Chapter Text
Gentlu gasped, shocked awake by the sensation of something tugging at her breastbone. It didn't hurt, per se, but it was jarring, like a salvage hook was stuck in her chest cavity.
Yank.
She opened her mouth to gasp in a shocked breath... and inhaled something thick, bitter, and utterly disgusting, something that stuck in her throat and immediately made her retch and cough. The more she did, though, the more of this nasty fluid she breathed in. What's happening? Am I going to die? I'm drowning, but in what? Ugh... I don't want to die. I don't want to stop existing.
Help me. Someone, anyone, please help me.
As if in answer to her plea, some sort of sound came to her from above... or was it below? To the right, or left? She couldn't tell—but despite the stultifying darkness around her, she could tell it was... music. Muffled, burbling, distorted by the viscous blackness around her.
It gave her hope. Hope that she wouldn't die here.
Gentlu clenched her teeth and blindly clawed towards the music. The blackness fought her every stroke, like she was rowing through cement. Her lungs burned, her shoulders ached, but still she fought. I will not die here! I—
Abruptly, Gentlu's head breached through the surface of the water, and she began to flounder, searching for purchase of some sort. She wanted nothing more than to pull herself free of this blackness to safety... and again, her prayers were answered as a hand entered her field of view.
"Take my hand, mademoiselle. I know it's not pleasant down there."
Gentlu hastily took the offered hand. Whether it belonged to a devil or angel, it was what she needed right now.
"Bien. Now—" Joker set down his violin, braced himself, and pulled, bringing the silver-haired girl up and over the lip of the Dreaming Pool to land on the marble deck that encircled it. "Up we go."
As soon as Gentlu's feet touched the smooth floor, her knees buckled and she fell onto all fours, coughing and retching up around a liter of black... stuff, thick as oil yet thin as skim milk at the same time. Just looking at it made her head spin... and made her feel like retching again. When she finally regained her voice, she sputtered out one question, the only one she could manage. "Who...?"
The harlequin smiled, draping a cloak around Gentlu's bare shoulders. "My name is Joker, dear Gentlu. Welcome to Terminus... we've been waiting for you."