Ocean Song Beneath the Waves
*UPDATED* Chapter 11: Together at Last

(Decided to throw in another bonus chapter for all the lovely people who have begun to follow me! Enjoy!)

Serena’s and Arcelia’s eyes fly open in horror as Rodion comes plummeting down towards them.

Arcelia gives a surprised noise, grasping hold of Serena’s arm and dragging her into the water.

“What about Rodion!” Serena cries out, ready to swim back to the surface.

Arcelia turns her gaze to look at Serena whilst tugging her along. A splash sounds from behind them. “There is nothing you can do for him right now. We must go and wait at the seawall.”

But Serena is confused. Why do they need to go and wait at the seawall?

As if sensing her thoughts, Arcelia answers, “The current is strong here. You may not notice it since it doesn’t affect us, but it will undoubtedly carry your brother to the trench as it did you.”

Serena says nothing more—looking back to see if she can catch a glimpse of Rodion’s body. Wouldn’t it be better to simply go and save him while his heart is still beating?

“Neither of us have the strength to fight against the current to pull your brother back up. For now, we shall hope that he’s still alive by the time he reaches the trench.”

Serena chews her lip worriedly as they hurry down the seawall. Not even a moment later, Rodion’s body crests over the side, the current rapidly dragging him down.

But something strange is happening. Rodion’s body has begun to produce a strange light.

She and Arcelia gawk as Rodion’s ears morph into blue fins. His shirt flies from his body along with other articles of his clothing.

But bareness doesn’t seem to be an issue, because no sooner does the last article of clothing disappear does a rapid succession of aquamarine scales overtake his legs.

“What’s happening?” Serena asks shrilly as Arcelia squeezes her arm tighter.

“I-I do not know!”

Rodion’s legs begin to meld together until they become one appendage, and a blue tail fin takes the place of his feet.

The light dies down, the change now complete. Serena and Arcelia are left to gawk at the bizarre phenomenon.

They seem to snap out of their stupor when Rodion’s body passes by them to continue its descent into the darkness waiting below.

Serena moves forward and grabs Rodion’s right arm while Arcelia grabs his left. Together, they hoist him away from the trench to lie him upon the sea floor a few feet away.

Serena stares in bewilderment while Arcelia’s look is more akin to uncertainty. Something Serena can empathize with—they were supposed to return to the palace with just the two of them. Now, not only do they have a third person, but it’s another human turned mermaid—or rather, merman.

Serena shakes her head—quickly moving to kneel at Rodion’s side. Gently, she touches his shoulder and shakes him a little.

“Rod? Rodion… Rodion! Please, you must wake up!”

After a minute, Rodion cracks open his eyes with a grimace. He appears to be disoriented and doesn’t seem to recognize his surroundings right away.

“Where the hell am I? And what’s with this fucking pounding in my skull?” He groans as he rubs at the back of his head.

Serena chooses not to say anything yet—deciding it best to let him collect himself first.

But it doesn’t take him long to bounce back before he’s looking in her direction. First there’s a blank look, followed by confusion, and realization hits not too long after that.

“Rena!” He cries, abruptly throwing his arms around her and tugging her towards him. His grip is strong, like he fears even the remote chance that she might disappear again.

Such a thought almost causes Serena to roll her eyes in amusement, until she remembers that she did disappear four days.

“Where have you been?! Do you know how worried we were about you! God I missed you so much!” Rodion exclaims harshly as he buries his face in her hair.

Serena’s about to reply when another voice cuts in—one she doesn’t recognize right away until she catches the hidden aggression in the undertone.

“So this is where you ran off to…” Prince Oceanus says darkly as he swims forward towards them with a pair of guards trailing behind him. His arms are crossed over his broad chest whilst his piercing gaze levels them all with a harsh glare.

Arcelia becomes meek in the presence of her brother while Serena becomes wary.

But Rodion, either not reading the situation or not caring, stares blankly and says, “Who the hell are you?”

And Serena wants to clap a hand and drag it down her face. She had forgotten about her brother’s lack of eloquence.

Prince Oceanus doesn’t even spare Rodion a passing glance—focusing his attention on Serena. “You are beginning to try my patience, human.”

Serena impulsively sends a glare right back at him to reciprocate the venom in his tone.

“I don’t recall acquiescing to your wishes. You’ve no power over me,” she retorts as she crosses her arms across her chest stubbornly.

Her only reply is a look that promises a future conversation regarding this matter. But for the time being Prince Oceanus deigns to focus his attention on Rodion.

“What is the meaning of this?” Prince Oceanus’s gaze flickers to Arcelia’s for an answer.

She shuffles in her spot a bit before replying, “I, myself, do not know, Brother. He changed from human to mer right before our eyes.”

Prince Oceanus says nothing as all eyes look to Rodion’s new appendage.

Serena waits silently for it all to click in her brother’s head as he follows their gazes.

His eyes fly wide open as he shouts, “What the hell happened to me?”

No one makes a single comment regarding his language—choosing to observe his panic while it plays out.

Rodion quickly looks around—becoming more and more confused when he replaces nothing but water surrounding him.

Serena can easily see every thought passing through his head. After all, Rodion has ever been one to wear his more extreme emotions on his sleeve. Such is the case in this instance.

But Prince Oceanus cares not for Rodion’s dilemma. He issues only one command. “We are returning to Aquaria. We shall speak more of this in the presence of the king.”

No arguments are given. The two guards wordlessly move forward to take Rodion by each arm to assist him.

When Rodion moves to make a fuss, Serena shushes him. Not that he’s happy about it.

However, he shall listen to her for the time being. She knows this because his mind has always valued logic. And right now, logic says that Serena is more familiar with this world than he is, so there’s nothing he can say or do.

The prince doesn’t bother to glance back. Arcelia trails behind him but keeps to Serena’s side whilst the guards trail behind them with Rodion.

Serena breathes a sigh once she and Rodion reach his assigned chambers.

Well, that certainly could’ve gone better. She glances at Rodion, seated on the bed casually looking around the spacious room.

Honestly, she can’t believe her brother sometimes. What kind of person tries to demand answers from a monarch? He had been surprisingly respectful the first ten minutes, but he quickly grew frustrated as time passed. He didn’t understand anything, and it seemed to frustrate him to no end.

She feels like she’s had a few years shaved off her life. She understands her brother’s frustrations, but clearly she has to reiterate the importance of recognizing authority figures. No matter how much Rodion may dislike them. Things around here are already difficult enough for her with Prince Oceanus. The last thing she needs is her temperamental brother to be added to the mix.

She can still hear the ice in Prince Oceanus’s voice when he clashed with Rodion. The two had traded subtle insults with one another until King Neptune ordered the pair to cease their childish behavior.

Not that it wasn’t amusing to her to see the almighty prince be reduced to a child when faced with her brother—but she’s not in a position to be so relaxed around the king and prince.

If it weren’t for Arcelia’s encouraging looks, Serena can’t even begin to imagine how that audience may have gone.

“Rena?”

She shakes herself from her thoughts—locking eyes with her brother.

A gentle smile sits on his face, that sorrow from earlier having completely vanished. And it gives her cause to smile. She draws closer and sits beside him without a word.

Rodion wraps an arm around her and pulls her close. A relieved sigh upon his lips. “You scared the living shit out of me,” he murmurs as he presses a gentle kiss to her head.

Serena snickers as she elbows him. “That’s what I do,” she jokes lightly as she leans away from him a bit.

Yet, Rodion isn’t laughing. “I’m serious, Rena. We did everything we could to replace you. Why didn’t you come to us sooner?”

Serena turns her gaze towards the doors—staring at them blankly for a moment. “I didn’t know where I was or how to get back. The only reason I found you now was because of your song,” she murmurs quietly as the lullaby begins to drone somewhere in the back of her mind.

Rodion frowns. “How the hell did you manage to hear that all the way out here?”

Serena shrugs. She still doesn’t know the answer to that one. How was it even possible for someone to be able to hear another person from such a distance?

But she decides to move on from the topic altogether. Now, it’s just giving her a headache trying to work the answer out.

Meanwhile, she quickly becomes aware of Rodion’s silence and his burning gaze in the side of her skull.

“Stare at me any longer and you’ll burn holes in my head,” she murmurs as she glances at him from out of the corner of her eyes.

Rodion heaves a deep breath as he shakes his head—a tiny smile on his face. Obviously, he’s missed her humor. “So, what have you been doing down here for four days?”

Once again, she shrugs. “Not much. I was on house arrest, made friends with a princess, discovered the prince’s hatred of humans.” Though, can she really count that as a discovery if he made it so blatantly obvious right from the get-go?

Rodion heaves a deep sigh. Of course, everything down here is so strange to him, and he’s probably still trying to collect his bearings.

After a minute of silence, he asks, “So, uh, how’d you learn to swim?”

It takes another minute for Serena to process the question before she erupts into laughter. Any trace of the somber atmosphere from before has been chased away for a more positive one.

“Well, there was this thing with the shark and—”

Rodion’s eyes widen in alarm. “What shark?” he asks loudly, causing Serena to stop her explanation.

Maybe it isn’t such a good idea to tell him that particular story. They still have to stay here in order to get back to normal, and it wouldn’t do to offend the very people providing them lodging.

“Actually, don’t worry about that! I can try teaching you later!” she says cheerfully, trying to change the subject.

But Rodion isn’t going for it. “No, you can sit your ass right here and tell me what fucking shark you were talking about.”

Dammit. Serena grimaces. “Nothing to worry about. Give it a rest, Rod.”

They spend about five minutes going back and forth. The first to relent is Rodion. In the face of his sister’s stubbornness, he’s left with no other choice. If she won’t tell him, then he’ll never know.

Honestly, telling him about it is the least she can do, but she’d like to avoid the possible jail time that may follow. Getting in trouble with authority isn’t something she’d like to be as familiar with as her brother. And by the looks of him on the beach earlier, he had been getting into a shit-ton of trouble with the law.

For now, she’ll just avoid that topic and speak of other things. After all, it’s been so long since she’s seen one of her brothers. Why waste that time with potentially damning stories?