There was water, all around him. An endless collection of the blue-hued liquid obscured his vision as Vik found himself awakening. He was at the bottom of the sea, and he could feel the water all around him...

But he couldn't breathe.

Tensing as he saw a group of squids swim by, and feeling the waves lapping at his bruised skin, he tried to hold his breath for as long as he could. Vik didn't know how he'd survived, as he'd been unconscious, but he wasn't planning on taking any idiotic risks that could end up with him getting killed.

On the other hand, though, he should already be dead.

"Vik, just ignore your stupid logic and be happy that you're still alive... Oh my Notch, I sound like Dad now." Shaking at the mere thought, he snapped out of his mind when he saw a blur of brown swim by.

"Probably just a fish or something Vik, just a fish, stop panicking over a silly fish." The dark-eyed male attempted to calm himself, somehow managing to sit up at the bottom of the sea as wincing as the salt burned his eyes. He brushed a hand along the surface, the grains of sand and small stones running through his fingers.

It was... Peaceful. Nothing bad was down here, and he couldn't hurt anybody, so nobody would hurt him.

'Beautiful, isn't it?'

Yelling out at the sudden voice he heard, Vik pushed himself up from the seabed as he heard a husky laugh. He tried to kick up to the surface before his limited air ran out, but before he was anywhere near the top he realised something.

The fact that he couldn't move his legs as a pair, but the moved as one. Formulating the possible and impossible ideas of what could have happened, he postponed looking at what was wrong and decided to continue the journey upwards.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you, raven-head.' The voice warned again, and he saw the brown flash again. This time it sounded more fuzzy, but that was probably because he was beginning to black out.

'For Atlanta's sake, breathe!' He felt compelled to do so, and did it - He felt the water in his lungs, the immeasurable amount of salt burning his insides.

But he didn't start to drown. Yes, it hurt to breathe, but it was functioning normally as if he was on land 'Gods, mate, are you alright?'. Coughing violently into his hands, Vik heard the voice sigh before something... No, someone swam infront of him. They placed their hands on their hips, the scales dotted on her hands reflecting the sunlight that filtered through the breaks in the strong current 'Honestly, one would think you couldn't breathe underwater.'

'Normally - Normally I c-can't... Oh Notch, where am I? And who are- What are you?'

'They always ask what I am, not who I am: Well that's depressing. Anyway, as you asked so politely, I'm a mermaid. Saltwater kind.' She seemed more smug at the added sentence, but then it dropped as she shook her head 'Sorry, got a bit carried away there. Who are you?'

'I'm- My name's Vik.'

'Good to meet ya, Vik! My name's Athena, and as for where you are, your location is currently on the outskirts of the fabled water temple.' The mermaid explained cheerfully, silver tail swaying in the current as she gestured to the monument. Vik's jaw dropped at the impressive sight, most of him wanting nothing more than to go and explore the legendary place, but he also had.. Ahem, other issues.

'Hey, Athena-'

'Yes?'

'Why do ever-loving-' A squid swam by just before the word was spoken, obscuring it from hearing range '-do I haVE A TAIL?!'

'Pfft, I dunno. You could go and ask our leader why, but if you're questioning this, does that mean you're... Y'know.'

'What?'

Athena looked around sneakily, before swimming up to the male and cupping her hands round his ears before whispering 'A land-walker.'. Vik frowned at this and (rather awkwardly) swam a few metres away, honestly quite offended at the tone she'd spoken in. She'd sounded... Disgusted. As if they were nothing more than trash 'I just do happen to be a "Land-walker", yeah.'

'Saeva ac velut in ventis et mari, et semper: et revertetur ad me... This just got a while lot more interesting. You might want to follow me, Vikram - You're coming to meet our King.'

---

'I don't get how he can just disappear like that - I almost had him!' Jerome sighed glumly, resting his chin on one paw as Mitch joined him by his side. The bacca had returned about ten minutes prior, drenched in rain with twigs and leaves poking out of his fur, but all he seemed to care about was the fact that he'd failed his friends.

'Don't beat yourself up bout it, man. Vik's smart, I'm sure he's probably hiding in a cave or something.' Kenny spoke to try and comfort the furry teenager, but he just sighed again and buried his face into his knees.

'I just - How could I lose him? I'm a bacca hybrid, for Notch's sake, yet I couldn't track somebody?!'

'Biggums, calm down. Getting frustrated isn't the best option right now.' Mitch soothed, rubbing his friend's back as he felt the bacca shaking. He could also feel that his hoodie was completely soaked, and had a fleeting moment of concern for Preston, but remembered that him and Choco were at Rob's house 'If anything you need to go and get dry.'

Jerome snorted quietly at this, looking up and meeting the Canadians eyes with his own grey orbs 'Is that really important right now, though? Don't think it-'. He cut himself off with a sneeze, making Kenny jump in surprise while Mitch just put his fee hand up to his chest with a cheeky smile on his face.

'Not important, eh? You my friend need to go get some warm clothes on.'

'But that just means I'll have to go through the rain to get to my house. I ain't doin' that again.'

'What if I can freeze the rain? Freeze it in time, I mean. I don't think I have ice powers,' The brunet offered, but Jerome just declined by shaking his head. 'Too risky, I don't want to falling unconscious or anything.'

'Bro, I'll be fine - Just watch me!' He declared, jumping up and throwing his checkered hood up before jogging to the front door, dashing outside and ignoring his friends' warnings.

"I can do this, it's as easy as riding a bike... Except the bike's on fire. And the world's on fire, and everything's on fire because this world is a living Hell - Gods that got depressing. Then again, this is me we're talking about, so I'm not too surprised. Back to me using my powers anyway."

Laughing at his own thoughts, Mitch found it easier to use his abilities when he was joking around, even when it was himself, so he continued to do that as the grey magic swirled around his fingers and into the sky. Unbelievably, it actually worked, as most of the rain in the area came to a standstill 'I'm telling - Woah.'

'I know right? I'm awesome!' He cheered as Jerome and Kenny made their way next to him, 'But we should probably get going before I, like, die or something. Not particularly interested in that stuff anymore.'
'Anymore?'
'Long personal story, which I probably won't tell you.'

'Oh, right - Mitch your nose is bleeding!' Bringing a hand up to his face and pulling it away, he found that he was, indeed, bleeding. Instead of doing the sane thing of abandoning the use of his powers (which had undoubtedly caused this) he actually pushed himself further. The rain stopped entirely, and the strangest thing began to happen.

The water started to rewind. It was actually floating back into the sky, with the Time Keeper letting out a childish cry of delight as he span around a few times. 'This is amazing!' He cheered loudly, arms raised up to the sky as he continued to twirl. Jerome and Kenny exchanged concerned glances at this behaviour; It was odd. Mitch usually wasn't this happy, even before the War started.

What was going on?

'C'mon, guys, lighten up!' The Canadian groaned jokingly, standing still as a flock of seven crows flew backwards through the air. 'What's wrong? You all look depressed as heck.'

'Mitch, you should stop using your ability, you're kind of-'

'Jittery, twitching, completely unlike you, Biggums.' Jerome pointed out whilst walking towards the shorter male. He put a paw on either soldier, looking directly into his eyes and holding him still - There was something there. There was a fake happiness, yeah, but he could also see Mitch's eyes slowly starting to water.

'What are you talking about? I-I'm finally being useful! For, for once in my life, I... I'm doing something to help-'

'You need to calm down, alright? Help yourself first. Turn the time back, you're wearing yourself out.'

It took a few moments, but the rain slowly began to fall once again. The abnormal amount of silver light that had been flickering and twisting through the trees burnt out, with Mitch taking a shaky breath and looking at his hands. The amount of time he'd just messed around with - It actually kind scared him, knowing that he was that powerful...

Only time would tell how long it would take before he hurt somebody, somebody so important that he would do anything to get them back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is actually like 10/10 writing from me right here. Luna is pleased.

c:

See you all in the next chapter, and have a great Morning - Afternoon - Evening - Dawn - Dusk - Midnight - Paranormal Timezone!