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Until recently, the term 'monopoly' had been an abstraction, unworthy of his notice. Now, it churned in his gut like a sickness. Hextech… to let one entity amass such power, utterly unchecked, felt like a profound human folly. But the outcome of that thought was a shadow he ignored, for his entire world had shrunk to the luminous crystal before him. Its ethereal blue light pulsed through the room, and he felt its phantom energy already dancing on his skin. The power to grant any fantasy known to the mind.
He tuned it, the motion delicate, precise, a final adjustment to the housing unit. The crystal's hum shifted, no longer a gentle thrum but a rising, piercing whine. The light didn't just glow; it bled, searing his vision, the ethereal blue turning harsh and white-hot.
Then it exploded.
The world didn't so much shatter as it unmade itself in a silent, concussive wave of pure force. The light was the last thing he knew—not dancing on his skin, but consuming it.
---
“Honestly, I think they want to kill me.” Zeri drawled, lounging at the pool’s edge.
Caitlyn sighed. She’d heard this complaint so many times she could recite it in her sleep. Usually, it was just background noise, but today a dull throb was building at her temples. The green-haired girl wasn't the sole cause, but she was a convenient target for the frustration coiling in Caitlyn’s chest.
“For the last time, Zeri,” Caitlyn said, her voice tight. “We can’t swim there. The railing divides the pool for a reason.”
Zeri snorted. “Yeah, yeah. But why would a school even build a pool that’s twenty-five feet deep?”
Caitlyn chewed on the inside of her lip, biting back an automatic rebuttal.
“She has a point, but that’s the other side of the pool, Zeri,” Seraphine interjected, offering a faint, placating smile. Bless you, Sera. “But… I do get it. Intrusive thoughts are a real struggle.”
“Huh?! Who said I was having—"
“You’re literally Zeri.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Can we just focus?” Caitlyn’s tone was chilling. Zeri rolled her eyes; Seraphine simply chuckled.
Then Maddie spoke up. “Yeah, let’s focus… says the one who actually swam down there.”
“I know, right? What was she thinking, if not an intrusive thought?” Zeri beamed, seizing on the new target.
Caitlyn tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, the motion sharp and hoping it wasn’t as aggressive as it felt.
“Yeah, Cait,” Maddie pressed. “Why did you go down there?”
Caitlyn swallowed hard, feeling the weight of six pairs of eyes on her skin. “It’s just… concerning how eager you all are to swim there. I’m starting to fear for your safety.”
“Do ya know a phrase called ‘intrusive thoughts’?” Zeri interjected. “And you’re deflecting.”
Caitlyn’s gaze was drawn back to the line in the pool, the same spot she had been staring at for the past twenty minutes. The sight sent her heart rate spiking. It was vacant. Her eyes darted across the water, searching for the one occupant she couldn't find...her girlfriend.
Where the hell are you, Jinx?
“It’s not like I want to go there, maybe it’s because gravity is stronger there.” Maddie said. Caitlyn’s eyes swept across the pool; her girlfriend had been playing hard to get for almost a week. The rest of their chatter faded into a dull, distant hum. Caitlyn’s entire focus was laser-locked on the empty, rippling surface of the deep end. Her heart hammered against her ribs. Where is she?
Then she saw it.
A flicker of movement in the water, right at the edge where the safety railing divided the turquoise shallows from the dark, abyssal blue of the twenty-foot drop. A pale, slender face, haloed by strands of electric-blue hair, broke the surface for a single, fleeting second. Jinx. And on her lips was a smug smirk, her eyes glinting.
The air left Caitlyn’s lungs in a sharp exhale. She wasted no time.
In one fluid, powerful motion, she was at the pool’s edge and then diving forward, her body slicing into the water with barely a splash. The shock of the plunge was disorienting, the chill seizing her skin, the sudden, heavy silence enveloping her ears, muffling the world above into nothing. The vibrant turquoise of the poolside light fractured into a thousand dancing shards around her.
She drove herself downward, powerful kicks propelling her into the deepening gloom. The pressure built instantly, a cold, insistent weight squeezing her chest and pressing in on her eardrums. Sunlight from the surface faded, the water turning from a bright cerulean to a murky, cool indigo. With every foot she descended, the world grew quieter, heavier, the playful reflections above replaced by the vast, dark expanse of the pool's deepest trench.
And there, just at the edge of that darkness, she saw her. A pale, lithe form, suspended in the blue silence, her hair floating around her like a phantom’s crown. Jinx was waiting, that infuriating, captivating smirk still playing on her lips, her eyes daring Caitlyn to follow her even deeper.
Caitlyn pushed harder, the burning in her lungs a secondary concern to the overwhelming sensation of pursuit, the cold water caressing her skin like a possessive lover as she went after her girlfriend.
Her arms sliced through the water, trying to disengage the unshakable embrace and pressure that cornered her body. Jinx was still far away but she was getting closer with every stroke Caitlyn took, her thoughts—the rational part—gnawing at her on how foolish this was...but how frantic it was… the loudness was drowned by the water settling into a faint throb.
The lactic acid in Caitlyn's arms piled up as she increased her pace. Her girlfriend paid no yield as she swam deeper... downwards, but Caitlyn was taller and faster; she could reach Jinx's ankle if she stretched out enough and she did, wrapping her fingers around the thin ankle and pulled back with all her strength, resisting the pull down, the burn in her arms.
The water resisted, a thick, heavy medium fighting her every move. But Caitlyn’s determination was stronger. Her fingers, burning with lactic acid, pulled back with all her strength, muscles screaming in protest against the downward momentum and the water's drag.
In a surge of displaced water and tangled limbs, Jinx was wrenched backward. Caitlyn didn't let go, using the force to reel her in, twisting until they were face-to-face in the silent, blue world. She wrapped her arms around Jinx’s torso, pinning her flailing arms, locking her in an unyielding embrace.
Caitlyn glared, her blue eyes blazing with a fury that was equal parts anger and sheer, unadulterated terror. The message was clear: What were you thinking?
Jinx’s eyes, wide with surprise, crinkled at the corners. A stream of bubbles erupted from her lips as she laughed, the sound a silent, mocking tremor in the water. The arrogance of it, the sheer Jinx of it, to laugh in the face of her own recklessness. But the laughter was her undoing. It stole the last of her air, the precious oxygen she had been holding. Her amusement vanished, replaced by panic as her body reflexively tried to inhale, and water choked her instead.
Seeing the shift, the smugness wiped away by genuine distress, Caitlyn’s anger evaporated, replaced by a primal, protective instinct. She didn’t hesitate.
She crushed her mouth to Jinx’s.
It was not a gentle kiss. It was a desperate, life-giving transfer. The sensation was electric and strangely intimate amidst the chaos. The coolness of Jinx’s lips against her own, the way Jinx initially tried to gasp against them, and then the sudden, pliant surrender as Caitlyn breathed out, pushing a stream of her own warm, vital air from her lungs into Jinx’s. The water around their faces stilled for a moment, the last of the bubbles from Jinx's choked laugh fading away, leaving only the profound connection of shared breath in the deep, silent dark.
Behind the tentacles of her girlfriend’s hair Caitlyn saw a faint glowing light, it was a clean blue shard, throbbing with light. She stretched her hand towards it, even with the water as a barrier Caitlyn still felt the sensation of the shard on her hand, like a snowflake giving out on contact but it was opposite with the shard, the warmth gave way for an icy cold.
This was the second time today Caitlyn had encountered it, the first was this morning when she crossed the school gate, the blue fading light which looked like a snowflake ran through her arm like a droplet.
She knew that light and had seen it somewhere, but her memories were currently flooded so Caitlyn ignored it; her attention returned to her girlfriend as the light faded away.
Caitlyn broke off the sweet, soft kiss; her girlfriend sighed, pressing herself into Caitlyn as if to merge their bodies. The taller girl ran her fingers on the slick, grainy surface of her girlfriend’s bare back. Her hands slid downward to the small of Jinx’s bare waist and pulled her closer; the smaller girl made it easier, wrapping herself around the taller girl. Caitlyn saw bubbles swaying around them; she wanted to know who was the source…which of them was running out of air but….instead she ran her lips at the crook of Jinx’s slick neck, down to her collarbone which looked translucent in the water light. The small peaks of Jinx’s chest pressed against Caitlyn; a shuddering sigh escaped Jinx, a stream of bubbles tickling past Caitlyn’s ear.
She moved lower to the smaller girl’s chest, her teeth found one of the peaks; it felt cold at the tips of her tongue. The roaring in her ears set off an alarm that seemed biological, but the song of the water was so calming and hard to ignore; it felt exciting, a warm feeling that blossomed in her stomach and ran downwards.
Her teeth nibbled on the softness, which was getting harder with every bite; the fingers of the girl wrapped around her clawed deep into Caitlyn’s scalp. Caitlyn's hand slipped towards the core of the smaller girl; the movement caused the girl to break from Caitlyn. A gasp left Caitlyn’s mouth but instead of air coming out, water only dived in. The girl giggled, her eyes looked translucent and full.
The girl pushed down, towards the dark, that Caitlyn didn’t remember being there. She knew what the other girl's descent towards the dark meant.
If you want me, come….
And oh… Caitlyn wanted her so bad, that the lead feeling in her lungs was a flick.
Caitlyn pushed downward into the vastness of the water; she felt so small against it. Each stroke against it sent her closer to the plunging girl, whose pale skin was lit up against the darkness. Her first contact with the girl was her feet, which were joined together as if they are one, but parted, inviting Caitlyn. She took the invite by sliding against the slick skin of the girl’s inner thighs, which wasn’t wet only because of the water.
They were plunging faster and deeper into the dark, the blackness itself a core of gravitational pull, but Caitlyn didn’t pay mind to it; her focus was on the core of the other girl. Caitlyn’s world had shrunk to the space between Jinx’s thighs, to the intoxicating heat that called to her through the cool water. Her hands tightened on Jinx’s hips, anchoring her, as she lowered her head.
Her tongue found its target with a desperate, claiming hunger.
The very center of Jinx’s being was impossibly, burning hot against the chill of the water. Caitlyn’s tongue delved into that slick, intricate softness, a flat, firm stroke that made Jinx’s entire body jolt.
Caitlyn focused all her attention there, on that single, perfect point. Her tongue became an explorer. She traced the swollen folds, learning their texture, their resistance, the way they yielded to her. She circled the hardened nub at the apex, once, twice, teasing.
Then she focused on it completely.
She flattened her tongue and lapped at it, a slow, dragging pressure that was anything but gentle. Jinx’s back arched; Caitlyn could feel the violent shiver that racked her frame, transmitted through the water and into her own body. She did it again, and again, each pass of her tongue more insistent, more demanding.
She sealed her lips around it, sucking, and the response was thrilling. Jinx’s hands fisted in her hair, pulling, as if she were trying to fuse them together. Her hips began to buck against Caitlyn’s face.
Caitlyn was relentless. She drank her in, the taste a maddening mix of salt, skin, and something uniquely Jinx. The water carried the faint, musky scent of her arousal, and it was the only air Caitlyn needed. She felt Jinx tightening around nothing, her inner muscles clenching in anticipation.
With a precise, deliberate surge, Caitlyn plunged her tongue as deep as it would go, then returned to that hypersensitive nub, flicking it rapidly, insistently, with the very tip.
It was the final key to a lock she knew so well.
Jinx’s climax was a silent explosion. Her body seized, back bowing violently; Caitlyn could even picture the silent, soundless, open-mouthed cry stolen by the water. A series of convulsions wracked her, intense and uncontrollable, her core pulsing wildly against Caitlyn’s relentless tongue, drawing out every last shudder, every last tremor. They both stayed adrift for a moment before the girl’s legs unclenched from around Caitlyn’s head; she twisted and pressed her legs together, into a line. They went downward and her head came up to Caitlyn’s.
The girl smiled, the sharp edges of her teeth quite visible against the dark. Her hand found Caitlyn’s waist; she slid lower, her finger firm against the midriff of Caitlyn’s swimsuit. The girl’s surprisingly sharp fingernail traced the lines of Caitlyn’s swimsuit, running down past her bellybutton, downwards towards the center of Caitlyn’s thighs.
The chill of the water was forgotten, replaced by the heat stoked deep within her core. Caitlyn felt a shiver of raw anticipation. The girl’s hand, pale and deliberate, hovered at the hem of Caitlyn’s swimsuit bottoms. Her sharp fingernail traced the elastic band where it met the sensitive skin of Caitlyn’s hip.
The girl’s eyes, wide and luminous, held Caitlyn’s. Her smirk had softened into something more primal, more possessive. She hooked a single finger under the fabric, and with a slow pressure, she began to pull it down.
The water resisted, the suit clinging to Caitlyn’s wet skin, but Jinx was persistent. The fabric slid down an inch, then two, exposing the pale curve of Caitlyn’s pelvis. The cool water kissed the newly bared skin, an instant contrast to the heat blooming beneath. Caitlyn’s breath hitched, another precious bubble of air escaping her lips.
Finally, the suit was pushed down just enough. Jinx’s hand slipped inside.
The first finger pressed against her, a single point of insistent pressure. Caitlyn’s hips gave a minute, involuntary jerk. The girl obliged, sliding the first digit into her with a smooth, unhurried glide. Caitlyn’s body accepted it, her inner muscles fluttering a welcome around the intrusion. The intruder began to move in a steady pace, mapping out the tunnel of Caitlyn’s lust.
Before the rhythm could even be established, she felt the nudge of a second. The girl pressed the tip alongside the first, a promise of greater fullness. Caitlyn stilled for a fraction of a second, her body stretching to accommodate the burning stretch as the second finger slid deep, joining the first. Now the fullness was profound. Her hips bucked, jerking on their own accord, twisting the twin invaders against the slick tunnel that was trying to hold them in place from retracting and residing back in.
The girl’s eyes, glowing in the gloom, watched her with fierce possession. Caitlyn was lost in the sensation, her world the slide and push within her, when she felt the impossible pressure of a third. A soundless gasp was torn from her. This was a threshold, a stretch that bordered on pain, but the fire in her belly craved it. She didn't pull away. Instead, she bore down, her body arching, riding the slow, inexorable push as the girl worked the third finger into her impossibly tight, slick heat.
The feeling was overwhelming. She was filled, stretched, claimed. Her previous movements were mere preamble. Now, with three fingers buried to the hilt inside her, the girl began to drive deep into her core with a claiming purpose. Her hips yielded, rolled and bucked, each downward thrust taking them deeper, each rise a torturous withdrawal. The fingers curled, tapping and grinding against devastating spots Caitlyn herself hadn’t even discovered, chasing the friction that burned at her very center.
The girl moved closer to Caitlyn, pressing their lips together, the joint airways didn’t give room for air it only made the flow of water faster. Caitlyn’s lips parted for the girl’s tongue, which was firm and strong against Caitlyn’s which quivered and went along the pace set by the girl’s.
The kiss made water intake faster not just from the water surrounding them but from the girl’s mouth, Caitlyn became overwhelmed, her irises rolled up, her head snapping backwards, not because of her disorientation but from the pull on her scalp as the girl’s hand clawed and pulling.
She broke off the kiss, her lips found the frantic pulse of Caitlyn’s neck, nibbling and sucking in an agonizingly slow pace, that didn’t match the ever-increasing pace of the three digits deep inside her core. Caitlyn moaned or at least attempted to, her opened mouth only allowed the steady flow of water into her. Settling in her stomach, clashing against the heat that was blazing down her abdomen.
The conflictung pressure and pleasure built from that deep, internal friction until it could no longer be contained. A desperate slam of her hips sent her over the edge, taking every millimeter of the girl’s fingers. Caitlyn climaxed. Her body seized, a silent, arching convulsion around the hand that filled her, her core pulsing in waves that overwhelmed Caitlyn completely, leaving her spent against the water that enveloped her.
The world was a muffled, blue silence. As the last shudders of her climax faded, leaving her limbs heavy and pliant, the girl drifted closer. Her eyes, wide and luminous, held a deep light that didn't just reflect the water but seemed to generate their own. Her skin, always pale, now had an almost opalescent sheen, as if tiny, translucent scales caught the faint light.
A stream of bubbles, formed into silent words, left the girl's lips. "I wish you would come with me."
The words sent a jolt through Caitlyn’s spent body, a primal alarm that had nothing to do with passion. Suddenly, the reality of her situation crashed down. Her lungs were a leaden weight in her chest, burning with the need for air she had long since spent. Her stomach felt unnaturally full, heavy with swallowed water. A deep, aching cold had settled into her joints, making them feel stiff and alien.
Yet, the beguilement was a physical throb between her thighs, a direct line to the pleasure that had just unmade her. Pushing against the crushing pressure, Caitlyn drifted closer, until their bodies almost touched. Her voice was a thought, a desperate, water-choked intention. "I want to follow you."
The girl’s smile was sudden, brilliant, and terrifyingly familiar. It was Jinx’s smile, but sharper, edged with a wild, oceanic vastness. She brought her hands up, hands that now seemed too large, their slender fingers possessing an undeniable, otherworldly strength, and cradled Caitlyn’s face. The kiss she pressed to Caitlyn’s lips was not one of air, but of pure, chilling finality, tasting of salt and deep water and something impossibly old. As she broke away, her lips brushed Caitlyn’s, and she whispered into the water, the words vibrating directly into Caitlyn’s very being. "Of course you do."
---
The light returned with a violent, spinning vertigo. A harsh, grating sound filled her ears—her own coughs, raw and racking, as water spewed from her mouth and nose. Her body was wracked with convulsions, her stomach cramping around the liquid weight inside it. The bright, distorted shapes of faces and the high ceiling of the natatorium swirled above her. Panicked voices, sharp and unintelligible, cut through the roaring in her ears.
Her lungs burned, each gasp a searing pain. Every joint was stiff, her body a leaden, aching thing. Strong arms slid under her, lifting her from the cold, hard tile. Someone was screaming, the words blurring together into one frantic command: "...get her to the infirmary now!"
The world tilted, the lights streaking into long, blinding lines before everything narrowed into a pinpoint of pain and disorientation, and then, mercifully, into blackness.
---
Caitlyn woke to the sterile smell of antiseptic. She was lying in a narrow bed, stiff white sheets pulled up to her chest. Pale afternoon light filtered through the blinds of the school infirmary. Her body felt hollowed out and sore, her throat raw, the memory of water still a phantom pressure in her lungs and a cold, deep ache in her bones. She was awake. She was alive. And the memory of the deep, the girl, and the kiss…
She lay motionless for a long while, simply taking inventory of the solid world. The dry, even flow of air into her lungs. The way the afternoon light fell in dusty stripes across the floor. The firm, unyielding presence of the mattress beneath her. This was the surface. This was real.
Then, a faint rustle from under the bed broke the sterile stillness.
Caitlyn shifted her head weakly on the pillow, turning towards the sound. A few errant strands of electric-blue hair appeared first, followed by the glint of a single, violet eye peeking from the shadowed space beneath the bedframe. The eyeliner around it was a shattered, runny mess, streaked by something wet. Slowly, Jinx slid out and onto the bed, moving over Caitlyn with a fluid motion to settle on the other side, tucked against the wall.
Caitlyn’s mind was a tangle of relief, confusion, and the lingering chill of the deep. She opened her mouth, but the words knotted in her raw throat, refusing to form.
Jinx spoke first, her voice a low, shaky whisper that cut through the silence.
“Idiot.” She breathed out, Caitlyn flinched slightly, expecting to hear the words differently. “Idiot, stupid, dramatic idiot…” The venom in her tone was immersive.
Caitlyn’s response was instinctual. She unwrapped one heavy arm and slid it around Jinx’s torso, pulling her closer. For a moment, Jinx remained rigid, then she melted into the embrace... Caitlyn pressed her face into Jinx's hair, forcing the memory away, the memory of how that body, seconds ago, had possessed a cold authority. Where did that come from? The question vanished as Jinx leaned towards her grip
“You were playing hard to get,” Caitlyn whispered the first foolish syllables that came to mind, her lips brushing the shell of Jinx’s ear, the words an attempt to bridge the chasm between the dream and this reality.
“Really?!” Jinx tried to jerk free, a flash of that old fire returning, but Caitlyn’s grip, weakened as she was, tightened with a surprising firmness. Jinx stilled, and they lay like that, tangled together in the quiet infirmary. Caitlyn focused on the calming warmth seeping from her girlfriend’s body, a stark contrast to the memory of opalescent, cool skin. She didn't care if the door opened. She didn't care about anything else. Only this.
“Now I’m curious,” Jinx murmured after a long while, her voice quieter now.
“About what?”
“How long you can hold your breath.”
Jinx turned then, fully facing her. There was no difference between this face and the one from the water—the same sharp angles, the same intense eyes, except for the wetness that made the other translucent.
“Me too,” Caitlyn replied, her voice husky.
A slight part of her lips was all the invitation her girlfriend needed. She leaned in, a firm, soft pressure that sealed the pathway to her lungs, a futile, stupid attempt to mark out the empty box of an intrusive thought.