He still remembers the night his mother left.

It had started out like any other day- hell, it had ended like any other day too. Seven-year-old Soul had woken up at seven AM sharp, rode the bus to the tiny elementary school on the other side of the city, spent all day scribbling pictures of sharks in crayon on his worksheets instead of doing actual work (who needed to know addition and subtraction anyway? So uncool) , and rode the bus back home. He had eaten dinner- fish as always- without complaining. He had even managed to keep from making faces across the table at Wes when he ate his vegetables. Then, when it was time for bed, his mother had led his sleepy self up the stairs and tucked him into bed, pressing a kiss to his forehead along with a whispered "good night" as she softly shut the door.

That was where life as he knew it had ended.

For some reason, Soul couldn't fall asleep that night. No matter how much he tossed and turned, his eyes stayed wide open. It didn't help matters when he started to hear rain patter against the glass of the window, followed by a rumble of thunder. Great. A storm was rolling in from the sea. Despite living in a harbor town all his life, Soul still hated storms, with their loud crashing booms and flashes that lit up the night.

Just as he was about to burrow his head under his pillow to try to block out the noise, the door to his room slowly creaked open. "Soul? Are you awake?" the soft voice of his mother called.

He immediately stilled and squeezed his eyes shut. If Mom found out he wasn't asleep yet, she would be so mad that she wouldn't let him play video games with Wes tomorrow. Holding his breath, he desperately hoped she would go away.

However, she only came farther into the room and sat down on his bed, springs creaking under her weight. Soul could smell her perfume from here, something flowery. It made his nose itch.

The woman sighed and ran a hair through his hair, combing through it as the boy tried to relax his face into something resembling sleep.

"Soul… Something's come up back in Mommy's hometown, and she's going to have to go away for a little while. I don't know how long it's going to be, so I need you to stay strong for me while I'm gone, okay? Take care of your father and Wes."

What? Mom was leaving? Where was she going? He didn't want this! He almost opened his eyes then and there, but the looming threat of punishment forced him to keep them shut.

Suddenly, he felt a soft warmth on his forehead, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come as he heard his mother lift her head. Her voice cracked as she moved her hand to grip one of Soul's.

"Soul, I want you to know that I love you, okay? I love you and Daddy and Wes, and I'm not doing this because I want to. Sometimes we just do things because we have to. You'll understand when you're older."

She gave his hand one last squeeze before she sat up again and slowly backed out of the room.

"Goodbye, Soul", she whispered one last time before shutting the door.

Soul's eyes flew open and he sat up in his bed as soon as her footsteps had faded away from the door. What had she meant by that? Going away? Why would Mom have to go away? She had everything she needed right here in Death City. He didn't want Mom to go anywhere.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard the sound of the front door creaking open from out in the hall, momentarily letting in a clap of thunder before he heard it shut again.

The boy immediately threw away the covers and jumped out of bed, moving quickly but quietly into the hall, making sure his footsteps didn't wake the other inhabitants of the house.

Was that Mom? Why would she be going outside in a storm like that? The seven-year-old didn't understand much, but his parents had taught him that the best place to be during a storm was inside a house. Well, if Mom couldn't follow her own instructions, he would just have to go out and bring her back. Throwing on his blue rainboots and yellow windbreaker from the mudroom, he too pushed open the front door and ventured into the thunderstorm brewing along the coast.

As soon as he was out in the street, just barely lit by a distant lamp, he looked around. Where could she have gone? It wasn't like she'd had a lot of time to go somewhere…

"Mom?" He yelled into the wind. He tried to make his voice sounds brave, but it came out as more of a squeak. Soul didn't like this. It was dark, and cold, and he was all alone. The wind was starting to pick up around him, and the rain stung his eyes as he tried to shield them with his hands. Where was she?

Ah- finally. There. The little boy could see a distant figure walking down the street on his left. He could see the sway of her pale hair as a flash of lighting lit up the sky. But- why was she heading towards the beach? Everyone in Death City knew you stayed away from the beach during a storm. What was she doing?

"Mom!" The wind tore Soul's voice away before it could reach his mother, spiraling up into the dark sky.

Well, if she couldn't hear him, there was only one thing left to do. Soul started running after his mother, rainboots splashing in quickly forming puddles as he pumped his arms. Hah. Hah. Faster, faster. Mom was almost at the edge of the sand now.

The boy abruptly stopped and doubled over at the edge of the beach., hands on his knees. He desperately tried to draw in a breath. Looking up, he saw Mom had crossed half of the expanse of sand by now. Where was she going? Didn't she know there was only water up ahead?

He didn't even have the breath to scream when the woman didn't pause upon reaching the edge of the ocean. She didn't even look down, merely gathering her skirts in one hand as she stepped deeper and deeper into the choppy black waves.

The rain sluiced down in heavy sheets, making everything look blurry and disconnected. However, in that moment another flash of lightning lit up the sky, and Soul could finally see his mother take her last step into the water before falling forward into the surf. His breath catching in his throat, he could only watch as he saw her pale head of hair bob once, twice, then disappear into the roiling sea.

"MOM!"

Hurry. Hurry. RUN! You have to save Mom!

His little feet pounded down the beach as fast as they could, kicking up little clouds of sand as he went.

Too slow. Too SLOW! She could already be dead! HURRY!

By the time he reached the water's edge, his mother was nowhere to be seen.

"MOOOOM!" He screamed, cupping his hands around his mouth. "WHERE ARE YOU?" But only another crash of thunder answered him, and the waves before him remained mercilessly black, with not even the slightest hint of white- a head, a hand, anything- breaking through them.

Soul couldn't think as he stripped off his jacket and pajama shirt. Hands shaking, he flung off each of his boots, leaving them laying in the wet sand as he stood facing the growing waves. If Mom wasn't coming out by herself, he was just going to have to jump in there and get her.

He barely flinched as he stepped in to the cold water, adrenaline coursing through his veins as he plunged forward. One step. Two step. Now three more. Now jump in and start swimming.

Now, everyone who had grown up in Death City was a good swimmer. They had to be, if much of their childhood was spent splashing and playing in the wide sea that surrounded their town. Soul was no exception- the boy could swim like a fish. But going swimming alone in a slowly maddening surf in the middle of a thunderstorm in the middle of the night was a bad idea for even a full grown adult, let alone a seven-year-old boy.

To anyone else, it would be no surprise when his limbs started to grow heavy and his mouth started filling with water as he was pushed down by wave after wave, but to Soul, it meant he had failed.

He had been stupid and tried to save Mom on his own. The smart thing to do would have been to run and get Wes or Dad to help, but he just had to jump into the angry sea without a second thought. And he was paying for it now.

Another wave crashed over his head and pushed his little body down into the dark sea, but by this time, he had lost the will to fight. His limbs felt like wet noodles as he slowly sunk lower and lower. Water rushed into his mouth all at once as he opened his mouth to try to bring his burning lungs some relief.

Huh. I guess this is how it feels to die. Strange. It didn't feel like he was suffocating. In fact, if it wasn't absolutely impossible, he felt like he could breathe just fine now. But that didn't change the fact that he was sinking down to the bottom of the ocean, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Not only had he managed not to save his mother, but he had gotten himself killed while doing it.

I'm sorry, Mom…

Head feeling like it was being sat on by a herd of elephants, Soul slowly let his eyes close as another flash of lighting, muted through the water, lit up the sky.

However, right before his eyes slid shut, the moment of light allowed him to see what looked like the tail of a giant fish flick in the water right above him.

That's weird, Soul thought sleepily. I didn't know fish were that big. Or were that red. It almost looks like my eyes.

His heart immediately seized as the giant red fish tail swam more fully into his line of vision. Instead of a fish's head, attached to the top of the long tail was the torso and terrified face of a woman with long white hair and ruby colored eyes.

Mom? But.. How…

His mouth opened in a silent scream as he felt arms wrap around him, pulling him close as he suddenly stopped falling and felt himself being moved upward. The water had fallen dark once more, and the boy couldn't see anything but black all around him, water pressing against his face and a dull roar in his ears as he moved up, up, up…

And broke through the water's surface just as another crash of thunder shook the world.

He supposed he had passed out after that. At least, he couldn't remember anything else from that point on until he woke up on the shore the next morning, head feeling like it was about to split open and body sore all over. The storm had finally blown over, and the only sign that there had been any sort of chaos the night before was the mess of driftwood and shells littering the beach.

Dad and Wes found him soon after that, shouts echoing down the shore as they raced to wrap him in warms blankets and draw him a bath, bombarding him with questions faster than he could answer them.

Where had he gone last night? Was he hurt? What had happened? Why was he only wearing pajama pants?

And of course, the one question that everyone had in their eyes, but no one wanted to ask.

And where's Mom?

Soul didn't know what he should tell them. He knew they wouldn't believe him if he said, "Oh yeah, about that, she kind of jumped into the ocean in the middle of the night and turned into a mermaid and swam away. Pretty crazy, huh?"

So he kept his thoughts to himself for ten years. And for ten years, she didn't come back.