"Sweetie?" Kaiko asked as she turned to her daughter from the pilot's seat. "What's wrong?"

Fontaine looked up from her tablet. "Who, me? Nothing's wrong."

Kaiko frowned. "That's not true. I can tell when you're upset.

Mother and daughter were on the bridge while Ant and Will were setting up the core sample drill for extraction. The Nekton family were off the coast of Australia, almost right next to the Great Barrier Reef.

Fontaine sighed and looked back down at her leg. "It's just--well, Jess found her soulmate." She looked dejectedly back up at Kaiko.

"Really?" asked Kaiko in joy as her face lit up. "That's wonderful! Who is he? Does he go to her school? What's he like?" She took another look at her daughter's sullen face.

"O-Oh," she said, slower this time. "And that's not good for you because . . . ?"

"Because I'll never find mine!" Fontaine wailed as she slapped her legs in despair.

Kaiko tilted your head. "Of course you will! Just because you don't know them right away doesn't mean that you won't find them eventually. Why wouldn't you?" She walked over to the teen.

"Hmm, I don't know," Fontaine said as she looked at her mother with blatant aggravation. "Maybe because we barely ever go on land, I hardly know anyone my age, and, oh, I forgot to mention, that we live on the biggest submarine in the entire world! So, please, Mom, give me a time where I would be able to meet my soulmate!"

Kaiko sighed, loud and long. She took Fontaine's hands in hers and knelt down so she was at eye level with her daughter. Fontaine could tell that she was thinking about her own soulmate search, one that had taken her eighteen years. Way, way shorter than Fontaine thought hers would take.

"College," Kaiko finally answered. "That's when I met your father.

Fontaine stared at her dead in the eye. "Wow. Thanks so much. I can't wait for these next two more years to pass." Her placid voice made Kaiko's eye soften.

"There are other ways, you know. I knew who your father was before I met him."

"You mean . . ." Fontaine trailed off. The other ways were taboo and were told to bring bad luck on the soulmates, but she had to try.

"Yes. Writing," replied Kaiko. "It's risky, but it worked for us, and I don't think we've had any bad luck, have you?" She smiled at the teenager and squeezed her hands.

"I've only heard of people writing on themselves in books. I didn't know that you and Dad did it," said Fontaine. "Why?"

"Because I was just as impatient as you," Kaiko answered with a lovely smile. "We started out with regular conversation. He acted all relaxed and regular, but I could tell that he was excited. I was too. Then, we asked each other about our names and more personal stuff like that."

"But what if he doesn't want to talk to me?" Fontaine asked. "What if I'm too early?"

"If you're too early, then you're too early," Kaiko said, shrugging. "But you'll end up together one way or another. It always works out with soulmates."

"Does it?" asked Fontaine, quiet. "Remember in Moon and Sea when Maya wrote on her leg? That story didn't end well because of it."

Moon and Sea was one of those forewarning books about writing on yourself to find your soulmate instead of waiting for it to happen. Sure, the book itself wasn't very realistic, but Fontaine wasn't taking any chances with bad luck cursing her and her soulmate. Things would get a lot worse for them.

"Moon and Sea is a story about a girl falling in love with a merman," said Kaiko, brushing the unfortunate ending off. "I highly doubt your beloved is a merman, don't you?"

Fontaine smiled a bit at that. "Yeah, I guess so. But what if we really are cursed? What if it's my fault that we don't work out?" She let her gaze trail to the floor as she moved her hands away from her mother's, putting them around her arms.

"If it worked for your father and me, then it'll work for you. I have complete faith in whatever you choose to do. Out of everyone in the world, you two will be together for a reason, after all."

Fontaine bit the end of her drawing pen nervously as she thought about the possible consequences and effects that writing to her soulmate could have. Kaiko stood up and looked at the nearly-finished drawing of the narwhal pod they had seen on Fontaine's birthday.

"That looks nice," she remarked. "Maybe you have two talents. Music and art."

***

As the waters darkened, Fontaine's gaze rested on her container of pencils and pens on the floor. Her thoughts drifted to the conversation she and her mother had shared earlier in the day. Finding her soulmate was worth a few risks . . . wasn't it?

She paused the movie she was watching and rolled over onto her back. Kicking a bit of the blanket on her off, she sank down into her cushiony bed, thinking. Writing had worked for her mother, so maybe it would work for her too.

It was risky. It was so, so risky. But her soulmate was out there, and he didn't know who she was, and she didn't know who he was. She wanted to know him, but did he want to know her? Was he not ready to meet his soulmate? Did he not want to? Either way, it was better to know than to be left in the dark.

She sighed. It's now or never, her thoughts whispered to her. You know you'll never wrack up the courage if you don't do this now.

She blew a breath out. Quickly, before she could go back on herself, she reached down and grabbed a lilac pen. She sat up, crossed her legs, and wrote on her leg.

***

Hey, it said, in crystal clear neat cursive.

Finn stared at his leg. He stared at the word 'Hey' over and over again, letting it sink into his brain.

His soulmate had contacted him. She had risked it all, just for him. She had risked the bad luck and curses of it all.

In a way, he wished that she hadn't. What if they were both cursed now?

That didn't matter. He could finally know who she was. Finally.

Finn had first noticed the word on his leg when he had rolled up his pants to help Madeline unclog seaweed from the Moon Pool's gears. He thought it was just a speck of dust at first, but when he wiped it away and it was still there, he had figured out that it was a word. An actual word and hope that his soulmate was out there.

He hadn't shown his sister out of fear that she would pry too much. He wanted his and his soulmate's conversation to be private.

Now, Finn was staring at his leg with a pen in hand. What should he write? What would she respond with? It was too much to think about, so he settled on writing 'Hey' back.

He waited. A minute. Another minute. Then, furiously scribbled words appeared across his leg.

So, I guess we're soulmates.

Yeah, he wrote back. I guess we are.

What's your name?

He smiled. Finn wasn't exactly a common name, but maybe his soulmate would like it.

Finn.

Nothing. Nothing for about five minutes. Then, and 'S' appeared, followed by an 'A.'

Savannah, the words said. The cursive this time looked a little lopsided, like Savannah's hand had been shaking when she wrote it down.

Savannah. Sa-vann-ah. SAVANNAH. What a gorgeous name. In fact, it was the prettiest, sweetest name Finn had ever heard.

But he couldn't help hoping . . . that his soulmate was someone else. Someone like Fontaine. But he couldn't worry about that no matter how much he hoped Savannah had stunning green eyes like Fontaine. And cute little freckles. And maybe, just maybe, a pink streak in her hair.

Okay, so he hoped that his soulmate was Fontaine. But Savannah would do just fine. If he wasn't soulmates with Fontaine, it was for a good reason. He was meant for Savannah, and Savannah was meant for him.

Savannah, huh? he wrote. That's a cute name.

He waited a moment while she washed off the writing with a towel and water. When she had finished, the writing was barely there and had mostly been smudged off.

I think Finn is cute too.

He smiled at that. She really was perfect.

Sorry, but I have to go, Savannah penned. I have to take my dog out. Talk to you soon?

He smiled again. Sure. Really quick, where do you live?

The United States. Arkansas.

Hmm. A landlocked state. That's new. How would they meet if he lived on a submarine and she lived without an ocean nearby? No matter. They would find a way. 

Sounds cool. Talk to you soon!

Bye!

***

Fontaine stared at her leg where Finn had last written. She rubbed her temples and sighed, trying to calm herself down.

Finn was her soulmate.

"No, no, no, no!" she shouted. "This can't be happening!" She couldn't be soulmates with Finn! It would never work out, and she did not like him one bit. Despite him having sweet blue eyes and a nice voice and a handsome face.

Ant didn't like him, her parents didn't like him, and not to mention his family's hatred of hers. They would never work out, and she was the only one who tolerated him.

She sighed and stared down at her leg some more. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't hear her bedroom door slide open behind her.

"What are you doing?" a little voice piped up behind her. 

***

New chapter!! Guess who got obsessed with The Deep again lol.

Please check out my other book, Shell, which tells the story of Nereus and the fall of Lemuria 6,000 years ago.

Also please look at Whalesong, a non-canon continuation from where The Deep left off from S3. 

A FinnxFontaine story will be coming out soon!! It'll be in my one-shots book, set if Lemuria hadn't sunk and Fontaine was the princess of Lemuria. 

Thanks for reading!!