What am I doing back here?

I needed something else to fill my mind than my more serious fics, something fun, and interesting. So here it is- a darker version and retelling of my series, Pirates and Survivors. This will not replace it, and it'll always have a place in my heart. Where this goes depends. I may not continue or finish it, I'm just diving in like I did with Pirates and Survivors...and something bigger came out of that fun little idea.

My writing's more detailed now, my characters are hopefully more fleshed out.

Let's see where this goes.

Clementine is back, B*tches.

The World That's Going Under

Chapter 1: Cold Winds

The thunder echoed across the raging sea; a vast quivering blanket of grey and black. It seemed the lively blue shade the sea and sky had once been had drained itself off all hope and warmth, leaving nothing but shrivelled clouds above. The rain was plummeting mercilessly down. Reverberating sounds, as loud and deep as the thunder above, rang through the land. The waves hit relentlessly against the rubble that was once land, and the frantic scramble of feet and hooves accompanied the sounds of destruction to create an orchestra of complete and utter horror.

She could only see flashes of it all. One moment she could see the land, encased in cracking ice and half-slipping into the sea as it broke away, and the next she was below...deep below, seeing nothing but endless blurry grey water. She lunged up once again, breathing in the salty air and scrabbling with tired, aching arms. Her fur was soaked and the seawater stung her wounds. The yelling was close, but not close enough for her own calls to reach.

She breathed in again- and swallowed a mouthful of water. She gagged, slipping back under, the cold stinging against her fur and skin. She panicked. This was it- she was losing control, couldn't breathe-

Suddenly she collided with something- ice. A lot of it. She raised her head and gave a hacking cough, scrabbling at it with small paws- an iceberg, small and flat, had broken away from the land. It was floating away from it, but it was floating all the same.

The rabbit doe heaved herself up, but only managed to cling to the side, her frail chest hitting hard and painfully against the solid surface. Despite the pain she held on.

The thundering of hooves made the ice below her tremble, and she forced her eyes upward. Through her panic she saw a tall creature with lean antlers; one slightly chipped and his sleek body covered in scars. She breathed in, but was unable to form words. He had not seen her yet, his terror-stricken eyes were locked on the land that was getting further away.

Some animals had fallen into the water, only to have falling ice collapse upon them in showers of screams- the rabbit doe screwed her eyes shut to stop herself seeing. Most of the flock of animals where running inland, only to be caught by the cracks forming there. There was no escape from this. Land, sea, wherever you went, there was no escape.

"Get onto the ice! Don't stay on the land, its falling apart!"

The Elk's voice carried across the raging wind to the land, but it seemed no one was listening to his pleas. Panicked and foolish, they ran inland, where mountain sides fell towards them and the ground gave away below them.

The rabbit doe let out another hacking cough- and the elk's head snapped towards her. After a single blink he stumbled over, uneven on the ice, and offered his antler- she grabbed it without a second thought and allowed herself to be dragged onto the ice berg.

"We have-to-get others..." The elk rasped, as if her appearance had given him hope. She couldn't answer, laying where she was. She pushed herself onto her paws and up on her arms, breathing heavily.

The elk bounded back to the edge of the small berg they were on; old roots keeping it tethered to the land. But it wouldn't last. The roaring wind was trying to pull them away, and the tall walls of rock above threatened to crush them.

Once again the elk bellowed his advice- get off the land, its falling apart- but no one listened. More fell to their deaths, she couldn't bear to watch...

Then, someone waddled to the side of the land. A very round, turtle-like being, was eyeing the gap between him and the berg. The elk caught sight of him and called, almost hysterically,

"Hurry! The roots won't hold!"

The she-rabbit admired his need, his want to save others. She watched, eyes wide, as the glyptodon waddled closer, and readied himself for a leap. He couldn't make it, could he?

He tossed himself into the water, and his teeth snapped over one of the roots dangling along the water. The elk stared, amazed, but had no way of pulling him in...

The rabbit found strength coming to her legs from nowhere, and slowly made her way to the edge, gripping the root, long like a vine, and tried tugging it, to reel him in. He swam the best his stubby legs would allow, but it wouldn't be enough...

The elk suddenly hooked his antler around the long root- and she tied it there almost automatically, an idea coming to her. The elk gave a wordless nod and backed up, slowly pulling the glyptodon in.

It was amazing how much his teeth were willing to go through. They heaved him onto the block of ice they floated upon, and he smiled almost lazily up at them.

Then, something swooped in as another crack echoed from the shore. The berg gave a sudden jolt as it caused a heavy wave- pushing them further. The roots still keeping them attached where going to snap.

The thing that had swooped in, black and wet, smacked against the floor like a wet leave. The three jumped- and the thing began coughing, blinded by the rain. A bat.

"Its...all breakin' part, y'all..." She fell face-down, and lay still. The elk raised his eyes, eyes wide and glazed, and the rest followed him.

The land that had once been the edge of the continent, a sturdy coast, was almost completely gone. The roots gave an audible snap.

They stumbled on their legs as it began floating away. hey watched, in a heavy silence, as the land drew further and further away. The rumbling of the thunder seemed far-off now, and in the distance they could hear the land still cracking apart, and the very faint screams of animals and birds echoing in the dark grey, storming horizon.

The she-rabbit slowly sat down, head bent. The elk lowered his own.

Then, a clawing sound. They all jumped, eyes locked on the side of the berg. A gritty-looking hand had gripped the side of the berg; bluntly clawed and rough. They slowly drew closer; the elk and rabbit first, the bat flying where it was with the glyptodon by its side.

The owner of the hand hoisted itself up, and elbow propped up on the ice- and armadillo, eyes narrowed to slits and his teeth drawn in a snarl of determination, had dragged himself onto the side of the berg. He threw his legs up next, lying on his hands and knees. All the while he scowled, panting, and eyeing the group with a hostile look.

No words passed over them. The berg floated on, till there was nothing but silence, and the continent was nothing but a blur.

The bat coughed quietly nearby, the elk slowly lying down, rested his battered antler-sporting head. The armadillo was now standing whilst the rest were sitting. He stared back the way they came, a scowl on his face.

The rabbit looked around her. She'd never seen these animals in her life; not even a glance as she walked down a path. Yet she felt she knew what was on all of their minds. They shared it; they'd survived. They were alive...

The elk beside her breathed in and out, as if trying to focus on that rather than what happened. She herself wondered why she felt so...quiet and still. Perhaps it hadn't sunk it. It couldn't. It didn't seem real, what she'd just seen...

"Hey..." The elk murmured beside her, watching her with exhausted eyes. She turned to look at him, chewing on a trembling lip. "What's your name...?"

She found it so alien, to have a name...to think of something so normal after seeing everything...end like that. She looked down at the ice. In a soft, trembling voice, she spoke at last.

"Clem...Clementine."

...

The thunder in the distance was their calling.

Drifting though the ice-made mist, silent and eerie, was their ship. Among its smaller counterparts, the berg looked mighty and intimidating. A gull swept in from that distance where the thunder was, and landed in the branches in the mist.

"The rats have left the continent, Mon Cap-i-tan..." A smooth voice slice the silence, "Some have managed to gather on small bergs...bounty a-floating..."

Below, the other members aboard the ship looked up. One smirked mischievously, another in blind happiness. One watched the sunset in the distance where the continent had been worn away but the storm, and one smirked upwards in a crooked squint manner.

"Sounds terrible." A casual, confident voice sounded from above; a thick, bulky figure in the branches above.

"...I love it."

His captain's words, subtle as they where, had made up their minds. The squint-eyed member of the grew leaped up in a flash to the helm to get a better look of the horizon, grinning darkly to himself all the way. He twirled his fish-bone blade in his paw. The sunset looked awfully grey, no colour anywhere in the ocean, or anywhere at all. In the semi-darkness, the pirates shared hungry grins, eyes set ahead on their target.

"This is gonna be good." He murmured to himself, following it up with a cackle. The sun set, giving them their cover, and settling the doom of those who had left the crumbling land.