Summary: Tohru receives tickets for the luxury cruise upon the Poseidon for her birthday, along with 9 other people from the Sohma family. Midway through the cruise, the ship is fatally struck by a rogue wave, and is capsized. Now Tohru must find out where everyone else is and escape the bowels of the ship before it slips under the ocean's waves. But not everyone can survive fate. . .

Poseidon
Chapter Twelve
The Ever-Rising Waters

The corridor in front them was covered in dense, thick smoke. Choking though it was, they crept down to walk further forward.

"The kitchen is just up ahead," said Matake, as the group shuffled forward

"This smoke is really thick," said Tohru, putting her arm in front of her mouth to stop her breathing in so much.

"We've gotta keep going, though," replied Kyo, who was in front of the group. Tohru was trailing behind him, then Shigure, Matake, Kari and Harugi trailing at the back. The others pulled their shirts up to their faces to prevent more smoke inhalation.

The door up in front of them had an upside-down sign that read 'kitchens'. The smoke seemed to be coming from the doors. Smoke poured from the bottom of the doors, and seeped through the edges of the doors, and between the doorframe.

"There's either a raging fire in there, or there's been a fire," said Kyo, looking the door up and down.

He grabbed a mop nearby and held it in his hand. Bottles of water and fruit lay scattered on the floor. An upturned food cart lay against the wall; it had obviously flipped and scattered when the ship capsized.

"Tohru," said Kyo, not taking his eyes off the door "Tohru, grab one of those bottles of water, and splash it on the handle of the doors."

"O-Okay..." said Tohru, reaching down and grabbing a bottle. She walked over to the door, and stared at it for a few moments. She then unscrewed the cap of the bottle. She threw the water over the door's handle. It immediately evaporated into steam.

"Okay," said Kyo, still eyeing the door, as Tohru looked at him "Moment of truth. Harugi?"

"Y-Yes?" came the voice of Harugi, who walked beside Kyo.

"Grab that fire extinguisher," said Kyo, pointing towards a fire extinguisher which had fallen from the wall "When I open this door, I want you to immediately begin spraying it."

Kyo prepared himself "Everyone stand back" he added, as Tohru, Kari and Shigure stepped back "Ready, Harugi? 3... 2... 1... Now!"

He flung the doors open with the mop, as Harugi began to spray the exposed part of the kitchen. A wave of heat blasted past them all, but nothing else. The fire had long subsided, as the walls were blackened from the blaze.

They stepped over the threshold, and took in the sight. The kitchens spread out far and wide in front of them. The walls were made of tile, and the floor above them. All white, except the steel fixtures of the fridges, shelves and cookers, most of which had collapsed and fell as the ship capsized. However, now the walls were blackened, and mostly everything in the room had been burnt by the fire that had raged earlier.
The room had 5 doors leading from it, there was the doorway they were stood in, two doors opposite, one door on the left and one on the right. The door on the right was slightly ajar.

"Which one should we try?" asked Tohru, looking from one door, to another and back again "Matake, which door leads to the.. um... Engine room?"

"I honestly don't know," replied Matake, standing forward of the group, looking from door to door, utter bewilderment on his face, as everyone seemed to openly glare at him "Can you blame me!? I don't work in the engine rooms. I just remember being told that you could reach the engine rooms from this part of the ship. All I know is that above us is one more deck and then the storage deck, then the engine rooms."

"Well, that's no good!" shouted Kyo, standing in front of Matake and at each of the doors in turn "We've gotta try all of 'em, then! Which one should we go in first?-"

Suddenly, crashing erupted from the room to the right, where the door stood open slightly. Overlapping speech was also heard as two men entered the threshold.
Tattered, bruised and blackened stood Haru and Yuki. There was a moment's silence before...

"Yuki! Haru!!!" and Tohru ran up to them and clung them into a bone-breaking hug "I never thought I'd see you again! I'm so glad you're okay, I was so worried!"

"T-Tohru," began Yuki, squirming slightly trying to unclasp Tohru from him.

"You can let go now," replied Haru, pushing her off the three of them.

"I'm sorry!" said Tohru, the first true smile on her face since the ship had capsized "I'm just so pleased you're okay."

It was then she noticed... "W-Where's Ayame?" she asked, the smile sliding off of her face, as she looked from Haru to Yuki, dreading the response...

"W-We don't exactly know" said Haru, looking from Yuki to Tohru.

"What do you mean?" asked Tohru, taking an exasperated step forward to Haru.

"Whilst the ship was capsizing," said Yuki, Tohru looked at him eagerly "We lost track of Aya. I fell and Haru was clung to a table..." Yuki closed his eyes, trying to remember the details "I then grabbed his hand, but fell into a crowd of people. I only saw Aya when the wave hit the ship. We had no idea a wave was headed for the ship. We heard the alarm, but it was too late..."

"It was too late for everyone," said Tohru, looking wary "Many people didn't make it out of the ballroom in time. So you have no idea at all where Aya could be?"

"Not a clue," said Haru, Yuki stepped forward next to him "We never saw him again after we woke up upside-down."

Just then, two more people walked into the room, from the same door Haru and Yuki had emerged from. They were an older teenage boy, about 19 or 20 and a younger girl, about 11 or 12. The boy was in a torn tuxedo, it had been badly burned on the sleeve, and his face was ripe with sweat and dirt, his short black hair faded into his beard which stretched across his face like a 5 O' Clock shadow.
The girl clung to the boy, obviously terrified, she was in a tattered pink dress which went past the knee. She had a bandage over her left arm, it was red with blood. She had copper hair and piercing blue eyes. Her breathing was loud and erratic as her eyes darted from person to person.

"We wondered when you'd catch up!" said Haru, patting the boy's back "How's the arm?"

"Better," mumbled the boy, his voice was deep and powerful, yet comforting to the ear.

"Oh, Tohru," said Haru looking at her wondering gaze, "This is Ren, and this is his sister, Tamaka."

"Hello there," said Tohru, holding out a hand, as Ren kissed it politely, Tamaka nodded to Tohru

Tohru then introduced the rest of her party to the others, including Kari and her father, Harugi.
Kari pushed her shoulder-length chocolate-coloured hair out of her face, her brown eyes staring into Ren's blue ones. She seemed very taken with him, even though she'd met him about five minutes earlier.

"Right, we have to move on" said Matake "This ship isn't going to stay afloat whilst we get cushy here. Let's move."

"Where to, exactly?" asked Kyo, staring at Matake, who was looking at the door to the left "We don't know which way to go! You weren't exactly helping, were you?"

"I'm trying to now!" said Matake, looking back at Kyo "And I'm getting a feeling we need to go this way" he added, pointing to the door on the left.

"Well, we tried this one," said Haru, slamming the door by him shut "And it's a dead-end. It ends with the kitchens' refrigerators. I'm guessing you were just behind us, then!"

"Enough small talk and let's go!" said Matake, walking to the door on the left.

The 10-strong group then walked through the door to the left. Through it was a long corridor, lit only by emergency lighting on the wall to their right. Electricity buzzed around them, as loose power cables swung gently, almost innocently. The group cautiously made their way forward. Doors were dotted randomly along the the left-hand wall. At the end of the corridor, it turned left, and to the right was an open area.
Kyo was in front, and stopped the group with his hand raised in the air. "Be quiet." he said, and everyone listened intently.

Ever so gently, they heard something. It was definitely a woman. And she was... Sobbing, but only very gently. It seemed to be coming from the open area further along the corridor, so cautiously and warily everyone walked, their footsteps making a gentle "thump" with each step they took.
The woman's sobs stopped for a moment, and everyone stopped moving, holding their breath collectively.

"Is... Any... One... There?..." she gasped, as though struggling for air "P-Please... Help... Me..." she added, and her soft sobs began again "Please..."

Kyo bound forward, the group in toe behind him.
Closer and closer the area on the right got, and everyone's hearts pounded in their ribcage, unaware as to what to expect beyond the corner. After what seemed like a 1000-metre run, they can to a halt, as Kyo turned the corner first, the group behind him...

The area opened up to actually be a seating area. The upturned chairs littered the floor. A potted plant lay on the floor, leaves and mud sprawled around its broken base. A vending machine stood bolted to the ceiling. Most of the goods inside it had fallen to the stop of the machine. Next to the bolted machine was a huge rip in the flooring, where the bolts had failed and snapped off.
That's when they saw her...
It was a gut-wrenching sight. A woman, in her late 30s was laid on the floor, her blond hair fell limply on her blood-stained face. A vending machine lay on top of her, broken glass littered beneath and around her, most of it covered in blood. Only her face and one hand was visible as she looked up and saw Kyo and the group. They were stood in disbelief.

"Please... Help me..." she sobbed again, looking at Kyo "Please..."

Kyo shook as though a bolt of electricity had shot through him and raced to the woman's aid. "Gimme a hand with this!" he said, putting his hands underneath the machine and bracing himself to pull the machine up. Haru, Yuki, Shigure, Harugi and Ren rushed over to help him, whilst Tohru and Kari went to the woman's side, to comfort her.

"Everyone ready?" asked Kyo, as each man had a part of the machine in his grasp "On three! One..."

Each of them tightened their hold on the machine

"Two..."

"No!" the woman shouted "Don't.... Do it...."

"What? Why?" asked Tohru

"I'm... Too badly... Injured..." said the woman "If... You get... Me out... I'll... Only... Slow you down..."

"We'll help you!" said Tohru, looking optimistic, a small smile on her face

"N-No..." said the woman, looking at each of them in turn "You're all... Okay... Thank you... I won't forget... The help... You... Tried to give me..."

"Wait, no..." said Tohru, pushing the woman's hair out of her eyes, getting blood all over her hands.
The woman's eyes were closed... She was gone...

Tohru sat there, disbelief washed over her again. Another person hadn't survived. The death toll must surely be in the thousands, as many people were in their rooms.

"Tamaka?!" came Ren's voice out of the blue, his silhouette disappearing down the corridor "Tamaka?! Where are you?!"

He stood down near the 3 elevators at the end of the corridor. His head jerked from side to side as a ear-piercing screamed shot through the corridor. Ren shot backwards and ran down the corridor and out of sight.

"Ren!" shouted Kyo and ran after him. Everyone else followed.

At the end of the corridor, they saw what Tamaka had screamed at. The water level had risen dramatically, and now the upside-down doorframe had water spilling over it, like a small waterfall, it splashed against the floor, beginning the flooding of this corridor.

"We all have to go, now!" shouted Kyo, running in the opposite direction towards the elevators.

Ren grabbed Tamaka and ran with them. They all glanced back, as the water cascaded over the edge of the doorframe, and all ran to the elevators.
Surely, these would lead to their salvation?

(A/N: Okay, another chapter down! Hope you all enjoy it, as we're reaching the climax of this story! Come back for more soon!)