When Yerim regained consciousness for the second time, her head was much clearer than it had been before. Unfortunately, this newfound clarity was accompanied by a sharp headache and the incessant itch of the sand and salt covering her body. was dry and her stomach was empty. It took genuine effort for the young girl to get herself back to her feet.

She found that she was in the same spot as before, the neon sign glowing before her and the waves crashing behind her. She turned to see that the tide had indeed risen as the day ended. It dawned on her just how lucky she’d been that the water hadn’t reached her; she would have surely drowned. The sun had set and a crescent moon was high in the sky, accompanied by a field of stars. It was then that Yerim realized what she was looking at. No longer was the moon ominous or looming, no longer was the sky an endless abyss of black, no longer was the sun just a faint memory.

Yerim was unable to contain her tears of joy; even in such an unfamiliar situation, she took the time to bask in their victory. Never mind that she couldn’t remember anything past them arriving at the top of the mountain - they had to have succeeded, because the proof was right here. The world was intact, the night sky was friendly once again, and the breeze was warm.

After Yerim had collected herself, she began to survey her surroundings. The beach stretched into the distance at either side of her. The main light source was the enormous, oddly constructed city located at what seemed to be the center of the island. The issue with heading in that direction was that it would require traversing the thick jungle that seemed to dominate the majority of the island, a feat which a , dehydrated, hungry girl would not be capable of. So, she decided to find herself some sort of sustenance first.

She began to walk along the beach, careful to avoid the shard-like shells that were scattered here and there, scanning the tops of the palm trees for any signs of coconuts. She understood that the presence of the tough-skinned fruits was likely nothing more than a cliche she’d conjured up from watching too many shipwreck movies, but there was nothing else should think of.

Yerim was close to giving up her search when she noticed a large brown shape sitting at the very top of one of the taller palms. It sat alone, tucked between several fronds and moving listlessly in the light breeze. The young girl knew that she would be physically incapable of scaling the slender trunk, so she decided that it would be best to throw objects at the fruit until it fell down.

The small shells and pieces of debris that littered the beach wouldn’t suffice; Yerim took the time locate a nicely sized chunk of driftwood, about the length of her arm and heavy enough that she had to carry it with both hands. She hefted it over her shoulder, aiming as well as she could given the relatively unlit environment. Unsurprisingly, she missed the fruit about four times before finally smacking it dead center, causing it to drop from the branch. Yerim, now nursing a sore shoulder, let out a cry of triumph which quickly morphed into a shriek of terror. Midway through the fruit’s descent to the sand, its shell burst open and it began to fly. Poor Yerim’s coconut was, alas, not a coconut at all, but a very large, very angry Hercules beetle. The insect was larger than her head, its deadly horn sticking out several feet in front of it as it charged toward the brunette.

Yerim ducked, barely avoiding the buzzing projectile as it zoomed past. She looked up just in time to see the thing diving towards her again, forcing her to roll across the sand to avoid it. She got to her feet and began sprinting towards the water, shards of shells and wood digging into her as she went, praying that the beetle would leave her alone once she ducked under the waves. Her breathing was coming in labored gasps now; she was in no condition to be exerting herself this much. Yerim ran in a zigzag pattern, leaving the vengeful arthropod unable to draw an exact bead on her.

Just as her bloody feet reached the blissfully cool ocean, there was a familiar, laser-like swooping noise, followed by a soft plop. Yerim spun around to see the bisected halves of the beetle lying uselessly in the sand. Her savior stood before her, lightsaber in hand, violet hair whipping in the breeze, chipmunk-like cheeks bunched up to accommodate her radiant smile.

“Why do I feel like I always show up just in the nick of time?” the newcomer said, turning off her weapon.

“R-rosie?” the brunette managed to croak out before collapsing.

***

Lisa finished pulling in the last of the fishing nets and collapsed onto the beach. She lay there for a moment, inspecting her calloused hands, wondering for the millionth time why the robots that inhabited this island refused to help the girls with any of their daily chores. She sighed and stood back up. The sooner she finished this, the sooner she could find out what happened with Jisoo and Rosé.

The overwhelming smell of fish assaulted her nostrils as she went about removing the still-moving animals from the heavy tangles of rope, tossing the unfortunate creatures into several crates, packing them as tightly together as possible to maximize her space. Upon emptying all five of the large nets, Lisa untangled the knots and pulled the equipment past the tide line, anchoring them to palm trees to prevent them from floating away in the event of an unusually high tide. Then, the blonde loaded each barrel into the back of the faded green pickup truck and hopped into the driver’s seat, now sweaty, filthy, and exhausted. The drive back to the city was a short one thanks to an unpaved road that cut through the jungle. At the bottom of the massive mushroom-shaped plateau that the girls called their new home, there were several industrial lifts. Lisa parked her pickup at the base of the metal landmark and began unloading the crates of fish into one of the lifts. It was tedious, tiring work, and by the time she was finished she had already downed her entire flask’s worth of water.

She sat in the tray of the pickup for awhile, listening to the constant hum that emanated from the anomalous construct before her. The city was the most mysterious part of Plastic Beach. According to the robots that inhabited it, the place was once a thriving epicenter of trade and commerce in the long-forgotten, pre-war world. Now, it was mostly abandoned, and save for the occasional visitor here and there, the four girls were the first to occupy its ancient buildings. Of course, they’d taken residence in the richest, largest building they could find, the one that loomed over the entire island like some great sentinel. And in a way, the girls were the islands sentinels. They protected the robots from both outside and inside harm in exchange for their continued stay. The humans and the metal men generally avoided each other save for the polite interaction here and there. These robots were nothing like the only other robot Lisa had met before, a gentle soul who was willing to fight alongside them to save the world. She found herself wondering what had happened to BP, and if he was with the other girls somewhere.

Lisa’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an approaching vehicle. She turned to see another one of the old pickup trucks rolling towards her from the southernmost road. Unable to make out who was sitting in the passenger seat and who was driving the truck, she stepped down from her own vehicle and waved. A pale hand waved back out of the driver’s side. When the truck pulled up next to Lisa, her heart rate spiked, her jaw dropped, and her mind went blank.

It couldn’t be. There was no way. There had to be some sort of mistake, or Lisa had to have been dreaming, or she had to have been drugged. Because there was absolutely no chance that the unconscious girl sitting slumped in the passenger seat, wrapped in a set of towels, her formerly crimson hair now faded to its natural dark brown, could be Yerim.

Rosé, seeing the expression on the young blonde’s face, smiled and put the car in park.

“I found her on the southern beach. She’s not in great shape, but she just needs some food and water.” Rosé said, stepping out of the car and walking around to the passenger side, “I radioed Jennie and told her to bring a stretcher down. I didn’t think to bring one.”

Lisa nodded wordlessly, still dumbstruck. Her mind was racing. Yerim was here, on the island. It was perplexingly amazing. Her past love had quite literally been delivered to her by the sea. Lisa darted around to the passenger side to confirm that it was truly her.

“Where’s Jisoo?” Lisa asked when she’d regained her ability to speak.

“We split up to search for the person who’d washed ashore,” Rosé said, furrowing her brow in worry, “I radioed her and told her I picked someone up, but she never answered. Maybe it’s the snakes again?”

“I don’t know. If it was, she would’ve told us to come help her out. You know Jisoo doesn’t let her pride get in the way of her safety.”

“I’ll go look for her after we tend to Yeri. I have a lot of questions for this girl.” Rosé said, gesturing to the brunette, “It’s been so long. I bet you missed her, huh?”

Lisa bit her lip, thinking hard. When she’d kissed Yerim back at the Living Mountain, she’d done it because she firmly believed that those were her final moments. It was a terrible thing to do, and she still felt guilt for the reckless act. Irene hadn’t been awake at the time to see, which only made the morally-sound blonde feel even worse. All things considered, however, Lisa had sincerely missed the bright, adorable ball of sunshine that she had fallen so hard for.

“I did. I almost forgot how gorgeous she was.” Lisa reached out and brushed away a few stray strands from the older girl’s forehead, involuntarily causing Yerim to stir slightly and sleepily nuzzle at Lisa’s hand. When the blonde felt her stomach swell with glee, she shoved her emotions away and pulled back, “But Yerim isn’t mine to miss.”

Rosé gave Lisa a sympathetic look and walked around to pat the melancholy blonde on the shoulder. As she did so, one of the empty lifts let out a high ding. Lisa and Rosé turned to see Jennie hurrying forward, dragging a large stretcher behind her. The older girl gave Rosé a swift kiss on the cheek before opening the passenger door.

“So it really is her, huh?” Jennie said in awe, “Boy, does she look ed up. Wonder what kind of hell she went through to get here.”

“You’re probably one of the most empathetic people I’ve ever met, Jen.” Lisa said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Rosé giggled.

Jennie grunted and motioned for them to help her get Yerim on the stretcher. Lisa did most of the work, lifting the light older girl as carefully as possible. Despite the necessity of the situation, the prude blonde found it a little nerve-wracking to touch such a scantily-clad Yerim. It didn’t help that Yerim’s curves felt absolutely divine in Lisa’s arms.

“I’ll take the lift up with the fish,” Rosé offered sincerely, allowing Jennie and Lisa to take the reigns on the stretcher, “I’m sure Lisa’s gonna wanna carry Yeri up.”

“Alright,” Jennie said with a trace of sadness in her voice, “But I’m gonna have to scrub that fish scent off of you tonight before you go to bed. It’s unbearable.”

Rosé gave Jennie a long hug from behind.

“You’re such a sweetie. I know you just want an excuse to give me a sponge bath again, for the fourth night in a row.”

Jennie blushed and Lisa made a mock vomiting motion.

“Hurry up, I don’t like leaving Yeri out like this.”

Jennie nodded in response and the girls mobilized.

“We’ll have to take the blue tram to get back to our house,” Jennie said once she and Lisa had boarded the lift, “It’s the shortest route there.”

The trams were a form of color-coded public transportation in the city. They moved at astounding speeds, darting between buildings and reaching most destinations within minutes. All of the trams stopped at the girls’ living quarters, as it was the most central location in the city, but the blue tram took the shortest route to get there.

The city itself was nothing short of amazing. It was an entirely artificial structure made of the same sleek, bluish-grey metal as its denizens. The architecture was relatively uniform, consisting of curved surfaces covered in lights of various colors, large windows with thick frames, and wave-like patterns created by whatever process was used to build the entire thing. The way everything was arranged made it seem as if the metal was somehow poured from above into molds, giving the buildings a unique layered look. There were roads of varying length and thickness that weaved between the buildings - these were the tracks that the trams used. The supporting plateau of the city was made of many different materials thrown together haphazardly, a stark contrast from the neatly organized city that sat upon it.

Lisa and Jennie loaded Yerim into the cramped space of the blue tram. It was still early enough in the night that a few of the robots were carrying out their duties; none of them acknowledged any of the three girls, and Lisa preferred it that way. Small talk with the robots was always awkward, disingenuous, and disjointed.

“Where are we gonna put her?” Lisa asked, alternating between holding the stretcher handle with her left and right arms as they waited, “She doesn’t need immediate medical attention, just rest, food, and water.”

“She can go in your room.” Jennie said, her eyes twinkling, “And she definitely needs a bath too. You can wash her, just like I do to Rosie.”

“No, I can’t do that. I’ll put her in my bed and just wash the sheets later.” Lisa said, looking away as her face began to grow hot.

“Oh come on, you know you want to,” Jennie’s voice shifted to a low, seductive murmur, “Just imagine the suds running down the soft skin of her thighs. And you can't let your poor wittle Yerim go to bed all dirty...”

“Cut it out, Jennie. Just because you get off on that doesn’t mean I do.”

Despite her protests, Lisa couldn’t help but feel bad that Yerim would have to wake up filthy and uncomfortable from all the sand on her body. Maybe she would give the older girl a bath, afterall.

***

Yerim sprinted forward after Irene. The older girl stood before the slab, crystal in hand, frozen in place as if by some unseen force. Yerim yelled at her to hurry up - the demon was moving again, heading towards them. The redhead screamed and screamed, now joined by Seulgi. They were close to reaching the eldest girl now, and if Irene couldn’t put the crystal in, it was fine, one of them could just do it. When Yerim glanced backwards to check on the demon’s progress, she saw that it was about to fire at Irene. She tried to warn the older girl, tried to get her to move out of the way, but it wasn’t working. There was only one option left. Yerim dove forward, there was an unimaginable pain in her stomach, and then-

“Yeri! Please! It’s okay, it’s just me, it’s Lisa, calm down, please!”

Yerim regained her senses all at once, finding herself in an unfamiliar bed, blankets tossed to the side, pillow thrown against the wall beside her. She’d been crying; her face was soaked with tears. She was being restrained at her wrists by an angel-faced blonde girl. The girl’s expressive eyes were filled with worry, and her plump lips were pressed into a hard line at the physical exertion required to keep Yerim still.

“Lisa? Is it really you?” Yerim asked, finally ceasing her desperate, frantic movements, causing the younger girl to smile in relief.

“In the flesh. You were having a nightmare. You’re safe.”

Yerim paused for a moment, staring into Lisa’s hazel eyes, unable to comprehend the situation. Then, without warning, she darted forward and swept the blonde girl into her arms, hugging her tight, disregarding her own ness, fresh tears starting their swift journey down her cheeks.

“Oh my God you’re alive Lisa, you’re alive, oh my God please tell me this isn’t a dream, you’re here and you’re alive and I’m so happy and- and- and-” Yerim broke into unintelligible whimpers as her emotions got the best of her.

“It’s good to see you, too, Yeri.” Lisa laughed and embraced her back, rocking the older girl back and forth, running her fingers through the brunette’s still-wet, freshly-cleaned hair.

They held each other until Yerim was able to completely compose herself and relax on the bed. As she did so, she pulled the sheets over her body to hide her bare s, although she oddly felt no compunctions about Lisa seeing her .

“Are the other girls here, too? And how did I get here?”

“Yep. They’re all here. Rosie found you washed up on the beach,” Lisa explained, reaching for a glass of water from the bedside table, “We made you drink some water while you were out but I’m sure you’re still really thirsty. Drink this.”

Only then did Yerim notice the sensation of being coated in sandpaper, causing her to take the glass greedily from Lisa’s hands, gulping the entire thing down in seconds.

“This is my room. We.... uh, I washed you up before I put you to bed,” Lisa looked away now, blushing, “I didn’t want you to have to wake up all dirty and stuff.”

“Lisa,” Yerim said, beaming, “Thank you for taking such good care of me.”

The older girl leaned in and kissed Lisa on the cheek, causing her blush to deepen and her pulse to quicken.

“It’s no problem. I’m just really happy to see you again.” Lisa said once she had recovered, “I can’t believe it’s been a whole year.”

At the younger girl’s words, a confused look came upon Yerim’s face and she looked at Lisa with wide, child-like eyes.

“A whole year?” she asked, noticing that all of a sudden, she was becoming very nervous and sweaty, “But... the last time I saw you couldn’t have been more than a few hours ago… right?”

---------------------------------

Yay Yeri and Lisa are back together! I've had this chapter written for awhile (I meant to release it with the intro) but I kept editing it because I hated a lot of my descriptions of the environment (mainly the city). Eventually I got sick of rewriting the same thing over and over again so I settled for this. Hope it's good enough.

Thanks for reading<3

P.S. Anyone have an idea as to where Jisoo could have gone? (: