Red lights flickered against the cloudless night sky, barely visible from below the silvery surface of the ocean as heaving waves rolled slowly towards the far off shore. Nami saw ships often and usually avoided them; sailors were rarely interested in anything other than the fact that she was vaguely humanoid and vaguely feminine. She would have avoided this one too had it not been for the debris around it, dark stretches of planks and bobbing crates dotting the breach between water and air. From below it was ominous.
She'd popped her head above the water just long enough to see fire. Flames stood out against black smoke and the even blacker outline of the ship it was consuming. Bodies floated, some clinging to barrels and rubbish for support, and the screams were audible even from a distance. She had to wonder what had happened if nothing else, there were no other ships she could see nor were they far out enough for dangerous sea creatures.
She let out a sigh and ducked back below the water. She could, and she should, help. It was the right thing to do and while she doubted the sailors had any useful information she might be able to get them to help her in some small way. At this point she would use anyone she could to help find the moonstone and helping people was always a good way to get them to talk.
It was far from silent below the waves but instead of being met by calls for help and the sound of water lapping against wood the space around the marai was filled with clicks and howls from sea creatures near and far. They echoed around her and she could almost block out the tragedy that loomed above. Almost.
Scanning the dark waters below the ship she watched heavier barrels and pieces of metal slowly descending, pale trails of bubbles streaming off of them and then vanishing. Through the chaos she saw bodies, many mangled and clearly dead already, not worth dragging to the surface. Better off feeding the fish than being wasted on a funeral.
Ribbons of blackred twisted through the water, a cloud of murk and gore surrounding the figure of someone who was still flailing their arms uselessly. She gripped her staff tightly and flicked her tail, moving swiftly through the water and kicking up a trail of shimmering white bubbles.
He didn't look like the other ones, scruffy sailors in dirty clothing. White hair billowed out around his head, tinted pink with blood, as he slowly turned about in the water. Heavy clothing weighed him down and flared out like the wings of a mantaray, slow and thick. A stream of blood seeped from a wound torn in his abdomen and clouded the water around him as crimson tendrils swirled lazily into the salt water.
Nami needed to stop him from drowning before she even thought about the gaping wound, a small enough task for her.
"Stay still," she said as she glided closer and reached out a hand, her words echoing through the water.
The man recoiled, his white eyes devoid of irises widening as she tried to touch him. She frowned and grabbed at his shirt, easily catching a handful of the thick material, and pulled him closer. His face was as pale as his hair though it seemed to suit him Nami thought.
"Stop floundering or you'll hurt yourself," she stated, closing the distance between them with no effort and coming to a stop only inches in front of him.
It was just a second, infinitely short and meaningless to her, as she pressed her lips against his. He stiffened immediately and pulled away as he tried to say something. The last bit of air escaped his lungs in a veil of bubbles and he closed it again as he pressed his lips together in a thin, displeased line. The magic was already there though and he wasn't in any danger of drowning for the time being. Still, the water couldn't be pleasant for him. It was cold for a human and he was bleeding a lot.
Nami tugged on his shirt and began to pull him towards the surface with him floating helplessly behind her, maneuvering around the bulk of the ship as she looked for something to set him on. A large piece of wood presented itself and she broke the surface, once again engulfed in the pandemonium of what was occurring. The man, sopping wet and weak, was shoved gracelessly onto the plank and Nami let go to run a hand down his body and assess the damage. The wound looked like it was from a gun, a vague circle blown through his clothing and into his body. It wasn't too deep, probably fired from a good distance, but it was big and it was bleeding.
He muttered something between breathes as he gasped for air and tried to move around mostly in vain on the slippery surface, the tidecaller adamantly keeping him in place. She wouldn't need her staff for something like this and set it down nearby.
She placed her hands over the frayed, red flesh and focused. Slowly, imperfectly, it closed for her as a pale blue glow radiated from the tips of her fingers and ethereal wisps of light flickered in the air. Like tiny stars the magic blinked in and out of existence as she concentrated on healing the injured man's wounds.
Her thoughts were derailed and the magic abruptly blinked out as he grabbed one of her wrists with a cold hand, a scowl across his face.
"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded as he tried to move, a hint of pain showing on his face for only a second before he resumed glaring at Nami.
She raised an eyebrow ridge and pulled her wrist free from his still water-slicked hand to cross her arms over her chest. His blood drained face seemed almost transparent and a mess of white hair clung to his cheeks and neck to frame his angular face in a way that would have been almost cute if he weren't probably half dead and also a human. His eyes though… Nami wasn't sure what he was looking at and it made her uncomfortable.
"I was helping you," she answered, "Unless you like bleeding to death in the ocean."
She waited for an answer and eyed him warily but when none came and he turned his head to look away she took it as a sign that no, he might not like the idea of dying out here. When she moved her hands closer again to finish the job, however, he recoiled just a bit but refused to look at her again.
"What a waste."
She almost missed what he muttered. She stopped, fingers an inch above his wound, as she blinked in confusion. She slowly lowered her hands to the cold, waterlogged plank and curled her fingers under her palms. She was about to open her mouth to say something when he spoke up again.
"Are you going to help them?" he asked, nodding his head towards the ship.
"That was the plan. I can't just leave them out here."
The fire had died down, extinguished by the crew that still remained on the ship though the efforts were in vain as it began to capsize. Already lifeboats were setting out towards land, picking up who they could along the way. She could still see more people struggling further out as they were pushed and pulled by waves; there was still a lot of work to be done.
She reached for her staff and began to turn away as she told the man, "Be sure to get on one of the boats. I need to see if anyone else needs rescuing."
A displeased noise. An annoyed noise, even. Not a sound someone who had just been rescued would make. It caused Nami to turn back to see the man's profile illuminated orange and red with the last few remaining flames, water still running down his face and dripping from the ends of his hair. His mouth was pressed in a thin line and he was looking towards the Noxian shores that barely visible in the distance.
Nami clicked her tongue in annoyance and hoisted herself partially out of the water onto the planks, her free hand reaching out to touch the man's cheek and turn his head towards her. He didn't resist but he did narrow his eyes. This close Nami could see that even his eyelashes were pure white and wouldn't have stood out against his pale skin at all had they not been so long. His colorless eyes hid whatever he was thinking and made him almost impossible for the marai to read no matter how hard she tried.
He seemed like an exhausting person but he was a person nonetheless and she couldn't just let him sit here and slowly freeze to death. One more kiss, this one lasting longer as she pressed her lips against his warm mouth. The magic was focussed and for just a moment visible as a cool glow surrounded him and tiny orbs flickered. They faded into the ether as Nami pulled away though she hesitated for just a moment as she looked his face over one more time.
It was faint but she could make out a blush across his cheeks. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she pushed herself off the planks and into the water.
"That should keep you alive if you really wanna swim all the way back," she called before diving under the waves, heading towards a stranded sailor trying to reach a nearby lifeboat.