>>18533038Nikki's body hits the water with a force greater than anything she's ever experienced. But the pain never really registers, and instead she dreams of going to a better place where she'd find Sapphire again and maybe even meet her own mother. And if not, well maybe Gemma would adopt her, and she and Sapphire could be real sisters. With this thought in mind and water filling her lungs, Nikki loses consciousness.
But while she peacefully fades away, the entity within her remains fully aware. Aware of all the pain that came with hitting the water from such height, pain it took in Nikki's stead. Aware of the water flowing into its host's lungs, and aware that it is trapped in a dying body through no choice of its own.
The fear and pain it feels is almost overwhelming, but the one thing stronger than these sensations is its desire to live. With Nikki unconscious, it manages to do something it never imagined itself capable of, and takes control of her body, forcing her to swim toward the surface, and toward what it hopes is the shore, before it too fades to darkness.
