Chapter Text
No matter how hard Erik tried to keep his book collection in pristine condition, or at the very least dry, it never really seemed to be enough.
A droplet of water beaded on the end of Eli’s wet hair, and fell down to the page he was reading. Soaking into the aged paper and obscuring a word.
Fantastic.
But Erik didn’t care enough to make a fuss, and Eli didn’t even so much as notice.
It didn’t matter. Erik wouldn’t be using his new skill in their language with anyone else, and Eli wouldn't need it once he was back underwater where he belonged.
Erik was no tutor, and all the books in the world couldn’t replace a real teacher.
They were learning it wrong, and he was certain that he wouldn't be able to communicate with anyone else like this, but for just the two of them, it was just fine.
Not for the first time, Erik felt something unsettling make itself at home within Erik’s mind.
Just how fast he became used to his house guest’s mannerisms. How quickly he grew comfortable with the company.
How quickly this new normal would be gone.
A single finger poked Erik’s cheek, and he was drawn out of his thoughts and back to the table in his lighthouse.
O-K
Just two letters. The alphabet being the only thing they’d both committed to memory at the moment.
“What?”
Eli frowned at him, and tried again. He pointed to Erik, and once more signed the two letters.
This time, Erik got the message. “Oh, yeah. I’m okay. Don’t worry about me.”
Eli hesitated for just a moment, as if he didn’t really believe what Erik said, but beyond any small worries he held, he was much happier with his small success. No matter how small it may be, he’d successfully communicated with Erik without any need for his pen and paper.
E rik watched as Eli returned to his book, and decided to stop worrying about what came next.
Just for a little while, at least.
He’d felt warm then, but now Erik felt oddly cold.
Not cold for numbness, or cold from the ocean water he was surrounded by, but cold out of shock.
It’d been days, and yet it still didn’t feel real. Like he was trapped within a dream, a nightmare.
He wasn’t sure. Maybe it was both.
All he was sure of was just how wrong it felt to see his home like this.
The smokestacks were gone now, but with how gray the sky had been ever since, there wasn't all that much of a difference. The air still smelled of smoke and burning wood.
He could hear his chickens clucking happily, and could just about see them from here, out of their pen, perfectly unharmed, and making Erik’s garden into a free buffet.
They’d be just fine without him, they’d hardly noticed any change.
He doubted they ever would.
The lighthouse was nothing more than a burnt out shell, and all that remained of Derk’s ship was slowly sinking beneath the surf, the last burning embers going out.
It wasn’t all gone, though. What of the ship that had first sunk was still intact, and the brick remained of the lighthouse. The basement would be untouched as well. Everything in it kept safe from harm.
Waiting for the day that some explorer rediscovered the small island and the treasures it held. The mystery of what had happened there to either scare away or entice people near.
But not Erik.
He didn’t want to see the old ship. He didn’t want to take anything with him. There was nothing he needed.
And… and he didn’t want to know what had become of Derk.
He didn’t need to see.
Erik fought hard against the confusing mix of anger and grief that had overtaken him enough times already.
Derk didn’t deserve any sort of mourning. Not from him.
Not after what it had come down to.
What had he ever done to deserve Erik to miss him? To be sad to know he was gone?
This was a blessing.
Even beyond Derk, what was there to miss?
He should be happy to see it all burned away.
Now there was nothing left to trap him. His isolation was taken apart, board by board.
With Derk gone, and the lighthouse gone… He was finally, completely free.
But still… It had still been his home, and Derk had still been his friend once.
He’d managed to chisel out something close to comfort within his existence. A place he could be content to live in.
All gone.
But in its place, he had the whole ocean, and Eli to guide him through it.
Erik didn’t know what to make of what all he had lost. Of all the places he had been before.
Or all the places he could go now.
It was all almost overwhelming.
It was s omething so simple, that he hadn’t ever had before. Something he’d never thought he’d ever have.
And he didn’t know what to do with it.
The splash of water told him that Eli was back. He didn’t turn away from the island as El dragged himself back up onto the rock.
He wouldn’t until he had to.
“Erik,” Eli said, one hand coming to rest gently on his shoulder, “are you okay?”
His voice still sounded scratchy. Going months without speaking a single word to screaming and yelling as he fought against Derk and his crew…
His throat was surely raw and sore from the sudden change. From silence to filling the empty air as Erik lost the presence of mind for conversation.
But to answer his question… No. He wasn’t.
He knew nothing would change for as long as he insisted on behaving this way. Unless he forced himself to let go of this life too, he never would.
“It’s fine.” Erik said, leaning back and averting his eyes from the rubble. He couldn’t see a single thing in the ice cold water. He looked at Eli, and that wasn’t much better.
His face was cut from where it had hit the floorboards, and he was covered in bruises from the fight.
Erik didn’t want to look at the gash in his arm.
And he didn’t want to know what he looked like right now.
He didn’t know exactly how much time had passed. Those first few days he had hardly been functional. Shock keeping him quiet and stagnant. All he did was sit on that outcropping and think, while Eli kept them safe. He didn’t apologize for it. He knew he needed that time, and he knew that Eli understood.
But now… it had been no less than a week or two. Maybe a little longer. Erik had no sense of time when he lived in the lighthouse and did the same chores day by day, and he had even less now when all he had to keep track of was the rising and setting of the sun and moon.
But his time to rest was coming to a close. They’d be leaving soon to try and find Eli’s family. They were well enough to travel now.
Eli had been ready from the start. Wounds or no, he wanted nothing more than to get the both of them away and to somewhere better. But again, they couldn’t leave until Erik was well enough.
Or until he knew how his new body functioned.
He’d never forget the terror he felt when he first submerged, and took in a great lungful of water.
How embarrassing of a death it would have been to drown during his first swim as a merman?
It was embarrassing enough to be dragged back to the open air to cough it all up and to be slowly reintroduced to the water, just to his new gills while Eli explained how he should be breathing underwater.
What was the point in having two separate ways to breathe?
So much was new, and it would take more than a few days to completely relearn how to move around, just to learn all the strange ways his biology had changed in a single instant.
Feeling where fins stuck out was surreal and the way he was hyper aware of them only served to make him physically uncomfortable. He knew it would go away eventually, but it was the least of his troubles. The tail as a whole felt like it was too big. It was awkward and unwieldy to use. He felt like he looked like a fish on land when he was trying to swim.
A feeling that just felt all the more apparent while he swam side by side with Eli, who was just as graceful as ever, injuries or no.
The most annoying change came with the old injury he thought would have vanished along with his legs.
Apparently not.
It had only translated to his tail. It was about at hip level now, not painful, but certainly uncomfortable when he moved in a way it didn’t like. Just twinges, but enough to make him more careful than he needed to be.
“Are you completely sure you’re okay?” Eli asked him again, drawing him out of his thoughts for the second time in only a handful of minutes. “If I can do anything…”
Erik took a deep breath, trying to calm down everything that he’d packed away to deal with another time. He just didn’t have the energy to spare. “Thanks. But I’m fine.”
Eli didn’t believe him, and Erik hadn’t expected him to. It was a blatant lie, but what was he meant to do about it? Erik would deal with it all when he had time to.
He didn’t express what he felt, and he didn’t offer any opinion on anything Eli presented him with.
Was he ready to leave? He was if Eli was.
Was he tired? Hungry? He was fine. If Eli needed to sleep or eat, then he would.
He could tell that Eli was beginning to get frustrated with him, but he didn’t care just yet.
As much as he wanted to pretend that he didn’t care what happened to him, where he was going to end up, how he got there… He did. He was sick of growing comfortable in one life he had, just for it to be ripped away because of something outside his power to change or fight.
He wished for his past lives back. He wanted to wake up and be human still. In his lighthouse with Eli waiting down on the shore. He wanted to be on his ship again. He wanted to be a fisher, still.
But instead he was a fish now.
Did that count as coming full circle?
How long would this one last? What would happen when this life faded away into something different? Would Eli abandon him? Would he be left in the ocean completely to his own devices?
He had no idea. He wanted to believe that this was the last step, that this one wouldn’t change.
But he knew too well how unlikely that would be.
He doesn’t want to leave.
But he doesn’t want Eli to go.
“It’s almost time to leave.” Eli told him, and Erik took one last look at his old home, and resigned himself to the fact that he would never see it again. “Are you ready? If you really need to, we could stay a little longer, but it’d be best if we left as soon as possible.”
The water he sat just above was too murky to see through. There was no telling just how far deep it went just here, where they were still so close to that little spot of green land, and all the outcroppings of gray stone. Maybe he’d find out. Or maybe he wouldn’t.
Eli hadn’t ever mentioned anything about it, as much as he had spoken about where he had come from.
But the depth wasn’t the point. For as far down as they could go, it’d be an unimaginable distance further to where Eli would lead him. There would be no coming back here, even if the day came that he wanted to.
Though that would be a pointless want.
There would not be any way to climb back up, and rummage through what remained intact, and why would he even do that? To bring anything with him? Was there even anything in there worth bringing that would be able to handle the ocean water he’d drag it through? Anything worth the energy he’d have to expend to take it back?
No, there wasn’t anything he could think of.
“No, I’m ready.” Erik told him, trying to force himself to keep from looking back again. “Let’s go ahead and leave.”
“We can rest a while longer.” Eli seemed perfectly fine, at least to Erik. He wasn’t as tired as he had been initially, and Erik had known him at his weakest point, at least as far as he knew, and he was nowhere near that. He didn’t even recognize the poor washed up fish that he’d first seen. Even after everything – no, the offer was just for Erik’s sake. He needed it.
But Eli had waited to leave for long enough. He had ground he had to cover if he had any hope at all to catch up with his family, wherever it was they were headed, and Erik wasn’t going to stand in the way of that any longer than he already had.
“I’m fine.”
Eli didn’t react in any way for a moment, trying to decide if it was worth it to call him for in the lie, or if it would be better to just take it.
In the end, he settled in to believe him. “Then we’ll go.” Erik finally tore himself away, and noticed what Eli had with him. “I scavenged through that ship, and found these.” The two harpoons still had rope attached to the ends, but it had been cut at the ends. There was no staining on either, but there wouldn’t have been if he found both underwater. No telling if either had been the one they’d caught Eli with. “There were more, but more than one each would slow us down, so this will have to be it.”
“Do we need them?” Erik asked, but let Eli use the last of the rope to tie it across his back, within easy reach if he needed it. “Is it not safe here?”
“I don’t really know.” Eli admitted. “We’re safe in the water in this exact area, since I haven’t seen any signs of anything that isn’t perfectly harmless, but I can’t be so sure once we make any decent headway.”
“Have you ever used a sword, or something like this?” Erik asked, looking over the one that he still held. The hooked point was sharp enough to be wary of, but it would only be effective at certain angles. Not to mention-
“No.” Eli said, “Not really. The water resistance alone would make them pretty useless.” There it was.
So it was more for peace of mind than actual defense.
“But we don’t have the time or material to make anything that would work well, and we need to have something, don’t you think?”
Erik nodded. He didn’t think they’d be of any help if they ran into anything that Eli was concerned for – if he even know what those things would be – but… He wasn’t going to speak those thoughts, or those dangers into existence.
It was only a moment more before Eli was done with his.
“Ready?” He asked one last time, “You remember everything I showed you? How to change over from air to water, and how to change angle, and-”
“I remember.” Erik cut him off. He didn’t need to be reminded of how humiliating it felt to practically be taught all over again how to walk, and how to swim. “Can we just go?”
Eli didn’t say anything, and instead just shoved off of the stone, leaving Erik to follow.
The water had lost most of it’s chill ever since he had changed, and instead of the sudden shift being jarring, it felt much more natural.
A lot about being in the water had changed from how he’d felt about it before, even with Eli there to keep him afloat.
It only looked murky from above, now. Once he was under, he could see clearly, all the way down until the little bit of sunlight above them could no longer reach. The dark was unnerving, but Eli showed no fear of it.
For all he cared, there was nothing down there but sand, and Erik could only trust him on that, and wait until they found their way somewhere closer to the world that Eli had described to him, where the plant life grew thicker and greener, enough of it to make them have to swim around it, or to climb high enough in the water to look below on it all and watch the smaller fish weave within it all. Somewhere the light was brighter. Where it reflected off the seaweed and the white sands below. Enough to see to far into the distance until it all became just a blur of color.
Here… It was just dark. Very few fish swam around in view, and the plant life around them looked dark, brittle, and brown.
Maybe it was just the season, or maybe it would look different if there was more sunlight around to truly show it all.
He just wouldn’t be around to find out.
And that was fine, as long as they reached the waters that Eli spoke of.
The only thing was, looking out above the water was daunting enough. Seeing the endless sky above the black ocean made the distance seem nearly impossible, even not being able to know how far it would be in any tangible measurements. Eli didn’t use any kind of distance or even days to describe how far they had to go. He said he didn’t know how to use them.
To him, it would be measured in something closer to months. Seasons it took to go from one area to another.
He could at least try to understand that. So they’d be swimming for a few months. It’d be tiring, and the idea itself made him feel heavier, but it wasn’t all that much different from staying onboard for half a year to get from one far away place to another target, right?
But now that he was under to leave at last, looking towards the far gone horizon line, and not just to learn, looking at the surface above, or whatever target Eli had set out for him… Now it seemed like an impossible task. How far exactly did they have to go? How far until they found territory familiar to Eli? Even then, how far would they have to travel until they found his family? They would be gaining ground just as they all did, so would this even be possible? Or would he follow Eli for countless months and years until he finally gave in?
“How are we…” Erik trailed off for a second, again surprised at how sound actually traveled underwater now. Eli looked over his shoulder at him, just enough to show that he had heard. Lowering his voice just a little, Erik tried again. He could wonder about what about his voice had changed later. “How are we going to find them? If they’re moving just like us, how do you know where to go?”
“We’ll find a settlement.” Eli answered him, realizing that he’d never explained exactly how their lifestyle worked. It just seemed obvious to him, but Erik wouldn’t have any point of reference beyond Eli calling them nomadic all that time ago. “We only travel for the seasons that the currents are strongest, and for the rest, we have a handful of permanent villages and towns where we can all settle in and wait. Grow and preserve supplies, create things that we’ll need, and build more shelters for new families. If we get to one in an off-season, we can decide to wait, or try to cut them off moving towards it.”
That was enough to settle any more racing thoughts about the – still impossible feelings – distance. So he had a plan, and he knew how they’d be found. “How do you know we’re going the right way?” Above water, he could make a good estimate of where they were from the constellations, but that would be more in reference to their position between continents. He could move them between oceans, but without knowing Eli’s names for them, it could only help so much. ‘Warmer waters’ was it.
Eli slowed just until he was upright in the water. “Try to feel the current.” It took more effort for Erik to stop the same way, but as soon as he was within reach, Eli reached out to steady him.
Plenty of time was spent trying to get Erik used to the necessary basic movements, but when his tail was built to push through the water from side to side, instead of Eli’s up-and-down, there was little he could actually show with example. Once he had stopped, he did try. All the water around him moved, but it was hard to feel it from any specific direction. It was all a mess of sensation.
“I can’t.”
“You’ll be able to feel it the more you get used to it.” Eli promised. “I just know when we need to follow it, and when we need to push against it.”
“How do you know? You don’t have anything that can read them, or anything that maps them out.”
“I don’t need any of that.” Eli tried to explain, but the concept just didn’t work for Erik. There had to be something that told Eli where he needed to go. “After a few years of making our normal journey, I just knew how to read them.”
Like how a newborn horse knows to stand instinctively, or how baby birds leap from their nest to learn how to fly.
He couldn’t really understand. Eli was just too different from him – even now, that he still couldn’t grasp it. Even from how different they were at a physical level… It was easy to forget. Past the tail and the spines, and the luminous spots that ran down from his neck to his arms and sides, past all the little things that scared him at first, it was too easy to forget that they hadn’t been the same before.
Erik didn’t feel different.
He couldn’t tell any of the things that Eli just innately knew. He didn’t have a single one of them. He needed to be re-taught how to do something as natural as breathing.
Even if it took time to sink in, he doubted he’d ever learn what it was that told Eli where he was, where he needed to go, and how to get there.
“There’s just memory, too.” Eli continued on. “We can follow those of us that have traveled on paths we don’t know more times than any of us can count. There’s the fish around us. So many of them keep to certain areas, so as long as we can spot one, we know where we are, at least in a broad sense. Or larger things we can recognize at a distance. Oddly shaped stones, reefs… Shipwrecks.” Erik nodded, listening, and trying to put together every little tidbit into something that worked for him. Landmarks, then. The fish could probably count as that. “And stars.”
That caught Erik’s attention. “You use star maps?“ If Eli had mentioned that before, he couldn’t recall.
“Some.” Eli went on, but didn’t go into any detail. If he had constellations, then that was one thing Erik knew he could learn, whether they matched up to the ones he already knew or not.
Finished with the explanation he could give, Eli moved on, starting slow, to give Erik time to restart.
“You go up to the surface enough to learn their locations?”
“It’s not that dangerous.” Eli explained, knowing where Erik was going right away. “Ships are easy to spot from underwater, and there are plenty of useful things up there. Driftwood is important, and even if we don’t catch them often, sea birds taste good.”
Erik couldn’t say he’d ever tried one, but that was something he didn’t need to worry about for a while.
Instead, he was still more concerned with one thing. “Could you teach me about them?” He asked, “Your constellations.”
“Anything you’d like.” Eli said, and no more time was spent on it.
Erik had no more questions. Satisfied with what he had learned, and secure in the fact that their goal was more than just possible.
The security lasted, but as days of moving through the same environment with very little change turned to a week, possibly more, time was so hard to tell down here, it wasn’t the possibility of their goal that became daunting, but his own capability in succeeding.
They hadn’t reached anything that was all that new, but Eli insisted they were making progress all the same.
The plants no longer all looked dead and brittle, but much more colorful, even if it was all still dark. Black had turned to golden browns and deep purple and burgundy colors as they grew up towards the surface, catching whatever light they could find through the dense patches of sea holly that floated on the surface.
The sparse places that large rock sat had become more frequent, and taller, for that matter. Plenty of nooks and hollows had been carved out in it, giving the two of them plenty of places to shelter whenever they needed to stop for rest or sleep.
Stops that Erik felt were too frequent.
He was meant to be taking one now. Sitting and resting while Eli was much higher up in the waves, his harpoon coming into valuable use even if they hadn’t come across anything threatening. Yet.
He’d been the one who had spotted this school of fish.
It was just getting dark, so hunting them down was no problem for him. The spots on him began to glow their soft yellow light, and the fish had noticed. Entranced by them like moths to a lamp, it wouldn’t take any effort at all to reach out and grab one, or to spear a couple.
They weren’t large, but they were far from the tiny fish they had been seeing up until these.
And it was good timing. Erik had been all but sick of the tiny overly salty fish that they’d been eating, and had hoped this would be different.
Even if they’d be raw, too.
It was going to take time to adjust to his new diet.
As it had turned out, Eli and at least most of those like him, were hyper-carnivorous. For the most part, all they ate were fish, shellfish, and mussels they dug out of the sand or pulled off the side of rocks, supplemented by the many types of seaweed around, and the moss that floated over them.
It was fine, there was surprisingly more variation down here then there had even been when he had all his supplies, dried fruits, and a stove to cook with.
Except spices.
He missed spices.
More focused on what Eli was doing, and the one fish that was growing closer to him faster than the others, he wasn’t aware of his own tail.
A pocket current slightly stronger than the ones around brushed through the grasses he was partially concealed in, and took his own harpoon up in it.
The metal hit against stone, and though it wasn’t anything more than just a tap, it was enough to startle the fish out of their daze.
They scattered, and though Eli tried, he wasn’t fast enough to reach them.
Embarrassed by the tiny mistake, Erik wanted to just stay down and hide, but it wasn’t as though he had any real choice.
It wasn’t the first time he’d fucked over a hunt. That was the worst of it. Just the second time, but he should know better now, right?
To know to be aware. Know that the water could change and move around him like wind.
To know what to do to prevent it from giving him away.
“Are you alright?” Erik felt his hand rest on his back, taking the time to check on him, instead of being mad about the lost catch.
Erik shoved him off, and picked himself up from the sand and sea grass. “I’m fine.” He snapped at El, and headed further up into the water. “Let’s just move on.” The sooner they were moving, the sooner Erik would be too focused on moving through the terrain to risk snapping at Eli.
But Eli either didn’t notice that about his mood, or didn’t care enough to avoid pushing it further. “Why? The fish will come back in a few minutes, it’s fine to just wait.”
Even so.
“I don’t care. There’ll be more fish further ahead too, right?” He didn’t wait for Eli to confirm or deny. It wasn’t a real question. “We haven’t made much ground today.”
If there was one thing good about how difficult it was to swim still, it was the outlet it brought.
Numbness and grief hadn’t lasted him nearly as long as he thought they would. If he could’ve spent this whole time without any feelings at all towards his new situation, or the fear that he’d lose this as well, be it within a matter of days, years, or even decades, he would have been just fine.
He missed the numbness he used to know. When nothing at all mattered.
Then Eli came, and it went away.
And he had to become reacquainted with frustration and anger.
Anger at himself for making Eli miss that catch, for slowing them down, making Eli think he needed frequent breaks whenever he slowed down or had pain in his hip that he couldn’t hide.
Anger that the island was gone.
Anger that he again was stuck at the whim of others around him with no power to change a goddamned thing-
“Why won’t you talk to me?” Eli cut in front of him, and forced Erik to a stop.
“I talk to you.” Erik said, offering up nothing else.
Eli forced him closer to the outcropping he had just left. “No, you don’t. You did some before, you told me about your past, and the life you had before they left you there.”
“There’s nothing left to tell.”
“Is there?” Eli asked, and Erik pressed his hands up against the rock behind him, the claws he didn’t have before gouging into it. “Because you were so depressed when I met you, and you never talked about it. I saw you start to get better, and you never even seemed to notice. And now you’re just…”
“Just what?”
“I don’t know! You don’t tell me!”
“I have told you. I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Yes, there is.” Eli wouldn’t let him brush away any of his concerns. Whether he liked it or not, he’d try to make him open up. “All of that, and you haven’t reacted at all. You don’t ask me anything, you don’t ask for anything! I know you’re hurting, but you never ask me to slow down, or for any breaks or help – you just follow me and go along with anything I ask. I don’t know why you won’t talk, or, or do anything. You’re just here, letting it all build up.”
“What else am I supposed to do?” Erik burst out, if Eli had just left him alone, he could’ve calmed down, and avoided this for another day or more. “I can’t go back! My home is gone. Derk is dead, or as good as dead! I can’t get that life back, and I can’t even try to find a new one, because I’m like this now! I’m slowing you down because I make a shitty shark, or whatever it is I’m supposed to be. Every time we stop, it’s more time added onto however long it’ll take you to find where you need to go.” Every little thing that made up the list, one after another after another. “I can’t make it without you, now. I’m just as reliant on you to survive as I was to Derk, so what changed? So what if I have more than that island now? Everything is still out of my control! I didn’t choose anything about my life, and I can’t! I’m never going to get to make one because everything happens to me instead of happening around me! I can barely move like this, just as I got the use of both my legs back, suddenly I don’t have either, but I’ve still got that break, because why not? Same pain, different bone. This – this all didn’t need to happen. I thought I was going to die when I fell off that cliff – and that was fine! You didn’t need to save me-”
He slowed down. Not even halfway done, but he could feel his heart pumping faster, and just a little out of breath. Even if it wasn’t all out there-
“Feel better?”
“A little.” Erik admitted. “I- sorry.”
“No, that’s what you needed.” Eli backed off, giving him some space. “Do you regret that I saved you?”
“I don’t know.” Erik crossed his arms over his chest and stayed in place, letting the stone behind him take his weight. “It’s just a lot.”
“I can find a way to change you back.” Eli offered, “We can find a beach for you, I’ll figure it out, I promise. You aren’t stuck this way. If you want to be human again-”
“No.” Erik said, putting an end to that line of thinking. “I wouldn’t do any better on my own up there than I would down here. It’s been too long since I was around other people – especially regular people. I wouldn’t know how to act, and I don’t have any skills to be able to earn a living.”
“You’d learn.” Eli said, “If you can adapt to this-” He gestured up and down, “-you could make it anywhere.”
“Maybe.” Erik shrugged. “I’m not interested in finding out.”
Eli started to speak, stopped, and tried one more time, deciding the answer to what he wanted to say was more important than his comfort. “What if- no, never mind it.”
“You can ask.” Erik said, but Eli just shook his head.
“I’m sorry.” Eli didn’t look at him. “I don’t know what you’re going through, what it’s like to have everything changed like that. I just – when you’re hurting like that, I want you to know that you can tell me, alright?”
“I will.” Erik agreed. “But – please, what were you going to ask me?”
“Would you want to be human again if I was still with you?”
“I-” It took a second for what he meant to make sense. IF Eli made himself human, would Erik want to leave the ocean as well. “No.” Erik said, as firm in the answer as he could be. “That’s too much. I don’t want to go back. Even if I did I wouldn’t ask you to give up everything you’ve ever known. I know what that’s like.”
“Okay.” Eli took his answer, and didn’t press, didn’t add any more changes to try and change his mind. That was it, and that was the only answer he would get. “We should stop for the night.”
“Why stop?” Erik asked, “There’s still light, and we still haven’t run into anything we should be worried about.”
The way days and nights were structured for Eli was different from how Erik was used to it, but he was slowly starting to get used to the new sleep pattern. A few hours about mid-day, and a few around midnight. When your vision already needed to function in very low lighting, there wasn’t any need to sleep throughout the entire night.
“I think we both need to take a break.” Eli said, “and even if it hasn’t seemed like it, we’ve made plenty of distance since we started. There isn’t any need to push ourselves more than we need to.”
He wanted to argue, feeling again that Eli was just making an excuse to force Erik to rest more than he needed or wanted to, but this time he wasn’t going to bother trying to worm his way out of it.
If Eli said they needed it, then he would listen.
“There was a pretty big amount of space under there,” he pointed down to the bottom of the rock where he’d been waiting before, “we could hole up in there until we leave again.”
“That’d work-” Eli cut off as they were both distracted by a heavy splash from above them.
They’d been too caught up in arguing to notice the ship that had slowly moving above them.
Eli lost his calm at once. Erik could see just how afraid he’d become in only a matter of seconds.
The people aboard it had just dropped an anchor down. They had no idea they were down there. It was just a coincidence that they’d picked the same spot to rest.
“We can find some place else.” Erik suggested. There’d be no shortage of hiding places with all the growth and rock around.
But either too stubborn to move, or trying to prove to himself that there was nothing to be afraid of, Eli refused. “No. We’re safe down here, and it’s a good spot. We’ll rest, catch something to eat, and leave before it does. It’s fine.”
“If you’re sure.”
“There’s no reason to waste time finding a new spot.” Eli again tried to prove that he was fine, and started to swim back down before Erik could argue.
Erik could try to make a point about Eli forcing himself to stay against what he really wanted right after forcing Erik to air everything that had been bothering him for weeks – but he wouldn’t. Not unless it became a reoccurring problem.
He followed Eli down, who had already settled himself on the sand, laying up against the far side of the tiny cave.
Tiny fish swam around in the small space, startled by their sudden presence, but Eli paid them no mind.
They would calm down and stay.
Erik had to say that he preferred these little guys over flies and bugs. They didn’t crawl on you or bite and sting.
Eli held one arm out, and waited for Erik to lay down against him.
“The houses you have in those seasonal settlements you mentioned,” Erik started to ask, “what are they like? You don’t just sleep on the ground all the time, do you?”
“No.” Eli answered. “It depends on where you are. It’s nothing like your lighthouse was. I’m happy you’ll get to see it.”
It wasn’t much of an answer, not enough for Erik to build up any kind of expectation, but that was probably for the best. No ideas to get shot down.
Though, the assurance that he would not be sleeping on the ocean floor forever was enough to reassure him it’d be just fine.
Erik startled awake not all that long after he’d finally dozed off.
It didn’t take any time to remember where he was, or what had happened before they made their camp for the night.
But even knowing full well that it had been safe mere hours ago – he’d been woken up by a horrible feeling of dread, different from anything he’d ever felt before.
Without waking Eli, he carefully removed himself from his hold, and moved towards the exit as slowly as he could.
The ship had stayed just where it was.
Could it have just been the last remnants of a bad dream? Maybe Derk had just come back to haunt him, or it was just being somewhere new and mostly unknown. After all-
Movement above him, but not so high up that it wasn’t to be worried about.
He could just about make out the shape of it, and it was bigger than he had any comfort knowing.
“Eli,” Erik rushed back inside and went to wake him. He had no idea if this was something they could wait out, or if they needed to move as fast as they could. “Eli, wake up!”
Eli said something nonsensical and only half-audible, and tried to push Erik away, as if this was nothing more than him wanting to get an early start.
Instead of trying again to wake him gently, Erik took a fistful of his hair, and pulled him up by it, waking him instantly.
Erik covered his mouth with his free hand before he could make a sound.
Even if he couldn’t tell on his own that something was wrong, that was more than enough.
“There’s something out there, and I don’t know what it is.”
Erik let him go, and Eli slowly made for the exit, just as Erik had.
He’d hoped that Eli would relax, tell Erik he was being ridiculous, and that it was completely safe. They could go back to sleep, and continue on as normal.
Nothing could ever be so easy.
The second he’d gotten a good look, he jerked back inside and grabbed their harpoons from where they had left them.
“How bad is this?” Erik asked, taking his.
“Bad.” Eli didn’t try to ease any of Erik’s fears. “I’ve never seen a living one, and that was for the best. It takes a lot of people to bring one down, and if you’re on your own…” Eli stopped there. “It’s just circling around, so I think it knows we’re here.”
“What do we do then?” Erik asked, “Should we just hide? It can’t get us in here, right?”
“If it knows we’re in here, it’s probably seen the glow coming from me. It can wait longer than we can.”
“So we just run?”
“We just run.” Eli stared back at him. “I want you to swim ahead of me. I’ll have a better chance at slowing it down.”
Erik felt his jaw drop open. “You want me to run away while it kills you?”
“No.” Eli glanced out to check for it. “I’m just faster than you are right now, and I’m hoping that it recognizes that I’m poisonous, and gives up on us.”
“You’re-” Of all the things that never came up. It seemed like it would be common courtesy to inform those around you that you were quite literally toxic, especially to those who wouldn’t ever even think to ask.
“Did no one ever teach you about bright colors?”
Erik could ask him about that later. For now…
He took a tighter hold on his harpoon, and hoped that this would be a story he could tell later.
“Ready?” Eli asked from behind him.
“Which way am I heading?” Erik asked.
“To your right.” Eli answered, “Don’t slow down. Don’t look back.”
One more deep breath, and Erik pushed out of their hiding spot, and did just what he was told.
He’d survived everything up until this point. He’d kept going despite every single thing that had been forced on him. He wasn’t going to end that streak now.
“Where is it?” Erik called back to Eli.
He didn’t need to turn around. He knew exactly where Eli was. And as long as he could stay there-
“Don’t stop.” Eli said instead of answering his question. “I’ll catch up, I promise.
“Wait-”
“Keep going!” Eli said, and by the time Erik heard it, it already sounded further away.
Only a few minutes of following his advice – and Erik was already giving up on it.
He’d just told Eli that he was as good as dead down here without Eli there to guide him through the entirety of the completely unknown ocean – so what exactly was supposed to stop him from trying to help?
Coming to a sudden stop was still difficult – keeping upright even more so.
But when he did manage to stop and get a good look at what was following them – he understood Eli’s fear of it.
The only times he’d seen an orca before was when one had been mistakenly caught, or for only brief moments when they would breech for air. As far as Erik had been told, they didn’t prey on humans. They weren’t a source of food, difficult to get to, even on boats, but – neither of them were human.
“Eli, for god’s sake wait!”
Eli hadn’t ever really listened.
The creature was already focused in on him, and finally getting a good look at it, Erik realized just how small it was.
Not a calf, but definitely not a grown adult. And even if it was old enough to be without it’s mother, didn’t they live in pods?
So this thing was young, scared, and alone.
None of that made any difference if it was going after them, but it was enough to make Erik pity it.
But if it was young, it was inexperienced, and they had an actual fighting chance. Hopefully.
There was already blood in the water. Eli had just managed to get a sizable gash opened up in it’s side by the time Erik made it back over.
Eli held it back to try again, but Erik beat him to it. The point dug in just behind it’s front flipper, and tore out just above it’s belly. The skin was tough, but once the blade cut into the fat, it was like cutting through air.
The animal screeched, loud and pained and furious. The water around them bubbled and vibrated with it.
Erik was only just fast enough to miss a snap of it’s jaws on his tail.
It swam a handful of yards up, looking down at them both.
It knew what it wanted to do, it just didn’t know who to target first.
“What are you doing?” Eli yelled at him, trying to not take his eyes off of the giant fish. “I told you to leave!”
“Not fun getting ignored, is it?” Erik tried to joke, tried to sound like he wasn’t terrified for them both. He understood why Eli refused to leave. He didn’t have to like it then, and Eli didn’t have to be happy with him now.
It came for Erik first.
Faster than it had seemed before. Erik was ready. Apart from size, this wasn’t completely different from fighting another person. So, he wasn’t used to his weapon? It was still close enough.
And being underwater just meant he wasn’t going to fall or loose his footing. That seemed like a bonus.
All he had to do was move a little to the side. Wait until he absolutely had to, make sure the blade was pointed at the right angle, and let it’s own momentum cut into it.
None of the wounds they were giving it were severe enough to mortally wound it. But if they could just give it enough to scare it off, enough to make the blood loss slow it down, they’d be safe. They’d be able to make an escape. They’d-
As Erik’s blade made contact, and the orca kept swimming, but faltered in it’s movements. In an effort to move away from Erik, it twisted.
It’s back fin slammed to the side to try and pull itself away, and caught Eli head on.
He lost grip on his harpoon on impact, and the force threw him back against the stone. Leaving his weapon stuck inside it’s blubber.
Eli didn’t get himself up, but he didn’t lose his grip on the rock behind him. He was dazed, but fine.
Erik realized that he didn’t have what it took to do this on his own. To keep it’s focus on himself and off of the other, now easy, target.
As familiar as he was with keeping himself alive, he could only do so much.
The orca had swum further down towards the sand, thrashing around to try and yank the harpoon from it’s side. If he swam away, he could almost make it.
But Eli-
They could try hiding again.
Maybe now it knew to leave them alone.
Or maybe now it wanted them dead more than before.
The shadow above Erik caught his eye.
He was closer to that ship than he had been before.
The chain to the anchor was still dropped, but with it now was a fishing net.
It was small. Nothing you’d see on a fishing boat, but enough for someone that had a good number of mouths to feed.
Maybe…
“Eli!” Erik rushed over, trying to help Eli off of the rock. “Can you swim? We need to move-”
“Spinning…” Eli just managed to say. All of the air – water – whatever it was - knocked out of him. “You can get away now. It’ll-”
“You really think I’m going to leave now?”
“No,” Eli said, letting Erik to try guide him up, “I had to try.”
“We’re both getting out of here. See the net?” Erik pointed, and hoped that Eli wasn’t so dizzy that he couldn’t see. “We’re going to-”
“No.” Eli refused before Erik could even finish speaking.
“We don’t have a choice.” Erik pushed him ahead. “With both our weights in it, they’ll notice and pull us up. We don’t have the time for anything else.”
“But-”
“Eli, please!” Erik begged, and looked back to where they’d left the orca. It had the harpoon in it’s mouth. Blood clouded the water, but it would stop as soon as it caught sight of them both once more. “I know why you don’t want to, but I promise I won’t let them hurt you. As soon as that thing is gone, or we’re far enough away, I’ll get us out of there. So please, Eli. This is what we’ve got.”
Eli hesitated one moment more, and gave in. Whether he recognized it as their best shot, or just agreed for Erik’s sake didn’t matter.
“Then go!” Erik gave him a shove, and let go.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving us a few more seconds,” Erik promised, “I’ll be right behind you.”
Instead of running, Erik swam back towards the thing, and waited for it to get within range.
The second it did, he put as much force behind the harpoon as he could, and hoped it’d make it’s mark.
The tip stabbed through it’s eye, and dove into the socket.
It screamed again, and as it tried again to get away, tore the weapon from Erik’s hands.
It wasn’t deep enough to kill it.
But it would slow it down.
He didn’t waste any time getting away from the furious whale.
“Why would you risk that?” Eli asked, taking his hand as soon as he was close enough, and hauling him into the net with him.
“We needed more time.” Was the only explanation that Erik could give. “Pull on the ropes, they need to know we’re in here.”
Just as Eli did as he was told, Erik felt them start to be pulled up.
The shock of the cold air was almost blinding, and the sudden change in his weight was disorientating enough on it’s own.
He started to hear people yelling on board.
A heavier catch than they’d been prepared for.
“We’ll be fine.” Erik promised again, just before they were pulled on board.
Remembering how ready to fight Eli had been when Derk had fished him up, Erik was ready to show the same fight.
He hit the wooden deck hard, and was weighed down by the net. He had water in his eyes, and the sounds of the people around him shouting and yelling at what they saw was dampened by the water in his ears.
Even if it took a moment or two, they’d have to take the netting away, and once they did, there’d be nothing that could-
“My, my, my, my, my. Erik, is that you? You’ve certainly had an interesting time since I saw you last.”