Coral

I awoke to the sound of my own breathing and a distant splashing sound. Splish. Splash. Splish. Splash. Splish. Splash. ‘Ugh... someone broke the faucet... again. How do people always manage this? It is a simple thing really: right cold, left warm, up water, down no water. Even pets can understand it... stupid Fluffles letting the water run and getting me yelled at. Not like it is my fault and it’s my mom’s cat anyway. Hmmm... I should bite off its tail. Would show the bastard who is boss...’ Trying to ignore the repeated annoyance I turned around only for my pillows to awkwardly flop to the side. Grumbling curses I grabbed them again and was just about to drift back into blissful slumber, when I noticed something peculiar. My pillows felt an awful lot like boobs, very cold and stiff boobs too, more like dead flesh or silicone than an actual living person!

In a split second I recoiled from my former headrest. Panicked from the sudden realisation my eyes darted around the room only to widen even further when all I saw was rusty metal, wet stone and plants every where! By the dead Gods... where was I? And why had I been the sleeping on a... on a fucking corpse!? Had I been drugged and kidnapped by raiders? Was that why there was a corpse and I recognised nothing? Or... another quick look around made my worst fear come true. This was no raider hideout, in fact it seemed more like the lair of some beast! Off to my side was a pile of bones from what I hoped were cattle and around the... corpse – I shuddered in disgust again – was something that seemed like bedding made from ripped of plants and blankets.

My mind was trying to figure out how I had ended up here but I drew a blank. No amount of trying made my memories come back it seemed. But if this was some beasts lair... then there was probably a beast around. ‘Oh, no! I’m going to be eaten! I don’t want to be eaten! I’m not even twenty three! I haven’t even seen anything else but the compound... no! I refuse to be eaten. If that beast comes back I will fight it tooth and claw!’

“Hissss!”

I barely managed to stifle the cry that had almost escaped me. ‘Who had just hissed like that!? Dead Gods! Please tell me the thing living here hasn’t come back!’ Tense as I had never been before I waited for something to emerge from the thicket of plants. Yet... nothing came? Confused I waited another few minutes... still nothing happened. Finally after what felt like far to long holding my breath, I let out a relieved sigh.

“Hisss~.”

Again my mind blanked out only this time in disbelief. “Uhm... th-that wasssn't me rrright? O-Okay, it actually wasss!!!” Teary eyed I clasped my hands across my mouth in both fear and shame. ‘Gods no! Now I have a stutter AND a lisp!? Why? This is just unfair! White never has to deal with such problems! Fuck! Now everyone is going to laugh at me!’

As if the world was messing with me this very moment I heard someone laugh! Well, I said laugh but honestly it sounded more like a repressed, echoing snort. And to add insult to injury it was a sound that was almost... familiar. But it couldn’t be... or could it? Slowly and carefully I got up, only now realising that save for a few scraps of cloth I was basically naked! My cheeks heated from what could only one very telling blush, I turned around and began glaring at the shadowy surroundings. In my search for the mysterious voice, I noticed something else, I could see perfectly fine! At first I had thought it to be a trick of the light but now I was certain that my vision was better than it had ever been with my glasses. Something very odd was going on and if my new superpower, of being able to properly see past ten meters, wasn’t fooling me one part of the puzzle was currently trying to hide behind an old water dispenser.

“Wh-White?”

The voice that answered was clearly her but also obviously not. “If I say no... will you not come closer?” Her voice was... echoing. It was as if I wasn’t talking to a person but the shadow of one... as if she was a ghost.

“Arrre you o-okay? Wh-Why should I not come clo-clossser?”

I could see her silhouette shifting as if she was ringing with her thoughts. “I... something happened to me! And it is freaking me out!”

“What d-do you mean, ha-happened?” I hesitated for a second but then tried to lighten the mood with a joke. “Di-Did yourrrr Makeup ssssmear?” ‘I swear this weird lisp and rasp in my voice makes me sound so evil! It is almost cool actually. If only I could get rid of my stupid stutter...’

“Hahaha~...” Despite her laughing she didn’t sound the slightest bit happy. “Oh, Coral... I doubt makeup is going to help with this.”

Without warning she stepped out from her hiding hole and forward into the light. At first she had seemed just as normal, if a little pale, though when the first ray of the rising sun hit her it became clear what she was referring to. Looking at her I couldn’t rightly decide if it was beautiful or terrifying. But the one thing I knew with out doubt was that makeup was indeed not going to fix this. For Emmy White had apparently become a human crystal. Her body still had a human form but her skin and flesh was... clear. It was as if made out of hazy crystal, almost entirely see through. I could see the bones glow beneath her muscles, her skull was grinning at me from behind her troubled face, and the outline of her spine shifted with her every movement.

For the first few seconds I was too shocked to react but when I saw her standing there alone, naked and close to crying, all my resistance broke and I ran over to her. Before she could react I had already enveloped her in a big hug, not caring for her odd looks or any resistance she might have had. Several minutes went by in which I could feel her cry softly into my shoulder. Yet when her sobbing subsided and she took a step back both of us noticed something odd, I was bigger than her... by almost a full head too! With her mouth agape White lined up her hand with the top of my head and had to realise that for the first time since our childhood I was actually quite a bit bigger.

“I hadn’t expected to ever see something like this... First my skin... now you too? Coral... by the hells this is a serious problem! We might not be able to go back...”

“I-It might no-no be ssso bad? Isss just a bit of growth, rrrri-right?”

“Coral... Your eyes... they are golden... there is no more white. Your lips, your gums and even the corners of your eyes.... they are all a solid black. When you talk, I can see a snake like tongue move in your mouth!” Her eyes wandered down my frame as if searching for something. “And you too have a core in your chest... Face it! It is not just a bit of growth! We have changed and might still be! Stop being so damned optimistic!”

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In her frustration she punched the side of my arm like she had often done before, yet now I barely felt it. Where once had been soft chubby flesh I now had almost slender arms with the first signs of hard muscle beneath the skin. But somehow these changes didn’t terrify me as they probably should have. Sure, the added lisp to my stutter was a bit annoying but in the whole the transformation of my body felt... right? Like I was slowly growing into who I was supposed to be. My mind told me not to panic and so I couldn’t really. Not at the changes at least, the corpse was a very different matter! Or the fact that we were in some beast's lair, that might still come back to eat us!

“White! No-No matter about fashion st-ssstuff now! We need to ge-get out of here! I mean I woke up on a co-corrrpse! I-don't-wanna-be-eaten!!!”

I was already about to drag my friend away to find an entrance, when she held me back.

“That, my dear Coral...", she said pointedly. “... is an Android.”

“Wha-What?”

“As I said,”, her could hear her voice as if next to me despite her having gone over to what I had thought to be a corpse. “This is most clearly an Android. No blood, no spilled guts, not the slightest bit of stench. Hells, the condition it is in is astonishing! Hey, Coral! I need your technically expertise.”

Still rather creeped out by the fact that Whites voice seemed to echo around the whole space, I could barely manage a nod in response. A bit sheepishly I walked over towards her. After all I still couldn’t believe my own stupidity. A fudging Android and I had thought I was sleeping on a corpse! I mean watching corpses was fine and all, but it would be a long time if ever before I was going to be comfortable sleeping on them! Not to mention how unhygienic doing such a thing would be.

“...ral. CORAL! Attention over here.”

“Ah! Right... so-sssorrry! I was in thoughts.”

“I could see that... now, do you think this can be repaired?”

“Huh?”

“If we can get her repaired maybe she can tell us what happened? I can’t put my finger on it but I am certain to have seen her before. And if she doesn’t know... maybe we can buy back your entrance into the bunker with her...”

“Bu-Buy back!?”

“Wait... you actually believe they will just let us waltz right in looking like we do?”

“Ye-Yessss?”

“Coral, my flesh is crystal and my bones glow in the dark. I look like a fucking chandelier! If I saw myself out in the wastes I would probably be taking pot shots at me!”

“Bu-But my parents would ne-neverrr jussst throw us out! They love us!”

The look she shot me was full of badly veiled pain. “Not us, but you... they won’t lift a finger for me! I’m just a dumb stray you picked up! Just... leave me here... always did do better in the wastes than the compound.”

She was already about to get up and walk away when I did something I would have not expected of myself . White had barely enough time to turn her face before I was already upon her. At first I had thought about slapping her but something with in me wanted more... far more. I wanted... no, needed to show my dominance. A feral snarl on my lips I rushed forward, and not even a second later my knee connected with her chin. A solid crack resounded as her head snapped back and before she could get her bearings, I was already on her again. My leg rose and as strong as I could, my foot stomped down on her chest. It was with almost ridiculous ease, that I pushed her to the ground. Seeing her beneath me I instinctively spat at her face.

“Neverrrr ssssay that again! You arrre like a sssssissterrr to me! If anybody has a right to kick you out it is me! AND ME ALONE!!!”

As sudden as the rage had come it was already gone again. Only now that the red haze cleared from my mind I realized that this had not only been the first fight I had ever won... but also that I had kicked White almost three meter away from the Android. I couldn’t even fathom how I had jumped that distance, especially considering I had never been the most athletic of people. I was ripped out of my musings by a laugh like wind chimes from under me.

“Okay, okay! You got me... now could you please get off of me? You are kind of heavy and I am like forty percent sure that I still have to breathe. Also... I think breaking your best friend to pieces counts as assault before the elders.”

“So-Sorry! I-I di-didn't wa-want to hu-hurrrrt you!”

“Honestly... not sure if you actually could... I mean I seem to be made from frickin crystal! You... you are just a knock off Lizard-Girl!”

“Like in tho-those old comics?”

“Comics?”

“Ye-Yes! I fo-found them in the Lib-Librrrarry! Ab-bout a hero! She was r-rrrealy co-cool! She fought villains and monster...” I couldn’t help but be a bit ashamed at my reaction... I really liked those old comics. The entertainment from before the Fall was just so damned good. White had already teased me more than once with my obsession, but now was really the wrong time for that!

“How old was that comic again?” Despite her odd features the mirth on her face was clear as day.

“Wha-What do-does it matter! Ju-Just st-sssstop saying my pa-parents don’t lo-love you!”

With an indignant huff I turned away from her smirking figure and focused my attention towards the body on the ground. Almost immediately I realized my own stupidity. This was definitely not a human body, for human bodies usually bleed when they had a gaping hole beneath their chest. Someone – or something – had ripped right through the dermal plating, the skin that had once covered it was simply ripped to shreds as if by claws; in my mind this was just another reason to get out of this place. What ever monster could rip it’s way into an Android’s chassis would make bloody short work of two defenceless women!

“So? Worth something?”

“Ah!?” I had been so immersed in my... inspection, that I hadn’t even heard of White coming closer. Not that it would really be an issue from now on, I could hear her voice just as good no matter how close she was. But that I hadn’t even heard her move was slightly unnerving. Yet in that moment another thought crossed my mind; perhaps White could be my sneaky sidekick!

“Sa-Say... si-sidekick, wha-what out here ca-can rip through A-Androids?”

“Odd question... could be a bunch of things... though I haven’t seen anything that big around the area since I joined the Rangers. The guys and gals usually take out anything too big or dangerous before it can do any harm. Makes it safer for the caravans. After all, even the compound needs some supplies from outside from time to time. Wait... you think that she was done in by a monster?”

“I... I mean, yes?”

“Fuck.”

“Fu-Fuck?”

“Yeah... grab the Android. We are leaving immediately!” I didn’t like how her eyes began to shift around the room, almost as if searching for something.

“W-Why?”

“Well... I don’t wanna get eaten.”

With out another word but a far too evil grin she bound for a nearby flight of stairs. I could barely even react before she had already left my field of view. Just why was she so uncaring about the possible danger!? She seemed more than worried about other people’s reactions than any thing else. I didn’t quite make any sense to me, after all why should anyone care much about some cosmetic changes? The compound traded all the time with odd people. And yet what ever had happened to us seemed to have her more spooked than the possibility of being eaten.

Considering how much I had seen of her naked body just now I would rather call it pretty than scary or dangerous. But she hadn’t been happy at all... despite the beautiful glitter and shine of her new form. Even the crystal in her chest was most attractive. I blushed when I realized that I suddenly had the desire to hug and lick her. I wanted her to glitter and glimmer even more. To put her some place safe so that only I could look upon her. She was mine after all wasn’t she? My sister, my friend, my treasure.

As the thoughts shot through my mind my gaze fell upon the Android before me. And something told me that she was mine too. Only I was allowed to have her. I had claimed her... right? Unsure as to where these thoughts came from I shook my head, I didn’t matter I had to get back home. Once I was there I could think about everything that had happened in peace. With determination walked up to the fallen woman tried lifting her. Much to my surprise she was actually rather light, so light in fact that I could just heave her on to my shoulders without a problem. Once done I followed behind White with almost bouncy steps. The bunker would certainly make a better nest than this place...wait wasn’t that thought weird?