The first lurch took Matsukaze completely by surprise, and they were one of the ones flung into the wall with a startled yelp. The second, they were equally unprepared for, and the third finally made them stumble back and lose their footing. They do manage to catch themself with their already-scraped-up knees and their arms, their left elbow and knee taking the brunt of the impact – where the hell were they?! Everything keeps lurching, and they don’t even try to scramble up yet.
They’ve never been on a boat before. It isn’t until the water starts pouring in that it even occurs to them that’s what the situation is, and their breath hitches in alarm.
The water is cold, and they know they need to get to the deck or whatever is up there, out of the water. They are among the last up the stairs, and it’s… it’s already a struggle. Their knees are bleeding again, their arm is sore, they’re still all banged up from the fight with Viper, and now they have to run up stairs while they’re lurching every which way and cold water spills down?!
Already their breathing is ragged before they reach the top, and they stumble several times and have to catch themself on the way up. They swear repeatedly between gasps.
Great, just fucking great, they’re already half soaked before they even make it up to the pouring rain.
And then the ship starts to split, water rushes up to them far faster than they like, and they go under.
They don’t really even have time to make peace with it being cold before they’re plunged under, despite flailing for something to hold. For a moment they manage to grab a piece of wood, but their waterlogged gloves can’t grip and the wood slips out of their grasp.
“Hel–” they begin before another wave pulls them back down, and they inhale a lungful of water. Coughing and sputtering, they break the surface and try to cry out for help, only to realize it’s next to impossible to get anything but water through the waterlogged face mask.
They’re going to die. They’re definitely going to die. They can’t keep their head above water, their chest burns, salt water burns down their throat, scrapes and cuts alike all burn – everything burns and their shoes and scarf are so heavy. In their panic, they can’t even spare the effort to take anything off. They’re already so worn out, but they have to try harder, they have to get back above water.
Matsu has no idea if anyone is near, if anyone even knows they’re drowning, or if anyone would even want to help them.
They go back under.
