Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2017 05:09:59 +0000 (UTC)
From: Andrew Bailey <feare909@yahoo.com>
Subject: Aquata Cove - Chapter 83

Aquata Cove
Chapter 83: Undermined Fortune


"Mh..." Merrick slowly awakens, feeling some sort of stale softness
pressing on half of his face. He opens his eyes a little more, to see
Adam's mended face and bandaged head sleeping peacefully. Shifting a bit
and rising up, Merrick feels something else. His weary eyes look on the
hand on his bent elbow, a hand leading from Adam's arm...

Merrick moves himself down onto Adam's hand, letting it slip down his arm,
until his face rubs against Adam's knuckles. "Mmmhhh..." Merrick nuzzles
gently on Adam's hand, giving a soft kiss onto his fingers before tucking
his arms under Adam's arm.

Nothingness...

Suddenly, Merrick stopped. He sighs as he moves himself up, and sits
upright in his chair, his back feeling very stiff. His eyes drift from here
to there, along Adam's dormant state.

Why does he think he can allow himself to think that there's a chance
things can work out? As soon as Adam wakes up, he's just going to forget
Merrick was even here; he'll be a nice stranger who can't stop crying in
front of a hapless patient.

"It's no use..." Merrick muttered as he gets up, "I'd rather shut the world
away than let it kill me again and again..."

He gets up slowly, looking out the outside window of the room, and seeing
the orange-cyan sky. It's probably 6 or 7AM by now. It's best if... Merrick
leaves now, before Adam asks him who the heck is he...

Merrick's eyes stare at the floor as he walks around the bed, and exits the
door.

"Mmmnn... Hm?" Adam blinks awake quietly looking turning his head a little
as he sees no one here. "Doctor... Hello...?" He asked silently, having the
very distinct feeling that there was someone here at this hour...


~~~


In the morning with the nurses and doctors bustling, Jessica strides
through the hospital, walking as fast as she can as her heart pounds. She
must go to see him, see Adam. He's finally awake from his coma! God has
given him a second chance at life! Her insides flutter madly with hope as
she holds her large bouquet of flowers with both arms.

Just as she turned a corner, a big frame bumps right into her!

"Whoa- Ah, hey, sorry about that." Says a tall black man as he staggers
back.

"I-It's fine. I-I just need to hurry-"

"Hey hey hey, whoa whoa whoa, hold up there..." Jamal said as he halts
her. He looks down on her, frowning down a cold glare, as he blocks her way
with a lean on the corner, crossing his massive arms, "Where you think you
headin, lil lady?"

"I'm going to see Adam." Jessica answers, returning an innocent look as
well as a hint of a scathing air, "He needs me right now..."

"Hm, nah-uh." Jamal shakes his head and unfurls his arms, "You don't need
to see him right now. Yah need to turn right around, and head on out."

"No! I have a right to see him!" Jessica protested, taking a moment to walk
around him.

"Nah, no you ain't," Jamal reaches his arm out behind him, and blocks her
again, driving her back around in front of him like a shepherd's crook to a
sheep.

"Wh- Hey!" Jessica pushes at his arm, to little avail, "Why are you doing
this??" Jessica ducks under his arm, but he's still to quick. Jamal turns
around, and blocks her again, "Stop! D-Doctor!" She called out for support.

"Aight, right now, you need to leave. Go. Now." Jamal said. He glares down
at her with a sullen stare. His gaze feels as cold clay, pushing her
attempts down as he easily towers over her, keeping his strong arms crossed
as those thick lips kept their frown upon her.

"Don't..." Jessica glared back with her wiry angry eyes, "Don't test me,
sir. I will-"

"Don't." Jamal said solidly, "Fuck. With me, Jessie." His voice carries
darkly, "I know what you on about. I know JUST what you are all about. And
if you weren't a girl, I woulda beat you to a fuckin pulp by now for comin
after mah best bud fo'slong as you did."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Jessica accused. "Are you
threatening me??"

"Naw, I'm warning you." Jamal said, "You know what the fuck I'm talkin
bout. Back at Dream Waltz bout a couple months back? Don't pretend ya
don't." Jessica looks rather offended at him. Just what does this big,
drug-toting gorilla know?? "Yall run along now... Last thing we need here
is some bible-swingin vulture."

"Oh, go to hell..." Jessica retorted deeply.

"Ladies first, aight?" Jamal retorted.

"This was meant to be, and you know it." Jessica said with heightened
emotion, "And even if you don't know, this has nothing to do with you. If
you have ever cared for him, cared for his soul at any given time... Then
step aside."

"Is there a problem here?" Says a random doctor beside them. Jessica turns
to him, and then to Jamal, trying to find some reason to get Jamal out of
her way, and on to Adam-

"Naw." Jamal said, still giving a stone-faced stare down at her, "Miss
Jessica was just on her way out. Aren't ya, Jessie?"

"... I came to see a patient... Who is a dear... Dear friend of mine."

"Doc, this woman has been stalkin the patient she talkin about for a long
time now." Jamal reported, "And I know fo-"

"Fine!" Jessica said, before shoving the big wrap of wild flowers into
Jamal's chest, before he grabbed them by the chest, "Kindly see that Mr
Bryant gets these." With that, Jessica turns, and leaves, once again,
foiled.

`You won't be here forever...' She thought to herself, `On the first chance
I have, I will save his soul... God has given me this chance to free Adam
from his condemned life... That you can't see that for yourself, is your
own fault. But I will not allow you to drag Adam down with you any
longer...'


"Yeah, keep walkin, bitch." Jamal mumbled as he turned around. Upon walking
next to the custodial cart, Jamal opens the red biohazard bin, and threw
the bouquet in with the used tubes and needles, and dropping it shut.

"You know, those are strictly for contaminated and/or used medical waste."
Yuri said as she came up beside Jamal.

"Yeah. What'cho point?" Jamal asked.

"Ugh, just never mind." Yuri said, "You here to see Adam?"

"Yeah, I wanna see how he's doin, maybe watch a movie wit him. Got his
laptop here." Jamal said as he holds up the satchel for Adam's portable
computer.

"Not a bad idea. He's not as forgetful as he was..." Yuri said before she
catches sight of something sticking out of the side-pocket of the carrier,
"Hang on, what's that?"

"Whoa- Nuthin! It's just his stuff, ya know."

"Yeah, I don't think so hand it over." Before Jamal can dodge her, she
snatches them from the laptop carrier, and takes a look at them.

"... Puss-Puss-Kitty and Cock-A-Doodle-Doo?" Yuri asked with blaring eyes
looking up as she held two magazines, one depicting a woman on the front,
naked instead of a few purple veils covering her breasts and her pelvis,
and the other magazine shows a man chewing on a wheat plant with a
glistening physique, also nude save for a farm hat and pile of white and
yellow rose feathers covering his crotch. "You want to tell me why you're
smuggling pornography into my hospital?"

"It ain't for me," Jamal chuckled, "Just wanted to show Adam, and... Ya
know... See if he can still tell the difference, ya know?"

"Uh-huh." Yuri taps the magazines with her thumbs before she gestured to
him, "Come here, I want to show some origami."

"Wha- No! You just gonna hit me!"

"Jamal, if I was going to kill you, I'd do it immediately. Now come here."
She took him to the nearest counter. "Ok, so first, we fold the first
magazine hot-dog style -- which I am sure is in one of these." She said as
she demonstrated, "And then, we take the other one, and fold it in half
too..."

"Yeah..." Jamal said, keeping his guard up, "What next?"

"Next, we put one of them, on top of the other -- knock on wood -- like a
plus sign, see?"

"Ah, ok." Jamal said as he observed. "Oh, you makin one of those ninja star
things?"

"You COULD say that." Yuri answered, "Then, we put our thumbs on the
middle, while holding the middle tightly as we pick them up." Yuri said as
she did so, hold one end of the magazine with her hand, while keeping them
together.

"Aight."

"Now, watch closely, because this next step is very important." She
instructed.

"Got it." 
 "Ok... Now... We take the first piece, and then..."


WHAM!

"OW, shyit!!" Jamal yelped as his right cheek suddenly feels aflame!

BAM!

"OW!" Now the other cheek is slammed!

"You are a perverted idiot, do you know that?" Yuri said bitterly, holding
a magazine in each hand.

"Shit, Yuri, you fuckin- ahhhh," Jamal grunted, "I think you made me cut my
fuckin lip, oooww!"

"Good!" Yuri said before she tosses the porno mags into a nearby trash bin,
and turns back around and crosses her arms, "Anything else in that carrier
I should know about? A vibrator or a popper, maybe??"

"No! Nuthin! A-A-Owww" Jamal staggers as Yuri grabs his ear, and drags him
forcefully away.

"Right. Now I'll take you to see Adam right now."

"Let go of mah fuckin ear!!"

"Watch your language, dumbass!"


~~~


Merrick watches over the waves and surf of the sea. He has walked a few
miles from the hospital, so some random spot where he can view the ocean,
smell the spray of the nautical salt from all around, watching the sun's
rays shine and glimmer on the ever wavering surface.

He's so sick of crying. Every time he goes into that damn hospital, he
can't stop himself from breaking down. As he gazes over the rippling sea,
he rubs the small velvet pouch in his fingers, tracing around the circular
shape held with in it. He also holds his own engagement ring. The white
gold and platinum welded into curve and curled in a symmetrical design,
embedded with tiny diamonds, with one medium diamond in the
middle.

And he can't stand that he just can't seem
to man-up already.

Wake up, Merrick. So his fiancé was beaten to a bloody pulp and the
first moment he wakes up from a 3-week coma, he doesn't remember the first
thing of his own life. His parents are devastated, his friends are in a
gloom, and everyone has shown their support. Why is none of that good
enough for him? So many people have it so much worse. Why is it so hard to
be strong?

Why does gratitude elude him, Merrick ponders. He is very lucky; his mate
could have died... Adam could have been lost forever, in the physical
sense. Some people don't even have the good chance of having their mate
alive after such an ordeal.

`You can make new memories.' A thought tugs in Merrick's mind, `You still
have the times of gone by in your own heart, all isn't lost.'

"Tch." Merrick grits his teeth, "I don't want new memories... I want the
ones that we had..." He sniffs as he rubs his eyes. "Just fucking stop
crying..." He tells himself, "This is beyond ridiculous..."

He takes a deep, harsh breath as he stares out into the shining ocean,
before his cellphone starts to ring in his pocket. He pulls it out, and
holds it to his ear, "Hello? ... Oh, yes, hi Mr Umiyama... I know, I
haven't forgotten. I was on my way to the institute right now... Alright,
see you in while."

He ends the call and pockets his phone. He holds his hand up to see the
small pouch. His chest pounds with emotion, bitter, heavy punches in his
insides as he remembers the little treasure inside. The wedding ring made
with the purest natural ocean pearls he could find. Him, a Coshiton, a
rogue from his kind, taking the risk of seeking out his own Mother, to make
a gift, a wondrous promise, out her own life force, and his own soul to
give to his own true love, his own mate... For his Adam...

Merrick closes his fingers over the pouch, letting it push into his palm,
before his empty eyes look back to the ocean. He digs his finger into the
pouch opening to widen it open, before putting his own ring into it to join
the other, and sealed it back shut.

He is finished with this life... So tired of trying to be happy when the
world itself wants him to suffer... He is sick of feeling as if he is
alone...

Merrick takes a quick breath before he throws his arm back, and launches it
forward! He watches with eyes full of quiet rage and pain as he sees the
pouch fly though the air! His breathing becomes erratic as his eyes tear up
again, the tiny back rapidly shrinking, before disappearing completely into
the sea.

His fists clench as he stands there, almost seething with emotion, sniffing
and smearing his eyes again before shaking his head. He turns his back to
the bright day, and walks away, leaving behind so much more than just the
ocean view.


~~~


Adam fiddles with the magnetic links and metal orbs on his lap. He's made a
cube and a pyramid so far... He's been reading from a set of directions
from the kit next to his bed. He sighs as his head gives a few throbs
again. Ever since he's been awake... Or at least from how long he can even
remember. All he has to go on is a calendar attached on a post with X's
crossed in the squares.

As he tries to connect the links again, he hears a soft knock on his door,
before looking up to see Dr Yuri, the only person so far that he's been
able to recall so far.

"Hi Adam, how are you feeling today?"

"Ok, I guess..." Adam answered, "Am I... Supposed to play with these
things?" He asked, holding up the magnets.

"Once again, yes, it's something to exercise the memory. Which reminds me,
I'll need to take away the instructions at some point during the day."

"What? Why?"

"It's part of the program, in order to see if you can remember which order
to build them." Yuri takes his chart, and marks down a few things.

"I uh... I need to have some kind of medicine... Right?"


"Not just now," Yuri said, "You're set to relax and
sleep."

"Ennhhhh..." Adam whined, "Have I even gotten to walk around yet? I can
feel my feet, you know..."

"Adam, you have sustained some very bad injuries." Yuri said, "We need to
keep you full of pain-killers and off your feet for a long time yet. Your
ribs are still healing, your right arm still needs time, and your left
kneecap is still busted."

"Hhhhoohhhhhh..." Adam groaned, "I don't even know what happened..." Yuri
stopped, and cast her eyes down, "Doctor... Can you at least tell me how I
got here? I've been here for a whole month, right? What happened?"

"I... I have told you, Adam..." Yuri said, "And I know you're curious
because you keep forgetting, but..." She sighed as she shook her head, "I
honestly don't have the heart to tell you again, and... Your psychologist
advises against it -- the residual shock and anxiety is not good for your
well being at this time."

"Wait... I have a psychologist?"  
"Yes, but she comes AFTER
you're well enough to actually begin physical therapy." She puts his chart
back down into its slot at the end of his bed, "On the plus side, you have
a visitoy today."

"Oh... Did I meet them again a few days ago too?"

Yuri sighs before she takes a seat next to Adam's bed. "Adam. I know it's
hard." She said softly, "I understand you feel a sense of guilt because
you're having memory problems that may or may not be permanent. But you
need to cut yourself some slack; it is not your fault, and they are here
for you."

"..." Adam stares sadly onto the magnets on his lap, before looking at her,
"And how many times have you told me that before I forgot?"

"Just the once," She said before giving a gentle slap to his cheek, "And
don't be a sad smartass. Hey." She then turned his chin to face her, "You
and I have been very close friends for a very long, long time. I'm not
afraid to give you a hard time when I feel like it." Yuri told him with a
smile. Adam sighs and nods.

"Alright, I'll send him in right now." Yuri stepped out, but stepped right
back in with the door mostly closed, "Oh, and if he starts showing you
naked pictures, slap his face, and look
away."

"Wait, what? Naked pictures of who??"

"Just trust me, ok?"

"Ok..." Adam looks curiously as she leaves, and in enters a big African
American man. Adam blushes as he sees his thick, bulging muscles under his
shirt. His face tingles... As well as a couple of other places in him, as
this dark, handsome man walks in.

"Hey, Adam, what up?"

"Nah-Nothing..." Adam's voice went high for a split second.

"How's yo head, ya crazy bastard?"

"Um, what?"

-KNOCK KNOCK-

They both turn to see Doctor Yuri leering at them with a shrill sense of
suspicious anger... The newcomer in particular. She puts her index and
middle fingers under either of her eyes, before they turn and point to the
room, and she crosses her arms.

"Is... Everything alright?" Adam asked, "Does she not like you?"

"On a good day." The hot chocolate man smirked. "Name's Jamal, by the way."
He turned to look at Adam, "So how you feelin anyway? You doin any better?"

"I... Guess. My head keeps hurting. It just keeps being sore and heavy..."

"Yeah, you took some bad hits, man." Jamal said as he pats Adam's knee,
"Plus the docs gotta keep you all doped up so you don't feel all the broken
stuff inside you."

"Mhm..." Adam nods before taking a breath, "So. Where do I know YOU from?"


~~~


In a makeshift hut hovel in the middle of a clear river amongst water-borne
trees and branches reaching around, Atarah tosses and curls about a large
sea turtle shell, mixing and tossing about various powdered and scattered
ingredients. "So the problem is with Merreek?"

"Yes," Belinda said, almost completely naked except for a sash or two,
"Something has been happening to him, sun by sun, his being seems less
visible."

"It's like Merrick is there, but he doesn't feel like he exists until I
actually talk to him or something." Syrinx said, also nude save for her
usual sea gear and equipment.

"Very... Very strange..." Atarah noted as she puts the shell down, sitting
herself down, and interlacing her fingers.

"I've seen it happen before in my own pod before I was exiled." Syrinx
explained, "She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't talk, she was just drifting with
us."

"She vanished, you say now?" Atarah asked.

"No, she didn't. In fact, she uh..." Syrinx huffs, having to think about
that horrifying day again, "Eventually, she suddenly went into an
uproar. She yelled at us and cursed us, she killed a couple of our members,
and then she killed the Adra Noita of the pod. The Triton had to kill her,
even after he tried to restrain and reason with her. She just acted like
some kind of demon."

"Hmmmm..." Atarah pondered.

"I see him cry," Belinda said, "Tears, all of us, when we cry, our light
shows in tiny stars in are tears. But with Merrick... When he cries..."
Belinda looks to the Ancient with worry, "His tears have no light. They are
as a human's tears..."

"Does that mean he is become more human then?" Syrinx asked.

"No..." Atarah said, "No merfolk can eva be human... Even I, am not of that
existience."

"Then what..." Syrinx said, "When I ran into him, it was like he didn't
have any spirit anymore."

"Why?" Atarah asked, "When has Merreek gone... And why did teh mermaid in
your pod lose herself, and took away the lives of others?"

"I... Guess it has something to do with heartbreak," Syrinx said, "In my
pod, Galatea changed completely when her own child was swallowed by the
Ghost Whale, and she lost her mate when he tried to get their child back."

"And Merrick's mate was attacked almost one moon ago," Belinda added, "He
was severely injured and ill, and was under a long sleep until several suns
ago. And as well, he no longer has his memories of his own life..."

"..." Atarah's eyes linger down into the shell full of shifted
elements. They shimmer very slightly in the light -- mixed ash, crushed
fish scales, dried leaves fragments, dried jellyfish essence, and other
various trace particles. What she sees in this dust mixture does not set
her at ease.  
"I hab met mermaids and mermen who have lost
their way..." She finally said, "Them eyes do not show themselve, for dey
no longer wanted dis world..."

"They didn't want the world?"

"Hurt... Sorrow... Hatred... Anger... Pain... Hopeless..." She continued,
"Dey let them existance vanish... Dey turn them hearts into a setting sun,
dat will never rise again."

"This is awful..." Syrinx says as she covers her mouth gently.

"Is there no way to bring them back?" Belinda asked, "Merrick can
still... Will he ever find his light back?"

Atarah closes her eyes for a moment, trying to think back in her long,
long, long life, trying to remember those few and hollow, those who have
the eyes of apathy, those who have given up...

"Atarah?" Syrinx asked.

The Forbidden Ancient opens her eyes, still gazing down into the powder in
the shell, "I do not know how and why merfolk lose dere light... And I do
not know how dey can ever come back..."

"There... Has to be something."

"Atarah, you are the
wisest being in this world," Belinda said, "Do you truly not know what will
happen to Merrick? What can be done?"

"Dough I open my arms to all who come to me and dere words... I do not know
all of what has become of your kinds... But..."

"Dose who forsake dis world... Also forsake deir soul..." Her eyes look up
to the two young mermaids before her, "And become a shell of who dey were
supposed to be."


~~~


Yuri smiles softly as she watches Jamal and Adam, both of them laughing as
they watch a DVD on Adam's laptop. Despite everything that's happened, it's
indescribable to feel how good it is to see Jamal being his goofy self,
even deeply grateful that he brought those filthy pornographic
magazines. He just has to be that stupid, sex-crazed idiot... Yuri has no
idea just how much she missed that sort of behavior...

And Adam... Finally able to laugh out loud, at a movie he's supposedly
never seen before. Jamal even brought some Oreos for them to snack on -- in
Adam's condition, it's ill-advised to have much of anything to eat, but
just this once, he can enjoy himself, he can forget that he's blaming
himself for no reason, or that he's missing something, even while still
unable to retain his memories for more than a couple hours...

Yuri's smile faded... Soon, maybe in about half an hour or so... Adam's
memory will fail, and... 

She sighs, before her
pager rings out, prompting her to leave her post as Jamal's chaperone.


~~~


"Hahahahaha, man." Jamal said, the end credits of Bad Grandpa rolling
along.

"Ghghghghgh," Adam snickers for a moment, "Ah- Oh, fffff... Ow..." Adam
feels his head as it feels a deep throb from within.

"You ok?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Adam says, "My head is always hurting..."

"You aight, man." Jamal padded his arm.

"Hey um... Something else has been hurting too..." Adam said.

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I've told Dr Yuri about it -- I uh... Wouldn't know if I
did, right?" He said with a weak scoff, "Can you keep it between us?"

"Sure, man," Jamal adjusted in his seat. "What up?"

"Well... Aside from my head, and my arms and legs still kinda hurting... I
feel a kind of... Weird feeling in my chest..."

"Yo chest?"

"Like... In the middle," Adam said as he pressed between his gown-covered
pecs, "My head is always aching, and Dr Yuri says it's just headaches from
my brain healing, and my limbs are pretty much the same. But uh..." Adam
idly rubs his fingers on his chest, "I keep feeling like... Something's
going inside my chest, but it's never coming out."

"Something goin in?" Jamal asked with a quirked brow.

"It's... Kinda hard to describe, like," Adam tries to gestures his hands as
if he's shaping some kind of cloud in the air, "Like, some hole inside my
chest that keeps getting bigger and wider and deeper. The more it goes
on... The more depressed I feel."

"Ah think I get ya." Jamal nodded, "Ya feel like something's missing, and
you don't know what it is."

"Yeah, it's... Honestly, it's the only other thing I can remember -- it's
always there... Ever since I remember waking up meeting Dr Yuri. I..." He
shakes his head and shrugs, "I just feel alone... I keep feeling like I
keep losing things..."

"Aight, look Adam." Jamal said, "Lookit me, man." He said as he lightly
hits the back of his knuckles on Adam's cheek, until he turns to him, "The
last thing that you are is alone, aight?"

"I guess..."

"I mean it, dude." Jamal said, "Yeah, not like ev'rbody knows what you goin
through, but lemme put it this way." He leaned forward a little, "You can't
remember anyone, but we all rememba you."

"Hm..."

"Hey!" Jamal reaches over, and gives a careful slap to the back of Adam's
head.

"O-Ow!" Adam holds his head, "Ssssss!"

"Sorry, had to do that. Now you listenin?"

"Yes! I'm listening."

"Aight. Now..." Jamal gives Adam serious look, "Now, you got no idea how
lucky you got it, understand? You ain't got no memory an all that, and you
got no clue bout yo own life. But you are not alone by a long shot, aight?
You got a Mom and Dad livin a few blocks from here, you got a Doctor whose
known ya fo years workin on ya, and all yo friends are around you. Some
people, who wake up from a coma wit no memories to go on? Some of them got
no one."

"I see..." Adam nods, "It's still... I don't know, I still feel scared,
Jamal... And I don't even know why."

"Well here," Jamal then leaned in, and traced his finger on the mouse pad
of the laptop, and double clicked on a blue W icon. The W jumps up and down
several times, before a blank white page appears, "Yo Mom said she wanted
you to keep a diary. S'why I brought your laptop
here."

"Wait, this is mine?" Adam asked.

"Yep. Tha's right..." Jamal said. Donna had Yuri make a second
User Account in the laptop in order to keep Adam's files separate from
himself. While there's a chance that seeing all of his previous information
MIGHT be helpful, having to forget it all shortly after is not exactly
promising for mental recovery.

"My uh... Mom said that, my Mother?" Adam asked, his face fading with
somber, "Why didn't she give this to me herself..."

"She busy with her day job. She gonna visit you later today... Like she
always does, ya dig?"

"Ah, oh, ok." Adam nods.


~~~


Chibaku watches on the glass bottom of his boat, his notes and various
instruments placed neatly around his knees as he looks into the amazing
tropical sea life. Though, his aged eyes are far more intrigued by the
distant creature sloping and folding gracefully nearby.

His core is still greatly shaken as he watches the merman loom in the
water, holding only his weapon as he guides a large, long fish along with
him. Chibaku can only guess just how Merrick is actually having his current
study subject, practically bringing the specimen on a silver platter!

Or that... Merrick is even this... This FISH thing at all!

The Piscien swims in a slow circle around the glass bottom, his signal
keeping the fish within a short distance right in Chibaku's view, allowing
him to note the physical attributes of the fish. The fish itself does not
even know it is being studied, or that a merman is bidding it to stay, as
it probably would've left in the wake of the human-made boat in an instant.

Merrick undulates slowly up and down as he keeps the fish there, until he
hears a tapping from the glass. His eyes look to see Chibaku gesturing for
him to come up, before his legs shift around.

Merrick then stops signaling the fish, and allows it to casually idle away,
as he looms up to the side of the boat, to where he can see the metal
latter.

Chibaku quickly hurries from the glass bottom boat, out of the cabin, and
over to the ledge of the boat, with the energy and excitement of a
schoolboy at an aquarium.

A head of spikey fins breaks the surface in front of the boat's
steps. Chibaku coos lowly with awe as he can see Merrick's strong,
beautiful tail wavering from underneath, as his white and blue scaled arms
and webbed hands fiddle with a necklace. Chibaku blinked, and suddenly
Merrick transformed into his former blonde self, soaking wet, climbing up
the attached latter as a naked man.

Merrick takes the towel placed on the edge to wrap it around his waist, as
a courtesy to Chibaku, and looked as Yuri's mid-aged father comes to him.

"Hahahaha, it has been a couple of hour, but I still cannot be beliebe it
when you go in the water. When Yuri told me you were a regular fish-man,
tis is not what I was expecting." He said.

"Yeah..." Merrick nodded, "She probably wasn't expecting me to just let you
see me as I am." They walk to one of the benches of the boat, "I'm sure it
goes without saying, Mr Umiyama, but I need you to keep me secret."

"Hah hah hah," Chibaku chuckled, "Ob course, Merrick-san." Merrick sits
down, and takes one of the provided bottles of Japanese-brand flavored
waters, "But I also habe so many questions, you see, after seeing
you."

"You're a marine biologist, right? I
understand..." Merrick said dully, "If you want to ask me a few questions
about your research, that's fine. I'll tell you what I
knoe"

"Ooh, very good-" Chibaku smiled cheerfully.

"BUT." Merrick turned to him, "I will not answer any questions that have
anything do to my people. You understand that, right?"

"Aaaahhahaha," Chibaku gives a knowing chuckle, "I hear you, Merrick-san. I
understand."

Merrick gives a long inhale before uncapping one of the water bottles, "So
what else do we need to find...?"

"Ahhh, I think we can call it a day." He said, "The rental time is about
finished, on this boat."

"Right..." Merrick
nods. Chibaku looks at Merrick, eyes looking beyond tired, as if wrinkles
of decades should be there, on such a young face.

"Yuri tol me of what happened wis your fiancé..." Chibaku said, "Are
you going to be ok?"  
"I can hold up our end of the bargain, if
that's what you mean." Merrick said.

"No, that is not important. She tell me you habe been habing trouble..."

"..." Without much listening to what Mr Umiyama is saying, Merrick looks
down into the bottle with the katakana and kanji print, along with a few
fruit pictures on them. This water is supposed to be flavored, but he can't
taste any difference.

"I know it is hard rdight now, but we are here for yu."

"I can't cope though..." Merrick said, "I don't think you do understand, Mr
Umiyama... No one does. Adam may be alive, but the man I know is gone."

"No, sat is not true." Chibaku said, "He may not remembrr who you are, but
he remembrrs you in here," He pushes his fingers at Merrick's chest, "He
know you, you see." He gives a smile. Merrick can't return whatever
sentiment this man is trying to pose.

The more he thinks about being on the land, surrounded by kind,
naïve people, the more repulsed Merrick honestly feels. These
people... Every human he knows... Well-meaning fools who find their own
solutions...

Merrick jerks as Chibaku claps his knee, before getting up.

"Mr Umiyama." Merrick
said. 

"Hm?"

"I need to get
back home right now." Merrick says as he gets up, and turns to him, "Can
you do me one more favor before I go?"


~~~


Adam sits there, in the dimly lit room, his arms connected to his machines
as usually, his magnet toys put away and placed beside his bed, with a note
on them. On his lap, is supposedly the Mac laptop that belongs to him. He
reads the title of the document:

ADAM'S DIARY [Please Write]

Adam takes a breath, before putting his hands forward onto the keypad.

--- Dear Diary, I don't really know what to put here. Someone gave this
laptop to me, and I guess I'm supposed to put my thoughts and feelings into
it. But I don't really know who it was who gave it to me.  ---


Adam takes another deep breath. He feels very uneasy.


--- Well, I guess.  I feel lonely, right now. Dr Yuri is out for the night,
I think, I haven't seen her for a while. I kinda feel a little safer when
she's around though.

In general, I just don't feel right. I feel ---


Adam pauses. His insides squirm a little as he tries to decide what he's
feeling right now. It's hard to put into words.


--- some kind of pain in my chest. I'm pretty sure I talked about it
before. I feel like something is sinking down inside me. I really should
tell Dr Yuri about it, but I don't want to make her worried if it's
something she doesn't know how to fix. I don't think it's a medical
problem.

I guess I also feel empty. Dr Yuri always tells me when I've had a visitor,
but she's the only person I can really remember.

Actually, that's not true. I think I remember someone else. Someone with
yellow hair, and blue eyes, and maybe they were red? I can't... Yeah, I
can't remember.  ---


Adam sniffs as he brings a hand up, and wipe his eyes, before
continuing.


--- I also feel sad. I'm sad all the time. I know I can't remember just how
long I've been in this hospital, but I feel like I'm sad almost all the
time. I just can't feel happy, at all. I don't even know what happy is
supposed to feel like, right? I just feel like... I don't want to be
here. I don't know anyone, and I don't know anything, I just want to ---


Adam stops he finds it harder to breathe as he sits here. His breath
shudders as he can feel his eyes start to water, "What the hell..." He
croaked. He closes his laptop, and huffs as he puts his fingers to his
eyelids, and look at the droplets on his fingertips.  
"Why am I
crying?" He asked, his energy growing more intense as he starts to wallow
in despair, "Why am I so upset? Aghuuhh... Ghhh!" Adam can only feel
overwhelming pulses inside him that made him cry louder. The back of his
head pushes into his pillow as tries not to burst out in more tears.

"Remem... Dammit..." His chest jumps up and down, as he pushes the color
yellow into his head. His hand starts to hold the left side of his gown as
his heart starts to throb, "He was there... He was here!" Adam's whole body
begins to tense as Adam's brain overdrives on the color, as the mental
images begin to shape some sort of face. A pair of very blue eyes emerge
out with the abstract thoughts.

"Ga-ahh!" He cries as his other hand grips the side of the bed as he stops,
huffing and groaning. He stops trying to think about the blurry figure,
allowing himself to calm down, panting, before he just keeps sobbing.

Adam lies there, letting himself weep, the painkillers practically numbing
his body in this brief, emotional dive. "Whoisshe..." He whines, his lip
trembling, "I wanim back..." He cried, "Whereissheee..." He sobbed as his
chest's sinking sensation worsens.

"What's going on in here?!" Dennis says as he comes in, looking and seeing
Adam in a crying fit, "O-Oh my gosh! D-D-Doctor!" He rushes off.

"Whoisshe..." Adam groans, "Whoissit..." Moments later, a doctor comes,
tending to Adam, his talking becoming too weak in the head to really
understand, "Givim back... I wan him back tuh me..."

A sharp point is all Adam can feel in his sudden episode, his heart still
aching horribly, in so many more ways than one. As Adam's vision becomes
faint and dark, the last few things in his mind's eyes shows of a
whimpering blonde male, with twin sapphires looking painstakingly at him,
before fading away into sleep...


~~~


Yuri turns the flames down on the stovetop to ease the water's boil, before
checking on the cheddar-bay butter mixture. She can hear the changling of
Sally's leash as she and Jamal come in through the front door.

"Hey gurl." Jamal said as he came in, "Good to see you back home."

"I know, right? Thank you for looking after Skyler and Roxas while I've
been at work."

"No kidding. The cats been missing you something fierce."  He sniffs the
air as he hangs up his dog's collar and walk towards the kitchen, "What's
cookin?"

"Lobster and cheddar-bay biscuits." Yuri answered, "I thought I'd cook
Merrick's favorite to try and help, you know..."

"Ah I see. He hadn't been eating much."

"I can tell... Ever since the whole ordeal happened, he's been looking so
thin. I hope he'll eat tonight at least."

"It's coo. You force feed'im, I'll tie him to the chair."

"Pfff, yeah." Yuri scoffed, "God knows you've got enough leather straps and
gags to force him to do anything."

"You know it, bitch-cakes." Jamal smirks as he gets the plates and goes to
the table.

Just then, Yuri's cellphone starts to ring out from her pocket. She takes
it out, and looks, "Oh it's my Dad, could you stir that for me please?"

"Kay," Jamal comes over, and turns the wood spoon in one of the pots as she
answers the call.

"Moshi moshi, Papa..." She listened, "Ā, kare wa yoi
herupādeshita ka? ... Oh? Nani desuka? ... Kare wa shita? Matte."
She said before striding into the hallway. Jamal looks curiously after her
as he stirs the pot -- he really wishes she wouldn't do that, she knows
none of them can understand Japanese.

Moments later, Yuri comes in, letting out a sigh, "Sōdesu ka. Kare
wa modotte kuru tsumorida to itta nodesu ka? ... Sōdesu... Oshiete
kurete arigatō... Hai, Mama ni watashi ni `kon'nichiwa' to
itta... Oyasumi." She hangs up, and pauses, casting her eyes down.

"Yuri?" Jamal asked, taking a step aside from the kitchen, "What up?"

"Merrick's not coming to dinner." She says thumping her iPhone on her hand.

"What?"

"That was um... That was my Dad on the phone. Merrick told him to tell me
that he's not coming home."

"Wait, what?"

"I just checked Adam and his room, Merrick's sea equipment is gone, along
with his harpoon. His cellphone has been turned off and left on the bed."

"Where's he gonna go?"

"To the ocean, apparently." Yuri strode into the kitchen, and turned off
the oven notches.

"Shit, Yuri..." Jamal hesitated as he looked about, "Yuri, we don't need
waste this. Wha- hey-"

"Sorry, Jamal, I..." Yuri sighed as she goes to the table, elbows on the
top, and put her hands onto her head, "I just lost what appetite I had
left."

Jamal exhales deeply as he shrugs, before coming over to the table, sitting
at one of the sides, "Is he goin to the Kenovani?"

"He didn't say." She answered.

"He comin back anytime soon?"

"He didn't say."

"He uh... He say why we was takin off?"

"He didn't say, Jamal." Yuri answered again, "But I can take a pretty good
guess."

"Aight..." Jamal murmured, "He needs some time away. Guy's gotta think,
right?"

"Yeah..." Yuri covers her eyes, "Look, Jamal... If you want to leave now,
you can go ahead, I can look after the pets."

"Wha-"

"I just remember, last time," Her voice quivered, "Last time Adam and
Merrick were gone, you lashed out and shut down, and I'm telling you now
that that'll be fine," She blinks her eyes several times constantly as her
voice gets thicker, "I am just sick, and tired of being the mature one all
the time, and so you can go ahead and just leave right now if you want,
because I don't want you to see me do this, ok? S-So just go ahead and go
to Nick or something-"

"Hey, hey, Yuri, c'mon gurl." Jamal says as he scooted next to her as she
starts to shake and her breath starts to sputter, "Hey, it's gonna be ok,
aight?"

"Please, just go." She waves a hand about before covering her brow again.

"Aight, you c'mere now." Jamal gets up and walks around her, and behind
her.

"Oh don't start this now..." Yuri says as she sniffs. "Get away from me,
you stupid ass..."

"Come here, sista needs a hug." Jamal said as he bends over, and puts his
big arms around her.

"Stoooop..." She sniffs as she sighs. The one thing she could've possibly
done right for Merrick, and he decides to go away. She understands that
he's struggling with himself, but now her effort to try and help is just
out the window. "I just wanted to make his favorite dinnerrrr..." She
whined.

"I know gurl... I know... You wanna hit me in the face?" Jamal asked,
making Yuri scoff at him, "Would dat make you feel betta?"

"Shut up, dumbass." She whimpered while shaking her head.

"Aight, come on." Jamal nudged her shoulder with his hand as he gets up, "I
was raised not to waste food just cuz we bitchin. C'mon, I'll help you out,
git up."  
Yuri sniffed as she wipes her eyes, sighing as she
gets up. "Oh... Get away from the stove, you don't know what the hell
you're doing in there."


~~~


A doctor in the hospital stands by Adam's bed, monitoring his current state
for up to an hour or so. The sedative has taken its course; finally, as
Adam's body seems to be resistant to most of the injections they've given
him.

He checks off a few things before setting Adam's chart back down in the
holder at the end of his bed, and walks away. Dennis looks as he comes in,
and sits down next to Adam.

"Sorry, bout that... I woulda tried something myself, but I'm just a
volunteer journalist..." Dennis said, "I um... You probably can't hear me,
but I guess now is the only time I'd get the guts to ask." He said, "I
really like Yuri, you know? B-But I'm not sure if she's really into
me... I'm just a scrawny kid... So any chance you can help me have her like
me?" He asked rhetorically, getting no response other then the peaceful
breathing from the patient.

"Gotta say, I... Naw, never mind, thank you for your time." He said before
he gets up, and leaves the room for Adam to rest.


()()()


The Prince looks with glee up at the sky, the ever star-dusted vastness. He
puffs his chest out with joy as he turns around, and sees his mate waiting
for him, facing away from him.

The Priest of the Water Heavens, a young man, and the patriarch of the
marine regions, said to have once bid the water to give him wings and a
tail quell with the beasts that once stormed the divine seas.

And now, they are due to be married very soon, the Prince of the Heart
Life, and the Priest of the Water Heaves, a very fine match as far as
monarchs or other leaders go. This is the first night they will share his
bed.

The Prince smiles as he takes a few steps from the balcony, until a massive
tremor happened. The Prince staggers, trying to keep his balance, before
looking up at his love. He looks in terror as the Priest's toga seems to be
tying itself around his neck, wrists, and ankles, the water-dancing light
on his garments disappearing as the palace itself breaks apart in major
parts from the outside!

The Prince breaks into a run, seeing a hole breaking out below the Priest
as he takes a knowing step forth, his eyes closed as he goes. The Prince
calls out desperately for the Priest to wake up, step back, come to
him. The Priest can't seem to hear him, he simply allows the hole before
him to grow and crumble bigger to reach him. The Prince has to jump from
fragment to fragment, the huge chunks of the crystalline palace levitating
out of place.

He can't even think of the King and Queen at the moment, or any of the
servants or residents in his palace. The Priest's color is fading
completely until he is black and white, before he dips down!

The Prince yells out for him as he makes one more flying leap! His hand
fumbles for the lofty sashes that bound the Priest, until he managed to get
a good grasp. His knees bash into the floor as his hand seizes the edge. He
pants dramatically as he looks down into the black abyss before him, only
seeing his mate hanging by several threads, like a puppet.

The Priest's sashes and garments light into some sort of monotone light as
they connect and surge around his body, and lighting up to lead to the
Prince's hand, and consume his arm. The Prince grunts as the light weighs
him down, trying to anchor himself on higher ground, trying with all his
might to pull the Priest back up, when he can barely keep himself in place
at all, slipping inch by inch...