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Chapter Text

The sun stood high in the endless blue above and warmed the eternal azure beneath.

In the middle of that eternal, always moving azure, a rock formation sat, waves washing over it and tirelessly polishing and smoothing the stone.

Atop those rocks, Dream lounged like a lazy cat. And like a cat, he enjoyed the sun.

The rhythmic sound of the waves, the deep breaths the sea took, the cries of the seabirds on their way back to the small island just barely visible on the horizon to Dream, the lapping of the waves against his tail, all these noises made a lullaby, lulling Dream into a state between awake and dozing. Drifting.

His half-lidded eyes caught sight of Kelp's boat in the distance. A splash right next to it.

Probably Horror saying hi.

Dream sighed, relaxed and satisfied.

Sooner or later some danger or the other would raise its head, but for now everything was as it should be.

The frills of his tail, submerged in the waves, sensed some slight disturbances in the waters. But Dream recognized the moving patterns as Cross', the thresher keeping watch and making sure that Dream would be back home before darkness.

Life was good.

With a sleepy mumble, the goldfish nuzzled his face into his arms and let himself drift off.

Chapter Text

It was late and because it was winter and cold outside, shiver cuddled up with Dream and Nightmare.

Not long after everyone had settled down, Cross got restless.

The Doc had dragged him from his tank. He was just a pup who didn't understand what was happening. Or why.

The Doc had put tight restrains on him, at first he had flipped him on his back, but only to bind his hands to his chest like the ancient egyptians did with their mummies. Not that he would know anything of mummies or egypt.

After immobilizing his arms, the Doc had flipped him back and strapped to a table. Then he muzzled him.

He didn't get anything of the science lingo the Doc spoke above him, something about muscle signals in mer tails.

He felt a prick, then another and another. He turned his head as far he could and saw the Doc pushing thin needles with wires attached to the ends into the back of his tail.

"Hold still, X! I won't tell you again," the Doc threatened.

He turned his head forward again and pressed his forehead into the cold steel of the table.

He felt his fingers tingle and began twisting his wrists to work out the pins and needles sensation.

It also helped to distract him from the countless picks in the back of his tail.

He focused on the sound of his breathing.

A deep rumble slowly worked its way into his consciousness and let everything melt away like ice in the hot summer sun.

Nightmare was woken by the sensation of small hands kneading one of his tentacles.

He found Cross quietly whimpering and trembling, his fingers working his black and cyan glowing ecto like his life depended on it.

Nightmare's Soul sank. Cross had one of his night terrors again.

The huge Leviathan began to purr softly to calm Cross down.

Bit by bit, the thresher untensed until his own purr stutered to life in answer.

Nightmare breathed a sigh of relief and everyone settled down once more.

Chapter Text

The sharks, normal as well as mer, had migrated along the cliff a while ago in search for better hunting grounds. The pod needed a lot of food for their many pups and were quite effective when it came to keeping an eye out for the predators.

That meant that the pups could now play more safely and explore the waters around the crevice.

The gaggle of pups had split up into several groups. Rol and some of the others with more predator-like attributes were practicing hunting techniques they saw the adults use.

Oy and Jake explored a huge colony of soft corals and sponges together with the smallest ones between the 19.

Susannah and most of the rest weaved seaweed together to crowns and first attempts at nests

The rest was chasing one another up in the open waters above.

Eddy watched them for a while, snorting when two rammed into Error by accident.

He looked around.

Something shiny blinked in the distance. He decided to check it out, maybe it was something interesting?

Keeping an eye on the others if anyone would notice him straying off the pod, he left the pod behind and then shot off towards the bright shine.

...

It was further away than he thought, but Eddy was no squidder. He kept swimming until he reached the shiny thing.

It drifted in the water. As Eddy took a close look, he saw a thin line the shiny was tied to, and a curled thing with a dead fish pierced on it.

Eddy scrunched up his nose. The fish wasn't fresh anymore.

The shiny flipped in the current and showed its colorful backside, bright blue and green stripes.

Huh. Now, that he had seen it up close, the thing wasn't as interesting any longer and Eddy thought it would be better if he got back to the others before someone noticed his disappearance.

He turned around...

He couldn't see any of his pod!

A dark shadow rose up from the deep, drawing slow circles.

A shark.

Eddy just shot to the side as the animal lunged, swallowing the hooked fish and throwing itself back and forth as it found itself trapped.

Eddy had no eye for that, he swam as fast as he could.

When he stopped and looked around, he had no idea where he was, but he was sure he had swum in the wrong direction.

He glanced up and tried to remember where the sun was when he swam off. Behind him, he thought, so he turned towards the sun and went straight ahead.

At some point, the sun sank beneath the horizon and dusk stole the light from the waters.

Eddy was scared now. He spied a bush of kelp and hid between the leaves. He would stand no chance out in the open.

He had drifted half off, as a familiar chirp woke him up.

Another chirp.

Another one. Closer.

"Eddy! Wher'ya?"

That was his mom. But mom never went too far from the crevice, because he had trouble swimming.

"Eddy!?"

"Mom!?", Eddy chirped back.

"Eddy!" And then his mom was there, picking him from between the kelp and scenting and grooming him.

"Don' do tha' ever 'gain, mah pr'cios baby."

Eddy felt horrible for scaring his mom so much. "I'm sorry, mom. I didn't realize how far i went. And then i got lost."

His mom sighed. "Le's fin' de odders. Dey're worried, too."

Eddy didn't know what to say as he found out that every adult except Lust, who kept an eye on the other pups, had went to look for him.

For now, he had had more than enough excitement for one day. He felt bad to worry everyone, but it was a nice feeling to be something precious to someone.

Chapter Text

"Come back here, Killer!"

"I don't wanna, you overgrown seahorse!"

"You make more fuss than all our pups together. Now get back here, we need to teach them. They're yours, too!"

Before Killer could counter that, the huge form of Horror conveniently drifted in front of him, blocking his way and the lionfish mer had to do a somersault to stop his momentum.

Lust, of course, caught up with him now and pinched one of his pectorals fins.

"Ouch! Okay, okay, you got me." Killer huffed. "If you insist that much, let's get this over with."

Lust dragged a pouting Killer back to the edge of the crevice, where the pups were gathered.

To be sure everyone was there, he did a quick headcount.

"Good. Now, that we are all here, let's start our lesson on how to correctly groom frills."

Eddy, the bigger of the two male rainbow-mackerel pups, piped up, "why do we have to learn that, too? We don't have frills." He was obviously referring to his blood-siblings as well as the ones from Lust and Cross that had hatched without frills. Only three had inherited Lust's main body shape and four got traits similar to Killer, not counting the yet unhatched clutches of last mating season, two moons back.

Lust looked at the ever questioning pup fondly. "That's a good question, Eddy. The answer is to be able to do it for your podmates if necessary. It is better to have a skill and not needing than needing but not having it."

Eddy seemed to mull this over in his head, then nodded.

Lust trilled to get the pups' attention back before they could start a discussion and proceeded to explain and show how to take care of his own and Killer's frills, pointing out that lionfish possess venomous quills, hidden in their frills.

Each pup got to practice, either on their parents/teachers or one of their siblings with frills.

Lust was very pleased with how the lesson progressed.

And Killer just couldn't resist the power of pup.

Chapter Text

After Eddy's little adventure, the whole pod kept sharper watch over the pups.

Rol didn't say anything, just gave his brother a look, then left him be, Susannah gave him a slap over the back of his head, and Jake, with quiet Oy always at his fins, needled him with questions. The 19 mostly only shook their heads or gave him accusing looks since the new restrictions in their freedom were his fault.

However, pups need to learn certain things and keeping them cooped up wasn't helpful in that respect. So, the whole pod, except Cran and Killer who stayed behind to watch the eggs in the crevice, lead the little ones up to the border between their own element and the air.

They stared at the ripples going through the liquid skin, painting moving patterns of light over all of them.

"What is that?", Jake asked, staring fascinated at the wavering not-Jake that looked back at him.

"That's the surface, Jakey," his Dad replied, "above is the air, the world of the land-dwellers and anything that can't breathe water."

"Is it dangerous?", Rol inquired, always on the lookout, like the big brother, he was.

"We can breathe air, if necessary, because we are made of Magic, but we would dry after a short while, and that could, indeed, be dangerous." Nightmare tried to not scare the pups too much, but he also wouldn't omiss a potential danger from them."

"And," Dream, "piped up, "it's where the fishermen go over the water with their boats to catch fish. Their nets and hooked lines can be a threat to us mer as much as they are to the normal fish. So, stay far away if you ever see something that isn't a fish, whale, mer or seabird, and you should be fine."

"It's pretty," Susannah observed, studying her reflection in clear, natural mirror, "how can something so pretty be dangerous?"

Cross looked around, then leapt straight through the surface, shattering the calm ripples into a splash and spraying the sunlit air with droplets that glistened like crystals.

"It is pretty. But seaslug are pretty, too, with their bright colors. But they're dangerous, because their colors hide venomous stings or poisonous blood. If left alone, they are harmless tho. Just be careful and keep watch, and you are fine."

The tension then broke like the surface when horror threw his massive body up and created a way bigger wave than Cross on impact.

They let each pup try jumping and looking out of the water, before they took them back to the safe depths.

Jake started to pester Eddy again, asking about the shark and if there was a baited hook on a line then there had to have been a boat as well, right.

Pups will always be pups.

Chapter Text

The huge shark mer drifted close to the surface so his form was blurred by the light from above.

He was watching that pod of potential meals his worthless runt of a brother had collected around himself.

As if a mackerel as mate wasn't shameful enough for a shark.

Even worse that said mackerel was a better fighter than some of his own shivermates.

Oh, he was boiling with anger. While his crippled, weak brother and this buffet of a pod raised two dozens of shrimps, the first-timers in the nursery often got panicked when the labor-pains set in and failed to deliver, losing the pups and sometimes even dying themselves.

If that kept happening, those strangers would soon become too many and might overpower the shiver and either kill them or drive them from the reef.

He can't let that happen.

The electric receptors along his body picked up on something huge moving somewhere beneath and behind him. Probably that whaleshark mer. Harmless filter-feeder.

He ignored them. Instead he kept plotting. His revenge on that damned mackerel and his runt of a brother. How he would get those shrimps between his fangs. How much of a fight the others might put up each. They had a barracuda and a lionfish, after all. The latter possessed venomous quills. The swordfish could pose a problem, too. Their kind were predators like him, and fighters. Especially when they had young to protect.

He was unceremoniously ripped from his thoughts when something big pushed him upwards at rapid speed.

The next he knew, he was flung out of the water and tumbling head over tail through the dry air, only to hit the surface with a loud splash and a cloud of bubbles that disoriented him.

He shook himself, looked around to determine where he had landed.

He felt the hunting party of his shiver close by. Grumbling, he decided to join them.

Horror let himself sink down to the crevice. Dream, who was playing with the little ones, looked up and smiled brightly at his sight.

"Horror! What's up?"

Horror nuzzled his smaller mate affectionately. "Just took out the trash. Nothing to worry about."

Then he was surrounded by a swarm of chirping pups.

Chapter Text

The unassuming prey moved around between the rocks and corals, checked different nooks and crannies for a snack of its own.

A shadow lazily drifted past above, barely any movement from the caster, just floating in the current.

The prey was still unaware of the deadly danger, getting careless and moving more out into the open.

The hunter struck, and he struck true and hard....

A little later, the pups were playing at the crevice, practicing shool swimming, to move like one big organism to distract and confuse predators. The three macks had eagerly volunteered to play the predators when the question arose.

Now, they lost focus and were just chasing around.

Then, Rol chirped. "Cross is back!"

Everyone, the adults too, turned to where Rol was looking.

After a moment of incredulous silence, Killer burst out laughing.

Cross got closer, leaving a dark blackish cloud behind from the octopus ink that covered him.

The culprit, a red octopus, hung limp from his fangs while he used his hand to try and get the ink off of him, only smearing it more.

"Really, Cross?", Nightmare deadpanned, "again?"

Cross just grumbled through his prey. He left it by the edge of the crevice, swam a little distance away and let himself sink into a sandbed, pouting.

Lust shook his head is exasperation, then trilled to the pups. "Okay, little ones, looks like Cross had a little mishap with that octopus. Let's help him clean up.

The pups happily piled onto the disgruntled swordfish and began grooming him.

Cross couldn't stay grumpy for long.

Sometimes, even fierce hunters need some help.

Chapter Text

When the shiver woke up, Dust only curled into himself with an unhappy chirp.

Horror immediately swam back to their shared nest and gently shoved his hand under Dust's hood to feel his skull. He looked worried at the Leviathans when he withdrew his hand. "Cuddlefish has a fever," he informed them.

Cross looked unsure at the others. "Do you think he overdid it yesterday? He used his Magic much more than usual."

"Sounds about right," Killer mused as he joined Dust in the nest to curl himself around him.

"What do we do now?", Cross asked, looking at Dream for guidance. The goldfish usually knew what to do when it came to health matters.

"I think the best would be to get him down to the vents." Dream approached the nest and Killer pouted as his teddymer was stolen from him.

Dream huffed amused and nuzzled Killer's forehead. "You can take care of the nest. Dust will need a lot of rest and cuddling is more comfortable in a fresh made nest, no?"

Killer perked up at that and dragged Horror from the grotto right away to collect seaweed. And probably keep an eye out for fresh prey.

Dream took Dust in a secure hold and nodded to Cross to follow him.

"Why me?", he asked, mostly curious than anything else. "You've never been down there yet," was Dream's answer. "The others all know about the vents because each of them got sick on some occasion or the other. We barely go down there, but the food around the vents is the best to replenish Magic if one of us is in need. But it's not exactly a comfy place."

One of Nightmare's tentacles emerged from the shadows, holding what Cross recognized as a cereal bowl with a cartoon bird on the side.

A little lost, Cross took it since Dream had his arms full with Dust. The tentacle retreated back into the dark and Cross followed Dream outside and down the rockfall.

He had gotten used to the dimness outside their grotto, but deeper down, it got pitch black, only Dream's soft glow offering a little light.

Then he began to notice pale blues and greens glowing on the rocky surface of the wall.

Biolumescence.

It got brighter again and eventually Cross could make out weird, upright structures. The water above them wavered in a way that indicated a great difference in temperature and he felt his fins pass upstreams of heat in the icy cold down here.

"What are those?", he asked in fascination.

"Nighty says they're geothermal vents. Heat from deep inside the earth rises up and gets out through those, heating up the water and bringing lots of nutrients with them. Over time, those structures grow higher until they break apart under their own weight and a new structure grows.

They also attract all kinds of deep sea critters and that's why we're here."

Dream gave Dust over to Cross to hold him and told him to stay close to the warm upstreams so Dust won't catch a cold on top of everything.

He then took the bowl and began to collect some of the creatures, isopods, weird looking crabs and what have you.

He crushed them and picked out the shell-pieces, only keeping the soft flesh. He added some kinds of algae and scraped off some mineral residue from a rock. He then added some of his own healing Magic and held the bowl over one of the vents. The heat had the mixture boiling, but Dream's Magic prevented it from dissolving into the surrounding waters.

"There you go," Dream chirped, sounding satisfied with himself, "our special food for sick mers. It took us quite some time to figure out the right combination."

Cross glanced into the bowl. "Looks like what the land-dwellers call soup. Funny, i heard them talk about which soup is the best for this or that health issue."

Dream was always astonished how much Cross had learned about the land-dwellers from his small tank. He probably wasn't even aware of it. The goldfish-mer shrugged. "Soup, yes? Well, seems easier to say than always having to talk around what needs to be done to get it."

They fed Dust the soup and the sick mer licked his teeth, before snuggling into Cross' chest and starting to purr.

At Cross' awestruck expression, Dream had to bite the inside of his cheek to not burst out laughing. He waved the thresher to follow him and led him back up to the grotto.

On their way Cross asked questions about the vents and the critters and why they were considered the best for sick mers.

Dream explained that deepsea dwellers grew very slowly and were dependent on finding either the sunken carcass of a whale to find temporary food and shelter, or a geothermal vent which delivered practically endless heat and nutrients. Over their long phase of growing up, the different species accumulated a high amount of said nutrients in their bodies, nutrients that were very helpful to strengthen the weakened Magic of sick mers.

And since the soup was best fresh and hot, they always brought the sick ones down to be surrounded by the nutritious waters and to feed them the soup as fresh as possible.

It made sense to Cross and he nodded, curiosity satisfied for now.

They laid Dust down in the nest and Cross had to lay down with him since Dust refused to let go. That earned the thresher soft grins from his mates as they prepared to leave for hunting.

After they left, Cross huffed and cuddled up with his sick mate, his purrs kicking up and filling the grotto.

Chapter Text

Dust, Cross and the twins took the lead at this nightly expedition to the surface. The others caged the little ones from below and would keep watch for potential dangers.

The pups were all excited at the prospect of a visit to the surface at night. But it also showed that they still were little pups. Some of them already got cranky from getting tired but not wanting to miss out on this adventure.

Following their tonight teachers' lead, they breached the surface and their eyes were immediately captured by the sight that was the sky.

No bright blue, no clouds, but a vast sea of dark blue, sprinkled with countless little sparks of light and an irregular bright and milky band spreading from horizon to horizon.

Dust didn't seem surprised at their wonder, of course he wasn't, during his years jumping from pod to pod he probably witnessed dozens of times when pups saw the nightsky for the first time. He looked rather amused but also soft. Perhaps because it were his pups this time.

"Tonight you will learn how to navigate by the stars, little ones," Nightmare took the word and all eyes were on him.

He motioned to the stars and continued, "if you look closely, you will find shapes, figures in the stars. If you know them, you will be able to find your way wherever you are.

Now, can you show me where north is?"

To their amusement, all the pups pointed in random directions, only Jake, and, because they always do what he does, Oy pointed close enough to be considered correct.

Now, Dream pointed above where the two were pointing. "Close enough. Look at those two similar looking shapes. What do they remind you off?"

"Jake and Oy!", two mini-Killers unisoned and burst into giggles.

Dust grinned as he saw Jake cross his arms and pout while Oy looked between the constellations and Jake.

"That's actually pretty close," Cross snickered, "they're called the little pup and the big pup. Together they're also known as the two brothers. The star in the tail tip of the little pup never moves, and stays straight at north. So the little pup is spinning on the tail tip and the big pup is circling the brother to protect him."

"The entire nightsky spins around the northstar, that's what it's called. The figures, constellations, never change their position to each other, so when you know which constellation is visible at the time of year and night, you will always be able to find your way," Nightmare lectured, then pointed to a figure deep above the horizon. "What does this one look like to you?"

Frowns and wrinkled brows were all that he got as answer.

"That's unfair, Nighty, they never saw those before," Dust helped. "It's called the selkie, because it looks like big seal like they exist in the cold waters of far north and far south. It's circling the northstar in a line with twelve others."

"What's that over there?", Eddy piped up and motioned for the bright band.

"That's the great current," Cross explained, "it can be seen from everywhere, and it's told that we go there when we die."

"I thought, we turn into seafoam," one of the 19 argued, confused.

Cross smiled warmly. "Our bodies do, yes. But what makes us us, our mind, goes up there, and there we will meet everyone that left before us."

The pups fell silent and just stared at the expanse of light and mysteries.

Chapter Text

Cross was lazing around, him and Cran keeping an eye on their gaggle of pups.

Despite being born one year later, Cran's and Dust's shark-macks, as they sometimes called them, soon became kind of the leaders of the bunch.

The two shark pups were a mirror of Cran and his own brother in a way, Roland (or Rol) being the biggest and strongest, luckily without the viciousness of Cran's brother, and Oy (named after his first speaking attempt) being smaller and quieter, but they never were forgotten by the others. The other three, the ones that took after Dust only with sharp teeth, were named Eddy (the tallest of the three), Susannah (or Susi, the only female in Cran's litter) and Jake (the smallest and inseperable from Oy).

Given their parents' natures, the five were incredibly observant and smart, always making a new discovery or the other and then sharing with the 19.

Right now, they were all chasing around in a game where they had to find out which of them were 'fiends' before they could get them. Everything was allowed except anything that could hurt them.

Cross and Cran exchanged a look and chuckled at the pups' antics.

Suddenly Oy was in front of Cross, one of Cross' own with them. "I got captured," the little marlin with Horror's skin pattern mumbled.

Cross sniggered playful. "I see. And now?"

Oy nudged their 'captive' towards him. "Stay."

The pup let themself sink and flop on top of Cross' head.

Oy went back to the others, staying hidden between plants and corals.

Not long after, Eddy was dropped off by one of the 19. "We drew lots and i drew 'prey'," was his whole explanation.

Cran snickered behind his hands. The others weren't able to see who dropped the captured siblings since their protectors were well hidden among the rocks and corals and thick bushes of seaweed.

One by one, the pups were piled on top of Cross and just... stayed there, no intention of getting off of him.

The last to join were Roland, Oy, Susannah and two of the 19 as predators and Jake and two of Lust's pups as the last of the prey party. They all just joined the pile on top of the marlin and started chirping and purring to declare they were hungry and tired now and demanded affection.

Cross huffed good-naturedly and started his own purrs.

Chapter Text

No one thought anything of it when Killer and Cross left the grotto for a swim. Killer never could hold still for long and Cross pretty surely felt a little cooped up after spending the whole mating season inside, tending to the pups when the others left for hunt.

And it wasn't like they were the only ones. Dream had needed to go sunbathe, but with his usual companion and lookout, Cross, unavailable, Dust had offered and went out.

Leaving Nightmare and Horror to look after the pups. They were a year old now and still would need the shiver's protection for several more years until they were big enough and knew what they needed to go out and live on their own.

Right now, they were playing between Nightmare's tentacles, not aware that the Leviathan's attention wasn't entirely on them anymore.

A vessel had just entered his domain. His territory. An unknown vessel. Nightmare prouded himself on being able to recognize each ship and boat that belonged to the island, Kelp called his home.

But this one, he didn't. It was too big.

While he still tried to figure out this puzzle, he sensed fear, terror really, from Killer and Cross.

It didn't last long.

Then nothing.

They were just. Gone.

Nightmare felt his brother's Magic prod at his in question, without a doubt Dream had felt it, too.

Nightmare sent him the location, but he could tell that the intruder was already turning around and leaving. Dream was a fast swimmer, the fastest of them all, but even he wouldn't be able to get there before they left his territory, and, more importantly right now, the range where he would be able to pinpoint their location.

All, Dream would find, was residual machine oil and the stench of fuel in the water.

This evening, they had to come up with something to tell the pups why their Mommy and Killz hadn't come back.

The next day, right at the crack of dawn, Horror sought out Kelp to tell him. When he got back, he relayed that Kelp would tell the red brothers and report to the land dweller authorities that were meant to protect the oceans from things like that.

As the days went on, the pups didn't stop asking for the missing ones. Eventually it became a thing to try and distract them with stories about what each of them had been up to, done and seen before they all made their home in the trench.

Dream told them about the other Leviathans, Reaper in antarctica, and Ink and Error at their coral reef.

The pups asked if Killz and their Mommy went on a journey to go on adventures, too. And if they would come home soon.

Dream carefully explained that such adventures not always were intentionally, but Cross and Killz would come back as quickly as they could, because they loved the pups and would miss them.

But days turned into weeks turned into months.

Since they were outside his territory, Nightmare wasn't able to sense them. And the oceans are vast.

He even contacted the other Leviathans in hopes the ship that took his treasures passed their domain at some point.

But no such luck.

The pups didn't stop asking, and the more time went by, the less likely it was that either Cross or Killer were ever coming back.

They were gone.

Forever.

It was hard.

To keep up an optimistic facade for the pups, when everything the shiver and the twins wanted to do was curling up and mourning their loss.

Nightmare didn't know if he was more angry, worried or sad. The weather mirrored his roiling emotions, leaving the sea rough and wild, with a tension in the air, like right before a lightning strike.

Half a year later, and it still hurt like a festering eel bite.

Then one day, Horror of all mers, came rushing into the grotto, chirping and trilling and making no sense as he tried to tell them whatever had him so frantic at once.

It took Nightmare flipping him over to force him to calm down, for Horror to finally get the important detail out.

"They're found," he slurred in the haze of tonic immobility, "Kelp just told me."

Nightmare flipped him back upright and Horror finally took a deep breath, flared his gills and sorted through what Kelp had told him.

"He was out at a weird time. So i went checking. Told me, he had good news. Got a... call... from someone called Epic. That he reported two shark mers missing half a year ago, if their names were Killer and Cross.

'Pparently, this Epic guy works for those authorities, Kelp mentioned. The ones protecting the oceans and going after other land dwellers that steal from the sea. 'Cause it's forbidden to capture mers if not to help them.

Kelp said, they are with this Epic now, to recover before they are brought back. Kelp and the red brothers will go check on them as soon as possible.

The one who took them will be punished."

Hearing all that, knowing that it had to be true, because Kelp would never lie to them, eased something in Nightmare like an overstrained muscle.

In the evening, the weather had gotten signigicantly calmer.

Still, Nightmare had to hear it from Kelp's mouth personally, so he went up in the morning in his small form.

He found the skeleton tending to his boat, and pulled himself up on the dock with his tentacles.

Kelp was a little surprised, it didn't happen that often that Nightmare left his trench.

"Lemme guess. H told you." His grin was soft and understanding.

Nightmare nodded. "Is it really true? They are alive? They're coming home?"

Kelp nodded and took Nightmare's hands. "Epic told me that someone had reported a scientist apparently moving sharks. Unfortunately, they were swamped with work and the investigation was delayed. Then someone gave the anonymous tip that that scientist kept sharks in captivity and experimented on them.

Epic took his team and went to investigate. He found the guy. And a tank holding not two normal sharks but two shark mers. One of them introduced himself as Killer and begged Epic for help. Apparently, there's more to it, but Epic couldn't tell me everything as long as investigation is still going.

Killer gave Epic my name and Epic contacted me. And i went out to tell whoever of you guys would show up first.

And that's it. I can tell you more when i talked with them."

Nightmare frowned. "What about Cross?"

Epic chewed his bottom lip. "Cross isn't well. He took this all much harder and is very weak. That he only thinks about the pups, isn't exactly helping him getting enough rest, but Epic said Killer does his best to help him. It may take some weeks until they can be released, but Epic promised to bring them back as soon as possible. Pups always take priority to be reunited with their parents."

Nightmare's heart sank as he heard that Cross wasn't well. At least him and Killer were safe now. And hopefully back home soon.

"Thank you, Kelp. You took a great burden off my shoulders. When you go see them, tell them we are waiting for them."

Kelp nodded and Nightmare slipped back into the water.

The next weeks were torture. Not despite but BECAUSE they knew their mates were found.

Dream and Nightmare were centuries old, dammit. A few weeks should be nothing to them. And yet, those weeks were the longest they ever experienced.

One day, Nightmare just felt them. Back in his territory. Where they belonged.

Not long after, something zipped through the grotto with a cut off parental chirp.

The others froze when the Thresher swooped in and deeper to where the nest was without even hesitating.

They weren't really sure about what just happened. Then they heard a long missed voice from the entrance.

"Excuse me, but have you by chance seen my mate? The most gorgeous Thresher you've ever seen? He must've come through here."

Everyone turned their heads.

There, in the mouth of the cave, Killer floated, his only motions lazy tail swishes to stay in place.

When they just stared in awe, Killer's grin grew wider, but for some reason unknown to the others, it didn't reach his eye sockets.

"Killz? Is it really you? Or am i hallucinating?", Dust whispered.

Killer took on a 'cool' pose. "I'm back, bitch!", he announced loudly.

The next moment, they all piled on top of Killz, purring and chirping and assuring themselves that Killer was real.

"Guys," Killer wheezed, "i can't breathe."

Everyone pulled back to let Killer get up. The bullshark clung to Horror, who got up last and took Killer up with him.

The Great White frowned as he not very subtly felt Killer up with shaking hands. Because, stars, Killer looked as thin as Cross had when they met him the first time.

"You have no idea how good it feels to see all of you, guys. We missed you so much," Killer mumbled into Horror's shoulder.

"We couldn't believe it when Kelp told us you were found," Nightmare's voice warbled with emotion. "Where have you two been the last half year?"

Killer shuddered and pressed himself impossibly closer to Horror. "I know now, where Criss-cross comes from." His voice was barely above a whisper. Harrowed. "I don't know how he endured that his whole life. Was a real shitshow. Not gonna lie, the two of us are gonna have nightmares for a while. And not the good ones," he added with a glance at Nightmare.

Dream was hugging Killer from behind and kissing his neck. He paused and frowned.

"Kiki, what are those black marks on your neck?"

"Burn marks from the shock collar. Cross has them too," Killer mumbled.

"Talking about Cross, where did he go? He didn't even pause to greet us," Dream wondered.

Killer leaned his head back to let it rest on Dream's shoulder. "The pups. He's been thinking about nothing else from the moment Epic arrested the doctor."

"We should go and look after him," Nightmare mused. "He surely will need us."

"Sounds great," Killer mumbled, going limp slowly in Horror's and Dream's hold. "I've tried ta stay strong for him, but now i'm exhausted. Could you take over for me, please?"

Dream kissed Killer's temple. "Of course, Kiki. You did so good. Rest now, let us take care of you and Cross."

Killer nuzzled his head against Dream's. "Sounds like a dream," he mumbled, before he fell asleep.

Their poor mates. What did they just went through?"

They all went to the nest, where they found Cross checking each of his pups while chirping up a storm.

They all joined him in the nest. He was just as skinny as Killer was. There would be lots of food needed to right that.

And uncomfortable talks, for sure.

But for the moment, they were all just happy to be complete again.