Tidal Waves

11. Stranded

Once Raven had got them to the island, she began to panic. Damian wasn't breathing.

"Come on, get up!" Raven ordered as she took his wet face in her hands, using one of them to slap the side of his dark cheek harshly. That would probably leave a mark.

Grabbing his shoulders, she then shook him violently in an attempt to wake him up. "Dammit!" she cursed when she let her hands fall on his chest. "Don't leave me alone. Please."

Her eyes traced his limp body, guilt building up inside her as the jagged scar across his eyelid caught her eye.

This was all her fault. He wouldn't be like this if it weren't for her.

When she decided this was her last resort, she pressed her hands firmly against his chest and started doing compressions as she roughly placed her lips onto his own, desperately blowing air into his mouth.

Raven did this for what seemed like forever, and right before she gave up hope, his body jerked underneath her and he let out a few strained coughs.

A delightful expression made its way to her face when she saw his eye slowly open and life flowed through his veins yet again. The dark color of his eye mirrored the blue sea, and his curly strands of hair were still soaked. His green and gold jacket was wide open and the white shirt underneath it clung tightly to his skin.

All he could make out with his clouded vision
was the figure of her thin body hovering over him. His vision slowly began to clear and he met her relieved gaze. Both of her hands were placed on opposite sides of his body to support herself.

"You saved me?" Damian questioned once he got fresh air into his lungs. Water droplets dripped from Raven's soaked hair and landed on his face.

Raven cleared her throat. "Why wouldn't I?" she asked in return, furrowing her eyebrows at his question.

"I thought you were trying to sabotage my crew."

Raven looked away shamefully. "I wouldn't have the heart to do that."

"You'd better not," Damian said before his face flushed at the sight of her revealing clothes. Her white shirt did the same as his by clinging to her skin underneath. "Please remove yourself from me."

Raven's face quickly matched his before she pulled away and allowed him to sit up.

"Thanks," he unenthusiastically replied as he took in their surroundings. "Do you have any idea where we are? Are the others here?"

Raven meekly shook her head in response. "Damn it. I lost my ship and my crew," he groaned as he ran his fingers through his wet curly hair.

"At least you're not alone," Raven said, trying to comfort him, even though she knew he was stressed beyond comforting.

Meanwhile the loss of her gem had also begun to worry her. Now she had no guidance towards her destination, and she didn't want to mention it to him. He would most likely leave her here if he found out her true intentions. The thought itself sounded insane.

Raven decided to push her thoughts to the back of her mind for now. Survival was her main goal now.

Damian let out a sigh and got to his feet before taking off his jacket and draping it over her narrow shoulders.

"But you'll get cold-" Raven tried to object, but Damian quickly cut her off.

"I'll be fine. I've lived through worse," he responded while brushing sand off his loose pants. "We need to explore this area and set up a camp. It looks like we'll be here for a while."

He didn't show it, but Raven could tell that deep he was worried.

As Damian made his way towards the woodlands towards the innermost part of the island, Raven got to her feet and quickly followed behind him.

They walked for what seemed like forever before finding a water source. Both of them eagerly drank from the pond and washed off their dirty faces.

"Well, we have water," he noted and stood up from the spot. "Now we just need food."

"Do you know how to hunt?" Raven decided to question.

"I lost my katana in the blast," Damian revealed as he looked down at his nearly empty belt. "All I have is a dagger and a pistol with limited ammo."

Raven pulled the sword she grabbed out of her belt. "I have this and a pistol as well," she said and held them out for him to view.

His eyes lit up. "Good job," he praised as he took the cutlass sword from her hand, giving her a pat on the head. She raised an eyebrow at this before he continued. "We can use this to fish until we find a better strategy."

Raven gave him a nod and followed him back to the beach. While he attempted to catch fish, Raven collected wood from the forest.

They both spent most of the day gathering supplies and building a temporary shelter.

"You're good at this," Raven commented as they finished stacking wood in a pile for a fire.

Damian looked at her. "I used to live like this," he responded and used sticks in an attempt to ignite a fire for them. The sky had already turned a dark shade of blue, so this would be their only source of light besides the moon.

"Oh," she said and watched in amazement as the wood caught fire. "Sorry, I wouldn't have guessed that."

"You're a runaway too," Damian said as he grabbed the stick he used to stack caught fish on and began removing the scales from them. "What did you do?"

"At first I found shelter with my mothers friends," Raven answered truthfully. "But they eventually threw me out when I was accused of witchcraft."

"So they thought you were looney," Damian replied and let himself smirk. "I don't blame them."

"I'm not looney," Raven objected and glared at him.

He didn't say anything as he handed her a cooked fish, before taking his own. They ate in silence, the only sound audible being the crickets chirping and fire crackling.

After eating, they decided to call it a night and finish setting up their shelter. They used wood for the walls and roof while lying on large tree leaves for bedding.

"I didn't get us lost," Raven suddenly spoke once she found the courage.

Damian turned his head to look at her. "I know," he said before returning his gaze forward.

Raven raised her eyebrows and let her mouth fall open. "What?"

"Queen confessed to it," Damain hesitantly answered, averting his gaze from her. "I would have apologized, but if you haven't been able to tell, I lack a kind heart."

Raven was silent for a moment as she pondered her response. He had too much pride, she assumed. But, there was room for change. "You're wrong," she decided to say.

This caused him to furrow his eyebrows as he turned his head to look at her again. "Excuse me?"

"You care about your sister and friend more than yourself. Not to mention you've risked your life for me, and took a blade to the eye in order to protect me," Raven said. "If you didn't care about others, you wouldn't have done that."

His eyes widened the slightest at her statement. When he didn't respond, she added more. "You may be insufferable, but deep down, you have a kind and generous soul."

Damian looked away again in an attempt to hide his flushed face. "Um, thank you," was all he said.

The two were silent again. After a few minutes of this, Damian briefly glanced over and let out a small sigh when he caught a glimpse of Raven's sleeping face. Her facial features were barely visible through the flickering of the golden light radiating from the fire. His thick jacket was still draped over her, keeping her warm from the cool night breeze.

"Goodnight," he quietly called out as he closed his eyes, letting slumber overtake him.