Heroes Versus Villains

Beach Day

"Lily! You coming or what?"

"Yeah, in a sec!"

Lily had to clean up after her lazy and messy friends. She was left alone up by the cooler, bags and towels to pack up lunch's leftovers. Lily was upset about this, but not too much. Though she was the one who found this secluded beach and invited them, she had to wait to have fun in the water. The shrieks of joy coming from her friends made her irritated.

"Lily! Come on!"

Lily spun around and yelled back, "Hold on just a second, I have to clean up after your mess!" Laughter ensued from her other friends. "Don't be laughing at her, it was all your faults!" The laughter ceased and the fun restarted after a moment of silence. Lily was almost done cleaning.

Once finished, Lily looked into her bag for her "secret weapon" - A squirt gun. Her friends hated squirt guns. She found a spot to hide it in her swimsuit and ran out into the water.

"Finally!" Said one of her friends.

"Oh shut up," Lily retaliated.

As her friends around her were busy playing, Lily reached down and started to fill up the plastic pistol water gun. Once it was full, Lily said, "Hey, everyone!" Her friends ceased play and looked to Lily. "I just want to say thank you all for being my friends," a common "aww" echoed through the crowd. "And as a gift for being my friends... I got you all this!" Lily whipped out the pistol and began shooting a small stream of water towards her friends, and as reaction they all began shrieking and running away, pleading to stop but laughing all the same. Some of her friends splashed water back at Lily, but it didn't phase her in the least.

The group partied late into the night. They had brought all that they needed; Food, Snacks, Water Toys, Towels, Music and, of course, Alcohol. They planned on one fun night.

As it began getting dark the bottles were opened and the glasses were filled (and emptied) a few times. The music was blaring and the fun didn't stop. They played games, danced, talked, and all around forgot that anything bad had happened at all. None of them wanted to go back into the water, it was too dark and cold. But a few minutes after this shared feeling was announced, Lily stood.

"I want to go swimming! In the dark!" She said, loudly, trying to speak over the music.

A moment's silence and exchanged looks among the friends followed this statement. Then cheering. Lily was so certain this was a good idea. She started running down to the water, nothing could stop her. The music and her friend's cheering behind her seemed to be pushing her forward.

She ran into the water, the ice cold liquid seemingly piercing her skin. She kept running. The water came up to her navel, stabbing repeatedly. She began to swim. The water was up to her neck. She kept swimming. The music and cheering got fainter and fainter. Silence took their place. Then the soothing splash of water against itself and Lily - The piercing, burning cold water. Nothing could phase Lily. But... Why? It didn't make sense. Lily got tired and she couldn't think straight. Her eyes shut. The cold surrounded every inch of her body. She slowly relaxed and seemingly floated in a cold and burning eternity. She lost feeling. She let go of her last breath.

Lily opened her eyes to a bright light. It made her recoil, groan, and squint. It took a few, seemingly endless, minutes for her eyes to adjust. The light came from a window directly in front of her face. The curtains were slightly apart, letting in the blinding white light shine on her face.

Lily sat up and rubbed her eyes, stretched, and looked around. She felt groggy. Her eyes would barely stay open. She was more tired than she can remember. A splitting headache formed right behind her eyes and stretched to her temples. Lily groaned.

"Oh, damn," she said, pain obvious in her tone.

Standing up, Lily observed the room around her. Very unfamiliar, it looked neat, clean. The walls were white, no paintings or posters hung on it. She was lying on a bland couch. Underneath it was a rug of polygonal patterns. Next to the couch was a very simple wooden table which a vase of roses sat upon. Opposite of the couch was the one window in the room. To the wall right of the window was the one door in the room.

Lily decided to go through the door. It was that, stay in the room, or take the chance of falling from multiple stories up. At this point she assumed a friend had taken her to their house. Twisting the knob, Lily walked into more blinding light.

Once her eyes adjusted and stranger and even more I familiar scene was in front of her. She was now outside. The light coming from the sun high up in the sky. She looked down and saw the bright green grass under her feet - and it was at this moment she realized she was still wearing her swimsuit.

Lilly's ears felt weird, like they were full of something or like they needed to pop. There was no sound. No wind, no birds. The air felt dead. The grass couldn't be more alive. It creeped Lily out.

Surrounding this scene was a tall wooden fence, so tall no one could peek over it. Nothing but the sun was in the sky. Opposite Lily was a beautiful building, bright white and elaborate, a mansion of sorts. What lied in front of Lily was a large pool built into the ground, outlined in a frame of cement and tile.

Looking at the still water made Lily incredibly uncomfortable. A shiver went down her spine. The water began to move. Its waves splashed very slightly, making very little mess. This seemed to bother Lily even more. There was no wind, how was the water moving?

"Hello, Natalia," said a very smooth and soft voice. Lily was frightened, she did not understand where the voice was coming from nor how it knew her real name.

"Who's there?" Lily asked with worry.

"No need to be alarmed," the voice surrounded Lily, "I will not hurt you."

"How can I trust you?"

"You do not have a reason to trust me, other than I am your only chance of leaving this place." The voice had a point.

"What do you want?"

The water moved more intense. It splashed up on the surface and got Lily's feet a little wet. It began to swirl around, making a whirlpool, then went inverted. The water started to rise, making an upside down water tornado. It swayed left from right spinning wildly. The water's shape began to morph, and eventually took the faintest shape of a woman. Lily was terrified.

"I want you."

Lily was immortally confused. "What do you mean?"

The liquid hand of this woman reached out and smiled at Lily. She had no choice but to take it. It felt like a normal hand. Lily's senses were betraying her.

"You will be my Protector. I will give you amazing abilities. And it is your job to keep balance. With the help of water, you will help existence."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

The woman was not phased by Lily's outburst. "I am giving you the ability to control water and anything having to do with it. With this power you are given the responsibility to protect the balance. It is not to destroy evil. It is to balance the amount of Evil with the amount of Good. Do you understand?" Her voice was so smooth.

"I... I think I understand. But... What... Why? How?"

The woman merely giggled and placed her other hand on Lily's head. Lily understood everything. The smile on the watery woman was the last image before closing her eyes once again.

Opening them, Lily was in the middle of a pitch black ocean, deep under the surface. In front of her was a blinding light sphere, glowing a bright blue. Lily's eyes adjusted and saw a strange symbol, that of a wave. Touching the orb, the light infused into Lily. The orb disappeared.

She spun around and shot straight out of the water, into the air, sitting on a fountain spurt. Lily smirked.

No, she thought, 'Lily' is such a lame name for this. She thought hard.

"That's it," she said, "While in this form I will be known as Aubrii, Queen of the Sea."

"Well, Aubrii," came a voice from behind her. Aubrii spun around  to see a blonde man flying with a jetpack. "I'd like to speak with you."