Making it out

"Cough* S-save me!" The voice began to be clearer to Ellia.

 Although the figure was dark, Ellia was able to tell it was me just from the voice.

Reaching out to the panicking May, she lifted her head out of the water. When she did, May coughed up all of the salt water out of her lungs.

"S-second lieutenant…" May mumbled when she noticed Ellia.

"What happened?" Ellia asked.

"I just got a bit tired and lost my flow… I'm sorry."

"Don't mention it, but we need to hurry back," Ellia said, pulling in May's collar and beginning to swim back to Aerie.

A few minutes later, they both finally arrived back.

"A-Ah!" Aerie's face lit up when she saw Ellia swimming her way. "You came back."

"Well, what did you expect?" Ellia chuckled while accepting Aerie's hug.

"May?" Aerie said, glancing behind Ellia's shoulder.

"Hey…" May replied with a thin smile.

"W-what happened to everyone else?" Aerie questioned.

"I don't know… but they shouldn't be far," May answered.

'Ruth, you have any idea?' Ellia asked, hopping to get something good.

"Yes, I do, but it's both good news and bad news," Ruth replied. "Which one do you want to hear first?"

'Give me the good one.'

"Alright, so the good news is that I know where Beyoncé is currently, but the bad news is that everyone is drifting off course."

Everyone was tired and worn out, so it was pretty normal for them to lose seance of direction.

'Okay, that's really bad.' Ellia thought.

"Your best choice is to get everyone together and move as a group." Ruth voiced her opinion.

'Yea, that sounds like the most reasonable choice." Ellia agreed.

Then the system interface that Ellia hadn't since forever popped up in her vision. In it showed a green reader graph about ten miles in length and width.

And around the bottom middle were three dots which she guessed to be her, May, and Aerie.

However, a little further up was another dot, about a quarter mile. It wasn't too far for them.

"Alright, girls… we're going to move now. Stick close, May." Then grabbing onto Aerie, they started to make their way toward the dot.

It was Levi, tiredly swimming in weariness.

"Oi!" Ellia called out.

"Huh?" Levi softly mumbled while turning around.

…

Then came Alex was more than happy to see Ellia.

The third was Owen, that was more or less exhilarating to see everyone.

 The fourth was Alex, confused at why everyone was together but still joined, nevertheless.

Then finally came Mike.

"What are y'all doing together." He asked with a face of uncertainty. "Are you certain we can do something like this?"

"But the real question is if the direction you were going was the right way," Ellia said back. "But either way, there wasn't a saying we couldn't do so."

"Fair enough," Mike said, then joined the group. But as they were about to continue, they were stopped from behind.

"Hey, can't we get a break or something?!" May shouted from behind Ellia's back. Ales and Levi also nodded silently. They agreed with May.

Seeing the stares fall upon themselves, Ellia and Mike both looked at Issac.

"Of course," Issac said, causing a sigh of relief from everyone else.

Then taking a deep breath, everyone inflated their lungs to the fullest and let themselves float on top of the water. This was their way of taking a rest.

While relaxing their whole body, everyone's eyes naturally drifted toward the starry sky, their eyes dazing from the countless stars that illuminated the ocean surface.

The night sky was void of any fog that undermined its true beauty.

"I haven't said this before, so…" Ellia spoke while looking over to May. "Welcome to squad 32."

Issac, who heard Ellia's words, smiled. Indeed they hadn't adequately accepted May to the team.

"Oh please…" May smiled, then lifted her right hand out of the salty water. "Magic is forbidden, but I hope this motivates you all."

A tiny gold spark was created at the plan of May's hand in an instant. Creating the only spec of light in the calm ocean.

The gold spark in May's hand began to grow. With each second, the slack got bigger and bigger until it reached the size of a basketball.

Then gently lifting her hand into the air, the golden spark shot up into the sky faster than a firework and exploded brighter than any firework.

Each explosion turned into a wave of colorful sparks, enjoyable to anyone's eyes.

A slight curve formed at the edge of Ellia's mouth when she gazed at the sight before her.

It was enough to lighten Ellia's mood, so it was obvious to say everyone's mood was softened.

Even James was watching everything with a pair of binoculars and with a joyous smile.

————-

Ten minutes before the one-hour mark, everyone caught a glimpse of a fishing boat not too far away, but the only thing that made it visible was the several lightbulbs that hung around the boat.

Swimming a bit closer to the boat, Ellia noticed several unfamiliar faces occupying the fishing boat with James.

There were three people in medical clothing, signifying that they were some sort of combat medic. Upon closer expectation, Ellia realized there was another woman in a full black suit.

The round silver lenses around her eyes seemed a little too big for her. Smooth skin coupled with light blonde hair cut into a rough shag. Both her arms were crossed, and the wrinkles between her two big eyes signaled anxiousness.

James was right behind his woman with a look of displeasure. Anyone could tell from his expression that he didn't want this woman here.

"See Kayle, they all got here safely," James said while resting his arms on the railings of the fishing boat.

"Shut up!" Kayle shouted back. "I sent you here to tone down your cruel training methods, but it somehow got worse!"

"That's not my problem. I've way more interesting younglings here."

"Haaa... it's my fault for thinking you would go easy on kids...." Kayle sighed and turned her attention to the ocean water. "Get them out of the water."

"Yes, ma'am!"