Shadow Slave: Rainy Days

Rain laid on a bed inside of the submarine boat, feeling it rock every now and then because of the water around it.

The start of her Nightmare wasn't the best, mostly because of the terrain she found herself in. At least she would've humans by her side, so it could've been worse. She had also gotten nice abilities, which would definitely be of big help in a place like this.

When she first awoke, Rain had met a guy called Mark. He seemed to have been pretty happy that she woke up, since the body she had found herself in, had been injured in an underwater expedition

But his happiness had been short lived, since Rain needed to act like she had forgotten all her memories, because she didn't know who Maria, the real owner of this body, really was. To dodge any weird questions and confrontations, Rain deemed it as important to act she didn't remember anything, making Mark feel hurt and sad.

Even though this had made Rain feel slightly bad, she couldn't afford to do anything stupid. Her survival was the only important thing right now.

After their first discussion Mark had left the room, having told her that he would bring her some food and tell the team that Rain had woken up.

Rain was already really excited and nervous to meet them, since they would be the personas Rain would spend her Nightmare with. Having strong teammates could be the factor deciding if she survives or not.

And It was Just now that Rain heard someone knock on the door.

"Maria, we'll come inside now, okay ?"

The door then opened and what Rain saw were Markus and three more people, the team he had been talking about just before.

Before Rain coule say anything, one of the three new people, a small woman, who was in her early twenties and had blonde hair, wearing it in pigtails, jumped onto the bed and tightly hugged her.

"Maria, you're finally awake again. I was so worried!", she said before trailing of for a few second and then continuing.

"... Mark s-said that you lost your memories ... is that true ?"

Rain hat lied a lot in her life, since she had spent most of her unfair life in the outskirts. But lying in a situation like this even made her feel bad.

"Yes, I did ... Who are you ?", answered Rain to the poor girl.

The blonde girl started to cry uncontrollably, making her unable to answer. Her cries were so sincere that her emotions washed over everyone in the room, even Rain.

A really tall and broad man with short, black hair then gently pulled the small girl off Rain and sat her down on a chair next to the bed.

He then started to talk, his calm yet strong voice carrying through the small room.

"We're glad to have you back, Maria. The girl's name is Lilly- she's ... Your younger sister. I am John, the team captain. If you have any questions you can come to me. Or anyone here even, we'll help you."

"Thanks .. I'll do that.", said Rain before looking over towards the last person, who till now had been pretty quiet and unemotional. She had long, red and messy hair. Her eyes were also sharp and shared the same color as her hair. The woman seemed to have been deep in thought, but after a while, she sighed.

"I'm sorry, Maria. This wouldn't have happened if I didn't do a mistake. You got hurt and forgot your memories because of me .. I can't even look at you right now, I'm so ashamed of myself.", said the redhead with a slight tremble in her voice.

Rain tried giving her a gentle and forgiving smile, which was pretty hard since she hadn't sincerely smiled in a long time.

"It's alright. I forgive you. Please don't feel like this is your fault. I'm still alive, no ? Maybe I'll get my memories back someday."

After everyone calmed down a bit and having conversed a little bit more, Mark spoke up again.

"Guys, we should leave her alone for now. She only woke up half a hour ago. Maria should get some more rest."

And that was how it came to be, that Rain was left alone once again.

As the door closed, Rain released a shaky breath. She didn't understand why she felt so emotional … were it the emotions of the past inhabitant of this body ? Or were they truly hers- Rain did not know.

Rain sank deeper into the soft mattress, not because she wanted to sleep but because she hadn't laid in a warm bed for years.

'Friends, a younger sister ? And even what I think is my husband ? What kind of Nightmare is this ?

Rain stared at the steel ceiling of the submarine over her, the occasional rocking of the ship feeling more comfortable than she would've guessed.

'I think I should wait till the next day. They won't let me stand up yet, because they think I still need rest.'

Rain slowly shut her eyes down, calmness washing over her. But things of course couldn't have stayed as peaceful as they were now.

***

In the middle of the night, still deep underwater, Rain was suddenly startled awake by loud peeping sounds and red lights. And then, the submarine ship suddenly got hit by something and Rain was thrown out of the bed, landing painfully on her butt.

She didn't know what was happening or how much time has passed, but something was definitely wrong. The metal floor was cold, her bare toes curling slightly till they adapted to the temperature.

'What the fuck is happening ? I need to find out.'

Rain opened the door and ran into a large hallway, hearing muffled, yet loud sounds, coming from a different room.

'Damn, this ship is larger than I expected. What could shake it up like that ?'

As she started to run, the whole ship started to shake again, throwing her of her lithe feet once more. Thankfully she could stabilize herself before crashing into the ground and continue to run further.

She continued running till she entered what seemed to be the room with which you could control the ships movement. Inside, she saw everyone, Mark, John, Lilly and the redhead, whose name, she had learned, was Iris, all panicking.

"LILLY, MAKE THE SHIP MOVE LEFT ! IRIS, USE THE TURRETS TO SHOOT AT THE TARGET ! MARK, REINFORCE THE INNER WALLS !", yelled the team captain, John.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING ?", yelled Rain, to get their attention.

"We are not sure what, but something, something large, is attacking our ship. It won't stop following us, even though we have already damaged one of its eyes with a harpoon.

Before Rain could process anything or say something back, her whole body suddenly shuddered and felt colder than if she would've stood naked in Antarctica.

When she turned around, and looked outside of a large windows, her whole vision filled by a huge eye, a eye directly looking at her. Whatever it was, it slowly blinked, the iris suddenly starting to look like it had found its prey.

'I-is it after me ? No .. don't tell me that is the Nightmare Creature I need to beat. That's impossible !'

And what happened next was the worst outcome out of all. The creature turned, showing its sharp teeth, which were all the size of a man's thigh, before biting into the glass, which then started to shatter.

And then, Water started to flood the ship.