Disclaimer: I do not own Haibane Renmei, but Umi and Nami are my OCs.
Prologue
(Umi/Nami's POV)
I'm consumed by panic. Thrashing around wildly in desperation. I feel myself sinking into a dark, cold abyss, as the light from above fades away. All sound is muffled, except for the loud hum in my ears. I continuously gasp for air, but only suffocate myself with water. Despite my instinct for self-preservation, however, I'm worried more deeply for someone else. Someone important. I struggle to think, but darkness envelopes me, and I feel myself fading away from my own experience, as though drifting off into a dreamless sleep; which feels like an eternity to wake from, though seemingly no time has passed in between. My senses suddenly rush back to me. I'm still emerged in water, but floating in fetal position, and somehow able to breathe. The water is lukewarm, and light shines from above, but it appears to be outside of whatever I'm inside. This place, though a mystery to me, feels comfortable and safe, like a dream you never want to wake from. I don't even want to acknowledge there's a world outside this bubble, but can't ignore the muffled voices that seep through the rounded walls, and am suddenly reminded that there's someone else's safety I'm more concerned with. I glide easily toward the inside of the wall, and claw at its jelly membrane, until I reach the outer layer. I beat against it, until it cracks. Water quickly drains out, and light pours in. Then, everything fades to black, as though the light has blinded me. I drift into another dreamless slumber, but actually wake up in my bed, this time. Or, maybe it's not my bed, since I don't recognize this room. I prop myself up on my elbows, wincing at the sore pain in my shoulder blades, and turn my head to survey my environment. To my surprise, a mysterious girl is waking up in the bed parallel to mine. Our eyes lock, when she finally notices me. There's something familiar about her, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
Suddenly, we're both startled by a knock on the door, and whip our heads around to see a quartet of what appear to be angels, as they saunter into the room. They have gray wings on their backs, and a shiny, golden halo above each of their heads. "Oh, you're awake!" Says one of the angels, though I'm convinced that I haven't yet woken from my dream. The only other explanation, would be that I've died, and that this is what they call Heaven. "We all expected you to be twins." Her eyes flick between myself and the other girl, who exchanges a confused glance with me. "Hold still." The angel approaches me with a pair of tongs, between which, and above my head, she holds a shiny halo. It produces a tingly sensation, and feels suddenly caught in the gravity of my orbit, as though there's some magnetic force between us. The halo doesn't simply attach to me, though; it becomes a part of me. I'm able to feel my hands with the halo, as easily as I'm able to feel the halo with my hands. "Your turn," the angel says, repeating the process on the other girl. "I'm Hikari, by the way."
"I'm..."
Wait...
"Drawing a blank?" A tomboyish angel, whose arms are crossed nonchalantly behind her head, smirks knowingly at me.
Who am I?!
The loss of identity paralyzes me with fear.
"I can't remember my name!" Cries the girl beside me, burying her face in her pillow. I feel the instinctual urge to comfort her, but wouldn't know how, and am relieved when one of the other angels takes it upon herself to do so, by gently patting the girl's back.
"Tell us about the dreams you both had," the angel says, as though the other girl isn't merely a product of my own dream, which I haven't yet woken from.
"I was drowning," the girl and I simultaneously blurt.
"Just like Kana," Hikari interjects, as she drapes her arm over the shoulders of the tomboy.
"That's my name," Kana says, wrapping her own arm around the blonde, "don't wear it out."
"I'm Nemu." Another angel, who appears at least a decade older than the rest, smiles dreamily with half-lidded eyes.
"i'm Rakka," says the angel seated on the edge of bed opposite mine. "Haibane are named after the dreams they have in their cocoons."
"Haibane?" I parrot.
"That's what we call ourselves." Rakka playfully flaps her wings, as though that explains everything.
"What should we call you two?" Hikari wonders aloud.
"How 'bout Umi," Rakka suggests, "or Nami?"