Chapter 45 – Heartbreak Shore

On a silken pillow and cloth with waves printed on it, Becca woke up in bed. The bedroom was bright and modern with a chandelier and a vanity and a glass door-looking out to the sea. She was wrapped in a soft blanket. She looked around in a huff. "Wait.." She said. Her eyes shot back to the door and her mind raced through the days. That night, that night she'd been sucked in. "Last night.." She blinked. "What the.." She looked up at the glass door and saw what looked like full undersea ocean across the horizon. Coral reefs, cliffsides, schools of fish and whales in the sky. "Huh.."

She turned around to see a small table next to the bed. On it, a silvery spellbook lay. She flipped through it to see numerous musical stanzas and compositions. "So this is Euphoria's book? It must've taken me here." She scratched her head, wondering where the ghostly witch could be. Slowly dawning on her was the clarity for which she could think and the comprehension she was suddenly feeling. It was a realization dawning upon her, that not only was she conscious, but her consciousness in a realm where it was not limited. She was feeling more like, a Becca and not just a stray animal or some kind of lost cat.

The door opened with a knock and Nine stood in the doorway. Becca looked up, her eyes wide. "You're a grown up! Sorta! But- how..?" The Set wasn't back to her tank-like size before her death, but she atleast was able to stand and walk on two feet like a child. It seemed whatever power she'd accessed back in Recipe World was temporary, or perhaps drained enough out of her to compress her a little.

"Hihi.. Um, I went to sleep. For a long time." The cat known as Purrin and Set named Nine said, with a sheepish giggle. "And when I woke up.. I was all grown up!" She held her paws to her belly and giggled. "And a grown up girl!" She began to flutter like a flapper. "I'm a grown up girl!"

Becca looked down. "Uh huh.." She said. "Yeah.. Um, uh.." Her heart felt a surge- an almost nostalgic feeling. "Aww, well.. Nine.. That's great. You're a.. you're a great cat." She began to pet the Set's ears and neck, making her smile and giggle.

"Hihi!" She said. "Thanks Becca." Becca smiled. "No problem."

"Hihi.. Oh, right! Becca! Did you find her?" Nine scratched her cheek. "Found who?"

"Euphoria."

"Right, yeah.." It stung Becca to realize this cat might've been more lucid and on-top of things than she was. "Well her books right here and- wait, why are we looking for her again?" She recalled Verniss's last request, to find Euphie and seek to stop the terrible blight. But on critical introspection, did any of that matter? Was the danger of the Blight so great, as to force

an indefinite time-traveling Becca and an even more matured cat-girl to seek her out? Was the time she'd spent in Recipe World so fleeting and empty that it would've already been a moot point anyways? Would it really even matter if she wasn't found and sent back?

The past few years had felt like a heavy, instinct fueled fog on her psyche and for Becca it was slowly lifting, now more of a dewy drizzle or subterfuge robbing her concentration at most. Her mind was now becoming free of the jewel inside her head and the spells of Croix and Astrid, free of its power, free of its burden. Was the Blight and everything surrounding it so much more important than the freedom of her own consciousness? Did she need to care about the Witchtress's mission? She'd learned in the course of being a cat for all these years little but how to bounce around from place to place. "Nine.." She said. "Listen. That time we spent, in that other world- what did we do there?"

"Which one?" Nine replied, her squeaky child-like voice still taking Becca by surprise. "We visited alot of places!"

"Um.." Becca tried to concentrate, but it wasn't all coming back to her yet. "The.. weird scary tunnel place, or the one with, telescopes and stars? Then the one with frogs?"

"Becca.." She said, with a deep breath. "Did you forget? You forgot?"

Becca closed her eyes and nodded. "What should we do now?" Becca asked, picking up Euphoria's Recipe Book.

Nine mused for abit, pacing back and forth before Becca picked the small Set up like a toddler. "Maybe we should try to find the book owner anyway? Euphie was spooky but also smart, am sure she can help us out."

Becca looked around. "But where do we go..?" She looked at the massive windows overlooking the city under the sea. "Is this.. the world I'm in?" She saw a strange station with a disc that looked like a showerhead right by the glass door.

Nine went to it, flicking her finger over the water, a foamy disc came down and her face changed, like the faceplate on a motorbike helmet. The plastic-y texture spread to the rest of her body in a bubbly membrane. She turned around and looked at Becca. "Oho wow, this is funny! Try this."

"W-wait-" Becca hesitated until Nine pushed her into it, the disc coming down and sealing her into the same squishy, shiny membrane, their skin looking oily and taut.

"Huh." With a sense of caution, Becca slowly opened the door and took a step outside into the water. "This must be a pretty deep ocean."

Becca, Nine and the Recipe Book waded into the city under the sea, swimming through reefs and seeing sea creatures like squid and schools of fish along the way. It was surreal to think she'd spent years traveling aimlessly, but in another dimension entirely. "Are you okay?" Nine asked her. Becca nodded. "Yeah I'm fine." Her voice sounded distorted through the water, like a warbling filter.

The ocean was a strange and quiet place to her, unlike anything she'd ever known.

Nine went out and found the strange film also not only allowed her to breathe, but walk the watery depths with ease as if it was dry land. "W-wait." Becca yelled, chasing after her as Nine went springing off one leap at a time in the deep blue. "Nine, wait!" She called out, swimming through the currents as fast as she could. She chased her all the way to the underwater city, where Nine got to the doors and Becca followed.

The undersea city was like a large temple, complete with a domed top and a massive pedestals below it leading downwards into endless dark trenches. "Nine.." Becca swam next to her. "I think we should find a way to get back to the surface world, of whereever this is." They wound their way deeper into the city, weaving through labyrinthine passages and grand halls lined with intricate mosaic floors depicting aquatic tales lost to ancient time.

At last, Nine skidded to a halt at the center of a vast, circular chamber, its ceiling domed with shifting lights, as if the sun itself were rippling through the water above. In the middle of the room was a raised dais, upon which rested a massive seashell, its Pearlescent surface glistening with unearthly beauty. Surrounding it were more symbols, each radiating an energy that seemed to brightly pulse with its own heartbeat. A figure, carrying a bag of clams seemed to take notice of them- pure blue skinned and with short wisps of hair along their darker blue bangs, a teardrop gem embedded in them. Becca, inspite of all these years recognized them right away, but the girl seemed aghast at finding someone here. Shes slowly approached, cautiously at first, but then curiously, taking Becca's hands. Lake.

The nonrecognition was a mire of surprise at first, the gem of Envy squinting, hardly able to comprehend the absurd ways that Becca had changed with her catty ears and sharp tooth fanged-grin- if it weren't for many of Becca's more extreme features reverting recently, she wouldn't be able to recognize the girl she knew at all from so long ago back. Becca's hands squeezed hers beneath the ambient lights and they paced back and forth along the dais.

The two began to waltz. It felt like everything she'd ever experienced, as if her brain and body were woven together with a hundred strands of thread, each twitch and turn of her neck a kaleidoscope. It felt new but also strange, at the same time, more than simply the feeling of being in her body, like it was an extension of herself. "Becca.." Lake said, breaking the spell, her gaze deep and profound as a watery blue. "Nine, right?" The small Set nodded. "Y-you're back.." She said, waving her hands through the water like she was a magical girl, her hair moving with the currents and her eyes glowing. Becca pulled Lake in for a hug. "It's so good to see you." She said. Lake herself felt uneasy about the embrace. Being so close to Thatti's... body. Yet clearly in the presence of what may as well have been a stranger after this long, known from events so very very long ago.

Becca and Lake pulled back, Lake’s eyes a little misty. "Yeah, right, it's so great.." She smiled. "And uh-" She hesitated.

Becca looked at her with a quizzical look. "Uh huh?"

Lake seemed troubled. "What happened? How did you get here? Why?"

"Well.. uh.." Becca struggled to explain. "So, the last thing I remembered, it was the other world connected to the Bolty- tunnel places. I was a cat. A cat but with.. well, cat intelligence. I wasn't entirely lucid that whole journey? It was really different traveling for so long, but we met lots of people."

Lake swallowed hard, looking at the Petal sea shell in the center of the dais.

"Oh my." Lake sighed, her bangs and wisps of hair moving in the currents. "The.. the shell is called... the Aperture. It's really really special. A long time ago, a man who'd been living under the sea a long time, discovered the shell on the shore, I'll just say a relative, found it and discovered when you speak into it, you find there's actually two of the same Shell. With an Aperture you can always hear the other side and be connected to whoevers listening or speaking into the other shell, but only if you hold onto it and listen closely."

"O-oh." Becca replied, examining the small pink seashell.

She paused, taking a breath. "Becca- I- Forgive me for this." She leaned in and pressed her lips into Becca's. She paused, taking a breath. "Becca- I- Forgive me for this." She leaned in and pressed her lips into Becca's.

Becca froze at first, then looked to her, surprised. "Lake..?"

Lake kissed her again. "I- Becca-." She stopped, her fingers twitching. "Sorry.. I shouldn't have-."

Becca nodded, understanding as she kissed her in return. Something resisted in her head, the same sigil. But this time, the sigil and whatever power of her enemy had resisted, was drowned out. As Becca pressed her lips into Lake’s. It was as if her heart wanted to run away with her and carry off in an oceanic romance. The feeling of two people's emotions flowing into each other, and their desire and attraction as tangible and vivid and real as the world surrounding them. The currents that coursed between the two, in the water, in the shell, in their bodies, in the emotions their love generated for one another was the strongest thing, more real than any reality she'd ever known. Known.. Know.. knowknow. No. NononononoNOno.

 

 

ΨNo.

Becca stood frozen from the synaptic vantage of the firing neurons in her brain, the reply coming from somewhere deep and within. The entity, digitalized and defiant.

How amusing. No what?

ΨThis isn't how it should be. Why is she kissing her? Obviously, because they're teenagers-

ΨThey're not teens. Neither are.

Right, drafts go so far and drift like currents don't they? Well at one point, the blueprint fit the archetypes. And this chapter in their lives would've brought their melancholy to a deep undersea romance.

ΨNo.

Yeah see that's it, that's the ticket. They just need to get to a romantic shore and hug it

out.

ΨNonononono. None of this should be happening. You're quite petulant, dictating the

emotions and fates of my host like this.

Right, but not wrong.

ΨWell now, it's quite rude. The other side of this equation shouldn't need to be so desperate. This feels so forced. Where was the romance in the early chapters? Why didn't you let me be? Because the author isn't controlling the world right now with a proper flow so much as you.

The girl in this story loves Lake, it's in her nature. Her role. Whether that character has changed or not, is hardly a pressing concern. They've known one another from such a young age and..

ΨShe's barely had time with Becca ever since she was hauled off! And how did you come up with all of this in the first place?

Oh I didn't, I'm merely attempting to stick to the script the powers above that be were too cowardly or spacious to insist upon.

ΨHow rude. I bet you have no idea how this looks. The story you've crafted, this is all

wrong!

Oh please. For a mere nascent component as yourself, to challenge my authority on this

narrative is quite arrogant. How bothersome. Ah well, let's get on with the scene. Thanks for ruining what would otherwise be a spectacularly passionate scene.

The currents intensified, surging through the room in a swirl as Becca found herself pulled between her own consciousness and a strange, resonant voice echoing through her mind. Both girls Ψgrown woman pulled apart. ΨPlatonically. The blue, watery energy in the room seemed to pulsate, as if the ocean itself held its breath. Lake stared at her, confused brow furrowed, her eyes haunted by a doubt she couldn't place. "R-Becca? Are you alright?"

Becca blinked, and a faint, iridescent shimmer coated her vision. The world around her began to blur, like a thin wet veil had been thrown over her senses, muddying her clarity. Her mind buzzed with fragmented words, thoughts tangling together as if a sea of voices whispered just beneath her consciousness. "Why did you come here?"

Lake’s voice cut through the haze, a clear note that steadied Becca's mind. She focused, grasping onto that voice like a desperate lifeline. "I, I'm here because…" The words

slipped through her fingers. Why was she here? The Godshards? Euphoria? Or was it something far more ancient, something nestled deep within her memories she was trying to uncover? "Becca…" Lake’s gaze softened, her fingers resting on Becca's face as if trying to ground her in this reality.

ΨYou've come so far. Don’t lose yourself now.

The voice was barely above a whisper, a plea as much as a reminder.

But then the whispers came back, louder this time, like the roar of waves crashing into her skull.

ΨLet go. Don't you see? This reunion, this journey, it’s a distraction. You have power and purpose beyond this mortal erotic entanglement.

Becca clenched her teeth, trying to drown out the voices. "Get out of my head," she whispered, her hand pressing to her temple. The jewel inside her skull pulsed, almost mocking her attempt to resist. Nine clung to her arm, her eyes wide. "Becca, what's wrong?" she asked, voice quivering.

Becca forced herself to smile. "It's… nothing, Nine. Just… a headache." She gently patted Nine's hand, though her own fingers trembled. Lake came close to check. "That jewel, that's-" She put one hand on Becca, who lost control and flayed a cut of her cheek in an aggressive reflex, causing Lake to scream as the blood poured out. The claws sunk in deep, scraping against her forehead in a dragging, flesh-tearing motion of disfiguration. The scar left was trifling compared to the waves Lake created with her instinctive push, currents underwater crashing into Becca with mounted treasure and collapsing the pillars and temple, sending Becca flying all the way until she smacked into the top of the dome, cracking it.

"Oh my g- you… bitch!" Lake screamed, her eyes wide, a few clams scattered from the impact along the floor. Becca's head spun, her consciousness barely lucid. "Let's… let's get out of here." She said, her voice hoarse, Nine soon swimming up. The two panicked and began to swim away as fast as they could, Lake furious with the new forehead marking Becca had gifted her in her accidental lapse of control.

As she swam away from Lake’s wrath, she turned, her half-Set body slowly healing from its impact, and she saw the figure of Lake figure glide, chasing her out of the underwater city.

Lake’s image flashed a few times in Becca's vision, becoming another woman's with each hallucination. She was a suddenly pale alabaster, with a long white-grey braid of hair atop her head, wearing a short, diaphanous gown of shimmering pastel white. Something about her look familiar to Becca- but at the same time foreign and uncanny. "Ah, welcome back my love.

Please don't try to come down here to meet your end again." The voice came in a gentle, sibilant tone.

"What?" Becca asked, nearly reaching the surface. The illusion ended in her mind. "I said- GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE." Lake screamed.

Becca paused in mid-stroke, as Lake attacked the two and created a watery jet which not only shot them to the surface but far far into the sky, rocketing them to the nearest isle nearby and causing both to tumble along the sands. They got up gasping for air and breathing the salty ocean air, they found themselves on a rocky isle.

 

 

An hour passed, on the shore they found a nearby beachhouse. "Here we go." Becca panted. She was exhausted and her mind was aching from strain and thought. Ahead in the beach house she had to walk up a few flights of stairs, wade through a deep pool and walk on a ledge before she found the house. There was a huge window right in the middle of it, looking out to a huge reef below. A single candle flickered on a table, a chair was sitting by it. The Recipe Book found its way into her hands and she held it up to the light, flipping through its pages to find Euphoria's pictures- some of which, looked oddly familiar. One of the photos in the spellbook included-

"LAPIS?!"

"Hi.." The gem said, still sullen and sulking as she began walking to an empty beach chair in front of the flickering flame.

Becca blinked. "Wh-wait, what?"

Lake walked over to the spellbook on the table and closed it, taking the photo from Becca's hand. "Haven't you heard not to steal things from others?" Lake asked.

Becca huffed. "Where'd you get that book, Kaz?" Saying that name brought a tidal wave of memories back to her. The old fights, the schoolyard contests in Xi, the Con they went to, the beach day with Caleb. That all felt like lifetimes ago for her now.

"I stole it." Lake stuck out her tongue.

"You mean.. you.. stole it from-" Becca's voice had a quiver in it.

"It doesn't matter who I stole it from. What are you doing here?" Lake Lazuli Kazan- Sung asked. Pervious herself, the last person she expected to see after this long.

"I.." Becca began. "I'm just.. uh.. trying to find Euphoria." Becca asked, happy to no longer be underwater, but feeling like Lake was abit of a wet blanket.

"How do you know that name?" Lake said angrily. She looked up at her, her glowing eyes widening, her heart rate going up and down as if she'd been punched.

"I'm.. sorry.. is that person.. your friend?" Becca sighed.

"Euphoria? Why are you looking for her?" Lake asked, putting the photo down and grabbing Becca by the throat. "Who even are you anymore? What're you doing here?"

Slowly, Lake let go, struggling to calm her visceral nerves. Becca gasped as she went to the couch and held her neck, still feeling the after touch Lake’s tight grip.

Lake sat down on the couch.

Becca scooted to make room and took a seat on the other side.

"What else? There's a civil war going on, both here and in Xi. I fled here to hide out from the war, and now you're here."

"W-Wait.." Becca stopped her, getting a better grasp on her emotions. "There's really a war..? Why?" Lake explained and flipped her phone to show the pictures of the war in Xi, the devastation, the fighting and the bodies. "I.."

"The war's your fault, that's why. You're why Orchid fell and Xi is under attack." Becca was silent. "But.. it.. can't be.."

"It is." Lake explained. "You failed to stop Goliath all those years back. And you kidnapped the Xistress leading to chaos."

The mention of that name- Goliath, it stung her. "How the hell could I have stopped Goliath? Be realistic." She asked. "He was fuckstrong at the time and had a whole army behind him. I lost an arm, I lost Thatti.. I didn't have any choice, so after I escaped jail I just, wanted to run as far away as possible."

The gem of envy nodded. "Well, that makes two of us. I cannot say I don't blame you- Because I do. But, I've let a lot of shit go these past few years, let a lot of bad shit in, let a lot of bad shit out."

Becca looked up at the pictures. "I'm so sorry.."

"For what? What good is an apology when you didn't do anything to change it?" "..uh huh.. I should've tried harder. Tried to see the bigger picture and.. stop it."

"Well, what's done is done and you're here. So, what are you doing now?" Lake asked.

"I'm trying to.." Becca trailed off and got a sense of dread from how everything felt so vague. "..Find my friend." She began to explain, flipping through Euphoria's Recipe Book. "Euphoria made me her familiar, or somefuck. I was catty and delirious out of my mind and not really myself but, its slowly starting to come back. So can you please tell me why you have her book?"

Lake folded her arms. "That's none of your goddamn business."

Becca gave her stinging look, as if she was finally pent up and acquainted with frustration again after all these years. "Are you alright?"

She asked. "It's none of your business."

"Alright.. Euphoria's book.. how'd you get it?" "I stole it from her." Lake glared.

Becca blinked. "You told me that already. Why?"

"I stole it as a gift to myself." Lake said, looking back into the Recipe Book.

"Okay.." Becca looked back through the pages, finding one or two pictures of a woman, a grown woman. She could feel the memory slowly begin to unfurl again. A woman whose face looked vaguely familiar, a woman with a blonde-white hair fringe and a long, elegant white cape around her neck and shiny armor, that she swore she'd seen before at some point. "Is this Euphoria?"

"Aren't you supposed to know?" Lake asked. "You said were her.. familiar."

"I'm.. trying to. But, she looked different. She wasn't a grown woman when I met her."

Becca frowned. "I think the Recipe Book turned her young and small. Why's she grown up now?"

Lake shrugged.

They heard the sound of pots and pans falling from the kitchen, Nine crawling along the pantries and tabletops making a mess of things.

"I already told you why I stole Euphoria's book. You don't get to just showup in my pent house and interrogate me after all these years. And now you're leaving."

Becca blinked. "Wait, what?"

"Like I said, you are leaving." Lake said, sitting on the edge of the table. "You're no longer welcome here."

"I.. what? Why?" Becca said. "What have I even done?"

Nine started peeing on the carpet, blowing a small puff of fire from her catty lips. "UGGHH. Get out!" Lake screamed.

"But I-"

"I've had enough of your shit! You're the one who made my home a warzone-" Lake screamed. "And take your stupid pet with you!"

Lake grabbed the spellbook, Nine scratching at her leg and hissing protectively but failing to make any impact. "Please, Kaz!"

"I'm done with you! This isn't a charity here." Lake said.

Slowly Becca got up from the couch, picking up Nine and comforting her.

"Lake Kazan Sung.." "WHAT!?" Lake shouted.

"Look, I'm done. I'm going to try to stop the world's war too!" Becca shouted back. "Look, I'm going to find Euphoria, and the godshards, and I'm going to undo everything I did, I'm going to undo everything bad that's happened in the last few years, and I'm going to fix this."

Lake was fuming, her eyes narrowed and her heart beating with a low but menacing thud. "Fuck you, Becca."

"Yeah fuck you too." Becca said, looking back at Nine, whose face was all scrunched up like a tiny furious frown. "We're outta here."

 

 

They slowly left the beachhouse and slowed down on the sands. It was a relief to be out of that house, but as she was leaving Becca felt a sense of emptiness. The water of the ocean felt alien and the air tasted of salt. "But what am I supposed to do..?" She asked herself, as the shoreline gave way to the reflection of eerie lights in the sea. She squinted, then looked up towards the sky where brighter, menacing shapes casting down. "Becca. There's a ship coming.." Nine said. "See?"

"Lots of ships." Becca eyed the warships slowly coming into the atmosphere. Slowly Kaz looked out her perch, seeing the encroaching armada.

"Lake..?" The gem turned to the ocean, her body glowing brighter and brighter, and began to float upwards. Becca saw her slowly fly out with watery wings, the way she levitated giving her a sense of Déjà vu.

It was at this point that Becca realized that the warships, were headed towards the beach house.

"Dammit.." Becca bit her lips. The ships, based on the designs were Orchid's, belonging to the Boy's Liberation Army. They'd come for them.

"Hey.. what do we do?" Nine asked. "I don't know."

"We can't swim back to the underwater city." Nine said.

"No, we don't have the diving film like we did before." She said.

The gem of envy took out a single artifact- A godshard, a lone piece of Thatti she could cherish. It's power integrated into her arm causing her a golden afterglow. Lake’s glowing eyes flickered around the coastline, the warships drawing nearer and nearer. Her body glowed ever brighter and stronger, like the wings she grew. She held up the spellbook in her hand, looking at the pictures inside.

Looking, seeing pictures of Euphoria.

She'd lost her temper. She'd been on edge and pent up for the past few years. She'd had enough of everyone. She'd had enough of life. She'd had enough of herself. She'd been trying to run away from all the madness for how long, and pushing her to her limit was doing her mental health no favors. Lake raised both her hands out and looked at the warships, the warships that would've slaughtered the women of the orchid for their transgression, for their sins, if they'd had gotten a hold of them. Lake had a lifetime being told about sin and redemption already, she wasn't about to start listening now.

Under Kaz's direction the waves started to funnel upwards, becoming mounds and hills of liquid, which elevated rather exponentially until they became watery mountains.

She sighed and said a silent prayer, her soul like a roar and her voice carrying to the warships above.

"You're going to stop me, are you?" She said. "You're going to try to kill me?" The ocean tilted from the entire planet, locked and loaded into the sky. She bit her tongue. "FUCKING TRY IT." The ocean mountains turned a bright shade of luminous yellow, sheathed in electricity and fissured like a storm of lightning in the sky. The warships and their commanders were now surrounded by an impenetrable dome of water and light. The sea became so bright it blinded the soldiers who tried to look up to see what'd happened. They were slowly descending into the planet's atmosphere one moment, and the next ocean waves hundreds of miles high had completely enclosed them in all directions.

Kazan Sung, floating high in the air with her hair whipping in the wind, felt herself begin to float higher, higher up. She screamed with all her might, the words-

"POSEIDON OVERCAST!"- sounding over the warships below like a bellowing thunderclap. With a downwards chop of her hand, the sea in the sky collapsed and crashed the entire series of warships with them directly into the sea, destroying the invading fleet of thousands with a single endless wave.

The ocean had spoken, and it had spoken in blood and thunder, the water of the world having finally had enough of the war.

Lake Kazan-Sung sat upon a high mountain peak, her skin a vibrant yellow-orange, her skin covered in an afterglow. She took out the Godshard and pocketed it away, the glow fading back to a melancholy of blue like a mourning chameleon. She sighed, her voice like a sigh and the ocean around her slowly dissipated in a cloud of spray, leaving behind a single ocean mound, and the ships, and the drowning men underneath.

Becca climbed uptop the mountain ten minutes later, with Nine on her back. She closed her eyes. "FUCK ME.."

That night, Becca and Nine rubbed their hands by a warm fire lit on the beach, Lake scowling as she looked over the two in plain view from her porch, the fire kindling right on the sands below. The two waited for a moment, then turned to each other and looked around. "Do you think Lake will kill us if we stay the night?" Becca asked.

"I'm sure she would, but.." Nine thought.

Becca mused as she pulled a blanket over herself and Nine.

They spent the night by the fire, the sound of waves crashing against the sands as they dozed off to sleep, their minds aplenty with wonders about the world beyond the seas that separated them.

Becca kept looking to the moon and back to Nine, looking for that familiar face she'd seen a hundred times already in those last few years. But no matter how much she looked, that face couldn't be found- Nine felt like a different person in the moment, the jaded warrior flying at midnight to strike down her foes nowhere present in her current tiny form.

The two waited patiently for the morning light, listening to the waves as the tide went out and the dawn's first light peeked over the waves.

Becca stood up from the sands, holding Nine tightly by her waist as she looked around the beach. She looked up and saw the sky, then down to the ocean, then back at Nine. "I've got a way to get us home."

Becca picked up Nine and looked over her shoulder at Lake. "Are you ready to tell me the truth about Euphoria's book?"

Lake shook her head, sitting up on the couch in the penthouse. "I don't want to talk to

you."

 

 

"Why?"

"Because I hate you."

She picked up the book, looking back through its pages. "I need to fix this." "Fix what?" Lake said.

"This. Everything with Goliath, whatever the hells going on with Xi right now." She put out

her fist, as if trying to project confidence.

"What the fuck does it matter?" Lake screamed. "Why the fuck are you here?" Becca shrugged. "I just.. I guess I'm bored of running away." She smiled. "And I'm..

sorry about what happened. To Thatti, and you."

Lake was silent.

Becca looked back at her. "Look, I'm going to go find Euphoria and the godshards, and I'm going to undo everything." She sighed, her heart sinking. "Everything."

"Whatever." Lake said. "I gave up on all that a long time ago. You're just one person, how do you expect to fix the whole world?" She raised a brow.

"By trying! Duh, no shit." Becca put both her hands on her hips. "All the other sins, where are they anyway?"

Lake turned a page, trying to avert her gaze. "Last I heard, trying to do the same thing that you are- playing at being a hero."

Becca sighed and shook her head.

"Please tell me what I have to do to make this right." Becca asked, hoping for some sense of security in Kazan's watery gaze.

Lake scoffed, looking down at the table. She looked up with eyes that were glassy like a broken mirror, and in Becca's reflection within them Becca swore she could see the figurative cracks in her ego, like traumatic scars to the long struggles she'd endured.

"There is no such thing as doing the right thing." Lake said.

Becca frowned, her heart beating with a low but ominous thud. "What?"

"The world doesn't stop because you're too busy looking at yourself in a fucking mirror and thinking you're going to fix it. The world is going to keep on spinning and shit's going to keep on fucking happening. All you can do is just find a corner, find your peace and get on with life." She gave her a shrug. "You can do what you want but the world's not going to listen. No one ever does."

Slowly, Becca bit her lips, hearing a million footsteps running at the heels of her actions, of all the people she'd hurt and all the suffering she'd put on to them. She'd taken everything she could to get on with life, to the point of living in denial about what darkness and depth of hurt could lie outside herself. "So you don't want to help me stop Goliath or liberate Orchid? That's fine. But I'm sure you do want me off your isle right." Becca scooped some sand in her palm, gave it a squeeze and let it shift through her fist like an hourglass. "So how do I get out of here? I'm going to find Euphoria, then the other Gems after and try to figure something out."

Lake was silent for a moment. The sound of cicadas began chirping and the wind howled.

"The world's changed. It's not like when we were kids." Lake said. "Do you know how long you were gone?"

"..and you haven't either." Becca said. "I don't, but who cares."

"Yeah, I have. I'm not the same person I was back then." Lake said, her voice wavering. She began to levitate watery strands around herself, then arranged them like a harp and played a melody with her fingers carefully stroking across them. "Look, I have a friend coming back to this world in a few days tops. They're constantly getting supplies, checking the status of the war and making sure the liberation's moving in the right direction. I've got my own thing to worry about. I'm on a path too, trying to get some semblance of peace. I'm not going to waste my time anymore and deal with someone as ungrateful as you."

 

 

Becca nodded. "Fair enough. I'm going to go, then."

"When she gets back here, she'll take you on a ride to a hidden warp-point where you can return to Xi. I'm not going to help you."

Becca turned to look back at her. "Please tell me her name." Lake didn't respond to that.

The Gem of Envy turned to face her, her greenish-blue eyes a glow in the dark, a glowing livid like an abyss. "You're out of here the moment she touches down and returns, kapeesh?" Lake turned to look back at her once more, the watery strands flowing around her like a storm.

"Fine. Thank you for the help." Becca replied, with a hint of sarcasm. Lake caught the tone and folded her arms, sneering. "Why do you want to save the world so much anyway? Is it just to get revenge, or do you really care?"

Becca looked at the sands, hoping their ancient secrets could speak her answers for her. When they failed to reply back or to settle her aching mind, she felt relief. "I don't know. I was trying to run away from it, it's not a pleasant place. But the world's in the middle of a war, and I'm pretty much the worst person in the world, so... I think what I really want is to discover for myself that I don't matter. Yeah, that'd be great."

The gem raised a brow. "That you, don't matter? What? Why exactly?"

The two met eyes again. "There's a lot I'm trying to get over. There's a lot of people I've hurt. It's a lot of shit. Matter kind of has a gravity to it, y'know? If I had some grand destiny or purpose, if someone thought I mattered.. then everything in all the worlds would be sucked into my orbit, and I'd be responsible for that. Me. I used to be mercenary Lake, I'd kill for a paycheck. I spent the last couple years doing fuckall with my mind prettymuch gone. So it's best if the world doesn't matter. Then the people in it don't matter. Then the choices I make don't matter, and I don't matter. It's all just kind of.. meh. That way, anything good I do can come from myself, and anything bad that I cause doesn't have ripples. You know?"

Becca smiled. "It's a bit of a shame though, because at the end of the day, I'm still a narcissist who wants to be important and make a difference and that can't be helped. That's just.. how I am, no matter how hard I try to avoid it. Maybe me and Goliath are abit alike.. see how much he mattered? And how many people got hurt from it? How his big grandiose bullshit

has made everyone suffer? My hope is that, if I can take him down a peg and show him I don't matter either, that'll help."

Lake held back a laugh. "Is that what you're trying to do? Is that your big 'fuck you'?"

Becca nodded. "More or less. Yeah." She scratched her head. "It's nihilistic but, kind of freeing? Freedom for me.. would not being told I'm some sort of chosen hero or hand picked god to do the right thing, or the wrong thing. My life feels better without all the baggage. All the shit. If I matter, everything I do matters. And I'd rather the world just went on with it, without me."

Lake mused, her expression flat. "So your reason for carrying on and fighting is, cowardice?"

Becca nodded. "Yeah. I think maybe if I just, give up fate has a funny way of coming and finding me. If I do my duties first, I can be safely left alone and leave fate out of it."

Lake shook her head. "You need to understand something, you know? There is no such thing as not mattering, even if you disappear off this planet and the next. You're still important to someone, always. And because you're important, everything you do matters. You're wrong about that."

"Yeah? Who do I matter to?" Becca asked.

The gem rolled her eyes and slid her palm across her face. "Do you know for how long or how many times Diane has been calling me, trying to reach you? Asking if I've sighted you or can help her search for you?"

Becca shook her head and shrugged. "She has? Ugh, gross. I guess I'm pretty much fucked then."

She paced back and forth, her expression flat and pale, like an emotional limp-she was trying her best to remain stoic and strong and it was showing. "I guess I matters. Fuck.."

"Take it up with her when you get back." Lake finally told her, letting the watery harp splash into the ocean, its form and content returning to the waves. "Look I'm tired, You want to stop Goliath again, fine. Just leave me be." She boiled a single teardrop scooped from her eye and dropped it on the fire like hot oil, letting it rise higher. Then she turned around and headed back inside.

Slowly, Becca picked up Nine in her arms, she looked back at the two sands and the watery strands, and the dappled lights of the ship that laid in the waves below. The world had seemed like a place full of danger, a place full of the promise and excitement of her wild, violent youth. All she could think about in the moment was a thousand futures she had to face, every decision she had to make, a thousand other sins to commit or sins to commit. The world was a cruel place, a place that had a life of its own. But there was a small part of it that had her name written on it. A small piece of it that belonged to her. There was something in her heart telling her that she belonged there. Becca bit her lip, feeling her heart beating with a low but anxious thud.

The next few days passed uneventfully, lil Nine and Becca making a grass hut outside the beach house and catching fish. The only time they'd see Lake at all was when she came out on her porch at night and leaned out to observe the stars. Becca and Nine spent those next few days and nights exploring the island, fishing and sleeping in each other's arms, looking out at the celestial sky of Orchid and waiting for time to pass.

After about 5 days, a magenta pink spacecraft entered the atmosphere over the sea. Aside from the bright cyan halo luminescent as it met its reflection down on the ocean, it resembled a log of coral with twisted fins and jets, rows of oversized sharp metal teeth in front shaped as if it were a giant, living, breathing and flying shark of the sea. It entered the atmosphere with a deep breath, then dived down and plowed into the water. Becca looked out confused as it submerged into the ocean. She looked back to Nine, who was looking down with her eyes as wide as moons. The sound of whale calls came up from the waters, watery waves rising and cascading from the ocean with the spacecraft's wake as it dove deeper and deeper, sinking down and disappearing completely. All was still.

Slowly a figure emerged out of the depths and breached the surface, a woman wearing a pastel-pink bodysuit, smooth bright white Petals like mini-moons along her neck and arms, and a silver crown. When she began to glide on the ocean towards the sure, Becca squinted, didn't recognize her. Hadn't she seen this woman before, a long time ago? She had an expression of pure delight, a genuine smile that was both a little too bright to see and a little too wide to fit.

The smile set Becca off- this was that crazed sea witch from years ago. "YOU!" She shouted.

Becca instinctively retracted her claws and started to stab the water, her nobility phantom creating spirals in the water which twisted downwards in one direction, then reversed course at accelerated trajectories until they went from a whirlpool to a geyser, cannoning at the woman. She dived down and dodged it, swiftly swimming down, leaving the water blast splashing behind her like a missed artillery shell, then speedy moments later leapt out of the water onto the shore. She stood up with a grin and walked past Nine, who scurried out of the way, towards the beach house. Becca's first thought upon seeing her was that this lady was the enemy from before, and was back to steal the Godshard that Lake possessed.

Then she thought about it some more, and realized there was no way for her to know who she was now. She'd been gone years. Years where anything was possible. She thought maybe she'd turned a new leaf in those years and had decided to come back to Orchid to make amends with Lake. Then she thought about it even more and realized that was still a pretty farfetched theory and attacked her, retractable clawed fingertips reaching for the figure like a striped tiger on the savanna. The women took out her golden two-pronged bi-dent and parried Becca with a dashing spin of her weapon, throwing her backwards.

Becca landed with a splash, her head landing in the sand. She got back up, her heart beating in a wild rhythm, looking back at the crazed sea witch with both her eyebrows raised and claws bared. She stood up, then the figure began to spin her bident, dancing with grace as she parried Becca's clawed strikes. She leapt over Becca's and did an acrobatic backflip, then kicked her feet into her chest and made a 360 degree spin clockwise spinning perpendicular to

the ground, rotating like a carousel and then twisting her golden weapon like a staff in the air to throw Becca back. Becca stumbled, her heartbeat thumping and her brain fogged from the excitement, the woman grinning like a lunatic. As Becca watched her spin, she saw the water around the woman began to slowly levitate her upwards and carry her on high, as if she was carried by a typhoon she'd created.

 

 

 

them.

"Who's this? You dare challenge me, you little brat!" She crackled, looking down upon

 

 

Becca and the kid Nine looked at each other, than readied their fists. "You don't remember me?" Becca winced. "Must be the cat ears."

"I know your face from somewhere, but I'm too busy for name games. I've got my own

problems to worry about! Now time for a little shipwreck!" As her spinning watery pinnacle beneath her expanded at accelerating speeds, the two readied for the worst.

"W-WAAAAAAAAAAAIT!" Lapis' voice yelled from the beach house. She darted past the two and stood in front of them like a bodyguard, hands folded in front of her chest, looking to and fro between the water-rising witch and the kids. "What are you doing?!" The spinning watery pinwheel at the witch's command slowed down, until it had a full stop and levitated her into the air high above them at a slower calmed pace, like a golden statue meant to be worshiped by the winds. The witch's face slowly went from a manic to a thoughtful expression, and her gills narrowed in concentration. "..Ah, there you are Lake." She slowly levitated downwards. "I was just apprehending these assassins!"

Lake shook her head. "Iris, they're-" She hesitated to say a certain word and then again to find the right one. "Guests. They're guests here."

Iris frowned. "Why?"

"That's for me to say." Lake spoke sharply.

The sea witch stared at her face, her expression blank. She looked back at Becca, then nodded to Nine. "Oh, I think I remember you. You were that kid with the cyan hair who stole my family's royal Gem- I mean, the God Shard. How are things?"

Becca slowly scratched her head and shook it, turning to Lake. "Ugh.. You know her?" Lake looked between the two girls. "Becca.. this is Wave Mistress. Or princess

Irishoals as she's known back with her people. Iris is, a friend of mine."

"Well," Iris began, looking between Becca and Lake. "You two are old friends too, I'm sure." She looked back at the children. "Looks like you got a lot of bad blood to patch up!"

Becca snickered. "I mean, trust me I've been trying! She's the one that hates me for no reason now." She looked up to Wave Mistress, her gleaming rubbery suit slick with the brine

water slipping down her busty curves. "How are you too chooms? No offense." She said, making the first polite gesture by winking at her.

The Mistress shrugged. "She saved my life. I saved hers a few times, we had a lot of history over the years And you?"

Becca shrugged. "I got her crush.." She looked at Lake, who gave her the stare of death. "Disassembled. And my old friend sort of took over her entire galaxy, or is trying to. What're you doing here anyway?"

"Ah ha! It's funny you should ask that, my tale begins on beyond the realms of Xi! For you see-"

"She's from a far away galaxy where her mother was killed, her sister sided with the murderer and she became an exiled Princess. A fair distance from Xi if I recall.." She looked at the pint-sized Nine. "And the Luminary galaxy aswell." Lake smiled, though not with much humor or mirth. Nine observed Wave Mistress with a scowl. "You're- a Caldari!" She sneered. "An enemy of my people."

Wave Mistress's eyes glazed as her expression went flat and empty. "Set and Caldari go back a long ways, it's true. Who might you be?"

Nine scoffed. "Akura-unit 778519, ever heard of me?"

The watery woman nearly burst into tears. "You? An Akura unit?" She leaned down for emphasis, hand measuring the Set's height. "Is that some kind of joke? Hahahaha.." She put a hand on her stomach, the laughter going on and on.

Nine was visibly annoyed. "Actually, I was so dangerous they kicked me out of the Akura project. I was exiled in an Xi prison, until Becca broke me out!"

"Oh, sorry you need to be rescued from the kitty cubby?" Irishoals was tearing up.

Lake began to roll her eyes at this charade, then looked back at Iris. "Becca, Nine, get back on the ship with her. Iris you need to drop them back into Xi, and dump them..whereever I guess." Iris shrugged. "Alright, I suppose." She looked at Becca.

"Look, if you want to, I can teach you how to fight like the goddess you are! I bet you haven't fought like a warrior in a long time and we can get you back up to scratch!"

Becca smiled. "I think I already know how to fight." She balled up the prosthetic Entrapta made her into a fist, the curvy spirals of her Nobility Phantom beginning to glow.

“And I picked a few tricks along my travels."