Chapter Text
Life aboard the Alcor had died down for the approaching night.
Not quite to the point of everyone being asleep minus Juza, herself, and maybe Xu Liushi if he is needed or decides to stay up.
Yinxing is probably still awake in her surgery, Suling by the weapons, Furong is sat doing... Something? Or nothing, it depends with her.
Kazuha is still awake, as expected, and is stood near the ships edge. He seems to be lost in thought as always, taking in the sea and all its glory. Probably thinking some poetic shit Beidou will never understand, yet does not stop his musings.
"Kazuha!" She greets cheerfully, walking over to his side. "Whatcha up to, kid?"
The boy looks over to her, greeting her with a smile. "Captain Beidou, I'm simply enjoying the view. The seas are calm though the air seems… troubled."
"Troubled? How so?" Beidou has learned by now that the boy has a strong connection to the wind and can sense shifts in pattern and what they may indicate. For better or worse.
Kazuha stares at the sky for a moment, thinking. "I'm not sure..."
That doesn't explain much, but she's learnt to trust the boy’s instincts. "Alright then, so... Could it be another stor-?"
"Over there!"
Kazuha points to something up high in the sky, a flash of green, almost like anemo, and then a figure. The figure is falling, down and down towards the sea.
"That’s a person."
"I can see that."
She works immediately, alerting Juza to the figure as they steer in their general direction, the person can't be too far, but the sea is deceiving.
She hears Kazuha shout that the person has hit the water and turns to see the splash left in their wake, it's not far. She'd be able to swim there once they were a little closer.
By now, a few other members had been alerted or woken due to the commotion of their captain shouting orders and the haste in which the ship had moved, even Kazuha had to hold on as the movement made the ship move sharply.
The ripples in the water dissipate more and more, making it difficult to pinpoint where exactly the figure had fallen from. She knows approximately where, and they were close enough now that she could try to swim down and locate them.
“Kazuha, if I don’t come back up in three minutes something’s wrong.” She declares to the young man, before promptly jumping into the depths below before she can be stopped.
The water is as cold as Beidou expected, she’s just grateful her muscles didn’t tense and leave her vulnerable. The sea is as difficult to navigate as it is unforgiving, the harsh waters making boats rock and its murky waters making sight nearly impossible.
What is unmistakeable though is a green glow.
Not too far below, a faint trace of anemo can be seen, fading like a dying star. She swims down towards it, watching the small ember transform into a dark silhouette, a person. She reaches out for them and grabs onto a piece of clothing, finding her way under the figures arms to grasp a tight hold on them before making her ascent.
As she breaks through the surface, the first thing she notices is the ship, now with more people on deck than when she left it, secondly that Little Yue of all people was the first to point her out. As she drew near, people grasped at her and the person in her arms, pulling them both on deck. She could do it herself, the other person, however, could not.
On the deck, her deck, is a boy. A boy either Kazuha’s age or younger. He looks heavily injured, slashes scattered on his body and a head injury that is contributing to the growing stain on the wooden deck.
“Get Yinxing, now!”
At that, one of the crew runs to Yinxing’s infirmary as Beidou turns her attention back to the boy, who someone has deducted is still alive.
It’s going to be a long night on the Alcor.