Ainōryoku Sentai Nightmærangers #35 (Patreon)

Waterborne, Part 2

No…

No…

Please, no…

Willy shook her cousin awake. She felt cold from the water, but didn't care. She could fix it later. "Tammy," she said, speaking in her normal speaking register, "wake up. You're sleeping on the sidewalk. Please wake up." She glanced about, saw Tammy's fallen bag on the ground and reached for it, opening the side pocket with Tammy's phone. It asked for the security code, but had Tammy told her what that was long ago in case of emergencies, and this was an emergency. As rain dripped on the screen, she opened the music app and selected a song, its title in Japanese. Willy played it and set the volume at maximum to be heard over the rain, holding the little device next to Tammy's head as the sound of an impact came from the road to her left, followed by breaks, skidding, and horns as strange, wordless song continued to resound from somewhere a little ways down the street.  Something hit the curb not far from her, and there was a scraping sound of rubber and metal on cement.

Willy ignored the unimportant noises as she waited for her cousin to rouse to the song she used as a morning alarm. Water continued to rain down on the phone, but the factory seals were still tight, and she claimed the droplets by touching them, making sure they did not creep into the innards of the device.

She waited patiently for her cousin to stir. For the mass that was Tammy's head to creak and part as she roused…

The rain fell down harder, the waters becoming turbulent with spouts of steams erupting even as chips of ice started to coalesce, and more sounds of impact and horns resounded, but Willy didn't care, focusing on Tammy, waiting for her to wake up…

The song ended. Tammy remained still and unmoving, save for fresh stalks breaking through her bark and roots spreading. There was no warmth in the waters.

No… No… Please, no…

Willy shook her cousin again. She was starting to shiver from the cold, so she claimed the water and turned it to steam, the heat suffusing her before more rain washed it away. She didn't care. "Tammy," she said, more urgently. She tried to stay calm, because Tammy had told her good girls shouldn't throw tantrums if they didn’t get what they wanted. "Tammy, wake up. You're sleeping on the sidewalk, and we're going to be late. Please wake up."

There was another impact and the sound of crumpling metal not ten feet to her left. Willy glanced towards it in concern, in case it was something that threatened Tammy. A jeepney that had gone on the sidewalk and slammed into the wall in front the street had been struck from behind by another jeepney, half off the sidewalk at a drunken diagonal, the engine sputtering to a stop. Inside, people lay still and unmoving, getting wet from the open windows on the sides since the rain covers hadn't been unrolled yet. They were dangerously close, Willy realized. A few more feet to the right and they'd have run over Tammy.

She turned back to her cousin, shaking her cousin almost roughly, trying to get her to wake up. "Tammy, we need to move," she said. "We're on the sidewalk, and people are driving badly." As if to agree with her, there was the sound of another crash, followed by more horns sounding.

Tammy still wouldn't wake up.

Willy could feel her waters growing cold, feel the pebbles of ice starting to float on her surface. Tammy wouldn't wake up and she wasn't safe here on the sidewalk. She grabbed Tammy's bag and put the phone back in its pocket, zipping it up to keep water out and slinging it over her shoulder next to her own. Then she squatted down, legs bent and back straight since Tammy had told her she should left with her legs, not her back, or else she'd injure herself. It was an awkward way to lift anything, but she did as Tammy had told her, taking hold of Tammy's shoulder and straightening her own to lift them up.

There was resistance, the meager roots spreading from Tammy's body having found some purchase, but they were fresh and weak, and one by one they popped off, letting her lift up Tammy's torso and begin dragging her towards their destination. Her cousin dragged along the sidewalk, her shoes dragging across the wet ground.

Fortunately, Tammy hadn't become a hardwood, and Willy managed to drag her down the sidewalk. The rain was so thick she could only see a short way ahead of her. As she walked, she saw other people just sleeping on the ground, but fortunately there were only a few of them in her way until Kim's house. It would have been far easier to just drag Tammy over them, but Tammy would have disapproved of that. Willy had learned she should avoid people rather than going through them, no matter how stupid they were and how inefficient it was. It was how Tammy wanted things done.

Tammy was unwieldy to drag, but Willy persevered, moving closer and closer to the front gate of Kim's house. Traffic was coming to a stop on the road as jeepneys crashed into the center island or into other vehicles, motorcycles riders unbalanced and slammed onto the road, and people who left their cars to try to help suddenly swayed and crumpled to the ground, unconscious and slowly getting soaked. Willy ignored all these unimportant things as the water within her slowly grew more and more tranquil, even as what little turbulence there was grew more and more cold slush and blocks of ice.

The strange singing grew louder as they approached the gate. Willy raised a hand to knock on it, and her first knock made the gate swing inward slightly. Unlocked. She pushed it in the rest of the way.

On the walkway leading to the front door of Kim's house was a bright flame that vibrated in time to the sounds, burning on top of a pile of clothes, black sand and glowing veins of lava. Next to it, pink—no, wait, that shade was magenta—magenta rock was slowly spreading out from another pile of clothes, twisting columns rising up in strange eye-twisting shapes from the base, around which the world seem warped. The rain did nothing to glowing plasma, and while the lava steamed, it didn't grow any paler, simply sizzling.

A little farther down the walkway, someone was lying face down on the ground, their clothes soaked, a discarded umbrella being rolled around by the wind and rain next to them. The turbulence on the water told her there were people awake in the house, and they filled the water with slush and boiling geysers that spewed chips of ice. While the magenta rock was mostly still, barely causing any turbulence, the plasma roiled with heat, currents, bubbles and ice that cracked and shattered and flashed into steam.

Willy looked around, then dragged Tammy inside, careful to move her away from the plasma so that her cousin wouldn't catch on fire. She gently lay Tammy down on the grass in the middle of the lawn some distance from the two, then turned around and went back to close the gate, sliding the bolt into place.

It was obvious who the magenta rock formation and the singing plasma—it was song rather than music, even if the words made no sense—were, but Willy's focus was on Tammy. By the time she'd come back from closing the gate, Tammy had rooted again. She ignored that, shaking Tammy again to wake her up. Her neck and head had turned to wood, and it was harder to shake her. Her whole body rocked back and forth, and she still wouldn't wake up…

"Tammy, wake up," she said, raising her voice slightly so Tammy could hear her over the rain and the singing. "You're rooting onto the ground, Tammy. Please wake up." She shook her cousin harder, her hands slipping on the bark. Her face was gone as more and more branches grew, as the roots dug into the comparatively soft, wet mud. The roots didn't try to dig into Willy with all the water from the rain, but as she shook Tammy, thorns started to grow, and Willy instinctively drew back her hand when she felt the pricks on her palm.

Willy didn't let that deter her. Her hand became ice, losing feeling in that appendage. Rainwater started freezing on contact with it, and she continued shaking Tammy. She would normally need to be careful, since without tactile sensation in that hand it was too easy to apply too much pressure, but wood was sturdy enough that she couldn't really cause compression damage to it with her grip. She continued shaking her cousin, causing water to fall off her leaves and making the little flowers that were slowly fattening into fruits to sway sideways. Willy waited for her cousin to rouse in the midst of the sounds of rain and that strange song. Water continued to deluge down on her, but she no longer felt the cold. She had changed her core to water, and temperature didn't matter. Only Tammy mattered…

She waited patient for her cousin to stir. For the growing tangle of branches that was Tammy's head to creak and part as she roused…

The branches grew, the leaves unfurled, the fruits—yellow mangos—ripened obscenely large, straining at their stems.

Tammy remained cold and still.

The warmth was gone.

No…

No…

Please, no…

Willy kept shaking her cousin, but she would not wake…

No…

No…

No…

No…

She shuddered, and there was only cold emptiness within her. Emptiness that she'd thought had been filled.

I think you're a good girl, Willy. I like being with you.

She remembered warmth…

Tammy…

Tammy would have…

Tammy would have told her…

Tammy would have told her to be patient… That's what Tammy said a good girl would do…

She didn't want to.

She wanted Tammy to wake up…

But…

Eyes wet, she tugged on Tammy, but she was rooted firmly now. The lawn provided better purchase than the wet sidewalk, and already the roots were growing thicker…

She considered cutting off the roots and branches, but that had already proven to be ineffective at curtailing Tammy's growth when she was unconscious, or with waking her up. She didn't really feel it when they were cut when she was asleep, as they had found out when all this began. And she was asleep. She had to be.

If she wasn't…

If she wasn't…

No, she was still growing. That meant she was metabolizing, and that meant she was alive. She was just sleeping, and she wouldn't wake up…

Should she just wait? Tammy always woke up, eventually, even on the days when she ignored her alarm and just rolled over in bed. but she also always woke up when Willy woke her up. If she didn't wake up when Willy tried to wake her… would she wake up at all?

She watched a branch lengthen, leaves spreading, darkening as they matured, fluttering and bouncing as they caught rain water and guided it down the bark…

Slowly, she looked up at the sky, and remembered her mind being dragged down, her thoughts slowing, eyes not wanting to open…

Willy held out a hand, catching and rain, and with each drop she felt it. Tainted slime upon the waters, thick and viscous and disgustingly warm… and all through it, bubbles, filled not with air but emptiness, a void that wanted to be filled, demanded to be filled…

And with each, drop, deep within, she felt the coward sinking deeper and deeper into the depths, hiding deeper than it ever could before, its waters still and unmoving… sleeping.

It slept… and she didn't.

Slowly, Willy turned around. The black sand, lava and plasma continued to dance and sing, its water bubbling and swirling energetically, but there was no hint of the familiar iceberg, packed tight and restrained. The magenta also lacked the familiar random whirls and eddies and bursting bubbles. Instead, there were only sharp ice cubes sliding against each other, merging and forming shapes, before collapsing and starting over again, the waters barely moving as the ice followed sharp planes and angles. No warmth, but it was oddly resonant…

The body face-down on the ground was completely still. There was nothing marring the mirror-flat surface of its waters, not even little changes under the surface. It might as well have been dead, save for the subtle movements as it breathed.

Willy hesitated, glancing towards Tammy, not wanting to leave her… but Tammy had always said they shouldn't be out when it rained without an umbrella, or else they'd get sick. There was an umbrella nearby, but it wasn't being used properly…

Willy wanted to just leave them alone. They weren't important. Only Tammy was important. But Tammy wasn't awake to tell her what to do. And it was so, so much easier to be a good girl when she only did what she was told. Doing what she was told was practically half of what it was to be a good girl. Willy knew that when left to her own devices, she was inclined not to be a good girl.

Like now.

Willy wanted to just leave them alone… but if that was the case, it was probably not something a good girl should do.

She glanced towards Tammy's still form, then formed a ball of water in her hand, the mass manifested ex nihilo from her body. It was unnaturally rounded and viscous like jelly, and she placed the piece of her on Tammy so that she wasn't leaving her cousin alone before she reluctantly stood. She didn't like having to do things of her own initiative. That required having to think about what she could do, and if she picked wrong, she might do something that would make Tammy disappointed, or worse, upset. Best to just do nothing and let Tammy tell her what to do. Tammy knew what was best, after all.

But Tammy was asleep…

Tammy would have helped this person, even if she'd have needed to ask Willy to do the heavy lifting. Unless she was wood, Tammy wasn't very strong.

Willy was about to turn over whoever it was by kicking them with her foot when she paused and sighed as she remembered Tammy had told her she shouldn't kick people to make them move. Or kick anything to make it move, unless it was a ball made for being kicked, and even them it was supposed to be better if she just picked it up. She crouched down and flipped the unconscious body with her hands.

His clothes were completely soaked, his hair stuck flat against his scalp and face, but it was definitely Kim's brother Ryan. Willy grabbed the front of his shirt, paused, then changed her grip to one of his arms, pulling it over her shoulders as had been demonstrated in that one seminar at school. She stood up, mindful to lift with her knees again, and Ryan flopped bonelessly at her side. He was heavy, but not so heavy she couldn't carry him, even without turning into ice. The rain made her have to readjust her grip twice, but eventually she was able to secure him, and began walking to the front door.

Willy was in the middle of drawing back her foot to knock before she sighed. She leaned down Ryan against the door, then knocked on the heavy wooden door. She almost didn't hear her own knocking over the rain, but she waited for a few seconds anyway in case it had been more audible from the other side. When didn't open, she tried again, striking the door with her open palm with more force as the rain continued to fall from the sky. She waited again.

She was just about to try knocking again with a fist made of ice when she felt turbulence in the water drawing near, heard the deadbolt on the door slide. There was a brief pause, and then the door opened just the slightest bit, and a cellphone on a selfie stick became visible in the opening, showing the image of Willy on the screen. "Willy?" a vaguely familiar voice said from behind the door, the water depressing and rippling outward, some of the ice melting. "You're awake?"

Willy stayed silent, because it was obvious, and thus didn't merit a response. That… probably wasn't impolite, since it was a clearly a stupid, smartass question, and Tammy had said answering those wasn't a good idea. Besides, whoever was asking probably wasn't one of her teachers, so Willy wasn't required to answer whoever it was. Instead, she picked up the unconscious.

The selfie stick shifted. "Ryan! Oh, thank God! Hang on, we'll get some towels! Don't bring him in yet, the news is saying that the rain puts people to sleep if they get wet from it, so we have to be careful."

Again, blatantly obvious, so it didn't merit a reply.

The ground shook. She felt the part of herself she'd left with Tammy trembling and rippling.

She turned, frowning at the little ball of water she'd left balanced on Tammy's chest.

The ground shook again, and this time she felt it, a vibration in her feet.

From inside, she felt random whirls and eddies, and then sharp edged slivers of ice as the ground shook a third time, and then kept shaking. Tammy crouched down, raising an arm to protect her head as they had been taught during earthquake drills and wished she had her school desk to dive under. But she was outside, so maybe that was enough?

Around her, out on the streets and perhaps from the buildings beyond the house, she felt more and more ice, growing larger and larger, cold and sharp, swirling on fast currents.

Then there was a roar. It sounded like countless creatures were bellowing in challenge all at once, resonating together in a way that vibrated up her spine and gave her goosebumps.

"Get inside, quick!" the voice from the other side of the door cried, flinging the door open, showing the empty corridor. "Get in, get in, get in!"

Willy hesitated, but stepped inside, dripping and carrying Ryan with her. He was starting to slip again, and she adjusted her grip.

"Keep moving, keep moving, I can't close the door if you're too near, I might get wet!" a voice from the back of the door said.

Willy wanted to ignore it and drop Ryan right there—he was already inside, after all—but remembered Tammy's disapproval when she dropped things like that. Tammy considered it throwing a tantrum and not the behavior of a good girl, because it would damage whatever she was carrying. Sighing, Willy moved a little further down, and only when she was ten feet away did the heavy wooden door finally close.

Kim's girlfriend Katherine sealed the door shut, almost reaching for the deadbolt before recoiling at the raindrops on the doorframe near it, ice shattering in the water and somehow making bigger pieces of ice. She stepped gingerly despite wearing rubber boots, and used the long handle of a mop to shove floor mats and towels against the bottom of the door, trying to wedge them underneath to keep the rainwater out. It was a futile gesture. Even before she got the coward in her head, Willy knew that water could get into anywhere.

"Can you take him to his room?" Katherine said. "Lori has towels to dry him off with and hot water bottle to warm him up."

Willy considered this. "No," she said. "I need to get back to Tammy. He's inside, so I'm done here." She set Ryan down on the floor, not dropping him, and made sure he didn't hit his head. Tammy said to always make sure no one hit their head. She put down Tammy's and her own shoulder bags next to him so they wouldn't get wet when she went back out into the rain.

"You can't go back outside!" Katherine said, and Willy frowned in annoyance at the turbulence in the woman's waters that tried to spread into her own from their proximity. She forced her waters still, rejecting the intrusive influence. Only Tammy's warmth was allowed to affect her waters. It was bad enough that, even away from the rain, the feeling of tainted slime persisted, so strongly it was causing uncomfortable and annoying physical symptoms. "You heard it! There's something out there! Besides, if we touch him while he's still wet, we might fall asleep."

Very probably, but that wasn't Willy's problem. "I don't care. I left Tammy out there."

"Look, you're dripping wet. At least get dry first so you don't get sick."

Willy scowled at her, but it that was what it was going to take…

She turned into water, claiming the rainwater on her body and clothes and merging it with her form. Tactile sensation changed, temperature dulled, sensitivity to vibration altered and with it hearing, vision became omnidirectional. Her clothes, completely soaked, would have fallen through watery limbs and torso, but she had done this before, practicing it at Tammy's advice, and there were pieces of ice at her shoulders and hips to keep her shirt and pants on. She reverted back to human form, though her pelvis remained water since her underwear had become unaligned, and Tammy had taught her that good girls didn't tug on their underwear in front of other people. However, her skin and all her clothes were dry. "There. Now let me out."

Beyond the door, over the sound of the rain, another roar resounded from practically right outside.

Tammy.

Willy reached for the door, wrenching it open and stepping out into the rain, remembering to close the door behind her. She stepped back into the rain as the ground shook again, running to put herself between Tammy and whatever the source of the trembling. To the side, the magenta stone continued to grow, creating strange shapes and angles and visibly warping the air while the plasma continued to sing, unheeding. Willy let water flow from her, flooding the lawn around Tammy as she prepared to stand her ground to protect her cousin. Her body turned to water, and she let her clothes fall through her, stepping out of her socks and shoes before coalescing into ice.

Inside her, she felt her awareness of the water expand, felt the turbulence full of ice, and the shaking became distinct footsteps. Willy readied herself to fight. She could feel it coming nearer, its waters distinct from the ice and tainted slime. Streams both hot and cold, random whirls, chips of ice, all carried on a relentless current. And beneath all that, a whirling, sucking maelstrom, spewing bubbles of emptiness that wanted to be filled, seeking to devour…

As a roar resounded, sounding like it was right outside on the road in front of the house, Willy realized she recognized those waters.

The house was surrounded by a high wall, as was only sensible, lest people easily climb over it and rob you. Willy could see bits of magenta stone at intervals along the top of the wall, additions by Kim to better protect his home using his power to foil intruders. And through the obscuring curtain of the rain, something rose over the wall.

It looked round at first, but then the edges moved, and Willy saw tentacles. Long and fat tentacles, writhing and waving around the shape like a twisted sunflower. Gash-like mouths lined with sharp, triangular teeth gnashed along the tentacles, as if trying to eat the very air. In the center of the round shape, countless dark, staring orbs resolved themselves into eyes. It rose up higher, and Willy saw a wide, lipless mouth lined with rows of more teeth that descended into a dark throat that pulsed and contracted. The mouths opened wide, and it roared, and Willy felt her very ice vibrate, the puddles around her rippling from the force of the sound.

Tentacles reached forward, trying to drape themselves on the top of the wall, but they never seemed to reach, the air around them becoming strange as the tentacles were always too far away, the water bubbling and burning with steam above the maelstrom…

There was a wet, stretching tear as behind it, four large, wide wings unfurled. They flapped, and despite its size, despite that fact it shouldn't have been able to, the wings made it rise into the air, the air displaced by the limbs sending rainwater flying in a wet wall as it defied gravity.

Every mouth opened again and a roared sounded out, the hunting cry of an apex carnivore as multiple voices overlapped disturbingly. One flap, two, and it was over the wall, looming over Willy as long, segmented legs stretched out and then folded on multiple knees to support its weight as it landed, water showering off it as it settled on the driveway, facing Willy, Tammy, and the useless piles that were probably Jas and Kim. Even in the dim, grayish light of the overcast sky, its wet yellow skin shone poisonously as its every eye stared at Willy.

Willy… No. She was changed now…

Nightmare Blue faced the predator before her, ready to protect her cousin first and herself second as tentacles reached forward. There were eyes studded on the tetnacles, she realized, glittering compound eyes that had looked like blemishes that now stared at her as the tentacles crept closed.

She raised her hand, ready to turn ice into superheated steam as she waited for it to attack.

A lone tentacle rose, reaching for her… and with a shudder, the maelstrom sank into the depths of the waters. It was uncertain, carried up and down in random whirls that spun out hot currents and steam bubbles, but slowly, deliberately, it sank, even as the water vibrated… and the tentacle rested gently on Nightmare Blue's upraised hand.

It wavered and it was weak… but far, far above the deep maelstrom, on the surface of the water… a little warmth rippled uncertainly.

Willy stared.

It was weak. It was tepid. There were still bubbles of emptiness, seeking to devour. But even so… it was warmth that gently flowed towards her.