Entrenched

[Fujiwara Kazunari]

He yawned. "Please, an army? I could kill them all while they slept. And we'll set up camp near the... water, I felt. Shouldn't stay too close to the city." He kept walking, rubbing his eyes. "An army would get lost in the Trenches, they'd never find the houses."  

[Stelle Cadenti]

The panic went away, adn left Fira feeling a bit silly for it. "Yeah, right."

She stared down the dirt road that winded into the city, small trees lined it, and some even grew right in the middle of it. The wind blew fiercly for a second, causing a chill to go down her spine. "Well, I think we'd better go to the water now then, I don't think any of these houses will have anything better than this one."  

[Fujiwara Kazunari]

He nodded. "We can go deeper into the city tomorrow... but how you're supposed to sleep when it's so bright, I'll never know..." He groaned and started walking eastward, towards the water. "Come on, I'll try and get us something to eat when we get there."  

[Stelle Cadenti]

Fira glanced up at the sun, and noticed that it wasn't in the same place as it was before. She distinctly remembered it meeting the tip of the highest spire, now it was well below that point. Was it supposed to do that? What would happen if it got so low as to go below the horizon? She looked away from it at that thought, consoling herself by remembering that there had been people here once and never had she heard anything about the sun disappearing. She followed Kazu, still worried. She was wringing her hands, her skin painful but she chose to ignore it.  

[Fujiwara Kazunari]

They walked for a while, as Kazu noticed the sun getting lower and lower. It was getting dark now, and he was happy. Once again, he had the advantage in the shadows.
"Here we are..." He pointed towards a massive body of water, stretched as far as the two could see, and kept going. "Wow... is this... the ocean?"  

[Stelle Cadenti]

Fira gazed at the water with Kazu. "The ocean?" It was beautiful. The sun behind them made the water glitter as it crested over the shore. She found herself walking towards it. "I wonder how far it goes, forever, maybe." She knelt down beside the water's edge and dipped her fingers in, letting it swirl around her fingers. A small sigh escaped her lips.

"They kept us from this. All of it. It's so beautiful." She splashed the water up on to her arm, letting it sooth her chapped skin.  

[Fujiwara Kazunari]

Kazu turned away, gritting his teeth. He couldn't say anything, he was too angry, too upset. Finally, he was free, away from everything down there, but still... something was missing. And he couldn't tell what.  

[Stelle Cadenti]

Fira glanced at Kazu, but decided not to ask. If he wanted to keep to himself then she wouldn't stand in his way. She stood up and quickly pulled off the soft, fabric shoes she wore. She wasted no time in dipping her feet in the water. The rocks were slippery underfoot, but she managed to wade in up to her knees.

"Kazu, you should feel the water, it's so- clean." As compared to the grayish fluid that came from the taps in the Trenches, she had always thought that to be clean. She had never seen this before though.  

[Fujiwara Kazunari]

Kazu turned slowly, his gaze stopping on the horizon. With the glittering of the ocean, and the endless blue, it was an amazing scene, he was completely speechless. He turned all the way around, walking to the water's edge, his anger, sorrow, everything was gone. The only thing he saw, was the ocean, and the many futures it could hold. "Wow... it's... it's beautiful."  

[Stelle Cadenti]

Fira smiled when she saw Kazu untense. She took another step out into the water, and suddenly playful, reached down to send a spray of water at Kazu. She hitched up her dress so it wouldn't get too wet, and took another step back to get out of his reach.  

[Fujiwara Kazunari]

Kazu snapped back when the water hit him. "Huh... what?" He blinked, trying to figure out exactly where he was.
Then he saw Fira. "... Right, you're in for it now." He pulled off his boots, wading into the water after Fira. "Get back here!"  

[Stelle Cadenti]

She smiled widely and sent another spray of water at Kazu. The water was up to her thighs where she was standing now, and her dress was already wet so she let it hang down in the water to have her hands free. She turned and waded out further, relishing in the water that lapped against her skin. She looked back to smirk at Kazu before going out even further.  

[Fujiwara Kazunari]

Kazu growled when the spray hit him, but all it did was make him want to catch Fira more. "Come back here!" He smirked, lunging forward, but instead of catching Fira, he lost his footing, stumbling forward past her and into deeper water.  

[Stelle Cadenti]

Fira laughed for a moment when she saw Kazu stumble before jumping after him into the water. She had never swum before, no one in the Trenches had. But the water just felt right to her, natural almost. She dove under the surface, finding the water easy to see through, and kicked her way towards Kazu.  

[Fujiwara Kazunari]

Kazu flailed about, trying to get back up to the surface. After a few seconds, he started to figure out how to swim, at least slightly. He pushed his way to the surface, panting when he broke through. His mask was hanging around his neck, his hair was all over the place, and his clothes looked little more than wet piles of rags. "Ah, that's just great..."