The Lakeview Hotel
"You went into the lake!" the God of War roared out, his entire body rising up like a giant tidal wave, looming over everything below, casting the Earth in his shadow.
Those words rung through the entire abandoned town, reverberating and bouncing off all the remains of the buildings, rattling around within Lee's ears, repeating over and over again in his brain.
The noise wasn't ending.
The screaming wasn't stopping.
It was too loud.
It was TOO LOUD.
IT WAS TOO LOUD!
Lee stumbled backwards, falling over his legs to land on the grass, needing to get away.
His entire body shook as he scrambled to move, constantly falling over himself, as tears pooled in his eyes, thankfully obscured by the rest of the water on his face.
Lee gasped out his breaths out uselessly, trying harder and harder to breathe, choking instead at every sliver of air that passed through his throat. He thumped his chest over and over again, trying to beat out the organ that was causing him so much pain, bent double obscuring his wide, reddening eyes.
Lee shuffled awkwardly as fast as he could to get to his pack, desperately needing to put as many layers of clothing on as possible.
He needed to pack up and leave.
He needed to find himself somewhere small and dark where he could curl up until he was safe.
He needed to go.
He just wanted to get away from that noise.
He crawled pitifully, putting one hand in front of the other as he moved himself slowly away.
One step at a time.
One hand in front of the other.
Lee's vision darkened, but he forced his body to keep going.
He needed to keep going if he wanted to live.
But he wasn't moving fast enough.
Why wasn't he moving fast enough!?
The God of Strength was right behind him.
If he wanted to escape, he needed to move faster.
One step at a time.
One small step at a time.
One small step at a time.
Lee couldn't run away from a God, even if he tried.
He should have never stepped off the path.
He should have never left home.
He should have just married whoever his mother wanted and gone on to live a quiet life.
He was never going to get better.
He wasn't going to get better.
He was never going to be normal.
One step at a time.
One step at a time.
Was this worth it?
One step at a time.
One step a time.
Lee was sure now that he could breathe, his entire narrowed down into one spot, his lungs burning and throat filled with stabbing pain.
He could breathe again. Lee was sure of that at least.
He made sure to take small, shallow breaths in protest for his body's burning desire for oxygen. It was better for him to do this, too familiar of the consequences of if he didn't.
...
No need to think about that.
...
lee shoved a hand into his travel pack, pulling out the dark green robes that Shen had gifted him. He pressed them to his face, thankfully pretending to blot out the world for just a little while.
Lee tried to cry out the remainder of his tears into those robes, finding himself dry and numb of them, a headache beginning to form from his lack of practice from crying.
He supposed dimly that the pain was a good thing.
His life hadn't been too bad for a little while.
It was better for him to just travel alone then.
There was no real reason for him to keep going other than to satisfy his own curiosity. To be kept from properly exploring the settlement was something to be expected. Lee was just a simple mortal, simply given some information about the Gods.
It was something to be expected.
Lee, keeping his eyes closed, shoved his inner robes over his wet trousers and tied his outer robe onto himself, placing his boots back on, and gathering up the strew out clothes that he had hastily discarded before onto the grass.
He bundled them up before carrying them under one if his arms, using the other to carry his pack.
The wet trousers stuck uncomfortably to his skin, cold and almost slimy, with a few trickles of water sliding down his legs into his boots every now and again.
He wasn't allowed in the lake after all.
Lee wandered further from the lake, moving away from the kitchen building that had led him to discovering the underwater hotel, and he tracked further to enter the next building.
He dropped everything to the floor, and pulled out a new pair of trousers, quickly donning them in the place of his old ones.
Laying out his wet trousers to dry, Lee methodically folded up his other set of robes, feeling a pang of dismay at not being able to wash the dust and dirt from them, before placing them in the small place he had designated them in his travel pack.
He pulled out a steamed bun, and despite his lack of an appetite, forced himself to eat it. He hadn't had breakfast and he needed to keep his strength up.
Lee faced away from the lake, staring down the darkness of the remainder of the building that he was in, admiring the almost pristine floors, running a hand over their flat surface as he finished eating.
If Lee wanted to explore the rest of the town, he would need to sneak around to do it.
He couldn't let the God of Strength see him at all.
Another secret from him to himself to keep between themselves.
Lee walked over to the darkest deepest corner of the empty room and curled up in to himself, ducking his head down into his chest, and breathed.
He needed to plan how he was going to do this, but no sense doing so with the thrum of fear running up and down his body, the familiar ball of pain and apprehension in his chest that he had known for so long manifest.
He was panicked, and that would help nobody.