It’s the day of the charity concert, and the sun shines brightly overhead. Meg and Mari sing and dance on the stage that’s been set up by the beach, repeating their carefully practiced steps with huge smiles on their faces. Meg looks out over the crowd, overjoyed to see how much fun they’re having.

  Her joy doesn’t st long, however. The skies darken as clouds start to roll in, bringing a light rain with them. The pair continue dancing regardless, they’re not going to let a little bad weather spoil everyone’s fun, but that’s when Meg starts to notice something odd.

  The rain droplets each leave a mark on her skin as they fall, slowly dyeing it grey and white as each one makes contact. It doesn’t take long for the audience to take notice either, murmurs of confusion pass between them, but Meg does her best to continue regardless.

  The rain grows heavier as the wind starts to howl, and Meg finds herself having trouble keeping up with the steps, as if her body isn’t listening to her. She has difficulty keeping her bance, the stage feeling like it’s starting to tilt to the left and right, and the sounds of the crowd grow louder, slowly turning to disgust and anger.

  Thunder cracks above them as fshes of lighting strike across the sky. Meg does her best to keep going, but her steps grow ever clumsier as her body starts shifting before her eyes, growing more fearsome by the second, and she finds herself unable to hit all the notes as her voice slowly becomes ever more deep and monstrous. The looks of condemnation from the people before her pierce her heart like daggers, and the stage only seems to become even more unstable.

  She doesn’t understand what’s going on, all she wanted was to make everyone happy, but somewhere deep inside her she can feel a building resentment. What did she ever do to deserve this kind of treatment? After all the work she’s put in, she’s met with this? Her expression turns to a sneer without her releasing, baring her sharp, deadly teeth to all.

  She doesn’t get a chance to act on these feelings, however, as she notices before long that the song they were performing has stopped pying, and she turns to her partner for answers.

  “Marrri… What’s going on?”

  But Mari doesn’t say anything, she just looks at Meg with abject terror in her eyes as she trembles on the spot, too scared to even run away.

  “What… W-What are you?” The Erune eventually manages to squeak out.

  “...Marrri?”

  Another fsh of lightning. The wind and rain grows even more intense, approaching that of a monsoon. Meg then notices the stage isn’t in town at all, it’s on a boat not far from the shore, fnked on one side by several more that are housing the audience members. Each craft is barely holding out against the intense waves caused by this wild weather, and it’s only when Meg realises that she’s not on any of the boats at all that she sees the one Mari’s travelling on drifting off, on a direct collision course with the sharp rocks at the bottom of the nearby cliff.

  “MARRRI!”

  Meg swims as fast as her unfamiliar body will allow, focused on nothing other than preventing a worst case scenario. Somehow, she manages to catch up with just enough time to help, smming her huge body against the side of the hull to change the boat’s trajectory, sending it drifting towards the safe, sandy shore. Unfortunately, such a rge boat travelling at that speed cannot easily be redirected without transferring that momentum elsewhere, and Meg now finds herself hurtling towards a rocky demise.

  She roars in terror as she does what little she can to brace herself for impact before-

  “No!” Meg yells, sitting up in bed as the morning sun lights up the bedroom.

  She takes short, rapid breaths as she looks around. Eventually, she realises where she is and begins to calm down.

  “Meg! What happened?” Mari asks as she sits up besides her

  Meg feels bad about waking her up, but at the same time it’s basically an inevitability at this point. This mattress, sized for one person, was a tight fit even when they first adopted this sleeping arrangement, but the changes both of them have gone through, over the course of several years for Mari and several days for Meg, have resulted in their current situation where they’re rapidly running out of room.

  “Sorry, Marrri. Just… a bad dream, I think. None of that stuff actually happened, or… it happened a long time ago? I carrn’t really tell… Ngh!” Meg tries to sort out her thoughts when her headache returns once more, causing her to clutch her head.

  “Are… Are you okay?” Mari puts a hand on Meg’s back.

  “I… I don’t know… ” She replies once the headache seems to clear up a bit. “I can… barely tell what’s going on with me anymore…”

  “Well maybe you’ll feel better after having some breakfast? We can head out and-”

  “N-No!” Meg anxiously crosses her arms, the gesture doing little to hide her size. “I’m not leaving the aparrrtment. I… I carrn’t let anyone see me like this.”

  Mari gives her a sympathetic look. “Well how about I get something and bring it back here, then? We can talk about what we want to do after that. Is there anything you want to eat?”

  Meg stares off into space with a conflicted expression for a few moments before simply saying “...More fish.” with barely any emotion.

  “Sure thing, are you going to be okay here on your own for a while, though?”

  “Yeah. I’m just… I’m just going to stay in bed for a while.” Meg moves to lie back down, only to wince a bit when her back gets close to the mattress. She opts to lie on her side instead, closing her eyes.

  “All right.” Mari gets out of bed and walks towards the doorway leading to the living room. “I’ll be right back with plenty of fish, okay?”

  Mari looks back at Meg one more time, waiting fruitlessly for a response before heading out. She really hopes breakfast actually does help her feel a bit better.

  “Sooooo… What do you wanna do now, Meg?” Mari asks, looking at the other woman across the dining room table.

  Meg lets out a deep sigh, putting her head in her hands. “I… I don’t think I want to do anything, Marrri. I carrn’t go outside looking like this, but we have no clue how to fix it…”

  “Meg…” Mari says with a sad expression, wondering if there’s anything she could be doing differently.

  Mari’s pn to improve Meg’s spirits with a good meal didn’t work, if anything it’s only served to show the full extent of the damage she’s dealing with. When Meg finally got out of bed to eat, Mari discovered why there was a strange growth on her back st night. Now in its pce is a rge, grey fin, running down the middle of her back. The one upside is that the grey skin hasn’t spread any further up her face than it had st night, still only covering the lower half, but that doesn’t mean much when the entire rest of her body has now turned, including both legs.

  The physical changes aren’t even the worst part, however. What really hurts Mari to see is how all of this has been affecting Meg emotionally. The only times she’s shown any amount of energy at all this morning have been when she woke up from her nightmare, and when she was eating, which itself was a bit of a spectacle. Meg didn’t even want Mari to start cooking the huge collection of fish she brought home this morning, instead just grabbing them with her hands and eating them raw, her sharp teeth tearing into flesh like it’s nothing. When she was finally done, she felt horrified about how she was acting, and hasn’t moved from her seat since.

  Mari’s known Meg all her life, and she’s never seen her like this. Even at her lowest point, she always had this odd sense of perseverance about her, she never would have returned to Auguste so many times growing up if she hadn’t, but this is completely different. It’s like she’s lost her fighting spirit, and has completely given up. It breaks Mari’s heart to see Meg in such dire straits. She looks back to Meg once mode, and she’s at least removed her hands from her face, but now she’s just staring at the poster of herself on the wall. Mari’s having trouble reading her expression. Meg looks more than a little frustrated, but at what specifically?

  “Look, I know things are bad, but we have to try and do something, right?” Mari says after a while. “We’re not going to fix anything just sitting here.”

  “There’s no point, we don’t even have a pn. If I go out there people will just stare at me, or more sharrrks are gonnarr attack us.”

  “You really just want to do nothing? What if your condition keeps getting worse?”

  “I don’t think it can get much worse than this, I’m already a huge, ugly monster. Besides, what if we arrren’t able to stop this? I’m probably just stuck like this forever…”

  “That’s just another reason to head out anyway, right? You’ll have to get used to people seeing you like this sooner or ter.”

  Meg just sighs. She’s clearly not a fan of that idea.

  Mari cps her hands. “I know, what about getting some exercise in? That always puts you in a good mood.”

  “Why? Aren’t I rrrge enough already?”

  “...Look, would you leave the apartment if we had a pn for how to fix this? What if we investigate that old building again? We won’t be able to get back into the cave, but maybe there’s something else there we missed.”

  Meg almost appears to perk up for just a moment, only to space out for several seconds before wincing in pain over yet another headache. Suddenly, she appears rather scared. “N-No, not there. That… really doesn’t seem like a good idearr right now.”

  “Why not? It’s the only pce I can think of that we know is connected to all of this.”

  “Look, I… I carrn’t tell you why, but I don’t want to go there.”

  “But why? Is something going on?”

  “P-Please, Marrri, just trust me on this one. I don’t think-”

  *knock knock*

  They both stop what they’re doing and look to the front door.

  “W-Were you expecting anyone, Marrri?” Meg asks anxiously.

  “Nah… The Mayor’s probably just sent someone else to get me to do his job for him again. Maybe if we don’t answer they’ll think I’m not here and-”

  “Mari, Meg, there’s something important I need to discuss with you.” Vira calls out from the other side of the door. “I saw you heading back from the markets earlier, Mari. That was an incredible amount of fish you were bringing back with you, but I assume the two of you have finished your breakfast by now?”

  “No… no no no no no…” Meg whispers, clearly starting to panic. “Not Virarr, not now!”

  “Meg, are you sure it’s going to be that much of a problem if she sees you?”

  “Marrri, please. She basically told us out loud what she’d do to anything she thinks is a problem.”

  *knock knock*

  “Hello?” Vira says from outside.

  “Just a second, Vira!” Mari calls out.

  Meg gets up in a panic. “I carrn’t… I… I have to get out of here! I have to get away from her!”

  Mari looks at Meg with concern, it really doesn’t seem like she’s going to listen to reason. I suppose Vira did mention something about drastic measures when we had that chat yesterday… Guess I better py it safe for Meg’s sake. “Quick! Go hide in the bathroom! I won’t tell her you’re here.”

  “O-Okay.” Meg runs to the bathroom, but hesitates when she’s about to close the door. “Marrri!”

  “Oh, right!” Mari rushes over, closing the bathroom door for Meg so that she doesn’t risk tearing it off the doorframe, before running back to open the front door to reveal an unamused Vira.

  “Heyyy, Vira!” She says, trying to act natural. “What do you want?”

  “There are matters I must speak with the two of you about.” Vira walks in the door without waiting for an invitation, almost pushing Mari aside in the process. She looks around the room for a moment before turning to Mari. “Is Meg here?”

  “What, Meg? Nooooooo… she, uh… went for a swim! Yeah, that’s right!”

  “Is that so? Well I’m more than willing to wait for her to return, if that’s the case.”

  “Ohhh, no no no… She only just left! She’ll be gone for a while, and I’m sure you have muuuch more important stuff you could be doing. I can just pass along a message for you!”

  “How unfortunate, I suppose I must have barely missed her…” Her eyes travel to the bandages on Mari’s arm. “Oh my! Whatever happened to you?”

  “Ohhhhh this? I… I just fell over while walking around town yesterday, yeah! You know how it is…” Mari expins, not entirely lying about her injury.

  “...As long as it’s nothing serious, I was concerned you may have gotten attacked by sharks again, or something along those lines.” Vira chuckles.

  “Whaaaaaat? Nooooooooo! We haven’t seen any sharks at aaaaall! Everything’s been a-okay for us!” Mari gives her an exaggerated thumbs up

  Vira seems unsure of how to react to the Erune’s overenthusiastic response. “Right… Well I suppose since Meg is absent I can just speak with you for now.” She starts pacing around the room, and Mari breathes a sigh of relief the moment the other woman has her back to her.

  “It’s not much, but I did manage to find something while scouring the archives. I couldn’t find anything referencing this Ukupanipo by name, but there was a fisherman’s log written several hundred years ago that mentioned a ‘great tragedy’ involving ‘the primal beast of sharks’.” She expins as Mari nods along. “Unfortunately I couldn’t find anything that goes into detail about this event, but considering the fishermen used to live and work in the area that is now your nightlife district, it seems safe to assume that it’s connected to our current predicament somehow.”

  “I see…” Mari puts her hand to her chin, as if thinking deeply. “So we’re dealing with a shark-themed primal beast…”

  Vira stares at her, stupefied. “I mean… yes? I would have assumed that much was obvious already, what with the giant shark and all? Well regardless, I was wondering if the two of you would like to rejoin me as I search for more information.”

  “Weeeeell, you know… Meg and I… had some leads of our own we wanted to check out today, yeah!”

  “How intriguing! What would those leads happen to be?”

  “Weeeeeell, it’s like, nothing huuuge, but someone said they saw something strange out by the southern beach yesterday… and there’s this old man living up on the mountain that apparently knows some stuff… We’re gonna be running allllll around Auguste today, so it’ll definitely be faster if we split up again.”

  “I can certainly see the logic in that, I have a few things to investigate myself after all. I also need to locate the captain and the others, I think their little treasure hunt has been getting out of hand…”

  She then continues to walk around the living room, deep in thought as she takes note of just how many pictures of Meg, or items designed in Meg’s image, she can count. “I really don’t understand how that girl hasn’t realised it yet…”

  “Realised what?”

  “Oh, nothing important. It truly is a shame that Meg isn’t here though, it is quite important that I speak with her as soon as I can. Would it be alright if I was to return ter in the day?”

  A loud thud suddenly rings out from the bathroom, and Vira looks towards the door. “...What was that?”

  “I-It’s nothing!” Mari shouts, trying to draw her attention away from the bathroom. “J-Just the pipes! You know how some of these old pces can get, hahaha…”

  Vira raises an eyebrow. “...I see, do make sure you get that looked at soon. What time should I return if I wish to speak with Meg?”

  Mari takes a second to think. “You know what? We’ll proooooobably be chasing those leads for a while, so it’d be best to wait until tonight to stop by again.”

  “Very well, I shall return then, but do make sure the both of you stay safe, and seek me out should anything happen. I shall see to my own matters in the meantime.” With that, Vira turns to leave, but is stopped before making it to the door.

  “Hold on, just… one more thing.” Mari says timidly. “All that stuff you’ve been saying about doing whatever you have to do to keep everyone safe, you didn’t actually mean you’d do anything, did you?”

  “Ah, I see what’s going on here.” Vira says with a small smile as she turns back and pces a hand on Mari’s shoulder. “I understand why you’re concerned, but there’s nothing for you to worry about, Mari.”

  “There isn’t?”

  “No, there isn’t. I understand how hard it can be to make these kinds of difficult choices, especially when it involves people who are important to you, but that’s exactly why I’m here. I can spare you of that burden by doing the deed for you. I became a knight for a reason, Mari, and you can rest assured that I’m willing to do whatever needs to be done, especially when the safety of the people may be at stake.” Vira looks Mari in the eyes, clearly meaning every word she’s saying.

  “O-Oh! That’s… great!” Mari says, white as a ghost. Vira then retracts her hand and smiles once more.

  “That’s only if I have to do such a thing in the first pce, of course, and as far as I’m aware there’s no reason to go through with such a thing as of yet. You did promise you’d tell me if anything happened to Meg, after all.”

  “Haha… I… sure did…!” Mari wheezes out.

  “If it’s any consotion, know that I take no joy in this either, it is simply my duty, as both a member of the crew, and your friend.” Vira then walks out of the apartment, turning back one st time to speak before closing the door. “I’ll be seeing the both of you tonight.”

  Mari stands there motionless, taking in the weight of what Vira is saying. “Crap… She might actually try to kill her…” She whispers to herself, making sure the person hiding in the bathroom doesn’t hear it.

  “Okay Meg, you’re in the clear!” She calls out as she walks over to the bathroom, but doesn’t hear anything in response. “...Meg?”

  She opens the door to find Meg sitting in the fetal position, shaking in fear.

  “What… What did we do to deserve this?” She says quietly. “Why do the skyfarers hate sharks so much? After everything we did for them…”

  “...Skyfarers?” Mari squats down next to her, not quite sure what to make of what she’s saying. “Look, it’s going to be okay. I won’t let Vira get you.”

  “W-Why did you tell her to c-come back ter, then?”

  “Don’t worry, I have a pn.”

  “It… It doesn’t matter… E-Even if you stop her, someone else is just gonnarr come along eventually…” Meg puts her hands over her face. “Where did everything go wrong…?”

  Mari sighs. “Okay, you know what? I think I’ve had just about enough of you moping around like this, Meg. This isn’t you.” She grabs Meg’s wrists, pulling her hands away from her face. Meg just looks at her with sad eyes. “You trust me, right?”

  It takes a moment, but Meg wordlessly nods.

  “I told Vira to come back tonight because we’re not going to be here tonight. I didn’t want to spoil the surprise, but I’ve had something special pnned for tonight ever since I invited you here. I was thinking of cancelling after st night, but now I think it’s exactly what you need, and I don’t just mean as far as keeping you safe. Honestly, even without needing to avoid Vira, this might be just the thing to break you out of this funk you’re in. I hate seeing you like this Meg, so please let me try one st thing to make you feel better.”

  “Will… Will other people see me there, wherever it is you’re talking about?”

  “Yes, and that’s exactly why I want you to come with me.”

  “But… But…”

  Mari holds her hand up, interrupting Meg. “If it doesn’t work out, we can just go hide somewhere else for the night, but please at least give it a chance. If not for yourself, then do it because it’ll make me happy to see you make the effort.”

  Meg takes a deep breath, then looks Mari in the eyes. “Okay, if you really want me to, Marrri… I’ll try.”

  “Thanks Meg, you won’t regret it.” Mari lets go of Meg and stands back up. “Well, I guess we better start getting ready then!”

  “H-Huh? But… I thought we were going tonight?” Meg asks as she starts to stand as well.

  “Oh we are, but we wanna look our best when we’re there. And let’s be honest Meg, it’s probably gonna take a while to find something nice that fits you properly.”

  Meg looks down at Mari, noticing how she now towers over the Erune thanks to all of the changes she’s going through. “I… guess you have a point…”

  Meanwhile, Vira walks down the street with a grim expression as Luminiera talks to her.

  “Yes, she’s obviously hiding something. It’s such a shame too, I had hoped the two of them would find a way to resolve the situation on their own.”

  …

  “What do we do now? It’s quite simple, we prepare ourselves to take action. If they refuse to work with us, we’ll just have to take matters into our own hands.”

  Vira lets out a heavy, exhausted sigh.

  “It truly is a shame that it’s come to this, though. I know this isn’t the outcome either of us wanted, Luminiera, but there’s little we can do but steel ourselves for what’s to come. I expect we’ll be going through quite the ordeal tonight…”

  SyntaxSpeedway