misplaced || l. valdez

4 || mari is aquaman and there are also talking horses

° ~ •. ♆ chapter four ♆ .• ~ °
"mari is aquaman and there are also talking horses"

Mari was sure she was dead. There was no way she survived a fall that far. Her corpse was probably floating down the river, waiting for some poor soul to find it.

"Open your eyyyes." someone whispered in her ear.

Mari's eyes flew open at the words. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness as she looked around for the speaker, but all she saw was a little blue fish. She looked at her hands and wiggled her fingers to try and see if she was still conscious. She saw that there were scars on them from clawing at the rocks to hold on to, but even then, she could barely call them scars, as they had started fading—almost like they were healing themselves.

She also felt way more energized than when she was on the skywalk. It was like she was ready to take on anyone or anything, and she could feel pure energy running through her veins.

"Yoo-hoo!" someone interrupted. "I'm still here. The fish." someone said. Mari yelped in fear, water filling her mouth. She started thrashing around when she realized that she'd just taken a mouthful of water. 

"Relax! Take a deep breath." the fish said. Mari just stared at it in horror. "Well then, go on."

Mari hesitantly breathed in, and instead of feeling like drowning, it was like she was back on the surface, breathing normally. That's when it hit her. She was breathing underwater.

Mari started panicking and tried swimming up, but she didn't know exactly where 'up' was. The fish just watched her flail around. "Interesting. You're the first girl in quite a while and this is how you swim? Quite interesting."

"Well, maybe my swimming technique would be perfect if I didn't just fall five hundred feet into a river!" Mari snapped. She pressed her hands to her mouth in shock. God, I really am dead, I'm speaking to a fish, she thought.

The fish swam around her, examining her. Mari felt pretty uncomfortable at this point as the fish stopped in front of her.

"You're not dead, you'll be fine." the fish proclaimed. " Just control the water to help you up."

Mari blinked at the fish. "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

The fish did nothing but stare back. Well, I'm already breathing underwater, so I guess this wouldn't be too weird. Mari didn't have any idea how to control the water, so she awkwardly raised her hand in front of her like she was a witch casting a spell. Water started to swirl around her hand, creating little bubbles.

She floated there in shock as she tried to process what she'd just done. Mari started moving her hands in circular movements around her. The water started bubbling around her, and as she brought her hands up, the water brought her up as well.

She looked around for the fish, but it had disappeared. Turning back to the sky, she put all her energy into getting back on land. Just before she broke the surface, she heard the little fish's voice one last time.

"May the luck of the seven seas be on your side, your majesty. You are our only hope."

And with that Mari's head popped out of the river as she took a breath of fresh air. She didn't think she had ever been happier. She pushed her hair out of her face, only to notice that it was still dry. She looked at her sleeves and noted that they were also dry, as if she had never fallen into the river.