Seclusion: A FC/UC Background Short

Abluvion
Pre-Humanoid Era
xxxx, X.X.

Unda stood alone in the deepest recesses of her home, feeling the water swirl around her ankles. It had been a while since she was last there in that particular area – the last time she was, she was giving and giving and there was so much pain around her.

Now, she was there for a completely different reason. Unda exhaled, feeling the waters around her swirl turbulently; they had reacted to her current moods and she attempted to calm herself down. This only seemed to irritate them more. The waters gave a small roar and Unda’s eyes snapped open, she glaring down at her feet as if demanding them to stop.

And they did, with mild hesitation.

“I can’t believe it had to escalate to this point,” she muttered, extremely irritated. “All because of Ventus…”

Despite her exterior feelings, Unda was terrified.

They had found Ventus alone and unconscious, refusing to wake at all. With that, his world – Susurrus – had started to decay at the lack of life force being drawn from their Creator.

They tried everything. Unda herself had attempted to take control of his Quintessence and banish whatever impurity had poisoned him, but there was no effect. Amina tried forging the most healing of herbs and fed it to him, but he did not rouse. Finally, Calor summoned his flames and tried restoring his eldest brother’s older warmth.

Even with their efforts, Ventus did not stir. He remained there, his eyes closed and form rigid, unmoving. Amina nearly burst into tears at the predicament of her favorite sibling and the Twins didn’t know how to calm her down. Finally, they made Amina return to her home and promised to call for her if they had any news.

Unda and Calor, despite their being Twins, never got along with each other. There was the elemental difference and the personality barrier, both of which incredibly contrasting that they frequently got into scuffles and small-scale fights.

With Ventus’ calming voice and overseeing eyes, however, both of them knew that it was time to get themselves together.

“What can we do?” she had hissed. Ventus now lay on his bed, still unmoving, and the two siblings accompanied the still figure. “We can’t call for them. They passed this onto us to complete, now Ventus is comatose and Amina is unstable–”

“Calm down, Unda.” Calor’s ruby eyes glanced at his ‘resting’ brother and he slumped into a seat, burying his face into his hands. “Susurrus is starting to fall apart. Not because of Ventus’ current…state,” he theorized quietly. “but because of an imbalance. There’s imbalance now, Unda. The universe is used to four active Creators. Take one out and it starts to fall apart.”

 “So what are you suggesting?”

“With Ventus down – the strongest of the four of us down – the universe will slowly piece apart. He’s the strongest. Not you or me or Amina. As much as we want to keep maintaining the order, we can’t. Because it all relies on Ventus.” He grit his teeth and finally looked up, staring Unda in the eye.

“…if it were Amina who was down, would it be like this?”

“No.” Calor shook his head. “It wouldn’t. Because Ventus would still be conscious. The three of us are enough to keep it going while at the same time trying to help Amina. Same goes if you were the one, or me.”

The Water Goddess closed her eyes and sighed, moving closer to the bed of her eldest brother. Her hand touched the side of his face gently and Calor watched her, waiting to see what she would do this time.

“…his Quintessence isn’t reacting.”

“Same as last time, then,” Unda nodded stiffly and Calor rose from the chair, pulling his sister away and into the center of the room. “Listen to me. Ever since we released our Gears and Armors, we haven’t been the same.”

Unda knew that.

 “Ventus, out of all of us, has been the most off. I think he knew something was happening and shut himself away to prevent whatever it is from reaching us.”

Calor gave her a worried glance – and in that moment, Unda felt utterly vulnerable.

“What should we do–?”

The Fire God gave her a forlorn smile.

“I think it’s time for us to lock up.”

The plan was simple.

All they had to do was to put themselves in a comatose state similar to Ventus’ at the same time. When that would happen, their realms would immediately ‘lock up’, ceasing anything from breaking in and coming out.

Prior to her arrival down there, Unda had quietly performed a spell which knocked out majority of her people in Abluvion.  Having to do that pained her; it felt like breaching the trust she had built and maintained with them.

Especially Quan. Definitely not Quan.

As Unda approached her bed, she sat down and gave her hand a lazy wave. Immediately the doors closed and locked.

The necklace gave a tick. Unda took the teardrop-shaped pendant into her fingers and looked at it, reading that she only had three minutes left before her ‘rest’.

Were her siblings also in her situation – lying down, waiting for the timer to tick down to zero and for the enchantment to take effect?

Was Amina scared? Was Calor bravely facing his fate?

Unda desperately wanted to be brave – not for herself, but for all of them. Amina most especially. She wanted to take the young girl into her arms, kiss her forehead and reassure her that everything would be alright and that brother Ventus would come back soon.

But she couldn’t. That wasn’t the case at all.

Ninety seconds, she realized. She had ninety seconds left.

So Unda attempted to relax, moving into a more comfortable position. Her blue eyes remained open and they stared at the ceiling. She wished she wasn’t alone.

Was this how it was going to end? With herself at the bottom of the depths, surrounded by water and nothing more? Unda felt a small snap of resentment, wishing that Ventus hadn’t been reckless. Then they wouldn’t be doing what they were about to do.

Unda felt alone, so utterly alone. Only then did she realize how lonely she was, buried underneath with the doors bound and no one to comfort her. In her mind flashed Quan, giving her his trademark smile and rubbing her hands reassuringly. “Don’t be afraid of being alone, Unda. I’m here, remember?”

As the seconds ticked away, Unda felt her eyes flutter and close. Everything felt heavy all of a sudden. She felt as if the water – instead of helping her – was starting to close in, wanting to drown her.

She suddenly couldn’t breathe.

As Unda (un)willingly gave herself to the state of comatose, she was all alone.