The monster.
The monster.
Always the god damn monster.
I blinked slowly a few times as the sound of jail sirens filled my ears. The blinding lights of the small search towers faded in and out of my sight as my thoughts were scattered within my mind.
The Aquato spawn. The monster of the water. The child of generational nightmares.
"Raz?"
Always the monster, never the hero. Forever the beast, and never the prince.
"Raz."
Just proving it now, Aquato. Just proving everyone right.
"RAZ!"
I snapped my attention toward Lili who now had her hands grasping my shoulders.
"Knock out of it, Raz! You look like you're in a trance." I shook my head slightly as my thoughts faded slowly.
"S-Sorry." The screams of the fish people filled my ears once more as a shiver ran down my spine. "Too many screams," I muttered my words as Lili gave me a concerned look.
"Hey, you're not actually hurting anyone, okay? They're just kind of fish. No one is actually hurt."
"But-." I was shushed quietly as Lili gave me a soft smile.
"No one is actually hurt, Raz. You're fine." I took a deep breath and released it slowly before closing my eyes for a moment.
No one is harmed. I did nothing wrong. I'm not the beast.
I slowly opened my eyes to see Lili's brown ones watching me intently. The shine in her eyes caused them to look a lot like coffee once it had a good bit of creamer in it. Not too dark, but not too light either. It was a beautiful shade, to say the least. One I wish I could see in the real world as well.
I bet with the right amount of sunlight, her eyes do the same out there.
I felt a soft blush cake my cheeks while a smile tugged at my lips.
And I bet it's just as beautiful too.
"Better?" My smile widened as I gave her a toothy grin.
"Much better."
"Good." Her smile widened as well while her hands dropped from my shoulders. "Wanna talk about what got into you there?"
"Can~ we talk about it later?" As an embarrassed blush painted my cheeks, I drew out the first word for a moment.
"We'll put a pin in it then." I gave her a thankful smile as she gave me a knowing look. "For now. I bet you still need to talk about it."
"You know me well, Lils."
"Better than most, for sure." She gave a proud smile which caused my heart to flip in my chest. She turned her attention toward the ground before speaking again. "Find your crew, fish man?"
"Most definitely. Now, we'll be taking over the majority of the city here. It will make it easier for you to get the main radio tower on the central island up the dam wall."
"So we broke you guys out to inevitably do what we originally planned?" I quirked an eyebrow at the idea while crossing my arms over my chest.
"Yes but now you have the information of the tower, see?"
"Right~." Lili drew out the word while rolling her eyes at the thought. "And we still have to do the dirty work, huh Razzy?"
"Fighting brain tanks and all," I smirked as I thought of the little metal brain turret tanks that reminded me of Coach's Basic Braining. "You know, the more we're here, the more Coach being in charge of everything makes sense." Lili nodded as the little fish commander took the change in the topic as his sign to leave.
"It does. The army references here along with the brain turrets." Lili crossed her arms as she continued on with her mental list. "The fact the hero here sounds like an anime knockoff of his own name, the list could continue."
"Don't forget all the meat stuff too."
"I'd rather forget." Lili and I made our way out of the little internal cave that the prison was placed in. "But now how can we get to the main tower?"
"Could just go across the water and all." I shrugged as I looked over the mental world's water scene. "Shouldn't be much different than the water in other worlds, should it?"
"You can try. Might react a little differently with this being a fish's brain and all." I walked closer to the edge of the land before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.
Let's try something basic.
I opened my eyes slowly as I brought out my hand and poured all my concentration into making a hand appear from the water.
"Galochio!" I smiled wide as the hand gave me an excited wave. "Been a while since I summoned you in a mind. Didn't hurt you any, right?" The hand gave a thumbs up as a small splash of water came out of each side of them as a sign of emphasis. "Good! I'm glad!"
"Boys and their water hands." I could tell Lili was smirking over my shoulder as I just shrugged in response.
"Water boys and their water hands, thank you very much." Galochio gave a single finger gun as if to agree with me. "Glad to see you though, buddy. I was just checking my connection with the water unless you want to help us get to the tower over there." I pointed in the direction of the giant radio tower in the distance as Galochio turned as if they had eyes to see it. The hand turned back toward me and turned into a fist before shaking it slowly. "It's alright bud. I know you only really have space for me. I don't think Lili would be up for a piggyback ride over the brain ocean here."
"You're my best friend and I love you, Razzy, but not over brain water." I blushed heavily at Lili's words behind me as Galochio turned toward me in a sassy motion.
"Shush." I quickly hushed the hand as it gave a small knowing motion. "Don't blame you, Lils." I smiled wide before turning toward her for a second so she could see I wasn't offended or anything. I turned back to Galochio with a glare. "Asshole," I muttered the word as the hand just gave a small sorry gesture. "Better be." I sighed as I lowered my head a little. "It's okay. I'm sorry for being aggressive there, bud." Galochio gave a thumbs up once more. "I'll let you go now. Go back to our realm, Gal." The hand lowered slowly all while giving me an approving finger gun once more. "Bye mate!"
"Quite talkative with your hand friend even though he doesn't talk himself." I blushed more as Lili came up to my side.
The bastard is quite knowing too.
"Yeah, he's communicative! Totally a great water pal and everything right." I tried my best to laugh off my embarrassment before clearing my throat a little. "But that's good to know that I still have a solid connection. I can make us a little bubble then."
"Bubble buddies?" I shrugged as an easy smile took over my lips.
"Would we be anything else?" She giggled lightly as I extended my hand flat out in front of me. It caused the water to form a solid base for Lili to walk out onto. "After you?" I put a hand out to guide her which caused a soft look in her eyes.
"T-Thanks." I guided her by her lower back onto the small water platform before following after her.
"Feeling alright with this?"
"Totally yeah." I smiled softly as she leaned into me gently. "Whoa, that's really funky."
"Funky?" I chuckled gently as she pinched my bicep. "Hey! Let me keep my focus here!" I curled my hand into a fist that caused the water to become a ball around us.
"Focus my ass!" I chuckled with a cheeky smile.
"Wanna get wet there, Lils?"
"Drop me in the water and you'll get burned, Raz."
"Love you too, Lils."
"Yeah yeah yeah." I smiled wide as she leaned into me once more. "Bubble buddy."
"Bubble buddies forever, right?" My smile sweetened as she wrapped an arm around me.
"Totally. Forever."