Chapter Text
Chapter 1 – Return
·٠●●٠·˙.:*¨`*:. ☆ ♥ ☆.:*¨`*:.˙·٠●●٠·˙
If someone ever would have told him, that Makoto would one day drown in the ocean, the brunet would have immediately believed it, considering his fear he always had his life. Sometimes more obvious than in others.
There was something inside those blue depths, something unknown, something undescripable, something that no one could ever truly name. The most time in his life calm and peaceful, Makoto also had experienced the sea in its honest cruelty – ripping and destroying, life-taking and leaving despair behind, despair of those who were left at life, left to mourn all the souls whích hadn´t made it back safe.
So as those people who wandered on the jetty, giving their family and friends their last honour, back then on that day he had spent with Haru. All those stormy nights were further clues, he should have realized, all the times he looked out at the sea infront of Iwatobi and had seen the high waves and the dark clouds above the blue at the horizon. Even that time he had made the trainings camp with the others – Haru, Nagisa, Rei, Gou and Amakata-Sensei. Or when Rin finally heard what happened and scolded about three hours on all four of them how careless they were back then and only Sousuke could stop him by blaming them the rest of the evening.
He should have known it, should have realize that he would probably never get rid of his fear, even with his friends by his side. And yet – he hadn´t.
Makoto had thought, as long as he would be surrounded by his friends, no harm would ever get him, not from the sea anymore.
He wished he would have been more serious about this, more honest towards his friends, to Haru especially. But he wasn´t.. and now.. now they would learn the consequences of his failure on the hard way.
Makoto would count as dead in the humans world, even when he was still alive and not yet allowed to give sign of it.
·٠●●٠·˙.:*¨`*:. ☆ ♥ ☆.:*¨`*:.˙·٠●●٠·˙
A knock was sounded on his frontdoor and not even three minutes later on the back and although the raven haired boy with the incredible blue eyes named Haruka did not move the slightest bit to see who it could be – not that it interested him anyway – he knew it nonetheless.
How could he not, after what happened?
Sitting on the floor of his living room, the black haired one looked towards the open door into the garden of the house, the blue eyes still filled with life and yet as dead as they never were before.
Footsteps echoed behind him and a few minutes of silence passed, until Haruka could feel arms around his stature, bodies on both sides next to him, filled with need to help him somehow and knowledge that they weren´t able to do so.
Rin was been the one who had embraced his friend and Nagisa and Rei had taken positions next to him. Even more silent minutes passed, while Harus gaze still was directed towards the outside. He knew why they were here, knew they wanted to help, wanted to ease the pain he felt inside, the sharp stitches which did not stop since he had heard the truth, had experienced the loss of his best friend.
He had spent nights without sleeping, days without eating and wouldn´t his friends be the ones who care for him, he probably wouldn´t even be alive anymore.
And let´s be honest – he wouldn´t even mind it.
Without Makoto... it was just meaningless.
Everything.
Life in particular.
„Haru-chan..“, Nagisa said quietly next to him without his usual vitality. Haru could even hear Nagisas pain in his tone, his voice and yet he couldn´t dare to move and look at his friend. He couldn´t dare to move out of his current position, knowing that when he would change it the slightest bit, everything would crash all over again and he wouldn´t be able to hold himself back.
He wouldn´t be able to gain the strength back to not break down a further time.
Oh how tired he was. Tired of being not able to sleep, tired of crying the whole time, tired of all of this around him, tired of all that pain and ache inside, tired of missing someone incredibly, who wouldn´t be able to come back. And guilty for feeling like this.
Although his friends spoke to him and Haru could hear their voices he just blended out their words, just blended out everything what could make him move, to dare to break his current position, everything which could ruin his current facade of being strong.
Because when Haru knew something in that moment, then it was that he would break a further time if he would move the slightest bit, letting his mind allow the huge pain a further time to rip down the walls he tried to hold up so desperately.
„Don´t you think, Makoto would have been worried, Haru?“, Rins voice echoed gently in his ears some time later and Haru lifted his head a bit more, noticing that it was suddenly almost evening.
As he slowly turned his head, now realizing that Rin was infront of him and not anymore behind him, he could hear his name twice, a sign that his other two friends were relieved to see him finally moving again.
Harus deep blue eyes wandered up, meeting the red ones of his long-known friend and although he could see a small smile on Rins lips, he also was able to read the pain in his eyes. The same expression he would find in the eyes of Nagisa, Rei and Makotos family and Haru let out a deep breath he didn´t know he had held.
But Haru did not want to reply, he did not want to talk either, no matter about which topic and less of all the one, which hurt the most. Actually it wasn´t even necessary because Rin continued to speak.
„You knew him better than we all did, Haru. I know it is painful, but he wouldn´t have wanted to see you like this..“
Only a few seconds passed, before a frown appeared on Harus face, showing distinct what he thought about Rins words and Rei hopped in to help the redhead.
„Haruka-senpai, we all mourn and still miss him, but Rin-san is right. Makoto-senpai might not be able to see you anymore, but he also wouldn´t have wanted you like this. If he would be here right now, he would have tried to comfort you and advice you to live your life... to move on.“
Haru directed his gaze away from Rin and over to Reis purple eyes. „But-“
„No But, Haru-chan“, Nagisa interrupted him and Haru turned his head towards him, having him suddenly back on his side again, clinging to his arm. „We gave you as long as we could, but its been three months now. What about school, Haru-chan? About your dream of swimming with Rin in Australia? What about our friendship? Do we not count enough to let you come back to your life?“
The crease between his eyebrows deepened with those words, but Haru swallowed fierce, before he finally forced himself to speak.
„You do count.. All of you..“, he assured quietly and despite the sad expression of Nagisa, the blond smiled a bit, before his high voice sounded one time more in Harus room.
„But you can not move on without him, is it this?“
„Nagisa..“
„No, Rin. It is okay. I understand this perfectly.. I just.. want Haru-chan to be with us again, to see that we are still here and that we try to help him through all this..“
The raven haired one looked between his friends while they spoke, before he simply hold his hand up to stop them both in their talk, which surprisingly worked, because red and pink eyes were immediately on him. More silent seconds passed, til Haru could overcome to say it.
„I.. I want to see it..“, was all which was heard, but the friends knew immediately what he was talking about, because no matter how much he mourned and cried and spent his days in apathy, not even realizing that days faded – there was still one thing left, Haru had never done since the friends had heard of the accident – visiting the spot on the beach, his family had deceided to use as the memory point, since they hadn´t a body to bury.
·٠●●٠·˙.:*¨`*:. ☆ ♥ ☆.:*¨`*:.˙·٠●●٠·˙
Finally!
A little smile lingered around the corners of his mouth, as Makoto swam faster towards his goal, accompanied by a little swarm of fishes, which were home in the bay of Iwatobi and wanted to return, so he simply had joined them.
The last three months were been harsh to say it honest, but Makoto knew it would be not a compare to the time his friends had spent on land. As someone who once lived there, the blonde knew them of course better than some other of the mer-people and that was only a further reason he was allowed to return to that coast.
As unbelievable as it sounded, Makoto had turned.
Into a merman.
A creature the whole world had no clue it existed truly. Even after those months he had already spend in his new form, the brunet didn´t like to remember the day he drowned and even now, whenever he tried to remember, he felt shivers on his back. No seriously, drowning was not a nice death. If it could count as death in his case, cause it was obvious that he still was alive, just not... human anymore.
Almost arrived, Makoto started to dive higher and more towards the surface, realizing that the light meant it was sunset and with that almost evening in his prior home.
While returning to Iwatobi with every flip his long, green tail made, the blonde thought about his friends. He knew it must have been hard for them to think he was dead.
Nagisa probably had tried to cheer more or less, but his faked smiles were still been sad. Rei, although not as long his friend as the others, tried for sure to help them through their grief, tried to ease it with the knowledge that only time would make it better. Rin.. well Rin was a case for himself, always pretending to be the strong, independent person and yet Makoto knew he suffered, for sure crying at night and whenever he had thought others would not registrate it.
And Haru... Haru was been the one, who was affected the most.
They had spent their whole lives together, not even one day being apart from each other. Haru was the only person Makoto understood the most and the one who always seemed to know what he thought. Especially because they had spent their whole lives together. With Haru it was easy, with his best friend his life was better and filled, even when Makoto couldn´t exactly explain the last word. The one association which probably fitted the most would have been happy – Haru made his life more happier – but that wasn´t the word he had looked for. It wasn´t exactly what he had meant.
Those three months were been the worst without Haru and the brunet couldn´t even imagine how his best friend must feel. How painful it must be to wake up and know the other one would not return. How a life could go on without the other half of himself.
A deep sigh escaped his lips, showed up in little bubbles which drifted up to the surface, while the ground around him changed, the space between it and the surface becoming more and more less while he swam, til only a few meters were left.
That was the spot, the brunet chose to finally dive up to the surface, risking a look towards the beach, if there would still be people, before he would start to think about a plan. A plan to meet his friends again without letting others know, that the mer-people truly exist and that it wasn´t a legend anymore.
The plan to have Haru back at his side.
More or less.
Wiping his wet, brown hair out of his forehead to be able to see a bit more in the sinking sun, Makoto looked over to the shore. It was not too far to not see everything, but also not too close that someone could spot him this easily.
Looking around, the brunet noticed that it was almost empty. A man with a dog far away on the other side where the shore faded into another edge, just to have the port and the jettys around the corner. A couple walking away from the beach right infront of him and then on the other side of the beach a few people, too far away from him to see them properly, cause there the beach reached forward til it would meet the ground of the mountain.
Staying on the distance he was, Makoto used his fin to elegantly turn and swam right at the surface along the shore. If he wouldn´t use his tail too much it would just look like a ordinary human would swim out there.
Of course Makoto looked a bit different now, but while swimming, the people at the beach wouldn´t notice it. Since he was a merman now, his ears were more pointed and had lost the typical round form of human ears. Furthermore he posessed a pair of gills, sitting behind and a bit deeper beneath his ear right at his hairline started, so if everything would go wrong, he could still use his brown hair to hide these.
And above all of course he didn´t own his legs anymore, but a large fintail, shimmering scales in the same green just like his eyes and a bit a darker shade of green along the sides and on the final fin. Some of those green scales were also on the parts of his elbows and a small stripe along his spine, which ended as his tail started around the line of his hips.
Yes, Makoto truly had changed in his appearance, but despite a few things in his mind he was still the same. Of course his fear of the ocean had faded and disappeared – logically, now where he lived in it. And he also was not eager anymore to eat humans food, even when he still remembered what it tasted like. It was not as if he would not taste it anymore, but how large was the possibility to get chocolate cake in the sea? Right, lower than zero.
He also still posessed his memories of his human past and according to the mer-people which were in his presence when he woke up, this was something rare, something so special, that they weren´t even been able to tell him what it meant. Or what he should do.
It was been a shock in the first moment, to be beneath the surface, but the pain he had felt in his chest was been gone, the pressure in his whole body caused through the lack of air and his body denying its working also faded away. Makoto could breath without a problem, see, speak and before he had seen himself in a mirror he actually had thought, nothing had changed anyway – except for his ability to breath in water.
Surrounded by a few others, which had helped him to calm after discovering them and his fintail, the brunet wanted an explanation and neither of them wanted to refuse any question. So of course Makoto had asked for it. For everything, what happened and what changed and just everything.
And the others had answered them, had told him the legends and fairytales about their race, the ones which were true and also what was false. They had teached him their life, their traditions, their powers and everything he needed to know and yet – he never could forget his life in Iwatobi.
One of the legends he had heard from his new friends and sort of also family, was the one about their existence. The spirit of the ocean always had looked for its creatures, no matter if fish, shark, squid, wale or even the mer-people. But the spirit could do nothing against humanity and their need to explore, to catch and to hunt. That was the reason more and more unique creatures in the sea were reduced to only a handful of specimens. Being reduced to almost die out.
And that was the moment, the mer-people would come in, singing and calling for the last species to come and they would help them to recover, help them to breed and rebuild the diversity of the ocean.
But since humanity was been too cruel in its hunting, the mer-people were not nearly enough to take care of all those species and so the spirit deceided whenever a human would die from water, posessing a pure heart, it would not die sustainably, but be turned to a part of the ocean. The humans memory would die with his human shape and the new merman/-maid would be teached their traditions, powers and everything else which would be helpful to keep the races alive and to save the life in the ocean.
But Makoto hadn´t forgotten.
He hadn´t forgotten his birthday, his family or his friends. Had not forgotten what it felt to eat, to walk, to spend a day in the heat of the summer. He still knew things he had learned in school, memories when he was been a child and music he had heard.
Makoto remembered it all.
And that was the only reason he was been allowed to visit Iwatobi again, cause it seemed that his true destiny was not fulfilled yet. There was still something left and the other mer-people had allowed him to stay in Iwatobi until he would know what it was – or until he would forget his memories.
Because even when he knew those things – he couldn´t do the most of them anymore. Maybe the others also thought he would only need time to forget them all and lately then he would return to the deep from all of his own.
Makoto hoped with every fibre of his heart that they would be wrong.
He didn´t want to forget anything. Especially not the one, why he wanted to return to Iwatobi.
If Haru would be his last anchor to this world outside the ocean, then so be it. Makoto wouldn´t mind it, Haru was already the essential in his life, it wouldn´t chang anything to make him the only thing he would remember.
As long as he was able to do so.
·٠●●٠·˙.:*¨`*:. ☆ ♥ ☆.:*¨`*:.˙·٠●●٠·˙