SR - Chapter 2 - Making Friends

Gura was able to sit up after a long while and saw the Priestess for the first time right-side-up. She didn't look completely insane like all of the others and definitely didn't talk like them, either. A weird mix of calm and terror floated around inside of her. But she knew she couldn't run anyways or it would just be another round of convulsing on the ground.

"That r-really hurt," Gura complained slightly. She didn't really know how to act around this seemingly nice Priestess. The creature in front of her sat down on the sand facing the Atlantean.

"I just didn't want you to leave," it explained again. Gura almost rolled her eyes.

"You said that you wanted to talk to me, so go ahead. Not like I can go anywhere," Gura put her arms out to the sides as if to present herself.

"If you really don't want to talk, you can leave, I guess…" Ok, this time the Priestess did sound sad. Gura felt a slight bit of pity mix in with her other emotions. This one was different from the others.

"My name is Gawr Gura, but it seems like you already knew that," Gura said with a shaky smile. The Priestess seemed to light up with surprise and happiness at this gesture.

"My name is Ninomae Ina'nis, but I would rather just be called Ina." Gura's terror mostly disappeared by this point.

"So why'd you want to talk to me? Any reason besides wanting to?" Gura pushed her earlier questions along. The Priestess, Ina, hesitated before answering.

"You killed people here last night, right Gura?" Gura didn't like those words.

"It's not like I wanted to…" she mumbled to herself, but Ina picked up on them anyways.

"Elaborate," she requested, although it didn't feel like a request.

"I was hungry and sometimes I can't control what I do when I'm hungry," she explained shortly. This wasn't a topic she'd ever talked about before.

That wasn't fair, though. Gura knew the Priestesses were just tools for the Ancient Ones to use. If Ina could actually resist the power, like she was demonstrating, then this could actually be really interesting. This was probably the reason why she hadn't been attacked by a Priestess in a few decades.

"So you can't control it? You didn't want to kill those people," Ina probed. Gura nodded.

"I hate killing people," she said with gritted teeth and clenched fists. Ina went defensive for a moment before relaxing again.

"You see, I told you," she whispered to herself. Gura looked at her funny.

"Who are you talking to? The Ancient Ones?" the Atlantean asked the question this time around. Ina thought for a moment.

"Yes, we don't get along some days. They thought you were just killing people for no reason and wanted to stop you."

"Like the Ancient Ones care about humans," Gura scoffed. Ina pouted slightly before changing the topic.

"I take it you don't like them very much."

"Not at all," Gura said while pulling her gaze away. A few hundred years wasn't nearly long enough to forgive the thing that had killed her entire race. Although, she hoped she didn't hurt Ina's feelings with her answer. The other girl sighed.

"Yeah, I've learned that with time. Out of the few people who know about AO-chan, even fewer actually like them. Plus, most of them are cultists or complete psychopaths," Ina reminisced about past memories.

"You call them AO-chan?" Gura latched onto that detail. Ina nodded.

"Yeah, makes them seem less threatening to others." Gura cocked an eyebrow.

"Are they dangerous to other people?" she asked, to which Ina waved her hands in front of her in defense.

"No no no, they can't do anything to hurt people. I'm resistant to their corruption, so I keep them contained." Gura's assumption from earlier was confirmed. This was getting interesting. "I can understand how it must feel to not be able to contain the power within yourself, though." Ina continued.

"What do you mean?" Gura asked, already knowing the answer.

"Like you said before, you weren't yourself earlier. Do you remember attacking me?" Gura nodded slowly.

"Yeah, but only in vague flashes. I thought I killed you." This made Ina laugh a little.

"You did do quite a bit of damage to some tentacles. I started to worry if I was going to be able to keep creating them fast enough to keep you at bay."

"So that's what I was eating…" Gura thought to herself. She didn't feel hungry since she'd woken up, so the tentacles were probably a decent food source.

"I am a little worried about what they'll do to your body. They're not supposed to be edible," Ina expressed mild concern.

"Don't worry about that. Us Atlanteans have some pretty strong stomachs!" Gura expressed with pride and a bright smile. Ina chuckled slightly at this display.

"I guess. Did it actually taste good?" Ina questioned. Gura pondered it for a bit.

"I actually don't know. Want me to find out?" she said with a slight joking tone. Ina shrugged and summoned a tentacle out of a purple mist.

"Be my guest." Gura stared at the appendage for a bit, deciding whether or not to actually go through with it. Honestly, it didn't look that appetizing.

"How many of these things can you make?"

"Pretty much as many as I want. I've never needed to use more than I've been able to create." Gura slowly put some pieces together. If Ina could make something that she could eat and didn't run out. Maybe she could help her with her Primal problem…

"Welp, thank you for the food." Gura tore out a piece of the tentacle in front of her with her hand. It was squishy, almost like rubber. However, rubber didn't tear that easily. Without giving herself anymore time to back out, Gura bit into the piece.

It wasn't very good, but it didn't make her want to throw up either. The taste was sour and bitter with a spongy texture. Her face contorted to match her displeasure. Ina laughed slightly.

"I'm guessing it's not that good, huh?" Gura nodded, her mouth still chewing on the piece.

"Yeah," she said after she'd swallowed, "but it's not totally repulsive." This made Ina laugh harder.

"You're not a very good liar, Gura." Gura let herself laugh as well.

"Hey, I'll take any food I can get."

"The ocean doesn't supply you with enough?" Gura tensed up and stopped laughing.

"If it did, accidents like last night wouldn't happen." Ina also stopped laughing. The mood dropped significantly for a while after. Both girls just sat in silence, trying to figure out what should be said next. Gura felt bad for ruining one of the few happy moments she'd had in a long time. Maybe she shouldn't ask Ina about her idea…

"How about I help you with that?" Ina broke the silence. Gura looked at her with wide, pleading eyes.

"W-will you?" she asked shakily. She didn't want to mess this up.

"Sure, I've got nothing better to do." Ina seemed dismissive, but Gura knew that this was a big deal.

"Thank you so much!" Gura leapt at the other girl. Ina yelped with surprise when she was pulled into a very tight hug by the Atlantean. She tried to hug back after a little bit, but found herself unable to.

"U-uh, G-Gura, a little t-tight…" she wheezed out.

"Oh sorry!" Gura's grip loosened significantly and Ina could now hug back.

Their meetings would continue for a few months on the beach they'd first met at. The conversations were mostly happy, a few were sad. Gura was able to prevent herself from going Primal ever since Ina agreed to give her some food.

Over those months, the two grew closer. It was nice for both of them to have a genuine friend. They had unknowingly been wanting one for a long time.

"How long have you been a Priestess anyways?" Gura asked with a mouthful of the bitter purple slime she called food. Ina laid back onto the sand, hands behind her head.

"I don't know. Probably somewhere close to 40 years now? My memories get foggy the further I think back," answered slowly. It really did strain her mind to think back that far. Gura already suspected that amount of time, since it was how long it had been since she'd been harassed by a Priestess.

"Do you remember anything before turning?" Gura had never thought about what a Priestess' life might have looked like before they became one. It intrigued her a surprising amount. Unfortunately, Ina didn't really have an answer.

"I can't remember. AO-chan says that it's normal for a Priestess to lose their memories. Although, they normally aren't even conscious afterwards. AO-chan would take over their body and mind completely."

"That's a little scary…" Gura shivered, even though the summer heat made the beach very warm. Ina let out a curt laugh.

"Kind of, but I'm an anomaly. Not only am I conscious, but I contain them perfectly. No matter how much they hate it." Ina scratched the side of her head.

"Do they like, whisper in your head to try and make you do things?" Gura continued her questions.

"Yes, a lot." Ina sat back up and looked at Gura, "AO-chan will try to influence my actions and emotions, but they aren't very good about it. Subtlety isn't their strong suit." Ina smiled slightly. Gura smiled as well and looked up at the sky.

"So you have no memories of before? Did you learn how to speak again? Learn about the world?" Ina shook her head.

"No, I knew how to walk and talk perfectly fine. I do know that I was human before with a family, but I don't know who they were or what they looked like." Ina became sad as she spoke. It was obviously a touchy subject.

"S-sorry. I didn't mean to drag anything up…" Gura apologized. Ina waved her hand out in front of her.

"Don't worry about it. It's nice to remember that I was once human. Once normal…" Ina also looked at the sky. It had begun to dim as they sat on the sand. Beautiful streaks of purple, orange, and red swept out across the horizon. The few clouds matched the coloring, adding some depth to the image.

"Do you want to remember?" Gura asked with care.

"Yes, I do. I want to remember my parents' faces. I want to remember my friends. I want to be normal again, without these voices trying to tell me what to do!" Ina screamed out into the ocean. Her expression was strained and her breathing was fast.

"It's ok Ina," Gura said as she crawled her way over to her friend, "I wish I was normal, too. But if we were normal, we wouldn't have met each other." She wrapped her arms around Ina, who slumped against her.

"I hope we would meet, though," she said quietly.

The time soon came for Ina to leave. Gura waved goodbye like always before jumping into the sea. Her perception of time had become slower, with the days feeling longer. Especially the breaks when she couldn't see Ina. Fortunately for her, this break would be only a couple of days.

Those days went by with Gura hunting smaller fish and chilling on the rocks. She had begun to appreciate being out of the water. The air made her feel more free than in the water. It was probably also since she only ever talked to Ina out of the water.

The day came to meet again and Gura shot through the water. She would always be multiple hours early, but she didn't care. At least she wasn't late. The Atlantean perched herself on top of a nearby rock and waited patiently.

And she waited… and waited… and waited…

Until the sun set.

Until the sun rose the next day.

At some point she'd fallen asleep.

Had she miscounted the days? No, she had never done that before. If only she had one of those smartphone things that Ina sometimes carried. They weren't waterproof, though, and they cost money she obviously didn't have. Gura shook her head out of the random tangent and got back to the real problem at hand.

Where the hell was Ina?

Gura debated on going inland to try and find her, but the thought was scary. If any humans saw her, she was certainly in trouble. But what if Ina had gotten hurt? She had to find her friend and help her.

She jumped off of the rock and landed in the sand. But that was as far inland as she would go.

A sting on the back of her leg made itself apparent. Several more stinging sensations sprouted up all around her body. When she looked down to see what it was from, she saw a little dart poking out of her skin.

Shit, she'd gotten caught.

Several humans stood up from behind the trees and rocks that surrounded her. All of them held a dart gun of varying size. Gura felt her consciousness begin to slip and the feeling of her Primal instincts rose up in its place.

Well, at least it would be humans that attacked her first, not innocent people. It was a bad excuse and she knew it, but it at least was something to help her sleep the next night.

All of the humans became visibly worried and either hid back behind cover or ran away. Gura felt an evil smile creep its way along her face.

Until the distinct feeling of Ina's magic ripped across her skin. Her legs gave out from under her and she came crashing to the ground. Her body convulsed against her will, just like the first time she'd met Ina on this beach.

"I really didn't want to do that…" Her friend's voice sounded distant, but Ina stepped into her vision only a few dozen feet away.

No, what was happening? Had she been set up? Had Ina even been her friend this whole time?

"I'm so sorry, Gura…" Ina said shakily. Another girl, no woman, stepped out next to Ina. She put a hand onto the Priestess' shoulder for comfort. The woman held a long katana in her other hand.

Gura felt her Primal instincts recede back into her body. She couldn't bring herself to hurt Ina, no matter what she'd just done. Her eyes fell close as Ina and the woman approached her.

Author's Note: A betrayal! Oh no! It seems like Ina has some ulterior motives after all.

There is only ever one Priestess/Priest at any given time. It's a little weird in a grammatical sense because there are multiple over a given time frame, but one one at a time. I try to use which ever word is best at the moment. There are some other interesting points with Priestesses and identities, though.

Primal Gura is certainly not a very good person. Killing people isn't the nicest thing to do, especially when you take over someone else's body and force them to do it against their will. We will most certainly be seeing more of her soon.

Next Chapter: Captured

Any feedback/criticism is appreciated!