ii
Submarine Staccato
There are many questions one must ask themselves to discover who they are. For many people, they know these answers from birth. Others take their time in discovering these answers. Some are given these answers from their parents or perhaps their friends. Why the very universe itself can answer many of one's questions if they're attuned enough with their world. For our heroes, finding out who they are can sometimes take more than a few questions. Let us start small and start from where we last left our protagonists.

"Who are you?" is often the most important question to ask oneself. When our hero, Doctor Beth Bison, asks herself in the mirror "who are you?", she asks herself this not because she doesn't actually remember who she is, but so she can respond, "I'm a bleeding doctor!"

Surprisingly, she finds herself saying this to herself at this very moment whilst pounding at the doors of the medical bay.

"Help! Open the doors! I'm a bleeding doctor!" Beth yells, her hands stain the white medbay doors with blood as she bangs her fists on the door. They return themselves to Beth's leg, applying pressure to a seriously grizzly scrape from falling across the flight of stairs below the pilot deck. The doors fling open and Beth is met by the ice-cold stare of her older sister, Dr. Prue Bison - Doctor in Surgical Medicine & Marine Biologist. The two pairs of dark brown eyes meet each other, one beckoning to be taken into safety while the other contemplates how easily this would make herself an only child once again. Those pair of eyes give a sigh before helping Beth inside.

“Careful, there’s glass on the floor.” Prue says, helping a limping Beth into the medbay. The room is small and adorned with glass cupboards and drawers. All are broken and, as Prue previously mentioned, remain on the med bay floor. “What do you need?”

“What do you need?” is a great example of another important question to ask oneself. Prue remembers asking this eagerly to her patients all throughout her intern years. During her residency, she’d asked it amongst her fellow doctors with a sense of urgency as her patient fell down deeper into the spiral of nonexistence. Her eyes redden from the tears welling in her eyes and her voice pleading like a child to their mother, wanting their broken toy fixed. She remembers asking this during disputes amongst her fellow fellows, in a sarcastic tone that matched her stubbornness as it did her colleagues’ arrogance. The phrase ‘what do you need’ has gotten Prue through a lot and now it shall get through helping her fix her sister.

Prue looks down at the pulsating line of red that stretches across her sister's leg. She points for her to sit in a nearby chair, brushing off any possible broken glass as she edges it towards Beth with her foot. Prue turns around and reaches for the roll of medical bandages. Wrapping the white gauze tautly against her sister's leg. Beth winces at the sudden pressure.

"Have you been able to see any of the others?" Beth manages to say in between her winces of pain. Prue only shakes her head slightly.

"I've only managed to find our fork wielding friend from before," Prue answers, shaking her head. "They left though, decided a pack of seals were more important than helping a downed ship."

Beth looks out of the medbay window. The stillness and the quiet of the sea floor being highlighted by the downed ship's headlamps. She finds herself noticing her faint reflection upon the medbay's domed window. Her hair is dark like her father's and curled like her mother's. Her skin matched the floating patches of sand being kicked up by the ship's faulty engines. Like most things, Beth's skin is shared amongst her siblings. Although, that seems to be the only thing Prue will claim to share from her as she points a scowling look on her face.

"You're looking at the same thing I've been looking at since I've gotten here. There's nothing there, Beth."

Beth's vision shifts focus from her reflection and back to the churning waters surrounding them.

"I wasn't sure of how to tell you this, but seeing as we're probably going to get taken by that maniac with the pitchfork anytime soon. I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time when you wanted to pursue--"

"Prue.. I think you've missed something.." Beth begins to say, pointing out the window of the medbay where a faint glow of light begins to shine on the Bisons' & Daughters' ship.

"I'm pretty sure that's the only thing I wanted to get off my chest.." Prue begins to say before joining Beth in observing the faint glow of light turn into a couple more faintly glowing lights. The amount of them continued to appear.

"What are they?" Prue asks.

"I think it could be some sort of underwater roadway." Beth guesses. She attempts to get a closer look at the formation of lights before her nose is met with the window glass. "We need to look for the escape pods. There could be a chance that's where the others are. Mom, Dad, Peri. I can easily sail their and get back--!"

"Easy there, sea legs. For all we know this could have happened to the others too." Prue catches Beth as she prematurely puts weight on her bandaged foot. "And besides, you need you're legs to maneuver those clunky old tech bastards."

"They're not old, they're retro." Beth begins to say as Prue helps her sit onto the exam table again. "You said that there was no change in view since we crashed, right? What if this is a sign from them?"

"Well, there's still the question of how are you going to sail the ship there?" Prue asks, getting whatever medical equipment was spared from the shipwreck.

"They don't have to be my legs, y'know." Beth flashes a cheeky grin at her sister who responds with a sigh.