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 Thirteen
Sinking Feelings

They stared at the elevator doors in front of them. To the far right was a door labelled "Stairs", however, upon inspection, the stairs had collapsed on themselves, and crashed down to the lower decks. They went for the middle one and began to try and pry open the doors. Nothing would open them. There was nothing around them to help open the doors. Kyo stopped, and looked down the corridor, in the distance they could hear the water piling up by the door, and beginning to spread out amongst the corridor.

Kyo walked towards the end of the corridor. Tohru looked up at his back

"Kyo!" she said, pushing hair out of her face "What're you doing?"

"I'm going back to the kitchens. There's bound to be a knife or something in there to help us." said Kyo, walking down the corridor "Wait here for me." he added, and with that, he ran off.

The others still tried frantically to pry open the doors.

Down the corridor, Kyo walked over the doorframe to the kitchen. Water was rushing in from the lobby area. 'Crap,' Kyo thought, as he began to dredge through the water, looking for anything that may help get them into the elevator shaft. He looked from one side of the room, to the other. Nothing.
Until he noticed by the stoves that there was a magnetic knife holder. Although no knives were present, surely there'd be one around?
He kept his search on, looking down into the water for a sign of anything.

Back down the corridor, Tohru and the others we still looking for something to help them, when Kari noticed something.

"Tohru, look!" she shouted, and everyone's eyes immediately shifted to the doorframe of the staircases, which had begun to leak water, which was now almost pouring into the corridor.

"Oh, no!" said Tohru, looking from down the corridor where Kyo had disappeared, to the elevator door they were failing to open, to the leaking doorframe. Either they or Kyo had to hurry now, the corridor would be underwater soon, it was already at their ankles.

Kyo saw something shine on the floor under the water. It was a knife, and a big one at that! He plunged his arm into the cold water and grabbed the knife. He then ran his way to the doorframe. Water had begun to pour in from the lobby, and was spraying everywhere. Kyo slammed the door shut behind him, in an attempt to slow down the water flow.

"Tohru!" shouted Kyo, running over to the elevator doors "Tohru! I've got a knife. Get out the way!"

Everyone immediately shifted away from the doors, as Kyo plunged the knife into the crack between them. He gathered all his strength and twisted the knife to the right, prizing the doors open, in which Ren and Harugi grabbed each end of the door and pulled them apart.

Water poured down the elevator shaft, down about ten floors until it met the roof of the shaft, which was littered with debris. They all looked down at the bottom. Water was dripping from other floors as well; a sign they too were flooding?

"We need to get to the higher levels!" said Matake, looking around "There's a storage deck one deck up from here."

"We need something to get us up there, then," said Kyo, looking around the corridor, which had slowly gotten darker, as lights had begun to fail.

He ran back down the corridor, checking rooms for anything that could assist them up the elevator shaft. He checked one room, nothing; he checked another, nothing; one room was locked. He checked the last room; the door leading to the kitchen was beginning to sag under the weight of the water; it was creaking slightly as water poured around the edges.
In the last room, however, there was a stainless steel bench. It was something, at least; so he grabbed it and ran back to the group.

"Hey! Hey, give me a hand with this!" he shouted, as Ren and Harugi ran over to help.

They turned the bench upside down and propped it up against the other side of the elevator shaft.

"Someone will have to hold it whilst the others get across," he said, looking around the group "So, I'll hold it. Ren, I want you to go first and help the others get up onto the ledge."

Ren nodded, and stood up straight, looking out of the elevator doors.

"Okay," said Kyo, wiping his forehead with his arm. "Send Tamaka and Tohru first."

And with that, Kyo held the bench with all his might. Ren slowly got up onto the bench and walked across the bench, and he propped open the doors one floor above them with the knife used to open the others. He climbed up and pushed the doors open completely.

"What kind of room is it?" asked Kyo, looking up at him.

"It's like a storage room." replied Ren, looking around.

"It's the mailer's room," piped up Matake, looking up "It's a corridor away from the storage decks."

"And that means...?" asked Kyo, looking at him.

"It means that we go through there," said Matake, almost patronisingly "And down the corridor. After that, there's a hatch to get into the storage decks. There's two of them, and then it's the engine rooms; which, hopefully hold an exit for us."

"Okay, come on, Tamaka!" he shouted, and held out a hand.

Tamaka gasped slightly, walking forward, and taking hesitant steps forward, and onto the bench.

"Nice and slowly, now." said Kyo, steadying it with his hand.

"Be careful, Tamaka!" said Ren, looking anxious as he watched his sister draw closer to him.

The group almost held their breath collectively as Tamaka finally made it to the other side, and Ren hoisted her up with him. "Okay, come on, Tohru!" he shouted, as Tohru stepped forward.

Tohru gulped. And closed her eyes for a second, as she took a footstep forward, and opened her eyes slowly. She walked forward, keeping her eyes unblinkingly on Ren constantly as she walked, who only stared back. It seemed to take an eternity, but eventually made it.
Ren pulled her up, and Tohru climbed up, panting slightly, and looking back down the shaft.

And eventually, one by one, everyone made it across. Next it was Kari, then Yuki, Haru, Shigure, Matake.
Only Kyo and Harugi were left now.

"Okay," said Kyo looking at Harugi "You next."

"No," he said "You go first, I'll hold onto this" he added, holding onto the bench's legs.

"Okay, if you're truly sure..." said Kyo, looking down, then up to the others.

"I'm sure," replied Harugi, looking at Kyo and giving a weak smile.

Water was now pouring its way into the shaft now, as the water was coming around the corner more ferociously than before. There was a creak in the background, and a snapping sound cut the air; the door had collapsed.
Water came pouring around the corner, splashing into the open area and flying back towards them.

"You'd best hurry," said Harugi, looking anxiously at Kyo.

"Okay," said Kyo, and he climbed up onto the bench and began walking across.

He reached the end, and the others pulled him up. He turned over and looked at Harugi, who had let go of the bench, water still pouring in behind him.

He muttered something to himself, and edged his way across the bench.
He was about halfway across when it happened.
Suddenly, the ship roared all around them, and the ship lurched violently. Everyone swayed violently as they fell backwards.
They heard the sound of scraping metal, and a scream. Harugi's scream. They heard a splash as they all scrambled over and looked over they edge.
Harugi had fallen down the elevator shaft. However, since the shaft had begun to flood, he had fallen into the water.

"Help!" he cried, looking up, trying to keep himself up, as water continually poured into the space.

"DAD!!" shouted Kari, tears pouring from her eyes "What can we do?!" she asked the others.

"I don't know!" said Kyo, looking down.

Suddenly the ship lurched again, the others were thrown backwards again.
A crashing sound came from below them. Tohru got up and stared down, as water poured from the deck they were just on and into the elevator shaft. Debris littered the water as it plummeted into the elevator shaft.

"We have to close these doors!" shouted Kyo, standing up and beginning to push the doors shut.

"NO!" shouted Kari, standing in front of them, arms pushing them open again. "My dad is still in there! We gotta save him!"

"It's hopeless!" shouted Ren, guiding Tamaka behind him "He's more than likely dead already!"

"No! He will still be alive!" said Kari, a note of poison in her voice now.

The ship lurched again, more violently than ever as the ship almost rolled, as the others were thrown into the wall. Kari screamed.
They heard a loud crash and splash, as something grey flew down past the doors and smashed into the water. The ship shuddered slightly afterwards, as the group gathered themselves together, and looked at the elevator doors. They looked in disbelief.

"Kari?" asked Tohru, looking around, holding her head.

Tohru walked forward and looked, hesitantly, over the edge.
She didn't see much, as the elevator that had once ridden up and down this shaft had now slammed downwards into the water; obviously crushing the bodies of Kari and Harugi.
The elevator itself had begun to sink into the water, as the waterline continued to rise; the water still pouring relentlessly into the elevator shaft.

Tohru fell back slightly, holding a hand to her face. "No," she kept muttered to herself "No, no, no, no."

"Tohru," said Kyo, grabbing Tohru's arm and pulling her towards him "C'mon, we have to shut these doors."

"No," said Tohru, tears falling down her face.

Kyo and Ren grabbed one of the doors and pushed them together.

"This will slow the water flow," said Kyo, looking at the doors up and down "But it won't hold for long. We need to keep moving. C'mon... Let's go."

Tohru still stood there, how could the Poseidon keep taking lives?
Kyo pulled her away, and they walked down the corridor.
A question rose into Tohru's mind:

"Do you think we're the only people left alive?" she asked, stopping in her track, as the left the mailer's room and shut the door behind them.

"What do you mean?" asked Shigure, looking back.

"Haru? Yuki?" Tohru asked, as they turned to look at her "After the ship capsized, was there anyone else alive in the disco when you got back up?"

"No," said Yuki, a glum look on his face.

"There was one guy," said Haru, looking at Yuki, then Tohru "But, he passed away when he got..."

Tohru stared at him, as he shifted uncomfortably.

"... Electrocuted... By low-hanging cables."

"Oh," said Tohru, looking down "I guess we are the only ones left..."

"You don't know that," said Kyo, still keeping his hold on Tohru "Aya is still out there, remember?"

Everyone shifted awkwardly at what Kyo had said. They stood there in silence, as the ship grumbled softly around them.

"We'd best keep going," said Kyo, leading the way.

Everyone muttered in agreement, as they continued to follow him down the corridor, to the storage decks.

(A/N: Okay, a little later than expected... Oops, anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Wait up for the next one! See who else dies XD)