My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me and horror hath overwhelmed me. And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then I would fly away and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. –Psalms 55 :4-8
The raft swayed helplessly in the tumultuous water. She prayed the waves did not wash over her. Cissnei's hair clung to her face, and she laid belly down over the food and water supplies she had. Waves were filling the raft with gray water, but the wind and the energy of the sea moved the raft so much that the raft did not sink due to the water falling back out.
The water, that once looked so calm in the sunset, had turned dark and angry in what seemed a matter of minutes. It was trying to swallow her, and she defied it. However, being wounded left it very difficult to defy it too long. The small raft was lifted by the sheer power of the waves and dropped back with a rough thud, only to have the process repeated. Each time Cissnei tried to cling to the raft, but was only thrown back down to it by gravity. Pure nature was bruising and battering her; testing her.
She painfully opened an eye, the rain making it hard to see. She reached out a hand to grab a rope on the side of the raft. It did not steady the small vehicle. Instead the water seemed to shift suddenly and the raft flipped. She felt her supplies sink into its depths. She ignored the pain in her arm as she tried with all her might to swim back to the surface of the water.
However something was tugging her back down. Her hair floated around her face, clouding her vision. For a split second, she wished she had no ginger hair at all. She frantically tried to remove the messenger bag from her shoulder. The strap roughly fell off her shoulder, and she watched it sink into darkness.
Desperate not to be next, she tried to break the surface. Her lungs were starting to ache with effort, and her mind seemed to start to float away. She saw a yellow blur at the top of the water. Hope! She concentrated on getting to it. She broke the surface. Air swelled in her lungs, and she never thought it could taste so sweet. Hands came up to push the raft up in an attempt to flip it over, but another wave came crashing down without mercy. She plunged under. Her lungs filled with water and this time she felt too heavy to swim. Her limbs weighed her down, yet she felt light.
Perhaps this was a better way to die. It was painless, and she felt like she was floating into nothingness. Her hair floated around her head, as if some ethereal tendrils trying to calm her. Cissnei's hazel eyes lifted up. At the surface of the water the sun only glinted through the clouds. At the edge of her vision she could have swore she saw pale green streaks engulfing her. Then there was only darkness and a soft pulling embrace.
Darkness. She fell into darkness, feeling the sweet euphoric sensation that accompanies the dead. Then, suddenly her senses returned with the sound of rattling. She groaned.
Sensation came back to her body unfortunately. Aches screamed everywhere in her muscles and her head throbbed. She moved something. Her hands? Fingers began flexing as she resumed painful feeling back into them. She felt solid ground, and felt first vestiges of panic give rise. When she realized this feeling, she pushed the panic back. That would not get her out of here; it would only make things worse. Her breath became even.
Her vision was still hazy. Her eyelids were heavy, but with effort she opened them. She felt like a rag doll that was tossed in the mud. Shakily she stood up, finally observing her surroundings.
Books upon books. Shelves seemed to decorate the walls with a variety of books. A large table decorated the center room. Where was she? She was drowning, and now she washed ashore into a…library? And she was dry? How long was she out?
She walked to the table. Fingers ran gently along the wooden surface. It was clean, recently used. All of the books on it were scattered, but each talked about Jenova. A finger reached down to flip a page, "Don't touch that." The voice was cold and even. It startled her, but she fought the signs of showing it.
Her eyes raced up to see the source of the voice. Sitting in a chair in front of her was a silver long-haired gentleman, reading a book. He hadn't looked up from the book as far as she could tell, but the mere presence of the man made her blood run cold. The Soldier had always had that effect, but it was magnified even more so since she thought he was dead.
Alcohol touched his lips and the burning sensation ran down his throat. It forced a false purification to enter his body, but it only tainted it more. His alcohol tolerance was appalling, but he did not mind. Reno was sitting in his apartment on the floor, with his arms crossed. Rude had left a while ago, after Reno had thrown the game board out the window because he was losing.
However, the game battleship had given him a bad premonition. What if Cissnei made it to the water? Was she heading to Mideel? That was all that there was past the mountains and fields. When he went to the Chocobo farm and did a thorough inspection there was nothing. The farmers were not happy of course, and being chased by angry chocobos was not something he enjoyed. But she was not there. There was really nowhere else she could go. Unless…
He stood up and walked to the window. The city lights seemed to the darkened space like stars. The rain and clouds only darkened this view and made the lights seem more splendid. However, the lightning washed away all the sight. Reno sighed, his blue-green eyes taking in the ferocious storm.
If she attempted to go to Mideel in this storm…Certainly Cissnei had more common sense. He gritted his teeth. Cissnei would do something stupid if her life depended on it.
The storm over by Mideel may have stopped by now if it was hanging over here in Midgar. Surely Tseng won't mind if he checked. He grabbed his coat and ran out into the storm. ShinRa's helicopter port was not too far. It should have just enough gas.
Author's Note: I wanted to apologize for taking so long to post. I hurt my hand recently and it hurts to type. Its finally starting to heal up though. Thank you for your patience.