Hello, child.

I hear you found the scroll, aye?

I suppose that's partially my fault. I should've kept it in a more hidden place. I guess right on my desk wasn't the best place to put it.

Well?

Has it triggered any memories yet?

No?

Good.

I think I'll take it back now-

One more chapter? No! You know I hide it so you don't trigger the memories! You chose to have me erase them, even if you don't remember it now! The more you read, the more danger you have of releasing all that pain and sorrow back into your brain again.

Sorry, little one...

...

...Fine.

One more chapter.

Remember: Whatever happens is your fault.

Day 1

5:47 P.M.

Sunlight streamed through the water as you swam along, weaving through the strands of kelp. To your left, Lizzie and Sally were racing each other through the rocks and plants while Timmy was attempting to swim upside-down like some kind of aquatic hummingbird. It was nearing sunset, so the flaming red sun was sinking towards the horizon, sending shafts of blood-colored light dancing along side you four.

It was around four hours since you'd left the coral reef and had swam due north, straight into a kelp forest. It was definitely the largest your group had seen, as well as being the first in quite a long time. Jimmy's delicate armor had immediately gotten tangled in the kelp, and all four of you had spent the first fifteen minutes floundering slowly through the stalks, slowly maneuvering through the kelp. Finally, all of you started slowly getting faster and faster as you learned how to dodge and weave beneath the green leafy stalks.

You flicked your billowy betta-type fins, shooting ahead. You darted down to cooler waters, side-swimming stalks of seaweed and startled fish before diving over a boulder and swimming into the darker waters beyond.

The kelp forest disappeared around you, leaving you drifting in murky waters as your siblings floated up. Lizzie was complaining about how Timmy had bumped into her during the race, and Sally was calling her a sore loser.

The truth was, Lizzie kinda was. The Axolotl spirit, like the animal she represented, was fiercely jealous, extremely protective, competitive, and she hated to lose.

The good news is it allowed for plenty of teasing from Jimmy.

Your younger brother was swimming in circles around the pink-haired sea-bling, tugging on her hair and darting away before she could snap at him.

"YOU LITTLE TWERP, I WILL EAT YOUR PUFFERFISH FOR DINNER TONIGHT!" Lizzie screamed, smacking him with her long tail. Knocked backward, Jimmy grabbed his dive knife, sliced off a strand of kelp, and lunged towards Lizzie, tying it around her torso and pinning her arms to her side. "HEY WHA-" The young pufferfish spirit then cut Lizzie's complaints off by smacking her in the head with the butt of his knife. Your eldest sister went limp and slowly sunk to the seafloor.

"Ah, yes, great job Jimmy," You spat sardonically, crossing your arms. "Now we're going to have to wait for her to wait for her to wake up."

Jimmy's mouth started flapping open and closed. "WHAT? IT WAS HER FAULT! Y/N! SHE STARTED IT!" Over to the side, Sally started slow clapping. "SHUT UP, SALMON-HEAD!" Jimmy scathed at her, crossing his arms and glaring at the sand. His little pufferfish spines along his arms and back were fanning out like they did when he was angry, making him look like a fluffy cat who got put on a diet. Your own fins behind your ears twitched, mirroring the corners of your mouth.

"Okay," you sighed, running a hand through your H/C hair. Sally swam closer, eyes narrowed as she looked at you expectantly. "Since Jimmy pulled his flipping BRILLIANT MOVE, we'll have to set up camp here instead of making at LEAST another nautical mile. GREAT JOB, JIMMY!" A very appropriate eye roll was placed here.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH, HOLD ON: HOW COME YOU'RE IN CHARGE NOW?" protested Sally, placing on hand on her hip and another on her dive knife.

"Mainly because Lizzie is incapacitated, which makes me the next in line for command as I'm otherwise the oldest. If something happens to both me and Lizzie, you get command, though I pity Jimmy for having to deal with that."

Jimmy, having enough of staring at the sand, looked up. "Hold on, so I NEVER get to be in command unless ALL of you disappear? THEN THERE'S NO ONE FOR ME TO COMMAND WHAT THE HECK? UN. FAAAAAAAAAAAIR," he complained, then shut his mouth as you gave him a look.

"Sally, go hunting," you sighed, tossing her a harpoon. "Jimmy, help me set up the hammocks and move Lizzie into them." You slung your seapack onto one of the multitude of flat rocks surrounding you, followed by your knife, harpoon, and several pouches. Sally gave you a mock bow, then shot off into the cloudy ocean. Whether you liked it or not, Sally was the fastest swimmer in your group, even if she was a pain to be around.

->->->->O<-<-<-<-

Day 1

6:23 P.M.

Sally knifed through the water like a snake, dodging kelp and startled fish and rocks which rose straight out of the water like the human towers she'd read about in Lizzie's scrolls. A rather large grouper darted out of her way but Sally deftly flicked the harpoon at it. At the last moment, the fish switched directions and disappeared into the gloom.

With a sigh, Sally retrieved her harpoon (or, rather, Y/N's harpoon) and continued swimming.

Blasted betta-fish, she thought angrily to herself. Some day I'd like to send her out to fish- only I hope she doesn't come back. A rock loomed in front of Sally's face suddenly, making the salmon spirit dart to the side at the last moment in an ungraceful maneuver.

After a few more seconds of diving through the water, the ocean became even more cloudy and was clogged with sediment. Sally coughed, trying to knock the grit out of her gills while beating the water around her with her fins to clear it. Finally, she turned and flicked her fins, shooting out of the cloud. Several minutes of sneezing and coughing cleared the majority of the sediment from her lungs and gills. Annoyed, she looked around for the cause of the cloud, but there was none- until she looked up.

Holy sharks-

Far above her, floating on the surface, was a large wooden boat the color of rust dragging an ensemble of nets and crab traps and hooks and lines. In her head, Sally could feel the crushing weight of all the trapped fish and sealife's panic like a pound of bricks on her stomach. It was so tangible Sally was shocked she hadn't sensed it before.

Up in the boat, moving around, multiple humans moved around, calling out to each other in an unfamiliar language and tugging on an assortment of ropes and pullies.

Fishermen.

Only Lizzie had truly ever seen a human. Around three months ago, the group had passed a small fishing village and elected the Axolotl spirit to go and bring back trinkets and treasures, the reason being that she was easily the best actor. The downside? Lizzie had the weakest shapeshifting EVER. Even with Y/N's shiftenergy boost, the ocean spirit had barely been able to hide her gills and scales, let alone fully shift to the oxygen-breathing habits of a human. Thus, Lizzie could only be above water for an hour or two max.

In Sally's opinion, they should've let her go. Yes, Y/N had the best shifting abilities and Jimmy had far better acting skills, but the youngest boy was irresponsible and Y/N was... Y/N. But now, the chance of a lifetime for the Salmon Spirit lay just above the water, so long as she didn't get caught.

Sally scrunched her eyes shut, concentrating intensely. She imagined herself as a salmon, with red-green scales the color of her hair and eyes mixed together and elongated fins. Soon, an intense headache formed right at the base of the neck.

Bloody freaking hell, I don't see how Y/N can stand this. The Betta Spirit was ALWAYS slipping in and out of different forms and shapes as she saw fit, as if the headaches didn't bother her! But noooooooo, because Sally was always practicing ACTUALLY USEFUL STUFF like potion making and not 'honing her skills', it took SO MUCH CONCENTRATION AND ENERGY FOR HER! Sure, she could do it a little easier if Y/N gave her a boost of shiftenergy, but Sally was NEVER going to ask her for something. NEVER.

Finally, the world spun and enlarged with a dizzying pop and Sally found herself in the small body of a salmon. She flicked her fins, shooting towards the boat, surfacing a safe distance away.

The humans were a bit shorter than she had expected but they looked strong. There was a coarse layer of hair along the bottom of their jaws like fur and their arms looked more like the legs of the bears the group sometimes saw on the coastline. Muscles bunched and tightened as the fishermen hauled in the nets, the catch, the prey. Sally shivered against her will as she sensed the lifeforce of the fish slowly ebb away as oxygen washed over them.

Finally, the red ship sailed away and Sally's form reverted to normal. She watched the boat disappear into the rapidly increasing darkness, her heart pounding.

They're cruel but....

They fascinate me.

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1599 words

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I'm slowly amassing a list of sea-puns for the chapter tidals (titles).

You should be scared XD

Sea y'all later ;)

(Sea what I did there?)

(Okay, this isn't on porpoise, I swear)

(God, I can't kelp myself)

(I think it's time we went our separate waves)

(I just fish I could stop)

(Bouy, am I getting tired of this)