that he could punch a collapsing tower of the way, of the fact that he knew Black Star could do so from experience.

But, they were interacting like old.

"Is that enough swimming for today, or do you want to destroy any more ruins?"

"Come on, I just jumped in…" Black Star moaned, though he looked down at his stomach moments later. "But all that exploring has made me pretty hungry…"

Kid frowned. Ever since they had walked over the stone wall they hadn't come across any vegetation, let alone anything edible. If they wanted to gather food like last time they'd camped, they'd need to retrace their steps back into the forest and forage. Alternatively…

"We can try fishing," Kid offered. There were fish in the sea at least, and it was about time Black Sar had something to eat that wasn't fruit and the occasional vegetable.

Black Star let out another moan. "Fishing's boring…"

Kid scoffed. "We don't have time for traditional fishing." He gestured to where beach gave way to a rocky cliff that curved around until it formed an imaginary straight line with the collapsed lighthouse. "This area forms a harbor, a dead-end for any marine life. You can stand where the water is shallow and catch any fist that I redirect towards you."

Black Star frowned at the last part before his brow shot up in realization. "Oh yeah, cuz of the avoiding thing…" He puffed his chest, causing him to rise a few centimeters from the water. "I'm gonna get us a giant tuna!"

Kid's face fell. "I don't think that species is endemic to these waters…"

"I'm gonna catch one anyways!"

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Kid frowned as another school of fish did a sharp turn and swam away from open waters and into the harbor. Like before, these fish were small, tiny enough to be eaten whole in one bite.

The Grim Reaper turned to the shore where he and Black Star -but mostly he- had made a rudimentary stove from the stones lining the coast. A couple of more stones had been moved to make a cave-like shelter where the cliff rose from the beach, while seaweed dried on the rocks, most of it to be burnt along with a few weeds that grew among the rocks.

Kid's frown deepened. If they couldn't catch any fish, Black Star may have to try catching a few crabs or even a sea urchin; unfortunately, the seaweed that grew in the area was inedible, made up of long black-and-grey film-like parts. Even if Black Star did catch something, the fish that had so far gotten to him were to small and they'd have to gather a sizable pile of them to-

A maniacal laughter broke Kid from his thoughts and caused to face Black Star, briefly forgetting to swim the moment he did so.

As if possessed, Black Star was hunched over, his hands rapidly moving in and out of the water. A pile of writhing fish was forming on the dry rocks behind him.

Kid couldn't help but stare until Black Star stopped his demonic movements, cracked his back and reciprocated the look. "Hey, I got us a couple! Send me another one!"

Kid's stare switched between Black Star and the fish pile. "Can… can you eat these?"

"Sure I can, they're fish!"

Kid blinked. Even at a distance, the pile looked to be half of Black Star's height. Surely that was enough for him-

Water splashed as Black Star jumped over a few rocks as if chasing after something. "I SAW AN OCTOPUS-!"

"Leave it alone, we've got enough food!"

"Eh?" Black Star paused and gestured to the fish pile. "Dude, I'm eating all of this for sure."

"I'll be fine, I don't like fish," Kid shot a semi-lie. It wasn't that he didn't like fish specifically because of their taste or anything like that; rather the idea of meat-eating was… contestable, for lack of a better term. Kid wouldn't refuse a meaty meal if offered, but he didn't go out of his way to have meat. As Death, eating a creature's meat felt like adding insult to injury, especially when it had been killed for that exact purpose.

Black Star pouted bust stepped away nonetheless. "Fine, suit yourself."

As Black Star trudged to the shore, Kid swam back as well. When he could reach the bottom with his feet, Kid dived so he could bring some order into the chaos that was his salt-ridden hair.

The Grim Reaper accidentally inhaled a faint trickle of water as he resurfaced. A cough bubbled up his burning throat and Kid was back at the underwater pool in the temple, cold and lightless while water filled his lungs-

Kid's eyes shot open and he hacked the last remaining droplets out. Had he just imagined the familiarity-?

No, it was probably nothing. Just this place throwing him off balance.

"Ugh…" came Black Star's voice as he made his way back to water, hopping from stone to stone on one foot. "I lost my shoe." He looked up at Kid with an apologetic grimace. "Must have fallen way back when I jumped off, so I'll be back in a sec-"

"It's most likely buried under a ton of stone," Kid shot back and crossed his hands.

"Then I'll just break it," Black Star nonchalantly said as he hurried swam freestyle to where the collapsed tower was.

With a sigh, Kid followed after Black Star back and shot him a concerned look when he dived with no warning. Kid swam above the surface, waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting-

Black Star resurfaced before Kid even saw him approaching, taking in a deep breath and shaking his head, throwing water everywhere. "Woah, this place is pretty deep!"

Kid lowered the hand he had used to protect from the water. "You didn't find you shoe, did you?"

Black Star gave him a sheepish grin. "Ha! I was just exploring, I'll get it next time."

"I can get it," Kid offered, "or at least help you lift a boulder," he added when Black Star was about to protest. He would also keep an eye on Black Star if he tried something stupid underwater where, God-surpassing or not, he still couldn't breathe; however, if Kid had said that latter part out loud, Black would be categorically against it.

Black gave Kid a long look. Kid reciprocated with a stubborn glare.

"Race you to the bottom!" Black Star yelled and dived before Kid could react.

"Black Star-!" Kid called out but followed his example soon after and dived as well.

While underwater, Kid kept his gaze focused on Black Star and swam towards him, slowly catching up. Though Black Star had left his shirt on the shore he had left his pants on, which had ballooned in size and were dragging him back.

Kid passed Black Star and he turned himself around, facing the surface and the boy. He was relieved to see Black Star's cheeks were puffed out, so he still had some air supply left.

Black Star looked over Kid and pointed to an area behind the Grim Reaper. Kid turned around to see a large stone emerge from the depths, probably the structure that made up the top of the collapsed lighthouse, while next to it was…

The abyss.

Kid stilled. His surroundings dimmed and what little air he had left raced was released. His legs and hands went numb, his mind and vision became fuzzy-

With a faint desperate awareness, Kid activated his Soul Perception only to be met with a blinding, writhing yellow. He could see his own soul, his own wavelength, as disconcerting a sigh as seeing one's own nose, and it was moving out of his control as if it had a mind -minds- of its -their- own…

Something blocked his vision of the abyss, a surface with five tube-like extensions coming out of one end.

Hand? Was that his hand?

The shadow passed, and Kid was facing a carved stone wall, the edges of the Temple's xexmxpxxtxyx pool. His vision returned but it was blurred, like layering multiple instances of a scene from a movie, only with each scene being slightly misaligned and out of sync across each instance.

What…?

Like sliding back a movie reel, Kid sank down the freshwater, reaching greater and greater depths. His hands were pointed to the depths, out of Kid's failing sight and closing in on something soft. A pair of unknown hands snaked up his arms, their weak grips strengthening-

Kid's world went entirely black. He had no voice, no hands, no body, no soul-

"Kid?" came a muffled faraway voice and Kid's surrounding brightened again, the darkness giving way to dimly-lit saltwater and a faint body awareness.

Who…?

Hands.

Something, someone had grabbed on to Kid and Kid grabbed them back and for a second, he got the urge to drag that someone down to the depths-

"Kid!" came the voice again, trapped in air bubbles that raced to the surface, bubbles that come out smaller and smaller until they eventually ceased-

One of the hands let go and landed on his cheek moments after. The hand was warm, a wavelength steadily coursing under it, occasionally sending out pulses of erratic, worried energy-

Kid opened his eyes and saw Black Star's face as he was pulled up, towards the surface and away from the abyss.

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The fish Black Star and Kid caught are a mixture of Atherina, European anchovies and small bogue (the latter of which has the taxonomic name Boops boops which is the best species name up to date).

Feedback is appreciated.