A World Once Familiar, Redux (Splatoon/Subnautica x Male Reader)

3: A Watery Hellscape

Thank you for granting this desperate girl her only request, Y/n L/n. Survive, please.

~Ashley Durnham

A loud, rough sniffle filled the room as your eyes scanned over the name of the messages writer. A bunched up fist brushed aside a loose tear, and you looked up from the PDA. A locker...

There, behind the ladder. You pushed off of the floor, looking down at a door that closed off the lifepods storage system. It opened easily, sparing only a click when you dug your fingers under the handle before it slid open, revealing a few items.

A few flares, a large bottle of water, a nutrient block, and what you had been promised: a rubber jumpsuit, diving helmet, gloves, and a pair of flippers. Ashley had spared no expense in ensuring you would be able to make it through this.

"...Right." The process was slow and the suit was tight, but you were able to suit up. The jumpsuit covered every square inch of your body, even the hands you would be further protecting with gloves, leaving only a slot for your face.

You had never had to deal with this feeling, but it was weird. This jumpsuit was skin-tight, hugging your body in ways that felt downright uncomfortable to think about. If your body was uncomfortable enough, your hair was almost distressingly compressed by the entire thing, forced to press against the sides of your head and your back. Any items you had previously held needed to be dumped into that locker just so they wouldn't be digging into your skin.

Over your feet, a pair of large flippers were slotted, securely fastened on to ensure some kind of mobility in these waters. Over your hands, a pair of gloves to help your grip and prevent anything sharp from cutting your suit and securing a hasty demise.

Finally, to finish off what would keep you alive in these hostile waters, a helmet was wiggled onto your head, completely sealing you off. If you had decided to wear your hair any differently than you did now, letting it run down the sides and back of your head, it might've proven an issue in fitting. Not that it mattered here. Now, you were waterproof.

Okay... you would be safe now. You just needed to do it. You just needed to take the dip.

Air hissed as you bent down to twist open the lower hatch, lifting it to the sight of the blue waters below. You were safe, you had the rubber suit on. You wouldn't die. You wouldn't die...

Cautiously, you lowered a single foot into the waters. It was submerged. It was cold. You were alive.

Slowly, one foot became the whole leg. Then both legs, as you sat down on the edge. Your legs were in the water, and not dissolving. You could kick them, and feel the water shift below you. You just needed to bunch up the courage to go all the way.

Slowly, you took deep breath in. At it's apex, you pushed forward, and took the dive.

...

The previous time you had woken up in this room, it had been slowly, peacefully. Your mind did not spare you that same pleasure this time.

"...—GAH—!?" A flinch and a lurch accompanied your strangled shout as you flailed in the large blankets over you, tangling yourself in the initial struggle against some imaginary foe.