THIRTEEN

Barely seeing Phos ahead, I noticed that I was too obvious with how shallow I was swimming at.

Oops, gonna dive. Need to crawl on the seabed I guess, else I'd be way too obvious.

I managed to quickly reach the seabed, on which I decided to squat-walk instead after seeing how quickly Phos was moving.

More sneaking for some time.

"How long does it take to get back home?" I heard Phos ask Ventrico. Right, sound moves faster and longer in water, gotta be quiet.

"No time at all. But more importantly... You're frail for your own kind, yes? If you crack among the waves, you may never make it back."+

Phos suddenly disappeared downwards. "Whooooa, whaaaaaaa...."

Hmm, must be an underwater cliff. I'll close the gap for now, I thought as I stood up and ran as quietly as possible, stopping and squatting down on the ledge.

"Whatever," I heard Phos say.

"Seriously?"

"Cinnabar might have shared a secret with me," Phos said while beginning to turn back, prompting me to quickly get back and lie down, "but I was the one who started making promises. I loaded myself up with responsibility like an idiot. But it's too late to take it back now. And I'll never be able to forget about it or just fade away, so I have no choice but to move forward. Dan joined in probably because of me too, and I left them behind today. I wonder how they're holding up against everyone..."

Come on Phos, I did that on my own accord, I don't blame you for anything.

"Hey, does this being that looks like me experience... death... King...?"

Taking a peek, I noticed a new human-like figure standing in front of Phos, resembling something like a queen from the 1700s. Who's this?1

"Indeed," that figure replied with a familiar voice, "our shells are bu garments. We are but only flesh. And as such, we rot and fade away. Leaving not a trace behind," Ventrico finished as Phos dropped the bowl in awe.

"Oh this brings back memories!" Ventrico stretched as she swam forward. "We're close! It still smells just as it did before the Lunarians arrived."

Noticing Phos just standing there, Ventrico swam back.

"What now? Come along. You can't move once the sun sets, yes?"

"King..." Phos confirmed, pointing at Ventricosus.

"Indeed."

'What the heck ARE you?!"

"I'm me of course."

"But. Um... You always called yourself adorable and stuff, but you were really this ugly thing! And you said that was your real form!"

"Well, this is my truer true form. Drawing close to home has transformed me. I don't look that much different than you, do I?"

"Ummmm... I guess not," Phos conceded. "But you're all jiggly, you've got way more legs, and all those frills... You just became more... unbecoming?"

"Hush, you," Ventrico replied, taking a bit of offense.

"I mean especially those water jugs there," Phos said, pointing at Ventrico's, uh, um... chest. "What are those, even?"

I felt my face glow red as I facepalmed and slid back behind the cliff.

"These are my most precious of parts, you see. Praise to be them."

"Are you like those jellyfish?"

"How rude! My kind are far sexier, yes?"

"Yeah? I have no idea. Well if it means that you'll swim on your own, then fine," I heard Phos say.

"You can toss that. No point in carrying it, right?"

"Um. I couldn't! I'm supposed to treat all items with care. I've already taken it without asking. I can only imagine what will happen if I didn't bring it back...

Peeking out, I noticed that Phos had picked up the bowl and began walking, while Ventrico led the way.

Well, I can't slide down yet or they'll notice. I'll wait till they get just a bit forward.

"But hey," Phos said, why do we look so much alike?"

"That is not a question I am fully equipped to answer," was the reply from Ventrico. "What do you think?"

"Hmm. Maybe there were these jellyfish that were so taken by our beauty that they wished to be-"

"Let's toss that theory."

"I got it! Maybe there were these slugs that were so jealous of us that-"

"My, you were raised with little discipline, I see," Ventrico said as she turned around, prompting me to hastily get down just as I was about to get up.

"You not being 'fully equipped' to answer just means you're somewhat equipped to! You tell me."

"You know, sometimes you're surprisingly keen. I can just imagine the trouble that hunk must have with you."

She paused.

"But very well," Ventrico replied as she resumed moving forward.

"According to the legend of my people, this world was once inhabited by creatures called 'humans'."

I nearly tripped mid-slide. This is the first time I've heard the word "human" uttered by anyone here, now I'm really intrigued. But I still need to hide behind.

"Humans?" Phos asked.

"Until our planet waned for the fifth time these creatures endured, leaving on the land. But when the sixth came, they took to the sea, and so were split into soul, flesh and bone."

"Soul, flesh and bone? How did they live after being broken into three pieces? They sound pretty tough for an animal."

"Okay, so, not exactly," Ventrico clarified. "That was just a figure of speech. In actuality," she continued while her bottom half devoured some sea plant, "they gradually evolved, splitting into three species and surviving, to be more accurate. My people, the Admirabilis, are said to have come from their 'flesh'. From then, we inherited a cycle of reproduction and death," Ventrico went on, finishing "eating" the plant and swimming up, "during which we built upon our knowledge. The 'bones' on the other hand, they are said to have struck a deal with other lifeforms, gained longer lifespans, and returned over water."

"Do you think that's..."

"These are merely vague stories my people passed down," Ventrico clarified, swimming in front of Phos and lifting a finger. "I can say no more than that."

"But that's so close to the way we came about!" Phos exclaimed.

"Yes, I've sensed as much," Ventrico said, turning around and continued swimming up.

"For you see," Ventrico continued, "the 'soul' had found new lands, and is now said to seek out the flesh and bones to bring about a revival. It sounds just like them."

"The souls... The Lunarians..." Phos thought.

Dammit, not so high, I'm not sure if I can hide if Ventrico decides to look around.

"They're doing all this to become human again?"

"That I cannot say," was the reply as the king of the Admirabilis swooped down, making me softly sigh in relief.

"But we have our own ways," Ventrico continued. "The thought that we might now walk back down the path of history is hard to imagine. Their ways are both eerie and incomprehensible."

Says you, we humans are fine, thank you very much!

"But like you said yourself, we have no choice but to move forward," Ventrico finished, turning round and swimming forward.

"We must fight for ourselves and those close to us."

"But why?" Phos asked, rushing forward to keep up with the king. Thank God, I thought they'd never continue moving. "Why does it have to be that way? If what you say is true, then the soul was once part of us, right?"

"Who knows?" Ventrico replied. "Though they have no enemies of their own, the Lunarians lust for battle and are never satiated. That senseless impatience of theirs... may speak volumes to what humans once were."

"If that's so, then both of us have definitely changed for the better. Our people should work together at least."

"Yes, indeed."

I had my thoughts on that comment, but I'll rather follow them and speak my mind after this. If I get the chance to, that is.

----------------

Much more walking. Or crawling, in my case. Thank God there's a really small hill here, so I'll be completely safe as long as I stay at the opposite side. Where the hell are we, anyway?

"We're here," Ventrico declared.

"I'm beat..." Phos replied, dropping the bowl and collapsing to her knees. "You made it sound like we were close, but it took all day..."

Why am i getting an increasingly-worsening gut feeling?

"Just look at this place..." Phos commented, referring to the bare seabed ahead of her. "There's nothing here."

"Yep, I'm done," the peppermint gem declared, lying down and using the wooden bowl as a pillow. "I can't move another inch. Just gonna lay down for a bit. Wake me up once you're done."

"Much in the way you cherish that Cinnabar of yours, I too have someone of my own..." Ventrico said. Goddamn, this feeling's getting really intense now. Why am I nervous all of a sudden?

"Forgive me."

What? Why?

I got my answer soon enough, as spears came down and broke off both of Phos' legs.

Phos reached out for Ventrico for a moment, before falling unconscious.

----------------------------

I stayed hidden as the Lunarians dropped a net into the water.

I stayed hidden as Ventrico loaded the remainder of Phos into said net.

I stayed hidden as they disappeared up the surface of the water.

Hell no I didn't come all the way here just to let Phos or I be taken away, but jumping out and confronting all of them would be suicide. I stayed hidden, but what do I do now?

I looked at the bowl and the drifting-away parts of Phos' legs.

Ah, yes, now I have a job to do. Hell no Phos ain't gonna lose her memories.

Making sure that they won't return, I broke cover, swimming forward towards the bowl. Grabbing it, I immediately began to collect as many peppermint parts as I can that will fit into the bow.

"Gotcha, gotcha! Oh, there's one piece drifting away, got that! This one, that one! Ah, her left foot!"

It took a few minutes, but I somehow managed to salvage most of Phos' legs. Well, I can't tell, but they sure look mostly collected now.

"Great! But these pieces can be blown away by the current. Ah, I know!"

Carefully setting down the bowl, I took off my black overshirt. Kneeling down, I placed the smaller pieces inside the bowl, putting the larger pieces on the outside and wrapped and firmly tied the shirt around the bowl, securing all the pieces together.

Swimming back behind that hill, I sat down, hugging the bowl tightly.

"Great! Now, time to panic. Screw me, Phos has been taken, what do I do? Me going out will earn me a scolding from Sensei already, me losing Phos while I'm at it would make me hated by everyone. I'm sorry Phos, I'm really useless for someone harder than you-"

"Follow your heart."

The thoughts of that night thanks to Katsumi suddenly surfaced, naggingly.

"Follow my heart? Well..." I thought for a while, looking at the Lunarian cloud that hasn't left yet,.

That's my best bet at the moment, I guess I'll listen to it.

"I hope you're right, Katsumi-chi..." I thought out loud as I sat down, beginning to play the waiting game.

Noticing that the sunlight had turned orange, I worried about not making it before nightfall.

Pray that I can burn the midnight oil as per my past life.

-------------------

Huge splash.

"Wha..."

Looking up, I saw an enormous shell fall into the water, hitting the seabed hard Said shell didn't even fully enter the water, there's some section sticking out of the water..

"What the hell is that?!" I blurted out.

Actually, two things. Something black fell out of the shell.

An underwater wave hit me, throwing me back. Holding onto the bowl towards my chest and digging my hands into the seabed, I barely held on.

There were too many bubbles around, but when they cleared enough for me to see, there's no black figure around.

I waited for a bit more, setting the bowl down and reinforcing its position by moulding the sand around it.

Hey, is that cloud disappearing?

Hell yes, the Lunarians are defeated!

As the cloud dissipated and the sun set, two figures hit the water.

Hey, who's that black-clothed person holding two tusk-like things with those, uh, tentacles? That's Ventrico for sure, holding onto Phos. Wait, holding onto Phos?!

Making sure the bowl was anchored enough in the ground, I broke cover, throwing myself forward as hard as I can and allowing rage to envelope me.

"Hey, King!"

Ventrico turned around, and I could see the surprise in her face.

"I saw everything, you sure have some nerve betraying us! Now I am going to let you pay for what you did to Phos!"

"Dan! Wait! Stop!" I heard her shout in the middle of me thinking about the different ways I could beat the king of the Admirabilis up.

Gaining back my cool, I tried to stop, but realized that the seabed was not within my reach.

"Get outta the way get outta the way GET OUTTA THE WA-mmmph!" I yelled as I slammed into Ventrico and stopped.

That was fine other than the fact that my face ended up in her, uh, chest.

Huh? Huuuuh?

I can feel my face glowing really red now.

Regaining my control and throwing my face out of her bust, I covered my face in embarrassment.

"I-I-I'm so, so, so sorry! I didn't mean to d-do that! I was moving too fast and I couldn't stop, so I slammed into your chest! I'm sorry, I'm sorr-"

Hearing giggling, I stopped.

"Huh?"

Ventrico and the other Admirabilis were giggling, even Phos was in it too.

"Apology accepted," Ventrico replied while stopping herself from giggling, "I was right to call you cute."

"Ehhhh..." I managed to utter as I felt myself blush again.

"Still, you've got some nerve, betraying us. Then again, Phos is safe, I'm glad," I admitted. "What happened up there?"

"I wanted to give Phos in exchange for my brother here, Aculeatus," Ventrico explained, referring to the black-clothed guy. "He defeated the Lunarians and freed us all."

"I see," allowing myself to feel empathetic towards her actions. "To do anything for your family, that's how far you'd go, no?"

"Indeed."

"Listening to you," I said, feeling the last bits of my anger dissipate, "I don't feel angry about what you did. Still, thank you for bringing Phos back. Hey, what happened to your right arm?" I asked out of concern, looking at her missing arm. "Are you okay?"

"Ah, it's nothing, I guess I'll have to get used to it. I guess it's punishment for using Phos as a bargaining item, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, you brought Phos back, and that's good enough.

'Here," Aculeatus offered the two tusks, "these should be able to work as your friend's new legs. They lost their old ones, as you can see."

"Oh, no need for that, hold on," I said as I quickly swam back. Glad that the bowl was still there, I picked it up and swam back.2

"I managed to pick up the parts that I could find."

"Ah, thank goodness!" Ventrico sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Dan..." Phos muttered. "I now owe you and Cinnabar my good-for-nothing life, how bad can this get..."

"No Phos, don't say that! You owe me nothing!"

"This one here is lucky to have you as a friend," Aculeatus chimed in, "but take these two pieces as a gift of apology. I'm pretty sure my sister would insist."

"Oh, I guess I'll have to accept it then," I said, taking the two tusks with my free hand. "Woah, they're heavy, but thanks."

"Heheh, you won't make it back home alone, would you? Come on, you hold Phos, Aculeatus will carry the two pieces while I'll hold the bowl," Ventrico offered.

I thought about it for a moment.

"You're right, thanks for the help."

Giving the two tusks back to Aculeatus, holding onto Phos with one hand while passing the bow to Ventrico, I looked down at the peppermint gem.

"My, my. You lost your left eye."

"Yeah, I did."

------------------

"You followed us all the way here. You're that worried about me, huh. I'm sorry."

"No, you did nothing wrong, no need to apologize to me. Rather, I said I'd protect you, and I didn't. I'm sorry."

"Don't say that, you couldn't do anything from there."

"But I should..."

We walked back in silence. Or, swam, in the case of Ventrico and Aculeatus.

"How did you follow us anyway?" Ventrico asked.

"I just crawled and shadowed you guys from behind, I'm lucky I wasn't spotted. You could have seen me on multiple times, you know."

"Indeed. On hindsight, it was fortunate that you remained hidden."

"I've heard everything you guys said, by the way," I added on, remembering something, "and I have a confession to make too."

"Hmm?" Everyone looked at me.

Do I really want to do this?

Yes, I do. I can't keep it hidden forever.

I took a breath.+

"Phos, remember when I said back then that I'd tell you certain things when the time is right?"

"Mmm-hmm?"

"Well," I hesitated for a little moment before shrugging it off, "I guess it's now. The truth is," I took a deep breath.

"I was a human."