What the Tide Dragged In

Cold.

The chill of the night air tinged with an ocean breeze, picking up against the wood and rocking the vessel ever so slightly with each wave it picks up underneath.

Warm.

The sound of laughter coming from the edge of the boat, watching flat stones be cast for a perfect skip across the way, the small laughter and clapping coming from young hands.

Hot.

The sound of glass shattering, the sound of the zip of a fire roaring to life and licking all around at the boat, the screams of two as the boat begins to splinter and crack.

The sound of a giant splash while one continues to scream as the mast begins to fall in a fiery display. 

The sound of your own feet kicking into action as you push the source of the screaming away and then feel the crush and the heat all at once.

Aria wakes with a horrible start, gasping and clutching at the air around him. His body feels like it is in a constant of pain and relief at the same time, making him feel incredibly uncomfortable in his own skin. He wants to scream and run, as fast as he can to the ocean. To their docks and swim out as far as he can to see if he can somehow find-

"Oh good, you're awake. Thought we had a false-life for a second."

Aria jolts and whips their head to the side to see a robed figure looking down at them, a blank expression on their face. They extend a hand to Aria. "Come now, can't be comfortable to sit on the floor all day."

Aria takes their hand and gets up to his feet in one mechanical motion, looking around at his surroundings. The area is bathed in a bright glow that either had an invisible source or no source at all somehow, but it felt blinding all the same with the surrounding hues of grays in the sparse buildings. They look up at the sky and see a sickly display of what should be clouds, all melding together into a vapor resembling smog. 

"Where… am I?"

"Limbo. You are awaiting evaluation, like the rest of the lost souls who get sent here after death."

Death.

The ocean. Fire. Screams. Family.

Aria's eyes widen and begin to water, memory flooding back like saltwater to his lungs. He goes to say something but the figure continues on, not seeming to catch onto Aria's sudden misery.

"You were found a few days ago here and since then have been researched and noted on. I can tell from what they found they are pleased. You should be meeting with your sibling in the great beyond above very soon."

"S-Sibling? Just one?"

"Yes, the one with white hair and a firecracker attitude. Oh, my apologies. Perhaps that analogy is not the best for both of yours' predicament."

Aria zones in and out of the person's words, trying to process Adrienne making it into Heaven if he truly wasn't knocked out cold right now and lying in a hospital cot waiting to be treated on. He licks his lips, not realizing they have dried so much. 

"And where is my other sibling?"

The person hums and shifts around in their robes, and for the first time Aria realizes they have wings sprouted from their back as one grazes slightly against his shoulder. An angel.

"Your other sibling is still on the mortal plane, being tended to. A lucky one that soul is, you saved their life at the cost of your own."

Aria feels a tear escape the rim of his eye and lets it roll. "I see… we left them alone."

"Pardon?"

"We…" He balls up a fist, cursing his emotions for trying to choke him. "I left Alastair alone."

"You saved that child's life. Do you realize the good you have done, how selfless that was? Your situation was dire."

"But we left them alone!!" Aria shouts, hearing his echoes in the weird void he has found himself in. He collapses onto the ground and sobs into his hands. "It was my fault anyway! I hadn't seen the lantern, nor the oil it was leaking because of frivolity in wanting to one-up my sister in front of our sibling in a drunken stupor of a stone-skipping contest. Of all the fucking ways to endanger and go out…" His body shakes and he feels sick, remembering the events again and again and coiling around his mind to chant your fault, your fault. "It was all my fault. I didn't see the lantern, but I saw their faces and heard their screams. I saw when Adrienne got hit and her body fell into the water like a sinking stone and I… oh God."

The angel crouches next to Aria and holds out their hands, palms facing toward him. An aura of light and comfort pours out of their hands and wraps around Aria like the softest blanket he can imagine. "Please. Calm. It is okay to cry, but do not blame yourself."

The aura's magic feels wondrous, but it's not enough to quell those dark thoughts, Aria knows. He shakes less, but he still holds himself as he says darkly, "I do not know what notes you saw them take of me, but I do not deserve to move onto upstairs." 

The angel scoffs, showing some sort of emotion aside from 'blank slate'. "We take our jobs seriously here, and the evaluations are soundproof. It is your mind telling you otherwise. Unfortunate accidents happen." The angel tries, but Aria cannot get out of his own head. He stands back up, slower this time, and looks around. "No. I know what I've done. I will be atoning here, alone. I have heard enough stories to know that a stubborn soul can't be forced where they do not wish."

The angel makes an honest to goodness 'tch' noise of annoyance and gets up themselves, dusting off the ends of their robes. "Do what you must, you all move on eventually. I have other souls to attend to and business to conduct." They turn away and start walking in a direction toward a building. Aria watches as a single feather detaches from their wings and falls gently to the ground in front of him. He picks it up and twirls it in his fingers before looking up at the sky and pocketing it. 

"I am so sorry."