A seagull floats high in the clear blue sky. Anaki watches as it dips lower, wings flapping— then it dives. Straight into the sea.

The ripples fade. The water stills.

He waits for it to rise.

But it doesn't.

A hard lump forms in his throat, maybe he should head back.

The sun is too bright, the noises are louder— waves crashing, kids laughing, the shrill call of gulls overhead— it’s making his heart pound painfully against his chest.

His vision blurs.

He wants to head back inside, but being alone is scary. And Miss Yaryu is busy with others.

"Look, the lost puppy’s here!" Ross’s voice cuts through the air, sharp and mocking.

His usual ruffled hair whipping against the air. “What’s wrong? Lonely without your babysitters?”

Anaki flinches. Heat floods his face. He ducks his head lower, wishing—for once—that words wouldn’t fail him.

“Oh shut up, Ross.”

Orion kicks sand at Ross, annoyance flashing in his blue-sapphire eyes.

Ross only grins. “Aw, look at this, your guard dog is full on duty.”

“Knock it off,” Orion jabs him in the waist.

Ross laughs running off.

Anaki doesn't answer. His eyes latched on his feet, toes fiddling with the rough sand.

"Come on, Anaki," Eli signs, his hands gesturing warmly. His voice is soft, though it wavers in that way it sometimes does. "You’re okay."

He reaches for Anaki’s hand tugging him along. Anaki shuffles closer, staying a step behind, like always. He likes it here, in their shadow— even when Orion sighs and rolls his eyes.

“Behold! The Mountain of Doom!” Ross yells from above a cliff.

The rocks jutted out like teeth, ready to rip into them any second. Anaki’s stomach lurches just looking at it.

Up ahead, upperclassmen race to the top, laughing, tossing taunts back and forth. They're having fun, again.

Anaki just wants this to be over.

"Try not to look down." Eli signs before following Orion up the cliffside.

The climb was easier than he thought.

At the top, the wind is stronger, whipping at their clothes and hair. Anaki shuffles closer to Eli, eyes wide, palms damp.

"Alright, now for the test of courage!" Ross points at a gap in the cliff— a chasm splitting the boulders in half.

“Prove your Courage!”

The others were already leaping across, landing with sure-footed ease. Their laughter rang out, carefree.

Anaki’s heart pulsed to his fingers, any second it could burst from his chest. Can it? He clutches his shirt, gulping.

Orion jumps without hesitation, landing on the other side like it was nothing. Eli follows, landing safely and dusting the sand off his hands.

Then it was just him. The children look back at him.

"Come on, Anaki!" Ross jeers. "Or are you too scared?”

He stands frozen at the edge. Scared?

He is terrified!

The gap yawns wide in front of him— deadly rocks below, waves crashing far, far down. Like the monsters from his dreams, hungry for his blood. His knees buckled, and for a moment, he thought they’d give out entirely.

"What’s wrong? You coming?" Ross groans, bored now.

"Kids!" Miss Yaryu’s voice rises from the beach, strained. "Get down from there—NOW!"

She’s too far away. She won’t reach them in time.

"Just jump already!"

Anaki swallows hard.

No use remembering how they taught him to breathe.

He bends his knees, fingers fiddling and pushes off, kicking pebble and sand.

For a second, he was weightless.

Then —

Bam!

He lands clumsily next to Eli and Orion. Their hands shoot out to grab him before he slips.

"Close call, yeah?" Eli beams.

Anaki exhales shakily. More relieved he's alive than he made it. He is never doing this again.

"Kids!" Miss Yaryu storms toward them.

"I saw that!"

The children groan.

“Down, now! You first, Orion!”

Orion clicks his tongue, annoyed. Ross muffles a laugh. "Sucks to be you. Always stuck with your aunt."

"Shut up, Ross." Orion moves to climb down.

"Not so fast! You're helping Anaki!"

Orion lets out a long, suffering sigh. He glares at Anaki, unimpressed.

Anaki flinches. He’s a burden again.

Slowly, he moves toward the edge. Climbing down looks so much worse than going up.

Orion arches a brow, impatient. "Hurry up—”

Anaki’s foot slips.

The world tilts—

The crying guls, gray rocks, and rippled water below spins in a blur. For a fleeting second, his eyes catch Orion’s. Those sapphire blue irises widen, blooming like startled flowers. Just like Miss Yaryu’s.

Then Anaki saw the clear blue.

And realizes—he is falling.

“Anaki—!"

The water hits like a solid wall.

It crashes around him, engulfing him into a cocoon of icy waters.

He kicks and flails, but the current drags him down. Deeper into its depths.

He claws at the water, his eyes stinging— tears mixing with the salts.

Bubbles escape to the surface desperate to breathe and then it hits him hard. A sharp stabbing pain in his head as if an electronic shredder rips his soul into micro-particles.

Then visions implode in his head.

—Fire.
—Screams.
—Blood.
—Bodies.
—A name that wasn’t his — and yet was.

He opens his mouth to scream —

But the water took that from him, too.

Instead darkness swallows him whole. Whether he was dead or not didn't matter.

The pain was finally gone.

How long he'd been unconscious, he couldn't tell but it was cold. Freezing.

And in his icy slumber a voice calls him.

“Anaki.”

His eyelids twitch.

The voice repeats, waking him from the swimming depths.

“Anaki?”

How long has it been since he's heard that name? Years? A decade? Almost long enough to forget it was ever his.

The voice reaches out again, it sounds alien. Too kind and gentle for his cruel world.

“Don’t move too much."

He blinks trying to get up but his body aches— like he was first poisoned, then run over by a bulldozer for good measure.

Did he somehow escape death again?

Wait.

Am I dead?

“Don’t push yourself.” The voice shifts closer. His vision swims, a throbbing headache hammers his skull.

A hand touches his shoulders. He yanks back as hard as he could from it. All his senses snap into overdrive.

Where is he? What happened?
His eyes lock onto the woman beside him. Startled eyes, damp pixie-cut hair. Tall, athletic and unfamiliar. Who the hell is she? He doesn’t recognize her—does he? 

She looks startled by his reaction.

Before she can speak, he pushes off the bed, ready to run—

His knees buckle and he falls headfirst.

CRACK.

His forehead smashes against the timber floor.

“Anaki!”

The woman lunges forward, grabbing his arm before he collapses completely.

"It’s okay. I got you.”

Her touch is unfamiliar but gentle, she guides him back to the bed.

He looks at his small hands, are these his? Is this an illusion? His breath shudders.

"Shhh… it’s okay," she soothes. "Breathe. In and out. Just like in class, remember?"

He sucks in the air—clean, crisp, tinged with coconut and salt.

Not heavy with blood and smoke.

Wait.

His head snaps up.

A bright lagoon stretches before him. Crystal-clear water reflecting an endless blue sky. Sunlight dances over soft white sand, where children splash and laugh, carefree.

His stomach drops.

This isn’t his world.

It’s too peaceful. Too calm and pleasant.

Shit.

He's really dead this time, isn't he?

“Anaki.” The woman reaches to him.

He flinches. Scrambling back. Eyes glaring wary. Who is she?

She looks familiar.

A dull throb pulses at the base of his skull.

His fingers dig into his hair as the pain swells. Rising. Stabbing. A weight pressing, crushing—

He bends forth and lets out a scream, tears soaking the bedding.

“Anaki! Are you in pain?”

He holds his sockets, memories collapse like a typhoon in his head. Screams and chaos. Wars and blood sheds. Deaths. So many deaths. From pasts yet to come and pasts long forgotten. But as he remembers it all. Where he is, who he is—no—Where he was. Who he was. Before it all changed, he chokes. Then vomits.

The woman grips his shoulder, steadying him as he shudders.

“Anaki…” she says softly, rubbing slow circles against his back. “Are you—?”

He mumbles.

“What?”

Anaki lifts his head, eyes bloodshot, voice a hushed whisper.

"We’re going to die."

His body sags, and he collapses in her arms, unconscious.

She stiffens. "—Anaki!"