"Water is a funny thing. It can be your best ally, or your worst enemy. It can change the world in a matter of seconds."
No Man's Land.
#
IX. Grateful Grotto- Part II.
There are the odd placements,
you can use them to your advantage.
But don't overstay your welcome,
the wildlife here are vicious during the day.
It had been at least 10 minutes since anyone had spoke. The argument seemed to steam in everyone's mind, replaying back and forth over and over again like an old home movie. The uneasy silence seemed to almost grow on Deela. As long as Melina wasn't talking, Deela felt as if the moment was harmonious wave of serenity and peace. Everyone was off doing their own thing. Deela, doing what her therapist told her to do in order to keep her depression at bay, starting doing some stretches. At present, she had her legs split about double shoulder length, and her upper body (from the hips up) was bend down to the ground, staring through her legs. Deela could see the upside down image of Kurt staring at- or through- the tree's in thought. Nobody really knows what he does when he stares off into space. Even Deela's own opinion of him was that he's basically a mindless shell at this point and would probably be dead already if it weren't for her and- as much as she hated to admit it- Melina's initiative. He had his dirtied hands sticking out of his tattered pant pockets, softly kicked at the mud with his no-longer-shiny black boots. Whereas Melina was off by the small pond again, peering into the surface as if she could see something beneath it.
A slight tilt of her head confirmed her suspicions of Emily still being unconscious, but safe, right beside her athletic and lithe body. Deela didn't know what the groupds next step was; She had been too caught up hoping that Emily would just wake up and the world would be fine and dandy now that she has a local childhood friend here. Unfortunately, the opposite was the reality. Emily hadn't awoken yet, Melina was still spouting some indignant slur about the rest of their incompetence and as for Kurt... Well, he seemed to be more on Melina's side, but Deela thought that he just didn't want anyone to hurt the other too the case may be with that indecisive slob of a marine, Deela reasoned that he wasn't harming their chances of survival at the moment. After all, he did even present them with rations for which they survived off of for days.
The moment she thought of food, she knew it was a bad idea. Her stomach started to gurgle- it wasn't quietly either. Melina cocked her head to the side, breaking her from whatever she was thinking of before. "Could you keep that down a bit, Fatcakes? I'm trying to figure out how to keep my life over here." She shot across the small distance.
A strong urge to shoot back a retort of her own came out of no where. Sadly though, Deela knew that she had to be the bigger person and completely ignore Melina's pointless metaphorical jab. After all, Melina was probably just looking for a fight.
Instead, Deela turned her attention to Emily and off of food for the time being. Emily's scratched and battered unconscious body reminded her of what could happen at a moments notice. Even looking around though, she realized that things could change in a minute if you're not too careful. Hell, just falling asleep out of your bed one night and then you end up in some godforsaken other worldly planet. That's kind of a large jump between normality and Science-Fiction, she thought quietly to herself.
It was then that she noticed something had caught Melina's gaze. Deela didn't particularly want to know what it was out of fear of the inevitable slur of insults that bestow every enlightening conversation with the vexing woman but, at the same time, she needed to know. It could be something important. Just as well, it could be something completely and utterly mundane as well. Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back, Deela argued with herself before standing up from the stretch.
She decided to take one last look at Emily's placid and resting face before sauntering up to Melina. She didn't want to do this, but she knew it would eat away at her until it wasn't even relevant any more. She knew that she would have to ask eventually, and no doing it is just a waste of time, a charade for her own self-pity. That still didn't change the fact that Deela despised Melina's completely encompassing duplicitous and malevolently abasing attitude towards almost anything with a heartbeat.
"What are you looking at, Melina? Is there something there?" She asked, her tone heavy with determination and light on fear. Melina turned her head sideways again to peer at the awaiting female. She opened her maw and closed it once, twice, three times. Is she trying to be a fish? The pool's right there, we could find out...
"Yeah, actually captain Obvious. See in the water how it's crystal clear and you can almost see the bottom. And even then it isn't that deep, right?" Melina spoke in a tone fit for an adult to a child. Utterly demeaning.
"Yeah, why? Is there some sea monster in there waiting to grab us at the most opportune moment or something?" Deela mockingly questioned back.
"No, you intellectually defunct being. Look, over there, opposite where we're standing, see it?" she asked again, now pointing her right arm, "That darkened spot in the rock about 5 feet below the surface."
"Yeah, I do," Deela replied earnestly, allowing some amount of enthusiasm in her voice as if the sight of something other than a vexing torrent of spite is a sign of hope, "What is it though?"
"Hell if I know. I just found it and you interrupted my thought process, how am I supposed to know if you keep doing that?!" Melina ranted off in return. Instead of replying in kind, Deela just strutted off back to Emily's unconscious corpse. Perhaps something of the familiar face could bring her fuming state to a cooling end.
Sadly, that was not the case. The constant lingering of that underwater cave made Deela curious and, when she was curious, there was nothing that could stop her in her trek to find out what it is.
"Kurt, any idea's yet?" Melina asked in a surprisingly uplifting tone that Deela could tell was forced since it did not suit her vocal registry in the slightest.
"No, not yet Melina. Still working on it. Though, you know, we could just swim down there. It's like... What. 5 feet?" Kurt replied casually, his frame still focuses towards the forest though he head was tilted to peer over his shoulder.
"No, you dumbass, we can't do that. The water could be poisonous, it could be infested with piranha or some human eating animal like leeches. I'm not going down there if my life depended on it." Melina shot back viciously and venomously. It was clear that she was not going down into that cave.
"Well, if you won't," Deela spoke quietly, still peering at Emily's frozen corpse, "than we will." She picked up Emily in her arms and quickly lifted her to rest upon her shoulders.
"Deela, I don't think that's such a great ide-" before Kurt could finish his sentence, Deela and Emily were gone. A solid splash echoed the uncomfortable silence of the two characters as they stood staring, dumbfounded, at the spot where Deela and Emily had just been.
"Did she just...?" asked Kurt, stumped.
"I... I think she did," Melina added equally as stupified.
"How do you think she's holding up? It's quite dark in there... and there's a small current from the waterfall... She could drown..." Kurt added protectively.
"Don't be such a worry wort, she's fine. The current is small and she would be that stupid to drown herself like that. Besides, she has that unconscious chick in her hand. I mean, I don't doubt her stupidity to drown herself and, hell, it'd be much easier if she did, but I don't think that she would." Melina paused to take a quick couple of breaths. "Besides, the only way she would drown is if she doesn't come up for about 5 minutes or something like that, right? She's skinny enough, she'll float," and with that, Melina just sauntered away from the pool to sit down with her back resting on a tree facing the supposedly still serene body of water. Kurt, on the other hand, was visually pacing around. His feet seemed to dig into the rough soil like it was butter, easily chipping away at the soft exterior to expose the archaic unturned earth... if it could even be called earth at this point.
"I don't like it," Kurt spoke softly, "She shouldn't of done it without a plan... You always need a plan."
"She's impulsive, Kurt. She does things the way she wants to and if someone gets in her way, they won't matter to her. I'd even wager that she would cut down that KO'd chick if she stood in front of her goal," Melina tested, seeing Kurt's reaction.
Unbeknownst to the nonchalant, spiteful demon, and the worried pacer, both Deela and Emily were perfectly fine. The moment Deela submerged in that silvery-tinted water she knew that she had made the right decision. If she were to stay on dry land with the other two slackers, nothing would've happened and they would most likely have stayed there until Emily had faced death due to malnourishment or thirst. Deela was not prepared to let that happen any time in her life as long as she could prevent it. This was something that she could prevent however, and she was grateful because of it.
She was holding her unconscious friend with both her arms so that she wouldn't lose her in the dark ominous depths of the pool. With her arms busy, she wasn't able to commit to a full breast stroke or, really, any other variety of swim she could think of; so she settled simply for just waving her legs up and down like a scuba diver in hopes that it would work.
Surprisingly enough, and to her great fortune, it did. She was moving along slowly, but surely, towards where she had spotted the cave from the surface. Though, underwater it had almost altered it's appearance by adopting a pseudo-camouflage, rendering it almost impossible to see from under the water. But, thankfully, it had a small draft of current that was being sucked into the it which Deela ever so luckily could feel.
A brief moment of contemplation rushed through her mind as to whether or not she should be entering this unknown cave if what could possibly be her death. If the slowly depriving feeling in her lungs wasn't enough of a hint, she would soon acquire one as she stayed under the surface for longer and longer; Deela was losing air, fast.
Deela had to make up her mind with great haste or suffer the consequence, and with death of not only herself but Emily as well being the only consequence, she knew that she couldn't afford it. There was no getting off this planet at the present time, and it didn't look likely that there ever would be. Death would be the only way off the planet, and to get it over so quickly, to end her life by saving her friend or at least attempting to save her friend is well worth it in her mind.
Deela daringly took the plunge into what could as well be the rock hard surface to the quaint canyon wall, yet judging from where it was from the surface, she knew it was here. Her feet kicked up the current and accelerated her towards the hole in the otherwise flat and stoney surface. Fractions of seconds past the young depression-laden girl as she swam to the hole. Small bits of air choked free from her nose, sluggishly depriving her lungs of her life essence until, suddenly, she hit it.
A void of vision formed in the corners of her sight as her mouth widened, releasing the left over air from her lungs. Deela swam to the top with mighty haste, pulling Emily along with her making sure that Emily doesn't suffer Deela's price for poor navigation. Millions of thoughts raced through Deela's mind as she tried to figure out what she had just rammed herself into. Her crowded thought process quickly proved ill toward her and she knew the hole was supposed to be there. It was probably something from the blackened depths that she had run smack-dab into. Most likely some unknown, other-wordly sea creature she reasoned which only heightened her resolve to pop up to the surface where light would surely burn the fear away.
Several heart-wrenching, water gagging seconds later, her head surfaced through the water followed closely by Emily's. Deela promptly swam over to the closest end of dry land, opposite of a hysterically laughing Melina and worrisome Kurt, and set Emily up upon it. She speedily checked Emily for her breath and pulse, fortunately getting a positive reading from both of them. Somehow, Emily did not swallow any water, whereas Deela was damn near still coughing up liquid that remained in her shriveling lung cavities.
Soon, her retching had quieted down and she had gotten rid of the last of the water in her lungs. It was then that she noticed Melina still laughing. Not as powerful as before, but still quiet determined in her ridicule. "What's so-" a quick cough interrupts her sentence, "What's so funny... and what the hell did I hit? Did you see any monster or anything? Jeez, it was like the shadow was chasing me!"
Deela's explanation on increased Melina's bellowing laugh to more of a guffaw of sorts.
"Hello...? Earth to Melina...?" Deela said in a guttural voice that may have passed as trance-like if she hadn't just almost drowned.
"You, you smart-a-holic!" Melina managed to fit out between body shaking laughter, "You managed to swim straight into the stone wall. And, further more," She added after her laugher had died down to a small giggle that wavered in her tone of voice, "that shadow that was chasing you was your own. There was no massive beast or anything. You fell victim to the detrimental fears and primordial callings of humans nature that is to conjure the worst idea possible in place of the unknown came into play."
"Oh." Deela breathed.
"Yeah. 'Oh' is right, you mental nutcase." Melina added for good measure. However unnecessary it was, it wasn't out of play for the wicked witch.
"Screw you two, I'm going back down to find it. Now, if you would so kindly tell me where it is..." Deela threw out to no one in particular and just anyone who would bother to listen.
"Move right a few, then you're on top of it. As much as I'd love to watch you bang your noggin on the rocks again, I don't think we have that much more time for it." Melina replied helpfully, much to Deela and Kurts' surprise.
"Also, don't forget to look for food under there. Whether it be fish or.. plants... whatever. We need sustenance. Anything with protein would be nice, really." Kurt smiled earnestly.
"Sure, I'll keep my eye's as open as possible under there... It's not murky, but it stings..." Deela replied coldly. She wasn't exactly feeling up to the whole conversation aspect of relationships at the moment. She simply wanted to dive in again and find out where that cave leads and that's exactly what she did.
A swift jump with a breath and she was inside the luke-warm water once more, leaving Emily up on the shore so that Deela could explore inside the cave a little. Without an unconscious body lagging her, she was fully able to breast stroke down quicker than before which saved her a great deal of time.
The water swirled around Deela as she hastily swam her way down toward the hole. Laying a hand out to feel the rocky surface and where it ended this time so she wouldn't headbutt the carapace a second time. One mistake is enough on this journey.
Soon enough, without much time lost, Deela had found where the entrance to the cave started and, thanks to the ever slight current, affirmed that it was the right place. She knew she still had enough air to make it in and out before anything drastic would happen to her, even if she was still afraid as trespassing any lower than she was right now. Melina's words hadn't quite gotten through to her. Sure, it could be humans mature to think that and stuff, but what if there really is something at the bottom of this body of water? What if it is actually something that could kill her?
The last thought sent shivers down her spine, so intense that the warmish water couldn't even cure it. One quick pull of her arms and wave of her feet and she was inside of the almost pitch black tunnel. The only light was being emitted from behind her A few more seconds and she was plunged into light again which was strange because, she could see any light in front of her before it just... appeared.
Looking up, Deela spotted some rippled and what seemed to be a pocket of air. Even if there was enough room for just a head, it would be useful to make note of it. She dutifully scaled the water and peeped her head into the small crevice of air, filling her lungs again before submerging under the mysterious depths.
She didn't know where to go, really, is was almost pitch black other than that random spot of light from the air pocket. She rounded a corner, spotted thanks to her hand scraping against it in her most recent stroke and found a weird looking outline. It appeared to be quite cylindrical, but rounded on the edges as well. Almost as if it was a giant bolder in the middle of no where. Curiously, Deela swam up to the object and cautiously laid her palm on it, knocking on it as well just as a precaution. It was solid stone.
Why would someone put stone here.. why is it here. Deela wondered. She started to swim up, peering at the stone the entire time as she slowly rose. It seemed that it got more bulbous on the sides the higher she went up, more and more flat as well. Soon enough, even though she didn't realize it at first, she was breathing in air and treading the water. She blinked a couple of times before noticing that she wasn't holding her breath any more. Deciding to be the courageous one that she always was, she pulled herself atop of the stone boulder which seemed sturdy enough to stand on. Her assumptions proved to be correct, yet again, as the boulder was stable enough for her to stand, walk, lay down, and even jump on. Nothing she could do could even make the large stone inch.
A curious light began to fill the room from the top down. Deela noticed this and hesitantly peered upwards, however ambivalent she may feel about doing so. Right above the middle of the room was a funnel like shape, sprouting into foliage of tree's and plants, but still letting the sun shine right through as well as, Deela guessed, the moon light. The room was now all visible as the orange light traversed down the wall in a glinting radiance. The place looked almost exactly like a funnel. A long and narrow tube-top opening at the top which slowly curved outwards to a more bottle-like holding area. The boulder that she was standing on stretched almost wall to wall. A small part off of the right wall was equipped with an eroded section of rock to give way to a sandy alcove that glew an aqua blue iridescent light. Opposite that, on the left side, there was a meter wide opening to the pitch black water that she had risen up from.
Oh, man. They're going to be stoked when they hear about this. She thought happily.
A/N: So... Yeah. Hehe^^ Next installment of my fantabulamazing story! I hope you have a good read, I kind of rushed this one last minute... I seem to like doing that for some reason... w
Read and Review!3 Love you long time, hehe. =)
Love and Laughter,
~Cyndercide.