MAGO - Stardust Crusaders X OC

Chapter Twenty-Six: Thursday, December 29

As the group swam diagonally upwards, following the seafloor, Sana couldn't help but feel so small and insignificant, but in the best way. The environment was lightening, and the sea floor was alive with creatures, fish, coral; things Sana didn't know the name for but was sure Jotaro would. And, to be honest, she'd almost managed to forget about the High Priestess. It was absolutely breathtaking down here - and quite literally would be, if she wasn't wearing her scuba gear.

"Wow, look at how beautiful it is down here! This would've been a spectacular place to visit on vacation," Polnareff said, and Sana could hear the smile in his voice. He'd echoed her thoughts. It'd be nice to come back here someday, and reminisce, when she got old, like 'oh, remember the time we almost got killed by a coffee cup and so had to abandon the submarine but came scuba diving? Yeah, that was so fun'. It was a stupid idea, but Sana kind of liked it anyway.

"It really is wonderful," Sana said. "Maybe I'll come back someday. Reminisce about possessed, shape-shifting coffee cups."

"This isn't time to plan your next getaway," Mr Joestar said. "We have to surface before we run out of oxygen."

"Do you think we're safe?" Noriaki asked, as rational as ever. It wasn't like it wasn't a valid concern, but it was just... amusing, given the previous conversation.

"I'd say so. The High Priestess can take the form of metals and glass, not bubbles or fish, so I doubt it'll come after us," Mr Avdol said. Sana grinned as best as she could with the regulator. So they could enjoy the views and not worry about getting attacked. That was good. Finally, maybe, they could relax, and pretend that they weren't constantly fleeing for their lives.

"Just keep your eyes peeled. If it pursues us, it'll probably transform into one of the screws on our gear to do it. Be careful of moving pebbles and stones, too," Mr Joestar said.

"But we heard the speargun," Sana said. "It wouldn't have transferred to us. The timing doesn't match up. The stuff on the seabed, though..." that much was anyone's guess. Sana decided to swim a little higher, close to the dappled light on the surface of the water.

"Look up there! I think it's the sea tunnel," Mr Avdol said, pointing ahead of them. Sana looked, and yes, that looked more or less like it. She'd never seen a sea tunnel. She wouldn't really know, but it looked okay. Like a tunnel, funnily enough, and given that it was in the sea, the logic checked out. That was their destination.

Mr Joestar checked a device, then nodded. "We're at seven metres. We've finally reached the Egyptian shore!"

Sana suddenly felt a lot lighter. It had been a month, and they were only seven metres away from their destination. Soon.

"We can swim along these rocks to get to the surface!" Mr Avdol said, pointing to a rocky mass below them. Sana looked at it. The rocks opened their eyes.

The last thought Sana had before getting pulled down was 'wait a minute, rocks don't have eyes-?'. But now there was a ferocious tide dragging her down, further back, away from the shore, to a place that would've been a mouth if this really was a face, but rocks didn't have eyes nor faces, and faces meant-

"How did she get here?" Sana yelled, desperately flinging her limbs around in an attempt to save herself from the inevitability of it all. She was getting thrown around, and she didn't even know which way was up, only where away was-

"It's merged with the sea floor and now it's gargantuan!" Mr Avdol said. Noriaki screamed as he got pulled into the gaping mouth that Sana now knew was a mouth, and she could barely fight any more, her limbs hurt and the High Priestess's teeth loomed ever-nearer, inevitable-