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It is too late when they realize.
She has always been curious, too curious. They don't know what it is that she saw, don't know what it is that had her pause. All they know is the stab of her scream in their ears, echoing sharp in their heart. All they see is nothingness, the waves and the water and the darkness of the world that has always had light in it.
One moment she is there. The next she is not, torn from them, taken from the sea. They have always been good at finding things but the others are pressing on and if they don't follow they will never catch up, will never know where to go, will—
What does it matter if she's not there?
What is a home without a heart? What is life without light?
It takes them too long. They've never held any delusions of it being easy—the old world hadn't been easy either, predators around every corner, the light they've always held out before them one more link in the cycle of kill or be killed. Eat or be eaten.
It is no different up here.
They stumbled up onto the sand on their shaky legs, fell to their knees as they worked to figure out how this worked, tugged forward by the line of light drawn taut between their heart and the one person they'd done everything for.
"Are you—"
"I'm fine."
The human's look of concern morphed to horror and shifted to hate, the stick in his hand readied. They didn't know what to do so they ran. They ran until he stopped chasing them and they know what that means.
They learn quickly.
The humans don't like that they don't talk but the humans don't fear their mouth more. The humans look at them weird but no one has ever looked at them right before her.
They find the ring first. It sings to them and they take it before the thief who had it notices. It sings and it screams in their palm and they toss and turn in the hay of this barn, can't sleep even though they know they must.
The stars are dimmer here than they were on the beach. The world is worse but they endure because she is still here. They know it. They know it. She's been gone for so long their head says she might yet be foam but their heart, their heart, their heart—
She shouldn't be here. She can't be here. They have to bring her back. They don't know where she'd go, can't ever help her find the others again because they've made their choice, the easiest hardest thing they've ever done. But they can find her. They can bring her back to the sea, put the light back in her life.
And isn't that everything they've ever wanted?
To find things that put that sparkle in her eyes? To be by her side and watch the world come alive?
They follow the rumors, follow the whispers. It isn't difficult. They see a poster on a wall, tattered corner flapping in the disgusting breeze, the smog and the smoke makes every breath painful. They don't know how the humans have managed to shape the world in their image but they don't care.
They watch the show.
They watch the show to know if she's there and when they see the tank they see red. They see red in every corner of the room, every film over every surface, thin and sticky and they will burn the world down to ashes. Humans are most afraid of fire, they have found. It hurts them too but they have drunk the potion and they will cast everything into ruin if they can—
The cloth comes off.
They will kill them all. Every single last one. They will take these humans by their wretched boots and their disgusting hands, their hateful eyes and they will burn it all. They—
They hide a sob in their hands at the dullness of her eyes, at the life that was once there, at the light they have missed so fucking terribly all this time.
They burn it down. They hate how easy it is. They hate how all they had to do was flick their fingers and press a wad of flaming posters to the oil. The humans yell. Something screams. They do not care. They wait, just long enough for the humans to realize the fire is too big, that this is truly over.
They watch the humans leave all of their monsters behind and they hate the humans more.
They tear her prison open and the light returns to her eyes, to the world and that is all they have ever wanted.
They take her to the sea.
They give the ring back, slide it slow onto her hands, try their best to not look up into her eyes even though this will be the last time.
Their job is done.
Why would they go to such lengths?
Why would they go to such lengths?
In what world would they not chase her? In what time would they not find her? They're not sorry they drank the potion, only sorry they didn't manage to find her sooner. The sorrow in her voice need not be there. They found her and she's safe. She's safe now, safe by the sea in the setting sun, free to go home, to find the rest, to live and to smile and—
That's all they've ever wanted. That's all they need. That's what they were born to do, they think.
Because before they found all of the things that lit her up, it was she who found them, a loner in the darkness, she who took them in her hands and smiled at them like they mattered. Like they were someone worth something and they would not be anyone without who she has made them to be.
What are they going to do now?
They knew this was coming.
Every single step they took, this whole time, feet on the sand, on the cobblestones, on the rocks. They have known all along that there would be no going back but they would do it over, and over, and over again for her. She's here. She's safe. She lives. Now she will go home to the water, to everyone else. They would watch her go, but a selfish spark in them doesn't want to, so they turn.
They'll figure something out until the potions run out. It matters not. It matters—
Her hands close over theirs, a touch they've felt over and over again but different this time because she strips the witch's potion from their hands. They watch her swallow in horror, in fascination, in a desperate, selfish dread.
"Lady Lisa!"
Their world has changed.
They sit atop a short ladder, looking at the clock on the wall they need to remove before they go.
"Kōta," Lisa says with a tinge of mild annoyance in her tone. It's their fault, for lingering. They were meant to have left ten minutes ago. "You know we have to go. Come now."
Their world is still the same.