Somethings cold... and wet... can't breathe...
Her thoughts felt like molasses had been poured over them, slowing down her thinking as she slowly came too. Her body felt suspended as if invisible fingers were holding her aloft and gently moving her through the ocean. She could hear faint music coming from all around her, the sound sweet and seductive like a mother's lullaby. Her mouth opened, but just before whatever air was left in her lungs could be released something soft pressed against her mouth and pushed air into her lungs, causing her eyes to fly open.
Bio immediately regretted the decision as seawater stung her eyes and as quickly as she opened them she snapped them shut, mind beginning to speed up as she was supplied with oxygen. She was floating in the water, seeming to be slowly drifting up through the waves towards the surface as the light against her eyelids got brighter and brighter. The singing got louder as well, and once again something soft - lips, if she had to guess - pushed more air into her lungs as her previous breath went up in bubbles.
Taking a moment to think, she could still feel her bones jutting out in the rapier she had made, pain pulsing from what had been her hand - and the bones, it having snapped in half from an especially hard thrust from a trident. Her body still felt scratched up, and her stomach was woozy from loss of blood - but she wasn't dead, so it could be worse. She released another breath, and once again almost immediately lips pressed to hers and pushed new air into her lungs, and Bio was left confused, her mind catching up to the situation. She was still in the sea and was still alive... and the water wasn't nearly as cold as it had been, and there was no way that Selena could be down here to give her air...
Creating a second eyelid for herself, much like an amphibian would have, she managed to open her eyes and see the face hovering over her own. Her body spasmed in a moment of fear when she first saw the scaled face, but almost immediately calmed again as she noticed the differences from... last night? It was one of the fish people, but unlike last night its face was kind and worried, looking down at her with a slight frown as blue hair spread from her head and played freely in the waves. Her eyes were striking emerald green, and Bio found herself reminded of the tales of mermaids she had heard told when visiting the sea.
She slowly released the next breath, and like before the figure bent down and pushed more air into her lungs, not seeming to notice she was awake. Bio took another moment to look around, finding that the black waves that had crashed on the beach were now a crystal clear and beautiful blue, lapping at her gently like a puppy would its owner. Slowly sitting up in the water, the figure looked surprised before smiling wide, pointing up with a delicate finger - Bio finding herself relieved that the claws those hands had sported last night were gone.
The two swam to the surface together, the mermaid - who instead of having the weird finned legs like she had last night - helped Bio to the surface with strong waves of a tail covered in shimmering blue scales. Within seconds they broke the surface, Bio taking her first real breath of air. "Are you... alright miss?" the figure asked, her voice musical as her face turned into a worried frown. Bio, caught a bit off guard from her voice simply nodded, unsure what else to say. "My sisters and I are so sorry for what we did to you... to this ocean..." she murmured sadly, casting a longing look at the town at the edge of the water, much of its color seeming to have been returned. "When we found Samuel's body in our depths we were so overcome with grief and anger that... that..." she trailed off, eyes turning downcast.
"Till you went crazy... I guess that old coot was right, the sea truly does have emotions..." Bio conceded, focusing on the small shack nestled near the exit of the town. The figure nodded, looking down at her hands where the edges of her nails were still tinted slightly red - Bio had a faintly sick feeling as she realized it was likely her blood - and scrubbed at them furiously. "That being said... I can't forgive you for what you've done, you and your sisters killed this sea and turned the town mad with your songs... what's your name?"
"Kaila, and your right... it is hard to realize the cope of how you affect your surroundings," Kaila conceded slowly, her eyes seeming haunted from her own actions. Bio had sympathy for her, but she could never forgive what they had done. When a god has a tantrum, the world suffers. There is a reason people say 'those with great power have great responsibility', the greater the power the more people suffer when it is misused. "I think... if you ever want to atone for what you did, your going to have to do whatever is in your power to help the townsfolk in need, and to never let yourselves lose control like that again..."
Kalia nodded, seeming determined to help, but Bio still grimaced slightly. The faces of Kalia and her sisters, the twisted masks of rage that had attacked her last night and nearly killed her... would be forever burned into her memory. "Now then, a good way to start with that goal would be to swim me back to my friends..."
Selena
Selena was in a corner of the old man's shop, rocking back and forth with her hands clutched in front of her as a steady stream of curses wove itself from her mouth into the air. The shop keeper actually seemed fairly impressed with her creativity - which was part of the reason he was behind his counter, a good ten feet away from her. Incredible pain was still lancing itself up from her hands and down her arms, bouncing through her nerves like a tiny devil with a knife - no, ten knives!
Last night had ended in a haze, after the flash, the pain had broken her mind and she had been left laughing maniacally on the ocean floor as far as she could tell. She could hear screaming from all around her as everything undead had died again, and the creatures that were killing Bio clutched their heads, screeching like banshees. She had barely managed to catch that their features had been changing, but the rest was foggy. A long climb back up through the water as it swirled with quick torrents - Pomella, carrying her as she swam through the horrible water - screams echoing from the town as the madness drained from the land.
Selena, running out of breath looked to Pomella who STILL wasn't up yet! She had been asleep all morning, exhausting herself past her limits to an extent Selena was worried she was in a coma. Her chest was rising and falling in a slow rhythm, her expression for the most part peaceful as she - hopefully - slept. The thing she was worried about the most though was... Biovera.
She hadn't seen her, and those fish people had all been attacking her... her mind kept shying away from one particular possibility, Selena unable to cope with the implications.
"Hmm, I didn't think you'd actually be watching her go," Gemini, having appeared next to her mused to herself, looking out towards the water. "This town has officially gotten boring, what's next?"
"Do you have no moral compass?" Selena nearly shrieked at the spirit but refrained it to a harsh whisper. Gemini simply laughed, looking at her like she was an idiot. "Are you kidding me? She was just some random higher being that you met only a day ago, I've known her for even less time," she pointed out, jabbing a finger into her chest. "Why do you even care if she is de - "
"Don't, you, dare," Selena cut her off with a growl, and feeling Gemini's presence in her mind tried to put as much mental pressure on her as she could. Gemini, unimpressed, flicked a finger and shattered what mental resistance Selena had developed, leaving her wide open for an especially intense spike of pain from the gloves. She grit her teeth to keep from crying out, glaring daggers at her body double. "Fine fine no saying the D-word," Gemini took a second to snicker at her own joke. "So what now princess? what are you going to do now that your - " she cut off suddenly, then with a disappointed sigh looked towards the door. "Dammit..."
"Selena? Are you in there!?" a voice called from outside... an extremely, familiar voice. Selena's heart soared and she forgot about the throbbing pain in her hands long enough to jump up and run to the door, throwing it wide open. A grin stretched across her face, nearly going from ear to ear. "Bio, you're alive!"
"Sorry I'm late, my taxi was a bit late..." she joked softly, her own face sporting a small grin. She was leaning on her left leg a bit too much, and Selena noticed she was scratched all over her clothes practically cut into ribbons from the last few days. Her right leg was especially scratched, blood still drying and running down the skin. Her left arm hung limply at her side, the jagged bone of her broken rapier dragging on the ground with a bit of blood still trickling down it. Her knight was beaten, bloody, and barely standing - but she was alive.
Selena threw herself straight at Bio with a joyous cry, tackling her to the ground. Arms wrapped tight around her back as she pressed into her, eyes shut as relieved tears dribbled from her eyes. Bio gave a weak laugh, then slowly wrapped her good arm around Selena, and the two stayed like that for a moment, giving in to each other's embrace. "We really have to stop getting in these situations..." Bio murmured softly above her, and Selena gave a tiny nod against her.
The sound of footsteps - a lot of them - came crashing to their left as they both looked to see the townsfolk, free of the fish features they had sported only last night, rushed them. Selena began to get up from Bio in a panic, only to realize they were smiling. The kids were playing a game of tag in the back, laughing happily as the adults of the town came towards them shouting praise and cheer. To her surprise, seconds later Selena found both Bio and herself hoisted in the air as the crowd cheered, throwing them up into the air before catching them.
"This all feels like a bit much..." Bio murmured from next to her, soft enough only Selena could hear. She glanced up to see a small blush tinging the bridge of her nose, and she laughed softly. "Maybe it is, but we did do something pretty big last night,"
"How did all this get fixed with something so simple as a wish? As much as I hate to admit it seems too convenient,"
A voice coming from the shop dragged their attention from each other to Pomella, who was leaning on the door frame with tired eyes. "Magic is meant to be convenient, especially the strong kind," she called, a tired smile plastered to her face as well.
"Ah yes yes, blame all these fixes on magic! I had to work too ya'know, give a guy a little credit," a hurt voice cut through the crowd's ruckus - or, more accurately, the crowd had stopped their cheering. It was almost as if time were frozen as their eyes all trained on a single figure standing out in a deep blue suit. "Really, 'oh anything is possible with magic, even the transformation of the sea and town itself!', as if nothing as simple as some wishing stone could do that," Fobus dismissed flippantly, shaking his head as if the entire notion was completely foolish.
"That's what I had thought..." Bio commented, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh yes but your logical to a fault and have nearly died twice in the span of a single day," Fobus added, smirking up at her. Bio simply glowered back, but as always Fobus was unphased, continuing on as if nothing had happened. "I added my own power to the wish so it could actually fix everything, to some extent anyway," he explained, creating a tiny vortex of his own power in the palm of his hand.
"Wouldn't a 'personification of fear' want the opposite to happen?" Selena asked, feeling utterly confused.
"Oh its the same reason a personification of war tries to end them - its a bad thing when taken out of moderation - like candy,"
"Too much candy is never a bad thing!" Pomella cut in, some of her energy finally returning.
"When you get fat and lonely then call me and tell me that," he taunted, smirking as he mimed rubbing his stomach as if it were bloated. Now it was Pomella's turn to glower.
"An entire town that acts as a living horror show is just too much, too many problems," Fobus began to lecture, his voice as if he were talking to a group of children. "My little darlings, your understanding of personification politics is simply dreadful - needs work, C-," he tsked, waggling a finger in their general direction. Selena really did not like Fobus.
"But yes you all did a great job in your first checkpoint, but you still have a long way to go before you get to Hypolos, the root of all your problems,"
"Is he the one doing this giant illusion?" Bio questioned, her head tilting to the side. Selena had in all honesty completely forgotten about that discussion.
"Very good! Yes, and he has a horrible knack for creating nightmares from his paranoia," Fobus grumbled. "Seriously, half of this world is like a fairy tale while the other is like a bad creepypasta story,"
"Uhm, 'creepypasta'?"
"Oh bother - don't worry about it, enjoy your victory while you can, ya got more horrors ahead," he sighed, then with a nod of his head simply poofed out of existence before there eyes. Then as time seemed to flow again, Selena decided maybe, just for a bit, they could enjoy what they had accomplished. Too just take a bit of time, and be satisfied with a job well done.