[ It had started out like any other morning. Shadows of people certainly hadn't been any stranger to him. If anything, it was just the normalcy of Norfinbury by now. For... as normal as one could call it anyway. The cold's worse. It bites into him unlike the previous day and that's saying something. Enough to make it a fight to keep even minute shivers under his control. While he's gathered a more reasonable amount of layers since waking up there over four months ago, it barely seems enough.
But there's something more that day. Something even more off and worse. And a part of him gets this sinking feeling that maybe that ought to have waited it out. Maybe they ought to have stayed where they were, but group consensus had decided to push forward, so forward it was. It's not the first time they had dealt with that odd creeping feeling before. The screaming had been far worse, he tells himself. The screaming and the ice berg. It doesn't change the way he holds the grip of his knife tight at any sign of a clawed hand outstretched to him out of the corner of his eye. Of any blink of flaring black wings unfurling or a lonely feather dancing in the wind. But every time he looks, it's nothing but a shimmer of what almost appears to be the sun against the snow. Another trick.
So, he keeps himself busy. Or tries to. He has their backs. He won't let anything happen to them. Not on his watch. He tells himself that again and again. He strikes up conversation when he can, lost in the blur of voices talking about everything and nothing. Repeated conversations for the sake of conversations. The same old concerns and jokes and discussion just to make the underlying unease a bit more bearable- and it is at first. Everything feels relatively calm. They're making progress as far as he's concerned. They ought to make it there fine-
-until he actually allows himself to really think and realizes that the current conversation he's having is a conversation he had months ago and he's having it with someone who shouldn't even be. Because Tadashi died three months ago. And his brother, nearly a month after that. Lancer was gone shortly after he started traveling with Kunsel and the Cloud who had finally awoken from his coma stupor vanished in the snow and not long after Hiro... He shakes his head fiercely, his vision seeming to finally clear and-
Gone.
They're all gone. Zack glances around fervently, shouting out their names loud and clear but to no avail. He curses under his breath. How could he be so stupid? But it's Norfinbury, after all. And it's getting late. If he doesn't manage to get to shelter, he's going to have a lot more to worry about than where those three are. Find a safe space. Contact them immediately. That's the plan.
And it's one he's set to follow through with as he hurriedly picks up the pace. He rushes through the haze of shimmering snow as swiftly as he possibly can, keeping an eye both out for anomalies and the time. His tablet's already flashing in warning. He's really tempting fate and he knows it. He might be stuck out in the-
No, don't even think about it, Fair. Move.
It's by luck that he sees the looming structure before him, big enough for him to easily recognize as the fire station. But by the tablet's light, he can see something lingering in front of its door, too. An anomaly? No, it would already be rushing for him. He's pretty sure he heard it say something, too. Anomalies rarely speak. And when they do, well. He shudders at the thought.
So, he approaches cautiously, hand back on the grip of his knife and... coming no where close to releasing it as the light finally glances off the features of one of his least favorite people in this world. ]
LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE. https://youtu.be/nendMLrpI-s
But there's something more that day. Something even more off and worse. And a part of him gets this sinking feeling that maybe that ought to have waited it out. Maybe they ought to have stayed where they were, but group consensus had decided to push forward, so forward it was. It's not the first time they had dealt with that odd creeping feeling before. The screaming had been far worse, he tells himself. The screaming and the ice berg. It doesn't change the way he holds the grip of his knife tight at any sign of a clawed hand outstretched to him out of the corner of his eye. Of any blink of flaring black wings unfurling or a lonely feather dancing in the wind. But every time he looks, it's nothing but a shimmer of what almost appears to be the sun against the snow. Another trick.
So, he keeps himself busy. Or tries to. He has their backs. He won't let anything happen to them. Not on his watch. He tells himself that again and again. He strikes up conversation when he can, lost in the blur of voices talking about everything and nothing. Repeated conversations for the sake of conversations. The same old concerns and jokes and discussion just to make the underlying unease a bit more bearable- and it is at first. Everything feels relatively calm. They're making progress as far as he's concerned. They ought to make it there fine-
-until he actually allows himself to really think and realizes that the current conversation he's having is a conversation he had months ago and he's having it with someone who shouldn't even be. Because Tadashi died three months ago. And his brother, nearly a month after that. Lancer was gone shortly after he started traveling with Kunsel and the Cloud who had finally awoken from his coma stupor vanished in the snow and not long after Hiro... He shakes his head fiercely, his vision seeming to finally clear and-
Gone.
They're all gone. Zack glances around fervently, shouting out their names loud and clear but to no avail. He curses under his breath. How could he be so stupid? But it's Norfinbury, after all. And it's getting late. If he doesn't manage to get to shelter, he's going to have a lot more to worry about than where those three are. Find a safe space. Contact them immediately. That's the plan.
And it's one he's set to follow through with as he hurriedly picks up the pace. He rushes through the haze of shimmering snow as swiftly as he possibly can, keeping an eye both out for anomalies and the time. His tablet's already flashing in warning. He's really tempting fate and he knows it. He might be stuck out in the-
No, don't even think about it, Fair. Move.
It's by luck that he sees the looming structure before him, big enough for him to easily recognize as the fire station. But by the tablet's light, he can see something lingering in front of its door, too. An anomaly? No, it would already be rushing for him. He's pretty sure he heard it say something, too. Anomalies rarely speak. And when they do, well. He shudders at the thought.
So, he approaches cautiously, hand back on the grip of his knife and... coming no where close to releasing it as the light finally glances off the features of one of his least favorite people in this world. ]
Great. It's you.