For what seemed like an eternity, Mami inched closer and closer to the red light district. Her throat was raw from panting, and her legs felt like rubber. She wanted nothing more right now but to sit down and take a rest, to lay down and let the rapids carry her for a while. But she couldn’t; what she was wading through wasn’t some lazy river in the sun. If she stopped moving, it would swallow her whole. And, she couldn’t just give up before finding Kamina. Not after she’d come all this way. When she heard someone cry out over the sounds of the storm, she grabbed onto a streetlamp, her eyes widening. That sure sounded like Kamina. She began to wonder if maybe her ears were playing tricks on her, but it sounded just like him! And, just as she figured, it was coming from the direction of the pleasure district. Great. At least it sounded like a cry of pain and not one of…a different nature. She counted to three, then propelled herself forward.

Mami found herself groaning with effort by the time she approached the entrance, or at least where she swore the entrance was last night. Now, it was impassable, completely blocked by a pile of cars. Perhaps the patrons were in too much of a rush to leave. They looked pretty sturdy, she reasoned. Climbing over them would be possible, if she was very careful. She made her way closer and studied the pile, looking for a way to climb up. And then, her eyes met with another’s. However, the other’s eyes were glassed over, unblinking. Lifeless.  Suddenly, Mami gasped and stumbled back. A scream rose up inside of her, but it wouldn’t come out for some reason, but it didn’t matter. She’d tripped over something underwater and fell backwards, and she was taken under the waves pretty quickly.
Her arms and legs flailed as she tried to right herself, her eyes agape with fear. She glanced around for something to grab onto, [i]anything[/i], and then she saw something all too familiar. Tattoos…there was a tattooed arm floating nearby.  Bubbles sprang from her mouth as she called Kamina’s name, and when she was pushed back above the water, she frantically swam towards him, with so much magic pulsing through her arms and her legs that it was starting to hurt her. Bittersweet tears rose to her eyes as she peered down at him; his belt seemed to be caught on a car fender, which was caught on something else. But was he alive? There was only one way to find out.

She held her breath and reached down, thoughtlessly trying to pull him up and failing. She kicked herself; oh right, his belt! Mami struggled for a bit, trying to hold him above the water and unhook him at the same time, but her fingers were still shaking and the water was too strong. She had to do something else, something more drastic. Mami squeezed her eyes shut, her face heating up as she just pulled and pulled at him, the hold on his waist gradually getting looser. Pants or no pants, she promised, he was going to come out of this alive.