A/N: Image is 'Submerge' By CharlieBowen on DeviantArt.

When I'd had fins, swimming had been the easy part. Now, I kicked and pulled at the water with Angel limbs and, for all that I felt I'd swam a mile, when I glanced back the temple looked far too close.

The water was clear. So transparent that ahead, I could see the sweep of rock that led into the drop of the chasm. Thankfully, there the water turned into pitch black darkness and I could not make out the so-called horrors within.

I continued each stroke, feeling my lungs start to ache. I began to exhale slowly, wondering if I would have to wait for Aegea until the very last moments.

Knowing my luck, she'd be in the bath right now, or out at a friend's. Anywhere but looking down upon my suffering. 

The silence around was deafening, but worse was the emptiness. I could see no small fish, no aquatic life. No plants, flickering in the water like ours danced in a breeze. No, here was only the cold, deadly quiet of the ocean.

And then my air began to run out. Had I even lasted a minute? A quick check behind let me establish that I'd managed to swim around halfway to the deep trench. Hopefully, it would be enough of open waters to allow any chance of a spell to work. Bubbles streamed from my lips as I allowed my breath to slowly fizzle out.

At last, I felt the urge to draw in breath-- and couldn't.

Panic gripped me, and I turned on the spot, swirling in the water. I couldn't make out faces watching from the balcony, but I swore I could see Fabian's silver hair glinting through the semi-darkness. My lungs stretched now, absent of my last reserves, and reflexively trying to take a breath.

I can't, I can't. I'll drown.

I held my breath longer. My heartbeat began to sound very loud in my ears. Again, panic rose in my throat and I felt it tighten in fear, in wanting this to be over. My body tried to force me to cough, to inhale, and I clamped a hand over my mouth, curling into a ball.

The trinkets on my wrist hadn't changed. They glinted at me, dull silver bands playing tricks with my eyes. Around my neck, the choker sat, unmoving.

I let out a weary wheeze of laughter, enjoying the irony that whilst Reia had tried her hardest to kill me, what would get me was my own arrogance. I had believed so strongly I could make a difference, and what was going to happen?

I was going to drown. I almost welcomed it. My exhausted brain was going darker, blacker, and I shut my eyes, blocking out the view. With any luck, Niamh or Iggy would be able to retrieve my unconscious body before it was too late. With any luck, I would be waking up after this idiocy.

And then, unable to suppress the urge any longer, I inhaled.

Short relief of finally obeying turned into a horrible choking sensation, and my heart rate spiked. A sob stuck in my throat as I choked on the water, scrabbling at my chest. The blackness rose, and I sank lower, curling into a ball of terror and defeat as I knew consciouness was disappearing, fast.

More water rushed into my mouth, hurtling down into my lungs.

'Now you have finally breathed water, my dear, I can help you.'

I must be going mad. No, I must be dying and the voice was my mother finding me again. The voice was feminine, soft and soprano. The kind of voice to fall asleep listening to--

Pain sank deep into several points of my body: my neck, my wrists, my ankles.
The water I'd inhaled came coughing back out into a fit of bubbles as I tried to scream. The water swallowed my sounds.

I held my wrists upwards, and nearly drew in more water in shock. The bracelets were now like tattoos on my skin, metallic and glinting, and fluid.

The fluid metal moved, curling around my arms until my hands were covered in silver, and my fingers became webbed with a fine film of glittering grey. They fluttered to my neck, where a similar transformation was taking place. The tight metal band had infused into my skin, so that my fingers felt only smoothness, yet my eyes traced along as silvery lines ran down my front at the corners of my vision. My back was changing, too, from the collar downwards: where my wings sat, I felt the silver bind them, enchanting them to become part of my skin, an uncomfortable feeling as though I were trying to fold my skin over a foreign object. Soon, only silver tattoos marked where my wings had sat.

Lighter now, my body floated up, and I saw my feet as I kicked automatically. Like the others, the anklets had fused alongside the skin, and then, as I watched, joined one another, cementing the middle of my legs into one long mermaid's fin of silver and teal. Two legs became one fin, elegant and swift.

And the first thing I noticed after that was I could breathe. My necklace had extended along my neck, forming small gills like a fish's, and my shaky inhale was then followed by heavy panting from my oxygen starvation.

Before I could admire my new body, however, a rumble marked a change: something bad. I jolted from examining my hands, flipping my body over in the water with a powerful beat of my fin, glancing at it in the process. My eyes still couldn't believe it.

The rumbling got louder, until I realised the noise was coming from somewhere in the abyss. Even now, the surroundings were horribly quiet, only this time it was the quiet where nobody and no one dared to come near. I turned to my friends, who were watching from the balcony, but all I could make out was what looked like cheering, arms waving. 

But the water was becoming churned and angry, and I was pushed this way and that. I wondered what could cause such a disturbance. All around, the eerie stillness continued, aside from the shaking the rocks were making. I'd never been in an earthquake, but nothing I'd learned seemed like this. Each rumble was like a step, rocking through and rippling around before another was taken, uneven, irregular. Surely earthquakes wouldn't be like that?

I didn't know.

Before I could think anymore, a shape emerged from the basin of the trench. One long, pointed face rose from beneath, gliding smoothly with its sheen-polished hide. Its body was shaped like a pointed egg, with one long fin at the side and a mermaid-like fin at the bottom. The creature swept upwards, casting a dark shadow, and moving with the small precision and confidence that comes from being top of the food chain. The smooth, thin face gave way to beady eyes and a mouth filled with dozens of rows of sharp, pointed teeth. All in all, the creature was about the size of the temple rooms. 

And the first thing it noticed? Me. Bloody typical, my head said.

My heart, palpitating, said swim!

The feminine voice floated back into my head. Feminine, but no longer soft. Now, a commander's voice had taken over, a hard edge behind subtle words. 'The megalodon. Cannot be out-manoeuvred, particularly by a fledgling Mer. You have to challenge it.'

Challenge a megalodon! I wanted to laugh with hysteria but had to settle for hard strokes with my tail fin to get moving. Ahead, the balcony, with my friends, was visible, but despairingly far. 

Then I felt the waters change, and I dived down, my body curling so that the megalodon's trajectory was all wrong. I escaped being bitten in two by a narrow margin. But no sooner than it had failed, it found me again and swooped down. A scream of bubbles was left behind in my wake as I darted, cutting through the water as the megalodon came down. 

This time, I rolled, and I felt the water quake as the force of the megalodon slammed into the rocks beside me. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something moving from the balcony. Niamh? Iggy? Were they swimming out to help? Hope bloomed in my chest, momentarily paralysing me. 

Slam. The Megalodon hurtled into me, sending us both flying back towards the abyss. I breathed through the water heavily, panting for air, but getting only mediocre relief from my new gills. Thankfully, my webbed hands were much better for my strokes than without, and I swam out over the abyss with frantic arms and a tail that was beating rapidly. 

The water streamed past me, and I left the rocks behind in favor of the blackness of the trench. The cliffs gave way into a deep hole, large enough that the walls only faded into the darkness. I couldn't see the bottom. 

I wasn't even looking where I was going. I looped again, reversing so that the megalodon was forced to change direction. I swam faster. The megalodon kept up with me every moment. 

Fear awashed me. I'd have to get back to the temple, or else I'd tire.

I kicked up my speed, my tail a blur of fins and my hands pulling desperately at the water. Another figure was advancing on me: I made out silver hair and a pale, determined face. A streamlined body blocked most of my view from the long, quick strokes, but I knew in my bones who swam towards me as though his life depended on it. 

Teeth crunched on my tailfin, and my body tugged backwards, and I flipped over. The megalodon towered over me, teeth in my tail, and with its mouth ready for the rest.

I threw out my hand in a panic, sending a stream of scalding water towards the giant shark. Fire was weak here, but it was better than nothing. 

It jumped in surprise, startled by the angry welt across its side. The shock wore off too soon, however, when it realised that its dinner had sidled away. My tail free, I spun and swam for it. 

Fabian was getting closer, and we were both swimming at each other at breakneck speed. Right behind me, the megalodon lurched and I prayed that it wouldn't catch me. 

As the creature lurched, the surge of water drove me forwards, swirling out of control. At the same time, Fabian reached me, and we collided into one another. A tiny bubble formed around his mouth, helping him to breathe, but I could see the concentration it took to keep it there, perfectly formed and mobile. He still wore his fins, his legs beating powerfully as he scooped me into his arms and pulled me away from the megalodon.

My eyes widened at him. Now what?

I nearly wrung my hair when he gave me a slight shrug. Now, the two of us were both facing off against an ancient predator, and neither of us had the ability to drive it away.

The shark reared again, circling us, assessing the new prey on the scene. Fabian was taller and his wingspan impressive, even underwater, when they were folded in on themselves. But he was still no match for the megalodon, and it knew it. It readied itself for another attack. 

Fabian shielded me, setting his body in front of mine.

I tried to conjure anything; flame, fire. All I could do was heat water, and the megalodon wouldn't be discouraged so quickly. 

Behind Fabian, my hands clenched around his waist.

The megalodon stopped circling, paused. 

Then it attacked.

From stationary, it became a fast blur. Fabian turned, pulling me into his chest, so that he protected me first. The megalodon opened its mouth--

-- but instead of a scream of pain, Fabian's cry was a roar. 

And before me, he twisted and turned, body wracked. Then when he straightened, my mouth fell open.

Fabian was in front of me, the only barrier between the megalodon  was him. But he looked different, like a pretty stranger. He'd lost his stepper fins and in its place was a bright blue and silver streaked Merman's tail.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

---

A/N: Why do you think Fabian has suddenly transformed?? 
Let me know your thoughts!

vote and comment pleaseeeee

L xxx