A/N: Quick notes...

This isn't going to be terribly long, and unfortunately I'll have to wait at least a week before I even begin to continue writing, but I wanted to say:

I am astounded, flattered, and thrilled at the feedback! I would not have continued writing this were it not for the reviews, which I cherish dearly. So thank you guys so much, and lurkers, too, and please keep spurring me on.

Finally, the short little lyrics at the start may or may not have anything to do with the story. Or refer to previous or future chapters. Or be completely irrelevant. But I'll leave ambiguous interpretation and connections up to you!


Chapter 2

And in the darkened underpass
I thought oh god, my chance has come at last
(but then a strange fear gripped me and I
Just couldn't ask)

Ignoring the preoccupied humans, Fujimoto had slipped from the boat and called his own cruiser to him, forming the habitual bubble about his head. From below the water, he could see the damage that had been wrought on the ocean, and could begin setting algae and other marine organisms to work on healing it.

"Trust those filthy, selfish humans to disrupt the balance of the ocean!" he complained to the unresponsive waves. They blinked at him and rose, extinguishing any remaining flames at his bidding. Running his hands through his wild red hair, he sighed wearily.

"So much work to be done, to restore the balance of the ocean… my elixirs will help."

He climbed into the cabin of his cruiser, taking large gulps from a long, handled blue vase that was filled with gleaming gold liquid. Magic seeped into the wizard with the elixir, and he summoned sea creatures to him to help banish the pollution, stowing his precious elixirs away and climbing up onto the top of his cruiser.

A blur swam into view. Fujimoto was too busy producing a large, luminescent bubble around the cruiser, dripping white liquid from a long dropper carefully. The blur got larger, and then the bubble was enveloped in a school of jellyfish, pulsating, blowing in a strange current.

"Fujimoto!" came a loud, laughing voice. Fujimoto glanced up, stowing the dropper away.

"Ebisu," he acknowledged. "You must have sensed the imbalance. I am trying to fix it now. I was caught off guard with the oil spill, weakened as I was after cleaning up the industrial runoff of those humans."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Fujimoto," said Ebisu, emerging from behind the mass of jellyfish that accompanied the fisherman god. His tall black hat swayed in the water, fishing rod swinging about his head, sea bass flocking at his feet.

"It's my job to maintain the balance," Fujimoto insisted irritably. "But I accept your help." He waved a hand and the jellyfish all swarmed to the surface, crowding and pushing the fragments of hull and other waste to shore.

Ebisu smiled, glanced up, cocked his head. "There seem to be a couple humans in trouble up above. I'll guide the stranded one to safety, but I'm not sure the other one's still alive."

"Humans?" Fujimoto nearly groaned. "Haven't they caused enough trouble?"

"Shame on you, Fujimoto!" Ebisu wagged a round finger at the wizard. "Humans are a natural force in the balance of nature."

"A destructive force polluting the seas can hardly be contributing to nature's balance. Just think of how much richer the sea would be were we to induce another Cambrian age and wipe those loathsome creatures from existence."

"Now, now, who would keep the fish population in check and balance? Who would enjoy the pleasures of fishing? Who would we watch over?"

"I watch over the sea," sniffed Fujimoto. "Humans can only mean trouble and I refuse to have anything to do with them."

"Ah," said Ebisu slowly. "Still bitter about your own experiences-"

"I do not wish to discuss this, Ebisu," snapped Fujimoto. "We have work to do." And stumbling over his long legs across the swarm of crabs and crayfish on deck, the wizard headed into the cabin of his boat.

"What would she say if you let an innocent human drown right under your nose?" Ebisu called after him with a light chuckle, and, swept up in his current of jellyfish and sea bass, swam up to the surface.

Fujimoto froze at the fat fisherman god's words. Standing stock still, hair swaying around him, the wizard grimaced and let out a sigh of defeat, glaring up to the surface, pierced unevenly by bright shafts of sunlight. A figure was being tossed roughly about in the commotion his waves had created as they put out the fires.

"I am not a lifeguard," he said crossly, making a sharp gesture.

Nothing happened.

"What?" muttered the wizard, bemused, and flicked his hand forcefully, splaying thin fingers.

Dark rolling waves encased the human.

"That's better."

Morgan had stopped struggling when what felt like a phenomenal rip current had grabbed hold of her, pressure mounting as she was dragged deep into the sea. This is the end, she thought dazedly, the great Morgan Winters has walked the plank. The pressure and lack of oxygen were too much, and water flooded her burning lungs, blackness clouding her vision. Suffocation. Peachy way to die.

Except, hovering just beyond the edge of consciousness, lungs aching immeasurably and head spinning, she saw a fiery orange blur above.

Fujimoto glared at the blue-tinged human lying on his boat. Dying on his boat. He knelt down, sensing the urgency of the situation.

"This is bad… What is wrong with you?" he muttered, and then his frown melted. "Ah, right, fragile things you are."

He waved a long hand and water gushed out from Morgan's mouth. She coughed, spraying the wizard generously, and opened unseeing pale green eyes to hack and wheeze out the rest of the water, flipping onto her stomach and retching convulsively. Fujimoto watched with a frown as his resident human crawled on all fours, threw up violently, and fought to catch her breath.

"Humans," he concluded decisively, and to no one in particular, "are disgusting."

. . .

After expelling the water from her lungs, Morgan had collapsed onto what she guessed was the deck of a boat, vision fading completely. When she next opened her eyes, it was to a strange sight indeed.

She was inside the cabin of a boat, or rather, a submarine. The floor and sparse furniture were strewn with papers and scrolls, bookshelves, and an old-fashioned rudder behind wide windows. In a corner rested a large, dark cauldron amidst a pile of empty long-necked bottles and ornate droppers. More of these lined the shelved walls.

Is this one of those submarine meth-labs? Morgan shook her head, throat dry. She was confused. She was drowsy. But most pressingly, she was thirsty.

So Morgan walked over to the wall and grabbed a drink, heedlessly downing half the bottle. The liquid was cool and refreshing, and left a sharply charged, tingling aftertaste.

Morgan brought the bottle away from her mouth with a contented sigh, green liquid still beading her lips, and somewhat more cautiously edged open the door of the cabin. She stepped outside.

And straight into exactly the sort of mystical nonsense she fervently denied.

"I am in way over my head," Morgan muttered, staring at the luminous enclosure around the boat that allowed her and the wizard to breathe. They were very deep underwater, judging by how faintly the sunlight penetrated the blue sea, and aside from the cornucopia of marine flora and fauna, swelling and pulsing in the currents of the vast seascape, Morgan could see the ocean breathing. A bright glow enveloped the bubble and microscopic organisms streamed through the water, growing before her eyes.

Wait. Breathing?

Morgan swiped at her eyes. The waves seemed to be blinking, too, occasionally. Perhaps it wasn't the ocean, but the reflection of some bright mixture Fujimoto was pouring directly off the nose of his cruiser into the ocean.

"Ah, I see you're still alive," he said, stowing away his instruments, "…good."

"Did I-?" Morgan broke off. "Did you-? Are we…"

"Articulate yourself," Fujimoto instructed, sighing. Morgan sensed a distinctly platonic and long-suffering, paternal air about him. Compared to his dismissive coldness, this was positively comforting.

"Bear with me a moment," said Morgan, repressing her panic. "Who are you?"

"I told you."

"Yeah, okay, um… what are you?"

"I am working," Fujimoto said, making to turn around as though Morgan's interrogation was closed. "Working to restore balance of nature - something clearly far beyond the comprehension of humans." He managed to sound both grim and smug.

"Stop being petulant, I can see that you're human! And kindly stop eluding my questions!"

Fujimoto stumbled in surprise and swiftly rounded back on Morgan, looking unsettled.

"What could possibly give you the impression that I'm human?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Your arrogance, for one," snapped Morgan, taking an involuntary step back when she saw Fujimoto bristling. "Very human trait. Also the fact that I'm alive, which means you must have saved me. And only humans are so adept at sulking after doing something altruistic."

Fujimoto opened and closed his mouth, looking distinctly fish-like as he gaped for a reply. Morgan might have been terrified if she did not find the expression so funny.

Finally, he said, defensively, "I do not sulk."

"Right," Morgan gave a sly grin, despite the nausea she was feeling watching jellyfish swarm high above from the corner of her eye. "But you are human."

"I have not been human now for a very long time. And I hardly see why that matters. Be grateful I saved you and leave me be."

"Sulking," mumbled Morgan. "Sulking in your submarine."

"I am what you would call a sorcerer of the ocean, and you are the first and last human aboard my submersible yacht," Fujimoto corrected somewhat haughtily.

He seemed pleased when Morgan was the one making disbelieving faces.

"A wizard on a yacht?"

But instead of gloating or returning to tend to the ocean, Fujimoto frowned suddenly and without any explanation began to wave his hands frantically about in the universal signal for stop, eyes widening at something behind Morgan.

"Ebisu! You are not bringing a current in so soon! You'll sweep away all the algae!"

Morgan glanced, bemused, at the wizard who was dancing anxiously from foot to foot, distress written across his face, brilliant red hair swaying to and fro. And then a melodious, ethereal laugh seemed to echo through the water.

Morgan covered her face with her hands as a powerful current wound around their underwater refuge, peeking through her fingers to see Fujimoto glance around with a strange expression on his face. The deep blue eyes lightened from within the cerulean powder, the gaunt cheekbones suddenly appeared healthier, and certain lines smoothed away.

"Don't fear for your work, my dear. I've sent Ebisu to the coast."

The voice was soft and paradoxically powerful, resonating with a strange sadness and swelling with joy at the same time.

"Granmammare."

Morgan finally placed the unfamiliar expression. Fujimoto looked pleased. His usually reserved expression melted to awe and an almost buoyant longing.

"You have been overwhelmed here, I see."

"It's been so long!" exclaimed Fujimoto earnestly, approaching the very edge of the bubble and crouching onto one knee. He seemed to collect himself then. "I did not expect to see you in such grim circumstances."

"It was the mess I came to help you with, although I have wanted to see you for a long time now. My seas have been teeming with life but also with hazards and oil."

"Indeed. The cursed humans have clogged and destroyed every living creature with their filth, and I cannot keep up with them."

"Do not despair."

There was such warmth in the words that curiosity won out and Morgan peeked through her hands.

A vast and stunning woman hovered next to the cruiser. Her gown was pale sky-blue, her hair the deep red shade of coral and longer even than the wizard's. Unlike Fujimoto's colder blue ones, however, her eyes were deep and warm and kind, brown rimmed with pink. Bejeweled and glowing, Morgan could not deny this was a divine creature. The very serenity she emanated settled Morgan's fright, though Fujimoto still looked frazzled about the edges.

"How can I when the entire ocean is out of balance? Every day I feel as though my power wanes and falters against further corruption of nature's equilibrium…"

Granmammare cocked her head, an expression of concern flitting across her features.

"So you have noticed it too," she said sadly. "So many living things have been dying, and you have been overexerting yourself to compensate. No wonder your magic is so drained."

"Why don't we give them a storm to remember?" offered Fujimoto, a cunning undertone coloring his words. "A tsunami to purge all that garbage from our seas and sweep clean the land?"

Granmammare shook her head.

"That would be a crude and unnecessary gesture. There is a much easier and more natural approach that I'm afraid I must ask of you."

"What can I do?"

"Don't fear, my love," said Granmammare, "You may yet learn to love the humanity you have left."

"I don't see how-"

"Fujimoto, isn't it time you found peace with your past? You don't seem to realize your danger, my love."

"What danger? Hey!" the wizard turned on Morgan and snatched away the elaborate bottle she had picked up. "Don't drink that! Don't you know not to drink unidentified substances in peculiarly-shaped vessels?"

"It's delicious," protested Morgan.

"There's a saying about stealing a wizard's potions-" Fujimoto began, bring up an authoritative finger waggishly.

"How rude I've been! Please introduce me to your guest."

Granmammare had noticed the human for the first time. She smiled graciously at Morgan.

"A human I found, far out of her depth." Morgan recognized the taunt despite the neutral tone. "But she attempted to help me," Fujimoto admitted.

"You're a-" Morgan gulped. "a sea goddess, aren't you?"

"Let me thank you, Morgan, for aiding my husband," Granmammare said warmly.

"Well, he seems to have returned the favor," said Morgan. "Any chance I can get another sip of that heavenly draft?"

"You actually drank the elixir?" Fujimoto asked, eyes wide and astonished.

"Hey, hey, you drank half my sake," said Morgan defensively.

Granmammare laughed lightly.

"But how are you still alive? Humans cannot handle the power of my elixirs!"

"Don't you see my love? Your power is indeed waning if your potions have lost their potency and you could enjoy human drink."

Fujimoto seemed to be making this deduction himself, as he paled and brought his hands to clutch his hair in distress, rising to stand in his panic. Thin white fingers became quickly entangled in fiery tresses.

"What going to happen to him? And to me?" asked Morgan of the red-headed beings she previously thought didn't exist.

"Don't fear for you safety," said Granmammare, and to illustrate her point wound a pale, glowing hand through their luminous bubble-enclosure and around the distraught wizard, cradling him in a gentle grasp. Fujimoto seemed to deflate; his hair and posture relaxed as he closed his eyes and basked in his wife's presence, although his deep frown remained.

"You've been stretching yourself thin for years, and now it's finally caught up with you."

"How can that be? And what about the sea?" Fujimoto murmured from the corner of his mouth, unwilling to open his eyes and face his predicament.

"The balance of nature is being upheld by vestigial magic, and by my will, love."

"So this is the end? The sea is doomed? I'm reverting to…" he gave a faint twitch of revulsion, "a human?"

"Hardly so," smiled Granmammare. "You just need to spend some time away to recuperate and restore your magic naturally. With your presence on land, the sea's balance would be restored as well. Of course you're now in danger of drowning, so perhaps take a shore leave might do you well."

She drew back her hand and nodded gracefully to Morgan.

"Would you look after my husband, Morgan? I cannot follow him upon land, but I have seen how you gaze for hours into the ocean from afar, and I know I can trust you to watch over him."

"I.. yes, of course," Morgan managed.

Fujimoto glanced curiously between the two women, wide eyes uncertain.

"Will you be capable of undertaking this task, darling? It is much to ask of you, and the return of your magic will be gradual, but this way the sea will have time to heal."

Fujimoto straightened somberly. "I am willing to do whatever is necessary to save the ocean, even if it involves being temporarily…" he swallowed, "human."

Granmammare's brown eyes softened as she gazed unto Fujimoto's lithe figure, and Morgan suddenly felt gooseflesh pass over her with a sharp bout of chills, as if for a moment she could feel the acute connection that existed between the two unlikely beings.

And before her eyes Granmammare walked onto the boat, human-sized, haloed by the deep red of her hair and fluttering blue gown, and encased Fujimoto in a briefly tender embrace.

And then she was back outside the bubble, luminescent and large and smiling sadly and swimming away while a wistful look lingered on her husband's face.

As her final farewell, the ocean goddess raised a hand to her lips and blew a kiss back to the boat, and swirling sparks of gold fish streamed through the water. Glowing brightly they encased the submersible yacht, magically engorged and swollen with unearthly vivacity, and swept the entire boat up in a torrent of gold and blindingly bright scales.

They broke the surface of the water innocuously, Fujimoto's bubble dissolving, and bobbed up and down a few times upon the serene surf. The stars were bright and reflecting hazily beneath them.

"Hey, Fuji-" said Morgan suddenly, perturbed. The wizard, though perhaps he no longer was entirely such, had not moved after his wife's farewell.

Now he cast a bleak gaze onto Morgan, and the dark cliffs where the village glimmered faintly. "Yes?"

"Where's the lighthouse?"

The two humans stood in bewildered silence, staring hard to find a light that wasn't there.