The first thing Kurt consciously realized was how very thirsty he was.

            For long moments it was the only thing he could comprehend. It was a need so very sharp it was literally painful. He gulped a few times in an attempt to wet his mouth, but it was like trying to swallow rocks.

            Eventually Kurt opened his eyes. His eyes were crusted, and every inch of his skin felt parched of moisture, like he'd been caked in salt, but his clothes felt oddly damp beneath his body. He lifted a trembling hand to rub at his eyes some, and that seemed to help some. Kurt opened them further and he had to blink hard against the white spots that temporarily blinded him.

            When finally able to see clearly, Kurt couldn't feel with any amount of certainty that what he saw wasn't a hallucination.

            He lay on some type of craggy, mossy stone. The air was thick with moisture, which emphasized rather than remedied his parched skin. There was a strange, murky light coming from ahead of him, a bright source that illuminated an otherwise deadened darkness. But the light glanced off walls. Very, very high walls.

            And from all around him, rushing water.

            Head pounding with impenetrable pressure, Kurt nevertheless hauled himself up to a sitting position with a breathy groan. Right-side up, it was much more clear as to just where he lay. It was a large, oddly shaped cavern of some sort. The walls were wet and shining, an attractive mix of grays, whites and browns. From the ceiling, which must have been some fifty feet up by Kurt's estimate, hung large, dagger-sharp stalactites. The rocky ceiling seemed solid as anything ever could be, but nevertheless sitting underneath the breathtaking structure gave Kurt a deep sense of unease.

            The light source wasn't too far away. Squinting, it appeared to be a heavily rusted oil lamp. The dusty glass was probably the reason for the murkiness of the light. Sitting up even straighter, Kurt noted something else. Both the lamp and himself sat several yards away from an inky body of water, which was by no means completely stationary. It abated and pushed forward in small waves, gently lapping over the sloped cavern floor.

            Licking his lips with a dry tongue, Kurt rolled onto all fours and chanced standing on shaky legs. He rose to a half crouched position, body heavy with exhaustion, thirst, and hunger. Glancing behind himself showed another surprise. It was the dark mouth of a tunnel, perhaps three or four feet tall. And to the left of it was the source of the dripping sound. Water ran in thick roped just a foot from the dark entrance, the stream disappearing into a foot-wide crevice along the ground.

            Stumbling towards it seemed to take forever, but Kurt was eventually able to collapse against the freezing cold wall. The shoulder of his shirt was soaked through in moments, but he didn't care. Water dripped down the wall in a thin torrent, but it was enough to collect in his cupped palm when he held a shaking hand to the wall. His first attempt had most of the water trail right out of his hand, and he was too greedy for patience. He lowered his head and gulped from his hand held to the cave wall. It tasted a little earthy and musty, but was cold and gorgeous down his throat. With every swallow clarity sharpened his mind a bit more. Kurt continued to drink until he felt he'd be sick, and let his hand fall to the side, panting a bit.

            The temporary bliss of alleviating his thirst was very brief. With the clarity came along a sense of overwhelming terror, followed by harsh recollection.

            Where was he? What had happened on the boat?

            The last thing Kurt remembered was an infinite stretch of ocean, and then darkness. What had happened to the boat? He struggled to remember. Kurt didn't recall the boat capsizing, only himself sliding down and over, swallowed up by the ocean and then somehow spit up here. Wherever here was.

            He'd heard of places like these, little air pockets in the coast. As far as Kurt knew, they couldn't exist under the ocean, but then where was he? And almost as importantly, how in the hell did he get here?

            On shivering legs Kurt slowly walked over to the lamp. It was as rusted as it had looked from a distance, the entire bottom structure a stubborn reddish orange. But just behind it, sitting atop some sort of cloth, were two small apples, and a brown paper bag with faint oil spots along the bottom.

            Kurt looked about him, but could see no conceivable entrance into the cave other than the small entryway behind him, which would take some amount of courage to explore. There was the peak of ocean, its line disappearing into the rock and stanching a dozen yards or so into the far side of the rock.

            Looking back to the food, he picked up an apple and held it in his hand for a moment. He ran his fingers over the material it has been pointedly placed upon, and felt leather. A whaleskin purse. And from the smell, Kurt surmised that the bag held salted mackerel.

            He took a large bite of apple as he sat back down, muscles singing with relief at the rest. Everything in him was worn and exhausted. That was what nearly drowning would do to a person, Kurt supposed.

            Once he'd chewed the apple down the core, Kurt unfolded the bag and found exactly what he expected it to be. He pulled out one of the dried fillets and started to eat, far too hungry to care about the taste. Kurt had never liked such salty foods, but he finished the bag within a matter of minutes. With nothing to wipe his hands on, Kurt wincingly rubbed his greasy fingers against the legs of his trousers, feeling quite uncivilized even with nobody watching.

            Although….

            Kurt turned back to the water, the hairs on the nape of his neck suddenly standing stiff in attention. He scanned the expanse anxiously, but there wasn't so much a ripple in the sea. Everything was quiet, save for the steady dripping of the water and the way the gently lapping waves echoed throughout the cave.

            Once his hunger and thirst had abated, it gave Kurt time to think. He'd been rescued, he must have. Someone… brought him here, had saved him from the ship wreck. Was he washed on shore? Had he been caught in a net by another fishing boat? Regardless of the answer, why bring him here? They'd left food, a light source, and no other indication of having altered the rest of the surroundings to fit the needs of a person. Again Kurt looked behind himself to the narrow little hole in the wall. It was certainly small, but he was sure a person could squeeze through if they'd really tried—

            Kurt's head snapped back towards the water. He'd definitely heard something that time. But the water just gave back its never wavering ripple effect, and Kurt swallowed nervously. He stared towards the water for quite some time, contemplating his choices and desperately willing his heart to calm down, because an anxiety attack wouldn't help.

            He must have been aboveground, somehow. Things like this simply didn't exist underwater, and if they did they certainly wouldn't contain ample oxygen to breathe. So that entrance behind him could lead… somewhere, to the outside hopefully. Or perhaps the water before him really wasn't all that deep, and he might be able to swim out of wherever here was and find the surface somewhere.

            He didn't debate long. For whatever reason, the ocean was giving Kurt a strange feeling, not one he was accustomed to feeling when near the sea as of late. His nerves were entirely on end, although the paranoia might be a side effect of nearly drowning and waking up absolutely nowhere useful.

            Kurt picked up the oil lamp, weighing it gingerly in his hand. It was heavy with oil—good for a few days, at the very least. Nevertheless, it was practically falling apart, so he kept one hand beneath it as he approached the tiny entrance. Crouching awkwardly, Kurt slipped himself inside, immediately feeling stone wall press at him from all angles. Kurt held the lamp out in front of himself and squinted, but saw nothing much. The tunnel didn't seem to be getting any narrower, but nor, unfortunately, did it seem to heighten.

            Gritting his teeth, Kurt continued to shuffle towards. However, what he hadn't quite accounted for was the ground. It was incredibly uneven, and spiked up at uneven intervals. Kurt continued to inch himself forwards, and had gotten maybe ten yards in before he was forced to stop. A stalagmite rose from his left side, cutting the narrow space in half. The widest gap was at the top, maybe two feet side at most, dipping down into a triangular shape that Kurt would be hard pressed to compress himself into.

            Kurt considered himself to be very slim, so if he debated being able to fit himself through, he doubted anyone could. Breathing hard for a moment through his frustration, Kurt slowly began to back himself up. The tunnel was too tight to turn himself around in, and besides that he really didn't want to see how far away the entrance to the tunnel he was.

            After what seemed like a very long time, Kurt was finally able to stumble back into the cavern. He collapsed for a moment, swiping furiously at his burning eyes. Bitter, frustrated tears smeared across his fist.

            Kurt gave himself a few minutes, breathing deeply and calmly as if this were just a vocal run, filling his lungs steadily and breathing out just as slowly. And when he felt he had a bit more control, Kurt stripped.

            He set his shirt and pants by the wall, and carried the lamp to the water's edge. Hesitantly, he dipped his foot into the water. It was cold, but not overbearingly so. He scooted across the mossy, rocky bank until he felt nothing underfoot. Carefully he sat, his legs swinging in open water and the water submerging him into his waist. With a quick little breath, Kurt pushed himself into the water.

            It was like Kurt had drunk four cups of coffee in quick succession, like an ice bath after a long run. All of a sudden, Kurt's anxieties dissipated as if into nothing. The utter darkness of the water didn't seem as terrifying, finding his way out of this wasn't such a steep cliff to climb, his father would be waiting for him, perhaps on the very land this cave was attached to. It would be fine, perfectly fine. Someone had brought him here, left food here, and disregarding the reason behind it entirely Kurt knew there must be a way they'd gotten here. And this was undoubtedly it.

            Kurt took a breath and sunk himself underwater, blinking hard. The salt didn't bother his eyes at all, small mercies. It felt almost good to his fever rich skin. But the tolerance didn't help with his night vision in the slightest. The light could only go so far, barely shimmering along the bottom of the water. Kurt estimated it to be around twenty feet at its deepest point, but what he was looking for wasn't hard to find.

            There was a huge gap in the rock along the bottom, spanning nearly the entire length of the body of water. It was almost like a filter, and undoubtedly connected Kurt's little bubble to the rest of the ocean.

            He rose back up, breathing deeply and treading water gently. He'd need plenty of energy for this. Kurt could swim, was actually rather good at it considering the fact that he'd spent so little time in the sea, but he was only human. The longest he'd ever held his breath under water was just over two minutes. He'd go until he started to burn, and then turn back if he hadn't seen anything.

            Kurt took several quick panting breaths to expel excess oxygen and to keep his blood stream from building up too much carbon dioxide, and flicked underwater, immediately swimming towards the bottom. The light certainly didn't reach far, but Kurt forced himself into calmness as he slipped into the crevice.

            Kurt kicked his feet rapidly and steadily, hands paddling in front of him as he swam into pitch blackness. He glanced behind himself, the light nothing but a grayish blur. He stared straight ahead, and saw nothing. He propelled himself forward, struggling to keep count of the seconds in his head. The roof of the cavern constantly brushing against his back. It was impossible to tell if it was raising or not, the only thing Kurt could do was swim straight. The darkness was impenetrable, but the buoyant current helped.

            Current…

            Kurt realized too late that there was more than a slight current, and his agility in the water went largely unnoticed until he registered the way the stone was brushing against his back was entirely too fast. And there was nothing but pitch darkness ahead of him, impossible to tell if it was because the tunnel went on or because it was night time and there was no sunlight…

            In a panic, Kurt felt that his lungs were beginning to burn. He scrambled at the ceiling with shaking fingers, attempted to turn himself around, and started to swim in what he thought was the way he came, towards where he at least knew there was air to breathe. But the current became strongly more evident now. His legs ached fiercely in his chest as he struggled to swim against it, his back now dragging against the ceiling fully as he lost the ability to allow himself to flow seamlessly into the water. He couldn't see the gray of the light anymore in front of him, and he swam and swam and started as his face struck blindly into a wall.

            Kurt nearly inhaled a lungful of water as he spun wildly, blinking and blinking. He'd been knocked off course, how far had he unknowingly swum? He struck out again, battling harshly until he realized he was swimming with the current now, he was going the wrong way, heart palpitating wildly in his chest, he was drowning in circles and circles and then something gripped him firmly underneath the armpits and pulled.

            The current pounded mercilessly into his face as he was dragged rapidly through the water, and he shut his eyes, feet flailing uselessly behind him. Something struck the pads of his feet repeatedly, enough to leave bruises, something firm and slippery, like whaleskin. Kurt clenched his teeth, delirious from lack of oxygen, felt the water push into his mouth regardless, he inhaled on instinct, the world turning white—

            And then he was shoved up above the surface, and onto solid ground.

            Kurt flopped uselessly, hardly registering anything. He felt himself lifted, forehead dragging lightly against the gravel, and something hard striking along his back. Again, again, and Kurt coughed feebly. And then a greater hack, water mixing with saliva and vomit and splashing down his chin as his lungs forcefully tried to expel the water from his lungs. The pounding on his back turned to firm strokes as Kurt twisted feebly against the rocky bank of the cavern, taking in too-big breaths of oxygen that made his esophagus sear with pain.

            Eventually he stopped, panting for breathe, hardly registering the pressure relieving itself from his back. Panting weakly, Kurt slowly drew himself up onto his forearms and looked over his shoulder, for whomever has pulled him back up…

            And found no one.

           Despite his exhaustion, Kurt's eyes whipped across the dark water, and then the cave floor, but found no one. No wet spot to indicate anyone had crawled out of the water with him. Kurt stared at the water, and in his frantic state, called “Hello?” to apparently no one. There was no answer.

            Kurt frowned, wiped at his face with his forearm to try to clean off some of the mess. But there was someone, someone here, hiding although Kurt didn't know where. They'd brought him here, had apparently saved him a second time, where were they, where…

            …what were they?

            “I know there's someone there!” Kurt shouted, feeling ridiculous as he glared into the water. “Show yourself!”

            He continued to shout until his ravaged throat could bare it no more. His eyes stung again, but not with salt. This time Kurt let himself cry, chest hitching lightly, the terrifying hailstorm of being lonely, lost, trapped, worried nearly making him lose his mind.

            Kurt cried, although he didn't know for how long, into his knees as he curled himself into the bank. He shivered, although not from cold.

            When he was finally able to pull himself a bit more together, thinking he could at least put his dry clothes back on, Kurt was very suddenly not alone.

            There was a head in the water.

            Kurt gaped soundless for a moment, eyes bulging wide at the eyes that were staring back at him, almost just as frightened. It was impossible to tell their color from here; whoever it was hovered just twenty feet out into the water. He was visibly from the chin up, a dark mob of hair on his head, very obviously male, and staring right at Kurt.

            “Hello?” Kurt finally whispered, refusing to blink lest the head disappear. “Who are you?”

            The boy in the water didn't answer, but swam just a foot closer. And then another. Kurt tensed, wrapping his arms more tightly around his legs. But he wasn't scared. It was hard to tell how he felt, suddenly, as the boy was suddenly no more than ten feet away and awash in light. His hair flopped in wet curls over thick, dark brows. Bright hazel eyes, olive skinned and boyish with a smooth, firm jaw. Devastatingly handsome and looking right at Kurt as if he too refused to blink.

            Hungry, was the word Kurt finally came up with. Hungry like he felt when he was too far from the ocean, empty and hollow like how he'd been feeling upon waking up in bed after a night of restless sleep.

            “Who are you?” Kurt whispered again, although this time his words seemed to have some sort of validating effect on the stranger, for he swam quite close indeed. Inched closer, and above water, and there, along his neck. Three on each side, fluttering slightly, were what appeared to be gills.

            It was about the time when the boy put his hands on the shore, and Kurt saw the fins extending from his pinky and down into the water, that his mind became blissfully blank as he passed out cold.