Two months later…

A small crown of warm light peeked over the horizon, as if it was all too impatient to show its blushing face to the world and usher in yet another new day. And so was she.

Just one more minute to go.

Marianne turned off the holographic clock face projecting from her wrist and leaned back against the wall. Her stomach turned for the second time in only three hours; she was craving food yet again. Something sour this time. Lime… perhaps with some fish on the side.

Her mouth watered. Breakfast was still about an hour away, but that sensory image was only getting stronger by the minute. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling as much of the salty sea breeze as possible in an attempt to wash away her cravings.

“Hey, darling.”

Marianne’s eyes jerked open as her lips curled into an uncontrollable bright smile. Finally! She reached her hand out hesitantly. “C-can I…?”

“I-I think so. I can make my form solid enough now.”

Marianne moved forward without thinking and threw herself onto William. She gasped in surprise as she felt his hands embrace her back. He felt warm and almost solid this time, a huge improvement from the previous day.

“Woah, be careful.” William laughed slightly. “You’re still pregnant, dear.”

“How long do we have? And how close do you need to be to a water source?”

“I should be able to hold this form for about twelve hours each time,” William said proudly as a tiny wave rippled along his body. “And I can sustain myself with just the water droplets in the air by now.”

“I’m so proud of you.” Tears leaked from Marianne’s eyes. “I… I don’t know… why I’m even crying…”

“It’s probably the hormones,” William patted her back. “I’ll always be by your side, even when I have to transform back into the gem for an hour. Have you thought of what to name our child yet?”

“Geez, calm down. I still have seven months more to go.” Marianne hit his arm playfully. ‘But if it’s a boy, I was thinking of naming him-”

The sound of rustling leaves caught Marianne’s attention. She flinched and turned around instinctively.

“Aww dammit, we got spotted. Why’d you suddenly move?”

“What?! It was you who- Oh, hi Marianne.”

Brett stood up from his almost perfect camouflage in the bushes while Masako pouted at him, brushing the leaves positioned awkwardly in her hair. She let go of Brett immediately as if his body had suddenly turned into a heated stove. Marianne tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at them, putting her hands on her hips like a mother waiting for a lousy excuse.

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“We… we thought this area was private enough for us to…” Masako said, before her face turned bright red. She jabbed Brett. “Gah, told you we should’ve just used your room-”

“This is a shared area, you know.” William drifted towards the sheepish couple.

“Well, with the sudden influx of people into our town, it’s been getting pretty crowded everywhere.” Brett sighed. “There’s no more privacy.”

“Point taken.” Victor’s voice drifted through the air.

“I’m trying my best to expand this place.” He walked towards the group, having appeared seemingly out of nowhere. “I could use some help to manage all the extra people who used to be zombies, chief.”

“Getting real crowded here, people…” William said, looking at Vivian who had followed Victor from behind.

“Wow, everyone’s here! Merry Christmas!” Vivian said cheerily, tossing snowflakes into the air at the group. Marianne felt her tears pushing against her eyes again; she had forgotten how positive and carefree her sister used to be before their separation. She blinked rapidly, fighting the good fight to maintain her tough image in front of everyone.

“Christmas is still two whole weeks away,” Victor said. “And it’s not like we’ll ever have snow in this tropical continent anyway.”

“Aww don’t be such a party pooper,” Vivian giggled. “If you want snow, I’ll make it snow indoors for everyone!”

“Speaking of which,” Victor turned to William. “How’re your powers recovering? I thought we were going to lose our powers for sure when you reversed the mutation wave, but it seems like we got a boost instead.”

He levitated a few pebbles and began juggling them. “I’ve never been able to hold something so small before.”

“You’re welcome. Beats me why that happened though. Perhaps our abilities aren’t really related to the mutation of our aura in the first place.” William shrugged. “I’m still exploring my new capabilities too. I’m guessing my mind latched on to whatever my aura was attuned to when my physical body expired. That’ll probably explain why I take the form of any body of water now.”

“I don’t understand a word of what you just said, but who cares when I can do this now?” Marianne waved her hands as a fiery crown materialised on top of her head. “Sure feels good to have proper control over my power; at least I’m not worrying about burning everything down when I use it.”

A low pitched horn blasted from what sounded like a few kilometres away, drawing everyone’s attention. Marianne squinted slightly at the rising sun, trying to discern the small blobs on the sea heading their direction.

“Who are they?” Masako asked with a slight hint of worry in her voice.

“They seem friendly, or at least that’s what their flags are saying,” Brett commented.

“We won’t know for sure until we make contact with those ships.” Victor sighed as he began to hover in the air. “And here I thought I could catch a break. Who wants to come with me?”

“Just don’t drag their ship in like you did to us last time, eh?” William smirked, before transforming back into a deep blue gem. Marianne picked it up and hooked it back onto her necklace.

“Let’s see what they want with us.”

The group of friends walked slowly to the pier and looked out at the approaching ships. It was a beautiful new day in a strange new world.

And they were ready to receive it.

~~~ End ~~~