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Nina lunged forward with the blade, only barely missing the princess before they were both submerged out of sight.
Bride sucked in a breath as Phosphorus and Weasel fought, but her eyes never left the area where Nina and the Princess had gone under.
She watched closely as the water turned red.
A rough, wary sense of dread filled her as she waded out as far as she could before the water’s floor dropped off. It was cold and nauseating, making sweat bead on her forehead and her breathing grow panicked.
She knew the answer before the body was revealed. The shadow floating upwards only served to Nauseate the Bride more. She knew.
But that did not mean she was prepared.
A scream tore through the air as the Bride took in the sight of poor Nina. Blood dripped down her cheek in a slow manner, and the wound- no, wounds on her abdomen continued to pour blood into the water around her.
She barely realized it was herself screaming.
All she could think about was the sight of Nina, floating there, dead.
---
The bride was up and out of bed before her brain even comprehended she was awake. Feet unsteady under her and eyes fogged over. A nightmare. Right.
Sitting down on the poor excuse of a mattress she had, flashes of the nightmare flickered through her mind's eye. Images, all fake, of Nina trying to fight before being stabbed and ripped apart by that blond headed rat. Things she hadn’t necessarily seen in the nightmare, but she could piece together having happened now.
Heavy breaths escaped her lungs as she shook herself out of those thoughts. Tears trickled down her face and onto the night clothes she’d worn to bed that night.
No sense in wallowing in this, she figured. Might as well ease the tension somehow.
Nina was just across the hallway.
The Commandos had gotten their own special wing of the facility to share as part of their reward. Of course, heavy, guarded metal doors blocked their escape in any case. But at least the Bride didn’t need to explain herself to anyone as she crept across the hallway to Nina’s room. A rather large water tank greeted her, along with a perfectly made normal bed and a dresser set. Nina seemed to get more items for her room because she was well behaved. A small plush caterpillar sat on the bed, looking somewhat worse for wear.
The Bride made her way curiously over to the little thing, reaching down to grab it before the sound of water caught her attention.
“Don’t.” Was the only thing Nina said at first, eyes flicking between the caterpillar and Bride’s hand. “He’s special.”
Bride retracted her hand with a roll of her eyes. She found no small part of relief in hearing Nina’s voice. Even better was the sound of her setting boundaries.
“Why are you in my room?” The fish girl asked, clearly having been asleep before Bride’s entry.
“I came for a visit.” Bride replied simply, unwilling to tell the truth of her nightmare. “You’re always up my ass, now it's my turn.” Her words were gruff and slightly mean, and she knew before Nina ever opened her mouth that some sort of retaliation was coming.
“I am not- what?” Nina sputtered. “I enjoy spending time with you. Even if I do wonder why you are such a…” She paused, obviously trying to come up with an insult.
“Asshole?” Bride offered. “Piece of utter shit? A bitch?” Every possible insult was another step forward Bride took until she was almost at the tank’s edge.
Nina rose to the challenge, too tired to really overthink the action. “All of the above. And more.”
“Oh? And what insults does the little fish have up her sleeve?” Bride prompted her to go on, watching as the fish girl sank down under the water for a minute, taking a breath, before she arose again with a determined fire in her eye.
“You look like something I drew with my left hand.” She said, completely serious. “And I feel like it’s not a far stretch to say you cut your hair with a plastic knife and fork.”
Bride raised her eyebrows at that. She had indeed heard the first insult before, but the second one was new. Her lips quirked up a bit, and she let out a huff of air that might as well have been uncontrollable laughter with the way Nina was looking at her now. The fish was smug.
“I’ll admit that one was pretty good.” She conceded. “It’s a wonder you don’t insult people more.”
Nina lowered herself down a bit. Her face above the water with her body submerged. The sight made Bride turn away suddenly as Nina started to speak, the Nina from her nightmare flashing vividly through her mind with the reminder.
Nina’s voice paused when Bride turned, though, and the silence stretched on as Bride refused to acknowledge how badly the stupid dream affected her.
“You can talk to me, you know.” Nina offered softly. It felt like pity to the Bride.
Instead of opening up, Bride moved to sit on the bed, one leg crossed over the other. “What is with this thing?” She asked, grabbing the caterpillar and setting it on her lap.
“Fine. Don’t talk about your issues, then.” Nina huffed. She did realign her sights on her plush toy though. “His name is Doggy.”
“Doggy.” Bride pondered as she turned the raggedy thing over in her hands. “Why?”
“I had him when I was a baby. Back before I was like… this.” She explained, leaving her tank and getting dressed. Bride gave her the privacy of not being stared at as she pulled on her prison uniform. She continued talking once her helmet was on. “I, apparently, kept calling him ‘doggy’ and eventually that became his name.”
Bride hummed.
Webbed fingers found their way over the Bride’s as Nina sat down on the bed beside her. Gently, Nina extracted the caterpillar away from her and placed it next to the pillows again.
“You realize I won't judge you for whatever it is, right?” She said softly, hand moving up to cup the Bride’s face. “I promise.”
“Promises mean very little to me.” Bride replied stiffly.
Nina sighed at that. “I think it would be better to not keep everything you feel bottled up.”
Bride gave Nina a cruel looking glare, But the fish girl’s hand remained on her cheek.
“I don’t want to see you in pain.”
The Bride stayed quiet for a minute, glaring down at the other girl. Eventually she gave a mean-sounding exhale and relented her silence only to say, “I’d rather we didn’t talk about it.”
“Okay,” Nina said with a nod. “We don’t have to if you really don’t want to.”
They lapsed into silence again, and eventually Nina’s hand made its way to the Bride's hair.
“What are you doing?” Bride grunted with a stern look.
“Can I play with your hair?” Nina asked quickly, starting to get nervous now that she was fully awake.
Bride didn’t respond verbally, instead she just slipped down onto the floor next to the bed and leaned back against it, a wave of her hand giving Nina all the permission she needed.
Bride tensed as she felt the pressure against her head. Curious, webbed fingers gently ran through the frizz of her hair. It probably needed to be brushed again by now but she doubted the fish would have a hair brush in her room for… obvious reasons.
They didn’t speak while Nina worked at her hair. It was the constant soft pulling that started to lull Bride towards sleep again. The nightmare was on the very edge of her mind as she let her head drop back.
---
The Bride woke up sometime the next morning in a much more peaceful manner than she had before. She was on Nina’s bed, made evident by the raggedy plush caterpillar next to her arm. For somebody who didn’t sleep in a normal bed, she sure did have a lot of extra pillows and blankets.
Sitting up and looking at the tank showed the silhouette of Nina curled up at the bottom, sound asleep.
Bride was comfortable, actually, her hair seemed to be a mess though, not that it was much of a problem. She was covered up and surrounded by plush softness that she didn’t often get the chance to feel.
Bride gave a small smile and let herself relax fully. Maybe she could get some more peaceful sleep in this bed, rather than her own.