Fantasy The Hollow

[Prizzy Kriyze]

</Gavin Baudelaire/>​

There wasn't as much as a hint of shame in Gavin when he returned Morrigan's wink and replied "Right, it's your funeral." Not that Gavin ever seemed to be ashamed of anything. He was too much of an anarchist for that, fuck the establishment and everything. This particular type of not giving a shit lead to him hitting on girl's like it went out of style, but then again, he felt he should respect Morrigan more than that. He smiled at her before he turned his head back to the group.

He wrinkled his nose at Avalon, then nodded towards Vaughn. "We're not even overcomplicating it, girl. We're just thinking of more fool-proof alternatives." Vaughn had had a pretty good idea going there, but Avalon was as stubborn as ever. Without giving them a chance to talk her down she started getting ready to commence in her idea. "One." Gavin, who was stood farther out than most of the group, was positioned so that he suddenly noticed something moving behind the rest of the group. Ian.

"Uh-" Gavin uttered, before cutting himself short when Ian raised a finger towards his lips. Well, him being here they don't even need a plan, and if he scares the shit out of Avalon then double points man. She had already started counting, and was at "Two." when Ian passed him and crept closer behind her. Gavin raised the bottle to his lips once more, then got a heavy feeling of unease as he watched the act. Like the feeling when you've thrown a dart and you know it's going to miss the second you let it go. Something was going to go wrong.

"Uhm!"

As if something dangerous had crept up on her, Avalon suddenly span and managed to slap the piece of wood straight across Ian's face quite violently. Ian took a step back, but didn't have enough space to do so. His body twisted over the edge of the dock, and he plummeted into the dark waters without a chance of regaining balance.

The bottle of beer was already in the grips of gravity and headed for the ground. Normally Gavin would've laughed aloud at the spectacle, then gone to help his friend. Normally he would've let the rest of the group fend for themselves. Normally, yes, but he didn't normally feel like the world was about to end. She got him hard, he's hydrophobic, that splash landing looked bad. Did he even know how to swim? Gavin wasn't sure he'd seen Ian ever swim before.

Inexplicably caught in this anxious mood, Gavin had quickly let his bottle drop and dashed after Ian. The big wave of water that followed his descent showered over the group, and blinded him so that he accidentally bumped into Avalon and and nearly lost his balance. He stumbled and half fell, half dove after Ian. Far behind, on the dock, he could hear his bottle smash against some old rusted nail, before everything was swallowed by the beat against his eardrums. It sounded kind of like a choir of broken cymbals and out-of-tune bass guitars, and then it went quiet.

He opened his eyes to the darkness that laid out before him, and immediately started diving deeper. He could swore that he saw the outline of Ian down there, and kicked off hard just to reach out and catch nothing. For a minute he paused and looked around. The same feeling from earlier etched itself into his spine, because he couldn't spot anything. The sand bottom seemed to be missing, the lunar rays from above also gone. But he kept going down, down, down. He needed to get Ian, where the hell could've he gone off to?

It got darker. Ian? His arms were hurting from the exertion, but his lungs were worse. And the darkness seemed cold. Or was it the water? Hurt. Where was Ian? He should've taken a deeper breath- cold. So cold. The sound of water moving when he forced his arms forward. Dark. Heart felt like exploding. Fingers shaking.

There was a silhouette again. Gavin reached out for it again, but he couldn't see his arm anymore. Too dark. Or maybe his eyes weren't open anymore.

Cold.

 

[InMyWorldTheSkyIsRed]

It happened so fast. Vaughn barely had time to react, let alone warn Avalon. It was as if it happened in slow motion. Ian speaks, Avalon spins, she swings, and Ian's in the water with a sickening crack. In the precious seconds it took to actually process what had just happened, hazel eyes round with fear, Gavin was in the water. The bottle he was holding shattered as it struck the hardwood, but then, there was nothing. Absolute silence for what felt like years, but in reality was only a single moment.

Then, finally, Vaughn broke it.

"Fuck!! IAN!!" He exclaimed, running to the edge of the dock where Ian was unfortunate enough to fall. The poor boy already had tears in his eyes, terrified for his best friend. He started to hyperventilate, turning to face Avalon with wild eyes. "Shit, what do we do?!"

 

[Restful]

Morrigan Paisley Carter​

Morrigan could feel anticipating in her toes, as the planning part of the prank finally came to a close. She had a big part to play in this, and as they begin counting Morrigan starts rocking back onto her heels. Anxiety washes over her at first as she preps to scream and jump into the water, but the anxiety was short lived.

It took Morrigan longer than Gavin to notice Ian, and she almost jumps when she does. What was he doing there, he was ruining the prank. When he places a finger to his lip Morrigan realizes he is going to pull a fast one on Avalon, who for as much as Morrigan knew wasn't used to that. Closing her lips tight, what happens next wasn't what she thought would happen.

Morrigan stares as Ian stumbles back into the water, a splash showering her with the lake water. Eyes wide she looks at her friends then back at the water. It must be the shock that stopped her from jumping in right away, but Ian wasn't coming up.

It takes Gavin moving to get Morrigan unfrozen from the spot and hurrying over to the edge. She doesn't jump right in after her second friend, the last thing they needed was all of them running into each other instead of saving Ian. Yet Morrigan stands there and looks and waits, but neither come up.

Two friends under the water. Two friends possibly dying. That was the last thought that Morrigan haves before looking wild eyed at the rest of the crew. "We have to help." Leaping off Morrigan dives gracefully under the water, her eyes wide open as she tries to search the murky, darkness. Where were they? She searches harder and harder, but can't find them.

When her lungs are finally screaming for air, Morrigan starts swimming to the surface, the light from the moon directing her way. Only, the harder she kicks the farther away it looks to be. Her lungs burn with the lack of oxygen, her vision grows darker and darker, till she is lost in the blackness of her mind.

 

[Prrrgadilly]

Tsela had been calculating the equation between the stars, and trying to understand the meaning of the diagrams that willfully filled his vision of the night sky where none had ever been before. He could tell that they ere not meant to be there for him to see but that didn't deter him from trying to unravel their mystery. He was making good progress and close to cracking more than the few he'd already deciphered when Avalon accidentally cold cocked Ian with the wooden railing.

The splash of water from Ian's sudden undersea expedition was enough stimulus to pull Tsela out of his visualization induced trance. Tsela rose carefully and walked over to where Avalon was standing stunned with her hands over her mouth. Looking on calmly as the others made frantic dives into the dark waters, he reached out and he wrapped his arms around her from behind and drew her back into his chest. "You know, if we stay up here like this, we're going to miss everything, and I'd very much like to see what Ian has to say to you later. Let's go after them Avalon."

Tsela was ridiculously calm, considering the situation, but he'd gleaned some information from between the stars during his trance, and felt that these dangerous waters held adventure, not death. At least, not immediately.

 

[Neptune_54]

Again, he was sure that years in the future, they would look back on these events and laugh fondly. Ian hoped that he would have long since grew enough brain cells to get away from these morons, because he was sure he was courting death by still hanging around them. Unless, of course, he was already dead.

Which was an increasing possibility, because although he knew how to swim, the shock of falling into the water left his flailing hopelessly for what felt like hours. Time got weird in ways that he couldn’t explain, the thin moonlight from the surface seeming to move and blink randomly, changing position so that, soon (or what felt like soon), he didn’t know which direction was up. When it occurred to him to swim for the dock, he realized that the dock was gone. He didn’t even know when he had opened his eyes, or how the water was so impossibly clear that he could see for what felt like miles, although there wasn’t anything to see. He struggled for the surface, only watching the pinpoint light drift farther away, still dancing in and out of existence.

When the light was gone, he realized that he could still see. The only thing he could see, though, was himself, and Ian realized with a start that he was glowing. The shock made his mouth open in a little gasp, and suddenly he was inhaling water that stung his lungs. His eyes squeezed shut in panic as he drew more and more of the lake water, and when they opened, he realized something was very, very wrong.

One, there was light. Bright, bright light pouring in from that he had thought was the bottom of the lake, what he was sure should have been the bottom of the lake. He started straining for it, the claustrophobia that always hit him when he was submerged in water suddenly hitting him, hard. Everything inside him, including his lungs, were screaming. He couldn’t move his arms the right way, and his legs were beginning to fail him, too, and even though the light wasn’t getting further away like last time, it was getting darker.

Something bumped against his leg, and he looked down, pausing his panic to see a neon pink… Fish. Fish, he thought, but fish weren’t neon pink. He watched in wonder as it slowly changed from pink to purple, to blue, progressively getting blurrier as he lost consciousness, thinking about how fish and chameleons weren’t all that different.

His last thought was that of course, the last thought he would have before he died would be something stupid like that. And then, feeling bright, afternoon sun on his neck, everything went dark.

~*~

Avalon cried when she was angry. She cried when he was frustrated, sad, surprised, happy, scared… Honestly, Avalon was just a crier. She could even do it on command. But, the tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes were anything but fake. As Gavin, and then Morrigan dove in after Ian while Vaughn panicked, she just stood still, too scared to move. With each second ticking by, none of her friends coming back up, she began to panic.

“I don’t know! I don’t know, I’m not the smart one, Ian’s supposed to handle emergencies-” Before she can fall into complete panic, she finds herself being pulled into Tsela’s arms, which normally wouldn’t have been so calming. However, his request to follow them didn’t correlate. He wanted to hear what Ian had to say, but he didn’t want to save their friends. He wanted to join them. Avalon knew he was crazy, but there had to be some sort of metaphor that he was spewing out this time, or maybe he was joking to calm her and Vaughn down, or something sane.

Of course, she realized the moment she looked into his eyes that he was completely serious. She pulled away from him, shaking her head fiercely. “You’re crazy. You want to go into the water? Gavin and Morrigan haven’t come up, it’s been like, half a minute… Something’s wrong, Tsela. They shouldn’t be down there. Maybe he’s… Maybe Ian really is stuck on something, and they can’t get him up, but they should be coming up. Like, now. It just feels wrong that he’s still down there, I-I… No. If they don’t come up, we should call for help, or something. I’m not getting into the water, I’m not that stupid-”

She stopped midsentence, her expression slowly melting as if she had fallen asleep with her eyes open. There was a small, violent ripple of water at the very end of the deck, and then two more, as if someone had tried to throw something into the water, but from the other side. At least, that’s how Avalon’s brain translated it. As if in a trance, she walked towards the edge of the deck, dropping onto her hands and knees, peering into the water. “I think I see something. Like, a flashlight… Did one of them have a flashlight?”

Later, if she were asked about why she did it, Avalon would have answered that her body stopped listening to her. Maybe her subconscious decided to take over and make her try to save her friends, or perhaps something supernatural had possessed her. Either way, she swung her legs over the side of the deck and dropped into the water, forgetting that Tsela and Vaughn were even there anymore. As soon as the chill of the water engulfed her, though, she realized what a mistake she had made. It felt wrong, like seeing your best friend kiss your brother. Or seeing your best friend kiss your grandmother, rather.

She tried to turn for the surface, but found that she was several feet lower than she had thought she was seconds ago. Yards lower. Miles lower. A chill swept through her whole body as she, unwillingly, opening her mouth to try and breathe. Of course, there was no air and water flooded into her lungs. The pain lasted only seconds before she started to lose consciousness, wondering if she really had gotten herself killed, and why she had gotten into the water in the first place.

The pain returned immediately when she woke up. Or, not really woke up, because it felt like all that had happened was her closing and opening her eyes, less than a second passing between, as if she had been blinking. The lake, the water, was gone though. She was on a beach, sand digging into her shoulder blades. The sun beat above her cruelly, the log to her left having been bleached white. Avalon sat off, trying to shake off the confusion, but only becoming increasingly disconcerted when she noticed her skin and bathing suit were completely dry, as was her hair. Something fell on her lap, and she realized after a few seconds of blankly staring at it, that it was a leaf. When she stood, the ground swaying under her while she threw water up out of her lungs, the leaf fluttered down, landing with the light side up. It was strange, and it took her a few seconds to process that yes, she was actually seeing this, because the underside of the leaf had veins that swirled like cursive, and then untangled themselves, wiggling and twisting like a snake when someone cuts it in half. She watches until the veins stop, pressing the back of a hand to her mouth while she takes in her surroundings, too shocked to panic. The trees to her back where white, some towering so high that they disappeared into the swirling clouds, others short enough that she could clearly see that they all bore leaves similar to the one that had fallen on her lap, but they moved up and down the branches and trunk as if they were alive, mixing randomly, almost like they were dancing. In front of her, easier to understand, a massive body of water sat sparkling crystal water, absorbing and throwing the sun’s rays out in every direction. The lake seemed to take up the majority of the clearing she was in, a band of sandy shore separating it from the forest line. The widest part that she could see was only a few dozen feet of stretch, most of it narrow or almost nonexistent.

Avalon sat back down, rubbing her eyes, hoping to end up back on the dock. No luck. She leaned her forehead against the log, deciding to just sit and wait for something to make sense. And then she saw it.

Him. About a hundred feet out in the water, floating face down, was Ian, unmoving.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

</Gavin Baudelaire/>​

How long had it been? Gavin lost count when his life had passed before his eyes for the third time. That line from "It" seemed appropriate, "We all float down here.". Yeah, well he was floating alright. When he realized something was wrong he stopped struggling. The darkness must mean he was far from where he started, perhaps a current took a hold of him and snuck him far out into the lake. If he just held his breath he might resurface. He just might.

But it burned. His chest was starved of oxygen, his heart was close to exploding; but the cold had left him alone for the last few moments. Perhaps he ran out of feeling, perhaps he was already dead. All he knew was that he was going to have to take another breath soon. Or sooner. Maybe even now. Before that though, he needed to consider it. Could he really die now? Did he have enough to live for to fight this? All of these friends, all of these people who had shown him everything there was to live for. They were beautiful. Gavin couldn't excuse his own existence, but in what they had done for him they deserved to live.

"Ian."

He could swear a tear ran down his face when he clenched his fist and drew that faithful breath. His eyes snapped open when fresh air filled his lungs, and he found himself flailing at the surface of a river he didn't recognize. Far off, on the shore, he could spot Avalon and strange trees, but he didn't have time to register it before a body bumped into his own. "Ian!" He coughed out, water spewing from his mouth and nose. Without skipping a beat he continued the coughing fit, wrapped his arms around Ian and kicked hard. To the beach, they needed to go to the beach. Ian was heavy in his arms and Gavin feared the worst, but he couldn't give up now. So close.

Kicking sand and stumbling across the beach, he laid Ian on his side before raising his hands to his head. Lightning and shining patterns played before his eyes and obscured his vision. Before he could breathe enough to gain his bearings Gavin mumbled "Fuckin' adrenaline, man..." and collapsed backwards into the sand.

 

[InMyWorldTheSkyIsRed]

And then there were two. It was only Vaughn and Tsela left on the deck, and that was probably the worst case scenario. "Avalon!!" He screamed as she suddenly dropped into the water, as if in a trance. The poor little redhead was so distraught, he could almost be mistaken to be as crazy as Tsela, just a different kind of crazy. Bare feet thudded across the old wood as he raced to the edge, though he was far too late to save his friend. He was too late to save any of them.

"Shit... SHIT! What do I do?! Fuck! What do we do?!" He whimpered, pacing back and fourth across the deck quickly. He was terrified, tears streaming down his cheeks like tiny twin rivers. Suddenly, the thuds stopped. In this time of desperation, Vaughn did something he never would have done otherwise: Turn to Tsela. His hazel eyes were shining with tears of confusion and fear, looking up into the taller man's unreadable ones, searching for something, anything that might tell him what to do. "Ts-Tsela...?" He whimpered, hiccuping quietly.

 

[Prrrgadilly]

Tsela nodded to himself pleased as Avalon made the leap. He figured that all she needed was a sort of green light that it was OK for her to go before she did; she's a prankster after all, and they love a good challenge. Tsela looked on as Vaughn descended into hysterics. It always amused him how he was supposed to be the mentally unstable one of the group, yet Vaughn was always the first to come unglued when something went pear shaped. Though maybe he should take this a bit more seriously, seeing as Vaughn had just turned to him for guidance. Tsela reached out and gripped Vaughn's arm's in his hands.

"Vaughn calm down." Which of course was a stupid thing to say to him since Vaughn wasn't the type to calm down once he'd reached this point. so Tsela calmed him down forcibly by kissing him... on the lips, which seemed to at least halt the hysterics long enough for Tsela to pick him up and carry him to the edge of the dock. "Ok, now I need you to hold you breath for a while. OK? Trust me." Without giving Vaughn any time to do anything but hold his breath, Tsela leapt off the dock as the clouds parted. He landed perfectly in the center of the moon's reflection and stood on the water's surface, impossibly, for a single second creating a single ripple on the otherwise still surface.

The ripple of water bounced back inward from the boundary imposed by the moon's reflection, and the duo sank through the water suddenly, as if tied to a sinking freight ship. Tsela held Vaughn close as they were pulled down by an explicable force. He did not resist at all as the pinprick of light continued to recede, or as his vision was filled with more equations and diagrams than he ever remembered seeing before, too many. Tsela closed his eyes against the increasing visual overload and the cold water when suddenly, the "current" shifted, and they were rising. Tsela's lungs were just beginning to burn and he couldn't even imagine how Vaughn felt, when he felt light on his eyelids.

Tsela opened his eyes to see bright sunlight diffused in suddenly warmer water. They were racing towards the surface and finally broke it. Tsela breached the surface with a gasp and checked to make sure that Vaughn was breathing as well. They continued rising out of the water until Tsela was standing atop it, walking towards the shore. He saw the others splayed out against the sands and acknowledged them mentally but little else as he carried Vaughn, bridal style, away from the water's edge. The moment his feet touched the sands, Tsela's knees buckled and he suddenly found himself swung around laying on his back with Vaughn held safely in his arms. He closed his eyes as he worked to regain his strength. He felt as if he'd just swam the English Channel.

((Tsela has to have a cool entrance, of course. Also Restful when you post, I'd prefer it if Tsela and Vaughn were still the last ones to show up.))

 

[InMyWorldTheSkyIsRed]

Vaughn flinched slightly when Tsela grabbed hold of his arms, surprisingly grounding him enough to gain some sanity again. However, that was gone as quickly as it came once Tsela's lips were against his. Hazel eyes widened and his face turned a brighter red than his obviously dyed hair, his heart nearly jumping out of his chest. Holy shit... HOLY SHIT TSELA JUST KISSED ME. Vaughn couldn't do anything but stare up at the Native man with wide eyes, his tears having stopped for now. He was too stunned to be scared, at least for the moment.

Then, his feet left the dock, and his daze was snapped back to reality. Or, at least, he thought it was? He wasn't even sure if this was real anymore. He faintly heard Tsela tell him to hold his breath, to which he looked up at him in terrified incredulousness. "W-Wha--?!!" He stuttered before Tsela leapt off the dock, causing Vaughn to squeak and hold onto the man for dear life.

You know, it's funny. He always knew Tsela would kill him some day.

What was odd, though, was the fact that they didn't sink immediately. For one impossible instant, the dark haired crazy was actually standing on the moon's reflection in the black water. But then, they began to sink. Vaughn started to panic and he almost let out a scream before they went under, instead barely managing to pull in a short breath before they delved beneath the surface.

Down, down, down, at a breakneck pace, as if tied to an impossibly heavy object. Tsela wouldn't let him go, a tight grip around him keeping them pressed uncomfortably close. But Vaughn couldn't care about that now. The tiny speck of light that was the moon was slowly disappearing, darkness closing in around them. The redhead's lungs were burning fiercely, despite not even having been underwater that long. They hadn't even changed course for the surface yet when Vaughn was forced to suck in a lung or two full of water, his vision quickly blacking out as he lost consciousness. Not that there was much to see but blackness down this far down anyways.

Vaughn was limp in Tsela's arms before they finally reached the surface, his eyes closed in the appearance of a restless sleep. The full weight of him fell on top of Tsela as they crashed onto a sandy beach, unwittingly using the man's chest as a pillow.

 

[Neptune_54]

When Ian feels his head hit the sand, everything comes rushing back at him like a tidal wave. He’s suddenly awake, water climbing up his lungs and he rolls onto his side, violently retching. His jaw protests every movement, and his tongue feels like a wad of cotton balls inside of his mouth. Beside him, he registers Gavin’s presence but doesn’t hear what he says, his left ear still ringing where Avalon hit him. He probably needs to see a doctor, and probably changes into most certainly as he coughs out blood, and then a tooth. A molar. Great. He’s going to kill her.

When he sits up to look for her, though, Ian has to take a moment to really take in everything. He feels like he might pass out again. It’s all wrong, very, very wrong, and even though he sees Avalon a good distance away from him, he’s suddenly a bit too shell shocked to move.

Clutching his broken tooth tightly in the palm of his hand, Ian finally turns to stare at Gavin, barely pausing to make sure he’s actually alive. “What,” He begins, slowly, voice strained, “The fuck is going on? Where are we? Where… Where’s our tent, the van, what-”

He stops, pressing a hand against his forehead to calm himself down. Ian knows that Gavin probably doesn’t have a clue either, and their first course of action should be to regroup. He’s read enough books, and seen enough movies to know that panicking is both unproductive and simply unhelpful. Ian takes three deep breaths, counts to five, and puts on his best mom face. “Are you hurt? I-I see Avalon, but where are the other three? Tsela, Vaughn, Morrigan.”

The first two names barely slipped from his mouth as he stood up, vision spinning into darkness briefly, spotting Tsela and Vaugh a few dozen yards down the beach, unmoving. A quick turnaround told him Morrigan wasn’t in his immediate like of sight, and since Avalon was sitting up, the other boys where his first concern. Motioning for Gavin to follow him, he took off towards them, stripping his soaked button up off, offering it to Avalon as she joined them, shaking violently. He was still going to kill her, just later.

~*~

Avalon watched, feeling rather like she was viewing a film in a theatre, as Gavin pulled Ian from the water. Mere seconds later, Vaughn and Tsela washed up, both seemingly unharmed. She waited, but Morrigan was still missing by the time Ian started moving around. She heard his voice, faintly, but was already up and stumbling towards the other two boys. The sand wasn’t helping her move at all, and for some reason, her whole entire body felt numb. She fell twice before Ian was at her side, handing her his stupid, wet flannel like it was actually going to help her.

She knew, of course, that this was her fault. An accident, but still her accident, and if she had gotten them thrown into some weird alien worm hole, she could have at least done it without almost drowning all of them. A nasty bitter feeling was building in her chest, and Avalon searched for some way to blame this on someone else, but came up with absolutely nothing. When they finally reached the other two boys, she collapsed on the ground next to them, bare legs covered in sand. “Are they dead?”

~*~

A freezing gust of air tore through the small meadow where Serai and his hunting party were crouched, bows posed and ready. His own arrow, aimed at a beautiful white stag, missed by several feet when the sudden wind change gave the dwindling herd their scent. He knew it would miss before that, though, having purposefully misaimed. The breeze just gave him an excuse, and he had to hide his grin when all but one of the other arrows missed their mark. The young prince rose to his feet with a wince, holding his hand out for his page to wordlessly hand him his canteen. In the tree line, a beautiful, willowy forest nymph danced in and out of view, curling her hand at him. Serai didn’t move towards her, though, taking a sip of the bitter liquid as one of his companions eyed him wearily.

“What was that?” Another one asked, a taller elf with his excessively lengthy hair braided in a ridiculously elaborate fashion. “I’ve never felt a wind like that before. It seemed almost unnatural.”

There were several muttered responses and agreements, but Serai wasn’t listening. He never, truly, listened to the nobles talk. His attention was still on the girl in the trees, who seemed to be becoming increasingly impatient with each passing second. With a heavy sigh, he clipped his canteen back on his sword belt, and headed towards her, pretending to be looking for their stray arrows. When he was absolutely sure the others weren’t watching, he slipped into the bush and waited for her to reappear. “What is it?”

She balked at the harshness of his voice, crossing her arms dramatically. “Someone is here. Six... Six humans.”

Serai glanced behind himself, putting his bow on his back with his quiver, motioning for her to move. “Where? Near here?”

“The lake.”

“The lake. The lake?”

She rolled her eyes, hair fluttering around her head. Her ears were pointed, little flowers curling around then. “Yes. The lake.”

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

</Gavin Baudelaire/>​

Stars and lightning danced inside his eyelids, and somewhere in the back of his mind he registered that Ian rose and started coughing his lungs out. Gavin felt like he'd been turned inside out twice and slammed spine-first against the corner of a concrete building, but when he realized that Ian's words sounded like nothing other than gibberish he knew that he couldn't risk falling asleep in case he had had a concussion or something.

An uncomfortable amount of sand stuck to his back and swimming trunks when he pressed himself from the ground using his elbows. His skull pounded not entirely unlike a derailing freight train, but the pain was passing in rhythm to the blood leaving his head. "Wha..." he mumbled, and blinked multiple times before meeting Ian's gaze.

“Are you hurt?"

Gavin shook his head and mumbled "I think so." but he really couldn't tell. If there was anything particularly wrong with him it hadn't shown up yet. Ian said more, but Gavin couldn't tell what it was. He was focusing all of his remaining energy just to stand up, and he was slowly succeeding. His palms were sinking into the sand making the journey far more perilous, but he only stumbled once before he was standing, albeit wobbly. Subconsciously he picked up that Ian waved for him to come along, and he did his best to comply. Somewhere along the way he noticed that Avalon joined, but his staggering step and distant mind inhibited him from doing much about it.

When they came to a stop alongside the bodies of Vaughn and Tsela, Gavin mumbled in reply to Avalon. "They look... fine..." A patch of skin ripped on his knee when he fell onto his knees in the sand next to them, then he continued "Where the hell is Morrigan, though?" before a thunderclap headache knocked him down to stretch down beside them.

 

[InMyWorldTheSkyIsRed]

It was a weird experience, being unconscious. It was as if he was sleeping, and despite the voices he could faintly hear beyond the water in his ears, Vaughn couldn't wake up. Everything was dark, and yet, he felt warm, as if the sun's rays were beating down on him mercilessly. Nothing mattered in this other dimension, not his hopes, his dreams, his thoughts, his feelings. In the realm of Vaughn's mind, darkness and silence ruled.

You know, until his screaming lungs had had enough.

With a grunt and a twitch, Vaughn was quickly rolling to his side to throw up lake water, coughing and snorting and gasping in air to replace it. Thankfully, he'd rolled far enough away from Tsela that none of that got on him. After a moment or two, the little redhead coughed once more before groaning and collapsing into the hot sand. Hazel eyes fluttered open, turning to look at his friends blearily. "Ugh... Note to self, never let yourself be alone with Tsela ever again..." he moaned, dragging his arms up to cover his eyes again to block them from the migraine-bestowing-sun.

 

[Prrrgadilly]

That is odd. Tsela thought as he laid upon the sun-warmed sand with Vaughn curled on his chest. The sunlight here is different from "across the pond". Curious. Tsela allowed his mind to wander as he waited for his body to recover enough to warrant free movement. He was already sure that the lake had transported the group of friend to a different place. To the other side of the world, at the very least. He was also sure that he'd only counted three body strewn across the beach as he carried Vaughn away from the water. Somebody is missing.

His thoughts were interrupted, first by the approach of Ian, Gavin, and Avalon, then by Vaughn's sudden return to concsiousness. As he mentally tallied off an attendance chart, Tsela huffed and turned his head towards the others without opening his eyes. "If it weren't for me, you'd still be hysterical on that dock, in the dark, all alone." There was a clear eye roll evident in his tone as he spoke to Vaughn specifically. "I'm guessing that Morrigan isn't on the same beach as us. Is she?"Tsela then addressed the others. While waiting for a response, Tsela began to check the condition of his body by tightening and loosening his muscles, then wiggling his extremities. Everything seemed to be in perfect working order, just a bit weary.

 

[Neptune_54]

“Alright. I… We’re probably both concussed,” Ian shoots Avalon a murderous look as they finally reach the other two, watching as Gavin completely collapses. He feels weak himself, and is still holding the molar that she knocked out. Spitting blood onto the sand, he crouches down next to the other three boys, looking them over. Other than himself, no one is bleeding, and although they all seem unsteady, all their limbs are intact and none of them, other than possibly Morrigan, are all alive. He refuses to think about what might have happened to her.

It doesn’t take him long to come up with a plan of action, even if it’s only to keep them all from dissolving into hysterics. Avalon might be a lost cause as far as that, but if he can keep Vaughn calm, he might be able to convince himself that things aren’t as bad as they seem. To do that, he needs to keep everyone busy. “Alright,” He repeats, dragging a finger through the sand, “There was a trail a while back. It looked well worn, so we’re probably not too far out from the highway, or a town or something. I think we all, or at least Gavin and I, need medical attention. As far as Morrigan, Tsela, she’s not here. We’ll, um, worry about finding Morrigan as soon as we collect ourselves. We’ll probably have to talk to cops, or something-”

“We’re not at the freaking lake, you idiot,” Avalon snaps. She still shaking, and has seated herself a bit away from the other four. Her face is as pale as Ian has ever seen it, and she looks sick. Her eyes are on the lake when she speaks. “You felt it, right, all of you? When we fell in the lake, when… It wasn’t normal. Just look at the trees! They’re not anything like where we were. They’re not pines.”

“Then, what are they?” Ian doesn’t look at the trees. He looks at Tsela and Vaughn, and then Gavin, taking a shaky breath. He’s scared, and angry, and if he looks at Avalon he might break.

“I don’t know. Something… Alien, maybe.”

~*~

“Alien abduction, that’s the best you’ve got?” Ian spits out more blood, and Avalon feels as if he might as well be spitting on her. She closes her eyes and draws her knees up to her chest, trying not to cry. How everyone else is so calm is beyond her. Vaughn was freaking out back on the dock, but now he hasn’t seemed to have collected himself enough to join her in her meltdown. The flannel around her shoulders does little to warm her, and despite the sun overhead, she’s icy. Without saying anything, she raises her middle finger at Ian, and then rests her face against her knees.

~*~

He crosses his arms, unamused by the nymph’s attitude. Serai knows that their loyalty, and the loyalties of the other nature spirits, are with the fair folk. However, he also knows that the fairies are a vicious, lying and murderous species which have no morals. Why anyone serves them is beyond him, but their allies are numerous and powerful. It’s been a while, though, that he’s met any nature spirit as rude as this one. She waits for him to speak, impatient again, as if she has somewhere to be. He unclips his canteen and takes another sip. “The lake is only half a mile from here. Lead them this way?”

“There’s already a path. If they’re like the humans I’ve encountered before, they’ll follow it without question. They’re so trusting.”

“What, mortals?” He pauses with the lip of his canteen against his chin. A drop of the black liquid slides down the side of it. Her eyes follow, and Serai quickly caps it.

“No. Fools.”

“And yet you’ll send them my way. Only fools believe in the prophecy, you know. I thought nymphs had no faith.”

“Only fools throw away hope,” She’s fading, obviously bored with him, “And you’d do well to use them to your advantage, prince.”

He hears his voice called behind him, he page sounding a little worried. With a sigh, Serai turns to rejoin his entourage, who all have already gathered up their belongings, ready to leave.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

</Gavin Baudelaire/>​

"Pull yourselves together, pussyfarts." Gavin mumbles from his position in the sand. He had the backside of his hand laid out over his forehead to cool it slightly. The pressure made the pain feel distant, anyway. "I don't know what the fucking trees are, but I think it's a bit rash to assume we got abducted by aliens. For one, we can breathe the fucking air. That's unlikely." Gavin meant nothing mean by the words, even if his tone and syntax sounded pissed off. He just got uneasy by hysterics, and Avalon and Ian weren't holding it together at all in this potentially dangerous situation.

"The biggest problem right now is that Morrigan is gone. Seeing as we haven't seen her so far, she's probably farther away. The thing is she can take care of herself, and even if she's not in such a situation we'd probably be better off finding a town and calling for help. She's a hiker, maybe she already went up the trail." Word by word his tone was getting stronger, and he slowly hoisted himself back up into a sitting position.

He dug his feet into the sand and managed to get up again, then stumbled forward a few steps and fell back down onto his knees next to Avalon. First he closed her hand, inhibiting her from continuing to point her finger at Ian, then he hugged her. And she was cold. Freezing.

"No matter how bad the situation is, hun, you should try to process it later. We can't stay out here. Let's follow Ian's trail." He held her out at arms reach and looked into her eyes. There was some sort of tired honesty, maybe desperassion, hinting at a hidden fear inside Gavin's eyes as well, but whatever it was he was trying to hide it and well. "We'll be fine, right... Just come on now, we'll do everything we can."

 

[InMyWorldTheSkyIsRed]

Vaughn groaned once more and flopped backwards into the sand, clearly not pleased with Tsela talking back to him. His head was still spinning from that kiss on the dock, and their flashy entrance through the lake. He wanted to yell at him about the kiss, but decided to save that for when they were alone next. He didn't need the others making fun of them while he was trying to grasp his feelings. For now, he decided to opt for the latter problem causing his head to spin. "Yeah, well, it would've been nice if you'd notified me before nearly drowning me. I could'a died, you dummy." He grumped, finally opening his eyes to glare at the Native man.

Then, it hit him. Something isn't right. There was no beach back at the campsite, just some mud leading out into the old lake and a dock surrounded by weeds and algae. There was no sand. Back at camp, it had been early evening, but here, it had to be around noon with how high the sun was in the sky. The trees, as Avalon pointed out, weren't pines; or any other tree he'd ever seen before, for that matter. Not to mention the way they'd gotten to their resting place on the beach. Vaughn could swear by his grandmother's grave that he'd seen Tsela stand on the moon's reflection in the water, even if only for a moment, before rocketing them downward as if they were tied to the Titanic by their ankles.

Everything came back to the redhead at once, and none of it made any sense. Vaughn suddenly bolted to his feet and looked around quickly, dizzy, but apparently otherwise fine now that he'd gotten rid of the water in his lungs. His head whipped in either direction, eyes increasingly widening with panic as the realization hit him like a train. His face went pale after a few moments of quiet whimpers before he sank back to his knees slowly, eyes filling with tears. "...Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore..." he joked dryly, trying to keep himself from freaking out and hyperventilating.

 

[Prrrgadilly]

"I sincerely hope that everyone is fine if I don't join in the hysteria. We all know that I have no head for losing my head." Tsela stretched out his muscles before bridging his back and flipping to his feet from his hands. Now that he was upright, Tsela took a moment to observe the landscape. It was beautiful, disconcerting, but beautiful nonetheless. Looking down at the sorry image his friends made, Tsela smiled softly before turning and heading back towards the water. Moving carefully, he dunked himself beneath the water's before resurfacing and tucking his hair behind his ears. "One of the things I hate about beaches is the fact that the sand gets everywhere, even on my gorgeous hair. Oh, and I vote for magic tansport and magic world. It feels alien, but not extraterrestrial." Tsela strode back to the group on sure feet; now that he was up and about, Tsela felt much more energetic.

"Now, can we please get it together and get going? Morrigan didn't land on this beach so she probably popped out of some other body of water. Probably the place we were all supposed to emerge from... I hope." He tapped his chin as he gauged which of the group he'd probably have to carry. Gavin, I'm sure. He seems to have taken the hardest hit. I've been telling that him he should treat his body nicer.

 

[Neptune_54]

“Like I said, the trail I saw a bit down the beach, it’s probably our best bet. I don’t see any roads,” Ian trails off, slipping the molar into his pants pocket, fingers brushing against the flashlight that he’d forgotten he had. Hopefully they wouldn’t still be lost when it became dark, but it was comforting to know that they had at least one source of light. He puts his back to the others, trying to find the place where the trail had started, but before he can point them in the right direction, his eyes catch on something far above the trees- The moon, he supposes, although it’s bigger and darker than he’s ever seen it, especially during day time. He isn’t sure that it’s in the right place, or if it should even be visible at all, but that isn’t what draws his attention- There’s a second moon, smaller and closer to the tops of the trees. Next to it is yet another, but this one is in a crescent phase. Ian blinks once, twice, and three times, but the moon has still somehow tripled itself. Part of his mind, the calm, mother-like part, is analyzing this whole situation, putting things together: The moons, the trees, the sudden change in time… He’s been trying to find some excuse to tell Tsela and Vaughn that magical worlds don’t exist, but the only logical explanation is that they’re right. Which, ironically, isn’t logical at all. He takes a deep breath, and turns back to his friends. “Alright. Let’s get moving. Like I said, we can’t be too far away from… Some sort of civilization.”

He doesn’t tell them what he’s noticed because even though the other half of him is in a screaming panic at current, his mom-half is collected and controlled, aware that these observations won’t aid them in any way. Ian doesn’t want to let the silence linger, though. “Once we get back to camp, we’re packing up and going home. This has been enough adventuring to last me the rest of my life.”

---

“It’s not my fault that the lake was a magical portal to a magical land,” Avalon protests, borrowing Tsela’s explanation while leaning against Gavin’s chest, happily stealing his body warmth. The boy-crazy voice in her head is shrill with excitement at this development, but she’s still shaking and her mind is too drowned in panic to acknowledge anything other than surface thoughts. Even after he pulls away from her, she’s still a little warmer than she was. “Tsela probably caused it. Weird shit is always happening around him,” She adds, not ready to get up and start moving just yet.

It takes her a moment to stop trying to understand what’s going on, and to climb to her feet. She uses Gavin’s shoulder to steady herself, and then stands on her own, chest burning with the effort of it. Sand is caked to her shins and thighs, and probably everywhere else, too. She lets her hair down, shaking it out before putting it back up in a tighter and yet messier bun, eyes still misty with tears. “Alright. I’m ready, let’s go find help.”

---

He brushes a petal off his shoulder as they start moving again, his page lingering close by, obviously curious as to what he was doing in the woods. “I had to piss,” He explains without being asked. As a prince, he hardly ever gets asked questions.

Unless, of course, they’re from his mother; The voice inside his head is hers, has been for as long as he can remember. He hates that he is hers, and knows that the fact of it will never change. The prince will always be the Queen’s son, even if they may be as different as day and night. He wishes that he could distance himself from here, to no longer be associated with the crown. Wishful thinking is a waste of thoughts, though, especially when there’s a group of mortals wondering aimlessly nearby. The nymph was right, the humans would be put to the best use under his control. They were dangerous in the hands of opponents, especially the fair folk, and if one tree nymph knows their presence, all of them do. Which means that there isn’t much time until the fairy king catches wind of the news. They would be dead within hours.

Serai slips through to the front of the hunting party, inclining his head when he reaches the knight who leads the trip today, a younger warlock with elven blood shown through his angled ears. He has a long earring in the left one, a stone carved into the shape of a feather, and it weighs the lobe down. He may have a matching one in his right, but his doe-colored hair lays across that shoulder, braided down to his ribcage. When he meets Serai’s eyes, he does a poor job of hiding his disgust.

“I heard word of a herd that uses the Lake as a watering hole,” He lies, words careful in measure. “It’s not too far away, and it’s possible that the water from the Lake could have made their horns even more potent. We have time to fell a few more stags before we head back, as empty handed as we are.”

The silence lingers steadily as the man considers it, before jerking his head in a sideways nod, diverging towards a path that will lead them to the Lake. The rest of the group follows, trusting as ever. Fools, just like the nymph had said. Serai allows himself to slow in pace until he’s once again at the back of the group, able to drink from his canteen away from curious stares.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

</Gavin Baudelaire/>​

"Alright, lead the way Ian." Standing up and brushing off the caked sand on his lower body, Gavin seemed to have recovered ever so slightly. He didn't budge when Avalon used him as a crutch, nor did he complain. Rather, he smothered a snicker and added "Well, I don't think even Tsela can do... well, this." He turned to face Tsela, and continued "I really don't see how alien and extra-terrestrial is different for you, but whether or not we ended up on the seventh plane of the moon God, it sure as hell ain't earth. So what, shifted dimensions here, is that what you're saying?"

Ian moved ahead and Gavin followed shortly behind, albeit not very vigilantly. His head hung and he rarely bothered to look up from the ground. "If so, then I'm calling dibs on all the cool magic stuff, because that'd be sick."

 

[Prrrgadilly]

Tsela looked at Avalon with an offended air as she tried to pin this whole mes on him. "While I'm honored that you think I have that much pull on the universe, I have you know that those designs in the sky were getting intense long before noticed them. That was gonna happen whether or not I was there, Avalon. It's your fault that it was such a messy transition, anyway. You and Mr. 2-by-4, that is." Not caring how his words would affect the poor girl, Tsela turned to Gavin next and eyed him up an down before nodding; he was stable enough to carry himself. "The difference between 'alien' and 'extraterrestrial', Gavin, is that 'alien' can mean anything that's seems strange or unusual. 'Extraterrestrial' is specifically off-world instances of strange or weird. I was making a play on words. It's semantics." He rolled his eyes at Gavin in defeat. "And yes, I did mean another dimension. It just doesn't feel like a different world in our dimension. Everything's in HD here, not that you can see what I see, and I just have a gut feeling; I tend to trust my gut feelings, because they're a hell of a lot more dependable than my mental state."

"So, I'm guessing we're not going to mention the moon, or moons, to the others? Probably a good idea, hon. Av's barely holding it together, Gav's... Gav, an V's damn near ready to crack." Tsela had slunk up next to Ian and was whispering low enough for only Ian to hear him. "Like one fairy away from hysterical laughter cracking. Remember that time those frat boys spiked my drink last year, and I nearly broke Dave Reginald's spine just for shits and giggles? Yeah, not pretty. Anyway, carryon." Giving Ian a shooing motion with his hands, Tsela stepped back and kneeled to pick Vaughn up again cradling him close. "There, there, Vaughn-baby. Daddy's got you. Besides, you didn't die, and that's what's important." Tsela eyes twinkled brightly as he spoke to Vaughn in a baby voice before planting a kiss on the poor redhead's forehead without warning.