The Moon, chapter 26: Sea

At some point, from either boredom or exhaustion, Susie drifted off to sleep. She felt no need to do anything else, really. The last bit of hope she had was in that box the cloaked figure gave her, and much like her hope, it had been lost to sea. It wasn't enough that she lost that, either. She had pretty much lost her ability to fight, or even walk normally. If something were to attack her, the likelihood of her coming out on top was considerably lower than usual. At least she was safe. At least, that's what her unconscious mind told her before an incredibly loud female automated voice came over the speakers, accompanied by an equally loud alarm.

“Warning, the descent has begun. Please stay away from all doors and windows.”

Susie shot up in the couch, shaken by the sudden clamorous noises. The lights had went out as well, the chandelier's bright lights replaced by previously unseen red flashing warning lights that had been affixed to various points in the wall. Incredibly heavy dark metal blast doors shut on both the exit to the hallways and the large glass doors leading to the decayed balcony. The automated voice said the same line as before every dozen seconds or so, but the alarm noises had long since ceased. Then, the rumbling and shaking began.

The sound of crashing waves echoed from outside before nothing but the bubbling of water remained. This must have been the descent the voice was talking about. Why had Napstablook never told her of this? The fact that the entire building would periodically sink into the sea seemed to be quite the significant detail, so why leave it out? In fact, this building didn't even seem fitted with any sort of mechanism that would allow that to happen. Was this all just another dream? Light faded from the room and drenched her in a completely silent darkness that took any sense of security she once had away. A further detriment to her safety came in the form of another sentence from the automated voice, and the sound of the blast doors being lifted from the door to the hallway, but not from the balcony door.

“Please refrain from using any mechanical or electrical devices. The use of this intercom and flashlights are acceptable, however candles and lanterns are recommended. Do not, under any circumstances, turn on any light switches. Thank you.”

Shortly after, Napstablook's voice came over the intercom in the automated voice.

“H-Hello? Oh gosh, if you can hear this, I'm really sorry. Y-You're gonna wanna stay where you are. I'm with Susie a-”
“Hi, my clone!” the other Susie budded in.
“Susie, p-please.”
“Sorry...”
“We're gonna come get you and bring some stuff with us. We will explain but please don't go outside, you'll probably get lost. Listen t-to that warning too. B-Be there soon.”
“Bye!”

As soon as their transmission ended, the blast door to outside opened, however there was a newly fastened reinforced window on both sides of the original door's, turning it into a gigantic window to the outside world. This world, however, was nothing like the one she had once seen. The entire building, except perhaps the roof, was submerged underneath the sea. Underneath the water's surface now, she was able to see the source of the faint blue light that she saw from above the water a while ago. Dozens of small, dim blue orbs floated like buoys a couple meters below the surface, held underwater by black fishing nets that were anchored far below where the orb's light would show, descending into the abyssal darkness of the deep sea. The orbs were swaying a bit, probably due to the intense winds that were surely ripping across the sea. Susie was almost lulled into a trance by their gentle sways and flickers until a loud, resounding knock at the door shook her out of her near-stupor.

“Susie? It's us!” The younger Susie's voice yelled excitedly. The door swung open and the surprisingly happy looking and beaming young Susie stumbled through, a basket of candles cradled in her arms. Napstablook followed behind her, nervously tapping the ends of his fingers together before closing the door shut once they were both inside. Susie wandered around the room, placing and lighting candles all around the area as the flickering orange light of the candles drowned out the blue glow from the orbs outside.

“S-Susie, I-”
“Man, this is gonna get confusing quickly. We can't just have two Susies, that's super weird.”
“Well, what do you suggest?”
“Well one of us is going to  have to give up our names, obviously.”
“Who, then?”
The older Susie spoke up.
“I'll get a new name. Calling her something for a long time then calling her something new would be weird. I'm newer.”
The younger Susie responded.
“Yeah, but I kinda wanna new name anyways. Besides, you're older, you're more used to being called somethin'. Hmm, but if I did have a new name, what would it be like...?”

This younger version of herself made Susie incredibly off put. If you had compared their personalities without the looks, you would never guess they were anything alike. This one seemed so much more hopeful. Bubbly, even. The surreal nature of everything that had happened within these few hours had left her in sort of a daze. Nothing made sense anymore.

“So what do you think?” The clone said to her.
“I... I dunno. Just whatever sounds good.”
“How about Suze? It's easy to say, and it's not too far off from Susie. Plus, it's shorter, which is pretty fitting actually. Right, Blooky?”
“Y-Yeah...”
“Then it's settled! No more confusion! N-Namewise, anyway...”
The newly named Suze beamed and walked over to the edge of the room and into one of the doors Susie hadn't bothered to check yet, dragging a long coffee table out in front of the two couches in the middle of the room, placing a tall, red candle in the middle of it, and lighting it with a match. Blowing the match out, she sat on the velvet couch parallel to Susie's and looked around with a semi-forced smile on her face. This smile soon turned into a look of regret.

“Susie, I'm... sorry I acted the way I did to you. It's like, super weird that this is happening but... I should've been more respectful. So, here.”
Susie dug into her basket and pulled out Susie's clothes, laying them out on the table, next to the candle. Well, some of the clothes, anyway. The coat that went over her white shirt was nowhere to be seen, and the once pristine white shirt had a large line of stitches going up the back of it. Similar stitches ran up the black pant's left leg, from the bottom of the leg up to the middle of the thigh area.
“I-I'm no artisan, but, I fixed your clothes up for you. The best that I could, anyway. I hope it's good enough for you.”

...Was this the first genuine smile Susie's made since she got here?
“Geez, Suze. You didn't have to do that.”
“Well what am I gonna do, just let you wear that patient's gown everywhere? No, I wanted to. It's the least I could do.”
“Well, thank you. And, you're forgiven for how you acted, though I kinda didn't really care in the first place. The gesture was nice.”
Suze giggled under her breath, as a more authentic smile reached her lips.
“So uhh... Bathroom's right behind me, if you wanna go change.”
“Right. I'll be right back.”
“Take your time! We don't have anywhere to go, just remember not to turn any lights on.”

She was asking all about that when she was done changing. Susie sat up off of the couch and walked to the door behind Susie, her clothes tucked under her arm. The door opened to a candle lit, dark bathroom. Dull reflections of the candle's fire bounced off of the wall and floor's ceramic tiles, the air stagnant and stale. The bathtub, sink, and toilet had all seen better days, evident by the rust slowly gathering around the edges of them all, and the mirror had been cracked into a spiderweb-like pattern. Susie shut the door and untied the strings that held the hospital gown on her body, letting it fall to the floor softly and quickly changing into the more decent clothing. She looked at what little of her shattered self image she could see in the mirror. Her face was distorted and cleaved apart in many different places and ways, and seeing herself in such a way made her feel... sick. She quickly walked out of the room, leaving whatever terrible feelings she had felt behind in that mirror.

Sitting back down on the couch, Suze quickly perked up.
“So? How are they?”
“Good as new.”
“I'm glad you like them!”
“Yeah. But... I need to know what's going on here. Like, why we're underwater, and why we can't turn any lights on.”
Suze's smile immediately fell from her face.
“W-Well... It's storming outside. And when the weather gets really bad, a, uh... thing, gets really agitated, and really sensitive to electrical devices. It usually isn't a problem, since when it isn't storming it doesn't seem to go far from around the cube. But when it storms... You really don't wanna be around it when it gets angry like that. It can like, sense stuff from miles and miles away, and it'll do anything to destroy what makes it angry. It's super picky with what sets it off, though. Like, as long as it doesn't make noise for a long time, or makes any light, it doesn't care.”
“Well, what is this 'thing'?”
“It's like... a really, really tall, skinny... thing. It's super dark, and has a lot of hair. It's face has a bunch of weird eyes on it, and one of them has a scar across it that shoots a wave of energy or something.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“We... learned the hard way. One day, we didn't turn anything off or sink the building into the sea. It took... a while to repair this place. Even for Blooky, and he's amazing at repairing stuff. Even finding the parts to build everything again took what felt like forever. Actually, the whole 'descent' thing was Blooky's idea. He found the parts, programmed everything, built everything, it's great.”
“Did he make those lights in the water, too?”
“Actually, no. We have no idea what those are, and we haven't been deep enough down there to find where they come from. Doesn't bother us, though.”
Suze stayed silent for a bit. She seemed to doze off into space for a minute, a blank look on her face.
“You okay, Suze?”
“Y-Yeah... Just thinking about that day... It got here so fast...-”

The entire building creaked as a huge force shook the group's surroundings, everyone making surprised gasps at the sudden disruption of peace. Suze looked out the window with a grave look on her face, and watched the orbs outside slowly flicker and die out one by one, darkness slowly closing in until the only light left was that of the candles. Susie felt her entire body tense up when Suze uttered her next words.

“I think it's coming to check up on us.”