1 Chapter 1: The Passing
Chapter 1: The Passing
Jonathan was gradually waking up to a prodding sensation.
Startled, Jonathan's eyes snapped open, his heart pounding against his chest.
Blinking rapidly to adjust to the sudden brightness, he turned his head towards the source of the commotion.
Startled, Jonathan's eyes snapped open, his heart pounding against his chest. Blinking quickly to adjust to the sudden brightness, he turned his head towards the source of the commotion.
"What's going on?" Jonathan mumbled, still half asleep, as he rubbed his eyes.
Cynthia's frustration was palpable as she began to vent her anger at him. "I can't believe you slept through everything that's happened in the last few hours," she exclaimed, her voice filled with disbelief and annoyance.
The sharp undertone in Cynthia's voice startled him, prompting him to ask, "How long have I been asleep?" He couldn't help but feel strange about her strong reaction.
Cynthia's answer came quickly, her tone slightly off, betraying a subtle frustration. "About six hours," she replied, her words carrying an undercurrent of irritation.
"Then why did you wake me up? There are still more than five hours of the flight left," he grumbled in a low voice.
In return, she gave him a rather intense look, her eyes flashing with annoyance. It was clear that she was not satisfied with his answer.
While staring down at John, she continued her rant: "The turbulence has been getting worse, so it's a small wonder you didn't wake up sooner."
After a moment's hesitation, she whispered, her voice barely audible over the hum of the plane's engines, "The captain hasn't made any updates for the last hour either; I think something might be wrong." There was a sense of unease in her words.
"Maybe something happened with the intercom," Jonathan tried to reassure her, hoping to ease her fears.
He was familiar with Cynthia's tendency to become anxious during long flights, and he wanted to offer her some comfort.
His poor attempt at reassuring her that nothing was wrong seemed like a cue for the intercom to suddenly spark to life.
("Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Welcome aboard the flight from Perth-New Zealand, to Heathrow-London. Captain Will Turner speaking. I have some updates about our flight: We are experiencing technical difficulties with the navigation system and need to land at the closest airport for repairs. The estimated time of arrival in Madrid is 5 a.m.")
"See, everything is fine!" Jonathan exclaimed, trying to maintain a reassuring tone despite the unsettling news.
"Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of the flight," he added, hoping to alleviate some of Cynthia's anxiety and reassure himself at the same time.
Not really believing his own words, Jonathan couldn't shake the realization that Madrid was nowhere near their destination. Still, he knew that dwelling on it wouldn't change their circumstances.
'Better not to dwell on it,' he thought, trying to push his worries aside and focus on staying calm for Cynthia's sake.
"Fine," she muttered with a huff, her irritation still evident in spite of Jonathan's attempt to put her mind at ease.
Jonathan sighed inwardly, realising that, under the circumstances, Cynthia's unease wouldn't go away easily.
Seeking distraction, he glanced out the window to his right, finding solace in the vast expanse of clouds below.
After daydreaming about shapes in the clouds for an indeterminate amount of time, a sudden "Let's go!" brought him back to reality.
Looking over to where the sound was coming from, Jonathan muttered to himself, "No wonder it sounded familiar... One Piece." The memories he had of the popular anime brought a small smile to his face.
He remembered the first time he saw the anime, the excitement it sparked in him, and how it led him to seek out more by delving into the manga.
Reminiscing for a moment made him wonder how far the story had progressed since he last checked.
The last arc he looked at was the beginning of Wano's story, with Kaido as the main antagonist. Jonathan remembered how eagerly he looked forward to each chapter.
At least before he started dating Cyntia, now many years later, he was married and had much more free time to follow the story.
He was a bit curious how it ended because, for all the happy adventures and fun times in the manga, there were twice as many tragedies, including some dark moments and even darker unspoken moments.
Suddenly, Cynthia took his hand. "Help me up; I need to go to the bathroom," she said, looking a little flustered. Jonathan nodded and quickly helped her as he pushed his thoughts aside and concentrated on helping Cynthia.
As he was helping her stand up, a flight attendant came over and asked them to remain seated.
Knowing that Cynthia was already not in the best of moods, he stepped in before she could react.
"Excuse me, but as you can see, my wife is in the last stages of her pregnancy, so if you would allow me to help her to the bathroom, this will all be over in five minutes," he said in a neutral tone, trying to ease the building tension.
The stewardess looked slightly annoyed, but after looking back and forth between Cynthia and the restroom, her face visibly relaxed as they sat next to the restroom for that very reason.
After pondering for a moment, the stewardess replied in a low voice, "The turbulence has stabilised." She glanced around discreetly before continuing, "Go ahead, but be quick." Jonathan nodded appreciatively and quickly helped Cynthia out of her chair.
"Thank you; we will try to hurry," Cynthia said slightly sarcastically to the attendant, her annoyance evident despite her attempt at politeness.
Jonathan gave her a warning look, hoping to keep the peace.
After this little interlude, they made their way to the restroom.
"Please try to be brief; I don't like the idea of you standing under these circumstances," he whispered with a bit of trepidation, his concern evident in his voice as he gently urged Cynthia to hurry.
She mumbled a few inaudible words in response before entering the bathroom.
He didn't know where these sudden feelings of dread were coming from, but his gut had never let him down before.
As time went on, he found himself growing more and more anxious, a nagging sense of unease settling in the pit of his stomach despite his attempts to remain calm.
Just as he was about to knock on the bathroom door, he heard a flush.
Almost immediately, the door opened to reveal that nothing was wrong.
'Then why is this feeling of dread not going away?' he thought to himself as they made their way back.
Cynthia could tell that something was wrong; she grabbed his hand and asked him worriedly, "You look very pale. Are you all right?"
Jonathan forced a weak smile, trying to reassure her. "I'm fine, just a little shaken up by everything, let's hurry back to our seats," he replied, but his words couldn't erase the worry in Cynthia's eyes.
As he walked back, he suddenly had a terrible feeling and decided to act on it by hugging her tightly from behind.
Then all hell broke loose.
The plane descended steeply, slamming them back against the main door.
"Hang on!" he shouted, his voice barely audible over the chaos unfolding around them.
With adrenaline coursing through his veins, Jonathan clung to Cynthia, determined to protect her in the midst of the turbulence.
The plane's hull twisted, and Jonathan felt the door behind him move dangerously.
In a panic, he tried to get back to the bathroom but was not fast enough.
A powerful suction pulled them back, but there was nothing to stop them this time.
Jonathan and Cynthia were dragged towards the gaping hole where the door had been, their screams drowned out by the roar of the wind as they were sucked out into the void.
The realisation of how badly they were screwed set in as they watched the plane get further and further away.
In his panic, he began to look around for some minor miracle, but all he could see in the distance was the plane breaking into several pieces before being engulfed in an incredible inferno.
Watching the massive explosion as he held his unconscious partner, he closed his eyes and prayed to any god or devil that would listen to save him and his family.
Time passed slowly, for what seemed like days but were only moments, until he could see something in the distance.
"A hallucination, he thought, nothing more than his mind playing tricks on him."
That was the only explanation for what he saw as he descended: a gigantic structure built into the clouds.
As they fell lower and lower, the structure lit up and rumbled loudly, as if a giant had been awakened from its slumber.
Massive spotlights were aimed at them.
A distant mechanical voice boomed: "Crash survivors detected: one male, two females, one female in critical condition, immediate medical attention required..., facility unmanned, scanning for nearby settlements, multiple locations found, location one deemed too cold, second location confirmed, initiating transport protocol."
Jonathan's mind raced as he tried to make sense of the surreal situation.
The voice seemed to be coming from the structure itself, but how could that be? And what did "transport protocol" mean?
"This can't be real," he thought, his mind swirling with disbelief.
Doubting his fleeting sanity, he found himself unable to shut his eyes as a colossal barrel emerged from the clouds, its aim fixated on them.
The moment it locked on, the voice boomed again: "Target identified, all systems green, commencing cloud extraction."
The barrel began to suck in the clouds like a giant vacuum cleaner, revealing more of the monolithic structure beneath.
With each passing moment, the enormity of what lay hidden became increasingly apparent, sending shivers down his spine.
By this point, he was numb; the events of the past few minutes were too surreal to be true.
He accepted his fate and simply let everything happen, surrendering to the events unfolding before him.
Even if he wanted to, he could not resist in the slightest as the cannon fired with a massive bang, sending a compressed cloud in his direction.
Strangely, they didn't go through it. It was as if it swallowed them whole.
Instead of falling, they were moving at an incredible speed, almost vertically, with a precise destination unknown to them.
The rush of wind against his face and the sensation of weightlessness left him bewildered, his mind struggling to comprehend their newfound trajectory.
The last thing he heard was the booming voice chanting "Bon voyage!" in the distance, fading into the vast expanse as they hurtled towards the unknown.
