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They did it. The full moon has passed. They stopped Cam.
“No!” Cam shouted as he ran over to the trident. His knees hitting the ground as he fell in one swift motion to examine its broken remains.
“It's over, Cam.” Lyla said. Her voice was flat yet a hint of bitter smugness couldn't help but to peek through. Zac couldn't stop himself and cracked a hesitant smile.
“No no no! You ruined everything!” Cam said, suddenly rising to his feet as he jumped into the moon pool, tackling Zac. Who was too surprised to react in time before his head hit the wall of the pool.
He let out a pained yelp and Cam immediately let go of him as if his very skin burned him.
Second head injury of the day, this couldn't be good.
The girls glared at Cam, water bubbling around them as Lyla raised her hand. Her powers were ready to attack.
“WAIT!” Zac exclaimed , activating his own powers to stop her from hurting his (former) best friend. And yet he was too slow, they both activated their powers at once sending a ripple into the cave, for a moment there was deadly silence before the cave started to shake, Rock started to fall from above
"WE NEED TO LEAVE!” Nixie yelled, already pulling Serena by the arm in her panic.
Lyla was tugging Zac along as well but he was frozen.
“Cam can't breathe underwater.” he told her, his eyes wide. “He won't be fast enough to get out without losing his breath, we need to help him!”
Lyla stared at him in disbelief but they had no time to argue as rocks kept falling from above. “Go, we'll be right behind you.” he urged her. With slight hesitation, she nodded and started to swim away.
Zac turned his gaze back to Cam, who was staring at him, his eyes burning with emotions Zac couldn't decipher.
“Come on! I'll help you swim!" He tried to show his urgency but couldn't help it sound like he was begging.
Cam opened his mouth to say something but before he could even let out a single word, Zac saw a tumble of rocks coming in his direction and pushed him out of the way. Using his powers to hold back a few of them from hitting them directly as he and Cam stumbled into a corner of the cave, just in time for everything to collapse around them. Casting them in darkness.
Zac let out a gasp as he held the rocks from crushing them, his muscles felt like they were straining just as much as his powers. He ached as he held on. He had never held so many things at once let alone as heavy as the rocks.
Slowly it started to go quiet around them, silent in the darkness of the collapsed cave corner.
They were trapped. And Zac was holding the very thing stopping them from being crushed.
Fuck.
***
Cam couldn't see much in the darkness but the loud wheezing of Zac's breathing was enough to clue him in that he obviously wasn't alone.
He stuck out his hand to the side, trying to map out where he was, but just then Zac sucked in a breath.
“Don't.” He said, his voice sounded strained
“It's hard enough to hold it without you making it worse.”
Cam couldn't hold back a gasp as the realization of their situation sunk in. And yet he had to make sure, perhaps wishing he got it wrong.
“You mean you're….” He trailed off
“Making sure we don't get crushed to death? Yeah, pretty much.” Zac said, sarcastic bitterness rising up to the surface easily in his words.
“Zac-”
"Can you just fucking shut up and let me think!” The merman snapped at him before hissing in pain. Cam closed his mouth with an audible click as he did.
Eyes starting to adjust to the darkness Cam could just barely view the scene in front of him. Zac was on his knees, his arms above his head as he held himself protectively over Cam all the while holding the rocks from crushing them with his powers.
Cam couldn't help but notice, even in the darkness the dark spot on the back of Zac’s head. Blood.
Cam sucked in a breath through his teeth.
“What? What's wrong, are you hurt?” Zac, despite just snapping at him in anger, asked in a panicked voice.
“No, dude. You are.”
“What?” Cam couldn't see his face clearly but he was easily able to imagine the confused expression he must have been wearing on his face.
“You head… don't you- oh.”
Silence fell over them, only interrupted by Zac's hard breathing.
And then-
“Probably just a concussion I'll be fine.” Zac's voice didn't portray any of his emotions and without truly seeing his face Cam couldn't tell what he was feeling.
“The girls… they'll come to rescue us, right? You at least, for sure.”
It took Zac a moment to answer. “Yes. They will.” But he didn't sound as confident as his words.
A beat.
“Probably.”
Cam closed his eyes, dragging a hand down his face as he finally processed the situation.
“...how are you holding up?” He said at last
“Been better…” Was the quiet reply.
Another beat.
“Can you at least explain?” Zac asked, the unmasked pain in his voice didn't feel like it was from the weight of the rocks, nor his injury.
“Didn't I say enough?” Cam scoffed.
“Probably.” Zac said again. “Still.” He added.
Cam let out a sigh. “I dunno, I just…” He balled up his fists.
“I wanted to be strong too.” wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either, Zac seemingly able to sense it as he didn't reply, waiting for the other boy to elaborate.
“You, you seemed to have everything. A girlfriend, seemingly never ending talents, supportive parents, heck you're even good looking.” Zac couldn't hold back snort but kept quiet
“But… you were still my friend. For 15 years you were. And then you fell into that moon pool and suddenly…” he breathed in deeply. “It was like our friendship wasn't enough anymore.”
“I wasn't enough anymore.”
Infuriating silence washed over them once more. The buzzing of the quiet was starting to drive him mad.
The rocks above them suddenly gave out a groan.
“Zac?” Cam called out in a warning.
“Yeah I'm…I'm on it.” His voice was starting to sound sluggish as he raised his arm higher and flexed his hands, willing the rocks to stay in place.
This couldn't be good.
***
Zac was exhausted. It wasn't the normal kind of exhaustion that he felt after doing a hard activity. No, this was a tiredness that seeped into his bones. Pulling him down and begging him to rest.
Was magical exhaustion a thing? He really should have taken Rita’s offer to train with them…
His mind was practically fighting for his body to not shut down as he willed himself to focus on the task at hand.
“Any chance you have water?” He asked Cam, closing his eyes tightly before opening them again with a deep breath.
“No… sorry.”
Zac cursed under his breath, his magic seemed to be stronger in the water, and he really needed some help.
But, this time luck seemed to be on his side, because just then familiar voices started to be heard from outside the rock dome they found themselves in.
“Zac? Are you here?”
Lyla!
“Yes! Help, we're trapped!” He could hear Lyla gasp as she approached, two sets of footsteps sounding not far behind her..
“Hold on! We'll get you out!”
“Be careful!” He warned, “I can barely hold it anymore.”
“What do you mean? Wait, no Zac please tell me you aren't holding those rocks.” Lyla sounded (rightfully) panicked
Zac didn't bother answering, instead trying to focus on holding the danger above them and importantly, not passing out.
he could hear Cam's breath behind him and the girls starting to move the rocks away. He just needed to hold on a little bit longer.
Little by little the rocks started to move and light was peeking through the cracks.
“Almost done guys!” Serena called out to them.
Cam looked over at Zac, his brows knit together as he observed his pale face and sweaty hands, the blood that started to dry on the back of his head.
“Guys? Zac isn't looking so good.” Cam said hesitantly.
“We're going as fast as we can!” But Zac barely heard her. His eyelids started to droop against his will. He shook his head. Just a little big longer.
He
was
just
So
T I r e d.
…
Just as the last rock from above them was removed, Cam watched in horror as Zac collapsed, his arms reaching to catch him just in time. “Zac!” He yelped.
Lyla's face showed nothing as she crouched down near the merman, gently lifting his head by his cheek to examine his injury. She hissed in sympathy at the show of blood and glanced over warningly at Cam, who quickly got the hint and let her hold Zac.
“We need to get him to Rita. Now.” She commanded the other two girls. NIxie nodded, moving to help Lyla lift him up, guilt scribbled all over her face.
Serena moved towards Cam, offering her hand to him, “You'll need help to swim up to shore.” she stated, leaving no room for arguments. Cam gulped quietly, giving a single nod.
The cold water hitting his skin felt like ice as the two dived, not far behind the girls and the still unconscious Zac, who had transformed back with his tail by now.
Cam held his breath and tugged gently on Serena's arm when he needed to go up to the surface again. Slowly, they started to lose the others as they cut through the water like a knife.
It took what felt like an eternity to reach Rita's secret underwater entrance. Cam, gasped for air as they broke the surface of the water. Taking quick deep breaths before scanning the area, eyes frantic as they searched for the other boy.
“Come on,” Serena said, “they're on the other side.”
The blonde followed her as she hesitantly led him across the stony hallway to another room.
The sight of Zac, pale and with his head bandaged, laying there so still hit him like a truck.
He did this.
He CHOOSE to do this.
Cam wasn't stupid, he knew what he was doing when he made his choice. He chose to betray his best friend, he knew when he lied to Nixie and Evie. He knew what he did when he tossed into the tree in Mako. He knew what he was doing when he tackled him in the moon pool.
He knew.
And now, the consequences laid unmoving in front of him.
“Is he…going to be okay?” Serena hesitantly asked from beside him, making him jump in surprise, for a moment he forgot where he was.
“He better be.” Nixie growled. “He can't die saving him.” she practically spit the last word out as she glared at Cam, who took a reflexive step back.
“Nixie.” Lyla warned, “we’ll deal with him later, go call Rita.” She said, ending the argument before it could begin.
As the brunette mermaid left the room she sent another hateful look to Cam, who bowed his head slightly, refusing to make eye contact.
“Our moon rings are out of power. We'll need to use human healing methods.” Lyla said slowly as she finished wrapping Zac head, she turned to look at Cam. “Call Evie. She needs to know what happened.” She said, Cam didn't say a word as he started to leave, with his phone long gone by now, he wasn't able to call her.
And with a regretful deep breath, he exited the room.