Chapter Text
Water. That was the only thing that Louis felt at the moment. The only thing that managed to keep his eyes sealed shut. Throwing him into an unwanted darkness that made him panic, not wanting to let him move as easily as he wanted to.
With the right amount of effort and strength, Louis started moving and swimming up. Hopefully up. No real way of knowing which way was where as he struggled to try get air, failing, swallowing water at an unwanted pace. Panic rising faster and faster until nothing.
*******
The next thing Louis knew, he was staring at a nearly spotless sky, clouds spotting here and there. It took a few minutes before Louis’ heart started racing, sitting up quickly to get a good look around.
Beach. He was on a beach. That explained the unwarranted amount of sand in his hair. His thoughts suddenly turning to his friends.
“Harry? Liam? Niall, Zayn!” Louis called out, jumping up from his spot and tearing down the beach. “Harry! Liam! Niall! Zayn!”
His eyes scanned around the beach in vain, no sight of the others. Plane parts thrown here and there without care. The only people he could see were some who were panicking, crying, not knowing where to go.
One boy crying over his dead dad, a man to his left screaming for someone to help him. The plane parts getting larger and larger as Louis kept going, a small fire taking over one of the parts. Louis immediately halting to try and soak in his surroundings.
“You!” A voice came over the crowd
Louis blinked.
“Hey! YOU!” The voice came again, this time more demanding. The command obviously meant for him. “Get over here!”
Louis turned to the voice seeing an elderly woman, calling and waving him over. From the looks of her, she was obviously in shape, but not terribly muscular. Just someone who could take care of themself in a fist fight, if it came down to that.
Immediately, Louis obeyed. Running over to her to see what she needed. Looking over the scene, it was the scene, it was man screaming for help, being stuck under a hunk of metal.
“When I say push, push!” The woman said as the two got into position.
“Push!”
The two pushed as hard as they could, at first looking like they didn’t do much. It eventually and slowly did move. Revealing that half of the man’s body was missing and bleeding out. Making Louis jump back in surprise, and the woman looked down, not liking his chances, starting to look for a towel, blanked, or anything to try and stop the bleeding.
Louis in the meantime started shaking like no one’s business, looking back to see a now glazed expression of the half man. This lasted only for a second before Louis turned around, unto his knees, tears stinging his eyes.
“Things will be all right.” Said the woman, putting her hands on his shoulders. “Trust me on this. My name is Mara Fujiwara. What’s yours?”
“Louis Tomlinson.” He replied, then giving a pause. “But…. That’s all I remember.”
“Interesting.” Mara muttered, before continuing “I heard you calling some names. Were they friends of yours?”
He gave it some thought “Yeah. They’re important to me.”
Mara turned Louis to face her, giving a comforting smile “Well, that something. Isn’t it?”
Louis nodded “Yeah.”
He then shook his head and backed up a little, making Mara worried. How could he be so calm at a time like this? The friends he barely remembered could very well be dead and he saw a man bleed out to death in front of him.
Mara, expecting this, took a step forwards. Having seen this sort of thing on a regular basis on her job.
“I know you’re worried, but panicking will not help them right now.” She said
“How could I not? They could be dead for all I know!” Louis snarled, tears welling up in his eyes again in anger.
“All that matters right now is that we survive.” Mara replied “We still don’t know if they’re dead or not. There’s still a lot of ground to cover.”
Louis nodded his breaths still more ragged and heavy, wanting to sleep this whole nightmare off, hating the idea of the fate of his friends. But nevertheless, the two pressed on, searching in vain past dead bodies and plane pieces. Some pieces still were on fire as they passed. How Louis not throw up from the mess, was still beyond him.
Mara managing to drag any bodes that she could to a part of the beach. She still had that odd calm from the moment the two met, the sun eventually going down signalling the end of a terrifying day. Louis hearing Mara muttering something about a lighter and gas fuel, as a possible alternative to burying the bodies that now littered the beach, mainly to avoid a possible smell from the decomposing bodies.
The young boy that they passed earlier managed her wander from his dad to the two. Eyes still red from his sobbing a he did so.
“What’s your name?” Mara asked gently “My name’s Mara Fujiwara.”
“My… my name’s Cheerio.” He hiccupped
“Cheerio?” Louis asked, raising his eyebrows
“It’s my favorite cereal. I don’t remember my real name.” He replied
“Memory problems?” Louis asked
“I think so.” Said Cheerio “Yeah.”
“How are you feeling?” Mara asked
“Pretty bad.” He muttered, wiping his eyes
“We may as well get some rest soon.” Mara continued “There’s something I want to look over quickly first.”
She made her way with the two boys, wondering if there was anyone still alive. Expecting the worst in the end, but wanting the opposite to happen. Cheerio breaking off from the others just to wander around.
A part of the plane that looked like something that came from the middle was practically leaning on several trees it crashed on. One of the wings was still attached to it, while the other was sent flying several feet away from it.
There was not that much to see other than that, until Cheerio came running towards Louis and Mara shouting at them.
“There’s…. there’s someone still alive! But he’s stuck under something!”