Chapter Text
"Weren't you- Weren't we both... Born to love somebody, no matter who or why?"
Those were the last words Mari said before a fish-like blade pierced through her chest. Devouring her soul. Just moments ago, the mermaid she took in, Lara, was faced with a tragic decision: Murdering her true love or letting herself dissolve into sea foam. She told that very human to keep her distance. But the one in question? Mari? She didn't listen.
Now, the worst had come true. The person Lara was meant to be with from the start, collapsed to the shell-covered ground, lifeless.
"...Mari!"
No matter how many times Lara repeated her name, shook her, or begged Mari to wake up. The stubborn girl didn't move. Only the mermaid's panic and the buzzing of helicopters could be heard in the area. Then came the voices from that blade, turning into a blinding red light and taunting Lara. It pushed her into breaking down. Slamming her blade downwards until it broke.
"No! Shut up!" Lara cried out. "I don't need anything! It would've been fine if I just disappeared!" Sobbing uncontrollably, the broken fish-blade in her hands began to regenerate itself. Its hideous eyes returned. Its maw opened wide to fulfill her death wish. "Don't care at all what happens to me, but you have to stay here in this world!-"
A sickening crack thundered across Lake Biwa. Before the fish-blade could devour its very wielder, a source of pure darkness appeared and broke everything in its path... Except for Lara.
...
Only seconds after the impact, the mermaid opened her eyes, her mouth also left agape. She was underwater again. The fish blade above her, however, temporarily vanished into mere bubbles. As the rose petals slowly sank into the sea, Lara couldn't help but question the events that transpired. What could've caused such a powerful force to evaporate? Lara's light was that blade. It couldn't have been her doing, so... What caused this?
Fortunately, the answer appeared right in front of Lara. A small sphere of yellow light, the overwhelming energy from earlier now reduced to a weakening pulse.
...
...
Mari's soul.
...
...
"How? I thought my light could only... Ah!" Lara's rumination was interrupted when she noticed the essence of her true love descend. Hastily, she caught the soul with her bare hands, gently cupping it and bringing it close to her face. A brisk and fickle thing that the mermaid princess admired silently...
Until she noticed both traits gradually fading. Time was running out.
"Oh, oh no, oh no no... Mari." Lara sniffled, sealing her hands and keeping the yellow sphere of light close to her heart. "I'm such an idiot... I knew this was going to happen and I still let you get in my way! If I had just never gone to the surface, none of this would've happened!"
Drifting aimlessly in the deep. Lara's mind became flooded with memories from the surface and those in them. The Otsu family taking her in, her co-workers' reassurance, the lesson of love from Himeka, the attempt she made with Luca, and Mari's indomitable spirit.
Just thinking about Mari pained her deeply, but thinking about the way she stood her ground... It brought back a memory from the sea.
When she was still a small fry, which would've been centuries ago... She was locked up once, separated from her sisters for bringing that human doll with her to sleep. She remembered King Rowan, her father, entering the premises. His face was stern when he spoke to her.
"Lara... There was something I forgot to mention. Something I should've asked you earlier." He then sat down on that bed, though it made the child tilt her body away from him.
"Do you know what's most terrifying about a human?"
The mermaid princess stayed silent as she wrapped her arms around herself. Leaving a vacant space for the human doll, if not for the royal family confiscating it.
Regardless, Rowan sighed and continued anyway. Ignoring his daughter's sulking. "It is what all of us call the 'indomitable human spirit'. Their resilience to continue no matter what gets in their way, it might sound admirable. But... In reality, it fuels voracity, the destruction towards each other for foolish reasons, and their evil ways."
No response.
"...I get it. You're mad at me, but you'll understand when you're older. After all, I think it's time I mentioned that your mother was killed by those vile beings."
"...W-What?"
"The others will say I told you too soon, but I'm doing this to protect you. You are our kingdom's only hope left. I can't let you go through the same fate she did, do you understand?"
With a developing lump in her throat, Lara nodded. Hesitantly.
"Good, go back to sleep and let that be a lesson you never forget, Lara."
Back to the present time, where she was given a second chance to coexist with humanity. Lara came to a staggering realization. All of those years of fear-mongering, the things she heard about humans from her family, were wrong. What made Mari's soul defy death wasn't out of malicious intent...
It was true love.
Now that she knew, Lara straightened herself out and opened her hands again, staring down at Mari's soul with tears in her eyes. "No... What I'm saying is a lie. Everything has been one! You wouldn't let either of us die, would you, Mari?!"
Despite its diminished vitality, the soul flickered. A sign akin to agreeing with Lara.
"Of course... It was you who destroyed the blade, wasn't it? And if that's the case, I can't let your efforts go to waste. The promise we made together, it can't end like this! I'm going to do whatever it takes to bring you back, even if I have to stay in this form. Just tell me what I need to do because I-"
The light within begins to flicker, its shine growing...
"-I want to be alive in a world where you're here!"
That very light then sparkled once more as Lara shoved the soul into her lover's body. But by doing this, instead of transforming into that same fish-blade, the light caused Lara to change. The edges of her bangs and braids gained streaks of light red and light orange, her hair whorl dying itself into the shape of a scarlet-colored star. As for her clothing, the tail tie became slightly shredded. The trident medallion completely absent from her belt. Then there finally came a flame-shaped mantle wrapped around Lara, imitating the flow of water as the star-shaped clasp on it kept it all together.
She didn't really pay much attention to her new appearance, however. Her eyes were set on Mari. And... Everything seemed to be working out at first, she appeared to be healing, and her body became illuminated with the mermaid's light. It looked like a success.
...Until that very darkness from earlier returned, swallowing Lara's light and changing Mari into something no one in this world would ever expect.
Something irreversible.
Mari was the last one to awaken. Finding herself on Lara's lap, she groaned. "Ugh... Where are we? Lara?"
The human girl examined the mermaid, her appearance slightly changed, then their surroundings. Just a simple, hidden island in Lake Biwa. Okay. Then she tilted her head at Lara, confused. "Why are you looking at me like that?-"
Averting her eyes to the bottom half of her body, where Lara stared apprehensively... Mari froze. Her legs were replaced with a shrimp-like abdomen! The mutated girl's cool demeanor vanished in an instant, immediately limping to where the sand met the sea.
And there it was. Her reflection did not show that of a regular human. No. The back of Mari's hands had colorful, club-like appendages. Not only that... Antennas replaced her side bangs, and her eyes now had black and muted-pink hues.
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault." Lara apologized, returning the mutated girl's attention to her. "I thought I could use my light to bring you back to life. It worked! But then, uh... I noticed THAT." The mermaid's last words, putting emphasis on Mari's altered body. "I thought bringing you back to the surface would undo it, but you didn't-"
"Wait, hold on." Mari interrupted, scurrying over to place a finger over Lara's mouth. "The last thing I remember was this... Sudden pain in my chest. Are you saying that I died and was brought back to life?"
"Mhm-hm..." Lara nodded. Her voice was barely audible since it was muffled, and her face was also blushing a deep, scarlet red.
"Wow... Alright, ignoring all of this for a second. That makes me the strongest already then, huh?"
Lara bobbed her head in agreement. Although it didn't take long for her to let out stifled laughter afterward. A response to nearly dying so dumb, especially after everything they've gone through, her tail began to revert into legs. Those red scales of hers, molting back into human flesh.
"Wh- Hey! You're turning into a human again, and I'm not!" Mari whined, removing her finger from the now-human idiot's mouth. "How are you doing that??"
Momentarily gazing at her human body, imperfect given that scale-like stretch marks were visible on her legs, Lara shrugged.
"Hmm. Well, there has to be a trigger to the transformation or something..." Only after saying those words, Mari surveyed the beach, ensuring it was just her and Lara. "Do you have any clue as to what it could be? Did you feel anything before the change?"
A moment of silence. Lara had to think through her emotions while Mari further inspected the mutations on her body. What exactly turned her back into a human in the first place? The last time she recalled changing forms, it was when she saw Luca for the first time. Could it be that?...
"I think it was love, Mari," Lara answered, confident in what she was saying after the internal analysis.
"Love?..."
"Like- The kind that surprises you! Whether it's at first sight, or how that one show described it... Having butterflies in your stomach." Lara paused, her face becoming frightful. "You- You don't think I have that in me now too, do you??"
"No, of course not, you dummy! That's just a metaphor for being nervous." Mari sighed. "Still, how is that supposed to help me turn back into a human?-"
A pause. An abrupt end to her question, as if Mari... Already found the answer to it.
"Hey, Lara..."
"Yes?"
"I think I know how I'm going to do this. Transforming back into a human. But I'm gonna need your undivided attention, I want you to look me in the eyes for it. Got that?"
Seeing where this was going, Lara blushed as she nodded. The light within her flickered brightly with great anticipation. Mari, too, was mentally preparing herself. Readying what she would confess for the second time, and starting it off by putting both hands on the mermaid's shoulders. Letting out an exasperated exhale before she spoke.
"Ever since I met you... Lara. You've been a complete nuisance, a fairytale protagonist that randomly fell from the sky and crossed paths with me. At first, I would've left you alone to do your own thing. But when..." Another pause, this time with Mari trying to keep her eyes on Lara. "W-When Gon-chan told me to go after you, that I should keep you from harm's way. I listened, and... You know what? I don't regret it! You're an idiot, but so am I!! You wanna know why?!"
"It's because the lover you’ve been chasing after is standing right in front of you, Lara. We don't have to search for them anymore..."
...
"I'm right here."
...
No longer holding herself back, Mari pulled Lara into her embrace and kissed her fiercely. Finally. After months of following empty trails, nearly falling for the wrong person, the mermaid princess found her true love, the light within her shining brighter than ever while the void in Mari quivered. Their manifestations turned the strange abnormalities across Lake Biwa into a fine dust, the latter of which didn't explode into a dazzling array of fallen stars.
Not only that, Mari slowly transformed back into a human. However... Just like with Lara earlier, she didn't notice the changes at all, likely because she was caught up with the intimacy of the kiss. Perhaps a little too much with the way her hands clutched onto the mermaid princess. Tracing those scale-shaped marks.
Alas, they both knew this moment had to end, lest they pass out breathless and in the middle of nowhere together. Leaving the girls with no choice but to eventually part their lips.
"I feel so selfish for asking. But..." Mari hesitated, her eyes beginning to water. "Can you promise me one more thing, Lara?"
"Of course," Lara replied, the protagonist once afraid of commitment now agreeing to whatever this could lead to. "I did what people urged me to do for so long, even when it was with someone they couldn't accept. So... What is it?"
...
"Can you promise to never leave me? Not that I should depend on you entirely, it's that... I've been so lonely. It didn't bother me a lot, but when you came into my life, I felt a type of love I never knew existed. It made me scared of losing you. And..." She rambled on, momentarily letting go of Lara to clench her fists. "Given Gon-chan's gone now. I don't want to lose you too, Lara."
As the Otsu family and Luca's voices drew closer, all of them in a catamaran boat after they found the two girls. Lara roped her true love into one last embrace, her head on Mari's shoulders.
"...I will. Even if the land or sea separates us, I'll always find the person I love in you."
