Work Text:
“Eden, where are we going?” Gillion squeaked, gripping onto Eden’s hand tighter as he almost seemed to shrink back towards the depths. His ears twitched, folding back towards his head before flaring out again. He tugged on her hand again, a worried expression crossing his face.
“Don’t worry,” Eden promised, holding up one hand in a placating gesture. She stopped swimming and turned to him, her eyes alight with both excitement and the normal bioluminescent glow that splotched over both of them. Eden’s hair framed her face, the green curls rippling with the water.
“We weren’t supposed to leave,” Gillion tried, looking over his shoulder in the direction that he had come from, “we were—we were supposed to stay home.”
Eden chews on the inside of her mouth, dropping down a bit until she’s eye to eye with him. She can see his panic growing in the way that he shrinks away, his fins twitching and folding back towards his skin outside of the rippling effect of the ocean. His gills flexed along his neck and he looked back again.
“Hey, look at me,” she cups his face in her hands, squeezing his cheeks and causing him to scrunch up his face, “It’s gonna be alright. Remember when I took you to the coral reef? We weren’t supposed to leave that day either.”
When Gillion gave no reaction, Eden continued, “you were super scared to swim that far from home but now you love the reef.”
Gillion still didn’t look convinced, he picked at his claws and refused to make eye contact with Eden. She didn't try to force him to.
“You’re going to love where I’m taking you. I promise, it’ll be like the reef,” Eden smoothed his hair away from his face and pushed it off to the side. His ears twitched and he made a small gurgling noise from the back of his throat.
“I want to go home,” he mumbled, voice barely louder than a whisper. Eden tilted her head to the side, puffing out her cheeks.
“Just a little further, okay?” Eden pleaded, “I want to show you something. If you still want to go home once we get there, then we’ll leave. Okay?”
He seemed to mull that idea over for a few seconds. Then, he shrunk in on himself more and nodded weakly. Eden smiled, bumping her nose against his and taking his hand once more.
Gillion squeezed her hand tightly, hesitantly continuing to follow Eden as she swam upwards.
He didn’t know where she was taking him, if she said it was like the coral reef, they were going in the wrong direction. The only thing that Gillion knew was up this way was… the surface.
Eden felt Gillion stop, but she tugged on his hand, forcing him to keep up. They’d never get there in time for Gillion to see if he kept freezing up. Eden looked over her shoulder, Gillion looked like he was about to cry and she felt a tad guilty for dragging him all the way up here. But she knew that he would love it once they got there.
“We’re almost there,” she reassured him, she could already see the shimmers of light beams if she squinted hard enough. They were well past the darkness of the trench at this point which caused Eden to squint. She blinked hard to try and adjust to the different lighting as they got closer.
The surface was still countless feet above them, but the light from the sun still managed to barely squeeze between the layers and layers of water. Eden could just start to feel the light against her fins, warm aberrations spreading across her skin.
Gillion’s grip tightened and he made a small whimpered noise. When Eden looked over at him, she could see his ears twitch and droop. He squeezed his eyes shut as the light crossed his face and made it hard to see. He brought a hand up to his head, tugging at the tips of his hair and making a gurgling noise. He kicked his feet, a small stream of bubbles rising to the surface from the movement.
Eden could feel how fast his heart was beating from where their hands were intertwined. She pulled him closer to herself so that he was flush against her side as she ran her hand over his head. When she smoothed her palm over his scalp, she could feel the small bumps of coral that were still just beginning to grow from atop his head. She smiled softly and blew out a mouthful of bubbles.
“You’re okay,” she soothed, “I’m proud of you for getting this far.”
In hindsight, Eden realized she probably should have waited until Gillion was a bit older to take him this close to the surface. The light was brutal the less water there was between you and the sky and Gillion’s eyes were already pretty sensitive to light.
She put her hand over his eyes, guiding him up a bit further than they already were. Gillion clung to Eden’s side, his hands tightly curled around the thin fabric of her skirts.
When Eden deemed they were close enough to the surface to still be able to see the streams of light (but not close enough that Gillion would immediately panic if he opened his eyes), she uncovered his eyes. Gillion still clung onto her, tensing up when he thought she was going to let go of him completely. But Eden slipped her hand back into his, running her thumb over his knuckles, relishing in how small his hands were compared to hers.
“Do you feel the warmth?” She asked softly, rolling onto her back, flicking her tail to keep herself in the same relaxed position. Gillion swallowed thickly, his gills stuttering.
Even Eden had to squint to see him clear in the water, despite the fact that she was older and her eyes were more adjusted to bright lights. Gillion’s face was scrunched tightly and he kept pulling at his hair with the hand that wasn’t clutching Eden’s arm. His ears were pinned back against his head, but after a few seconds, they slowly flared out.
Eden smiled, she saw him nod very slightly.
“Doesn’t it feel nice?”
Another very small nod.
“See, it’s not so scary after all?”
But Gillion nodded to that statement too, squeezing her hand a little harder. Eden pressed her lips into a thin line, flicking her tail so that she was laying a bit closer to him.
“Are you still scared?” She asked, smoothing his hair away from his face gently. He jumped when her nails brushed against his cheek.
Gillion nodded.
Eden blew a mouthful of bubbles out of her mouth. She wracked her brain to try to think of what she could do in this situation.
“Can you open your eyes just a little bit?” Eden asked, bumping her head against his, “you’ll see there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Gillion gurgled softly, but after a few seconds of intense contemplation, he cracked one eye open. Eden could see the blue of his eyes glowing faintly and the way that his pupils were contracted to barely even slits. He turned his head, glancing around at the ocean around them and the way that light spilled through the layers of water.
Aberrations danced over Gillion’s skin, and as he looked down at his hand, Gillion nearly jumped out of his skin at the rippling light. He clenched his hand tightly, claws into his palm as he let out another whimper.
“It’s okay,” she said, lifting her free hand to block out the light, casting a shadow over the back of his hand and causing the aberration to disappear, “it’s just the light.”
He relaxed some, settling back to his anxious fidgeting as he continued to look around. He blinked and squinted harder, his eyes darting across the water. A small but nervous smile spread across his face as he took in the sights around him. It was very rare for there to be this much light in the trench, not unless some type of magic was used. And even so, you couldn’t ever replicate the look of sunbeams rippling in the salty waves with magic.
For a moment, Eden thought that Gillion seemed to be enjoying himself a bit more. His grip even loosened ever so slightly around Eden’s hand.
But then, he tilted his head back, glancing up to where the surface loomed. The crashing waves above them (they were still pretty far away from the surface) caused mirages of light to glisten across the water like a portal to a new realm. And in a way, it kind of was like a portal. Eden relished in the beauty of it. Oftentimes, Eden would dare to travel closer to the surface to bask in the filtered warmth and stare at the swirling sky above.
However, instead of sharing the same sentiment, Gillion tensed, his entire body seizing up at the sight of the surface being so close. He practically crashed into Eden, closing the small space they had between each other and burying his face in her shoulder. His fins shuddered and he gripped the back of her clothes tightly.
Eden caught him, wrapping her arms around him. She was knocked back a bit by the drag of the water but managed to hold him. He was shaking, ears pinned back against his skull as his tail twitched.
“I wanna go home,” he whimpered, voice muffled slightly, “I wanna go home, Eden.”
“Shh,” she ran her fingers through his hair, “shh it’s okay. We’ll go home, come on.”
She took his hand, flicking her tail and diving down back towards the depths. Gillion followed quickly, pressing himself as close as possible to Eden without getting one of them kicked while swimming. It was a long swim back to the trench, and at least the long trek seemed to help Gillion calm down some. He had stopped shaking after a while and by the time they got into the trench, he loosened his grip (but didn’t let go) of Eden’s hand as the familiar sights swam about.
Their parents weren’t there when they got home and Eden didn’t expect them to be. Both of them left super early in the morning and didn’t come home until way after Gillion was put to bed.
So the house was empty when they swam through the door. Gillion wrapped his arms around himself tightly, looking around the living room with wide eyes. The scales and stripes that dotted across his face glowed with the faintly bioluminescent algae that coated the walls.
“Gill,” Eden said, sinking down to his level once again, she cupped his face in one hand, “hey.”
She waited until Gillion looked up at her, his eyes darted across her face, avoiding eye contact.
“I’m proud of you,” she pressed her forehead against Gillion’s, “I’m so proud of you for today.”
Gillion chewed on the inside of his mouth, his eyebrows furrowing. Eden smoothed her palm over his head.
“You were so brave to come all the way up there with me,” she insisted, “you got scared but that’s okay, I’m still proud of you for getting that far.”
“Sorry for getting scared,” he mumbled, tugging on the ends of his hair.
“It’s okay,” Eden said, “We all get scared sometimes. That’s what being brave is all about.”
There was a pause, Gillion closed his eyes for a few seconds.
“Don’t ever stop being brave Gill,” Eden whispered, “okay?”
“Okay,” Gillion agreed, “I promise.”
Eden smiled, she pressed her nose against Gillion’s and let her hands drop from his face.
“How about you help me make some food,” Eden pushed her hair out of her face, “I’m kind of hungry.”
Gillion’s eyes lit up and he nodded, quickly following Eden to the kitchen to help.