✧— a sky full of wonder

[gojo]

✧—ｂａｃｋ ｔｏ ｃｏｍｐｅｔｉｔｉｏｎ？

┏xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx┓
✧— gorou okazaki
✧—male
┖xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx┚

click the gifs if you want some music to read to.
all of it is the made in abyss soundtrack since i realized after coming up with my initial idea
it fit really well.

[gojo]

✧—Ｗｅ ｏｎｌｙ ｈａｖｅ ｅａｃｈ ｏｔｈｅｒ

"In a world full of whimsy already, what more could one really want? Well, when every odd creature and thousand year old forest god has been documented it's time to shoot higher. After all, a new ride shows up every decade or so just to show you around what we call: The Great Unknown.

These large creatures migrate through the vast emptiness of the Great Unknown like it's water, so we've given them the name Great Whales. We've never been able to pin point if they have a routine, but the data's pointing to no. Though they seem to pass by our planet for just long enough for us to get on and hitch a ride, but most of them never come back. To take a trip on one of them is to take the highest gamble. Leave everything you know behind, and venture into the deep with no guarantee of being able to come back.

Ah, the mark of a true adventurous heart!"

Gorou nearly squealed upon reading the last line and seeing the picture that came with it. A true adventurous heart! He thought back to himself, over and over. Hearing the sound of footsteps put a damper on his mood, however. It was Rea for sure. Quickly, he hid the book under his pillow and attempted to act natural.

"You don't have to hide it y'know. You're not very convincing anyway." The older boy sighed and sat down across from Gorou, a frown on his face. "You know I hate that stupid book..." All Gorou could muster was a nod. "This 'Great Unknown' is the whole reason you and I have to stick together, Okazaki." Even after all this time, Rea still only addressed him by his last name.

"I know, I know..." He muttered. "But it-" He piped up, only to get cut off.

"-basically runs in the family, I get it." Rea crossed his arms and sat back. "They call it the Great Unknown for a reason." He thought for a moment. He kept catching this kid with that book... Maybe it was finally time to tell him. "...You'd think that with all of the time you waste reading that book that you of all people know most of the Whales never end up coming back. Our families will never come back."

It was a cruel reality that Gorou didn't want to face. The two of them suffered the same fate, a family far too eager to see the world that lies beyond them then to take care of the world they were in now. Even then... Gorou still wanted to see what space had to offer. Of the Great Whales that had returned, there was so much that could be discovered. Forgotten civilizations, new resources, new animals...

"There's just... So much out there!" He threw his arms out and grinned, combating the mood that hung in the air. "And who knows, maybe if we go out there we'll be able to find our families!" He had always been an optimistic kid. "If they can't come back on their own, we can just go find them!"

Rea quirked an eyebrow. He fell silent, truly not expecting that response from the boy. "...Hehe, you sure are something, Okazaki." He couldn't help but smile. He felt his heart drop a bit at the thought of losing yet another person to that damn void, but at the same time he couldn't help but admire Gorou's passion. It reminded him of his father. "If this is really what you want..." Rea covered his face and drew in a shaky breath. "Then I guess I can't stop you."

[gojo]

✧—Ｄｅｃｉｓｉｏｎｓ， ｄｅｃｉｓｉｏｎｓ

It had been quite a while, weeks since their last conversation about the Great Unknown. Rea had needed quite awhile to think it over, sending his best friend and little brother into space wasn't something he could stomach easily. But he had to make up his mind sooner or later, and the intrigue of finding their families was something that was hard to pass up. Rea spoke after a long pause. "If you're going to get in there you're going to need a plan... At the end of every school year, there's this thing called graduation day." Gorou scratched the back of his head an tilted it to the side.

"Ah... My parents weren't around to send me to school, not properly anyway!" In his heart it hurt a bit to say allowed, but he kept his smile wide. This of course made this plan all the more dangerous, but no amount of reasoning with Gorou would stop him. He heart was pounding just thinking about getting onto that whale. He'd read enough books to know the ins and outs of traveling through the Great Unknown, or at least as much as people had been able to bring back with them.

"Oh, right... W-Well, graduation day is when the top ten students from the school are picked to depart onto the Great Whale when it shows up, all about your age." Rea leaned back and bit his lip in thought. "...It's a different day every year, since the whales never show up on the same day twice in row." He let out a hum and bit his lip again, struggling to come up with a good plan. "The only way you'd be able to board it at the same time is if you act like one of the chosen kids, or I find a way to sneak you on..."

"Ooh, ooh! What if I make a fake suit and sneak on like I'm some secret eleventh kid? Ooooh, or maybe I can latch onto one of their backs and get a free ride in!" Gorou seemed a little too excited for this little mission of theirs. Ideas were rushing into his head at speeds not even he could keep up with. "Or you can act like you work there, and sneak me in in a supply container or somethin'!" Rea sighed loudly.

"None of those ideas are gonna work!" He blinked a few times. "Er... What was that last one?"

[gojo]

✧—Ｇｒａｄｕａｔｉｏｎ Ｄａｙ

Gorou could barely sit still at his post as he eagerly awaited the ten names to be called. He looked back and forth at the classmates that sat idly, just as excited as he was... For different reasons, of course. The woman standing at the podium gave a small smile before realigning the paper in her hands and clearing her throat.

"Welcome everyone, that goodbye party sure was something! As sad as I am to know you're graduating, I'm happy to announce the ten gifted children who will be venturing off into the Great Unknown!" Cheers erupted from the crowd, in contrast to how polite and quite the had been previously.

"I know you're all excited, so without further ado..." His mind latched on to every name, his eyes flickering to students as they stood up. He clutched the little communicator in his hands and exhaled. This was it, there was no turning back from this. His heart began to pound as the last name was called and... "Go...!" Gorou signaled quietly into the device, rushing to where Rea had been waiting for him. He stood there, clad in the uniform of that of a supply handler with a cart large enough for him to fit in. Gorou crawled into it, not minding the tight fit.

"I hope you'll return with valuable research! And if not, safe travels!" The woman's voice rang out from the graduation room, all too nonchalant about the large possiblity of not returning. His sister, his father, his mother, even his grandpa... All of them were chosen to go, and yet none of them came back. Rea's family had suffered the same fate and now Gorou was leaving him too. "Rea..." He muttered into the communicator.

"Hm?" Rea looked down into the cart, though Gorou was covered by the lid.

"I-I... I promise I'll come back," His voice wavered, and he felt tears welling in his eyes. "I promise I'll bring everyone back."

Rea laughed. "There was never a doubt in my mind that you would, Oka- I-I mean Gorou," His tone shifted to bittersweet. "You're the most headstrong kid I know... Even after losing your family, and finding out that I lost mine to that stupid void... You'll still go out there and try to find them. I... I'm so glad that I wasn't chosen the day I graduated or..." Rea felt a tear run down his face. "Or else I never would've been able to meet you."

Gorou felt his heart swell. No matter how far apart they were, they would always be together.

"I love you, Rea."

"...I love you too, Gorou. Go get 'em, kiddo."

[gojo]

[gojo]

✧—Ｔｈｅ Ｇｒｅａｔ Ａｄｖｅｎｔｕｒｅｒ

No picture could've ever captured how truly vast the Great Unknown was. Though he had to stay hidden in the back room of their portable station set up, there was still the small window that he could look through. The tiniest sliver of space that he could now see with his own eyes... No more picture books, this was the real deal. Gorou cried the first time he saw it, and almost did every time after that. He only wished Rea could be here to see it with him. "Who do you think has to hold down the fort until you get back?" Rea's voice echoed in his head. When he gets back... That's right, they won't be apart for long. Gorou hated when he was left at home alone all the time, so he can't imagine how Rea must feel right now. Even if he couldn't get their families back, he would make sure to come back in one piece, for sure.

It had only been a few weeks, and the Great Whale had already passed by its first planet. The space crafts back on earth would've taken months, but navigating the Great Unknown seemed to be in these creatures DNA. As the students departed, Gorou found it easier to sneak around within the cabin undetected. Though everything he need was in the supply room he was hiding in, He ended up finding a pretty high tech prototype of a long distance communicator- extremely long distance. He drew in a sharp breath.

"I could send Rea messages like this!" He whispered to himself. From what he had briefly read about the explorer who developed it, it worked pretty poorly whenever the whales were in motion, and the calls have a tendency to interfere with the signal. Messages can be sent to phones, computers, and even TVs in certain cases... But without having a communicator yourself, you can't respond. He wouldn't know if Rea was receiving the messages, but he knew he would. He had to. He twisted a little notch on the side and input all of the necessary coordinates.

"Alright," Gorou began, clearing his throat. "this is captain's log- no, that doesn't sound right... Log date-! Nah, not that one either..." He scratched his chin before perking up once more "The Great Adventurer's letters to Rea! Can a letter be vocal? Ah, whatever." He giggled to himself and grinned. "I guess this is kind of like a mission, huh? Does that make you my ground operator? Oooh I'm so excited to get on my first planet! I won't forget the mission though, I promise! Mission bring back our families and me will be a success!" He went on and on about the different things he had seen and heard out there, like the low humming call of the Great Whales and how beautiful the Great Unknown really was. He could've kept going, but he felt the place rumble a bit. "O-Oops... Looks like we're about to get moving again... I wish I could keep talking to you, but the communicators don't work well on the move! Well... This is the Great Adventurer Gorou signing off," He looked down at the device, going silent for a long moment.

"I'll see you in awhile, don't worry."

[gojo]

✧—Ｔｏｕｃｈｄｏｗｎ

Click.

"The Great Adventurer's letters to Rea, numberrrr... ten, I think? I need to keep better track. Oh, and don't mind the background noise, it rains a lot here. Anyway, I think I finally found a good place to start. This place is kind of like where we come from, but with surprisingly less weird plant life... And lots of quicksand." He looked up to the tree tops, squinting as raindrops hit his visor. "The suit we got has really been coming in handy, by the way!" Gorou stared at the device, his grin softening. "Thanks for taking that risk for me to get it... It means a lot to m-!" His heart lurched in his chest.

He felt his feet begin to sink at a rate much to quickly to react to properly. "W-Well! That's the quicksand I was talking about! Hope you're doing well, gottagobye!" It had only been a little while since he had departed from the whale and he had already gotten himself into trouble. "Nice going, Gorou...!" He cursed himself, wishing that he had been paying attention. The only thing he was familiar with was the exploration of space, not how to get out of quicksand! Naturally, he did what any thirteen year old kid would do in such a dire situation.

He began to flail desperately, clawing at the ground in front of him in hopes to get a hold of it. Alas, to no avail and now he was even deeper in the quicksand than he had initially started, not to mention he had only served to tire himself out. It was a lot tougher than any kind of quicksand back home, or the kind he saw on TV. "Uhh... Help! Anyone?! I'm stuck!" Ten minutes, twenty. "Please? Anybody out there?!" He sighed, and laid his upper down in the grass. "Anybody...?" Thirty minutes, an hour. "Please..." He muttered, feeling that his energy was draining bit by bit. Slowly, he shut his eyes. "R-Rea..."

✧✧✧

Gorou awoke with a start, sitting up and gasping. He felt extremely weak... Did he pass out? He looked around cautiously, and saw that his stuff had been placed on a bedside table and on the floor. It seemed he had been taken to some kind of house. "H-Hello?" He called out feebly. Apparently this visor had some kind of translator on it, hopefully it works. "You're finally awake?" A voice called from the other side of of some tassels that functioned as a door. A long, slender creature made it's way into the room, their eyes crystalline to match the glossiness of their body. They were dragon like, but not quite. "I'd advise you lay back down, you were stuck in that quicksand for quite some time." Gorou did as he was told without complaint, glad that the translator seemed to be working fine, albeit with some static.

"Is that really why I feel so tired?" He tilted his head, confused at what that has to do with his current state. The dragon nodded, taking a seat at the door.
"You must be one of those travelers from that big creature... Well, you see, this whole planet is a living, breathing creature, through and through. Even the ground can find a way to eat you up. You feel tired because you were unlucky enough to trip right into the mouth of another creature. I suppose you could say it was digesting you." Gorou's face went pale.

"D-Digesting me?!" He lifted up the blanket hastily, and let out a loud sigh when he saw that his lower half was still in tact. "Is there anyway you could get me back onto the Great Whale? T-This place might be too," He brought his voice down to a whisper.

"Great whale, you say? Is that what you creatures call them? I'm afraid it's watchful eye left us a while ago. Fear not, however, these 'whales' seem to fancy our planet quite a bit, so you'll be seeing another in due time."

Gorou slumped. At least he had the sense to take a lot of supplies with him, but now he supposed he would truly be alone, were he to take another whale to a different planet. "W-Well... What am I supposed to do until then?" He felt like he just might cry, being on a planet this weird was hard to take in.

"Well, I don't mind visitors every once in awhile." The dragon gave him something akin to a smile. "I don't mind if you stay for a bit."

[gojo]

✧—Ｓｔｒａｎｇｅ ｎｅｗ ｗｏｒｌｄ

Click.

"The Great Adventurer's letters to Rea, number eleven! This place really isn't so bad, once you get off of the ground at least. I met this nice dragon creature who helped me get out of that weird quicksand monster, and I figured out they can fly, or really more like levitate! A lot of creatures can fly here actually, and if they can't fly there are some that have reeeeally long arms that can swing around the treetops effortlessly! Most of the houses are in the trees since the predators down below can be pretty scary a night, but this place is beautiful either way. The water is so clean, and the sky is kinda purple-y! I've been able to tweak my suit out here too. No sign of our families though, but they did say they saw someone that looked a little bit like me arooound... a half a year ago? I tried asking them if they saw one of your brothers or maybe your mom, but..." He paused for a moment. How unfair would it feel if Gorou got his family back and not Rea's... He shook his head, he would find them for sure! "But I'm sure someone else will have! I got left behind by the whale I got here on, but hopefully one will show up soon and I can go look somewhere else."

"This is the Great Adventurer Gorou signing off!" He turned the communicator off and sighed loudly. He really really hoped Rea was getting these... Now wasn't the time to get mopey however, now was the time for exploring! "That funny little suit and the weird thing... You use them to talk to someone, yes?" The dragon quirked a long eyebrow at Gorou when he finished his little message.

"Well, the suit is what helps me talk to you. I'm sure that if I took the visor and stuff off, we'd have no idea what each other was say, hehe." He scratched the back of his head, hoping they would understand what he meant. "Mm..." The dragon nodded. "That explains why I hear two voices every time you talk, that little 'visor' think must be put it into my language and playing it back." Gorou blinked a few times, not expecting them to catch on so quickly. "What do you say we go harvest that fruit, little one? You'll need food to get your strength back, and you can meet the fairies when we get there."

His eyes lit up with excitement. "F-Fairies?! They're real?!"

[gojo]

✧—Ｌｕｒｋｉｎｇ ｔｈｒｅａｔｓ， ｌｕｒｋｉｎｇ ａｎｓｗｅｒｓ

He pressed his back against the tree, his head was spinning and his heart beat was roaring in his ears. He had been wounded, and pretty fatally. His breaths came out strained and fast.

Click.

"Th-... The Great Adventurer's letters to Rea... n-number five hundred fifty-eight..." He spoke between pants, tensing up and gripping his chest when he felt the pain flare up again. "P-Please don't worry about me, but... I've gotten myself into quite the predicament. This planet isn't nearly as kind to me as the others have been... I-I guess I just got careless, huh? Like..." He groaned and grit his teeth. It hurt, it was the most pain he had ever been in. "Like always..." He whispered at last. "But... I'll get out of this one, I'm sure... Just like... the Great Adventurer... always has..." With that, the communicator fell out of his hands, and his eyes shut.

✧✧✧

Slowly Gorou peeled his eyes open, feeling sore immediately as he came to consciousness. It reminded him of when he was saved by that dragon almost two years ago now. "Where... Am I?" He murmured, scratching the back of his head. Almost on cue, and hooded figure pushed the door open. "Who are you?" He shrunk back into the bed, skeptical of whoever this was.

"I should be asking the same thing," The hooded figures voice was gruff, and he twiddled with his beard that was probably long enough to wrap around his arm. "a kid like you shouldn't be out here all by yourself. Where's your squad?" The man spoke sternly now, taking a few steps closer.

Squad? Whoever this was, he knew about the exploration school back home. "I, uh, don't have one." Gorou muttered, beginning to wring his hands nervously. The man seemed to break character almost and chuckled, grabbing a chair and pulling it up to sit a few feet away from him. Though his face was cloaked, Gorou could still see a grin forming on his face. The wringing of his hands continued. The hooded man sat back, crossing his arms.

"There's no need to be nervous," He spoke calmer now, the whole atmosphere of him shifting almost uncomfortably fast. "you're a real risk taker, coming out into the Great Unknown all by yourself... Especially to a planet like this. There are things here that wouldn't hesitate to swallow you whole." He laughed at that comment, and Gorou felt his stomach tense slightly. "Is something the matter? All I'm saying is that you're quite brave."

"R-Right..." He nodded, averting his gaze. Something was off about this guy, but he supposed that if he was willing to save his life, maybe he shouldn't jump to conclusions... The man stood and turned on his heel, getting ready to head out of the door before looking back to speak, "The whales don't much care for this planet, so I hope you don't mind being here for awhile."

[gojo]

✧—Ｆｏｒ ｒｅａｌ， ｏｒ ｎｏｔ

By a long time, he meant it, and it felt much longer with the perpetual night. The hooded man, who dubbed himself Orochi, had become a master at noticing the rather subtle changes in the 'day' and night cycles of the planet. Even just the different sounds the trees make when the rustle are enough to catch his attention. Gorou on the other hand could barely tell how long it's been. In his head it felt like forever, but in reality it had only been two or three months. His letters to Rea became sparse, for he typically waited for when he was alone to send them. Something about Orochi just felt so... Off. He didn't even want him to know that he was sending messages back to his home planet.

"Do you feel that?" Orochi spoke suddenly, perched in a tree high above. Gorou looked up, though before he could speak he felt a cold wind blow from behind him. "Looks like you ticket out of here is on it's way. The space they traverse through is quite cold, and they bring that could air with them." Even from way up in the trees, he could see the man grinning at his words. Yet again, he felt his stomach drop. He couldn't wait to get off of this planet. The man effortlessly leapt from the branch and on the ground in front of him, the wind blowing his hood back. It was the first time that he had seen his face, though it was silhouetted in the moonlight, there was something he couldn't deny from here: This man looked a lot like him.

Gorou took a step back, startled by his sudden arrival on the ground. "H-How much longer until it gets here?" He muttered, his eyes flickering across the features of his face. His eyes, his horns... Even his graying hair looked like Gorou's. Orochi turned without looking back, and gestured for him to follow. "It will most likely get here tomorrow. Now come, there's something I've got to tell you." Silently, he complied, following the now revealed man to his secluded house. When they entered, Orochi turned on the lights and took a seat, flicking his wrist at a chair Gorou could sit at as well.

Now he could see his face clearly, there was no mistaking it. Even if it's been years since he last saw him. "Fathe-!" Orochi put his finger up to silence him, a stern look in his eye, before resting back into his chair. "I never expected to see my son so far out into the Great Unknown, and by himself no less..." He began to twiddle with his beard once more. "With an expensive long distance communicator and everything." Gorou looked away at the mention of it. "You mean... you knew about that?" So much for trying to hide it.

"Of course I did. That 'Rea' person must be mighty important. Or..." Orochi's face suddenly looked a bit sinister. "Maybe not, considering you risked the rest of your life just to get a taste of the Great Unknown." Gorou grimaced at those words and balled his hands into fists. "You... You don't know anything! I didn't leave him behind, and I promised to come back!" The man laughed heartily at his words, crossing his arms and sitting back in his chair.

"And there's the difference between you and me, little Gorou. I never promised to come back. Your mother didn't, and I bet your sister didn't either. And that's because," He threw his arms out wide. "the Great Unknown is our home!" He almost felt sick listening to this. Was his family really never planning to come back? "I don't expect a child like you to understand, but it's the highest gamble." He began, standing up now to put on a show. "Leaving everything you know behind, to soar into the deep with no guarantee of return! It's-!"

"... The mark of a true adventurous heart," Gorou whispered, finishing his father's sentence, and standing up as well. Orochi tilted his head, surprised that he knew what he was going to say. "That book I wrote... I see you rifled through my things and found it?" He chuckled. "Look at you, maybe you do have a heart like your father's."

"No!" Gorou yelled, tears beginning to well in his eyes. All this time, the author he looked up to, the father he looked up to... He didn't care about anything but research, he was never even planning on coming back. "What..." He mumbled, trying to think through the racing of his mind. "What kind of adventurer would leave his family behind?! What kind of adventurer would never come back?!" At this point, there was no stopping the tears that fell from his eyes. "I... I never want to be like you!"

Orochi's eyes went wide, and he sat back down. The smirk on his face faded, and his demeanor shifted. He leaned his chin into his hands and went silent, deep in thought. All the while, Gorou was packing his things in preparation for the Great Whale's arrival. He brushed past him on his way, before being stopped by a hand on his wrist. "The way home," He murmured.

"It'll take years, no doubt. But ride the whale to its final destination, and there you'll find your way home."