warning- a bit of body horror

- ...-ami... -

Manami floated in a dark, quiet place.

- Manami... -

She couldn't see, couldn't feel. She felt so, so tired. She just wanted to go to sleep...

- Manami! -

Jolting at that last yell, Manami spun around as best she could (or maybe she didn't, it was too dark to tel)l. She searched for that familiar voice but found only blank silence. As she was about to drift back off, an unfamiliar voice whispered in her ear.

The woman spoke in a calm, soft voice.

I am thou, and thou art I...

You have awakened your true self in your time of need... Don't let yourself fall into the monster's spell...

'Monster's.. spell?' Manami weakly grabbed onto that thought and pushed the fuzziness in her mind back.

As she did, light started to surround her, and amazingly, she could see in the dark water that surrounded her.

Manami opened her mouth and the water stayed outside, seemingly pushed back by the bubble of light.

She turned as she heard a slight shift in the water around her. A woman, surrounded by an odd white aura, was gliding through the water on the back of some kind of creature. The woman held both Chinatsu and Izumi cradled in her arms, and the two girls seemed okay.

Manami cried out, as loud as she could, and swam to meet them. The woman kept her hold on the unconscious girls as Manami grabbed Chinatsu's face.

There was a dull glow, different from Manami's, the woman's, and each other's, around each of the girls. Manami wasn't sure how, but all three of them survived being dragged underwater.

Speaking of which, Manami stroked Chinatsu's hair to keep it from covering her face, where were they? She looked up, but she couldn't see the light from the surface.

Either they were so far down they couldn't see it, or so much time had passed that it was now night.

Or both.

How had they gotten so far underwater? Had they sank? And, more importantly, why weren't they dead?

How could they breathe?

As Manami began to hyperventilate from panic and confusion, the strange woman adjusted Chinatsu into her other arm with Izumi and cupped Manami's face.

She was a bit bigger than normal, Manami realized, as the large hand petted her soothingly. She leaned into hand and closed her eyes.

This was. This was impossible. She was dreaming again, right? Or maybe she was unconscious, or in a coma, hooked up to some machine in a hospital.

Manami bit the inside of her cheek, hard, and opened her eyes cautiously.

Nope, the gentle sea giantess was still in front of her, with the odd green serpent she rode, and the two girls still passed out in her arms.

Manami wanted to cry out in frustration, but a shape in the dark below grabbed her ankle before she could utter a sound and yanked her downwards.

She cried out, then, but from surprise and fear.

The white woman followed close behind Manami, her eyes suddenly filled with rage and shock.

Reaching her hands towards the woman, Manami screamed for help. The water pressure around her caused her to feel like she was being crushed, and it was almost too much for her when -rrrewwwr-

She landed on the floor of a marble covered room. The shadowy shapes that had grabbed Manami slunk off as she tried to recover from her not so soft landing. She glanced around, not quite comprehending how she had landed in this odd throne-room-looking place.

The water was clear here, Manami realized, and filled with light. She thought she had landed in somewhere with air, but the water here was more dense than regular water, so she only was suspended a little bit.

As she pushed herself up off the ground, the woman fluttered down letting Izumi and Chintsu carefully slide out of her arms.

In the clearer water, Manami realized the woman wasn't just bigger than normal, she was also a light green and scales covered her lower half.

Manami blushed and averted her eyes as she realized the woman also wasn't wearing a shirt. She focused on her legs instead.

They were a darker green, but not as dark as the creature she rode on. They weren't a tail, like a mermaid, but at first glance they could be mistaken for one.

Manami raised her head, slowly, to look the fish-woman in the eyes.

The woman's anger had subsided, and the lady's eyes were soft and calm. She smiled gently, and titled her head, her cropped hair hovering around her head like a dark halo.

Recognizing her almost immediately, Manami whispered, "Galateia." She didn't know how she knew the name, it just came to her as soon as she could see Galateia's face clearly.

Galateia grinned happily and reached towards Manami. A loud screech frightened Manami, and Galateia was suddenly in front of her, a snarl on her once-peaceful face.

Manami grabbed Chinatsu and (reluctantly) Izumi and pulled them behind Galateia. She peeked out behind the giantess and focused on a slit in the water that was turning restlessly.

A pair of dark arms appeared first, cloaked in liquid darkness, and a disfigured face followed soon after, the jaws open to expose long, jagged teeth.

Watching in horror, Manami squeezed the two girls against her as the rest of the monster slid out from the 'crack' in the water.

It seemed to mold itself into the shape of a person, and the figure grinned a large, happy grin as eyes sprouted out and blinked. They spun for a second before rolling across the sludgy face and switching spots.

Manami pulled her shoulders in tight as the thing began to speak, shuddering at the voice that sounded like someone had filmed a person gargling water and played it back on a static-y TV.

"Girls... how nice of you to, ah, visit me.." a wet pink tongue wriggled out from the monster's neck. "I've been so lonely these, ah, past few days... Haven't had company since that lovely, ah, girl visited me a few days ago..."