Work Text:
Niki leaned against the edge of the bank with her head just below the water so she could still breathe, but also hear Wilbur, who was avoiding the burning heat of the sun by sitting in the water. His bony tail waved gently in the ripples. She was happy that she was able to spend time with Wilbur, even if it was just during the day and it was so he didn’t have to either starve being invisible, or jump between the shade trees and feel his skin burning.
“So, what do you think, Niki?” Wilbur said, he slouched down some more, and Niki shifted so she could face him a bit better.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening, what did you say?” she asked. She knew that her cheeks were blushing with embarrassment.
“It’s okay, I was just asking what you thought about my house,” Wilbur said, pointing back to his house.
Niki poked her head above the water to take a look. It was beautiful, its spruce woods working well to give that haunted house aesthetic that Wilbur was aiming for. She smiled before she dipped back down. “It’s lovely, Wilbur, you did a really good job.”
“Aw, thanks, Niki, I really like what you’re doing with the lake,” Wilbur said.
Niki shrugged. “It’s nothing special, really,” she said, looking at the work she had done. It really was quite a bit of work, making sure everything looked nice and clean. It really was hard work, and in the end, it looked like she had done nothing. Everything was harder to get when she could barely be above water for more than thirty seconds.
"So, Charlie and I went on a little adventure the other day," Wilbur said.
"Oh really? Where'd you go?"
"We just took a boat and looked around. We needed clay for The Pube and we found out that our world is super weird," Wilbur said. He leaned his head back, looking up to the sunset. Soon the sun wouldn't burn him anymore.
"How so?"
"Well, there's a perfect circle around here where everything is just broken, like it doesn't match. It goes all the way down to bedrock too, Phil said it broke through, even."
"Woah, that's really cool, I wish I could go see it," Niki said. She turned away from Wilbur finally, her tail flicking underwater.
"Hey now, we'll get you there soon, we'll get you there soon," Wilbur said, he wrapped his arm around Niki's shoulder, giving her a one-armed hug.
"Thanks, Wilbur," she said softly.
Wilbur nodded as he stood, knowing now that he wouldn't burn in the sun. "Of course, but I've gotta go, The Pube needs my attention. I'll see you later."
"Yeah, see you later, Wilbur," Niki said as she watched Wilbur leave. She sighed, she was alone again. She hated that. She slid into the lake further, swimming further into the water and to her chests filled with materials that were constantly soaked by water, but she couldn't exactly complain about it. It would be like if one of the others complained about their materials always being soaked by air. It didn't matter. They would all be placed in the water anyway.
She found her sheers, the plants in the water were starting to get too big, they needed to be trimmed back. At least it was something to keep her mind off things for a while. She hummed quietly to herself, it always made her feel better when she hummed. The noise made her feel slightly less alone.
Sometimes people visited, Wilbur was the most frequent. He liked spending time just sitting in the lake with Niki and talking to her about whatever, but he was busy with his pub now, and Niki understood. He wanted to make a place for everyone to hangout, that included Niki. He wanted to make sure she could be there with the others instead of being stuck in her lake exclusively.
Tommy was excited about it. Every time he walked by the lake, Niki could hear him talking about it, especially when he was with Jack, she swam up to the shore, seeing that Tommy and Jack were discussing something quite animatedly.
"You're never here, Tommy!" Jack yelled. "How can it be your pub if you weren't even here to start planning it!"
"Well, Jack Manifold, I'll tell you," Tommy said matter-of-factly. He cleared his throat like something was stuck in it, and was obviously over dramatic about the whole thing. "Because fuck you."
"Oh real mature, Tommy," Jack said with a scoff. "You know, you're not even old enough to drink, how are you gonna run a pub?"
"I'll figure it out! C'mon, it was my idea," Tommy whined. Niki laughed behind her hand. She poked her head up near the two boys. "Oh shit, hi Niki," Tommy said. She smiled as she sunk back under to take a breath.
"Hello Tommy, hi Jack," she said. She popped back up. It was easier to talk to them if she bobbed up and down, so her small voice could more easily be heard.
Jack stepped back, carefully avoiding the water that Niki accidentally splashed up. He tried to not make a huge deal out of it, but Niki noticed. She smiled regardless, pretending she hadn't noticed the brief look of panic on Jack's face as the water nearly hit one of his blaze rods. "Niki," Jack said, shaking off the look of momentary panic. "How's it going?"
"Good," she said. She dipped back below to take a breath before she more carefully resurfaced. "Wilbur talked to me for a few hours," she said.
"Oh, Wilbur did?" Tommy asked. Niki nodded. "Oh, he's so gonna get a knockin', he was supposed to be working on the Pub!" Tommy threw his hands in the air and started walking back towards the Pub.
"Tommy! Come back here!" Jack called out after him, but Tommy was already clearly on a mission. He looked back to Niki. "Sorry Niki, guess we're leaving." He waved.
"Oh, it's okay!" she said, but Jack was already running after Tommy. "I'll see you later, Jack," Niki added more quietly. She sighed as she sunk back in the water. If only she could breathe air, she could go up and see what Tommy was going to do. She would be told about it later, no doubt, but for now, she was stuck in her lake.
Even with the progression of the pub, Niki realized that she never could really be a part of the others, even with the accessibility features Wilbur kept going on about. She knew it wasn't Wilbur's fault, but being in a fish tank was certainly not her idea of a good time. She was trapped behind glass, watching as Ranboo, Tubbo, and Charlie were talking about some game Charlie was designing while Wilbur sat under some shade working on plans for the future of the pub, though everyone knew it was nowhere near done.
Charlie, at the very least, made Niki giggle, which his eccentricities and how his slime made playing his games so much harder. Though, Ranboo and Tubbo eventually got bored and turned their attention to Niki.
"So, how long can you stay out of water?" Tubbo asked. He was leaning his face against the glass, his antennae resting on it and his black eyes with white irises staring up at her.
"Not that long," Niki said. She frowned, but turned her head so it would be harder for the boys to see. "I can't breathe air like you, my body just won't do it." She could see Ranboo looking at her with quizzical eyes, like he was pondering something while looking at her.
"But you can do all sorts of cool things under water," Tubbo said.
"Yeah, but…" she stopped as she heard a think against the glass, which startled her.
"Oi! Quit pounding on the glass," Wilbur called out from the other side of the room. Well, room as a generous term, it was four walls with a floor and no roof. They couldn't figure out how to build up from there; besides, they were waiting on Phil, who was the mastermind behind the design of the Pube.
"Sorry, Wilbur," Tubbo responded. He took a physical step away from the glass.
Ranboo, on the other hand, grew a wicked smile as he reached forward to tap the glass as well. Niki hated it. The sound reverberated through the whole tank, making it sound so much louder, not to mention the water only acted as an amplifier. "Yeah, Tubbo, fish don't like it when you tap on the glass," Ranboo said, laughing. Tubbo snickered as he joined in on tapping on the glass again as well.
"Stop it, it's loud," Niki said, though she doubted Ranboo or Tubbo heard her through their raucous laughter as well as their playful teasing. "Boys, please stop," she said. Again, they couldn't hear her. She looked to her left, the door was still there, she could get out and make them stop if she was fast enough. "Okay, that's it," she said as she swam to the door. Her long tail quickly split into two legs before she stepped into dry land and started chasing after Ranboo and Tubbo.
They screamed as Niki left her tank, holding a stone axe in her hand. "Ah! Run! Run! It's like one of those crazy zoos where the fish can get out and attack us!" Ranboo yelled.
Niki looked over to Wilbur who was giggling, and Charlie was laughing at a different table. Everyone was laughing, except Niki. Obviously it was all supposed to be a joke, one that Niki hated, but no one meant any ill will. She forced herself to smile again, to pretend to laugh along as she got back into her tank before she started suffocating. She took in a deep breath, and laughed a bit, forcing it but hiding the fact that she was forcing it. Ranboo looked at her, and he immediately stopped laughing.
“Alright, boys, I gotta get going, see you!” Ranboo said. He made extra sure to wave goodbye to Niki before he teleported down. It gave Niki a chance to leave without feeling rude. She waved to Wilbur before she sunk down the waterfall that led up to the Pub in progress.
Niki could go days without interacting with someone, and she wouldn't even realize that she had gone that long until she suddenly saw someone running by her lake or heard someone talking nearby. Usually she would come up and say hi, though she also knew that a lot of the time, they were just passing by and didn’t have much time to talk, so she tried not to bother them.
She looked up when she heard Phil’s laughter from above. His wings were always so beautiful, but the beauty was kind of ruined by Wilbur’s panicked screams as he clung to Phil like a little bat. Niki watched as Wilbur and Phil flew above her. She gasped as she watched Wilbur fall, still screaming, but positioning himself to land directly in Niki’s lake, unharmed. Niki swam up to him as he broke the surface.
"Are you okay, Wilbur?" Niki asked, helping him to stay above the surface so he could reorient himself and get a few deep breaths in.
Wilbur nodded as he looked up to Phil, who was circling down to land at the lake's edge. "I'm alright," he said. He finally started treading water, and Niki let him go, letting him swim to the edge of the water, not realizing that his beanie had fallen off. He was focused on Phil laughing at the edge of the water. He pulled himself out. “Now I’m all wet, Phil,” Wilbur said.
“Momma bird had to show you how to fly,” Phil said. He ruffled his wing feathers a bit, picking out a broken feather and letting it blow away in the wind. With the sun above them, Wilbur could already feel his skin burning, the only reason he didn't feel like he was standing in fire was due to the water coating his skin. It all fell to the ground when he went invisible.
"I don't have wings, Phil," Wilbur said. He took the beanie from Niki's hands, the only indication of where he was. "Thanks, Niki."
"No problem, Wilbur," she said with a smile. She knew that Wilbur was smiling back, or at least that’s what she imagined him doing as she saw him--well, his beanie--turned back to Phil.
“Right, so, Phil, if you’re done being an arse, can we go back to the Pube and get talking?” Wilbur said. Niki could see that Wilbur had turned back. She imagined him waving at her and smiling like he always did, with that goofy, sometimes mischievous look in his green eyes. "Bye Niki!" He said before walking off with Phil.
She watched as Phil used his wings to prove shade for Wilbur so he wouldn’t have to stay invisible and starve. He was holding onto Phil’s arm, as they were walking away. Niki wished she could do the same, that someone would be able to extend their wing, or their hand, or anything, and she would be able to walk on land as much as she wanted to. With a sigh, she sunk back into the lake. The turtles needed feeding, and she had work to do anyway.
When Fundy arrived, a lot changed. Fundy was--to put it lightly--a kleptomaniac. His fingers were the stickiest on the server, and that included Charlie with his slime. It wasn’t a surprise when something went missing right from underneath someone’s nose, and it was equally unsurprising when that particular item was once again found in Fundy’s possession.
He was a menace, but he was also one of them, and they knew they couldn’t just leave him out to dry all alone. So they tolerated his thievery, no matter how much it annoyed them. Phil was a common target, so was Wilbur. Niki only suffered from mysteriously disappearing items on a few occasions. Though, she did catch him in the act one of these times.
Fundy was dipping below the water, and Niki kept her distance trying to see what Fundy was doing. It was odd for him to be going under the water in that specific location, right near where her chests were. She had a feeling about what he was doing, she was just waiting for the inevitable creak of the chest to prove that he was going into her chests to steal. As soon as his paws touched it, Niki swam forward.
“Fundy!” she yelled. He stopped, turning to Niki, and if he wasn’t underwater, he would have gasped in shock, she could see it in his face. He pocketed whatever he had in his hand and he started swimming to the surface, although Niki was much faster in the water. She could easily catch up to him.
She caught his leg just as he tried to climb out of the lake, pulling him back in, although not all the way in so he could still breathe.
“Niki!” Fundy said in shock. He splashed as he struggled to get away from Niki, but her grip was firm. “Niki, I uh...hello!”
“Give me back my things, Fundy,” Niki said. She released Fundy as a sign of good faith. She hoped that showing a little bit of kindness towards Fundy, then it would pay off and he would return her items.
“Your things?” Fundy asked, chuckling a bit as he started to wring the water from his fur. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Fundy! Come on, I saw you steal from me. Give it back to me,” Niki said. She had to dip back below the water to take a few deep breaths.
“Uh, uh, you can’t prove anything!” Fundy said. He took his chance with Niki below the water to bolt, and he ran quickly. Niki quickly climbed out of the water, trying to chase after Fundy, but after only a few seconds of being above the water, she knew there was no way for her to catch up to Fundy. He was quick on land, and she was significantly slower. Not to mention her need to breathe water.
Niki let out an annoyed grunt as she turned back around and slipped into the water. She sat down at the edge of her lake, needing to take a moment now before she would go figure out exactly what Fundy had stolen from her this time. In the end, no matter what he had stolen, it was still putting Niki at the edge of her wits. It was so much harder for her to get things, and Fundy was just taking her hard-earned items.
Then one day, Scott came from the stars, and Sneeg came from...somewhere. Scott was able to keep Fundy in check, at least for the most part, and he started leaving Niki alone completely. Sneeg liked spending time by the lake, mostly because he was interested in the little bits of sugar cane that Niki was growing. At first, he startled her, being so small he was easily able to hide from Niki's view from underwater. Once she realized that he needed sugar, and lots of it, she vastly increased how much sugar cane she was growing. Inevitably, he fell into the same habit as everyone else, leaving Niki alone to watch from a distance, but still, she was more than happy to tend to the sugar cane so Sneeg could use it.
Scott was different. He would sit on the edge of the lake for hours at a time, just chatting with Niki, telling her about big plans on what he had for everyone, and how he was excited for Niki to be able to come up on land so they could work together. Scott was a lot like Wilbur, but less distractible. Wilbur, though Niki cared deeply for him and very much valued their friendship, was a bit of an airhead at times, not that she could blame him. Scott wasn't like that. He was thoughtful, and kind, and Niki appreciated every bit of his companionship. He was always there for her, at least as much as he could be. He brought her materials, spent a lot of time just talking to her.
One night, Niki found Scott laying by the side of the lake, his arms gently folded on his stomach and his galaxy-like hair sprawled out around his head. Quietly, poked her head above the water, trying to see exactly what he was doing. She could see his eyes sparkling, almost, while he stared up at the stars.
“Scott?” Niki asked softly. He sat up as he brushed the loose blades of grass from his hair. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, hi Niki, didn’t expect you to still be awake,” Scott said. He moved closer to the lake so Niki could dip back below the surface and still converse with Scott.
“I was just going to sleep, but I saw you here,” Niki said.
Scott sighed. “I was just looking at home,” he said. Niki tilted her head, clearly not understanding what Scott meant. He was home, at least as far as Niki knew. He was establishing his own home and place in their world. “I come from the stars, Niki, it’s in the name of my origin. Starborn.” He laughed a bit. “I guess I’m a bit of a falling star, having flown not too close to the sun, but too far.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Niki said. She turned her head away, her fins quickly folding in on themselves.
“It’s okay. It’s not like you threw me into the sun, but it kinda sucks that I can’t go back,” Scott said. His eyes were drawn back up to the stars. Niki watched his hands. They reminded her a lot of the stars themselves, mostly dark patches with some bits of light shining through.
“I sort of get what you mean,” Niki said. Scott looked back at her in shock. “About the not being able to go somewhere part at least.” Scott smiled, now realizing what she meant. “It sucks being separated from the people you love, but having your friends there for you really helps, it helps me at least.”
“Aw, Niki,” Scott said as he stepped fully into the lake, not caring that his clothes were getting wet. He wrapped her in a tight hug. “Thank you, it really means a lot to me.”
“You’re welcome. I’m just glad that I can be there for you,” she said.
Scott released the hug and he stepped back onto the surface. “Anyway, I’ll stop lurking around. Sleep well, Niki!”
“You too, Scott!” She watched as he walked away, heading back to his house.
Even the best companion like Scott still had stuff to do, and Niki couldn’t just sit and watch what she couldn’t have, though she could still hear her other friends running around, doing their own things. The most interaction she had was the occasional splash of something falling into the lake, and she swam over to toss it back out at the offender who dared litter in her lake, unless it was something she could use for decorating her lake. One man’s trash really turned out to be one woman’s treasure.
One person was exempt from that rule. Niki hadn't heard the sword fall into the water at first. She had been busy taking care of the turtles, who she was working dutifully with to get their scutes. Niki had found Ranboo pacing back and forth on the water line, occasionally stopping to look at the submerged sword. He reached forward, trying to grab it, but stopped when his fingers touched the water with a sizzle. He’d pull his hand back and try to shake away the pain from the slight burn.
Niki grabbed the sword and looked to Ranboo, who hadn't yet noticed her presence as he nursed the burns on his fingers. "Did you drop something, Ranboo?" she asked.
Ranboo looked at Niki with surprise, which quickly turned into excitement. "Yeah," he said with a nervous laugh. "I kinda dropped it, you see, and then it slid right into the water."
Niki laughed as she put the sword on the shore, making sure it wouldn't slip back in so Ranboo could grab it when it had dried off again. "You've got to be careful," she said.
"I know, I know," Ranboo said, shaking his head. He looked to Niki and smiled. He squatted down so he wasn't so far away from her anymore. "Hey, remember how I asked you for those scutes a while back?" Ranboo said.
Niki nodded. "Yes, of course."
Ranboo pulled out a helmet from his bag. It was made from the turtle shells as well as glowed faintly purple. He set it on the shore next to his sword. "Here, respiration turtle helmet. Phil said you should be able to stay above water much longer with that on. He helped me make it."
Niki stared at the helmet, refusing to believe it was even real in the first place. She had to touch it to know it was even actually there, and by that point, Ranboo was watching with anticipation, his green eyes were wide. Finally, she pulled it into the water to get a better look. It was certainly made of the turtle shells she had collected, and she could feel the slight tingle that came with enchantments. It was true.
She put it over her head excitedly, nearly slamming it down. Her tail became two legs as she stepped out of the water, making sure to keep some distance from Ranboo so she wouldn't accidentally hurt him by inadvertently splashing some water on him. He was just as excited as she was, and Niki was hardly able to contain her excitement. Suddenly, she felt tears fill her eyes as she couldn't contain her excitement any longer.
She looked up to Ranboo as she wiped away her tears. "I can't thank you enough, I want to hug you, but I don't want to hurt you," she said.
Ranboo quickly adjusted his cloak, making sure it was covering all his exposed skin, even tucking his hands into his sleeves. He spread his arms open for a hug. "You won't," he said.
Niki stepped up to Ranboo, and she wrapped her arms around him in an appreciative hug. She immediately realized that hugs out of water were much different than hugs in water. She felt Ranboo gently pat her back before she stepped back to look him in the eyes again. "Thank you so much, Ranboo, for everything," she said.
"It's no problem, I'm just happy you can come and spend time with us in the pub. Of course, it's not a perfect solution, but it's something for now," Ranboo said. "But I'll see you around, okay? Tubbo wanted to have dinner with me."
"Yeah, I'll see you around," she said, looking up to the Pube. Ranboo tossed his ender pearl, teleporting away in a flash. Niki, instead, started walking towards the Pube. She could see people moving around up there, and she knew one of them had to be Wilbur, he was always busy up there drafting new plans and figuring out materials they needed.
She swam up the water that led to her fish tank, making sure her helmet was off first. She wanted to surprise everyone with the gift Ranboo gave her. As soon as she took her place in the fish tank, Wilbur waved to her from across the room. Fundy was talking to Phil, his tail flicking about as he excitedly told Phil about some prank he pulled on Jack. Niki frowned for a moment as she realized no one was really looking at her, but she put on her turtle helmet and stepped out of the fish tank, flicking off some of the water and walking over to the table where Wilbur sat, and sat down next to him.
Wilbur looked up in shock, realizing that Niki should have been suffocating by now, but then he saw her helmet and the wide smile on her face. "Niki! You're not underwater!" Wilbur said, throwing his hands up.
Niki laughed as she nodded. "Ranboo made this for me,” she said, looking over to Phil now too. “He said Phil helped too,” she said.
Phil looked over to Niki, giving her a curt nod before turning back to Fundy, who was already walking over to Wilbur and Niki, a grin already on his face. He pulled out a chair and sat next to Niki and Wilbur, taking a good look at the helmet on Niki’s head.
“Looks good on you,” Fundy said.
“Aw, thank you, Fundy, that’s very nice of you,” she said. Niki smiled as she felt Phil touching her shoulder, giving her a good pat.
“Hey, come here,” Fundy said, suddenly jumping to his feet. “You haven’t seen this yet, come see." His voice was filled with the childish wonderment that usually came with his tricks and pranks. Niki had no choice but to follow along and see what Fundy was going to show her. He was genuinely excited, and she could see that. He held onto her, admittedly, slightly wet hand, and led her to the edge of the floating island which the Pube was situated on, and in a grand gesture, showed off the view of their homes.
From up here, Niki could see everything; the entirety of her lake, Phil's birdhouse, and the pile of materials that were going to become Charlie's house, and even beyond that. She breathed it in, just in awe at how beautiful the sight was. Fundy was urging her to take a step closer, and she did. She was careful to not let her feet slip, they were still wet. She turned to talk to Fundy, but he was nowhere to be seen. She was sure Fundy was just beside her, but he had just vanished. She looked to Wilbur and Phil instead, it was obvious they had no idea where Fundy had gone.
She opened her mouth to speak when she suddenly felt two paws push against her shoulders, not very hard--just hard enough to make her take a step back, which wouldn't have been an issue if it weren't for her wet feet.
One moment she was looking into Fundy's eyes, which were filled with laughter, the next moment she saw Fundy's face fall in horror as he too realized she was falling. He tried to catch her, but his hand just barely missed hers as she was rapidly falling down. She couldn't even scream, the fear was too much, the ground was going to be close soon enough. She closed her eyes tight, she couldn't bear the thought of seeing her demise.
She hit something sooner than she thought, but she was alive, though she felt her helmet slip off and fall. She opened her eyes just in time to see her helmet fall directly into one of Jack's mini lava pools, the odds of which, she knew, were incredible. She looked up, now realizing someone was holding her. Phil looked back at her with worry.
"Niki!" Wilbur yelled. She could see him poking his head over the edge, Fundy too. When they saw she was safe, they retreated, no doubt to make their way down.
"Are you alright?" Phil asked in a soft voice.
Niki nodded, though she could already feel tears welling up in her eyes. She wanted to take a breath in, but the air was just too dry, she coughed, and then she gasped for the air she couldn't breathe. Phil quickly realized what was going on and he quickly adjusted his trajectory to go straight for the lake before Niki suffocated.
In a large splash, Phil and Niki landed in the middle of the lake. Niki was able to take in big, gasping breaths, as she finally was able to process what just happened. She took one last look at Phil before she swam away, deeper into the lake where it was hard for the others to catch up to her.
Only now could she feel how sore she was, bruised from Phil's rough catch. Despite that, she was thankful she was alive from the fall, but she couldn't stop herself from crying. That was her chance to be able to actually spend time with her friends. The turtle shells took her ages to get, and now she would have to start all over again, not to mention she would have to wait for Ranboo to find the enchantment again, and he was already lucky finding it once.
“Niki!” she heard Fundy yelling from the side of the lake. “Niki! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean for you to fall! I’m so sorry!”
“Come on, Fundy,” Wilbur said. “Let’s give her a little bit and try to apologize later.”
“But, I need her to know how sorry I am! I didn’t mean for her helmet to get burned, or for her to fall.”
“Mate,” Phil said, joining the conversation. “The last person she probably wants to see right now is you. Give her some time, yeah?”
“But...but…” Fundy continued to stutter, but Niki could hear them walking away now, leaving her alone at the bottom of her lake where no one could see or hear her.
Fundy would watch her from the side of the lake after that day, looking at her as if his mere gaze would break her. Niki became the only person Fundy didn't try to steal from or prank, instead, every interaction was rife with apologies. Niki had already forgiven him. She knew already he never intended to hurt her, it was an accident, and in the end, she was mostly unharmed.
Still, more often than not, Niki was alone, crying where no one could find her and wishing she could be up on the surface as the others went mining, or into the Nether, or even just cutting down trees. She was stuck in the water, a fish in a barrel. Her lake wasn't connected to the ocean, so if she wanted to go there, she would have to risk suffocating just to go. No one else had to worry about that. Everyone else's weaknesses weren't nearly as deadly. Sure, Ranboo could die from burns if he were in the water too long, same went for Jack, Phil could miscalculate a dive and hurt himself (not that anyone worried about it, Phil was too smart for that), Wilbur could burn up in the sun, and Tubbo, being a bee, was quite fragile. Everyone had their weaknesses, Niki knew that, but she had the worst since it meant she was condemned to a life of mostly solitude.
All she wanted was to be with her friends, to take part in the goofing around they always told her about, to help build beyond sitting in a fish tank telling Wilbur what to do. She just wanted a chance to not have to worry about suffocating in the otherwise perfectly fine air. She just wanted to walk with her friends and be a part of everything.
It was impossible, she knew that, she knew that she was stuck to a life in the lake or behind thick glass, forever, until she actually died.
"Niki!" She could hear Wilbur's voice from the surface. It was muffled, drowned out by a droning sound. "Niki, come up! It's raining!" Wilbur added. The frantic screams from Ranboo and Jack were what actually convinced Niki. She could just barely see them desperately trying to hide from the rain as they ran for cover. She quickly swam up, pushing her head above water. She took in a breath, there was just enough water in the air and soaking her skin to allow her to breathe. She hugged Wilbur tightly, feeling as the water hit their bodies.
“Isn’t this amazing?” Wilbur asked, laughing as he looked up. Through the clouds, he could still see the sun, threatening to burn his skin, but with the rain, he didn’t have to worry about it much.
“No, it most certainly is not amazing!” Jack yelled, careful to not lean out too far in fear of accidentally getting one of his blaze rods or his skin wet. It hurt more than anything to feel his fire being extinguished.
“Yeah, we’re stuck in here until it stops. Not fair,” Ranboo said, crossing his arms.
“Oh I wonder how that feels,” Niki said as she looked at Wilbur.
“Oh, wah wah,” Wilbur started, going into his high-pitched mocking voice. “I’m Ranboo, I can’t go out in the rain. I have to wait for it to end or else I’ll die.”
Niki laughed as she watched Ranboo and Jack’s expressions, and they both realized where their statements had been led astray.
“Okay, fair enough,” Ranboo said. “But I don’t sound like that.”
Wilbur blinked at Ranboo for a moment, but then he grinned, his attention shifting to Jack.
“Oh, I’m Jack Manifold! The rain puts me out! I don’t know what it feels like to be inconvenienced!” Wilbur’s mocking shifted to Jack instead.
“Oi! Dickhead!” Jack yelled. “Get over here!”
“What’re you gonna do, Jack Manifold? You can come catch us, but oh wait, what’s this? It’s raining? I guess you’re stuck, bitch,” Wilbur said. He took Niki’s arm. “Come on, Niki, let’s go for a walk, yeah?”
“Yeah, I’d like that,” she said. She let Wilbur lead her as they quickly walked away. There was so much for her to see while it was raining, so much she had missed, so many people to talk to. It was all so much, and she was so excited to see all of it, especially with Wilbur. She knew, in the end, that despite how alone she felt, when the rain comes everything is different, and she gets a taste of a world she could otherwise scarcely know.